“We want to let Catholics all throughout the state know that the death penalty is not necessary to protect public safety,” Tom Venzor, head of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said at a press event on Sept. 29.
Signs Of the Times
Saving Hyde
Jeanne Mancini, executive director of the March for Life, observed the 40th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal Medicaid funding of abortions, by warning that Hyde was at risk because the Democratic Party platform and the presidential standard-bearer, Hillary Clinton, have said the
Extension to Cuba
Catholic Extension plans to expand its outreach in the Caribbean region, funding church reconstruction in Cuba and expanding its century-long involvement in Puerto Rico in response to the island’s ongoing debt crisis, the Rev. Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension, said during a news conf
Peace Deal Defeated
The stunning defeat of a referendum on Oct. 2 for a peace deal with leftist rebels leaves Colombians with no Plan B to save an accord that sought to bring an end to a half century of hostilities. Instead of winning by an almost two-to-one margin on Sunday, as polls had predicted, those favoring the
News Briefs
Subtly acknowledging Georgia’s ongoing territorial dispute with Russia, Pope Francis urged greater efforts to sow peace throughout the Caucasus region shortly after arriving in Tbilisi on Sept. 30. • On Sept. 27 Catholics joined a group of other faith leaders as part of the “We Stan
Once accepted, now rejected, Haitian immigrants are left in limbo
For displaced Haitians in San Diego and Mexico, the real emergency is what to do now.
News Briefs
The Nigerian government reported on Sept. 22 that President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking U.N. assistance in negotiations to exchange the kidnapped schoolgirls from Chibok for captured leaders of Boko Haram. • Catholic Extension officials announced on Sept. 19 that Melva Arbelo, director of the S
Saving Christians
Speakers addressing the Helsinki Commission, a Congressional advisory group that monitors global human rights conditions, on Sept. 22 called upon the United States to step up efforts to provide financial support to nongovernmental organizations that serve thousands of displaced people in northern Ir
Demand for Justice
Building on the one-year anniversary of Pope Francis’s historic address to Congress last September, over 120 alumni of Jesuit law schools delivered a letter on Sept. 21 to Congressional leadership and the offices of Jesuit-educated members of Congress, calling for passage of bipartisan crimina
Clashing Theologians
In August, the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, based in the United Kingdom, published a report in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae,” the papal encyclical that upheld the ban on the use of contraceptives. The statement, signed by more than 150 Catholic sc
