U.S. Ordinariate Update: Cardinal Wuerl Reports on Progress - Nancy Frazier O’Brien, Catholic News Service

. . .The Catholic Knight: U.S. Anglican Ordinariate emerges. . .

Who Were The Knights Templar? - Nick Squires, The Telegraph

“Who Do You Say I Am?” - Peter Kreeft, Ignatius Insight Scoop

Vatican Wars!  The Latest Lame Facebook Game - LarryD, Acts of the Apostasy

Report Exposes ‘Hook-up’ Culture on Catholic Campuses - Cardinal Newman Society

Can this Desecration, the Vienna “Western Mass”, Be Allowed? - Father Tim Finigan, The Hermeneutic of Continuity

A Problem Larger than Anthony Weiner - Christina King, Catholic Lane

Rick Perry’s Catholic Problem - Joshua Mercer, Catholic...READ MORE

BELLEVUE, Wash. (CNA/EWTN News) — At their spring meeting in Seattle on June 16, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a revision of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” incorporating new Vatican guidelines on abuse cases.

The revisions were approved 187-5, with four abstaining.

Bishop Blase Cupich, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on the Protection for Children and Young People, said that the charter is already “working” to protect children.

But he explained that the document would now align more closely with Vatican directives on the “most grave crimes” that were released last summer.

According to the revisions, child pornography will be...READ MORE

A Tribute to Falsely Accused Priest, Writer Slams Lawyer - TheMediaReport.com

1863 A.D.: The Rise of Mexico’s Catholic Monarch - The Mad Monarchist

The Pro-Life Attitude Toward Unplanned Pregnancy - Elizabeth Hanna, Crisis Magazine

Father John Corapi Announcement? - Deacon Greg Kandra, The Deacon’s Bench

An Example of Civilization Without God - Tom Hoopes, Catholic Vote

Quaeritur: Mass Obligation & Traditional Anglican Communion - Father John Zuhlsdorf, What Does The Prayer Really Say?

Cardinal Ruini on Medjugorje Commission: Not Close to Done - Dianne M. Korzeniewski O.C.D.S., Te Deum Laudamus!

Vatican II: Common Ground - Todd Hartch, The Catholic Thing

. . .Cardinal Kasper:...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY (EWTN News/CNA)— The Vatican has signed its first-ever commercial agreement with an outside company. The contract with U.S.-based bio-pharmaceutical firm NeoStem will advance ethical research into stem cells.

“We would like to create a hotspot for scientists, benefactors, academics (and) Church leaders that will now join this group and would work together for the benefit of humanity,” Father Tomaz Trafny of the Vatican’s Council for Culture told EWTN News June 16.

The deal was announced before the global media in Rome.

“We are a public company pioneering new medical research with adult stem cells,” explained Dr. Robin Smith, the CEO of NeoStem, which is based in New York....READ MORE

SEATTLE — Just weeks after the death of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a powerful document that challenged ongoing efforts to present his cause as a “compassionate” solution for the terminally ill.

The bishops voted 191-1 today, the second day of their Spring General Assembly, to approve the language of the document, “To Live Each Day With Dignity.” It argues that lethal actions — characterized as a compassionate response to the pain and despair experienced by some patients —  actually undermine human dignity by eliminating the sufferer rather than providing essential care.

“Catholics should be leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle...READ MORE

WASHINGTON (CNA) — On June 13, the Supreme Court ruled against atheist activist Michael Newdow’s latest attempt to remove the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Not surprisingly, the Supreme Court has again rejected the argument that saying the pledge of your own free will creates an official state religion,” said attorney Eric Rassbach, litigation director at the religious-liberty defense group the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

“The words ‘one nation under God’ make clear the bedrock American principle that our rights come not from the state, but are endowed by our Creator.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected Newdow’s appeal from the First Circuit Court of...READ MORE

SAN FRANCISCO (CNA) — A homosexual judge who overturned California’s 2008 ballot measure defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman had no obligation to remove himself from the case because of a possible conflict of interest, a federal judge said on June 14.

me“The ProtectMarriage.com legal team obviously disagrees with today’s ruling,” said Charles Cooper of Cooper & Kirk, lead counsel for Proposition 8 backer ProtectMarriage.com. “Our legal team will appeal this decision and continue our tireless efforts to defend the will of the people of California to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”

Judge Vaughn Walker, a George H.W. Bush appointee, invalidated...READ MORE

In Philadelphia, we have two grand jury reports and — in the eyes of the public — two failed attempts to get things right. I have been engaged in victim assistance work for 30 years, and I have never seen as much pain as I have in the last four months. It’s emanating from the victims’ experience, the added pain of failing to get it right, and Catholics’ feeling of confusion and betrayal.

While I cannot address any specific cases, my tenure at the archdiocese has provided some insight into how the Church provides victim assistance and how those services could be improved.

Society is still grappling with the sexual abuse of children. The Church is dealing with an issue that the larger...READ MORE