Long before she burst into the public spotlight delivering her inauguration poem, Amanda Gorman got a standing ovation from fellow parishioners of St. Brigid Church in Los Angeles for reciting a poem she wrote about the Josephite parish.

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.

Unable to preside over Mass on the Sunday of the Word of God because of a recurring bout of sciatica, Pope Francis’ homily was read by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, which coordinates the annual celebration.

Even though “peaceful prayer and witness” will take place in a different format due to the ongoing pandemic, it “must and will continue this year” to mark the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee.

Hank Aaron, who was baseball’s home run king for 33 years, overcame racism to make his mark in the game he loved. Aaron died Jan. 22 at age 86.

Marking the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons coming into force Jan. 22, Pope Francis encouraged nations to work toward a world free from all nuclear arms.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told the World Health Organization’s executive board Jan. 21 that “in the coming days,” President Joe Biden will revoke the so-called “Mexico City policy,” which blocks U.S. funding of foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform and promote abortion as a form of family planning.

A steady focus on the believable characters who populate it elevates director Ric Roman Waugh’s engaging film above the status of a disaster movie. But the positive values displayed along the path of the quest for survival he and screenwriter Chris Sparling chart are offset by the disturbing nature of the mayhem they unleash.

After 17 seasons in the NFL, quarterback Philip Rivers will begin his next career as head football coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope in the Mobile Archdiocese.

What makes his contribution to the genre unique is that his autobiography/success story includes 34 references to God, 87 mentions of love, 23 for faith and 71 for family.