Washington D.C., Jun 20, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- The Archbishop of Los Angeles said he “welcomes” an executive order signed Wednesday by President Trump, and called on Congress to act on immigration reform.
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Fort Worth, Texas, Jun 20, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- As thousands of children have been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexican border in recent weeks, Catholic Charities Fort Worth has opened its doors to shelter the unaccompanied migrant children.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Vatican has told Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington, that he can no longer exercise any public ministry after an allegation that he abused a teenager 47 years ago was found credible.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order June 20 that halts his administration's family separation policy for families who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
The executive order seeks to work around a 1997 consent decree that bars the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention -- even if they are with their parents -- for more than 20 days. The executive order instructs the attorney general to seek federal court permission to modify the consent decree.
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Cecil Roberts was growing up in coal country in West Virginia in the 1960s, he said you could always count on seeing the images of three men on the walls of coal company houses.
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Vatican City, Jun 20, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- The Archdiocese of New York announced Wednesday that an investigation they conducted into allegations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who oversaw multiple major U.S. dioceses, has found the accusations to be “credible and substantiated.”
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, said June 20 he will no longer exercise any public ministry "in obedience" to the Vatican after an allegation he abused a teenager 47 years ago was found credible.
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Philadelphia, Pa., Jun 19, 2018 CNA.- Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput turned over his weekly Catholic Philly column to a University of Notre Dame student, who hopes an upcoming Vatican synod will encourage young people to take personal responsibility for the “decisive missions” of vocations and Christian discipleship.
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Sacramento, Calif., Jun 19, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- A California judge has reinstated the state’s assisted suicide law, making it legal for terminally ill patients to end their lives while a court case is resolved – a move some critics say targets the vulnerable.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops "cannot, in good faith, endorse" an immigration bill submitted by the House's Republican leadership, said Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Migration.
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LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (CNS) -- Several hours before Brooks Koepka captured his second straight U.S. Open golf championship June 17 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, Father Tom Guido continued a personal Father's Day tradition by celebrating Mass at his 16th straight U.S. Open.
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Toronto, Ohio, Jun 18, 2018 CNA.- Every single vocation story is different, but Sr. Rita Clare (Anne) Yoches is probably one of the more unusual. Sr. Rita Clare, who this month will profess final vows with the Franciscan Sisters T.O.R. of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother, was a four-time national champion professional football player prior to entering the convent.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Caring for creation goes hand-in-hand with the mission of helping retreat-goers connect with God at the Jesuit Retreat House in Parma, Ohio. The center's tree-enshrouded grounds that filter the sound of nearby traffic in the middle of Cleveland's largest suburb offer a home for wildlife and a respite for those seeking a quiet place to pray and reflect about God in their life.
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Washington D.C., Jun 15, 2018 CNA.- The Trump administration has pointed to the Bible in justifying its “zero-tolerance immigration policy,” which includes the separation of immigrant children from their parents.
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GREEN BAY, Wis. (CNS) -- Julie Asher is the recipient of the 2018 St. Francis de Sales Award from the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada. The award recognizes "outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism" and is the highest honor given by CPA. It was presented during a June 15 luncheon at the Catholic Media Conference in Green Bay.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- New medical directives governing health care partnerships and revisions to the charter on the protection of young people were approved during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' spring general assembly.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- Challenges to religious freedom continue to emerge and the U.S. Catholic Church will remain steadfast in addressing them to serve the common good, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, told the spring assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- A planned pastoral letter addressing racism is on schedule for a November vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Sheldon J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, chairman of the bishop's Ad Hoc Committee on Racism, said during the bishops' spring general assembly June 14 that the document would reflect recommendations from the various audiences that have reviewed drafts of the document.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- New supplementary documents and a video are on the horizon for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in advance of the 2020 presidential election.
During their spring general assembly, the bishops approved the production of a short letter "to inspire prayer and action regarding public life" and a short video and other resources that would apply the teaching of Pope Francis to contemporary issues.
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A group of Catholic high school friends has kept in touch -- literally -- since graduating more than 30 years ago from Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Washington. The way they've stayed connected -- through essentially continuing a version of tag they started in high school -- has received mixed reaction from people over the years, but that all changed five years ago when The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article about them.
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GREEN BAY, Wis. (CNS) -- To be "successful" on social media, Pope Francis only has to be himself; gimmicks aren't necessary, a Vatican official told Catholic communicators. "People want the pope just to be the pope," said Natasa Govekar, director of the theological-pastoral department of the Secretariat for Communication. For instance, she said, photos of the pope "with circus performers or wearing a silly hat do not do as well as photos of the pope praying."
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- The process for considering key moral questions are more thoroughly examined in revised guidelines governing Catholic and non-Catholic health care partnerships adopted by the U.S. bishops.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- Changes in language to clarify several sections of the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" were approved during the spring general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- Cautioning against complacency in carrying out the requirements of the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," the chairman of the National Review Board urged the country's bishops to "never waver" in their commitment to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops June 13 decried U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision that asylum seekers fleeing domestic or gang violence cannot find protection in the United States.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- One week before President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shook hands at the historic summit on Singapore's Sentosa Island, 100 Catholics representing different perspectives huddled at Georgetown University in Washington.
Read moreCHICAGO (CNS) -- The American Medical Association House of Delegates voted 314-243 not to affirm the report of the organization's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs to maintain the AMA's long-held opposition to assisted suicide.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Asylum seekers fleeing domestic or gang violence need not apply for protection in the United States, said the country's top law enforcement official at a June 11 news conference explaining why he reversed an immigration court's decision that granted asylum to a Salvadoran woman who said she had been abused by her husband.
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New York City, N.Y., Jun 11, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- Responding to Fr. Thomas J. Reese's recent suggestion that the pro-life movement abandon efforts to make abortion illegal and focus instead on reducing the number of abortions, Cardinal Timothy Dolan voiced grave concern with the proposal.
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Baltimore, Md., Jun 11, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- The Archdiocese of Baltimore has announced a policy to allow weddings to be held outside of parish churches, including at outdoor venues. “The archbishop has been emphatic about reaching out to young people,” Diane Barr, chancellor of the Baltimore archdiocese, told the Catholic Review in an article published June 6. “There is more openness to considering other options.”
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Washington D.C., Jun 11, 2018 CNA.- The controversy over Humanae Vitae, the papal encyclical that reaffirmed Catholic teaching on contraception 50 years ago, cannot be understood apart from the context of a well-funded advocacy network for population control after the Second World War.
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Washington D.C., Jun 10, 2018 CNA.- A Thomistic philosopher, an evolutionary biologist, and a Harvard astronomy professor walk into a bar. Well, not a bar. But they did walk into a Washington, D.C. symposium this week, at which graduate students, professors, religious sisters, and other curious Catholics discussed highly technical scientific questions over bourbon and pecan pie, late into the night.
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New York City, N.Y., Jun 9, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- The Superior Court of New York ruled Friday in favor of Joan Sheen Cunningham, who had petitioned to move the body of her uncle, Venerable Fulton Sheen, to the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria. The body of the late archbishop is currently in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
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PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) -- The Diocese of Peoria has reacted with "great joy" to a decision by a New York court in favor of Joan Sheen Cunningham's petition to have the remains of her uncle, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, moved from New York City to Peoria.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Catholic Church's 2018 religious freedom observance begins June 22, the feast of two English martyrs who fought religious persecution -- Sts. John Fisher and St. Thomas More -- and ends June 29, the feast of two apostles martyred in Rome -- Sts. Peter and Paul.
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Washington D.C., Jun 7, 2018 CNA.- Several members of Congress have asked the federal government to investigate allegations that Planned Parenthood has covered-up acts of sexual abuse. At a press conference held Thursday outside the Capitol Building, the members of Congress, along with pro-life group Live Action, asked the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate Planned Parenthood and other Title X fund recipients to determine if there is a widespread practice of covering up sexual abuse.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis has appointed an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington and an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York. The new Washington auxiliary, Bishop-designate Michael W. Fisher, 60, has served the archdiocese as episcopal vicar for clergy and secretary for ministerial leadership since 2006.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Recollections and tributes to Robert F. Kennedy on the 50th anniversary of his assassination have mainly highlighted his charisma and determined advocacy for social and racial justice.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced June 5 that the official World Youth Day Cross and Marian Icon will make a tour of the United States Aug. 19-27. Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Mendieta decided to extend the Latin American tour of the Cross and Icon to include stops in the United States.
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Washington D.C., Jun 6, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- When presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot in a California hotel on June 5, 1968, his supporters prayed. “After Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, many supporters got down on their knees and prayed the rosary. A famous picture from the time shows a busboy, Juan Romero, pressing rosary beads into Kennedy’s hands in the kitchen of the hotel. Imagine Catholics doing that today,” Mark Stricherz, political reporter and author of the 2007 book Why the Democrats are Blue, told CNA.
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Washington D.C., Jun 5, 2018 CNA.- A hotly-debated renewal plan for the Catholic University of America, which included the elimination of 35 faculty positions, the reorganization of some departments and a recommitment to the arts, was approved by the school’s board of trustees Tuesday.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Sister Teresa Maya grew up hearing her "abuela" say, "People understand each other by speaking to one another." In her grandmother's wisdom, she said, lies a way to address the polarization that seems to affect every aspect of U.S. society today.
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Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2018 CNA.- Religious freedom advocates have mostly celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, although some commentators have expressed concern that the case was a “narrow” victory - won on specific facts of the case, not addressing broad Constitutional questions.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a 7-2 decision June 4, the Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker in a case that put anti-discrimination laws up against freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Fred Rogers was ordained for the Presbyterian Church, but instead of a clerical collar, he ministered wearing a red cardigan sweater. The much-loved children's television figure, who died 15 years ago in 2003, is the subject of a new documentary, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" one of the hallmark lines he used in making nearly 900 episodes of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The movie opens June 8.
Read moreWASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Supreme Court June 4 threw out a lower court's ruling that allowed a 17-year-old last year to obtain an abortion while she was in a detention center after an illegal border crossing.
Read moreCINCINNATI (CNS) -- Franciscans of the Order of Friars Minor in six of the order's U.S. provinces voted May 30 to form one new organization to reinvigorate Franciscan life in this country. Friars in each of those six provinces took the vote at meetings in their respective communities. The provinces have been in dialogue about unifying since 2012.
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TUCSON, Ariz. (CNS) -- It's not fair to vilify the administration of President Donald Trump for immigration woes, because the problems go back well before Trump took office, said Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California.
Read moreNEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- The chair of the U.S. bishops' Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People said a two-year project to revise the charter that guides the U.S. church in protecting minors from sexual abuse is nearly ready to be presented to the full body of bishops.
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Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012. The 7-2 decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission could be a landmark ruling for freedom of religion and conscience cases.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Mary Rice Hasson, director of the Catholic Women's Forum and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said at a May 31 conference that "it's no secret that for many months the #MeToo movement has sparked widespread outrage over sexual harassment and a culture that condoned and excused it."
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BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- Louisiana pro-life leaders praised state lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards for passing a bill banning abortions after 15 weeks during the recently completed regular session of the Legislature.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The 15th annual report on the implementation of the U.S. bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" shows a decrease in allegations of clergy sex abuse from the two previous years but also indicates the need for continued vigilance since charges were raised by more than 650 adults and 24 minors.
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Portland, Maine, May 31, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- After the Maine Council of Churches changed its decision-making process earlier this year, the Bishop of Portland was forced to withdraw from the group, the Portland Press-Herald reported Tuesday.
Read moreWASHINGTON (CNS) -- Season two of "13 Reasons Why," a popular Netflix series portraying, among other things, suicide, sexual assault and substance abuse, might lead some young people to behave in dangerous and self-destructive ways, according to a May 31 open letter by the National Catholic Partnership on Disability.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has reached a consensual plan with a committee representing clergy sexual abuse survivors to resolve its bankruptcy, offering $210 million for restitution to claimants.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As the Supreme Court prepares to wrap up its current term by the end of June, Catholic Church leaders are among those paying attention to how the court will rule on a handful of the nearly 30 decisions it has left to announce.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Supreme Court's decision May 29 not to hear a case against an Arkansas abortion law, thus letting the state's restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs stand, will have broad impact, say those on both sides of the issue.
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HONOLULU (CNS) -- Paul and Rose Utes, members of Sacred Heart Parish in Pahoa, had to leave their home when lava from the Kilauea eruptions moved into their section of the Leilani Estates subdivision in Puna on the Big Island.
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Washington D.C., May 29, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- A federal government proposal to remove Title X funding from programs and facilities that perform abortions has drawn considerable media attention, raising questions of whether such a move would impact women’s access to health care.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CNS) -- An Arkansas Catholic priest is taking his ninja name "Father Flex" national as a contestant on the new season of the NBC reality show "American Ninja Warrior," debuting May 30.
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SAN DIEGO (CNS) -- From just looking at Brother Michael Ignatius, one wouldn't suspect it. But the 61-year-old Carmelite is homeless. For several months, his bed was a bench on a bike path near San Diego International Airport. Later, he discovered that he could get a few hours of sleep every night by taking a round trip on the San Diego Trolley's Green Line.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Everyone has "a stake in this fight" for religious freedom, said the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, Sam Brownback. "One person's bondage is another person's burden to break," he told reporters May 29. "We're all people with beautiful and undeniable human dignity. Our lives are sacred. Our right to choose the road our conscience takes is inalienable."
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Denver, Colo., May 24, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- A video that frames a Colorado women’s clinic as a bogus, sub-par healthcare provider is libelous, said the clinic’s directors and lawyer, who are demanding that it be corrected.
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Philadelphia, Pa., May 23, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- Several bishops from outside Germany have critiqued a proposal to allow Protestant spouses of Catholics to receive communion in German dioceses under some limited circumstances, citing the proposal’s effects on their own local Churches.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Saying that Jesus Christ has been "hijacked" in the name of politics, a large crowd of national Christian leaders and members of their congregations vowed during a prayer service and vigil May 24 to "reclaim Jesus" from those who not only use his name for their political and personal gain, but reject the gentleness, kindness, love of neighbor, the poor and the truth that Christ embraced.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new Vatican document on the economy, which contains a strong emphasis on financial transactions and maneuvers, is getting a warm welcome among U.S. Catholics who observe the economic scene.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- This year's National Catholic Prayer breakfast took on a decidedly Kansas flavor, as Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City and Sam Brownback, a former House and Senate member and governor of Kansas, addressed nearly 1,000 gathered at a Washington hotel May 24.
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DENVER (CNS) -- In March, Ryan Clydesdale was looking forward to heading to Hawaii with friends for spring break, "but deep down I kept feeling pulled" to do something else. That something else was to be part of a Peru mission trip sponsored by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- U.S. Catholics have donated close to $59 million to relief and recovery efforts in response to the destruction caused by three hurricanes that hit the United States and the Caribbean and two earthquakes in Mexico last year.
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Little Rock, Ark., May 23, 2018 CNA.- Among the contestants on season 10 of NBC’s American Ninja Warrior, there’s one who stands out. In addition to being a physical trainer, Father Stephen Gadberry is also a Catholic priest. He hopes that his participation in the upcoming season of American Ninja Warrior will make the clergy appear more human and available.
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Washington D.C., May 22, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- Sexual attraction does not define identity, a priest has said, after comments attributed to Pope Francis have prompted questions about Catholic doctrine and the nature of sexual orientation.
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New York City, N.Y., May 22, 2018 CNA/EWTN News.- The Archbishop of New York said Tuesday that while some recent comments about homosexuality attributed to Pope Francis are “orthodox teaching,” the pope's reported remarks could require clarification.
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