National News
As consecrated virgins, three women promise lifelong fidelity to Christ
This vocation, the order of virgins, whose members are known as "consecrated virgins living in the world," dates back to the very beginnings of the church.
Bishops, Catholic groups worry about consequences of partial travel ban
The country's Catholic bishops are "deeply concerned" about the consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow a partial ban on foreign nationals as it reviews the constitutionality of a wider ban.
Religious freedom supporters applaud decision siding with Lutheran school
Religious liberty won June 26 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot discriminate against religious institutions in the distribution of state funds for nonreligious activities.
Court says church school can’t be barred from state funds for playground
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court June 26 said a Lutheran preschool should not be excluded from a state grant program to refurbish its playground surface just because it is a religious entity.
Supreme Court to hear Colorado baker’s appeal in wedding cake case
The U.S. Supreme Court said June 26 it will hear arguments next term on whether a Denver baker unlawfully discriminated against a same-sex couple in declining to make them a wedding cake.
Supreme Court will hear travel ban, allow some limits on immigration
The ban "may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," the court said, but "all other foreign nationals are subject to the provisions of (the executive order)."
Communicators must recognize value, importance of words, author says
Words are not there to be manipulated but to provide an opportunity of grace, said Michael Higgins, a Canadian author and distinguished professor of Catholic thought at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Circle of Protection mobilizes to change nation’s budget priorities
Faith leaders in the Circle of Protection group have pledged to organize their congregations to contact Congress to head off proposed deep spending cuts in vital social service programs.
Bishop: ‘Fundamental defects’ persist in Senate’s version of health bill
The Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act contains "many of the fundamental defects" that appeared in the House-passed American Health Care Act "and even further compounds them," said the bishop who heads the U.S. bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
Early reviews negative on Senate Republicans’ health care bill
One feature of the bill is a reduction in the federal government's share of funding for Medicaid, which offers health coverage to the poor, to 57 percent of its cost over the next seven years.