ROME - Jesus' gesture of washing his disciples' feet, an act once reserved to servants and slaves, is one that all Christians, especially bishops, must imitate, Pope Francis told hundreds of inmates and prison employees on Holy Thursday.
Archdiocese of Vancouver’s annual appeal tops $7 million
VANCOUVER – For someone like Thad, once convicted of a sex crime and now trying to put his old life behind him, a near-record-breaking year for Project Advance means another year of funding for the prison ministry program he relies on.
Canon law prescribes that Mass be celebrated in a “sacred place” such as a church or a chapel consecrated by a bishop. That is why, for example, there are strict rules forbidding the celebration of wedding Masses at locations such as a beach or garden patio.
Letters are an escape for man serving life in prison
Pope to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass in Rome prison
First priest in Mexico convicted of sexual abuse gets 16 years in prison
MEXICO CITY – A priest in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca has been sentenced to 16 years and 6 months in prison for sexual abuse, marking the first ever conviction of a Catholic clergyman for such a crimes in the country.
Mexican prison riot leaves 52 dead on day before pope arrives
MEXICO CITY - A prison riot in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey has claimed 52 lives, offering another example of the problems plaguing Mexico's prison system and casting a pall over the arrival of Pope Francis in the country.
Visiting prison, pope says all people need forgiveness, cleansing
Gordie had trouble with the man in the mirror
There was a day when we would sit by the phone anxiously waiting for it to ring with important news. Nowadays, the phone is often muted, and it is a text message that intrudes into our vigil. So it was that at 3 a.m. I received the simple text message: “Gordie has passed. May he rest in peace.”
Tide may be turning against harsh prison sentences
WASHINGTON - Readers of the Bible may recall the passage in Chapter 4 of Luke that presages the start of Jesus' public ministry, in which Jesus said, in part: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives."
WASHINGTON - A sign at the entrance to the exhibit warns of the shocking nature of the images beyond — photos smuggled out of Syria that show emaciated and grotesquely mutilated victims of dictator Bashar Assad’s prisons and torture chambers.
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - Fernando Fernande brought toilet paper, soap and food to the Palmasola prison, where his son has been locked up for the past two years.