A Texas judge granted Jeffrey Younger and Dr Anne Georgulas joint managing conservatorship of their son, James Younger, over whose gender identity his parents have argued in court. The decision, given by Judge Kim Cooks of a Texas Family District Court, means that both parents have equal decision-making power in their child’s medical, dental and…
A Ghanaian government official used a Catholic girls’ school celebration to emphasise the need to educate girls as well as boys. “The education of boys has always taken precedence over that of girls, and we normally use social and cultural misconceptions to discriminate against girls in terms of educational access,” Benedicta Tenni Seidu, director of…
Pope’s new book calls for spiritual rebirth The global ecological crisis is just one of the effects of a distorted and diseased view people have of the world, themselves and each other, Pope Francis has said in a new book. In fact, addressing a global crisis demands a global approach, which must start with “a…
Counsellor sues Catholic school over same-sex marriage policy An Indiana guidance counsellor has filed a lawsuit against an Indianapolis Catholic school which placed her on administrative leave after she contracted a same-sex marriage, and did not renew her contract when it expired. Shelly Fitzgerald, who worked at Roncalli High School for 15 years, filed suit…
The Mexican bishops’ conference has called for calm and reflection after well-armed members of a drug cartel descended on the city of Culiacan and forced Mexican security forces to release the son of convicted cartel kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as ‘El Chapo’. In a statement, a day after the violence in Culiacan, capital of…
Humanitarian concerns are growing as people caught in the crosshairs of the Turkish incursion into northeastern Syria try to flee for safety, and groups are scrambling to aid them. “There are big concerns about what is going on in northeastern Syria with the Turkish military aerial assaults and ground operations,” Fr Emanuel Youkhana said by…
“Nones”, those who profess no religious affiliation, are now the largest subgroup in American society, their numbers having grown in the past decade while the percentage of Catholics in the US slipped over the past 10 years. In a Pew Research Centre ‘religious landscape’ report issued last week, nones have jumped from 17% of the…
Morocco’s king has pardoned a journalist, her fiance and the medical team who last month were found guilty of procuring and performing an abortion. The country’s penal code bars abortion except in cases when the mother’s life is endangered. Mohammed VI’s pardon was granted on October 16. Hajar Raissouni, 28, had been sentenced last month…
Catholic teachers in Ghana have joined the bishops’ conference and Muslim organisations in urging the government to withdraw a sex education program from the national school curriculum. The “unlimited scope and span” of the comprehensive program, launched this year by the government and UNESCO, “would create room for anything to be introduced…by interested groups or…
Vocation crisis caused by lack of holiness not celibacy – bishop A bishop in Brazil who is a member of the Amazon synod has said he believes a major obstacle to increasing priestly vocations in the region is a lack of personal holiness among the ordained, rather than the discipline of celibacy. Bishop Wellington de Queiroz…