The archdiocese of Chicago's strategic plan to keep its Catholic schools vital and viable emphasizes new management strategies, the need to find new funding and a strong focus on Catholic identity and excellent academics.
The plan highlights an issue facing Catholic schools nationwide: funding.
The Chicago archdiocese has laid off 60 pastoral center employees and must consolidate some of its agencies because of a deficit in the budget of its administrative operations, according to Cardinal Francis George.
He announced reduction in staff and other changes in his column in the March 3-16 issue of the Catholic New World, the archdiocesan newspaper.
A U.S. District Court judge Feb. 8 dismissed a lawsuit filed against the federal contraceptive mandate by the Springfield and Joliet dioceses, their respective Catholic Charities agencies and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Judge John Darrah of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago said in his ruling the claims of the plaintiffs "are unripe for adjudication."
Undocumented immigrants who can prove they have lived in Illinois for at least a year will soon be eligible for temporary driver's licenses under a bill passed Jan. 8.
Cardinal Francis George told Chicago-area Catholics that the passage of a same-sex marriage law in the state would be "acting against the common good of society."
Viewpoint: Mitt Romney says he will create more jobs, but how can that help those working 80 hours a week at minimum wage?
Mary Fishman has spent the last eight years working on the documentary film "Band of Sisters" about American women religious after the Second Vatican Council -- a project that eventually inspired her to become an associate member of the Sisters of Mercy. But did she ever consider becoming a nun?
"Not at all," the Chicago-based producer and director said with a bit of a nervous laugh. "It wouldn't have worked, because I don't get up early enough."
Bringing members of three Muslim-Catholic regional dialogue groups together for their first national plenary session in Chicago was a groundbreaking event, but its members agreed that the dialogue must move forward.
The "Living Our Faiths Together" plenary, held Oct. 3-5 at Catholic Theological Union, included a retrospective look at Muslim-Catholic dialogue, keynote talks by both Catholic and Muslim speakers, and opportunities for members to share what they have done so far and what direction they think the dialogue should take in the future.
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