WASHINGTON (EWTN News)—The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a bill that would prohibit taxpayer funding of the United Nations Population Fund, which has been widely criticized for its cooperation with China’s controversial one-child policy.

“I’m happy to announce today [Oct. 5] that we have taken an important step in protecting American taxpayers from funding controversial family-planning operations through the U.N.,” said Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., who introduced the bill. “If the Chinese wish to do such things, they should not expect funding from the United States taxpayer.”

The population fund, which is the United Nations’ main unit for global population...READ MORE

As a young man, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz was inspired by a book his sister gave him on St. Dominic and the Rosary. It described Dominic as an “athlete for Christ.” This life appealed to him more than merely devoting his life to a career, so he decided to enter the seminary.

Today, he has a lot to say about priestly formation — and the importance of the Rosary in the life of the Church. He suggests that priests can and should be doing much more to encourage the vocations they sense some of their young parishioners may have. And he has an innovative way to pray the Rosary that, he says, can help Christians hear the voice of Christ.

As archbishop of Louisville, Ky., and as vice president of...READ MORE

Without a Wedding Garment: Faith Without Works - Fr. Ryan Erlenbush, New Theological Movement

Steve Jobs, Adoption and Abortion - Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic

Study: Catholic Priests Are Among the Happiest People in Society - Genevieve Pollock, Zenit

Engage, The Other “E” Word - Elizabeth Hillgrove, VirtuousPla.net

Why Media Blackout on Persecution of Christians? - Milo Yiannopoulos, Catholic Herald

Deeply Confused HuffPo Writer - Mark Shea, Catholic and Enjoying It!

The New ‘Brighton Rock’: Bad Romance - Eve Tushnet, Crisis Magazine

Occupy Wall Street vs. 40 Days for Life - Matthew Archbold, Creative Minority Report

Darn Tooting: President Obama Openly Confronts...READ MORE

Tom Avery takes some needling on the golf course for riding in the golf cart: He says he’s tired, but his fellow players say he’s old and lazy. Played by 71-year-old Martin Sheen, Tom is not a prime candidate for strapping on a North Face backpack in France and heading up into the Pyrenees on the beginning of a 500-mile journey to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.

That the long journey — the Camino Francés (French Way), the most popular route of el Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) — is an important Catholic pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where tradition holds St. James’ remains are buried, makes Tom, a lapsed Catholic, an even less likely...READ MORE

AMARILLO, Texas — Bishop Patrick Zurek of Amarillo issued a statement yesterday that clarified his reasons for recalling Father Frank Pavone, the director of Priest for Life, to his home diocese.

“It is my desire to have a fruitful dialogue with Father Pavone,” Bishop Zurek wrote in the statement posted on the Diocese of Amarillo’s website that confirmed the two would meet on Oct. 13 to address both pastoral and administrative issues.

In his statement, Bishop Zurek said he had called Father Pavone back to the diocese to encourage a period of prayer and reflection on the “sacramental ministerial priesthood that we both share.”

The bishop said he sought “clarification and answers to...READ MORE

Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh organized a press conference Oct.5 to announce that he had been accused of sexual abuse while serving as the vice-principal of a Catholic school in the 1980s.

At the press conference, Bishop Zubik emphatically denied the allegations, which had been posted on an Internet site. Subsequently, the Beaver County District Attorney, Anthony Berosh, publicly summarized the conclusions of his own investigation. Berosh said, “There is no basis in law or fact to substantiate the allegations.” He added, “(This information) was brought to us by the Diocese of Pittsburgh itself; I believe that says a lot about the integrity of the system.”

Ordained in 1975, Bishop...READ MORE

If there ever were a person who demolished F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous quip that “There are no second acts in American lives,” it was Steve Jobs. By the time he passed away yesterday from pancreatic cancer, he had seen, by any reasonable estimate, at least half a dozen acts in his 56 years.

Anyone would count themselves fortunate to change the world once in a lifetime, but by even a conservative accounting, Jobs changed it at least four times.

The first was with the founding of Apple Inc. in 1976. Steve Wozniak provided the technology, and Jobs provided the visionary and marketing genius that would kick off the entire home computer revolution with models like the early Apple, Apple IIs...READ MORE

Overcoming My Worst Spiritual Behavior - Randy Hain, Integrated Catholic Life™

The Political Economy: What’s a Catholic Got to Do? - Jared Dale Combista, VirtuousPla.net

How to Be a Moral Investor - Samuel Gregg, Crisis Magazine

The Word of God in Liturgy and the Church - Fr. Christopher Smith, Chant Café

Cardinal Dias: Let Dispensed Priests Play Active Parish Role - Madeleine Teahan, Catholic Herald

Theodore Roosevelt and Muscular Christianity - Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic

Study: New Media Censors Christian Viewpoint - Susan Brinkmann, Women of Grace

Can a Pro-Life Politician Ever Vote Pro-Abortion? - Fr. Ryan Erlenbush, New Theological Movement

Change Happens: New...READ MORE