Daily News Feed Column

Forty years later, birth control decree remains controversial

Daily News Feed — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:30:41 -0400

By DANIEL BURKE, Religion News Service

Some say Pope Paul VI predicted the dangers of loosening sexual morals: widespread divorce, disease and promiscuity. Others say he cracked open a culture of dissent that has seeped into every corner of the church.

Either way, 40 years after Paul VI released Humanae Vitae on July 25, 1968, the papal encylical banning most forms of birth control continues to be a flashpoint in the Catholic Church.

In message for expo, pope says all must have access to clean water

Daily News Feed — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:55:39 -0400

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY -- Public and private sectors must work together to ensure all people, especially the poor, have access to clean, potable water, Pope Benedict XVI said in a message to an international exposition dedicated to water and sustainable development.

Water is "a universal and unalienable right" for all people, and its use must take into account the "growing and perennial needs of people who live in poverty," he said.

Archbishop suppresses 18 New Orleans parishes; more closings to come

Daily News Feed — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:23:49 -0400

By Peter Finney Jr., Catholic News Service

NEW ORLEANS -- Confirming decisions he had announced in April in a post-Katrina realignment plan for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes signed letters July 3 closing 18 parishes and either merging them with others or changing their status to mission churches.

Those closings will take effect in the near future upon the reassignment of pastors, said Fr. Michael Jacques, chairman of the archdiocesan pastoral plan steering committee. The closing parishes will have the opportunity to celebrate a final Mass or prayer service sometime in August.

Iowa bishops say immigrants deserve better after raid, floods

Daily News Feed — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:12:42 -0400

By Tim Murphy, Religion News Service

Iowa bishops from three denominations are demanding an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy in the wake of an immigration raid on a large kosher slaughterhouse and allegations of worker mistreatment during relief efforts after last month's floods.

"We are concerned that we would substitute any level of fearmongering ... for the hard work of getting a humane and just immigrant immigration policy," United Methodist Bishop Gregory Palmer said July 10.

Anglican bishop expects new wave of converts to join Catholic Church

Daily News Feed — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:43:24 -0400

By Simon Caldwell, Catholic News Service

LONDON -- A traditionalist Anglican bishop has called on the Catholic Church to accommodate a potential new wave of converts following the decision by the Church of England to allow the ordination of women bishops.

"What we must humbly ask for now is for magnanimous gestures from our Catholic friends, especially from the Holy Father, who well understands our longing for unity, and from the hierarchy of England and Wales," wrote Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, England, in the July 11 edition of The Catholic Herald, a London-based weekly newspaper.

Catholic bishops reject changes to Mass prayers

Daily News Feed — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:32:01 -0400

By Daniel Burke, Religion News Service

The nation’s Catholic bishops have rejected a new translation of Mass prayers, a rare instance of U.S. prelates denying a Vatican-ordered liturgical change.

While ballots are still coming in, it’s clear they won’t add up to the 166 needed to pass the new translation, said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A two-thirds majority of the USCCB’s Latin rite bishops is required for approval.