Search Results

  • Section

  • Sort By

  • Reset

Seniors participated in a socially distanced exercise class available over Zoom at St. Martin de Porres Senior Center in Alexandria last month. The center opened up on two consecutive Fridays to allow seniors to visit and have their phones and tablets set up with email and Zoom by staff, as well as to join an exercise class led by an online instructor.

The principal looked around the familiar hallways of her school with a pair of fresh eyes. They definitely needed to replace the water fountains, perhaps with a touchless water bottle filling station? Hand sanitizer should be outside every classroom door. Could desks be pushed farther apart? Could they be outfitted with plexiglass barriers? And if all these changes and more were made, would they be able to safely have in-person instruction in the fall?   

In communities around the world, the social isolation that keeps elders safe from the coronavirus but precludes going to church is proving extremely difficult for many. In some remote areas, younger generations are helping their elders.

In this last month of summer, I pray that, sustained by God’s grace, you will be renewed through prayer, rest and time with family. Yet, we cannot deny that loneliness, anxiety, uncertainty and even despair have arisen out of the coronavirus pandemic, and anger over acts of racial violence. The unique challenges that each of us faces are stark reminders that we are “pilgrims in a strange land, tracing in trial and in oppression the paths that (our Savior) trod” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium,” 7). During this difficult time, we look forward with renewed hope to the upcoming solemnity of our loving Mother.

WASHINGTON -- The Archdiocese of Washington and its Catholic Schools Office hailed the Aug. 3 emergency order by Maryland's governor to override a Montgomery County Health Department blanket directive that would have kept nonpublic schools from reopening for in-person instruction through at least Oct. 1.

WASHINGTON -- An omnibus appropriations bill approved by the House July 31 to fund a dozen federal departments and agencies blocks a conscience protection rule for health care providers who do not want to participate in abortion, sterilization or assisted suicide on religious or moral grounds.