Flooding in the provinces of Pangasinan and Benguet, about 120 miles from the capital, Manila, began on Oct. 8.

Nuns from congregations nationwide laboring for Nuns Build were swinging hammers and hanging wallboard in New Orleans homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The bishops offer principles of Catholic teaching that might help inform policy choices in Afghanistan.

None of the major health reform bills before Congress adequately addresses the concerns raised by the bishops in the areas of abortion, conscience protection, immigrants and affordability.

“For the first time in the history of humanity, the number of hungry persons has reached 1 billion,” Jacques Diouf told the synod.

Progress has been reported on drafting immigration legislation, and promised administrative reviews of some of the most harshly criticized aspects of federal immigration policies.