ANNAPOLIS – In an unusual move that highlights the priority Maryland’s bishops have placed on abolishing the death penalty, Bishop Denis J. Madden, urban vicar, testified in person during Feb. 21 committee hearings on a bill that would replace the death penalty with life sentences without parole. Representatives of the Maryland Catholic Conference usually testify...Read More

LIMA, Peru – When church leaders from throughout Latin America gather in Brazil in May for the fifth general conference of the Latin American bishops’ council, they will be grappling with the contradictions of life on the world’s most Catholic continent. While more than 450 million of the region’s 551 million people are considered Catholic,...Read More

WHEELING, W.Va. – To see firsthand the latest advances in coal mine safety and the daily operations of a mine, Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston joined West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and others on a tour of the McElroy Mine, near Moundsville, the largest coal mine in West Virginia. In a news conference at...Read More

Father Joseph Breighner truly hit a nail on the head in his column ‘Truth behind abortion should be in the news as often as the war in Iraq,” (CR, Feb. 8). He so aptly compared and contrasted the loss of life in the Iraq war with the loss of lives resulting from abortion on demand.Read More

Enacting a ban on human cloning in Maryland will be a central focus of the 28th annual Maryland Candlelight March for Life, March 12 in Annapolis. Prolife supporters from across the state will rally at the state capital, asking lawmakers to support the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2007 – a Senate bill that prohibits...Read More

When Calvert Hall 1966 graduate John “Jay” H. Comi served in the Merchant Marine 1967-69 aboard a cruise ship, his heart sank along with his class ring when he realized he lost the gold piece in the surf of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. As a junior, Mr. Comi had received the ring from Calvert...Read More

LAHORE, Pakistan – Posters pasted on billboards and trees by the country’s main Muslim political alliance blare the “Quran-prescribed” punishments of 100 lashes or death by stoning for women who have sex outside of marriage. As a new bill liberalizing strict women’s laws makes its way through Parliament, hard-line groups have been fighting to keep...Read More

SAN DIEGO – Migrant camps have existed in the Carmel Valley area of north San Diego County longer than most of the area’s housing, certainly longer than the million-dollar homes that now carpet the valley east of Del Mar. Home to the men and women who work in the vegetable and flower fields, the makeshift...Read More