Catholic News Service

Feb. 12 was the 15th anniversary of Sr. Dorothy Stang's assassination in the Amazon region of Brazil. The U.S.-born nun is remembered as a crusader for the poor and the landless and for her love of the land and the Amazon forest.

When St. John Paul II canonized St. Josephine Bakhita in 2000, he said the saint is a "shining advocate of genuine emancipation," noting how despite her abduction into slavery at a young age, she well understood God to be the source of true freedom.

Mercy Sr. Mary Scullion, co-founder and executive director of Project HOME, an organization that helps the homeless in Philadelphia, was one of the many guests who attended the Feb. 4 State of the Union, which she hoped would draw attention to homelessness and inspire federal aid to alleviate it.

Sister Margaret Claydon, who was president of what is now Trinity Washington University from 1959 to 1975 and who set a national standard for Catholic women's education, died Feb. 1. She was 97.

Medical Missionaries of Mary Sr. Bernadette "Bernie" Kenny brought her nursing skills to Appalachian Virginia in 1978. She has written a book about her experience caring for those in southwest corner of the state.

When one is totally in love with the Lord, then poverty, chastity and obedience are not sacrifices, but vehicles of freedom, Pope Francis told consecrated men and women.

In an interview Jan. 29, just a few days before the annual celebration Feb. 2 of the World Day for Consecrated Life, Loreto Sr. Patricia Murray said, "The Holy Spirit is at work in building us as religious women into a global family."

According to Sr. Bethany Madonna, vocations director for the Sisters of Life, one's circumstances change, yet life is a gift.

For years, Dominican Sr. Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, has said it's a scandal that millions of American families are struggling to find a stable place to live.

To an island still recovering from the devastation Hurricane Maria left behind in 2017, the repeated tremors, earthquakes and aftershocks since Dec. 28 have added another level of stress for Puerto Rico's citizens, as well as its power plants and water plants.

The wall and military towers loom above the convent on all three sides, including over the kindergarten playground, which has been covered by a fireproof roof because of the Molotov cocktails thrown over the wall by Palestinian demonstrators during clashes with Israeli soldiers. 

As Christmas approached and 2019 came to a close, the last Catholic contemplative monastery in Tennessee quietly closed.

The Sisters of Mercy have focused their ministries on five critical concerns: Earth, immigration, nonviolence, racism and women.

Vatican officials are moving ahead with the cause for sainthood for Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said Dec. 5 in Rome.

Catholic advocates for poor people decried a new federal rule that tightens work requirements which determine eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and is expected to force hundreds of thousands to lose food stamps.

As an attorney with Becket, a religious liberty law firm, Luke Goodrich is proud to be able to make a difference while earning a livelihood. He sees his work as a calling from God.

A Haitian women's support organization co-founded by Quebec nuns is exasperated by repeated requests from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to know whether or not it supports the legalization of abortion.

Proposals from the Securities and Exchange Commission would change how small shareholders of corporate stock, such as religious congregations, advocate for human dignity and a safer planet.

Sr. Barbara Donahue, 90, was only 10 minutes into an interview about the vaudeville group made up of her and her siblings when she broke out in "The Donahue Song."

Sr. Catherine Mutindi, founder of Bon Pasteur in Congo, has received the 16th annual Opus Prize, which comes with $1 million for her humanitarian work.