As the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation this past year, hospital chaplains — already accustomed to helping people cope with sickness and death — found their ministries took on added significance.
Health care chaplains in Baltimore and beyond embrace self-care in COVID-19 work
“This suffering on a daily basis takes an emotional toll, ” said Sandra Michocki, a chaplain at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. “In order for it not to swallow us,” she said, chaplains have to remember that God is always with them and “when we’re weary or we’re tired, we show up anyway; that’s all we can do.”
Biden reestablishes White House faith-based partnership office
President Joe Biden signed an executive order Feb. 14 reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships as a means to work with religious and secular organizations to help with COVID-19 and economic recovery and confront systemic racism.
California bishops welcome court’s ruling easing worship restrictions
Two California Catholic bishops applauded the Supreme Court’s Feb. 5 ruling easing the state’s restrictions on indoor worship put in place with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida bishop and Catholic school win Super Bowl food wager
Catholics in St. Petersburg, Florida, will need to get their napkins ready because some barbecue from Kansas City, Missouri, is coming their way.
Catholic Health Association launches initiative to confront racism
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the nation’s movement for racial reckoning, the Catholic Health Association of the United States announced an initiative to confront racism in the provision of health care.
Biden’s inaugural address calls for Americans to work for unity
In his inaugural address Jan. 20, President Joe Biden said he is committed with his “whole soul” to bring this country together.
Sotomayor: 13 executed under Trump administration ‘deserved more’ from court
Although the Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution of Dustin Higgs Jan. 15, two justices made their objections known loud and clear in dissents that called into question the speed of these decisions and even the constitutionality of capital punishment.
‘We are better than this,’ deacon says before Johnson’s execution
Johnson, 52, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 11:34 p.m. EST Jan. 14 at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. His was the 12th federal execution since last summer.
Supreme Court says abortion drugs must be obtained in person, not by mail
The Supreme Court Jan. 12 reinstated a federal requirement that women who are seeking abortion-inducing drugs must do so in person, not by mail, as a federal judge had allowed last year due to the pandemic and the high court had let stand.
Lisa Montgomery put to death after Supreme Court reversal
After a flurry of court decisions, the Supreme Court reversed a pair of rulings from federal appeals courts that had put death-row inmate Lisa Montgomery’s execution on hold, and it denied two other last-minute requests to postpone the execution.
Chicago Father Pfleger steps aside over allegation of abuse more than 40 years ago
Father Michael Pfleger, a popular Chicago priest and outspoken advocate against gun violence, gangs, poverty and racism, has stepped aside from his ministry after the Chicago Archdiocese said it received an allegation that the priest had sexually abused a minor more than 40 years ago.