USCCB pro-life chairman calls HHS proposed rule on Title X ‘terrible policy’ April 19, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published a proposed rule to rescind the Trump administration’s enforcement of a Title X provision that “draws a bright line between abortion and family planning,” as the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee chairman has described it.
Archbishop Chaput’s book tackles things ‘Christians should be willing to die for’ April 7, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Books, Feature, News, World News Archbishop Chaput told Catholic News Service he hopes that after reading his latest book, “anybody who is a serious Christian will take the Gospel more seriously, their lives more seriously and the world around us more seriously.”
Bishops: Relief will help many; lack of Hyde protections ‘unconscionable’ March 10, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Coronavirus, Feature, News, Respect Life, World News The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature will provide relief to Americans in need amid the pandemic, but it lacks “protections for the unborn,” the U.S. bishops said.
COVID-19 bill OK’d without Hyde language to prevent funding of abortion March 2, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Coronavirus, Feature, News, Respect Life, U.S. Congress, World News On the House floor ahead of the vote — which came at 2 in the morning (EST) — Rep. Chris Smith, N.J., criticized Pelosi and the House Rules Committee for refusing to allow a vote on an amendment to add language to the bill “to ensure that taxpayers aren’t forced to subsidize abortion,” as provided by the long-standing Hyde Amendment.
Gomez: U.S. bishops’ working group set up last November completes work March 2, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News A special working group of the U.S. bishops formed last November to deal with conflicts that could arise between the policies of President Joe Biden, a Catholic, and church teaching has completed its work, Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a March 1 memo to all the U.S. bishops.
Bishops: If passed, Equality Act will ‘discriminate against people of faith February 25, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, World News If the House of Representatives passes the Equality Act, its mandates will “discriminate against people of faith” by adversely affecting charities and their beneficiaries, conscience rights, women’s sports, “and sex-specific facilities,” said the chairmen of five U.S. bishops’ committees.
Franciscans mark 600th year of pope establishing Commissaries of Holy Land February 16, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, World News The Franciscans trace their presence in the Holy Land to 1217 when St. Francis of Assisi founded the Province of the Holy Land, a custodian priory of the order he founded in 1209 — formally called the Order of Friars Minor.
Biden repeats call for unity, says faith can show way forward in dark times February 5, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, World News For many in the nation, this is a dark time because of job loss, hunger, evictions, sickness and death because of COVID-19, “so where do we turn? Faith” President Joe Biden said, addressing the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 4.
CNS’ ‘staying power’ credited to quality coverage of church, its role in world February 4, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, Journalism, News, World News A hundred years ago the U.S. Catholic bishops were insightful enough to realize there was a role for a news service to provide accurate information about the church, said Thomas Lorsung, retired director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service.
Bishops, other pro-life leaders decry Biden action ending ‘Mexico City policy’ January 28, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News President Joe Biden’s memo rescinding the so-called “Mexico City policy” Jan. 28, the eve of this year’s March for Life, “is a deeply disturbing move, especially when the president says he wants national unity,” tweeted Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Defense and Education Fund.
Bishops say order on LBGTQ equality has implications for religious liberty January 25, 2021By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, World News President Joe Biden’s wide-ranging executive order to extend existing federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people exceeds the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2020 ruling on the issue in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, said the chairmen of five U.S. bishops’ committees.
Bishops: Getting COVID-19 vaccine is ‘act of charity,’ supports the common good December 14, 2020By Julie Asher Catholic News Service Filed Under: Coronavirus, Feature, News, Respect Life, World News The “gravity” of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and “the lack of availability of alternative vaccines,” are “sufficiently serious” reasons to accept the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ doctrine and pro-life committees said Dec. 14.
