WASHINGTON - Statistics show decreasing numbers of Catholics going to confession, but rather than discouraging churches those numbers are only encouraging them to be more creative in their outreach.Read More

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien has named Patrick Madden the new executive director of development for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Mr. Madden, a parishioner of St. Augustine in Elkridge, succeeds Tom Sonni, who served in the same post from 1995-2007.Read More

VATICAN CITY – It was a first, at least in modern times: In Rome, the center of the Catholic world and the capital of Catholic Italy, a pope felt unwelcome to give a speech at the public university.Read More

KORIAN, Pakistan - The Christian village of Korian in the Punjab province of Pakistan was destroyed July 30 in a violent raid by thousands of Muslims.Read More

William J. McCarthy Jr. is just getting started Aug. 1 as executive director of Catholic Charities, but his roots in the outreach organization stretch back to high school.Read More

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian Christians must feel the support of the universal church and must not feel isolated in their difficulties, said Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.Read More

WASHINGTON – Members of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests are calling for Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s retirement and subsequent removal from eight Vatican congregations before the pope’s visit to the United States in April.Read More

WASHINGTON – TV news anchor and journalism icon Walter Cronkite, who died July 17 at age 92, made the public “feel the news,” said the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Culver City, Calif.Read More