It is gut-wrenching to try to understand violent behavior and the senseless outcomes. While it challenges our conventional wisdom, each act of violence that lay on the floors of our war-ravished cities and countries, serves to shatter our illusions. They often serve as great moments of transformation. Even closer to home, we suffer the effects...Read More

WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to approve a drug labeled as an emergency contraceptive is a “dangerous step toward erasing any meaningful distinction between contraception and abortion,” said the U.S. bishops’ pro-life spokeswoman.Read More

WASHINGTON – The Aug. 16 decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to prevent the state of California from conducting same-sex marriages while an appeal is under way drew cheers from same-sex marriage opponents.Read More

TORONTO – For Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins, the fate of Iraqi Christians trapped in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon is not just another tough case in an unfair world full of too much heartbreak. For him, the situation is personal.Read More

DALLAS – Contrasting events of the last year that have both spotlighted the accomplishments of women religious and focused broad attention on challenges facing the Catholic Church, the outgoing president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious urged the organization to maintain hope that the Gospel will guide members to articulate their mission with “inclusive...Read More

Re Tony Magliano’s column (CR, Aug. 5), granted, the Japanese war machine was stressed … so why was Japan still up for a fight? For the most part the Japanese army on the home islands and in China was still very much intact. As Americans it was hard for us to comprehend why this enemy...Read More

Patrick Williams always wanted to play football, but his parents thought he would get hurt.Read More

NEW ORLEANS – Standing behind a simple, cypress casket handcrafted by the monks of St. Joseph Abbey, Benedictine Abbot Justin Brown asked a federal court in New Orleans Aug. 12 to bury a Louisiana law allowing only licensed funeral homes to sell caskets to the public.Read More