Joint Group Proposes Draft Revisions to Sex Abuse NormsAfter a two-day meeting in Rome, a Vatican-U.S. commission has drafted proposed revisions to the U.S. bishops’ norms on clerical sexual abuse cases. A Vatican statement on Oct. 30 said the commission’s suggestions would be discussed

To say merely that it was “inappropriate” would be a gross understatement. On a Sunday afternoon in the great Romanesque abbey church of Maria Laach in the German Rheinland, a mother and father with three preteen children strolled down the aisle casually licking their ice cream cones. Al

Vatican Names Commission to Revise Sexual Abuse NormsThe Vatican announced the names of the members of a new joint commission set up to study and revise some elements of the U.S. bishops’ sexual abuse norms. The U.S. commission members include Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago and three ot

How are we to envision the mission of the church in the aftermath of the horrifying events of Sept. 11? Equally challenging, how can we conceive of the church’s ministry in the midst of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that is tearing the fabric of church life in the United States?   Respo

I drove to a retreat house in Wilmington, Del., wondering how I had come to this point in my life. Up until two months earlier, I felt only animosity for the Catholic religion and disdain for its teachings. But now I had driven an hour away from my home, to be with people I didn’t know, on a r

Rarely in our society do individuals choose to risk going to jail because they are protesting what they consider to be unjust practices and institutions. But if they do make such a decision and are imprisoned, how does this affect them, their supporters, others who learn of it and even their cause i

In the first century, Peter had a dream in Joppa, a strange dream that encouraged him to eat prohibited food that was common and unclean. This was not kosher. Then he heard a knock at the door. A group of gentiles, sent by Cornelius, asked him to come with them to Caesarea. He agreed, mystified by t

Pope Introduces New Mysteries of the Rosary The rosary is a powerful prayer for peace, for families and for contemplating the mysteries of Christ’s life, Pope John Paul II said in a new apostolic letter. Pope John Paul marked the 24th anniversary of his election on Oct. 16 by signing the apost