National News
Halloween costumes that mock religious figures called disrespectful
Every October, many look forward to Halloween -- the trick-or-treating, the parties and especially the costumes.
Churches urged to develop better pastoral approach to divorce, marriage
Eastern and Western Catholic and Orthodox Churches would do well to challenge one another about how they handle divorce and remarriage, said a presenter at a canon law conference.
R U texting in church? Put the phone down!
People use cell phones in every part of their life, it's no surprise that cellphones affect church liturgies. Despite blurbs in bulletins and signs to turn off devices, texting or taking a call during Mass can distract the priest and the people in the pews.
Muslim leaders worldwide issue stern rebuke to ISIS
More than 100 Muslim leaders -- clerics and laypeople alike -- have signed on to a letter criticizing the Middle East Muslim military group ISIS, short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Msgr. Albacete, a leader of Communion and Liberation, dies at age 73
Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, a theologian, physicist, author and a leader of the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation, died Oct. 24 in Dobbs Ferry after a long illness. He was 73.
EPA’s Clean Power Plan draws interest from Catholic organizations
About the time in June that the Environmental Protection Agency introduced a plan to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, Martha Huckabay and her neighbors in St. Rose, Louisiana, began to smell a foul odor from a chemical storage facility near their home.
Faith, kindness of slain U.S. journalist recalled at Mass
Close to 1,000 of slain journalist James Foley's closest friends and family gathered at a church in New Hampshire this week for a memorial Mass to celebrate the man murdered by Islamic State extremists Aug. 19 in Syria.
Former secretary says St. John Paul II shared his flock’s sorrows, joys
On his first visit to a Washington shrine dedicated to the man he worked under for nearly 10 years, the former secretary to St. Pope John Paul II said he was "deeply impressed" by the tribute and could feel the late pontiff's presence within the building.
Sisters serve God and his people on mountain oasis
A religious sister from Drexel Hill is one of two sisters ministering to poor families and their children on a 465-acre nature preserve in West Virginia, a mountain sanctuary surrounded by the mining industry.
Near rich, underused coal seams, poverty persists in W. Va.
The loss of thousands of mining jobs and the lack of diversity in the West Virginia economy have taken a toll on residents. The poverty rate in one county hovered at 33.5 percent from 2008 to 2012, and statewide it remains at 17.6 percent, fourth highest in the U.S.