National News

Environment advocates consider Obama climate plan a good step forward

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholics working for environmental justice welcomed President Barack Obama's plan to address climate change, saying it is an ambitious proposal that deserves watching to ensure that it is carried out. The primary concern identified by the faith-based environment advocates revolves around how the plan will affect low-income communities around the world and workers who may be displaced because of the shift toward renewable energy sources.

Roe raised more questions about abortion than it resolved, says speaker

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) — In 1973, many people thought the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision would resolve the abortion debate, but “in fact, it was no resolution at all,” said the associate director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. “Abortion itself remains perhaps the most unresolved of all modern public […]

Democracy needs moral values shown by publicly lived faith, archbishop says

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore held up statesman Sargent Shriver and other Catholics like him as "a living example of how faith enriches public life" June 21 at a standing-room-only Mass opening the second Fortnight for Freedom.

Knights sponsor vigil for religious freedom on feast of English martyrs

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A religious liberty prayer vigil held the evening of June 22 on the east lawn of the U.S. Capitol drew about 100 supporters, and was preceded by a Mass celebrated at St. Joseph's Church on Capitol Hill. The Mass was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus as part of a Fortnight for Freedom initiative.

N.Y. Catholics hail defeat of abortion plank in women’s equality bill

ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) -- The New York State Senate rejected the abortion-related plank of a 10-point women's equality bill, prompting the New York State Catholic Conference to call the action a "remarkable victory for unborn children."

‘Don’t dumb down the faith,’ priest tells Denver convention crowd

DENVER (CNS) — The “dumbing down of the Catholic faith” that impacted catechesis in the mid-1960s “was a pastoral disaster of the first order,” Father Robert Barron told a crowd of about 500 people at the Catholic Media Conference in Denver June 19. “That’s why many people in my generation left the faith,” Father Barron […]

Archbishop urges U.S. support, resettlement of Syrian, other refugees

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez marked World Refugee Day June 20 by asking for U.S. support and resettlement of vulnerable refugee populations across the world, especially for Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country. “The conflict in Syria is worsening and it is time for the United States and the […]

House rejects farm bill; Catholic advocates had called for fairness

UPDATED -- WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The House of Representatives June 20 voted down the farm bill 234-195. Catholic leaders had urged Catholics nationwide to call their representatives in the House and ask for a farm bill that does not make deep cuts into food assistance programs both here and abroad. Bread for the World, the Christian citizens' anti-hunger lobby, said the farm bill deserved to be defeated.

House OKs measure called ‘most important’ pro-life bill in 10 years

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. House June 18 passed the Pain Capable Unborn Protection Act to prohibit abortion nationwide after 20 weeks of gestation, approximately the stage at which scientists say unborn babies are capable of feeling pain.

Report says ‘witch hunt’ tactics hurting CCHD’s outreach to poor

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the U.S. bishops' domestic anti-poverty arm, should "resist efforts that isolate Catholic-funded organizations from effective coalitions that are improving the lives of low-income citizens," according to a new report examining threats to CCHD's funding. The report is titled "Be Not Afraid?: Guilt by Association, Catholic McCarthyism and Growing Threats to the U.S. Bishops' Anti-Poverty Mission."