Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, responding to sharp criticisms regarding his organization’s ministries, said the group will continue its bridge-building work between lesbian/gay Catholics and the Catholic church.

There are people in the world who derive no small pleasure from the game of “major” and “minor.” They think that no major work can be painted in watercolors. They think, too, that Hemingway writing about boys in the woods is major; Mansfield writing about girls in the kitchen is minor. These people join up with other bad specters, and I have to banish them. -- Mary Gordon, “The Parable of the Cave; or, In Praise of Watercolors” in The Writer on Her Work

Cardinal Franc Rodé, who is over seeing the investigation of U.S. women religious, says religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices. He called the time after the Second Vatican Council a period "rich in experimentation but poor in robust and convincing mission."

WASHINGTON -- Bishops who work closely with John Carr, who oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, say new claims against him and the agency are false and "totally ridiculous."

Port-au-Prince, Haiti -- Fr. Tom Hagan a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, moved to Port-au-Prince in 1997 where he oversaw a program, “Hands Together,” he had begun in Cité Soleil, that city’s largest and most desperate slum. He sent by e-mail an account his experience during the Jan. 12 earthquake and his assessment of the future of Haiti and the church in that country.

The leaders of the thirteen Christian communities serving in the Palestinian territories -- including Latin and Orthodox patriarchs -- have declared the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories a “sin against God and humanity” and urged Christians everywhere to nonviolently intervene to end its injustices.

How can we integrate God's peace into a wickedly violent world? For one man in Norwalk, Conn., an authentic path to peace developed over time. Al Forte describes himself as "just a guy from Red Hook, Brooklyn." "I'm not a peace activist," said Forte. He says he is more comfortable with the label of "prayer activist."

Mother Mary Clare Millea, superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and charged by the Vatican with directing a three-year study of U.S. women religious congregations, has sent letters to religious leaders asking once again for their full cooperation in filling out questionnaires, which are part of the process.

Julie Castro's interest in health emerged as a way to take action in the fight for social justice. During her medical studies she did internships in Africa and India, and worked in a refugee camp located along the Thai-Burmese border. Now a young doctor, she lives in France, a country that offers quality health care for all.

Make no mistake. Our nation’s democratic foundations took a blow last month with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that took the lid off corporate campaign spending. It remains to be seen precisely how the 5-4 ruling will play out. Be assured, it won’t be pretty. To cite Justice John Paul Stevens’ dissenting opinion: “While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.”

The arrival of digital media is affecting every aspect of society from policing, to health care, to education, to news reporting and to entertainment. One business owner, a group of Benedictine monks who are used to centuries of ink and parchment, is also adjusting to this new reality.