The Obama administration will seek a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court struck down the president’s program to protect more than four million immigrants from deportation. The ruling on Nov. 9 upheld a Texas-based federal judge’s injunction against President
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Breaking Silence on Racism
A “seismic shift in demographics” in both society and the U.S. Catholic Church in the coming decades will create a church that is far less white, the Rev. Bryan Massingale told an audience in New Orleans on Nov. 6. The church will be unprepared to deal with that reality, he continued, un
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Pope Calls Paris Attacks ‘Blasphemy’ Says Dialogue Must Continue
Using God’s name to try to justify violence and murder is “blasphemy,” Pope Francis said on Nov. 15, speaking about the terrorist attacks in Paris. “Such barbarity leaves us dismayed and we ask ourselves how the human heart can plan and carry out such horrible events,”
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Pope Francis to Host Refugees and JRS
Pope Francis has long urged Catholics to welcome refugees, saying the world is currently suffering from a “globalization of indifference,” ignoring those who cry out for mercy. On Saturday, as a precursor to the Holy Year of Mercy to launch on 8 December, the Pope will formally recognize and pledge support for the JRS Global Education Initiative, an initiative aimed to extend JRS’ educational programs to 100,000 additional refugees by the year 2020.
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Declaring Unity
Drawing on five decades of dialogue, the Catholic and Lutheran churches together have issued “Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist.” It includes 32 statements of agreement describing points of convergence on church, ministry and the Eucharist. It also notes the differen
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Mandate Challenge
U.S. Supreme Court justices said on Nov. 6 they will hear seven pending appeals in lawsuits brought by several Catholic and other faith-based entities against the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate. Among the plaintiffs are the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Archdiocese of Washingto
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The Earth at Risk
On Nov. 3 Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, gave the keynote address at Santa Clara University’s two day conference on “Laudato Si’”: “Our Future on a Shared Planet: Silicon Valley in Conversation with the Envir
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News Briefs
After a deadly outbreak of violence around his parish in the Central African Republic’s capital of Bangui, Moses Otii Alir, a Comboni priest, expressed the hope that Pope Francis’ planned visit would open people’s hearts to God’s love and “renew the face of this beautif
Posted inThe Good Word
National Bible Week begins on Sunday, Nov. 15
“The Bible: A Book for the Family” is this year’s theme for Bible Week, building on the Synod of Bishops on the Family and Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families.
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Bishops Hope for Peace in Syria
Syriac Catholic bishops, meeting in Lebanon during their annual synod, called for a diplomatic solution to achieve peace in Syria and Iraq. In a statement released at the conclusion of the assembly, the bishops pleaded for an end to the civil war in Syria, now in its fifth year, and urged countries&