Addressing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at the closely watched meeting in June 2002, as the first wave of clergy sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. reached its zenith, then-president Bishop Wilton Gregory promoted new measures of reform and accountability “in a way that ensures it will not happen again.”
After a gunman barged into a southern California bar late Wednesday evening killing 12 individuals, Archbishop José Gómez decried the “horrible violence” and issued a call for peace.
Election night is always like an all-you-can-eat buffet for political junkies, and inevitably it produces the sort of “only in America” ironies you just can’t script: Last night, for instance, gave us a brothel owner who died two weeks before the vote but still managed to get elected to the Nevada state assembly.
A group of Catholic high school seniors lobbying on Capitol Hill Nov. 5 knows there is a lot at stake in the midterm elections.
Parishes throughout the Diocese of Pittsburgh will take up a special collection for the three Jewish congregations that worship at the Tree of Life Synagogue, which was attacked by a gunman.
Against a backdrop of inflammatory anti-immigration rhetoric and on the heels of a successful confirmation of a new U.S. Supreme Court justice, voters will head to the polls on Tuesday for what many political handicappers view as a referendum on President Donald Trump.
The Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer newspapers teamed up for an article published in both daily papers Nov. 4 that examined ways it said the U.S. bishops have failed to police themselves even since their 2002 gathering in Dallas about clergy sex abuse when they “promised that the church’s days of concealment and inaction were over.”
“We are seeing extremist behavior, extremist language, dangerous language that are targeting different people that are not represented by the majority,” said Shmuel Herzfeld of Congregation Ohev Sholom in Washington. And Jewish leaders say the way to address it is by doubling down on acts of love to replace acts of hate.
These days, there can seem to be more sin than sanctity emanating from “the Holy Catholic Church.” Understanding how the Church can be both holy and sinful is Professor Brian Flanagan’s project in his new book, Stumbling in Holiness: Sin and Sanctity in the Church.
In the wake of recent sexual abuse scandals, many Catholics are demanding real change, transparency with church leaders and more lay involvement. These views came across during a recent panel discussion – “A Path Forward on the Clerical Sexual Abuse Crisis” – at Georgetown University.
