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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Knights of Columbus, the largest lay Catholic organization in the world, has announced that it set new records for charitable giving and volunteer service in 2006.

WASHINGTON – The day after Hispanic congressmen gathered with priests and Hispanic families to pray that wisdom be granted to members of the Senate, a bipartisan bill to reform immigration failed to garner the votes needed to move into voting on the issue. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a member of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, led a news conference on the terrace of the Cannon House Office Building on the morning of June 27. He said the purpose of the assembly was “so that together with our prayers we can enlighten the Senate of the United States and encourage people to have the courage to do what is right and what is correct.” Gutierrez and Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., along with religious leaders, spoke in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, a topic Gutierrez called a “moral issue.”

ROME – Pope Benedict XVI announced a special jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul, saying the church needs modern Christians who will imitate the apostle’s missionary energy and spirit of sacrifice. The pope said the Pauline year will run from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009, to mark the approximately 2,000th anniversary of the saint’s birth. He made the announcement while presiding over a vespers service at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome June 28, the eve of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, patron saints of Rome.

Men enter the priesthood not for fame or fortune but because they hear God calling them to serve his flock. However, the question remains “what does an archdiocesan priest make?” A priest’s salary can range anywhere from a little more than $18,000 to more than $31,000 depending on length of service, whether they are a pastor or associate pastor or if they are involved in a special ministry, according to the compensation guidelines of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

As a child, St. Mary, Annapolis, parishioner Therese Borchard struggled with anxiety. As an adult, the married mother of two is living with depression. It wasn’t until Mrs. Borchard stopped drinking in college that she realized there was a bigger problem in her life – depression.

A funeral Mass for Helen Keeler, sister of Cardinal William H. Keeler, was offered July 4 at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Toronto. Ms. Keeler died June 28 of cancer. She was 60.

The Baltimore Orioles have teamed up with Catholic Charities’ Hispanic Apostolate/Immigration Legal Services to celebrate the 6th-Annual Noche Latina at 3:35 p.m. July 14. Festivities will take place in the Bullpen Picnic Grove before the 4:35 p.m. game, when the Baltimore Orioles take on the Chicago White Sox.

WASHINGTON – Calling the failure to provide health insurance for every child in the nation “a glaring moral failure,” the president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association said President George W. Bush’s opposition to the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program was “profoundly” disappointing.