Heidi Schlumpf

"From what I observed, Pope Francis did not express anger toward Fr. Martin, nor did he convey that he was unhappy with his ministry," Bishop Steven Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming, told NCR.

Two high school teachers who were reportedly forced to resign now join a group of nearly 100 employees who have lost their jobs at Catholic institutions in the last 13 years because of LGBT issues.

Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the Amazon disappointed those hoping for an opening of clerical roles to married men and women. The document's language of complementarity outraged many women.

Voters under 30 — including Catholic ones — could have enormous influence on the 2020 presidential election. College students told NCR that their political priorities have been informed by their Catholic faith.

A national survey has identified two major challenges facing campus ministers: a desire to help young Catholics transition from college to parish life, and the need for better collaboration.

Dynamic Catholic is now focused on what is billed as "the largest parish renewal initiative the church has ever seen." Dynamic Catholic's consulting comes at a low price, which it can afford because of donations.

At a three-day summit in Iowa, religious progressives talked solidarity in the effort to tilt the political conversation toward the common good and defeat Donald Trump at the polls in November.

It is the relationship between some of Matthew Kelly's privately held for-profit companies and the Catholic nonprofit he founded that could be problematic.

The professional life of Matthew Kelly has been incredible. His is a tale of business acumen, accessible religious content and a market apparently hungry for new direction. It also raises some eyebrows.

Noted Catholic ethicists and moral theologians share with NCR their thoughts on the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani and the subsequent escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The practice called "geofencing" allows retailers to track shoppers at malls and political consultants to harvest information from cell phones at demonstrations. It has now moved into Catholic churches, with the prize being information on Republican-trending Mass-goers. 

A Facebook account under the name of Msgr. Andrew Raymond Wadsworth has gone private after a number of posts in late October and early November criticized "pagan worship" at the Amazon synod.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center with a 1,000-bed capacity planned for Evanston, Wyoming, is "a far cry from loving solidarity," says Bishop Steven Biegler, who has publicly opposed the project.

The most intense discussion during the U.S. bishops' Nov. 11-13 meeting concerned whether opposition to abortion is the "preeminent" issue. Others called for attention to immigration and the environment.

"Our communion with the Holy Father can be expressed in the concrete actions that we take to make his magisterium better known among our people," Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the U.S., said in his Nov. 11 address to the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Though most prelates who have resigned or been removed for sexual misconduct or cover-up no longer attend the biannual U.S. bishops' meeting, only one has been formally disinvited. And one convicted bishop continues to show up.

The second Women of the Church conference, attended by more than 150 women and men, offered hope and inspiration while also providing a space to mourn current and past exclusion of women.

In an interview with NCR, Catholic author and editor Robert Ellsberg, who helped his father copy the Pentagon Papers, praises whistleblowers for their "higher loyalty."

While some panelists praised the progress made in past decades, including declining numbers of new cases and better pastoral support for victims, a survivor on the panel hit back about comments that church leaders have had to experience a "learning curve" on the issue.