WASHINGTON – Among four U.S. senators in Washington, there was optimistic talk of a bipartisan commitment to expand health coverage for the nation’s 9 million uninsured children. But 40 miles away at a Catholic hospital in Baltimore, there was more nitty-gritty talk of getting children into state and federal health programs – and keeping them...Read More

HARVEY, La. – Catholic schools played a “vital role” in the Gulf Coast’s path to recovery after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, first lady Laura Bush said on a visit to St. Rosalie Catholic School in Harvey. After her midmorning visit to St. Rosalie, Bush had lunch at Cafe Reconcile in New Orleans, a program of...Read More

As support from parishes and schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore continues to help relief efforts in violence-riddled North Sudan, a Catholic Relief Services representative working in that country urged local Catholics to endorse United Nations aid. “The Catholic population has been extremely generous throughout this conflict,” said Mark Snyder, a CRS field representative stationed...Read More

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNS) -- Retired Bishop Fernando Lugo Mendez of San Pedro, Paraguay, who resigned from active ministry to run for president, said he hopes to foster a "great social pact" to achieve national reconciliation in a country with deep divisions. "I believe in collective leadership. ... I'm no messiah," Bishop Lugo, who is...Read More