Three more articles on this important and timely topic The first is from Bishop Blase Cupich writing in wake of the administration s accouncement of an accommodation on the contraception mandate first proposed by HHS The initial reaction of our USCCB leadership to the president rsquo s remarks

Bishops should accept their victory Special to CNN After weeks of tangling over new Health and Human Services guidelines requiring contraception services in new health insurance plans the White House has offered what it describes as a common sense accommodation It is aimed at ending the confron

Downton Abbey addiction has arrived here if a bit belatedly nbsp I missed the first season since I normally never watch television and hadn rsquo t gotten the word of its pleasures nbsp But with the help of my TV DVD competent granddaughter I am now up to speed What a treat It rsquo s equal t

The Obama administration announced a ldquo common sense accommodation rdquo seeking to end a public dispute with the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops over new requirements for contraception services in health care plans Under revised guidelines offered today a religious exemption from those

I rsquo m thrilled that the Obama administration has revised the HHS regulations to address the concerns of Catholic affiliated organizations nbsp The Catholic Health Association has weighed in supporting the solution nbsp ldquo We are very pleased with the White House announcement that a resol

Atop anyone s list of leading anti-gay marriage warriors is Maggie Gallagher the founder of the National Organization for Marriage Gallagher is profiled in a lengthy piece by Mark Oppenheimer for Salon though you may recognize the author from the Beliefs column in the New York Times Oppenheimer

Remember this scene from John Steinbeck rsquo s depression-era novel The Grapes of Wrath A cook a waitress and two truckers are in a diner on Route 66 Outside A woman in the car a flaxen-haired woman said ldquo See if you can get it here rdquo The man turned off the hose and screwed on

Updated Senior White House officials spoke in advance of an announcement from President Obama expected later today highlighting a ldquo common sense accommodation rdquo seeking to end a public dispute with the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops over new requirements for contraception services

Culture Editor Fr Jim Martin writing for our friends at The Jesuit Post Unlike most of the guys who write for The Jesuit Post I rsquo m not exactly a ldquo young Jesuit rdquo I rsquo m 51 On the other hand these days anyone under 90 could be considered ldquo young rdquo in a religious

Tuesday s decision of the three judge panel for the Ninth Circuit court which covers the western states of the United States declaring California Proposition 8 as unconstitutional still leaves many murky issues about the constitutionality of same sex marriage The 89 page decision endorsed by two

Missing from President Obama rsquo s State of the Union Address which was aimed so consistently at the economic problems of the middle class mdash the section of the population most likely to actually vote mdash was a confrontation with the nation rsquo s most destructive most virulent internal cr

It appears that the problem of government infringement on religious liberty is rapidly spreading Across the pond mdash almost mdash the Irish government has voted to reduce the 242 euro nbsp grants given to Irish families suffering from First Communions and Confirmations Last year 14 000 families

Why did Madonna choose to make a move about Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII Could she be chasing artistic gravitas A reflection by Victor Stepien Madonna is not remembered for her appearances on the big screen but for her music Her attempts at acting have been mainly failures except for E

A Catholic diocese in New England is getting some publicity for appointing a priest to lead a program called ldquo Courage rdquo nbsp throughout Maine Courage is a support group for Catholics to ldquo Live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church s teaching on homosexuality rdq

An explanation from Mirada Global Though their prime minister David Cameron the United Kingdom opposed the application for the financial transaction tax The proposal put forth by the French president Sarkozy planned that the European Union should use said tax in order to slow down the financial

I went to evening Mass with a heavy heart having spent the greater part of Saturday at a memorial service for an old friend He was a fourth grade teacher who had taught two of our four children but more than that he was one of my husband rsquo s dearest friends and practically a part of our fam

Cambridge MA This is Interfaith Awareness Week at Harvard as part of World Interfaith Harmony Week only in part by coincidence we have scheduled a rich variety of events at the Center for the Study of World Religions After the week is over I will reflect on some of what happened and I rsquo ve

I am not crazy enough to believe that the U S culture wars ever ended but it is kind of breathtaking to watch them reignite into flame before your eyes After announcing just three days ago that it would no longer fund breast exams at a handful of Planned Parenthood affiliates the Susan G Komen

I just read about something called a ldquo premortem rdquo and found it intriguing It rsquo s a technique devised by psychologist Gary Klein to help groups make better decisions Unfortunately as we all know groups are subject to groupthink and overconfidence Once an idea is put on the table no