In February, a religious portrait of African-Americans was released. Its major reference was the “Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.” The report’s overview discusses research that indicates that “while the United States is generally considered a highly religious nation, African-Americans are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. populations as a...Read More

CUMBERLAND – Standing next to piles of neatly folded children’s shirts and dainty toddler’s dresses hanging overhead on hangers, Ellie Mantheiy was pleased with the quantity and quality of the apparel. “It’s mostly used clothing donated by parishioners,” said Ms. Mantheiy, coordinator of the children’s clothing outreach program at St. Mary, Cumberland. “Some of it...Read More

WASHINGTON – After Polish-born poet, author and Holocaust survivor Lena Allen-Shore had her first private meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1996, her younger son, Jacques, told her, “You have to write an article. The title of the article should be ‘Building Bridges.’“Read More

WASHINGTON – Judge Sonia Sotomayor energetically took on detailed questions about court cases both well-known and arcane as the Senate Judiciary Committee opened what was expected to be a quick process to confirm the 55-year-old appeals court judge to the Supreme Court.Read More

WASHINGTON – Now that Pope Benedict XVI’s long-awaited social encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”), has been released, a key question arises: Will the pope’s call to reform economic and social systems so they encompass broader moral values while focusing on human development be taken seriously by the world’s decision-makers?Read More

VATICAN CITY – More than two years into his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has proven to be a very patient decision-maker – so patient that even some of his Vatican bureaucrats are chafing a little.Read More

A lawyer, a member of the second deacon class of the archdiocese, the president of a Catholic hospital and an administrator for Stella Maris in Timonium, are among 19 individuals in the Archdiocese of Baltimore who have been awarded papal honors. Cardinal William H. Keeler will present the awards at a special ceremony June 24,...Read More

WASHINGTON – Although 30,000 of the approximately 49,000 comments on the National Institutes of Health’s draft guidelines on human embryonic stem-cell research opposed any federal funding of such research, those responses were “deemed not responsive to the question put forth,” according to the acting director of NIH.Read More