News Briefs

The Philippines Ecumenical Bishops Forum on June 11 criticized the possibility of more American troops arriving in the Philippines as a threat to the nation’s independence and sovereignty. • In comments filed on June 15 with the Department of Health and Human Services, the top three officials of the Catholic Health Association urged the administration to expand its religious exemption from new H.H.S. contraception requirements. • The Catholic Church in India’s Kerala State has adopted “Toward Green Meadows,” a new conservation policy to help fight a “looming environment crisis,” calling for the use of solar energy, rain harvesting and efforts to counter Kerala’s widespread deforestation. • Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, will receive the 2012 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award on Sept. 16 in Davenport, Iowa. • Terrence W. Tilley, chairman of the theology department at Fordham University in New York, received the Catholic Theological Society of America’s John Courtney Murray Award for excellence in Catholic theology on June 9. • The Vatican applied on June 13 to control the new Internet address extension “.catholic” and decide who is allowed to use it.