The plan could result in the possible shutdown of churches and schools as the archdiocese responds to a decline in the number of priests and a shift in parishioners.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee urged all people of goodwill to pray that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade in its ruling on Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In the Supreme Court’s first major abortion case in decades the majority of justices Dec. 1 seemed willing to let that ban stay in place. But it was unclear if they would take this further and overturn Roe.

Cardinal George Pell, jailed for more than a year for sex abuse crimes he ultimately was cleared of, said the experience enabled him to understand suffering as a redemptive process that allows one to identify closely with Christ.

Revs. Brian Strassburger and Louie Hotop have started a podcast documenting their ministry in the Rio Grande Valley along the U.S.-Mexico border. The aim of the podcast is to explore immigration through a lens of Catholic social teaching.

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 23 that an Indiana trial court “committed reversible error” when it dismissed a former teacher’s lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Indianapolis earlier this year.