Updated Senior White House officials spoke in advance of an announcement from President Obama expected later today highlighting a ldquo common sense accommodation rdquo seeking to end a public dispute with the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops over new requirements for contraception services

It appears that the problem of government infringement on religious liberty is rapidly spreading Across the pond mdash almost mdash the Irish government has voted to reduce the 242 euro nbsp grants given to Irish families suffering from First Communions and Confirmations Last year 14 000 families

I am not crazy enough to believe that the U S culture wars ever ended but it is kind of breathtaking to watch them reignite into flame before your eyes After announcing just three days ago that it would no longer fund breast exams at a handful of Planned Parenthood affiliates the Susan G Komen

During this morning s annual prayer breakfast President Obama only obliquely referenced the week s unpleasantness between his administration and U S Catholic bishops The relationship already shaky became even more strained by recent Health and Human Services edicts that will require Catholic ho

The Catholic Health Association has released an updated statement on the recent HHS position on a narrow religious exemption for Catholic institutional employers nbsp Something has to be fixed By SR CAROL KEEHAN DC CHA president and chief executive officer CHA and its members were profoundly di

The U S bishops this week continued a scorching rhetorical response to the recent H H S decision to maintain a narrow religious exemption for contraception requirements in new health insurance plans but some reporters have noted a small problem with all the outrage Primarily its absence in previ

U S Bishops vow to fight HHS edict as a matter of freedom of conscience and religion they nbsp say it is unconscionable to force citizens to buy contraceptives against their will Statement follows WASHINGTON mdash The Catholic bishops of the United States called ldquo literally unconscionable

In what will probably come as a shock to Catholic supporters of the Obama administration Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that H H S apparently intends to stand by a controversial interim position on the wording of a religious exemption for employ

Carolyn Woo takes the reins at Catholic Relief Services.

The U S bishops were more than pleased with today s unanimous Supreme Court ruling in the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v EEOC In a groundbreaking decision that had been anxiously anticipated by religious bodies across the country the court held that a ministerial excepti