Relief efforts are under way to help communities across western North Carolina reeling from the impacts of Tropical Storm Helene.

Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, urged its supporters to speak out against what it called a “regressive” trend of five executions in five states in the span of one week.

In times of personal crisis, Catholics often turn to their parish priest for help. But in the Archdiocese of Newark, the clergy are doing more than lending a sympathetic ear.

Congress on Sept. 25 passed a temporary measure to keep the federal government funded into December, averting a shutdown before the Nov. 5 election.

In one of her strongest statements on restoring a national right to abortion as it existed under the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973, Vice President Kamala Harris has said she would support eliminating the filibuster in the U.S. Senate in order to bring back federal protections for a woman’s right to an abortion as they existed under Roe.

There’s an episode of the 2000s political drama West Wing titled “The Al Smith Dinner,” where the two presidential nominees have trepidation about attending the Archdiocese of New York’s charitable event, but ultimately decide to attend.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said he is “disappointed” that Vice President Kamala Harris will not attend the Al Smith charity dinner Oct. 17, a New York Catholic charities fundraiser that has become a staple for presidential nominees in election years. But he still held out hope that the Democratic nominee could change her plans and join the event which her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, is now planning to attend.

A Catholic priest who had gameshow fans “swooning,” according to one entertainment reporter, told OSV News he hoped his recent television appearance helps give “a positive impression of the church” and clergy in general.

Vice President Kamala Harris will not attend the Al Smith charity dinner Oct. 17, a New York Catholic charities fundraiser that has become a staple for presidential nominees in election years.