News Archives - Page 1611 of 1758 - Archdiocese of Baltimore

HHS defends decision on funding trafficking victims program to Congress

WASHINGTON – A U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops program aiding victims of human trafficking was denied funding after its administrators declined to propose alternatives to a government requirement that female victims receive “the full range of legally permissible gynecological and obstetric care,” a Department of Health and Human Services official told a congressional committee.

Feast of Immaculate Conception Dec. 8

Parishes across the Archdiocese of Baltimore will mark the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Masses Dec. 8, a holy day of obligation. The feast celebrates that Mary, by special divine favor in anticipation of her role in salvation, was without sin from the moment she was conceived.

CUA president pleased ruling confirms legality of single-sex dorms

WASHINGTON – John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America, said he was “gratified” by the dismissal of a complaint filed against the university saying its single-sex dorms discriminated against women.

Criticism grows over Rhode Island governor’s ‘holiday tree’ label

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A 17-foot Colorado blue spruce is standing tall at the center of controversy in the Rhode Island Statehouse rotunda for what it is being – or more importantly, not being – called.

Black Catholics’ survey finds strong ties, strong engagement in church

WASHINGTON – African-American Catholics are much more engaged in their church on a variety of levels than are white Catholics, concludes the first National Black Catholic Survey.

George P. Matysek Jr.Local News, News

Interfaith leaders pledge to defend traditional marriage in Maryland

Leaders of a newly-formed pro-marriage coalition came out swinging against efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland – pledging in a Nov. 30 press conference to rally citizens across the state to defeat legislation that would alter the traditional definition of marriage.

Basilica Christmas concert to benefit senior housing

The Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Peabody Children’s Chorus and the Archbishop Curley High School Ringers Handbell Choir will be the featured performers at a Dec. 15 Christmas concert at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore.

On World AIDS Day, Vatican renews call for greater access to therapy

VATICAN CITY – The deaths each year of more than a million people from AIDS, the suffering of their families and the new infections of hundreds of thousands of infants are unacceptable when the medicines needed to prevent them exist, a Vatican official said.

Obama said to seek balance on contraceptive coverage, religious beliefs

WASHINGTON – A White House spokesman said the Obama administration is working to “strike the right balance between expanding coverage of preventive services and respecting religious beliefs” as it decides on a religious exemption to the mandate that all health plans cover contraceptives and sterilizations by Jan. 1, 2013.

CHURCH CHATTER: Hunt Valley parishioner benefits Aquarium

Greg Pierce, a parishioner of the Catholic Community of St. Francis Xavier in Hunt Valley, produced “Sea Notes,” a music CD that features songs written specifically for the National Aquarium in Baltimore’s exhibit “Jellies Invasion: Oceans Out of Balance.”

Chinese priest ordained coadjutor with approval of Vatican, government

YIBIN, China – With police officers and dogs monitoring the crowd at St. Mary’s Church, Father Peter Luo Xuegang was ordained coadjutor bishop of Yibin Diocese in southwestern China’s Sichuan province.

Youth ‘Focus’ on Vocations

A study conducted in the 1980s indicated that most priests and religious first seriously thought about ministry around the age of 11 and then again in their junior year of high school. Two years after that study, “Focus 11” was born. First instituted in the Archdiocese of Detroit, the program had two components: one aimed...