OSV News

On a day when history was made 60 years earlier with the March on Washington, Fr. Robert Boxie III, the Catholic chaplain at Howard University in the nation's capital, noted that the campus ministry program there was making history of its own, with the blessing and dedication of its new Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Student Center.

Many Catholics, increasingly aware of the environmental impact of fossil fuels, are at the forefront of a "green revolution," heeding the call of several popes to explore and implement alternatives. As the 2023 Season of Creation begins, OSV News discovered what some Catholic dioceses and organizations are doing to become better caretakers of the earth.

Mexico's Supreme Court overturned a state-level abortion ban, a decision observers say could hasten the removal of restrictions on the procedure nationwide.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' domestic policy committee said the nation has "urgent work" to do to really show a "radical solidarity with working families" and provide ongoing support for the well-being of all families.

Sixty years after the March on Washington, there is still work to be done to make the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream a reality, a Georgetown University panel said Aug. 28.

Launched in 2016, the Laudato Si' Animators Program is an initiative of the Laudato Si' Movement that certifies individuals committed to ecological conversion, sustainability and prophetic advocacy to create "a global network of motivated Catholics who are empowered to bring Laudato Si' to life in their communities," its website states.

A Florida Catholic bishop condemned a racially motivated shooting that took place late Aug. 26 at a Dollar General store Aug. 26 in Jacksonville, saying, "Violence and bigotry have no place in our hearts or our society."

Russian occupiers launched an attack Aug. 22 on St. Teresa of the Child of Jesus Roman Catholic Church in the town of Skadovsk, located in the Kherson region in eastern Ukraine, Bishop Stanislav Szyrokoradiuk of Odessa-Simferopol confirmed on Facebook.

Ahead of major meetings of world leaders in September, such as the Africa Climate Summit, the G20 New Delhi Summit and the 78th session of the U.N. General Assembly, Catholic bishops and faith leaders in Africa are calling for debt relief for the continent to give Africa a "life line" to escape the multiple crises plaguing its population.

The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Aug. 14 that the religious exemption in the state's Fair Employment Practices Act "bars claims (of) religious, sexual orientation, and gender identity discrimination against religious organizations by employees who perform duties that directly further the core mission(s) of the religious entity."

An Alabama priest disgraced after abandoning his parish to travel to Italy with an 18-year-old woman described himself as "married" to her in a Valentine's Day letter.

The Colombian bishops' conference has welcomed the beginning of a six-month ceasefire between the nation's military and the largest remaining rebel group in the country, and began to train dozens of priests and lay workers from different parts of the country on how to help monitor the truce.

Fr. Michael Murphy, pastor of St. Joseph's Monastery in Baltimore's Irvington neighborhood, is not sure how much of a dent an Aug. 5 gun buyback effort will make in the deadly violence that plagues cities such as Baltimore.

Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjívar, the first Salvadoran-born bishop in the United States, celebrated a Mass in honor of the Divine Savior of the World -- the patron of El Salvador -- urging the faithful to get attuned to God, listen to others, walk together and transform themselves to fulfill the mission to which God has called us.

Nicaragua appears to have frozen the bank accounts of the country’s Jesuit university -- marking yet another attack on the Catholic Church and its educational and charitable projects.

While the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio shocked Ecuador Aug. 9, the bishops' conference in the South American country expressed its solidarity with Villavicencio's family and condemned growing rates of violence.

On the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle and Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, joined three Japanese bishops in a formal pledge to concretely work toward "a world without nuclear weapons."

Maui County officials confirmed late Aug. 9 that at least 36 people have died and dozens more were injured; by the evening of Aug. 10, the death toll had risen to at least 53, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green. About 11,000 others have evacuated as wildfires burned the historic town of Lahaina "to the ground," as numerous news outlets reported. More than 271 structures were damaged or destroyed.

Catholics marked the 78th anniversary of the United States' 1945 atomic bombings in Japan with calls for nuclear disarmament, prayers for peace and a protest at the White House.