“The church is in the middle of a seismic change as it moves to a more synodal and discerning approach under the leadership of Pope Francis.”

The Most Rev. Daniel Flores, Bishop of Brownsville, Tex., since December 2009, was elected head of the Committee on Doctrine of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Nov. 16.

A chance encounter with a priest placed Jim Wahlberg on the road to recovery and healing for his entire family.

“We Catholics are not in the battle for religious freedom for sectarian purposes,” George Weigel says. “We are in this for everyone.”

“The assertion that abortion is ‘the’ pre-eminent issue in this political campaign for Catholics is itself a political statement, not a doctrinal one,” Bishop McElroy says.

More than a few people struggled with uncharitable feelings about the president’s illness. How should Christians deal with schadenfreude?