CatholicTide

Washington D.C., May 24, 2013 / 02:03 am ( CNA/EWTN News ).- Scholar Mary Eberstadt says most theories of secularization do not take into account the role of the family in religious practice, noting how its demise is critically linked to an increasingly secular West. “The reasons commonly offered for secularization don’t hold up when you scrutinize them,” Eberstadt, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., told CNA May 23.    “This means that modern secular sociology has gotten a pretty big thing wrong, and it’s gotten it wrong because it’s ignored the role of the family and what motivates people to go to church.” She noted that “the conventional story line” often assumes secularization is a natural effect of a variety of forces such as modernization, the industrial revolution, education, and material wealth. While these forces are important, Eberstadt conceded, none of them, by themselves can explain the secularization of Western society.

Denver, Colo., May 24, 2013 / 12:03 am ( CNA/EWTN News ).- Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver has called for the repeal of the death penalty following the Colorado governor’s grant of a temporary reprieve to a death row inmate convicted of four murders. “My support for the death penalty’s repeal is rooted in my respect for the dignity of all human life,” the archbishop said May 22.

Washington D.C., May 22, 2013 / 05:03 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ).- In letters to top government officials, the U.S. bishops' conference urged a public discussion on the use of unmanned targeted killings, also known as drones, and their moral implications.

Washington D.C., May 22, 2013 / 12:05 am ( CNA/EWTN News ).- In a move that could have national consequences for prayer in public life, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a federal case challenging the constitutionality of opening prayers at the town council meetings of Greece, New York. “It is perfectly constitutional to allow community members to ask for God's blessing according to their conscience,” Brett Harvey, Senior Counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, told CNA May 21

Washington D.C., May 21, 2013 / 05:05 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ).- Following a devastating tornado in Oklahoma on May 20, Church leaders and national figures from the  offered their prayers and condolences for those affected by the disaster.

Oklahoma City, Okla., May 21, 2013 / 03:15 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ).- Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City traveled to Moore today to give his support and concern to those devastated by the tornado that swept through the town yesterday, May 20. “I feel, as the archbishop, as a shepherd, I need to be there,” Archbishop Coakley told CNA while on his way to the suburb of Oklahoma City on May 21.

Newark, N.J., May 21, 2013 / 02:03 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ).- After violating the terms of an understanding with local prosecutors, a priest who recently resigned from ministry with the Newark archdiocese was arrested May 20. Father Michael Fugee was accused of sexually abusing a minor in 2001, and in 2007 made an agreement with local prosecutors that allowed him to remain in ministry so long as he was not around children unsupervised and did not engage in youth ministry

Houston, Texas, May 21, 2013 / 12:02 am ( CNA ).- A Houston doctor is under investigation on charges that he performed illegal late-term abortions after former employees alleged that several babies were born alive and then killed in gruesome ways. Deborah Edge, a former assistant to Dr

Washington D.C., May 20, 2013 / 05:05 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ).- Secretary of State John Kerry released on May 20 the annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2012, which documents violence and persecution towards global religious minorities. “Whether it be a single deity, or multiple deities, or no deities at all, freedom to believe – including the freedom not to believe – is a universal human right,” the reports said of the freedom of religion. “The search for this freedom led the Pilgrims to flee Europe for America’s shores centuries ago, and is enshrined in our own Constitution.

Washington D.C., May 17, 2013 / 05:03 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ).- The National Organization for Marriage is filing a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, after its confidential tax return was leaked from the agency to the group's chief political opposition. “In March 2012 Human Rights Campaign posted a copy of our confidential tax return on its website…and we know for a fact that the source for this was within the IRS,” National Organization for Marriage chairman John Eastman told CNA May 17

New York City, N.Y., May 16, 2013 / 05:18 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ).- A Catholic professor says that an IRS audit that may have been politically motivated made her much less likely to criticize President Barack Obama in her writings.

Kansas City, Mo., May 16, 2013 / 04:38 pm ( CNA ).- A Missouri judge has dropped a charge that Bishop Robert Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph aided and abetted a priest who possessed child pornography, though another charge remains and the diocese has settled a $600,000 lawsuit in the case. U.S.