BALTIMORE (CNA)—Religious freedom is fundamental to a free society, but some political and cultural trends are threatening that freedom, the Catholic bishops of Maryland said in a new statement.

“Efforts to restrict the rights of individuals and institutions because of their religious or moral beliefs are on the rise here in Maryland and around the nation,” the bishops wrote.

“Religious liberty — a right rooted in our human dignity and protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — is being silently and subtly eroded.”

The 12-page document, titled “The Most Sacred of All Property: Religious Freedom and the People of Maryland,” was signed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY (EWTN News/CNA)—Pope Benedict XVI has called attention to the problem of unemployment as a threat to the dignity of individuals and families, in a message to the bishops’ conference of Ecuador.

“Through work man comes to see himself as a participant in God’s plan of creation,” the Pope wrote in his letter to Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference president Archbishop Antonio Yarza.

“This is why unemployment or precarious work undermine man’s dignity, creating not just situations of injustice and poverty which frequently degenerate into desperation, criminality and violence, but also crises of identity.”

Pope Benedict’s message, released Nov. 10, addressed the South American bishops...READ MORE

Communion on the Tongue and Pope St. Leo the Great - Taylor Marshall, Canterbury Tales

What’s So Great About Catholicism? - H. W. Crocker III, Crisis Magazine

The Pope who Persuaded Attila the Hun to Spare Rome - Catholic Herald

The “Other Girls” - Rachel Howell, VirtuousPla.net

A President’s Prayer and Today’s Culture Wars - The Motley Monk, The American Catholic

Dan Burke’s Journey Home - Catholic Spiritual Direction

The Pope’s Aching Joints; The Vatican’s Odd Silence - Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture

Financial “Note” Blowback, Peace Office Under Lockdown - Sandro Magister, Chiesa

What’s the State Interest in Promoting Gay Marriage? - Joe Heschmeyer, Shameless Popery

What’s at...READ MORE

Early last month, President Obama bragged to a St. Louis crowd about the recent Health and Human Services’ regulations that will require thousands of religious employers to pay for contraception, sterilization and drugs that probably cause abortions. The crowd cheered the president’s contraceptive mandate. He joined their revelry, shouting, “Darn Tootin’!” to the crowd’s delight.

The same week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed a NARAL Pro-Choice America fundraiser. She told the raucous crowd that “we are in a war” and boasted of the regulation that forces religious objectors to choose between violating their religion and kicking their employees off of health insurance.

Yesterday,...READ MORE

Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., says that the U.S. bishops’ new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty will officially meet for the first time this Sunday, Nov. 13.

He also revealed that the committee, which is “just getting organized,” will likely consist of “about 10 bishops” as well as “a number of very qualified lay consultors.”

“What is our goal? It is first of all to lift up the whole area of religious freedom, beginning with the teaching of the Church in Dignitatis Humanae, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on religious freedom,” Bishop Lori told CNA on Nov. 8.

He also sees the committee’s task as “recouping, if you will, the vision of our Founding Fathers of...READ MORE

St. Mary’s Messenger, Catholic Magazine for Kids - Patti Maguire Armstrong, Catholic Lane

Australia: Love & Responsibility, Taking Universities by Storm - Bernard Toutounji, beingCatholic

Education = Virtue - Anna Williams, VirtuousPla.net

Will the New Translation Be Granted Its Full Voice? - Jeffery A. Tucker, New Liturgical Movement

Healthcare, Conscience, & Religious Liberty (Linda Greenhouse) - Helen Alvaré, Public Discourse

Straight & Worthy Answers on Abortion - Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

Belloc, Distributism & Political Power - Jonathan Witt, Acton Institute/Power Blog

Should Catholics Attend Invalid Weddings? - Eric Sammons, Our Sunday Visitor

Sense of...READ MORE

Mississippi’s proposed ballot initiative intended to recognize legal personhood from conception onward failed to pass on Tuesday, Nov. 8, but its backers resolved to continue their work.

With about 90% of the vote counted on the evening of Nov. 8, Initiative 26 was failing by 58% to 42%.

“Changing a culture — and changing a country — will not happen with one election, and so, it is not unexpected. We thank the over one-quarter of a million Mississippians who voted for Amendment 26,” said Keith Mason, president and co-founder of initiative Personhood USA.

“We vow to continue on this path towards affirming the basic dignity and human rights of all people, because we are assured that it is...READ MORE

Does a child have a right to parents? Does a child have a right to be reared by his parents? Should a parent ordinarily give life to a child and then get out of his life? Even if he does, should society allow that?

Most people would answer the first two questions “Yes” and the last two “No.” We instinctively recognize that children ordinarily have a right to parents who gave them life and raise them. We instinctively recognize that ordinarily a parent should be responsible for his child and, if he is derelict in that duty, society should hold him accountable.

I say “ordinarily” because we admit exceptions: A parent may die or be abusive; an unwed teenage mother may have no other option...READ MORE