News
Abortion in America
The number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. hit a high point in 1988 and has been on a decline since.
Deacon: Rev. King’s civil rights advocacy marked by faith, hope, love
GARY, Ind. (CNS) -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. may have been a reluctant leader, "but he was willing to put himself out there," said Deacon Melvin R. Tardy Jr. He was "the right person for the moment" in the civil rights movement, said the deacon, an academic adviser at the University of Notre Dame. What separated Rev. King from other contemporaries was faith, hope, and love, he added.
Priest urges Catholics to regain ‘ardor’ for risen Christ to evangelize
SALT LAKE CITY (CNS) — To evangelize in today’s world, Catholics “need to recover their sense of ardor for Jesus risen from the dead,” a Chicago priest told attendees at the national Cathedral Ministry Conference in Salt Lake City. Father Robert Barron, a Chicago archdiocesan priest long involved in media ministry, also told his listeners […]
Citing conscience laws, Illinois judge halts contraceptive mandate
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Catholic owners of an Illinois health services consulting company have won a temporary restraining order against the state's contraceptive mandate. Judge Terence M. Sheen of the DuPage County Circuit Court granted the order Jan. 15 to Christopher and Mary Anne Yep and their company, Triune Health Group Inc., saying Illinois' conscience laws take precedence over the state mandate that the health insurance they provide to their employees must cover abortion, sterilizations and contraceptives.
Pro-lifer says activism has shown her ‘despair’ in abortion ‘mindset’
ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- Pro-life activist Lila Rose was a just child when she first became aware of the tragedy of abortion. Growing up in San Jose, Calif., the third of eight children, "we were taught from a young age to love and respect human life," she told more than 150 pro-life advocates gathered at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington for a mini-retreat. Rose, a 24-year-old Catholic convert, officially became involved with the right-to-life movement at 15 when she founded Live Action, a pro-life nonprofit specializing in investigative journalism.
Flu epidemic prompts some churches to stop offering Communion chalice
WASHINGTON (CNS) — This year amid the raging flu epidemic in the United States, several dioceses have issued recommendations for receiving Communion, offering the sign of peace and even attending Mass. According to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flu season started earlier than usual this year. As of […]
Everyone, even atheists, has human desire to know who God is, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The desire to see and know God is innate in everyone, even nonbelievers, Pope Benedict XVI said. But it’s especially important that people don’t just seek God when they need him but make room for him throughout their busy lives, he said during his weekly general audience in the Vatican’s Paul […]
Canada slashed funds to Catholic agency despite bureaucratic support
TORONTO (CNS) — Government staffers described the bishops’ Development and Peace agency as “Canada’s most experienced development organization supported exclusively by Canadians” — then slashed its funding. Internal emails, briefing notes and memoranda obtained by The Catholic Register, a national weekly, reveal that a government decision to cut funding to the Canadian Catholic Organization for […]
Video features Bishop Thomas encouraging vocations
Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Thomas spoke about vocations to the priesthood in a video produced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. As part of the Year of Faith series, former Philadelphia auxiliary bishop and now Raleigh (N.C.) Bishop Michael Burbidge also addressed the theme of vocations in his video segment.
Federal court panel dismisses ACLU challenge of USCCB trafficking grant
WASHINGTON (CNS) — A federal appeals court dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts legal challenge to a contract between the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying the case had become moot because the contract had expired. In a unanimous ruling Jan. 15, the three-judge panel […]