National News
House members approve measure to repeal D.C. assisted suicide law
The amendment to the fiscal year 2018 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill looks to repeal the assisted suicide law, which went into effect this past February.
USCCB leaders say armed attacks near Jerusalem holy sites ‘a desecration’
The president of the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference and two committee chairmen condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the fatal shooting of two Israeli police officers July 14 in Jerusalem's Old City near some of the world's holiest sites.
Catholic, Lutheran leaders lament refugee entry cap being reached
The federal government suspended travel July 12 for refugee immigrants without close family connections after confirming that 50,000 refugees -- the limit imposed by President Donald Trump in a March 6 executive order -- had arrived on U.S. soil.
Catholics lead resistance to Minnesota Satanic Temple veterans monument
Located 45 miles southwest of Minneapolis, Belle Plaine -- population 6,400 -- attracted the Satanic Temple's interest after accommodating the placement of another monument that included a cross in a public park.
Decline of civil society, community seen as ‘spiritual crisis’ for nation
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has initiated the Social Capital Project, which found that civil society has declined in America. He led a discussion pondering localism and federalism as two routes for combating this trend.
Religious order welcomes gas pipeline opponents to pray at new ‘chapel’
UPDATED - The pipeline's path takes it through a strip of land the congregation owns in the Harrisburg Diocese that includes farmland and the sisters contend that construction poses a danger to God's creation.
Aspiring religious delay entry to pay off debt
Because many religious orders do not accept members with outstanding debts, 42 percent of individuals discerning religious life in the U.S. are barred from formation because of their student loans.
Bishop sees little improvement in Senate’s latest effort on health care
"On an initial read, we do not see enough improvement to change our assessment that the proposal is unacceptable," said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
House passes anti-trafficking bill; measure goes to Senate
The House passed a bill July 12 that puts more than $500 million over the next four years into efforts to fight labor and sex trafficking both in the United States and abroad.
Holy Land Franciscans build interreligious bridges with Buddhist camp
More than 30 Buddhist children, ages 7 to 18, from the U.S. Zen Institute summer camp in Maryland, visited the Franciscan Monastery in Washington to learn about Christianity, St. Francis and his followers.