Not only have the students failed, but their principals and teachers have failed to hold them responsible.

Supporting the president’s “modest” proposals, Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell wrote, they represent “first steps in correcting gun laws so weak that they are ludicrous.”

Could GOP establishment live with President Hillary Clinton?

School founded by Jesuit Father Terry Charlton offers hope to youth living in Nairobi's Kibera slum.

When it comes to precipitation, Angelenos are easily excited.

"It is absurd to force a pharmacy to sell drugs against their conscience when there are over 30 pharmacies within five miles that already sell the exact same drugs," said a Jan. 4 statement by  Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the pharmacists. "This law does nothing but punish people of faith."

"Our society is increasingly aware of the flaws in the application of the death penalty, which is inconsistent, arbitrary and too often applied in error," wrote Michael Sheedy, executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Feds show patience with white gunmen

Violence and fear-mongering seem "rampant in both church and society" in the northeast African country, said Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio. Five armed men, believed to be allied to South Sudan's main rebel group, assaulted and threatened religious sisters at the Solidarity Teacher Training College in Yambio, the capital of the country's Western Equatoria state, on Dec. 28.

"He wanted to visit the sanctuary and places where St. Francis, on Christmas Eve in 1223, represented the first living Nativity in history," Bishop Domenico Pompili of Rieti told ANSA, the Italian news agency.

Seeing the Glory of Christ at Epiphany

The president was most clearly moved when remembering the particularly horrific attack on the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Ct., in December 2012.

Join Frs. Matt Malone and James Martin for a conversation on Pope Francis and the Year of Mercy moderated by Kerry Weber

Join us for a discussion on the state of ecumenical and interfaith relations 50 years after 'Nostra Aetate.'

The Refugee Act assures adequate services are in place when refugees arrive; it does not grant states refusal powers.

"This is evidence of our reality," Bishop Ramon Castro said outside the home of slain Mayor Gisela Mota in Temixco. "I've been saying it for some time and pleading, and no one has been able to do anything." He said Mota's murder sends the message, "If you don't cooperate with organized crime, look at what's going to happen to you."

The Canadian target of accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees by late February "is well in hand, and we should meet it with no problem," Bruno Saccomani, Canadian ambassador to Jordan, said. "That includes privately sponsored and government-sponsored Syrian refugees."

"The agreement, consisting of a preamble and 32 articles, regards essential aspects of the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, while at the same time reaffirming the support for a negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict in the region," the Vatican said in a statement Jan. 2.

Condemning executive-branch overreach is clearly the GOP party line for 2016.

It’s really the story of Jesus, if you think about it.