Georgia Bulletin

Baltimore

• Bishops hear that third-party reporting system may start in February

  

  By DENNIS SADOWSKI, Catholic News Service
  Published November 16, 2019

  A third-party reporting system to field sexual misconduct allegations against bishops could be in place by the end of February, an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told the bishops during their fall general assembly in Baltimore.

• Gomez: Nation has ‘moral obligation’ to keep promise to DACA recipients

  

  By Catholic News Service
  Published November 14, 2019

  The “failures” of the nation’s leaders in Washington to make “comprehensive reforms to immigration policy “cut across party lines,” said Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles.

• U.S. bishops examine challenges faced by church, society

  

  By CAROL ZIMMERMANN Catholic News Service
  Published November 14, 2019

  On the agenda for the U.S. bishops’ Nov. 11-13 meeting in Baltimore were elections and discussions of key challenges in the church and the nation.

• Bishops’ actions at spring meeting called a ‘work in progress’

  

  By CAROL ZIMMERMANN, Catholic News Service
  Published June 17, 2019

  The gathering of U.S. bishops June 11-13 in Baltimore was anything but business as usual. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, said this meeting had a “sense of urgency” and momentum to it, both in the smaller group gatherings and when the bishops were all together.

• Review board chair calls for greater lay involvement as church tackles abuse

  

  By DENNIS SADOWSKI, Catholic News Service
  Published June 13, 2019

  National Review Board chairman Francesco Cesareo offered the U.S. bishops meeting in Baltimore a series of recommendations that he said will strengthen the church’s response to the ongoing clergy sexual abuse crisis.

• Parishes, schools urged to take part in CRS Rice Bowl campaign

  

  Published January 28, 2019

  BALTIMORE—A young South Sudanese refugee raising her siblings in Uganda’s Bidi Bidi refugee settlement. A father returning home after decades of civil war in Sri Lanka to find his farm overgrown. A young woman unable to find work in Gaza—and forbidden from seeking opportunity abroad. These are just some of the stories participants will explore […] Full Story

• U.S. bishops’ meeting has echoes, and differences, from 2002 gathering

  

  By CAROL ZIMMERMANN, Catholic News Service
  Published November 24, 2018

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—The gathering of U.S. bishops in Baltimore Nov. 12-14 on the heels of the clergy abuse scandal that hit the Catholic Church this past summer had echoes of the 2002 bishops’ meeting in Dallas, which took place just months after the church was also reeling from clergy sexual abuse crisis that made headlines in […] Full Story

• Bishops overwhelmingly approve pastoral letter against racism

  By MARK PATTISON, Catholic News Service
  Published November 20, 2018

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—The U.S. bishops overwhelmingly approved a pastoral letter against racism Nov. 14 during their fall general meeting at Baltimore. The document, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love—A Pastoral Letter Against Racism,” passed 241-3 with one abstention. It required a two-thirds vote by all bishops, or 183 votes, for passage. “Despite many […] Full Story

• New film tells true story of how stray dog turned family’s life around

  

  By CHRIS GUNTY, Catholic News Service
  Published October 23, 2017

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—For a lot of people, surviving getting struck by lightning might be enough to change their life. Hollywood writer and director Mitch Davis lived through such an ordeal, but in the mind of Davis and his family, that’s not what turned their life around. It was a stray dog named Pluto, who is immortalized […] Full Story

• Catholic leaders call on Congress to increase humanitarian aid in budget

  

  Published December 1, 2016

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—The head of Catholic Relief Services and the chairmen of two U.S. bishops’ committees have urged congressional leaders to approve additional funding for humanitarian relief and recovery operations as part of a comprehensive budget measure for fiscal 2017. The Catholic leaders wrote a letter Nov. 28 in support of a request by the Obama […] Full Story

• Archbishop calls for bishops’ racism statement, given election tension

  

  By RHINA GUIDOS, Catholic News Service
  Published November 17, 2016

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—Earlier this year, as communities faced tensions, protests and violence, following a spate of shooting and killings of black men by police, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, of Louisville, Kentucky, as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked dioceses across the country to observe a day of prayer for peace. He also wanted the […] Full Story

• USCCB elects new officers, committee chairs, including Atlanta’s archbishop

  

  By DENNIS SADOWSKI, Catholic News Service
  Published November 26, 2015

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—The U.S. bishops Nov. 17 elected Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield as the new general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He has been associate general secretary of the conference for five years, working alongside the current general secretary, Msgr. Ronny Jenkins, whose term is ending. Msgr. Bransfield, a Philadelphia archdiocesan priest, will […] Full Story

• Bishop disturbed by calls to end resettlement of Syrian refugees in U.S.

  By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
  Published November 26, 2015

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—The head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration said he was disturbed by calls from federal and state officials for an end to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. “These refugees are fleeing terror themselves—violence like we have witnessed in Paris,” said Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, chairman of the […] Full Story

• Priests in U.S., Canada can already absolve women who had abortions

  

  By NANCY O'BRIEN, Catholic News Service
  Published September 10, 2015

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—Pope Francis’ Sept. 1 announcement that priests worldwide will be able to absolve women for the sin of abortion will have little effect on pastoral practices in the United States and Canada, including the Archdiocese of Atlanta, where most priests already have such authority in the sacrament of reconciliation. “It is my understanding that […] Full Story

• Catholics join efforts to heal, clean up, move forward in Baltimore

  

  By CHRISTOPHER GUNTY and ERIK ZYGMONT, Catholic News Service
  Published April 30, 2015

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—As the city cleaned up after a night of riots, looting and fires following the funeral of Freddie Gray, Archbishop William E. Lori said the church’s place is to pray, be a voice for peace, and participate in a wider community dialogue to solve the systemic issues that led to the unrest. Gray, 25, […] Full Story

• Bishops OK liturgy items, endorse sainthood cause, hold elections

  

  By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
  Published November 13, 2014

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—Though there were no actions on the U.S. bishops’ agenda in Baltimore dealing with immigration, poverty and other public policy issues, the president of their conference said Nov. 11 that he hopes to meet with President Barack Obama and House and Senate leaders soon on several topics. In a brief comment during the annual […] Full Story

• Box Obama gave pope points to history of U.S. Catholicism, says priest

  By MARIA WIERING, Catholic News Service
  Published April 3, 2014

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—The use of wood from Baltimore’s basilica to construct a “seed chest” President Barack Obama gave to Pope Francis March 27 points to the history of American Catholicism and Baltimore’s role in it, said Msgr. Arthur Valenzano, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “I’m […] Full Story

• Book review: Candid tale of parish’s conversion offers valuable insights for others

  By REVIEWED BY DANIEL S. MULHALL, Catholic News Service
  Published February 6, 2014

  The Church of the Nativity is located in northern Baltimore. “Rebuilt: The Story of a Catholic Parish” tells how the parish has been transformed from a typically lethargic suburban parish with weekly Mass attendance of 1,400 into an evangelical Catholic mega-church with weekly Mass attendance of more than 4,000. Written by Father Michael White, pastor, […] Full Story

• Bishops elect new leaders, approve liturgical texts, discuss relief aid

  

  Published November 22, 2013

  BALTIMORE (CNS)—The U.S. bishops at their fall general assembly in Baltimore elected new leaders, discussed taking a second collection in their dioceses for typhoon relief in the Philippines, reviewed efforts to defend traditional marriage and religious liberty, and approved development of a statement on the dangers of pornography. They also passed a number of liturgical […] Full Story

• Mercy Sister Mary Brian Anderson Dies

  Published April 28, 2011

  Sister Mary Brian Anderson, a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy, who was a nurse and administrator of several health care institutions in Baltimore and Atlanta, died April 16 at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Baltimore. She was 87. Born in Madison, Lillian Anderson was the daughter of the late Allen J. and Odessa […] Full Story