ST. PAUL, Minn. – From the huge windows of her downtown apartment, Mary Smith, 33, can look over the rooftops of St. Paul’s businesses. Her son, 2-year-old Khaliq Hall, can see the trains passing on the tracks to the west, along the Mississippi River.Read More

WASHINGTON – The chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ international and domestic policy committees urged the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction – popularly known as the “supercommittee” – to remember the poor and vulnerable as they come up with a plan to deal with the nation’s financial deficit.Read More

When Deacon Ray Moreau leaves the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen Sept. 1 to begin a new chapter in his life and ministry, it will be, he said, “a bittersweet” time, a sentiment echoed by the cathedral’s rector, staff and parishioners.Read More

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger of Evansville said he will not attend an April right-to-life dinner where Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is scheduled to speak because he objects to comments the GOP leader made about abortion.Read More

It’s not the full repeal she had lobbied for, but Mary Ellen Russell hailed the House of Delegates for passing significant restrictions on the death penalty in Maryland.Read More

“Deaths reminder of terrible tragedy of war” (CR, Aug. 11), notwithstanding the huge loss of life and injuries to many brave American soldiers, omits a very important loss of life. We sometimes forget the huge number of innocent civilians caught up on both sides of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Read More

MADRID – Pope Benedict XVI’s aides had seen enough. The pontiff was trying to lead a World Youth Day vigil Aug. 20 at Cuatro Vientos, a former air base, when a powerful thunderstorm swept into town.Read More

Though she lasted only one day on the softball field for a lack of interest in sliding, Margy Teixeira would be playing baseball, too, if she had been born a boy.Read More