CATHOLIC

New Hampshire's Chris Sununu, Maryland's Larry Hogan, Massachusetts's Charlie Baker and Vermont's Phil Scott govern with a relatively light touch on social issues.

Lawmakers turned their focus to former President Donald Trump's campaign to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes at the third day of hearings.

The bishop says the Nativity School in Worcester can no longer call itself Catholic after flying the Black Lives Matter and Pride flags.

A report has found that at least 196 clerics in the German Catholic diocese of Muenster sexually abused minors between 1945 and 2020, adding to findings from other dioceses that have shaken the church in the country

The Vatican says Pope Francis has canceled his participation in a yearly Mass and procession next weekend due to ongoing knee pain

From the married producing team behind "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight" comes something more sinister: scary stories laced with absurdity and humor about the presence of evil in mundane settings, described as "The Exorcist" played for laughs.

As student anxiety skyrockets, campus ministries are trying to help by not just offering the comforts of faith and community, but also creating collaborations with mental health professionals.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a Catholic school’s challenge to Michigan’s 2020-21 mask order.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back Tuesday on the decision by San Francisco’s conservative Catholic archbishop to deny her Communion over her support of abortion rights, saying she respects that people have opposing views but not when they impose them on others.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted the Catholic Church isn't reprimanding lawmakers who support the death penalty.

With the huge Victoria Park candlelit commemorations blocked starting 2020, the church memorials were the last organized marking of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Cardinal Zen, who was once bishop of Hong Kong, is one of the most prominent pro-democracy activists from the Catholic Church.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - After months of searching, Aquinas College has found its new president. Alicia Córdoba, Ph.D., will become the ninth president of the Catholic college on July 1, 2022, Aquinas announced Thursday, May 5. She currently serves as associate vice president and Beirne director of the Center for Catholic Studies at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Stephen Germic has been serving as interim president for Aquinas, since Quinn resigned. She is also an active member of the Institute for Administrators in Catholic Education, Association of Catholic Colleges and International Double Reed Society.

Feminist groups have rallied to the support of 18 cloistered Carmelite nuns who have filed an unusual complaint of gender violence against the local Catholic archbishop

Biden has long described a tension between his faith and his politics. As president, the potential end of Roe v. Wade makes him the nation’s highest-profile champion of abortion rights.

Every Sunday afternoon since last Easter, teens kneel by a makeshift altar at Fort Bliss and pray so hard that tears stream down their faces.

The three Christian communities that have uneasily shared their holiest site for centuries are embarking on a project to restore the ancient stone floor of the Jerusalem basilica

Hundreds of Liverpool parents could appeal after their children failed to get into their chosen schools.

Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority says it is backing down from a plan to encompass Christian holy sites on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives in a national park after vociferous outcry from major churches

The Vatican this week is hosting a three-day symposium on the Catholic priesthood amid renewed public attention on clergy sex abuse scandals and fresh research into the abuses of priestly power

The Vatican this week is hosting a three-day symposium on the Catholic priesthood amid renewed public attention on clergy sex abuse scandals and fresh research into the abuses of priestly power that harm both children and adults. Pope Francis opens the symposium Thursday, and no fewer than a half-dozen Vatican cardinals are scheduled to either address the conference or preside over its sessions. The high-level lineup suggests the topic has particular relevance as the Catholic hierarchy grapples with dwindling numbers of priests in Europe and the Americas and calls for a reform of everything from celibacy requirements to the role of women in the church.

"If you were baptized using the wrong words, that means your baptism is invalid, and you are not baptized," Bishop Thomas Olmsted wrote in a message to parishioners. "You will need to be baptized."

A Catholic school in suburban Detroit said it will use a $1.3 million gift to enhance its science and technology programs, including esports.

Faith-based adoption agencies that contract with the state of Michigan can refuse to place children with same-sex couples under a proposed settlement filed in federal court Tuesday, months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for a Catholic...

Reader does not want her daughter to get married in a Catholic church or provide alcohol at the wedding. Is she wrong?

A former Oakland County priest will serve more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to sex abuse. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced...

A top leader of the Knights of Malta, an ancient aristocratic Catholic order that provides humanitarian aid around the world, warned the group’s members on Wednesday that the Holy See’s latest proposals to reform the order threaten its internationally recognized status as a sovereign state. The Knights’ grand chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager, wrote a letter to the Knights’ members saying the Vatican proposals contradict assurances he had been given that Pope Francis doesn’t want to put the order’s sovereignty at risk.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A national search is underway to find Aquinas College’s ninth president. The Catholic liberal arts college has enlisted the help of Academic Search, a firm based out of Washington D.C., to find a new leader, Marcie Hillary, chair of the board of trustees, told MLive Wednesday, Jan. 5.

Parishioners attend Mass on Dec. 29, 2021, at Saint Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Buena Park. Nearly two years after the arrival of the COVID-19 virus, Chicago area Catholic parishes are facing declining attendance, despite the city's churches being fully reopened this holiday season. But for church leaders like the Rev. Manuel Dorantes, pastor of Saint Mary of the Lake Catholic Church, pandemic era hardships provide an opportunity to re-engage with the community, including everything from expanding charitable programs for those in need, to providing COVID vaccines to local residents.

Hindu hardliners have long accused the Catholic charity of trying to convert people to Christianity.

The Archdiocese of Detroit said all are invited to celebrate Christmas by joining them for the Midnight Mass for the Nativity of the Lord.

Plans are progressing for a meeting next year between Pope Francis and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church following their historic encounter in Havana in 2016

Experts weigh-in on how to create and care for the unique plants.

A consortium of Catholic women’s groups is calling on the Holy See to join the Council of Europe and sign the European Convention on Human Rights.

A consortium of Catholic women’s groups is calling on the Holy See to join the Council of Europe and to sign the European Convention on Human Rights, arguing that the Vatican should show consistency by expressing its firm commitment to protecting human rights. In a petition marking the Human Rights Day declared by the United Nations, the groups said the Holy See is recognized internationally as a sovereign state and presents itself as a firm promotor of human rights and dignity.

The Catholic community is at the forefront of the giving season with the fourth annual Granting Celebration.

The episode underscores the tension between the national Republican Party and some influential parts of the GOP base — particularly Christian conservatives — on the issue of LGBTQ rights.

JACKSON, MI - A new private school aimed at offering students an independent classical high school option in the Catholic tradition has found a home in a wing of the Bethany Adult Care facility. The Chesterton Academy of St. George plans to open next fall at 1000 E. Porter St. inside a former orphanage run by the Felician sisters that opened in 2008 as Bethany Adult Care, a home for those who need daily living assistance.

From Halloween Day into Nov. 1, snow fell across parts of the central U.S.

The Supreme Court is declining to wade into a case involving transgender rights and leaving in place a lower court decision against a Catholic hospital that wouldn't allow a transgender man to have a hysterectomy there. Three conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch — said they would have heard the case. An appeals court reversed that decision.

The Vatican did not provide its own version of events about that aspect of the meeting between Francis and Biden. But Biden’s comments were enough to cause outcry among U.S. Catholic conservatives, some of whom have argued that the president should be barred from the holy sacrament because of his support of abortion rights.

Why sales of 'singing' religious cuddly toys for very young children are booming.

Plans for legal rights to ensure Catholic priests can administer the last rites at crime scenes.

The field of African American religious studies scarcely existed before he took it on in the 1970s with writings distinguished by both their scholarship and their spiritualism.

Aftermath scenes in Pakistan's Harnai town after a shallow earthquake hit the country's southwest in the early hours of Thursday. The tremor left at least 20 people dead and dozens injured as of Thursday afternoon.

Raymond Arroyo has it all in tonight's Seen and Unseen on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

Forecasting tools are getting so sophisticated that they can provide modeling between buildings to the level of detail that past forecasts provided between cities.

Experts are gathering new data they say can help form better storm plans for the future. AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live in Texas with the latest.

SUNY Fredonia searching for leads after on-campus assaults. Hannah Buehler reports.

The university is partnering with the National Weather Service in New York City to develop a tool for extreme heat stakeholders.

A group at the University of California, San Diego is building homemade air purifiers for classrooms and labs as an added layer of protection against COVID-19. Dr. Jon LaPook shares more.

The Biden administration has expelled more than 7,000 Haitian migrants who entered the U.S. illegally in recent weeks. Still, many more migrants are risking their lives to travel from South America to the U.S. Manuel Bojorquez reports.

An 18-year-old turned himself in to police after four people were injured in a shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas. Mireya Villarreal shares the latest.

The White House is boosting the supply of COVID-19 rapid at-home tests due to a new $1 billion federal investment. It comes on top of the $2 billion commitment in September. (Oct. 6)

4 people were injured after police say a teenager opened fire at a Dallas-area high school Wednesday. The suspect later surrendered to police. (Oct. 6)

New super high-resolution models can forecast for extremely small-scale areas, allowing small UAVs to navigate safely.

Workers are collecting oil deposits from the environmentally sensitive Talbert Marsh Ecological Reserve along the Southern California coast as experts work to determine the extent of the damage from a major oil spill. (Oct. 6)

More and more Hispanic families are joining the Catholic church. The Archdiocese of Detroit said it has seen a 49% increase since 2016.

The new Texas law that bans most abortions in the state is being welcomed by many of the religious leaders who help bolster the anti-abortion movement.

For many parents, the biggest concern has been how to protect children under 12 who cannot yet receive the COVID-19 vaccine and whether or not they can bring the virus home from school.

For many parents, the biggest concern has been how to protect children under 12 who cannot yet receive the COVID-19 vaccine and whether or not they can bring the virus home from school.

A former priest has been ordered to spend eight to 15 years in prison in connection with the sexual abuse of teens in the 1980s in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The organization overseeing Catholic schools in the United States gets a new chief executive this week as it seeks to rebound from its biggest one-year enrollment drop since the 1970s.

It's another victory for religious groups at the Supreme Court.

Divisions have flared up among U.S. Catholic bishops as they opened a national meeting highlighted by a sensitive agenda item: a possible rebuke of Catholic politicians, including President Joe Biden, who receive Communion while supporting abortion rights.

Mass for the Vigil of Pentecost 2021 will be held on Saturday, May 22 beginning 7 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.

Police in Northern Ireland deployed water cannons for the first time in six years as they tried to disperse protesters who hurled stones, fireworks and gasoline-filled bottles at officers during another night of violence in Belfast.

___ROME — Police in Italy have been cracking down on violators of ordinances aimed at reining in what has been weeks of stubbornly high incidences of COVID-19 cases. North Macedonia has recorded more than 126,000 coronavirus cases and more than 3,600 deaths. ___TIRANA — Albania started a mass inoculation campaign Sunday ahead of the summer tourism season after acquiring 192,000 doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccine Sinovac earlier this week. The church drew media attention after reports it had opened the service to its entire congregation despite a tough coronavirus lockdown and sharply rising infection rate in the Netherlands. ___MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s government is acknowledging that the country’s true death toll from the coronavirus pandemic now stands above 321,000.

The pandemic has ended so many lives and vaccines are in high demand, but the J&J vaccine is born out of research that the church has long spoken out against. AdMichigan COVID-19 vaccinations: How to find appointments, info on phasesWhile the Archdiocese of Detroit recognizes the need for more vaccines, the J&J vaccine emerged from research dating back to the 1970s that proves controversial for Catholics. “If no other vaccines are available, certainly take the J&J vaccine,” Smetanka said. The vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are more morally problematic, however. If one does not have a choice of vaccine and a delay in immunization may bring about serious consequences for one’s health and the health of others, it would be permissible to accept the Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca vaccine.

DETROIT – The Archdiocese of Detroit is urging Catholics to return to mass on Sundays and Holy Days starting March 13, when dispensation from the obligation will expire. The dispensation from the obligation to attend mass was first issued when coronavirus pandemic swept into Michigan in March 2020. The Archdiocese of Detroit has extended that dispensation several times in the past 10 months, most recently in November when it was announced it would be extended until Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. Now, Catholics in the Detroit area are being advised to “to return to the heart and foundation of their faith” as they resume other activities. These individuals should also prepare to return to Mass in recognition of its preeminence in our lives as Catholics,” Archbishop Vigneron said in a letter to the faithful.

The poster, she said, celebrated the recent liberalization of the abortion law in Argentina and expressed hope Poland would be next. Mass nationwide protests have recurred repeatedly since then, growing into the largest protest movement in post-communist Poland. The court's judges argued that allowing abortion when there are congenital defects is unconstitutional because the Polish Constitution protects human life. Suchanow and Marta Lempart, the leaders of the Women’s Strike group that has spearheaded street protests against the law, are now looking for inspiration to Argentina. AdIrene Donadio, a leading strategist with International Planned Parenthood Federation, a group promoting reproductive health and choice, said her organization is appalled that such a restrictive law could be imposed in a European Union member state.

The women lived at the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters in Adrian, 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Detroit. Eight nuns in suburban Milwaukee died of virus complications in one week in December, including four in one day. AdNine of the 12 deaths of Adrian Dominican sisters this month were linked to COVID-19, Siemen said. After more than nine months without a COVID-19 case among residents, the Adrian Dominican Sisters announced an outbreak on Jan. 14. That's the heartache of this virus,” Siemen said.

(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)WARSAW – A near-total ban on abortion has taken effect in Poland and triggered a new round of nationwide protests three months after the constitutional court ruled that the abortion of congenitally damaged fetuses is unconstitutional. Members of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, which is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church, had sought the new restriction. The protesters are demanding a full liberalization of the abortion law and the resignation of the government, neither of which seem likely in the short term. Some protesters Wednesday covered their faces with green bandanas, which are the symbol of the abortion rights movement in Argentina. The constitutional court is made up mostly of Law and Justice appointees who ruled on a motion brought by lawmakers from the party.

People gather in Warsaw, Poland Wednesday Jan. 27, 2021 to protest after the country's top court on Wednesday confirmed its highly divisive ruling that will further tighten the predominantly Catholic nation's strict anti-abortion law. The Constitutional Tribunal published the justification of its decision, which means it can now be officially printed and take immediate effect. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)WARSAW – New protests broke out in Polish cities Wednesday, shortly after the country's top court confirmed its highly divisive ruling that will further tighten the predominantly Catholic nation’s strict anti-abortion law. Last year's marches — some of which led to clashes with police — were highly critical of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party. It was made in response to a motion from over 100 ruling party lawmakers, whose names have not been made public.

Pope Francis has changed church law to explicitly allow women to do more things during Mass, Monday Jan. 11, 2021, while reaffirming they cannot be priests. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, FILE)DETROIT – The role of women in the Catholic Church is expanding and it’s no longer based on the decision of an individual Bishop. “It’s a really welcome change from the Pope,” Katie Lacz, of Women’s Ordination Conference, said. Advocates for gender equality in the Catholic Church are praising the decision by Pope Francis. Pope Francis has now made it canon law.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)Michigan members of a Catholic religious institute are calling on lawmakers to immediately remove President Donald Trump from office following the deadly riot that shook the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. The Adrian Dominican Sisters -- who founded and sponsor Siena Heights University in Michigan -- specifically singled out senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow and Rep. Tim Walberg on Friday to take action to remove President Trump from office. Several Cabinet members and White House employees have resigned from their posts following the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol. President Trump has since publicly condemned the violence in Washington, and even conceded to President-elect Biden for the first time on Thursday evening. Pelosi told Democrats that the top military official assured her steps are in place to prevent a Trump nuclear launch.

DETROIT – Join the Christmas Midnight Mass virtually this year streaming from Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. Watch live here at 12 a.m. Dec. 25, 2020:

(AP Photo/Kemal Softic)MOSTAR – MOSTAR, Bosnia-Long-entrenched ethno-nationalists were projected to win the first local election in Bosnia’s southern city of Mostar in 12 years, but early results of Sunday's vote also indicated multiethnic parties and alliances would be a strong part of the future city council. Mostar is split between Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats, who fought fiercely for control over the city during the country’s 1992-95 war. It hasn’t held a local election since 2008, when Bosnia’s constitutional court declared its election rules discriminatory and ordered them changed. Thus, the lawmakers from multiethnic parties appear set to become tiebreakers in all but certain disputes between the dominant Bosniak and Croat nationalists. Prior to the war, ethnically mixed couples made up 10% of all marriages in Mostar, and the city was markedly cosmopolitan.

DETROIT – The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced plans to form 51 new families of parishes in an effort to better serve worshippers. The idea to form 51 families of parishes was conceived years ago amid a priest shortage, and is designed to help the diocese become more missionary. The Deacon says the transition will help spread resources and keep the doors of the churches open. “This allows us to keep the parishes open with fewer clergy and that’s our goal,” Houghton said. Officials say the transition will happen in two waves: one in January 2021 and the second in July.

DETROIT – For months, mass at St. Clare Montefalco Parish in Grosse Pointe Park has been different in many ways, but still celebrated weekly. Allen Vigneron, extended a blessing. Announced on Friday, the dispensation from the obligation to attend mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation was extended to Ash Wednesday, Feb, 17, 2021. Those who stay at home should keep holy the Lord’s Day by reading scripture or watching mass virtually. You can read the full letter from Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit here.

DETROIT – The Archdioceses of Detroit announced Friday that mass dispensation for Catholics will be extended until Ash Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2021. DispensationAfter carefully considering these and other factors, I am extending the dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation for people living in or visiting the Archdiocese of Detroit until Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021. At the same time, one should not take advantage of the dispensation without a true need. To that end, many of our parishes have been broadcasting their services over the internet during these last several months. With assurances of my prayers for you, I remain,Sincerely yours in Christ,The Most Reverend Allen H. VigneronArchbishop of Detroit

The case is a big test of religious rights on a more conservative court. Catholic Social Services, which is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, says its religious views keep it from certifying same-sex couples as foster parents. Kavanaugh, for his part, suggested Wednesday there should be a way for Catholic Social Services to continue to work with foster families. Even liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed to recognize the court was sympathetic to Catholic Social Services. Catholic Social Services did not, and the city stopped placing children with the agency, which sued.

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back Friday against the Catholic archbishop of San Francisco's criticism of COVID-related restrictions, saying he should “follow science” rather than advocate for fuller in-person gatherings for Mass and worship. “With all due respect to my archbishop, I think we should follow science on this,” Pelosi said. Pelosi noted that faith and science are sometimes seen at odds. “Around here, people say to me, You're a person of faith, why do you believe in science?" “I say, I believe science is an answer to our prayers.

UTICA, Mich. A Metro Detroit Catholic priest got an unwelcome and startling bit of news earlier this month. After emailing the question to one of his seminary instructors about the situation the word came back it was invalid. Because the deacon who did the baptism did not use the properly approved words the rest of the priests spiritual life has been deemed non-existent. But in a couple of weeks time the Archdiocese of Detroit saw to it that he received all the sacraments officially. Anyone concerned about their own personal situation is encouraged to contact the Archdiocese of Detroit.

WARREN, Mich. The Warren De La Salle football team has forfeited its playoff game amid allegations of hazing in the team locker room, school officials announced. The announcement to end the season comes on the even of the Michigan high school football playoffs. Officials at the high school learned this week of a hazing incident involving the varsity football team and its players. De La Salle Collegiate is a Lasallian Catholic school, De La Salle President John M. Knight said. And what is right according to our Lasallian Catholic values.The De La Salle football team has won three state championships in the last five years, including two in a row.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A federal judge has denied Michigan's request to halt his preliminary injunction that preserved a Catholic adoption agency's ability to refuse to place state wards with LGBT couples. Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids declined the stay Tuesday. It had been sought by state Attorney General Dana Nessel and the state Department of Health and Human Services, while the case is appealed. Nessel has denied having hostility toward faith-based agencies that contract with the state. She says Michigan law allows child-placing agencies to turn away families in private cases based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, but not when they place state-supervised children.

CNNLANSING, Mich. - Prosecutors have added a sexual assault charge against a former Catholic priest, accusing him of abusing a 5-year-old boy after a family funeral in Genesee County in 1987. MORE: 5 priests charged with 21 criminal sexual conduct charges in sex abuse investigationVincent DeLorenzo, who worked at several Michigan churches, was charged in May with criminal sexual conduct in other alleged incidents. The attorney general's office said Tuesday that it filed an additional charge. Michael Manley, an attorney for the 80-year-old, says DeLorenzo "maintains his innocence." He wasn't charged at the time.

LANSING - A Catholic priest in Michigan has been charged with false imprisonment after holding a teenage boy against his will in a janitor's room of a church by wrapping him tightly in plastic wrap and using masking tape over his eyes and mouth, according to the attorney general. Stanley is accused of imprisoning the boy against his will in the fall of 2013 at St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Otsego. Officials said Stanley immobilized the boy by wrapping him tightly in plastic wrap and using masking tape as additional binding and over his eyes and mouth. Stanley left the boy bound and alone in the room for longer than an hour before letting him go, according to authorities. Authorities said it is apparent from Kalamazoo diocesan records that Stanley had used binding materials in this way for decades.

But one church leader has now gone one step further, becoming likely the first Catholic bishop in the United States to publicly accuse Trump of racism. Some of the language in the manifesto reflects ideas from President Trump, Fox News and the modern Republican party. "The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online, consumed by racist hate," Trump said in remarks from the White House. A number of progressive pastors and bishops in the United States have already denounced the President's actions and rhetoric, particularly on Twitter. But Garcia-Siller's tweets are different, for two reasons: First, he represents the country's largest religious group, Catholics, who have about 71 million members in the United States.

Attorney General Dana Nessel held a news conference Friday to update her office's investigation into possible sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Michigan. Five men have been charged with criminal... Copyright 2019 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved.