Mark Pattison

Restorative justice should be advocated as a key element in criminal justice reform, according to participants at an April 25 conference in Washington sponsored by the Catholic Mobilizing Network.

With the 2018 version of the farm bill having been voted out of committee for consideration by the full House, Catholic groups and other rural advocates are voicing their misgivings about many of its provisions.

The Supreme Court heard a case Feb. 26 that could erode the rights of labor unions at government workplaces.

Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor of the influential Rome-based magazine La Civilta Cattolica and a close associate of Pope Francis, outlined the pope's "diplomacy of mercy" that he has used with both political leaders and their citizens throughout his papacy during a Feb. 13 talk at Georgetown University.

Just as people are "struggling to survive" in Congo, aid agencies are struggling to meet their needs, said Chiara Nava, an advisor to an agency focusing on education and child protection.

A 10 percent tariff slapped on imports of Canadian newsprint by the United States is playing havoc with newspaper budgets across the United States, and Catholic newspapers are no exception.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York invoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during a homily at the Jan. 18 Mass that opened the National Prayer Vigil for Life.

After new Federal Communications Committee chair Ajit Pai announced his intentions in April to redo federal policy on net neutrality, the Dec. 14 vote to rewrite the rules should have seemed anticlimactic.

While efforts by congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act over the first half of 2017 dominated the headlines on the health care stage, there were other issues that also merited attention.

While much of the focus has been on the Supreme Court, state legislatures, governors and juries in the ongoing fight to abolish capital punishment in the United States, the head of the Death Penalty Information Center suggested that counties may be key.

The ratcheting up of North Korea's missile testing and fears about its quest to launch a nuclear weapon have gotten the attention of leaders worldwide, including Pope Francis.

A House subcommittee hearing on a U.S. law to improve U.S. religious freedom diplomacy efforts globally prompted a discussion on how to expand those freedoms for religious minorities, particularly for those in Muslim-majority countries.

A growing number of texts, not only in English and Spanish but in other languages, and the rise of digital technology are hampering the effectiveness of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on the Catechism.

Persecuted Christian minorities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East are at risk of being forgotten, according to the chairman of the U.S bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace.

There are three things bishops must always keep in mind as they exercise their episcopal ministry, according to Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican's nuncio to the United States.

A survey of more than 4,000 Catholic campus ministers and students at U.S. colleges, commissioned by the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Catholic Education, showed that both the ministers and the students generally like what's happening in their campus ministry setting.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s support of nonviolence to bring about social change applies as much to today's society as it did 60 years ago, speakers said.

How Protestants regarded Martin Luther has evolved as the Reformation he engendered has likewise evolved, according to German Catholic theologian Father Peter Neuner. 

"Economic instability also hurts the faith community, as Americans who have recently experienced unemployment are less likely to go to church, even though such communities can be a source of great support in difficult times."