08:09 pm  |  CNA STAFF, Sep 8, 2010 (CNA).- Christopher Stefanick, the Archdiocese of Denver's director of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministry, has recorded a new video for Catholic News Agency, discussing the dangers that incoming college students will face as the school year begins.

A number of unprecedented challenges, Stefanick said, come with the new independence of undergraduate life. The experience of separation from family, friends, and previous parish communities, he said, was comparable to an animal being “separated from the herd” for the first time.

But while this independence is exciting and offers new opportunities, it also involves real dangers. Stefanick highlighted four key areas of life where college students must be especially careful in order to avoid compromising their futures and spiritual lives.

07:03 pm  |  EXTON, PA., Sep 8, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- Author and speaker Christopher West has ended his six-month sabbatical, saying he has come to see “a need for greater balance in my life.” He reported that he will address critics of his interpretation of John Paul II’s theology of the body, adding that some have been helpful while others continue to “misunderstand or misrepresent” his work.

“I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all those who made sacrifices to afford my family and me this time, and to all who lifted me up in prayer and offered written letters of encouragement and support,” West said in a statement on his website.

According to West, taking time for “deep, prayerful examination” and giving attention to his professional, personal and family needs have helped him understand “that we must never boast of anything except the cross of Christ.”

10:57 am  |  VATICAN CITY, Sep 8, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- Continuing his focus on the contribution of women to the Church, Pope Benedict XVI turned a second time to the medieval nun St. Hildegard of Bingen, whose life demonstrates that “women make a special contribution to theology.”

The Pope gave his general audience catechesis this morning in the Paul VI Hall, dedicating his teaching to a subject he began last week with a reflection on St. Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth-century German Benedictine religious.

Speaking on the mystical visions that the saint had throughout her life, the Holy Father commented that “they were rich in theological content.” “They referred to the main events of the history of salvation and use a mainly poetic and symbolic language,” he noted. “For example, in her best known work entitled 'Scivias' (Know the Ways) she summarized the events of the history of salvation in thirty-five visions, from the creation of the world to the end of time.”

10:29 am  |  VATICAN CITY, Sep 8, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- Although the charismatic Christian church planning a Koran burning on Sept. 11 only has around 50 members, the spectre of the impact on Muslim relations led the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue to issue a statement today expressing its “great concern” over the plan and stating that “deplorable acts of violence … cannot be counteracted” by burning another religion's sacred book.

The communique from the pontifical council began by noting that the proposed “Koran Burning Day” is scheduled for the anniversary of “the 11 September tragic terrorist attacks in 2001 which resulted in the loss of many innocent lives and considerable material damage.”

Expressing its great concern, the council said, "These deplorable acts of violence, in fact, cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community.”