There was a time -- and it lasted many years -- when the crisis caused by clerical sex abuse happened outside the Vatican s walls Even when it was no longer seen as just an Anglo-Saxon problem it remained a bishops problem a question for the local Church as it was known in Rome There was plen

That s America s not of course America s Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University has a hard-hitting article under that title at the Guardian that s well worth a read He paints a picture of a United States in a nasty mood no longer interested in compassion and falling into the politics of rac

The decision to award Robert Edwards the developer of in vitro fertilization the Nobel Prize received front page coverage from the New York Times today The story notes the church s objections to the procedure but does little to flesh them out For more on that front see today s story from Cathol

A few notable online items this week First an interview with George Coyne S J of the Vatican Observatory Fr Coyne explains how the Vatican became involved in astronomy and responds to Stephen Hawking s recent statements on the origins of the universe see minute 15 40 Kevin Clarke recently

Given that the Blessed John Henry Newman has only been approved for devotion in England and the optional memorial celebrating him approved for 9 October in the National Calendar for England alone it would obviously be very wrong and wicked for this Englishman to alert American Catholics to the exi

Politicians addressing their own religiosity is nothing new in this country for sure President John F Kennedy had to promise that his public policy would not be unduly influenced by his Roman Catholic faith which was seen as threatening to the American read WASP way of life in the 1960s More r