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Featured Term (selected at random):DIOCESAN CHANCERY The administrative branch of a diocese under the authority of the local ordinary; it handles the official documents pertaining to the ecclesiastical affairs of the diocese. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Via Washington Examiner: In a homily delivered Saturday, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois challenged President Obama’s HHS mandate, suggesting that the president was following the same path as Hitler and Stalin. “Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care,” Jenky said. “In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.” Jenky added.

One of The Episcopal Church's most controversial bishops will soon be stepping down from his position and the three nominees for his seat have been announced. The Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop to be ordained by The Episcopal Church, will be ending his term as Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. On Thursday, the diocese announced the nominees for his position. The nominees are the Rev. Penelope Maud Bridges of St. Francis Episcopal Church, Great Falls, Va.; the Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld of Grace Episcopal Church, Amherst, Mass.; and the Rev. Dr. William Warwick Rich...

PROVO -- LDS bishop Amado Rojas stood silently beside his attorney Monday morning, then walked out only minutes later with a newly minted deal resolving allegations that he failed to report sexual abuse at a church activity. Rojas, 32, was charged in September with failure to report child abuse, a class B misdemeanor, but Monday he accepted a plea in abeyance agreement with prosecutors. The agreement requires Rojas to obey all laws for six months, after which he can file a motion to have his charge dismissed. Rojas's charge stems from allegations that a man sexually abused a 13-year-old girl...

Featured Term (selected at random):ARCHIEPISCOPAL CROSS A cross with two horizontal crossbars; it forms a part of the heraldic arms of an archbishop. It is carried before him in processions and solemn liturgical functions within his own ecclesiastical province. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

DUCHESNE — A judge has ordered an LDS Church bishop to stand trial on charges of witness tampering and failure to report abuse. But the defense attorney for Bishop Gordon Moon called the judge's order "a far cry from a ringing endorsement of the prosecution's case." "I think anyone who reads the bindover order can see that," attorney David Leavitt said Wednesday. "From our perspective, the bindover was something we expected because the burden of proof is so low." Moon, 43, is accused of failing to notify police about a 17-year-old girl's disclosure that she had been sexually abused by...

Mitt Romney says it's been a good night for Rick Santorum, but that he still expects to become the Republican nominee for president. After losses to Santorum in Missouri's non-binding primary and the Minnesota caucuses -- where he is in third place -- Romney is congratulating the former Pennsylvania senator but continuing to focus on President Barack Obama. Despite Tuesday's setbacks, Romney says he is ready to lead the Republican Party and is happy to compare his record on leadership to Obama's.

If Gingrich, Santorum or Paul were deacons or ministers of Catholic or Protestant churches, they would certainly be asked what their vows, promises and duties were and will they conflict with the oath of President of the US. I am asking the readers first if this is a fair question for Romney, second has it been asked and answered before, and third if it hasn't been asked who will most likely have the opportunity to ask this question during the GOP primary process?

Bishop Olmsted's Letter to Catholics: Coercive HHS Ruling Mandates Sterilization, Abortion-Inducing Drugs and Contraception by Bishop's Office on January 28, 2012 Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted asked that this letter be read at all Masses this weekend. This effort to alert the faithful is being conducted nationwide through the coordination of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and addresses a vital issue regarding religious liberty and our fundamental rights as U.S. Catholic citizens. Read the letter in English.Read the letter in Spanish.

DUCHESNE — A judge is considering whether an LDS Church bishop should stand trial for charges of witness tampering and failure to report abuse. Gordon Lamont Moon, 43, is accused of telling a 16-year-old girl not to contact authorities in late July after she met with him in his capacity as her bishop and told him she'd been sexually abused. But during a preliminary hearing Thursday in 8th District Court, defense attorney David Leavitt noted that at least six people knew about the abuse before Moon was ever told about it. None of those people have been charged with a...

Bishop Claudio Silvero says the devices are "accursed and tools of sin".... [SNIP] ....mobile phones ease access to pornography and aid in "inappropriate relations." He says about 40 percent of Christian families suffer damage "because of the bad use of cellular phones and the Internet." His campaign is not shared by many in the church. Cell phones are common among Vatican officials and the church has produced some of its own applications for them.

Bishop Armando X. Ochoa Fresno, Calif., Dec 1, 2011 / 01:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso, Texas was named today as the new bishop of Fresno, Calif. by Pope Benedict XVI.“I am humbled and deeply honored that the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, would offer me this new challenge at my age,” said Bishop Ochoa, who will fill a position left vacant by the death of Bishop John Steinbock in December 2010. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Vatican's recently appointed representative to the U.S., made the announcement in Washington D.C. on Dec. 1.Bishop Ochoa...

PROVO -- Provo city will pursue misdemeanor charges against an LDS bishop who allegedly failed to notify authorities after an underage congregant told him she had been sexually abused. Amado Rojas will face one count of failure to report child abuse, according to Provo Police Sgt. Mathew Siufanua. The decision to pursue the charge comes after a lengthy investigation that began with the arrest of Jose Ortega in August. According to a 13-year-old girl, she and Ortega both attended a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints children's party. After a water fight at the party, the girl testified during...

HEBER CITY — Whatever else he may have been, whatever good deeds have been attributed to him, it was clear Wednesday what Lon Kennard Sr.'s family thinks he is. "Monster." "Predator." "A disgusting man." "A beastly person." "You've ruined memories, cursed lives and broken dreams," one adopted daughter told the man. "He brought these sweet, innocent girls here under the guise of charity and turned them into personal sex slaves," a biological son told 4th District Judge Derek Pullan. Family member after family member — some sobbing, others defiant — stood before Pullan and demanded that Kennard, 70, receive the...

AMERICAN FORK -- An 80-year-old man thought his life savings was being invested by his one-time LDS bishop, Kevin Palmer Thomas. But by the time the elderly man stopped turning over his money he had lost more than $300,000, a police affidavit states. The affidavit alleges that Thomas, 51, used his leadership position in and knowledge of the LDS Church to earn the man's friendship. The man reportedly had saved more than $400,000 throughout the course of his life, and when he turned it over to Thomas, he believed it was secured with property and promissory notes. Thomas made token...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City's Catholic bishop has become the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official indicted on a charge of failing to protect children after he and his diocese waited five months to tell police about hundreds of images of child pornography discovered on a priest's computer, officials said Friday. Bishop Robert Finn, the first U.S. bishop criminally charged with sheltering an abusive clergyman, and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese have pleaded not guilty on one count each of failing to report suspected child abuse. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Finn and the diocese were required...

PROVO -- Thirty-year-old Jose Luis Ortega approached a 13-year-old girl after an adolescent water fight at an LDS Church party in August. The girl had avoided getting wet, an arrest report states, but when Ortega got her alone he "soaked her shirt with a bucket of water." Before the girl could get away, Ortega grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him, the report reveals. He wrapped his arms around her, "held her fast" and groped her. According to the report, the girl told her LDS bishop about the abuse, but authorities didn't learn about the allegations until...

Bishop Peter A. Libasci Manchester, N.H., Sep 19, 2011 / 12:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics in New Hampshire received a new bishop from Pope Benedict XVI on Sept. 19. Auxiliary Bishop Peter A. Libasci of Rockville Centre, N.Y. will serve as the 10th bishop of Manchester, N.H.“I am grateful to Almighty God who has brought me into being, to my parents who gave me life and to my family, friends and my Holy Catholic Church – all of who have sustained me to this very hour,” said Bishop Libasci.  “These include Bishop William Murphy, my diocesan bishop in Rockville...

The new bishop of a breakaway Lutheran denomination says there will be "no compromise" on the issue of gay pastors with its liberal counterpart, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.Bishop John Bradosky, 59, a native of Greensburg, said while he is open to dialogue between the North American Lutheran Church and the ELCA, there is a limit to what can be agreed to. Closing the breach between the two would "require some really major changes" on the part of the ELCA, Bradosky said. "I'm not sure there is an openness to those kinds of changes," he added. "We're certainly open...

September 13, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The bishop of the Diocese of Saltillo in the Mexican state of Coahuila will be required to “clarify” his views on homosexuality and abortion following revelations of his support for a homosexual organization that celebrates the gay lifestyle, as well as his leadership of two organizations that have advocated the legalization and government provision of abortion, according to national and international media reports. Raul Vera López met earlier this month with various Vatican officials, including Cardinal Marc Ouelette, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, and William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of...