US Conference of Catholic Bishops

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Pope Has Advice for US Bishops on Communion for Biden

'Be a pastor,' Francis advises leaders of American church

(Newser) - Pope Francis delivered his most direct admonishment yet of the US bishops who want to refuse Communion to President Biden and other political leaders who support abortion rights. Speaking to reporters Wednesday on a flight returning him to Rome after a trip to Hungary and Slovakia, the pope spoke of...

Top US Catholic Official Quits After Grindr Data Exposed

Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill's resignation over use of gay hookup app has split Catholics

(Newser) - Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, a top official at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, stepped down this week over alleged misconduct—but the manner of his downfall has split Catholics. Burrill resigned after the Pillar , a Catholic news site, reported that app data showed Burrill had "visited gay bars and...

Bishops Ignore Vatican on Communion for Biden

They're drafting a statement to back denying him the sacrament over his abortion stance

(Newser) - US bishops are moving against the nation's second Roman Catholic president, voting to draft a document in support of denying President Biden the sacrament of Communion because he supports abortion rights. The bishops announced Friday that they debated in a virtual meeting this month before voting to start work...

Bishops Could Vote on Biden Taking Communion

President's support for abortion rights bothers some in the church

(Newser) - President Biden presents a dilemma to some Catholic bishops. He's demonstrative about his faith, attending Mass regularly and saying the rosary when he has a moment of solitude. But Biden supports abortion rights, which the Catholic Church opposes. That difference will come up for discussion by the US Conference...

Vote by US Bishops Seen as Call to Resist Pope Francis

Conference picks conservative archbishop, rejecting Francis ally

(Newser) - In a move seen as pushback against Pope Francis' agenda for the church, US Catholic bishops broke with tradition and elected a conservative archbishop to lead a top committee. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 96 to 82 Tuesday to name Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann chief of anti-abortion...

Catholics File Flood of Birth-Control Lawsuits

Bishops turn to the courts to fight health care law

(Newser) - Notre Dame's lawsuit yesterday was just the beginning, because America's Catholic bishops have turned en masse to the courts in an attempt to ensure that employees of Catholic institutions do not have health plans that cover birth control. Some 43 Catholic dioceses, schools, social service agencies, and...

Bishops Launch Investigation Into Girl Scouts

Inquisition to target 'problematic programs'

(Newser) - First it was the nuns , now the Girl Scouts. They're the latest target of an investigation by the Catholic church. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is launching an official inquiry into the scouts' activities. Seems the merit-badge hungry females have been taking positions unpopular with the Catholic hierarchy—...

Vatican Cracks Down on 'Liberal' US Nuns

They're not hard enough on gays, abortion, women priests, says Rome

(Newser) - The Vatican is launching a massive crackdown on US nuns for their failure to attack gay marriage, female ordination, and abortion. Officials blasted the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group that oversees some 55,000 American nuns, for sponsoring conferences that feature "radical feminist themes incompatible with...

Catholic Bishops: Birth Control Fight Top Priority

US Conference sounds war call on Obama mandate

(Newser) - The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared its battle against President Obama's mandate on contraceptive health coverage a top priority. “This dispute is not about access to contraceptives, but about the government’s forcing the church to provide them,” said the bishops' statement. If the mandate...

Beware the Birth Control Grizzlies

Women could come flying off the bench in 2012 over health issues

(Newser) - Forget the mama grizzlies. In 2012, Hell may hath no fury like a woman voter scorned by the right, reports Politico . Between Rick Santorum's call for states to be able to ban birth control, Komen's defunding of Planned Parenthood , Catholic bishops' contraception brouhaha , a Santorum backer who defined...

Bishops Fight for Right to Block Gays in Fed Housing

It's an issue of 'religious freedom,' say lawyers

(Newser) - An association of Catholic bishops is battling a pending regulation that would ban discrimination against anyone based on "sexual orientation or gender identity" in federally funded housing projects. The rules would force some religious groups to compromise their beliefs or quit the housing programs, argued lawyers for the US...

Sorry Kids, No 'Booty' in New Bible

US bishops replace chuckle-inducing word with 'spoils'

(Newser) - No longer will young Catholics snicker in Sunday school every time the word "booty" comes up in a Bible verse: In the newest translation of the New American Bible, Catholic bishops have ordered the word "booty" replaced with the word "spoils." It's just one of many...

Bishops to Congress: Get Health Reform Done
 Bishops to Congress: 
 Get Health Reform Done 
NOW THEY'RE FOR IT
Jan 27, 2010 9:10 AM CST

Bishops to Congress: Get Health Reform Done

Church's role in health debate becomes even more paradoxical

(Newser) - The US Catholic bishops, whose primary role in the health care debate until recently was to voice concern about abortion funding, have changed tack in the wake of Scott Brown's election and are now urging Congress not to abandon the "moral imperative" of universal health coverage. The appeal the...

Catholic Hospitals Back Senate Bill on Abortion

  Catholic Hospitals  
  Back Senate 
  Bill on Abortion 

break with bishops?
Dec 26, 2009 6:37 AM CST

Catholic Hospitals Back Senate Bill on Abortion

Support compromise bishops call 'morally unacceptable'

(Newser) - In a break from their holdout bishops, Catholic hospitals signaled this week that they they will support the abortion-financing provision in the Senate health reform bill passed on Christmas Eve. The Senate bill allows states to bar the use of federal subsidies for insurance plans that cover abortion, and requires...

Vatican Condemns Obama Stem-Cell Decision

(Newser) - The Vatican is in a tizzy over President Obama’s decision to lift the federal ban on embryonic stem-cell research, the AP reports. A top official called it a “victory of politics over ethics” and said that “probably some drug companies, or some economic interests” influenced the move....

US Bishops Rewrite Catholic Mass

Language loftier, less prosaic

(Newser) - For the first time in almost five decades, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has changed the wording of the Catholic Mass for both priests and congregations. The Mass liturgy, often criticiized as being too conversational to be reverent, is being rewritten to sound loftier, reports National Public Radio. 

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