News

Dioceses and Charities Hurt by Economic UncertaintyWhile Catholic Charities agencies are facing new demands for assistance, an April poll showed that nearly three-fourths of Catholics across the nation are hesitant to give more money to charity because of concerns about their own personal finances.

Cardinal Restoring Nation’s First Catholic CathedralBy the time the Basilica of the Assumption, the nation’s oldest Catholic cathedral, turns 200 in 2006, Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore wants it restored to its original magnificenceand more. The most notable feature of the basil

Bishop Lifts Ban on Voice of the Faithful MeetingsBishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn has lifted his ban on the use of church property for meetings of the lay group Voice of the Faithful. Bishop Daily said his decision was based on the recommendations of a diocesan committee, headed by Auxiliary Bish

Eucharist Greatest Gift Christ Gave Church, Says EncyclicalThe Eucharist is the greatest gift Christ left his church, a gift that makes the sacrifice of his life present for all time and gives strength and hope to the world, Pope John Paul II wrote in a new encyclical letter. The pope said he issued

Vatican: Collapse of Regime Offers Opportunity for IraqAs Baghdad and other Iraqi cities fell to U.S.-led forces, the Vatican said the collapse of President Saddam Hussein’s regime was an opportunity for the Iraqi people and offered to help in the massive humanitarian task that lies ahead. At

Experts Say New Immigration Controls Not Much HelpFormer F.B.I. and C.I.A. counterterrorism experts said on April 3 that most of the immigration restrictions imposed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have done little to improve national security and wouldn’t have kept any of the men implica

Charity Groups Protest Military Oversight of Iraqi AidThe Catholic Church’s top charity officials are protesting coalition military plans to oversee humanitarian aid distribution in Iraq, seeing it as part of a worrying trend in recent years toward militarizing aid. Two weeks into the U.S.-led

Vatican: Both Sides to Blame for Failure to DisarmExpressing deep pain at the start of U.S. military strikes on Iraq, the Vatican said both sides were to blame for failing to achieve the peaceful disarmament of Iraq under international law. In a statement on March 20, just hours after U.S. missiles

Bishops’ Conference President on War and Wartime ConductJust before the United States began war with Iraq, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed “deep regret that war was not averted” and called on U.S. troops and their allies to “value the lives

Confessional Seal Under Attack In Several StatesThe crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church caused by the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy has sparked a variety of state legislative initiatives to strengthen child abuse laws, including efforts in five states to force a priest to violate the seal of conf