U.S. & World News
American pastor freed after two years in Turkey returns to U.S.
The Rev. Andrew Brunson, an evangelical Presbyterian pastor who had been jailed by Turkish authorities for nearly two years, returned to U.S. soil Oct. 13 after being freed the day before by Turkey.
Superiors general see no reason why women shouldn’t have vote at synod
Although bishops should make up the majority of voting members at a Synod of Bishops, the fact that the body is only consultative means women should be included as full members just as priests and religious brothers are, said three priests who are voting members.
Salvadoran archbishop asks pope to make Romero ‘doctor of the church’
Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador asked Pope Francis to proclaim St. Oscar Romero the church’s first Latin American “doctor of the church.”
Cardinal Wuerl led high-profile endeavors in 32 years as a bishop
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, whose resignation as archbishop of Washington was accepted Oct. 12 by Pope Francis, was a high-profile figure in the U.S. church well before his 2006 appointment as archbishop of the nation’s capital
Text of Cardinal Wuerl’s letter to Catholics of Washington Archdiocese
The following is the text of the Oct. 12 letter Cardinal Donald Wuerl addressed to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Washington following the announcement that Pope Francis has accepted his resignation as archbishop of Washington:
Diocese moving from prayer to action in wake of Hurricane Michael
In the wake of Hurricane Michael, which ravaged the Florida panhandle, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, whose territory was smack in the path of the Category 4 storm, has moved from prayer to action.
Young people want leaders who are fathers, not Pharisees, observer says
The Catholic Church must be a place of justice and mercy, and its members must be catalysts for change, some young observers said at the Synod of Bishops Oct. 11.
Synod already leading to some changes, bishops report
Even on the ninth day of the 25-day-long Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment, two bishops said they already had ideas for things they would want to start in their ministries.
Pope accepts Cardinal Wuerl’s resignation as archbishop of Washington
Cardinal Wuerl had been facing pressure to resign after an Aug. 14 grand jury report detailing sexual abuse claims in six Pennsylvania dioceses painted a mixed picture of how he handled some of the cases when he was bishop in Pittsburgh from 1988 until 2006.
Working alongside migrant laborers prepares seminarians for priesthood
Seminarian John Washington was looking for a summer cultural experience as he prepared to end his academic year at Chicago’s Mundelein Seminary and he found it in an agricultural field in central Washington.
Limousine crash ‘heartbreaking, gut-wrenching’ for New York community
Among the 20 people killed in a devastating limousine accident Oct. 6 in Schoharie were several victims who had connections to parishes, schools and Catholic organizations of the Albany Diocese.
Supreme Court examines dementia, health issues in death penalty cases
The U.S. Supreme Court, no stranger to death penalty cases, is looking very narrowly at two aspects of capital punishment this term: if an inmate with dementia should be executed if he has no memory of the crime he committed three decades ago and if a death-row prisoner with a specific health problem can be executed by a less painful manner because of his condition.
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