National News
Restorative justice seen as an aid to victims and communities
Given the national climate about crime and law enforcement, it seems almost unthinkable that crime victims would want to meet the men and women convicted of those crimes in prison to seek some kind of healing for the pain they experienced years ago.
Church of martyrs, polarization in U.S. church seen as ‘mega trends’
Catholic journalist John L. Allen Jr., a CNN analyst and an associate editor of the Boston Globe, discussed the future of the Catholic Church -- describing what he called three "mega trends" in the church today -- during a gathering Nov. 3 in Louisville.
Catholic TV chef has cooked for not one but two popes
Lidia Bastianich, even at age 68, is working like crazy. She's on her fifth public television cooking series and will have a Christmas special on PBS. She has also written 13 books, has a line of commercial cookware, sauces and pastas, and restaurants in New York City; Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; and even Brazil.
Supreme Court will hear appeals in HHS mandate cases
UPDATED - Under the federal Affordable Care Act, most employers must cover employees' artificial birth control, sterilization and abortifacients, even if Catholic and other religious employers are morally opposed to such coverage. The high court will hear their appeals, including those from Pennsylvania, in March 2016.
Kennedy calls for more funds to treat mental health, addiction
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy called equal access for treatment a "moral imperative," saying, “we would never allow this to happen if this were any other physical illness." Insurance companies, hospitals and government can all share in the blame, he said.
St. Teresa of Avila ‘shows the way of radical love,’ says Carmelite nun
On a recent Saturday, a group of Discalced Carmelite nuns in Terre Haute celebrated the close connection that they have to St. Teresa of Avila, their order's foundress, who was born in Spain 500 years ago.
Catholic-Lutheran document sums up agreements, maps steps to full unity
The "Declaration on the Way" was prepared by a joint task force of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
One year later: Central American minors in U.S. still face challenges
Just because unaccompanied Central American minors are no longer crossing the U.S. border in the vast numbers they were last year doesn't mean their problems are over.
Ohio Catholic first woman to lead a national organization for veterans
One of only a dozen or so female veterans in the 7,520-member organization, Crawford ran unopposed when she was elected at the group's Las Vegas convention last August.
If you love God, care for what he has made, says cardinal
Cardinal Peter Turkson, who drafted the papal document on the environment, said in Ohio that two things God created "are crying to us -- the earth and the way we have abused it, and humanity, part of which is still needy and suffering."