National News
Priests, religious near Conn. school shooting quick to offer assistance
NEWTOWN, Conn. (CNS) -- As law enforcement officers tried to piece together the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and seven adults dead, priests from nearby parishes rushed to the scene to comfort families and staff.
Federal judge calls pro-life license plate ‘viewpoint discrimination’
RALEIGH, N.C. (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of North Carolina said they were "deeply saddened" that a federal judge ruled the state cannot issue "Choose Life" license plates without offering a choice of plates with a different viewpoint.
If charitable deductions are in peril, will contributions be, too?
This December, as Congress and the White House scramble to find new sources of revenue to go with budget cuts to achieve deficit reductions and avert a so-called "fiscal cliff," one tempting source for creating revenue is a ceiling on tax deductions. Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, predicted that if tax deductions are capped, "there will be a definite decrease in the philanthropy that charities will see."
Supreme Court to hear cases on same-sex marriage
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Supreme Court will take up in the spring two cases over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. In orders issued Dec. 7, the court agreed to hear a case over California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, and one out of New York over the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines a marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Church urges ‘circle of protection’ for poor in US budget debate
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic social teaching's concern for human life and dignity stood front and center as the role of the federal spending was debated by political leaders and assessed by the electorate in a presidential election year. Concepts rooted in church teaching -- subsidiarity, solidarity and the common good -- entered the public arena, offering Americans insight into principles that, church leaders repeatedly explained, must be considered when identifying spending priorities while the country struggled with a growing federal deficit and a sluggish economic recovery.
Federal judge says New York Archdiocese’s HHS lawsuit can move forward
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CNS) -- A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging the federal contraceptive mandate filed by the Archdiocese of New York and two other Catholic entities can move forward.
Amid ongoing violence, Chicago-area Catholics challenged to build peace
CHICAGO (CNS) -- In a metropolitan area rocked by crime, Chicago-area Catholics are being challenged to respond and realize their spiritual responsibility to build peace. More than 200 children and adults gathered on a street corner on Chicago's South Side Nov. 30 to pray for peace on their streets. Earlier that week, shots rang out at nearby St. Columbanus Church following the funeral of a reputed gang member. One man was killed and another injured in the shooting.
Catholic jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dies; known for ‘Take Five’
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Dave Brubeck, the influential and prolific pianist whose composition "Take Five" became a standard in the annals of jazz, died of heart failure Dec. 5 at age 91, one day before his 92nd birthday. Brubeck played his "cool" brand of West Coast jazz before Blessed John Paul II and eight presidents. He became a Catholic in 1980 after completing a commission from Our Sunday Visitor -- a Mass titled "To Hope." Brubeck said in a PBS biographical profile, "I didn't convert to Catholicism, because I wasn't anything to convert from. I just joined the Catholic Church."
Reform must respect immigrants’ human rights, dignity, says archbishop
ATLANTA (CNS) — Some 200 national immigration leaders surveyed the landscape of immigration reform at the federal and state level during a three-day Catholic conference in Atlanta Dec. 3-5. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta told the leaders that while the federal government recently acted to offer young people brought into the country as children […]
Use of Louisiana state funds for school vouchers ruled unconstitutional
BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called it "wrong-headed" and a "travesty" that a state judge ruled Nov. 30 that a voucher program passed by the Legislature last spring is unconstitutional. State District Judge Tim Kelley said the state cannot use funds set aside for public education to pay for children in failing schools to attend nonpublic schools.