CUMBERLAND – Nearly five years after Casper R. Taylor Jr. lost his seat in the House of Delegates and stepped down as Maryland’s longest-serving Speaker of the House of Delegates, the well-known Western Maryland native hasn’t backed away from public policy. While he no longer casts a vote or wields a gavel, Mr. Taylor serves...Read More

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Adults talking sexuality with a bunch of teens is typically a recipe for awkwardness. So, when a husband and wife team, Jason and Crystalina Evert, stood in front of 21,000 teenagers Nov. 20 and preached the values of chastity, the last thing anyone expected was for it to go over like...Read More

WASHINGTON – Recent news reports have mistakenly claimed that the Archdiocese of Washington and its social service arm, Catholic Charities, are threatening to stop providing social services if the District of Columbia City Council's proposed same-sex marriage bill passes, said Auxiliary Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Washington.Read More

ROME – As a Peace Corps volunteer, Tom Bissell was hiking through a village in Kyrgyzstan one day, and an old Russian woman offered to take him to see the tomb of St. Matthew. “I remember thinking: ‘The tomb of Matthew? I thought he was buried in Jerusalem or Italy or somewhere like that,’“ Bissell...Read More

By his own admission, Father Robert F. Leavitt, S.S., was an unusual choice to lead St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park. When the Connecticut native was named the 14th president and first president-rector in 1980, he was only 37. He didn’t have any administrative experience and had only recently become a member of...Read More

VATICAN CITY – The establishment of special structures for Anglicans who want to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church absolutely is not a signal of the end of ecumenical dialogue with the Anglican Communion, said the Vatican’s chief ecumenist.Read More

Prayer has always marked Christian life. The evolution of Christian prayer spans centuries and bears the character of countless faithful whose hearts and voices call to the one who is at once, the source of their yearning and the goal that they seek.Read More

BEIJING (CNS) -- As China's veteran bishops die, the government appears to be stepping up pressure on the new generation of church leaders. Many of the older bishops spent time in prison during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution and found the strength to resist government pressures once China began allowing Catholics to practice their faith in...Read More