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SEATTLE (AP) -- On again, off again, off again, off again and now, partly back on: That's the peculiar route of President Donald Trump's travel ban after a Supreme Court decision Monday allowing a limited version to take effect....
Washington D.C., Jun 26, 2017 / 11:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In one of the biggest religious cases of the term, the US Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a church-owned playground can be eligible for a public benefit program.Chief Justice John Roberts, delivering the opinion of the Court, wrote June 26 that “the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran,” the church at the center of the case, “from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.”The decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer was about “religious people being treated just like everybody else,” stated Mike Farris, president of Alliance Defending Freedom.At issue was a playground owned by Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., and operated by the church’s preschool. To resurface the playground for safety reasons, the church had applied for a state reimbursement program th...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Yuri Gripas, ReutersBy Carol ZimmermannWASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court June 26 saida Lutheran preschool should not be excluded from a state grant program torefurbish its playground surface just because it is a religious entity."Theexclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwisequalified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all thesame, and cannot stand," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the court'sopinion.The court's decision reverses a ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had sided with the state's 2015 decision to exclude the school from obtaining grant funds.Robertssaid the appeals court decision made it clear that the Trinity Lutheranpreschool was "put to the choice between being a church and receiving agovernment benefit," and the answer they were given was: "No churchesneed apply."At issuein Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer was the school's denial of grant reimb...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The NCAA is conducting an "ongoing, pending investigation" into Baylor University in the wake of a sexual assault scandal that led to the firing of football coach Art Briles and the departure of the school president, the school's lawyers confirmed in a federal court filing....
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday heard arguments before he decides whether a new Texas "sanctuary cities" crackdown backed by the Trump administration can take effect....
GUATAPE, Colombia (AP) -- Scuba divers on Monday continued searching for bodies in a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin where a tourist boat packed with more than 150 passengers capsized, leaving at least seven people dead and 13 missing....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican leaders added a penalty for people who've let their insurance lapse Monday as party leaders prepared to begin pushing their health care measure through the Senate, despite a rebellion within GOP ranks....
(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke, on Monday made a declaration regarding the case of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou in China, who was "forcibly removed from his episcopal see some time ago".The statement affirmed that: "The diocesan Catholic community and his relatives have no news or reasons for his removal, nor do they know where he is being held."Mr. Burke went on to say the Holy See is "profoundly saddened for this and other similar episodes that unfortunately do not facilitate ways of understanding, expresses the hope that Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin may return as soon as possible to the diocese and that he can be assured the possibility of serenely exercising his episcopal ministry."Finally, he said all are "invited to pray for Bishop Shao Zhumin and for the path of the Catholic Church in China."
(Vatican Radio) As the process of review and renewal of the structures of the Roman Curia continues, Church leaders, educators, local reformers, and observers – along with bishops, priests, religious men and women and lay faithful all around the world – are trying to understand what Pope Francis is asking of them, specifically.Will Pope Francis Pull It Off? is the title of a book by Fr. Rocco D’Ambrosio, a priest of the Diocese of Bari and Ordinary Professor of Political Philosophy in the School of Sociology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.Click below to hear our extended conversation with Prof. Rocco D'Ambrosio Originally published by Liturgical Press in 2015 in Italian under the title, Ce la farà Francesco?, the slim, insightful volume seeks to bring the challenges facing the project and its leader, Pope Francis, into better focus.The result is an institutional analysis of the Catholic Church in the present day, which offers provocative insigh...
(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, released the following message on the occasion of the International Day against Abuse and Illicit Trafficking of Drugs.Please find below the full text of the message:The International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs, established by the United Nations, is an important opportunity for drawing attention to the fact that narcotics continue to “rage in impressive forms and dimensions”.[1] It is a phenomenon that is fuelled – not without concessions and compromises on the part of institutions – by “a shameful market that crosses national and continental borders”,[2] intertwined with mafias and drug trafficking.Nowadays we are faced with a scenario of profoundly changed dependencies, compared to the recent past.[3] Drugs have become a consumer product made compatible with everyday life, with leisure activity and ...
