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Amazon inhabitants hope synod will address lack of priests

QUITO, Ecuador — The upcoming Synod of Bishops for the Amazon will focus on the devastating effects of climate change on the environment and on indigenous communities, but it also will look at ways to meet the spiritual needs of the region's people.
Polls show big support for conscience protections for health care workers

WASHINGTON — An overwhelming majority of Americans — 83% — said they support conscience protection rights for health care professionals because they should not be forced to perform procedures against their moral beliefs.
Journalist Cokie Roberts, lifelong Catholic, dies at 75

WASHINGTON — Cokie Roberts, a broadcast journalist and political commentator who spoke publicly about her Catholic faith and her admiration for the Sacred Heart sisters who taught her, died Sept. 17 due to complications from breast cancer. She was 75.
Religion has 'valuable role' in forming culture of peace, says U.N. nuncio

UNITED NATIONS — Religion can make an important contribution "to forming a culture of peace," both to "empower and transform individuals" and "humanity as a whole," the Vatican's nuncio to the United Nations said Sept. 13.
Irish abuse survivor disappointed with global reforms, accountability

BALTIMORE — Clergy sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins kicked off a five-city U.S. speaking tour on "The Catholic Tipping Point" in Baltimore Sept. 10, noting that she is disappointed with the results of the Vatican summit on child protection and efforts toward accountability and transparency.
Central Americans want to stay home; development programs help that happen

WASHINGTON — Vanessa Urbina understands how young people in Central America, not seeing an opportunity for work or a good education, could be attracted to make the dangerous trip north in the hope of a better future in the United States.
El Paso Diocese uses new fund to help migrants near border

WASHINGTON — During the summer of 2019, the bishop of El Paso, Texas, decided his diocese would open a fund to help a growing number of immigrants piling into shelters on the other side of the U.S. border in the sister city of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
Memories of 9/11 attacks linger for fire department chaplain

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Msgr. John Delendick, a longtime New York Fire Department chaplain who is currently pastor of St. Jude Church in Brooklyn, remembers Sept. 11, 2001 — vividly.
Archbishop will not live in mansion: 'I am a pastor, not a prince'

SEATTLE — Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne said he will not live in the 9,000-square-foot mansion that many of his predecessors called home. "I am a pastor, not a prince," he said, "and I want to live in a manner that's more reflective of how my people live."
Nassau archbishop assesses post-hurricane challenges in Bahamas

MIAMI — Archbishop Patrick C. Pinder of Nassua, Bahamas, celebrated Mass Sept. 8 for evacuee families and Catholic school staff members a week after Hurricane Dorian slammed into the islands.
Catholic organizations in Florida marshaling aid for Dorian victims

MIAMI — In the wake of Hurricane Dorian's brutal blasting of the Bahamas, Catholic organizations in Florida continued to raise funds to aid victims there.
'You have to have faith,' Bahamian resident says of Dorian recovery

WASHINGTON — Cathy Nottage, a resident of Elbow Cay -- an 8-mile-long stretch in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas -- has had to take a lot of things by faith in the days since Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas and left much of the islands in rubble or underwater.
Irish church confirms 1989 miraculous cure of woman at Knock shrine

DUBLIN — The Catholic Church in Ireland has confirmed that a woman who was seriously ill with multiple sclerosis experienced a complete healing of all her symptoms at Knock shrine in September 1989.
Archbishop Etienne succeeds Archbishop Sartain in Seattle

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis has appointed Seattle Coadjutor Archbishop Paul D. Etienne as the archbishop of Seattle and accepted the resignation of Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain.
Seattle archdiocese affirms priest did not condone parishioner's suicide

WASHINGTON — The Archdiocese of Seattle has issued a second statement confirming that a priest did not bless the medically assisted suicide of a parishioner. The Aug. 29 statement attempts to clear up confusion and misinformation that ensued following a story by The Associated Press about Robert Fuller, who died May 10 after injecting himself with a lethal dose of liquids designed to end his life.
Texas bishop calls reported Marian apparitions a 'fabrication'

FORT WORTH, Texas — In an Aug. 26 letter to local Catholics, Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth said recent "purported apparitions, messages and miracles" of Mary that he had cautioned Catholics about weeks before "are, in fact, a fabrication."
English bishop finds concrete ways to encourage eco-friendly practices

MANCHESTER, England — An English bishop is creating a green oasis in the grounds of his residence in the hope of inspiring visitors to heed the call of Pope Francis to "care for our common home."
Shining a light in the darkness is New Orleans man's day job

NEW ORLEANS — From his elevated perch on the shoeshine stand near Concourse C of Louis Armstrong International Airport -- a nondescript wooden platform with two blue-padded chairs and four metal footrests -- Wayne Kendrick notices everything and everyone.
Wildfires point to urgency of upcoming Amazon synod, Bolivian bishop says

LIMA, Peru — Wildfires raging in Bolivia and Brazil underscore the urgency of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon that Pope Francis has called for October, said Bishop Eugenio Coter of the apostolic vicariate of Pando in northern Bolivia.
Recalling the harrowing trip to and across the border as a child

WASHINGTON — Bessy Jovel takes deep breaths, sometimes gentle gulps, to talk about the trip of almost 2,000 miles she made as an 8-year-old from El Salvador to the U.S.-Mexico border almost 30 years ago.
Real Presence: What do Catholics believe and how the church can respond

Do Catholics believe that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Christ? A Pew Research Center survey released Aug. 5 found that nearly 70% of Catholics believe that the bread and wine used for Communion during Mass are "symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ," while about 30% believe that the bread and wine "actually become" Christ's body and blood.
Appeals court upholds Cardinal Pell conviction on abuse charges

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian appeals court upheld the conviction of Cardinal George Pell on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys more than two decades ago.
Myanmar fighting forces people to take shelter at churches, monasteries

MANDALAY, Myanmar — About 1,000 people fled their homes and took refuge at religious sites as renewed fighting erupted in Myanmar's Shan state.
Sustainable land use urged to ease growing threats to food, water

WASHINGTON — Leading five seminarians on an eight-week summer service program largely through Appalachia and South America, Conventual Franciscan Father Michael Lasky saw a new awareness rising in the young men's minds.
'You cannot be a Catholic and sit on the sidelines'

WASHINGTON — In a crowded bar, bustling with young adult Catholics from the Washington area for the monthly Theology on Tap, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory shared his pain over what this archdiocese suffered in the past year due to priestly abuse scandals, and encouraged the young adults to turn to the Eucharist as a source of healing.
Yearlong 'window' in New York statute of limitations on abuse suits opens

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state's yearlong "window" in the statute of limitations opened Aug. 14, allowing suits to be file by victims alleging abuse by priests, church workers and employees of public schools, hospitals and other institutions no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.
Final public Mass, tears mark closing of Poor Clare monastery in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Concealed behind tall brick walls and strong iron gates in a struggling Memphis neighborhood, nuns have been quietly praying for the city and its people since 1932.
Opinion on abortion's legality unchanged; some shifting within groups

WASHINGTON — While a survey of more than 54,000 Americans showed little change in their attitudes between 2014 and 2018 on the legality of abortion, researchers detected movement in many demographic groups, Catholics included.
El Paso priest: Faith there 'in darkest moments'

WASHINGTON — In upcoming days, Father Fabian Marquez plans to attend 17 funerals. He will officiate one and attend the other 16, including one in Chihuahua City in Mexico.
Catholic Extension announces aid for families of deported breadwinners

CHICAGO — Catholic Extension will be helping families left without their main financial supporter in Mississippi, where families lost their breadwinner after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out massive raids Aug. 7.
Dayton Catholics see need to spur action from mass shooting

Nick Cardilino thought he understood solidarity and the human family. Then he woke up to the news Aug. 4 of the mass shooting at a bar in Dayton's Oregon District and remembered that his son had been a few blocks away, at a baseball game, the night before.
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