WASHINGTON – A bipartisan bill before the House of Representatives would bring the new health reform law “into line with policies on abortion and conscience rights that have long prevailed in other federal health programs,” said the head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.Read More

WASHINGTON – When Katie Odette Washington of Gary, Ind., took the stage May 16 as what is believed to be the University of Notre Dame’s first black valedictorian, she told her fellow graduates to step outside of their comfort zone and challenge the conventional to make their imprint on the world.Read More

WASHINGTON – Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will undoubtedly have profound consequences for the nation’s hospitals and physicians, its exact effects remain unclear – and dependent on rules still to be written.Read More

DUBLIN – The Irish government’s response to recommendations to protect the safety of children have been “insubstantial, inadequate and too slow,” said a coalition of eight children’s charities.Read More

ST. PAUL, Minn. – One of the duties of a priest is to minister to the sick and suffering. But when Guillain-Barre syndrome paralyzed Father Jan Michael Joncas and brought him close to death in 2003, the well-known liturgical music composer suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a ministry he knew well.Read More

VATICAN CITY – The bishops of Belgium asked forgiveness of victims of priestly sexual abuse and promised wide-ranging steps to curb the problem in the future.Read More

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has withdrawn from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, citing the group’s “expanded and broadened agenda” that fails to “reflect the principles and policies of the bishops’ conference.”Read More

WASHINGTON – As the presidents of the United States and Mexico declared their intentions to work together on immigration-related problems and other issues, the bishops who head the migration committees of the two nations called on them to critically examine their immigration policies “and their adverse impact on human beings.”Read More