Heidi Schlumpf

The 40-year-old organization dedicated to reforming the Catholic Church has faced a significant loss of income and membership over the past few years. But its fresh young leadership is envisioning new growth and strategies that they believe will bring the movement back to its roots. 

To counteract polarization in the church and the country, the Catholic Church needs to approach both with humility — which is also an appropriate response to its mishandling of clerical sex abuse, said theologian Brian Flanagan.

Lori Lightfoot won a runoff election that will make her the first African American woman to lead the city and its first openly gay mayor.

Pope Francis has named Archbishop Wilton Gregory to lead the Washington Archdiocese, placing the prelate who guided the development of the U.S. bishops' procedures on clergy sexual abuse at the helm of a church that has been convulsed by abuse scandals over the past year.

Cardinal Peter Turkson told a conference at the University of Chicago: "Local and global economics must be viewed not only in terms of production and distribution, but also in terms of their effect on the environment, the dignity of people and the way it ensures their well-being."

Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo spoke to a conference on Catholic social teaching, telling attendees that poverty demands a response on the scale of a "third world war."

Marquette University — through its innovative Center for Peacemaking — works with small and large businesses and other nonprofits to improve the neighborhood for all who live and work there, while avoiding displacing current residents through gentrification. 

As Marquette University's Center for Peacemaking celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, founder Terrence Rynne’s desire to see students understand peacemaking and embrace it as part of their vocation is happening, with students who take peace studies courses, volunteer or work in the center’s many programs, do center-funded research, attend academic conferences or talks, and more.

The Herald is the newest player in a web of connections between conservative Catholic media and wealthy donors, right-wing activists, high-ranking clergy and libertarian political players.

Bishops W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, Steven Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming, John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, and William Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, are 50 to 59 years old and relatively "new" bishops. They talk to NCR about the current state of the church's sex abuse crisis.

The March for Life is scheduled for Jan. 24, 2020, and now the 2020 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering is slated for Jan. 25-28 instead of February; the hope is that there will be more activist cross-over between events and a more unified Catholic voice.

Catholic colleges and universities are stepping up to the plate to assist the church with the crisis of sexual abuse and cover-up.

The Kentucky bishop, who is also the episcopal president of Pax Christi USA, says that standing against racism, advocating for immigrants and protecting the environment must be part of respect for life.

A prominent and popular Chicago priest, who headed a five-campus child services organization, has been removed from ministry while the Chicago Archdiocese reviews allegations of sexual abuse of minors against him.

After Jesuit Fr. Benjamin Hawley's sermon — which was critical of church leadership but also pondered whether the church might finally be experiencing an "appearance of dawn" on the issue — Sen. Patrick Leahy said he "wanted to stand up and applaud him."

Catholic historians, who by definition are usually focused on the past — were very much thinking and talking about the present sex abuse crisis and what the future might bring for the church, during last week's meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association. For one, they are divided — and the evidence is not clear — about how far back the crisis goes. 

Restoring trust requires humility and service, not competition or "concern with marketing or strategizing to reclaim lost prestige or to seek accolades," the pope wrote to the bishops, currently on retreat.

The group FRK Advocates has some 1,400 signatures on a petition asking for an investigation into Fr. Richard Kirkham's removal as well as overall abuse of office and power by Bishop Michael Olson.

A Nashville deacon who has raised questions about the completeness of the diocese's recently published list of priests accused of sexual abuse has been removed from ministry for "carrying on a public disagreement with the Diocese," according to a letter from his pastor.

Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr said that unless Christians rediscover the "bigger heart" and "bigger mind" of the mystical and contemplative tradition, the church will be unable to make positive change in the world — or reform itself.