September 24, 2012 Catholic News Service CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — Defending traditional marriage is not an expression of backward thinking, said Pope Benedict XVI, but of values essential to the future of humanity.  

September 24, 2012 Catholic News Service SHKODER, Albania — Albanian Catholic leaders warned they would excommunicate anyone involved in the traditional “gjakmarrja,” or blood feud, after complaints of worsening violence.  

September 24, 2012 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON —Determining what to spend taxpayer money on is being scrutinized this presidential election cycle perhaps more closely than in elections past even as the overriding concerns are jobs and building a robust economy.  

September 24, 2012 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — A majority of white working-class Catholics – 56 percent – think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.  

In the Name of the Church: Vocation and Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministry, edited by William Cahoy. Liturgical Press (Collegeville, Minn., 2012). 221 pp., $19.95.  

NEW YORK — A story with a Christian message is a rare and compelling gem for Catholic viewers in today’s Hollywood culture. At the same time, a film that leads first with a positive message, and merely tacks the story on as an afterthought, is one set to leave even …

NEW YORK  — The first story sounds as old as the Book of Exodus: A mother and father, fearing his annihilation by a sinister force, place their newborn son in a vessel they hope will transport him to safety. Adopted by a completely different family, he grows up to deliver …

May 31, 2012 By Natalie Corzine Moore Photographer Robert Flischel wants local Catholics to join him on a “Pilgrimage of Light.”  

As a priest, Father Michael Hay is concerned with eternal mysteries. But as a fiction writer, he trained his sights on a mystery of a more mundane kind — an old-fashioned murder puzzle, British style.