News & Commentary

A memorial honoring shooting victims sits outside the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Parents of children killed in Minneapolis Catholic school shooting speak out

8-year-old Fletcher Merkel "loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking and any sport that he was allowed to play" and the hole left in his family's hearts by his death will never be filled, his father remarked at an Aug. 28 ...
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U.N. condemns Myanmar bloodshed; cardinal criticizes ‘brutality, violence’

The United Nations and human right groups have strongly condemned the worsening bloodshed in Myanmar as at least 38 people were killed in the military's crackdown on protesters March 14.
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American Rescue Plan praised for helping ‘the most vulnerable among us’

The American Rescue Plan is "an extraordinarily practical way to help the American people, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said in a statement March 11, the same day President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package into ...
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USCCB Administrative Committee’s pastoral message marks year of pandemic

U.S. life has "dramatically changed" due to the yearlong pandemic, and alongside it, racial injustices and political divisions have shaken the nation, yet there is "comfort in God's promise," the U.S. bishops' Administrative Committee said in a March 9 pastoral ...
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Minnesota faith leaders pray for peace, justice during Floyd trial

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis prayed March 7 for peace and justice in the upcoming trial of a white former city police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, an African American. He died while ...
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Remains of Father Emil Kapaun, Korean War military chaplain, identified

A U.S. government forensic team announced March 4 it has identified the remains of Father Emil Kapaun, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, who was an Army chaplain and died in a Chinese prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War.
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Bishop Rhoades: Latest COVID-19 vaccine can be used in good conscience

In a new video, the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine reiterated that use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine "can be used in good moral conscience."
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