MEXICO CITY – A priest was stabbed at the altar while celebrating Mass May 15 in Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral.

Somehow I managed to miss the film Jackie during the Christmas season, but I watched it, twice, on recent long flights to and from the East coast. Like many others, I was struck by its moody, more “European” style, the high quality of the acting, especially on the part of Natalie Portman, and its historical verisimilitude. But what particularly impressed (and surprised) me were the scenes between Mrs. Kennedy and a sympathetic priest.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A breakaway Catholic group is in the news for attempting to ordain a woman as a Catholic priest at a non-denominational church in North Carolina.

OTTAWA – Vera Shroff has been fascinated by Catholicism since she was a little girl in India, despite being raised in one of the world’s most ancient religions.

OME – A priest is being asked to take a break from his parish in the small Italian town of Montesilvano after some in his congregation reportedly stormed out of Mass when he openly criticized Pope Francis on Palm Sunday (April 9).

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – A Mexican priest reported kidnapped in the border state of Tamaulipas was reported to have been safely returned March 30, the Diocese of Tampico said in a statement.

LONGFORD, Ireland – In one Irish diocese, the number of active priests may halve in fewer than 15 years. As a result, Bishop Francis Duffy of Ardagh and Clonmacnois has aimed to prepare his flock to take on more active roles.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A diocese in Argentina has decided to transfer a priest after a series of threats he's received for protesting the death of a man who had been killed by a drug cartel.

WASHINGTON – The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City announced that one its native sons, Father Stanley Rother, a North American priest who worked in Guatemala and was brutally murdered there in 1981, will be beatified Sept. 23 in Oklahoma.

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.

God-willing, this will be my 102nd Christmas on Earth (if you count the one when I was an unborn child) and my 77th Christmas as a priest.

OAKLAND, Calif. – In what has become a staple of summer television, scores of athletic folks run an obstacle course that looks like a cross between a playground on steroids and the inner workings of a pinball machine.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's win in May 9 national elections was "a strong reminder that people want change," said Fr. Anton Pascual, president of Radio Veritas, the country's largest Catholic radio network.

Before you get serious about Jesus, first consider how good you’re going to look on wood! Daniel Berrigan wrote those words and they express a lot about who he was and what he believed in. He died April 30 at age 94.

OTTAWA – In 1976, in preparation for his final vows to become an Oblate priest, Fr. Louis Lougen asked God for “the grace to be a missionary.”