National News
Annual Marian pilgrimage draws hundreds to abandoned town in Pa.
They gathered at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Centralia, which overlooks the remains of an area mostly evacuated more than 30 years ago because of a mine fire. The church, built on rock, still stands.
Seattle archdiocese affirms priest did not condone parishioner’s suicide
The Aug. 29 statement attempts to clear up confusion and misinformation that ensued following a story by The Associated Press about Robert Fuller, who died May 10 after injecting himself with a lethal dose of liquids designed to end his life.
FCC weakens rules on children’s programming
By tinkering with the regulations, the FCC indeed relieves burdens from broadcasters and places it on the shoulders of children themselves, not to mention their parents.
Purported Marian apparitions a ‘fabrication,’ Texas bishop says
Security cameras showed "the alleged visionary surreptitiously dropping a rose on the floor" but later claimed the rose was a "miraculous gift" of Mary. The alleged "messages and miracles" are not true, Fort Worth's bishop said.
Kings Bay Plowshares trial for nuclear weapons protest set for October
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood set the trial date after denying the defendants' motion to dismiss the criminal charges they face because their actions were motivated by their faith and thus protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
On gun violence, Parkland survivors join bishops in call for change
March for Our Lives, a group formed after a 2018 school shooting, released a detailed plan for stricter gun laws. But the Catholic bishops have argued for tougher measures in the U.S. since before the Parkland survivors were born.
Texas prison ministries bring grace, sacraments behind bars
A longtime effort of Kolbe Prison Ministries and Texas diocesan correction ministries, Kolbe prison retreats, named for the Polish martyr, offer incarcerated men and women the chance to experience God's redemptive grace and mercy with a weekend featuring the sacraments and small-group sharing..
The more things change: On Labor Day, issues of century ago still in play
This year's U.S. Bishops' statement on improving conditions for workers finds echoes in a 1919 Catholic program that examined "monopoly power and wage suppression," employee ownership and "solidarity and unions."
Seattle bishops affirm sanctity of life after man’s assisted suicide
The bishops of the Archdiocese of Seattle reiterated the Catholic Church's opposition to assisted suicide in response to a news report about a man who used a fatal drug combination to end his own life under Washington state's Death with Dignity Act.
New Jersey appeals court lets state’s assisted suicide law continue
The appeals court determined that "the court failed to consider adequately the interests of qualified terminally ill patients, who the Legislature determined have clearly prescribed rights to end their lives consistent with the Act," the appeals court ruling said.