VATICAN CITY – A priest who confesses sexual abuse in the sacrament of penance should be absolved and should generally not be encouraged by the confessor to disclose his acts publicly or to his superiors, a Vatican official said.
VATICAN CITY – A priest who confesses sexual abuse in the sacrament of penance should be absolved and should generally not be encouraged by the confessor to disclose his acts publicly or to his superiors, a Vatican official said.

LASIK surgery still can sound intimidating to a lot of people. The procedure involves cutting a flap into a person’s cornea so a laser can be used to vaporize part of the cornea’s midsection. The surgery permanently changes the shape of the clear section of the front of the eye in order to eliminate or reduce the need for glasses or contact lenses.
A way for members of the archdiocese to prevent more school closings is for the more affluent to lend money interest free for a given amount of time. For example, a person could lend $10,000 for five or 10 years interest free. At the end of that time, at the lender’s request, that amount would be returned. Or the lender might decide, at the time for the loan to be returned to him, simply to donate the sum to the archdiocese to prevent more school closings.
As the wife of a deceased assistant principal, a teacher there for 10 years myself, the mother of two Cardinal Gibbons graduates who received an outstanding preparation for their place in this world and the mother of the cheerleading mascot, who is now Sister Jane Frances, a Nashville Dominican, I say:
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court’s ruling upholding the constitutionality of the phrase “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is a “breath of fresh air from a court system that has too often seemed to be almost allergic to public references to God,” according to the head of the Knights of Columbus.
Mother lauds Ascension, Cardinal Gibbons

JAKARTA Indonesia – Students at the elementary school once attended by President Barack Obama are planning to give him a warm welcome should he visit the school during his March trip to Indonesia.
Tony Magliano (CR, March 4) should offer his State of the Union to nations that start wars, not those willing to defend themselves against aggression and oppression. Christians have a right and duty to oppose force with force under certain conditions. His pacifist message to a peace-loving nation only serves to encourage nations that believe force is a legitimate means of imposing their religion, culture and dominion on others.
George Weigel’s latest diatribe on the University of Notre Dame (CR, March 4) and the state of Catholic higher education in general crossed the line with his subtle slap at Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh. The former president of this great university has done more for Catholic higher education in this nation, and humanity as a whole, than Weigel has ever done. Weigel owes this holy man and his beloved university an apology.
BHUBANESWAR, India – The Catholic Church in Orissa offered support to villagers fighting a Korean steel giant that they say threatens to displace thousands of people with its planned $12 billion development project in eastern India.
Archbishop Edwin O’Brien announced plans to revitalize Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore at a press conference held earlier today at the Catholic Center. The plan, detailed in a new report entitled, “Preserving the Tradition, Transforming the Future: The Rebirth of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore,” is a culmination of more than 12 months […]

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien officially announced the consolidation of 13 schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore March 4, while saying he remained “whole-heartedly committed to Catholic education in Baltimore – the birthplace of Catholic schools some 200 years ago.”
