National News
Leaders seek prayer, advocacy and relief for Ukraine in war
Religious and diplomatic leaders in New York urged help for Ukrainians and humanitarian workers for the more than 3.5 million refugees, 7 million internally displaced and 12 million still in their homes who cannot survive without help.
West Virginia’s new law bars abortions of unborn diagnosed with disability
The governor announced he had signed the bill, which overwhelmingly passed the legislature in bipartisan fashion, on World Down Syndrome Day March 21. The law also requires information on support systems available to families.
U.S. bishops recommit church to pro-life initiatives
As the nation awaits the U.S. Supreme Court's most significant abortion ruling in decades, the leadership of the bishops' conference joined "in prayer and expectant hope" that states will ban abortion if Roe is overturned.
Students’ race discussion transforms Catholic school’s culture
Some of the Black students at a predominantly white high school in New Jersey keenly felt the racial tensions rising in the U.S. in 2016. Their meeting with all the faculty started a change in tone and practice at the school that continues today.
Study unpacks experience of Black Catholics in America
Among the findings of a Pew Research Center study: only one-fourth of U.S. Black Catholics worship in majority-Black parishes. Black Catholics also want to hear more racial affirmation and social justice concerns in preaching.
Archbishop Gudziak to Russian Orthodox Church: Stop Putin’s war
The leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the U.S. said that he hoped leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church would "hear the Gospel," which says, "Do not kill." He sharply criticized how that church "stands with President Putin. It stands for this war."
Idaho passes bill to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy
Both chambers of the state legislature passed the bill, similar to Texas' abortion ban that allows family members to sue the medical provider who performed the abortion for up to $20,000. The bill goes to Idaho's governor for his signature.
Top USCCB committee says Russia’s ‘unprovoked war on Ukraine’ must end now
The Administrative Committee, which operates as a kind of board of directors for the U.S. Catholic bishops, issued a strong statement March 16, calling on Americans "to contribute generously and sacrificially" to the war relief effort.
Senate passes spending bill with Hyde, other pro-life provisions
In a 68-31 vote late March 10, the Senate OK'd a $1.5 trillion government funding bill that includes $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine. The House passed the measure a day earlier. The U.S. bishops praised several of the bill's features.
Texas Supreme Court rules against challenge to abortion law
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a "major victory," and the state's law banning abortions after six weeks' gestation "remains fully in effect" in the state after a lawsuit challenging it was dismissed.