Marcus Mescher News Today

The Illinois attorney general’s office determined Catholic leaders have vastly underreported sex abuse cases.

For survivors, the trauma of coming forward was often just as deep as the abuse itself, according to researchers at Jesuit-run Xavier University.

All my life I have found it impossible to communicate the devastating, life-changing, utterly permanent effects childhood sexual abuse has on victims.

Pilot study of moral injury caused by clergy sexual abuse tries to "measure the psychological distress, the spiritual distress and the moral dissonance or confusion because of that violation."

The great cellist of our time, Yo-Yo Ma, went to the Russian embassy this week, took out his cello and played the hauntingly beautiful Ukraini...

President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress inside the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington April 28, 2021. Also pictured are Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (CNS photo/Melina Mara, Pool via Reuters) In his first speech to Congress, on April 28,  President Joseph R. Biden Jr. heralded the country’s progress against the Covid-19 pandemic during his first 100 days in office, declaring, “America is on the move again.” M...

Some of the responders delved more deeply into their stories with America, reflecting on the complexities that could not be expressed in a 280-character tweet. Their experiences, grappling with the Catholic Church and with elements of their own identities, are varied, but they share a common desire for the church to take a clear look at its shortcomings and strive to do better. “If you just prayed hard enough, you would be healed” Richard “Rickard” Morin works in information technology...

“The beauty that I witnessed was the community that was formed,” said Father Jones. Around 20 people, or 10 percent of the parish’s virtual Sunday Massgoers, tune in every day at noon for discussion groups or weekly to pray the rosary. They also have special events like a highlighting of local entrepreneurs, holding Bible studies, a speaker series or a hush harbor, a service featuring spirituals and speeches that dates to slave gatherings in antebellum America. Susan Rashad, a parishioner...

Marcus Mescher's new book makes clear what the most pressing contemporary social injustices are, ranging from immigration to domestic violence, from “social sorting” to homophobia, from racism to poverty.