As is our custom, we aim to let go of the cares and concerns of this world until Monday and to focus on the great, awesome, solemn and holy events of the next three days. I would ask people to concentrate their comments on the personal, devotional, and theological aspects of these days which will be our focal point here. Many thanks–KSH.

It is harder than ever for young people to learn the faith, because the culture keeps them from maturing and developing their freedom, according to the Italian bishops.

This was one observation made by the prelates in their four-day permanent council meeting last week. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa and president of the episcopal conference, led the meeting.

Given the difficulties in transmitting the faith, the bishops emphasized “the need for greater attention in presenting Catholic doctrine so as not to reduce Christian initiation to a generic experience,” according to Monsignor Domenico Pompili, conference spokesman. He said there is a growing awareness that the entire community needs to be catechized, and this conviction needs to continue to become stronger.

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A bizarre act of property damage at the old Anglican church in this town outside St. John’s Wednesday morning has left parishioners and townspeople stunned and angered.

A heated debate over the future of the 116-year-old church, which has been vacant for several years, entered a new dimension just after 8 a.m. when several people went to great lengths to rip the iconic steeple from its roof.

Several of the wooden supports for the five-metre high steeple appeared to be cut with a power tool, which was then violently pried from its perch, a drop of about 10 metres to the ground. The remains of a thick blue nylon rope was found still attached to a beam inside the steeple, and observers believe whoever carried out the act used a heavy vehicle to pull it down.

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In an open letter sent to President Obama on Tuesday (March 30), 29 human rights groups and faith leaders pressed the president to fill the vacant position of ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

“The absence of senior level leadership in your administration on this critical issue is of grave and urgent concern,” said the letter, which was signed by leaders representing Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and Mormon groups.

The letter was also signed by a number of human rights groups, the former director of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, and a former ambassador for international religious freedom.

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