ANNAPOLIS – Gov. Martin J. O’Malley said he will take a leadership role in passing same-sex marriage legislation in Maryland next year, promising in a July 22 press conference that he will sponsor legislation that would legalize gay marriage while also protecting the free exercise of religion.Read More

WASHINGTON – A U.S. cardinal expressed strong opposition July 19 to a recommendation that all health plans be required to cover any contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration without a patient co-payment under the new health reform law.Read More

NEW YORK – Screen legend Spencer Tracy (1900-1967), who won one of his two Academy Awards for portraying a priest during Hollywood’s golden age, played Catholic clergymen three other times, but was never comfortable with it, reveals a forthcoming book about the star.Read More

SALTILLO, Mexico – Martin Cantu prays the rosary every morning in the Christ the Prisoner Chapel, where he also attends Mass twice weekly. The deeply Catholic father of four spends his days sewing jackets in a prison workshop and passes much of his spare time reading the Bible and pondering the allegations of fraud that...Read More

WASHINGTON – Devon Frazier, a sophomore at St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Okla., says she “felt completely honored” when she heard her name called for the “prestigious title” of Miss Indian Oklahoma 2011 at the Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women’s annual pageant in McAlester, Okla.Read More

LONDON – Catholic and Anglican leaders have challenged Christians to find new ways to establish lasting peace in the Holy Land, including changing the nature of pilgrimages.Read More

SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Conventual Franciscan pastor who will become Savannah’s bishop Oct. 18 observed at his introduction July 19 that it will take a helicopter to reach the far-flung ends of the diocese.Read More

A funeral Mass for Sister Roberta Sobus, Daughter of Charity, was offered July 2 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. Sister Roberta died June 27 at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg, where she spent the last 11 years in prayer ministry. She was 88 and had been...Read More