First there was dead silence and then there were tears.That is how the Rev. Robert J. Verrigni described the reaction of parishioners at St. Ursula in Mount Vernon, N.Y., to the announcement on Nov. 2 that their parish would merge with another and cease to celebrate weekly Masses after Aug. 1, 2015.

Catholic leaders in Pakistan protested the beating and burning on Nov. 4 of a young Christian couple accused of desecrating the Quran. “The government has absolutely failed to protect its citizens’ right to life,” said the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic B

A parish twinning-style relationship between St. Lawrence Parish in Tampa, Fla., and a small Catholic community in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province has resulted in official permission for the construction of the first new Catholic church to be erected in Cuba in nearly six decades. • In a le

The Archdiocese of Chicago on Nov. 6 released approximately 15,000 pages of documents related to 36 archdiocesan priests who have substantiated allegations against them of sexual misconduct with minors. The documents are posted on the archdiocesan website, www.archchicago.org. All the records pertai

If you have been paying any attention to California news lately, you’ve heard about the state’s devastating three-year drought: counties worth of farms decimated, whole towns without water and government officials proposing emergency legislation. This year has been thus far the driest ye

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference called on the Confederation of African Football to postpone the Africa Cup of Nations 2015 soccer tournament, scheduled for Jan. 17 to Feb. 8, because of the Ebola threat. • New light is shining on the Sistine Chapel after a state of the art LED ligh