Carol Zimmermann

Year in review: Amid the multiple mass shootings that took place in the U.S. during 2019, Catholic leaders spoke out against them, urged legislators to make changes to put a stop to these actions and asked Catholics to pray and work toward possible solutions.

2019 was a busy year for the U.S. Supreme Court. In its new term, which began in October, the justices examined the status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, gun ownership restrictions and, as it does most terms, the death penalty.

The Supreme Court will take a deeper dive into laws governing church and state next year when it examines two Catholic school teacher firings.

Use of the death penalty in the United States continues to decrease, according to a report released Dec. 17 by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Days before the scheduled Democratic presidential debate Dec. 19 at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, there was no debate about what the seven qualifying candidates would do if the labor dispute between a food service company and school employees was not resolved by Dec. 18.

Fifty years ago, the White House sponsored a Dec. 2-4 conference on food, nutrition and health designed to set the groundwork for a national nutrition policy and to advise President Richard Nixon on the best ways to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the United States.

A federal judge Nov. 20 temporarily blocked the executions of four federal death-row inmates scheduled for December and January, saying the lethal injections they were to receive goes against the Federal Death Penalty Act.

Five days before his scheduled execution, death-row inmate Rodney Reed was granted an indefinite stay of his execution. 

One year after the U.S. bishops approved their pastoral letter against racism, the document is hardly just sitting on a shelf but is the basis for listening sessions in dioceses around the country and is an educational tool for individuals, schools and parishes, the bishops were told Nov. 13.

In his final address as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston told his fellow bishops that it has been "an honor to serve you, even in the difficult times."

Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles did not just bemoan the fact many young people are leaving the Catholic Church. He said church leaders need to make it a priority to bring them back.

Sister Helen Prejean, Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, and the Catholic Mobilizing Network have been joined by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna, Meek Mill and Kim Kardashian West in urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to stop the scheduled Nov. 20 execution of death-row inmate Rodney Reed.

Catholic leaders joined more than 35 other groups that have filed friend-of-the-court briefs urging the Supreme Court to support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, known as DACA.

The Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty stems from its view on the sacredness of human life and the value of mercy, said U.S. bishops in a roundtable discussion about capital punishment Oct. 10.

On the second day of the Supreme Court's new term, a divided court Oct. 8 heard oral arguments from three cases concerning protections for gay, lesbian and transgender employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts.

In an Oct. 4 statement, the Catholic bishops of Indiana said the federal government's decision this past summer to end a 16-year moratorium on executing federal inmates is "regrettable, unnecessary and morally unjustified."

The Supreme Court announced Oct. 4, just three days before it begins its new term, that it will add an abortion case to its docket.

Refugee advocates are opposed to the decision announced by the Trump administration Sept. 26 that it plans to admit no more than 18,000 refugees in the next fiscal year.

The Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education temporarily lifted a decree that had taken away the Catholic status of Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis.

The upcoming Supreme Court term — which starts Oct. 7 — will offer plenty of cases that Catholics will be paying close attention to including: the status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a number of religious liberty cases including a school-choice program in Montana and workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender.