National News

RU-486 abortion pill can be reversed, says physician

Dr. George Delgado said that the abortifacient effects of RU-486 -- known generically as mifepristone -- can be safely reversed about 55 percent of the time by administering a high-dose progesterone protocol, preferably within 24 hours after a woman has taken the abortion pill.

National pro-life leaders fear health care rationing

Congress needs to act quickly to protect those patients from making uninformed decisions about their care, Burke Balch said during the organization's annual convention July 9-11 in New Orleans.

New center will offer students chance to ‘discern God’s love for them’

Erin Moore hopes to move in when the St. John Paul II Newman Center opens near the University of Nebraska at Omaha in fall 2016.

Twelve years in, sex abuse charter faces ongoing challenges

"We're dealing with a charter that is loose in the way it is written ... in order to respect the bishop's right to govern his own diocese," said Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.

Same-sex marriage ruling settles one legal question, leaves many others

Although some critics of the decision suggested clergy would be required to conduct marriage ceremonies that conflict with their faiths' teachings, most legal observers said that clearly would not pass legal scrutiny.

Catholic leaders urge Congress to help people released from prison

Miami's archbishop and the head of Catholic Charities USA urged Congress to pass legislation they say would help more than 650,000 men, women and juveniles who re-enter society each year from prisons, jails and detention centers.

Joy ‘palpable’ for those welcoming first-class relic of St. Augustine

The relic of St. Augustine of Hippo is on loan from the Vatican Treasury for the 450th anniversary celebration of the city and cathedral parish.

Milwaukee Archdiocese asks Supreme Court to review cemetery fund ruling

In asking the Supreme Court to review the decision relating to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Timothy Nixon, an attorney representing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust, said in a news release there are compelling reasons for the court to take up the case.

South Carolinians hope flag’s removal brings racial healing to state

Calls to remove the flag, long a point of controversy, reached a fever pitch after the June 17 shooting of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Dylann Roof, 21, the alleged gunman, posed for photos with the flag and expressed white supremacist views prior to the shootings.

Catholic University exhibit highlights Syriac Christian traditions

Sitting in the May Gallery in the John K. Mullen of Denver Memorial Library at The Catholic University of America in Washington, one can feel immersed in 19th-century Syriac Christian life.