NEW ORLEANS (CNA/EWTN News) — Church support for marriage among poor and middle class Americans can play a key role in combating income inequality and providing a good environment for children, a sociologist told the U.S. bishops. “If you care about bridging the marriage divide, you should care about economic justice, cultural change, and the renewal…
By Robert Maranto and Michael Crouch NEW YORK (WSJ) — Suppose a scientific conference on cancer prevention never addressed smoking, on the grounds that in a free society you can’t change private behavior, and anyway, maybe the statistical relationships between smoking and cancer are really caused by some other third variable. Wouldn’t some suspect that…
VATICAN (CNA/EWTN News) — Pope Francis’ appointment of new cardinals from distant and impoverished countries has helped bring the topic of pastoral care for those struggling in poverty to Vatican discussions. “I suppose looking back now, it’s not surprising that he chose cardinals from the poorest countries in the world. Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, and Haiti…
By Jason DeParle ANN ARBOR, MI (New York Times) — Jessica Schairer has so much in common with her boss, Chris Faulkner, that a visitor to the day care center they run might get them confused. They are both friendly white women from modest Midwestern backgrounds who left for college with conventional hopes of marriage,…
By Father John Flynn, LC ROME (zenit.org) — The U.S. Census Bureau released the latest figures on income and poverty on Sept. 16. According to the report the official U.S. poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3%, up from 13.2% in 2008. In raw numbers this adds up to 43.6 million people in poverty in 2009, compared…
AIDS in Africa: An Interview With Expert Matthew Hanley By Carrie Gress In the fight against AIDS, abstinence-based programs that focus on changing behaviors rather than handing out condoms simply work better, says an AIDS expert. Matthew Hanley has been a HIV/AIDS technical adviser at Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for the last seven years and…
By Maurice Healy In marking the beginning of the New Year, Pope Benedict XVI returned to the themes of marriage and family and their importance to humanity, as he repeated the Second Vatican Council’s description of the family as “the primary living cell of society.” “The natural family, founded on marriage between a man and…
New Studies Reveal Close Relationship By Fr. John Flynn ROME (zenit.org) — The fortunes of family life and religion may well be linked, say experts in recent studies. W. Bradford Wilcox, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, is the author of a research brief published in May by the Institute for American…
ROME (zenit.org) — Giving full legal status to marriage between persons of the same sex continues to be a hotly debated topic. On Thursday in the United States the New Hampshire senate voted in favor of a bill granting same-sex couples virtually all the legal rights heterosexual spouses enjoy, reported the Washington Post the same…
The Common Good of Children Takes Precedence in Debate on Family and Marriage ROME (zenit.com) — Focusing on the rights of children could resolve some of the ideological debates surrounding the family, said a professor and ex-diplomat from Norway. Janne Haaland Matlary explained her position today at the opening session of the congress focusing on…
Sgreccia Links Strong Families to Healthy Economies ROME (zenit.com) — Laws allowing de facto unions will hurt many people, and Catholics will “do everything possible” to prevent their passage, said the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Bishop Elio Sgreccia said this at the launch in Rome of Carlo Casini’s book “Unioni di fatto,…
By Dolores Meehan Note: This article was written as a response to an OpEd piece that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. Thank you for your OpEd piece on Proposition 85. I have been following this issue very closely and appreciate your interest although I was surprised at some of the claims put forth in…