Heidi Schlumpf

Morning Briefing: Anti-Trump news, no double-dipping for Christmas Mass, and Advent inspiration.

Recent examples involving President Trump and the Washington Post raise the question: Is lying wrong? Is it still — as Catholics would say — a sin? 

Fr. Robert Schreiter, speaking at Catholic Theological Union, drew on his decades' experience in reconciliation around the world, applying the principles to the U.S. today.

More than 450 students, faculty, staff and alumni have signed an open letter to the university president urging that 19th-century murals in Notre Dame's Main Building be removed. The heroic depiction of Christopher Columbus and stereotypical portrayal of Native American people are "highly problematic," they say.

Morning Briefing: What the pope didn't say in Myanmar; bishops concerned over net neutrality; and latest on sexual harassment

Women in the community around Sick Pilgrim, a Catholic blog for spirituality, have accused the blog's co-founder with nonconsensual touching and “inappropriate, predatory and exploitative” relationships. The co-founder denies the allegations.  

Nationally replicating the "trickle-down" policy in the GOP tax plan won't work, critics say, and Catholic leaders emphasize its unethical burden on low-income people.

Morning Briefing: Pope Francis' upcoming trip to Myanmar; perspectives on nuclear weapons; weekend gatherings and Thanksgiving thoughts.

Book Review: One of the many things that surprised me while adopting our two children was the sizeable number of evangelical Christians in the adoption community. 

The U.S. bishops discussed immigration, racism and other social justice issues in Baltimore, but more needs to be done to effect change, say some bishops and observers. 

USCCB Fall 2017: A year and a half after the release of Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation​ Amoris Laetitia, the U.S. bishops have voted to create a document and pastoral plan on marriage and family life, scheduled to be ready in November 2019.

USCCB Fall 2017: Bishops from dioceses affected by hurricanes in the past few months provided updates to the assembled conference in Baltimore Nov. 14; their message was one of ongoing struggle and need, as well as solidarity and human kindness.

The pope is "calling people to have an adult spirituality, rather than being infantilized in their spirituality," Cardinal Blase Cupich said to applause. "For people who like to tell other people what to do, that's threatening."

Morning Briefing: Elections, past and present; Notre Dame changes its mind; Catholic fashion

More victims of sexual assault are coming forward and speaking up, but church leaders have remained quiet. Advocates of victims of sexual violence and theologians consider this silence complicity.

Advocates for the poor, including Catholic ones, have had to play defense this past year, fighting proposals from the Trump administration and Republican Congress to cut social safety net programs, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid, food stamps and affordable housing. But increased attention to these issues in general has been encouraging.

Prominent New Orleans chef John Besh, who has been active in several Catholic organizations around the country, has stepped down from at least one in the aftermath of multiple allegations of sexual harassment at his restaurants and company.

Morning briefing (Reformation Day and All Hallow’s Eve edition): Tweeting your own theses (perhaps against denying LGBT funerals); history of indulgences; zombie theology.

Morning Briefing: Controversy at Georgetown, actor Mark Wahlberg asks forgiveness and "Shark Week" at the Daily Theology blog

"The main issue centers around scandal and confusion," says a communication from the vicar general, encouraging pastors to contact the Bishop Robert Morlino for guidance.