Michael J. O’Loughlin

I had the privilege last month of hearing a talk from Dr Carolyn Woo the president of Catholic Relief Services in which she highlighted the collaborative efforts of CRS across the world as it helps to alleviate global poverty CRS an organization that has inspired me for many years is the offic

Running long distances is difficult all the more so when you rsquo re the best American runner trying to capture Olympic marathon glory That rsquo s the case for Ryan Hall profiled in last Sunday rsquo s New York Times a Pentecostal Christian who incorporates fundamentalist spirituality into his

At 55 Rainer Maria Woelki is the youngest Cardinal in the Catholic Church appointed by Pope Benedict XVI and serving as the nbsp Archbishop of Berlin He recently sat down with the German newspaper Die Zeit The full interview is worth a read including his thoughts on gay relationships sentiment

Last month I listened to an interview on American Public Media rsquo s The Story with Brian Nelson a convicted murderer who had spent 12 years in solitary confinement in a prison in Illinois I could think of no better word to describe such a punishment than torture Listen to that interview here

A leading scholar in the history of Christianity predicts that a widening chasm between the laity and leaders of the Catholic Church will lead to schism in the not too distant future Diarmaid MacCulloch a professor at Oxford said that while the future of the Christian faith as a whole is bright

If you rsquo ve ever been to Washington DC and have driven up Massachusetts Avenue to get a glimpse at the impressive embassy nbsp buildings that line that street you may have seen a protestor standing in front of the Vatican embassy with a sign condemning the Pope and the abuse of children by C

Among those most concerned about the repeal of the Don rsquo t Ask Don rsquo t Tell law that barred gay men and women from serving openly in the military were some military chaplains who were afraid that their religious liberty would be threatened Now with several months of the repeal in effect

National Catholic Reporter offers a detailed look at an emerging controversy in the Diocese of Oakland involving a national association that offers pastoral support to gay and lesbian Catholics and a bishop rsquo s quest to assess its Catholicity From NCR Following a more than yearlong investigat

The conversion to Catholicism by a once prominent atheist writer is gaining some attention From CNN She went from atheist to Catholic in just over 1 000 words Leah Libresco who rsquo d been a prominent atheist blogger for the religion website Patheos announced on her blog this week that after y

Some breaking news from the Vatican today via Reuters The Vatican has hired an American journalist from the Fox News Network and member of the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei to help improve its relations with the media a senior Church source said on Saturday Greg Burke Fox s Rome-based