WASHINGTON – Less than a third of U.S. Catholics participate regularly in selected pastoral or community activities at their churches, though nearly 80 percent say they pray at least weekly, according to the latest report from the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.Read More

It was a first in Monsignor James M. Barker’s 29 years of priesthood. When he showed up for 5:30 p.m. Mass Dec.19 at St. Ignatius in Hickory, the pastor was the only one there.Read More

Regarding Tony Magliano's column on health care and subsidiarity (CR, Dec. 10), I ask two questions: Is it morally right to take someone's property and give it to someone else? Is it morally right to accept said stolen property?Read More

VATICAN CITY – The loving, tender images of Mary breast-feeding the baby Jesus need an artistic and spiritual rehabilitation, said the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.Read More

OMAHA, Neb. – Amid a crowd of friends, family, Boy Scouts and Boy Scout leaders, Bryan and Arnell Petrzilka leaned over and kissed their 13-year-old son, Ben, whose body lay in a casket at Mary Our Queen Church in Omaha.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Welcoming Cuba’s new ambassador to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI once again criticized the U.S. economic embargo against the country, but also called on the Cuban government to expand religious freedom on the island.Read More

Partnerships between local governments and Catholic schools can be complicated. When it comes to H1N1 influenza vaccinations in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, however, the relationship appears to be smooth.Read More

The myth is, of course, that we are glad it’s over for a while. We can’t let our friends realize that we really do enjoy it, including learning the subject matter for itself alone. We tell ourselves that all this is necessary for a job or a career; but deep down we love it.Read More