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WASHINGTON – The National Institutes of Health’s draft guidelines for embryonic stem-cell research support “a course of action that is both morally objectionable and, increasingly, scientifically obsolete,” the general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference said in comments to NIH.

Richard J. Dowling, the former executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, will receive the Della Strada Award from the Ignatian Volunteer Corps June 11.

The blue-ribbon committee charged with providing a long-term strategic plan for the health of Catholic schools is soliciting online comments from the public.

When will Catholics be truthful to themselves? Re the letter “Why did Bush have our blessing?” (CR, May 14), let us be clear about the Notre Dame scandal. It is not the invitation of President Obama to speak at Notre Dame that is the problem; it is the conferring of an honorary degree that has people outraged. Capital punishment is not (by definition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church) intrinsically evil. Abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and born-alive babies left to die after an attempted abortion are intrinsically evil. That is the difference. Common sense should prevail here. Abortion is the right to choose murder. It is not really any more complicated than that. Capital punishment is killing, not murder – there is a difference. Since 1973, fewer than 1,100 people have been executed in the U.S. under capital punishment. More than 50 million babies have been murdered in their mothers’ wombs in the past 26 years. If these babies are not protected, who among us is protected?