The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts Nov. 17 urged the state Senate to reject a budget amendment that would allow girls as young as 16 to get an abortion with the consent of a guardian or a court. It would remove the current requirement in the law for girls under 18 to get parental consent for an abortion.
The State of New York has responded to the petition filed by the Diocese of Brooklyn with the U.S. Supreme Court over the diocese’s religious freedom case.
Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit will head up a special working group of the U.S. bishops to address issues surrounding the election of a Catholic president and policies that may come about that would be in conflict with Catholic teaching and the bishops’ priorities.
When the U.S. bishops decided to continue with their annual fall meeting despite a pandemic, they took it online, shortened its length but also its scope, leaving only the most essential matters on the to-do list.And at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2020 fall meeting, racism was part of that essential business.
Two weeks after Election Day, President Donald Trump had not eased up on challenging the voting results. Reconciliation of the citizenry seemed elusive. But leaders of the Catholic clergy in Brooklyn and across the nation reminded the Church of its unique role in helping the nation heal.
The U.S. bishops are considering renewing the mandate of their Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism for a second three-year term.
A new virtual format left little room for dialogue at day one of the U.S. Bishops annual fall meeting, but for one 45-minute stretch more than a dozen bishops gave their takes on laicized ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
Over the last three years, sexual abuse charges against two high-profile and massively influential cardinals have rocked the Catholic Church, and now, seemingly, both stories have reached their conclusions. Cardinal George Pell is a free man, while Theodore McCarrick is laicized and exposed as a cunning manipulator able to hoodwink three papacies until his string finally ran out.
Following the Nov. 10 release of the Vatican’s 460-page report on former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, some of the speculation in the media has centered on the role of St. John Paul II in McCarrick’s rise through church ranks.
Disgruntled conservatives, claiming they were targeted while liberals could tweet freely, are flocking to “Parler” — that’s French for “talk.” This new platform claims to be an unbiased home for social networking that honors free speech. Conservative politicians, pundits, and other users tout it as a powerful alternative to longtime platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
