JERUSALEM – The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which coordinates Christian pilgrimage sites, will close the grotto of the Basilica of the Annunciation for four months for conservation work on the grotto’s rock.Read More

WASHINGTON – The Notre Dame Mission Volunteers, an AmeriCorps program, has received a renewal of its grant for the 2011 fiscal year, but the federal funding cuts for volunteer-based programs make the financial future of Notre Dame-AmeriCorps program unclear.Read More

The fifth-grader placed his small hands on each side of the timer joined to the oblong blue rubber StackMat on the table. When he lifted them, the numerals rapidly ascended as Colin McCabe’s hands skillfully handled a dozen plastic blue cups. He up-stacked. He down-stacked. After 15.98 seconds he returned his hands to the StackMat...Read More

BATON ROUGE, La. – A Louisiana Dominican priest who was found shot to death July 11 at his order’s Mississippi retreat house “was a good priest and a good preacher” who “drew the best out of people,” said an official of the late priest’s province.Read More

SAN DIEGO – A Catholic church on an Indian reservation was one of the casualties of the ongoing wildfires that have hit Southern California.Read More

Despite efforts by faith leaders to encourage Marylanders not to sign a referendum petition on the Maryland DREAM Act, enough signatures have been certified to do just that. The Maryland State Board of Elections had certified 87,073 petition signatures as of July 11 – well more than the 55,736 signatures required to bring the law...Read More

GALLUP, N.M. – In a letter posted on the Diocese of Gallup Web site Oct. 18, Bishop Donald E. Pelotte spoke philosophically about his health problems after he was injured in a fall at his home July 23.Read More

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Many Catholics in the Springfield Diocese mourned the loss of Father Paul J. Archambault, a 42-year-old priest who was found dead July 3 at the rectory of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Springfield.Read More