DETROIT — The head of the Catholic Church in Detroit has been chosen to lead a new national group that seeks to guide how Catholics should respond to President-elect Joe Biden and the contentious issue of abortion.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron, who leads the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, was named this week the president of the United States ...Read more

It's early morning. The sun is just peeking onto the backyard or the park or the trail or the balcony. The pale rays brighten and verify colors from their muted-grey overnight rest. Then it catches your eye — strand after carefully placed strand shimmering in stunning dewy array of iridescent nano-pearls.

You are gazing upon your basic, ...Read more

The McCarrick Report investigating sexual abuse by disgraced former Washington, D.C., cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, released this month by the Vatican, catalogs facts that cannot be ignored, denied or explained away. The harm inflicted by McCarrick over decades is a source of deep remorse and shame for the Catholic Church. Like most, I am ...Read more

When my thoughts and feelings are in turmoil, I go up the local mountain to find inner peace.

I go up the mountain (really just a big hill) where a sense of freedom and spaciousness helps me sort out problems, soothe hurts, and feel a few hundred feet closer to God. Going up a mountain to pray is part of the spiritual history of my Christian ...Read more

The Vatican this week released an eye-popping report documenting how Theodore McCarrick, the defrocked former cardinal archbishop of Washington, D.C., ascended in the church hierarchy despite warnings that he had sexually harassed young seminarians.

The report, released by the Vatican secretary of state's office, assigns primary responsibility ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Before Tsegai fled Eritrea and made the monthslong journey to the United States to seek asylum, his image of this country was colored by what he'd seen on TV.

America, he thought, was the kind of place where people could be welcomed in with nothing and manage to turn their lives around.

But when the 30-year-old arrived last ...Read more

Carl Lentz, a so-called pastor to the stars who baptized singer Justin Bieber in 2014, was fired Wednesday by Hillsong Church for reasons including what the megachurch called "moral failures."

On Thursday, Lentz apologized for cheating on his wife and letting down those who looked to him for spiritual leadership.

"This is a hard ending to what...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A woman accused of grooming teenage girls for the sexual pleasure of the head of La Luz del Mundo church has come forward and is now alleging through her attorney that she too was a victim.

Alondra Ocampo, who has reached a plea deal in the case set for trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court next month, suffered years of ...Read more

CHICAGO — Wilton Gregory wasn't raised Catholic and didn't come to the faith until he was in sixth grade attending a Catholic grammar school. Now, he'll serve as one of the top leaders of the global Catholic church community after being named a cardinal by Pope Francis.

The Chicago native was one of 13 church leaders around the world to be ...Read more

Pope Francis called for patience and solidarity while criticizing those who complain about restrictive measures during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an interview published Sunday by Serbia-based Politika newspaper.

He praised what he called urban heroes "who take responsibility toward others and look for a concrete solution so no one ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Waterbury native and Knights of Columbus founder Michael McGivney was beatified Saturday, as authorized by Pope Francis, making him the first Connecticut resident and one of only a handful of Americans, to be recognized as "Blessed."

McGivney, who died in 1890, is now one step short of sainthood.

The beatification took ...Read more

After it was announced on Sunday that Pope Francis has included Washington, D.C.'s Archbishop Wilton Gregory among a group of new cardinals, one of the first to offer congratulations was Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles.

Gomez, who is also the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that in bestowing a red hat on Gomez, ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Diabetes, heart disease and other ailments had been disproportionately cutting lives short in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of West Baltimore for decades when the coronavirus pandemic emerged and piled on.

A group of Episcopal Church members found that to be something of a last straw.

Buoyed by the recent social justice ...Read more

Pope Francis named U.S. Archbishop Wilton D Gregory as the first African American cardinal, elevating a key voice for racial justice to the body that will elect the next head of the Catholic Church.

The appointment was one of 13 new cardinals announced by Francis during Sunday mass at St. Peter's Square in Rome.

"With a very grateful and ...Read more

Although attention in the presidential campaign now focuses on COVID-19, the economy, the Supreme Court and health care, it is important not to lose sight of the critical role that the faith factor will play in the election outcome. Indeed, after downplaying the role of religion in the 2016 campaign, observers were stunned when GOP nominee ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. - As the Rev. Terence Gary stepped onto the stage at The Experience Christian Center to give a guest sermon last Sunday, about one-third of the 250 chairs in front of him were covered in black cloth so that attendees would sit socially distanced from each other.

About 60 masked people watched him. Three women in white lab coats - ...Read more

NEW YORK - The beleaguered Diocese of Rockville Centre, facing dozens of sex abuse lawsuits, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday.

The Long Island Catholic diocese - one of the largest in the country - said the bankruptcy filing was necessary to move forward while managing litigation costs, settlements with sexual abuse survivors and ...Read more