On Ann Hennessy’s first day of school at St. Anthony of Padua in Baltimore during the Great Depression, the young girl knew she had better be good or her parents would suffer otherworldly consequences. The pastor had given a rabble-rousing homily a few weeks earlier warning that the flames of hell awaited parents who did...Read More

When 17-year-old John Carroll School senior Robert Darin Owens Jr., known simply as “D.J.” to friends, teachers and teammates, endured the sudden death of his father a little over a year ago, football became his mainstay.Read More

MEXICO CITY – Despite an intense opposition campaign by the Catholic Church, the Mexico City Assembly has approved an initiative legalizing abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Following a heated session April 24, the legislature voted in favor of the new law, which will allow hospitals run by the city government to provide...Read More

VATICAN CITY – A deadly militant siege of a Catholic cathedral in Baghdad, Iraq, was a “savage” act of “absurd violence,” Pope Benedict XVI said.Read More

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Words are not enough to comfort grieving parents, said a priest who spent time with the parents of several of the slain Virginia Tech students when they first learned their son or daughter was dead. In the early hours after the murder rampage on campus that left 33 dead, Father James Arsenault,...Read More

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien’s column this week includes excerpts from his Respect Life Sunday homily.Read More

WASHINGTON – A workable comprehensive immigration reform bill on the table, more sympathetic leadership in Congress and a “this year or maybe never” incentive are prodding immigration advocates to action. After a day and a half of briefings and strategizing with advocates who work on immigration every day, activists from more than 66 dioceses took...Read More

WASHINGTON – The nuts-and-bolts consideration of whether Arizona’s school tuition tax credit program is constitutional, being heard by the Supreme Court Nov. 3, will first have to survive a preliminary question about legal standing.Read More