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MINNEAPOLIS – A little bit of savvy Web surfing, combined with some diligent research, can keep media companies on their toes and accountable to the public they serve, according to Georgetown University law professor Angela Campbell.

MIAMI – The days of Catholics who “pay, pray and obey” are gone and likely never coming back, according to a sociologist who has studied the beliefs and practices of American Catholics for more than two decades.

The myth is, of course, that we are glad it’s over for a while. We can’t let our friends realize that we really do enjoy it, including learning the subject matter for itself alone. We tell ourselves that all this is necessary for a job or a career; but deep down we love it.

“Is your book like Scott McClellan’s?” An interviewer asked me that the other day, thereby suggesting a possible parallel between the former White House press secretary’s insider tell-all volume about the Bush administration and my new book about the issue of secrecy in the Church.

Twenty-five years ago, in early May 1983, the Catholic bishops of the United States approved what many imagined would be a historic public policy statement: The Challenge of Peace (TCOP). The debate during the drafting of TCOP was intense; the publicity generated by that debate put Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, chairman of the drafting committee, on the cover of Time; consultations were held in the Vatican and with the Reagan Administration. It was all heady stuff, and seemed to presage a new style of episcopal engagement with the mega-issues of public policy.

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said the bishops made a firm stand in the discussion of embryonic stem-cell research at U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ meetings in Orlando, Fla., June 12-14.

A funeral Mass for Sister Mary Alice Ashton, O.S.F. (formerly Sister Robert Ann), was offered June 19 at St. Anthony of Padua and Holy Redeemer Cemetery, Baltimore. Monsignor Joseph L. Luca, pastor of St. Louis, Clarksville, officiated.

PERTH, Australia – The Australian bishops have undertaken a nationwide newspaper advertising blitz, inviting lapsed Catholics to return and asking for forgiveness for any hurt the church caused individuals in the past.