Indianapolis — A federal judge has temporarily restored taxpayers’ dollars to Planned Parenthood Indiana (PPIN).But pro-life lawyers and organizations say they are confident the state government’s appeal with prevail, even if it has to go to the Supreme Court.

Planned Parenthood, meanwhile, applauded the decision of federal Judge Tanya Walton Pratt both because her temporary injunction restored a reported $ 1.6 million in annual funding that allowed it to keep open eight businesses in the state and also because the decision was an early indication PPIN could get Indiana’s law thrown out when it returns to court for a permanent injunction.

“This ruling means we can resume providing pap...READ MORE

The Pope’s Tweet: The Medium Is the Message - Tom Hoopes, Crisis Magazine

Church of Milan Helped Me Grow in Life & in Faith (Cardinal Angelo Scola) - Andrea Tornielli, La Stampa/Vatican Insider

Zimbabwe’s “Surprising” AIDS Success - Matthew Hanley, The Catholic Thing

U.S. Military Academy Chaplain: “West Point is One of the World’s Best Seminaries” - Beth Griffin, Catholic News Service

The Church in China Needs Heroes, The Heroes in China Need Prayers - Phil Lawler, CatholicCulture.org/On the News

Father Stefano Gobbi Has Passed Away - Patrick Archbold, Creative Minority Report

Will Someone Please Remind Me Again Why I Find Militant Secularism. . . - Carl Olson, Ignatius Insight Scoop...READ MORE

WASHINGTON (CNA) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has praised State Department action on “LGBT” rights which include support for “Gay Pride” marches and a Lady Gaga concert in Rome. But two critics said U.S. advocacy is “far beyond the mainstream” and risks alienating the Church from social life in Catholic countries.

“The administration has made the LGBT agenda one of the cornerstones of their foreign policy,” said Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. “They have directed their embassies everywhere to monitor and assist domestic homosexual movements whether the host country and their people accept it or not.”

“The U.S. is very powerful and...READ MORE

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNA) — Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed an official pardon on June 29 for an Irish Catholic man who was hanged in the state for a crime he didn’t commit in 1845.

The move closes an ugly chapter in the long history of discrimination against Catholics in the U.S. and follows the May 4 decision by the Rhode Island Legislature to pardon John Gordon, a 29-year-old Irish immigrant who was executed for a murder many say he was falsely accused of.

“Rhode Island is reaffirming its commitment to religious tolerance,” Nancy Schultz, Ph.D. of Salem State University in Massachusetts told CNA on June 29.

Schultz said the pardon is evidence of a growing consciousness about...READ MORE

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (CNA) — Top medical experts at a University of Notre Dame conference this week are insisting on better alternatives to embryonic stem cells and pushing for more research in the adult stem-cell field.

“We think that it is crucial that ethical alternatives to embryonic stem-cell research be pursued,” Notre Dame law professor O. Carter Snead told CNA June 29.

The current seminar, “Workshop on Adult and Non-Embryonic Stem-Cell Research,” is being held on campus through July 2 and features authorities who hail from schools such as Columbia University as well as pontifical academy members.

“Our elite scholars, across a variety of disciplines — science, engineering, law and...READ MORE

WASHINGTON (EWTN News/CNA)— The New York Legislature’s recognition of same-sex “marriages” undermines the common good and will place officials in a position to “retaliate” against those who uphold basic truths about marriage, the U.S. bishops’ point man on the defense of marriage said.

“Making marriage law indifferent to the absence of either sex creates an institutional and cultural crisis with generational ramifications yet to be seen,” Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, Calif., said on June 28.

“To eliminate marriage’s very essence — its essence as the union of husband and wife — from its legal definition is to ignore not only basic anthropology and biology, but also the purpose...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY (EWTN News/CNA) — In his pre-Angelus remarks on the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Benedict XVI gave his special greetings to an Eastern Orthodox delegation visiting Rome and spoke about the importance of St. Peter’s primacy among the apostles.

“Witnessing the love and faithfulness of Sts. Peter and Paul enlightens the pastors of the Church on how to lead men towards the truth and educate them in the faith in Christ,” the Pope told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. He emphasized that St. Peter, in particular, “represents the unity of the apostolic college,” which ensures the oneness of Christ’s Church.

The Pope, who marked his 60th year as a priest on the feast day,...READ MORE

BELLAIRE, Texas — Meeting with the wedding coordinator made it hit home. Like many young adults, Todd and Christa Chapman, both in their 20s, hadn’t attended Mass regularly during college. But when they started planning their wedding nearly three years ago, they realized they needed to get more involved in their faith.

“We did face the obstacle of saying, ‘We want to have a Catholic ceremony, so we need to be living what we say we believe in,’” said Christa, who lives with her husband in Bellaire, Texas. “It’s one thing to say I’m a Catholic, but it’s another to be a practicing Catholic.”

As Catholic marriage rates decline, many of the couples who do marry in the Church today are older...READ MORE