NAHALEEN, West Bank – The encroachment of Israeli settlements on Palestinian water sources must be addressed, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., said his two-day visit to view Catholic Relief Services’ projects in West Bank farming villages brought to his attention the plight of...Read More

WASHINGTON. (CNS) – A federal judge in Louisville, Ky., has denied a Vatican request to dismiss a sex abuse lawsuit seeking damages from the Holy See. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled Jan. 11 that U.S. bishops and priests are employees of the Vatican within the terms of the Federal Sovereign Immunity Act.Read More

When Tom Kinstle of Homeland retired from Lockheed Martin in 2002 and joined his wife’s Timonium-based design business, he wasn’t worried that too much togetherness would cause conflicts at work or at home. “I dabble here,” the 73-year-old Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland parishioner said. “It’s Ruth’s business.” That statement caused his youthful-looking 60-year-old...Read More

Erica and Sean Kerchner are a military couple who have been married for three years and at the moment find it hard to spend quality time together. Mr. Kerchner has been training with the U.S. Navy in Norfolk, Va. for four months while his wife stays with her parents in Silver Spring. Mrs. Kerchner said...Read More

WASHINGTON (CNS) – A church aid worker in Darfur said 2006 was tough for humanitarian workers but noted that the United States and United Nations have increased their efforts in the western Sudanese region. Mark Snyder, head of the North Sudan program for Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ international aid and development agency, said...Read More

Ruth Harrison of Churchville has visited famous churches throughout Europe and found her January tour of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be among the best – made especially unique by the historical knowledge imparted by volunteer docent Frank Twardzik. The retired radiologist from Howard County,...Read More

Idalia Peraza should not have lived past the age of 20. Over the last 36 years Ms. Peraza, a developmentally disabled woman from Honduras, has been suffering from a common congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. When Ms. Peraza was born she had a hole in her heart causing her to literally turn blue...Read More

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The resignation of a Polish archbishop over spying revelations has highlighted a tension between judgment and forgiveness in the church, one that has taken on new meaning in post-communist Europe. In the broadest sense, it’s a tension found in the teaching of Christ, who preached forgiveness but told his followers to...Read More