Heidi Schlumpf

In an industry that faces fallout from the sex abuse crisis, changing parish demographics and institutional disaffiliation, many Catholic publishers see these challenges as an opportunity to serve.

The bishops of the Boston Province — which includes the Boston Archdiocese and dioceses in four states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine — have announced a third-party reporting system for complaints of misconduct against bishops.

Experts suggest that while not all Catholics may understand the history and nuances of teaching on the Real Presence and transubstantiation, many of them "get it" on a more general level.

Maria del Rosario "Rosie" Castro, the daughter of an immigrant, is a prominent Mexican American social justice and political activist in the San Antonio area. Castro, now 72, has clearly been the dominant influence on her twin sons, born in 1974.

The lead anchor and managing editor of EWTN's nightly news show has left the television network, according to a statement released by the network Thursday.

The feisty, habited nun emerged as a culture warrior in the mid-1990s, just as battle lines were being drawn in the church and broader U.S. culture. Her savvy business decisions and more than one showdown with a member of the hierarchy helped catapult EWTN into becoming a multimillion-dollar conglomerate.

After less than two decades on the air, EWTN claimed $49 million in assets and annual income from contributions of $19 million. Today, the financial support of its weathliest contributors correlates with the pro-Republican and anti-Francis editorial direction of the network's programming and news coverage.

A truly global media, EWTN has made strategic alliances in recent years, acquiring the National Catholic Register, which has become a vehicle for pronouncements and manifestos from church leaders on the right, and partnering with Sophia Institute Press, which regularly publishes books that aim to take down the current pope.

A television outlet once devoted to expressions of Catholic conservative catechesis and apologetics has grown into a truly influential media empire, well connected to Republican politicians, the Trump White House, wealthy conservative Catholic donors and anti-Pope Francis forces. 

Fr. Kevin M. Cusick, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., ignited a firestorm on social media this week with a tweet that asked women to dress modestly at Mass.

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops numbers and a 2016 survey's deeper dive give a picture of American church leadership.

The right-leaning U.S. bishops' conference reflects two papacies in which most appointments included an orthodoxy litmus test. That isn't undone in just six years of a more moderate papacy like that of Francis.

A recent Instagram post earned supermodel Gigi Hadid nearly a half a million likes, but it wasn't a photo of herself or of the latest fashion trend. It was a quote from Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister on the importance of being more broadly pro-life, not just "pro-birth."

Louis Farrakhan's appearance at a high-profile Chicago Catholic church resulted in condemnations by Jewish leaders and by Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich for the Nation of Islam leader's past anti-Semitic comments, "outright slander" and hate speech.

The author of a new controversial biography of Fr. Theodore "Ted" Hesburgh said he tried to approach his subject with a historian's eye, but at least one critic of the book believes the author's ideological prejudices got in the way.

Millennials — like all generations — want to articulate their own agenda and priorities. When it comes to church reform, they're less interested in changing the institution's internal issues and more inclined to do the work of the church through the practice of social justice. 

Some young progressive Catholics say Catholicism is their birthright and part of their genetic makeup, but they struggle with their own vocational paths and wonder how they fit — or don't — in the institutional church. Call to Action has developed a new program to foster community among them. 

The 40-year-old organization dedicated to reforming the Catholic Church has faced a significant loss of income and membership over the past few years. But its fresh young leadership is envisioning new growth and strategies that they believe will bring the movement back to its roots. 

To counteract polarization in the church and the country, the Catholic Church needs to approach both with humility — which is also an appropriate response to its mishandling of clerical sex abuse, said theologian Brian Flanagan.

Lori Lightfoot won a runoff election that will make her the first African American woman to lead the city and its first openly gay mayor.