Associated Press

Belfast power-sharing in crisis as Sinn Fein leader to quit
- Associated Press
- Jan 9, 2017
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said, “if the DUP think in the aftermath of an election they’re going to step back into ministerial positions short of resolving the critical issues, then they’re living in a fool’s paradise,” giving little chance for future power-sharing.
READ MORE
Judge okays lawsuit against Legion of Christ
- Associated Press
- Jan 9, 2017
In one of several legal battles facing the Catholic order Legion of Christ in the U.S. stemming from the fallout of a sexual abuse scandal involving the order’s founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel, a Rhode Island lawsuit is moving forward alleging the order interfered with an inheritance a pro-life group should have received from a wealthy widow.
READ MORE
Transgender man says surgery denied at Catholic hospital
- Associated Press, Life
- Jan 7, 2017
Jionni Conforti has sued St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., after he said it cited religion in refusing to allow his surgeon to perform a hysterectomy procedure he said was medically necessary as part of his gender transition. Conforti had scheduled the surgery in 2015, but he alleges in the federal lawsuit that a hospital administrator then told him the procedure to remove the uterus he was born with couldn’t be done because it was a “Catholic hospital.”
READ MORE

Feds to hold sessions on church security in Maine
- Associated Press, Church in the US
- Jan 7, 2017
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland will host workshops this month to address potential violent situations.
READ MORE
Catholic Diocese of Joliet offering anti-poverty grants
- Associated Press, Church in the US
- Jan 7, 2017
The Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Illinois is attempting to alleviate the worst effects of poverty of residents who qualify for its programs.
READ MORE
Pope appeals for humane prisons after Brazil riots
- Associated Press, Global Church
- Jan 4, 2017
After 60 people died in gang fights in Brazil’s Amazon region prisons, Pope Francis Wednesday said he was “pained and concerned” and renewed his appeal so that prisons would be “places of re-education” and “not overcrowded but places for re-insertion” in society after sentences are served.
READ MORE

Belfast power-sharing in crisis as Sinn Fein leader to quit