Pro-life groups led by Virginia rsquo s Governor Bob McDonnell scored an important victory in the state legislature yesterday By a vote of 20-19 the Senate in the Commonwealth of Virginia passed a law restricting the use of state Medicaid funds for abortions except in cases of rape incest or t

The Vatican cardinal whose contempt for civil authorities was revealed last week in a 2001 letter to a French bishop has been disinvited by a traditionalist Catholic group who wanted him to celebrate a Old Rite Mass at the Cathedral in Washington DC The Paulus Institute who had spent three years p

As the May 6 election in Britain nears Matt Malone S J reports from London on the ever tightening race to control the next parliament Not long ago the Conservative leader David Cameron was the favorite to lead his party to victory but the recent surge of the Liberal Democrats and Nick Clegg

Last week I ventured out to Houston Texas mdash a first for me and boy nbsp there sure are a lot of Lone Star flags around mdash to speak to the National Federation of Priests Councils meeting nbsp It was wonderful to be among so many hardworking dedicated and lively parish priests even if

What s Bloggingheads nbsp A cool new well a few years old website that brings together two experts to discuss a newsy topic at length nbsp And I mean at length nbsp This discussion between me and Peter Laarman the director of Progressive Christians Uniting nbsp lasts almost an hou

President Obama is about to score another big legislative victory as the Senate prepares to pass a bill that will rein in Wall Street Indeed this week the President seems to be hitting his stride just as the GOP appears a bit dazed and confused Think back three months ago to January when Sen Sc

We received a delightful surprise in the mail this week At the 24th annual Genesis Awards presented by the Humane Society of the United States America received honorable mention for ldquo Animal Welfare rdquo by Kate Blake March 23 2009 which focused on our responsibility to all creation T

As regular readers of America will know the magazine has provided thoughtful and balanced commentary on the sexual abuse crisis since the reports of scandal first surfaced in the Boston Globe in 2002 Here we provide an archive of of our coverage featuring articles from Thomas Reese Cardinal Aver

Even if you don t agree with all he writes and I don t Hans nbsp K uuml ng is a theologian of great learning distinction nbsp and experience nbsp He s forgotten more theology and church history than I will ever know nbsp And even if you don t agree with all he writes in his open letter to the

Living in the same Jesuit community as Dan Berrigan--what a privilege to share meals and conversation with this great man an icon of the anti-war movement who was willing to spend time behind bars to assert his opposition to war-related violence and in fact all forms of violence including abortio

This morning rsquo s appointment of Bishop Thomas Wenski as the next Archbishop of Miami is welcome for a variety of reasons some close to home and some noteworthy for changes on the Vatican rsquo s selection criteria for bishops Most immediately Wenski came to national prominence on the strength

Rarely has the U S Catholic community been so publicly at odds over a social policy matter as the U S bishops and U S women religious communities were in the climax of the health care reform debate in March The bishops applying what can only be described as speculative interpretations of the pl

Nuntio vobis gaudium magnum nbsp Habemus papam I rsquo ll not forget the moment Pope Benedict XVI was elected five years ago today I was on the hill above St Peter rsquo s Square in the BBC tent going live for the umpteenth time The cardinals had been in conclave for two days and the British

Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarked in his famous prison letters about his gratitude for life among prisoners who were not pious noting his surprise at what life was like with them In a very different context I too have found compelling the desacralized spaces of secular culture In rock culture

One of the many deeply disturbing aspects of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has been the lack of discussion about penance nbsp While public apologies from bishops who protected abusive priests are becoming more common doing penance to atone for individual sins is still too rare n

Father Martin has already called attention to an article in yesterday rsquo s New York Times by Nicholas Kristof although it is a mystery to me why Father applied the adjective excellent to it I found the article literally dripping in the kind of misplaced moral and intellectual superiority to wh

Uplifting news from Malta where Pope Benedict recently concluded his visit by a surprise private meeting with eight clerical sex abuse victims A Vatican statement said the Pope was deeply moved by their stories and expressed his shame and sorrow over what victims and their families have

Recently I came home to hear my four year old daughter listening to a CD which has entranced her making her memorize words melodies song order It turns out she is also memorizing poetry A relative bought for her the new Natalie Merchant record Leave Your Sleep Music critic Jon Pareles

Two excellent articles in the Sunday papers today shed light rather than heat on the sexual abuse crisis nbsp First off David Gibson has a terrific piece in the Washington Post entitled Five Myths about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal nbsp The myths are 1 Pope Benedict is the primary culpr