News & Information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights announced yesterday that it is taking corrective action against the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) and the State of California for violating federal conscience laws on abortion. The UVMMC violated the Church Amendment (enacted in 1973) by forcing a nurse to participate in an elective abortion against her religious beliefs and moral convictions.  

The California Catholic Conference, Office of Restorative Justice and Santa Clara University, Pastoral Ministries Graduate Program with a concentration on Restorative Justice and Chaplaincy, and the (Arch)Diocesan Restorative Justice Directors of California have partnered to offer a free web-based restorative justice chaplaincy program. The January pilot program is aimed at providing training for the spiritual care for the incarcerated and their families, as well as care of victims of crime and their families.

The CA Catholic Conference, Catholic Health Care Ministries and Catholic Charities support COVID-19 Vaccines; Advent resources; Samaritanus bonus on the value of life, and evangelize the web or unplug in this week's Insights.

Amid a global increase in physician-assisted suicide legislation and the proliferation of euthanistic practices in so-called end-of-life-care protocols, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Samaritanus bonus offers clear moral teaching on the dignity and value of life at all stages until natural death, the intrinsic immorality of euthanasia and assisted suicide, and calls for authentic, integral care and spiritual accompaniment.

CA moves counties back into restrictive purple tier and institutes a curfew; USCCB Fall General Assembly wraps up, and Bishop Chairmen call for a halt to upcoming federal executions in this week’s Insights.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrapped its 2020 Fall General Assembly this week by adopting a new strategic plan and renewing the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism.

Election Day results so far; Pope Francis offers reflections for a post-pandemic world and National Adoption Month in this week’s Insights.

Pope Francis offers his newest encyclical, Fratelli tutti, as a vision for a post-pandemic world but his guidance is just as helpful for a nation grappling with one of the most difficult elections in its history.

With a record number of Californians voting and this year’s mail-in ballot system, California’s Election Day results are still being tallied. The California Catholic Conference is excited to report that Prop 20, which would have expanded criminal penalties, was rejected by voters. The Bishops of California opposed this measure, as it would have rolled back major criminal justice reforms. The measure failed by a margin of more than 24%.

Recursos de última hora para los votantes; la pena de muerte “infectada por el racismo”; Cómo hacer frente al COVID; y el Arzobispo Gregory nombrado al Colegio de Cardenales en la edición de Perspectivas de esta semana