“The theology of Rome, the authority of Rome—that was appealing to us,” says Father Mark Lewis of St. Luke’s Parish, the first US Episcopal church to join the Catholic Church under new Vatican rules. More →

August 3, 2012

A new study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice rules out celibacy and homosexuality as causes of the Catholic sexual abuse crisis. More →

May 20, 2011

Watch National Catholic Reporter senior correspondent John L. Allen Jr. and Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly managing editor Kim Lawton discuss the Roman Catholic Church’s plan to absorb unhappy Anglicans wishing to become Catholics. More →

October 23, 2009

Reactions continue after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted to allow local congregations to hire noncelibate gay and lesbian pastors. Prior to the vote at last week’s biennial ELCA assembly, there was vigorous debate about homosexuality and the … More →

August 25, 2009

As American Catholics have reeled from the disclosures of past sexual abuses by priests, and evidence they were covered up, one of the questions raised has concerned priestly celibacy — abstinence from sex. Was that requirement a cause of the abuses? Is it necessary for dedicated ministry? Should it be made optional? More →

April 12, 2002