Freddie Gray died on April 19 from spinal injuries sustained while he was in custody, being transported in a police van. Protests surrounding his death turned violent on the evening of April 25. The violence intensified on April 27, the day of Gray’s funeral, with a night of arson, looting and
It’s rare to hear much about the church in the western United States. Given that the national media and the bishops’ conference lie in the East, that’s no surprise.Still, it warps our sense of the American church. In 1950, the Northeast was home to 46 percent of the nation’s
A key turning point in the relationship between Catholics and Jews was reached 50 years ago with the Second Vatican Council document on inter-religious relations, a cardinal and rabbi told a group of religious leaders on May 20. The document, the “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church
The boards of trustees of America Media and of the Saint Thomas More Chapel and Center at Yale University announced on May 21 that Philip J. Metres III, poet, essayist and professor of English at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the $25,000
The U.S. bishops’ International Justice and Peace Committee urged Secretary of State John Kerry to step up efforts to advance nuclear disarmament. The comments were made in a letter on May 12 issued as the meeting of the Ninth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
A detailed and highly critical analysis of the U.S. immigration detention system by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Center for Migration Studies is calling for a radical restructuring of the way the government handles undocumented immigrants.Released on May 11, the 44-page report tra
A major independent survey reports that the best way to end global hunger may be to help small farmers, especially as they try to adapt to the changing climate. According to 98 Caritas organizations, the top three causes of food insecurity are lack of resources—land, seeds, loans, access to ma