ALEXANDRIA, Va. – They greet each other as family inside the small chapel at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, with warm hugs, a “Comment ca va?” and three kisses on alternating cheeks.Read More

Deacon Frederick Passauer and his wife Kathy were booming business owners of an insurance company in Manchester, when they heard God’s calling. The couple sold their business and their home and moved to the Deep Creek Lake area to start their new business, serving parishioners of western Maryland. “We knew this was our goal. To...Read More

VATICAN CITY – Breaching normal protocol, several participants in a 2005 Vatican-sponsored conference over the ethics of declaring someone brain dead have published the papers they delivered at the debate. Many of the papers reproduced in “Finis Vitae: Is Brain Death Still Life?” argue that the concept of brain death was devised mainly to expand...Read More

PORTLAND, Ore. – The first Catholic diocesan bankruptcy proceeding in the nation ended April 17 when a federal judge approved a $75 million settlement of clergy sexual abuse claims and a financial reorganization plan for the Portland Archdiocese. Smoothing the way for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris, lawyers at the last moment negotiated payment for...Read More

I would like to address two problems my wife and I and our 10-year-old son encounter every time we attend Mass. We regularly attend the 5 p.m. Mass on Saturday but have also noticed this problem when our needs call for us to attend a Sunday Mass. That is the subject of people talking in...Read More

Patrick K. Clancy’s letter objecting to the term “Ranger Rosary” smacked of ignorance and ingratitude (CR, April 19). I suppose he would like to disarm St. Michael, excommunicated modern-day Joan of Arcs, and deny the final instruction Christ gave his disciples at the Last Supper – from now on sell your cloaks and buy swords...Read More

The gathering space at Church of the Crucifixion, Glen Burnie, was packed with people of all ages April 17 as they sat down to a large meal and waited anxiously for the first Discovering Christ session to begin. Discovering Christ is a six-week series, stretching through May 22, which explores the foundations of the Catholic...Read More

WASHINGTON – A workable comprehensive immigration reform bill on the table, more sympathetic leadership in Congress and a “this year or maybe never” incentive are prodding immigration advocates to action. After a day and a half of briefings and strategizing with advocates who work on immigration every day, activists from more than 66 dioceses took...Read More