Carol Zimmermann

The Supreme Court announced Aug. 12 that it will not hear an appeal from a group of students at Indiana University who are opposed to the university's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

A federal judge sided with an Indianapolis archdiocesan high school and the Indianapolis Archdiocese in a lawsuit filed against them by a former guidance counselor whose contract was not renewed because of her same-sex marriage.

Two fully vaccinated Jesuit university presidents who recently tested positive for COVID-19 have spoken out about their experience as an urgent reminder of the need to get vaccinated

As indoor mask mandates are returning in areas of the country hard hit by a new wave of the coronavirus, U.S. bishops have been informing their dioceses of this new policy impacting Masses, Catholic schools and church events. This is particularly true in Louisiana where bishops have been announcing this change in letters to their respective dioceses or public announcements the first week of August. Their announcements followed the Aug. 2 statewide mask mandate issued by Gov. John Bel Edwards requiring anyone age 5 and up to wear a mask indoors in K-12 schools, businesses, universities and churches as the state tries to bring down the rising number of COVID-19 infections. The mandate is in effect until at least Sept.1. Louisiana is currently experiencing the worst outbreak of new COVID-19 cases per capita in the nation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Catholic school in Lansing, Michigan, and two school parents are suing state officials over the state's requirement that students wear face masks in school, saying this violated the school's religious practices.

A lower court sided with state officials in the suit filed last October when the mandate was in place for school students.

On July 21, this case went before a federal appeals court even though most of the state's COVID-19 restrictions were rescinded in June.

Catholic immigration advocates are urging Congress and President Joe Biden to speed up legislation to protect immigrants after a federal judge ruled July 16 to end a program that prevents the deportation of thousands of immigrants brought into the U.S. illegally as children.

The day after issuing its final opinions for the current term, the Supreme Court announced it was taking up one religious rights case and rejecting another for its next term. Both cases sound somewhat familiar based on previous court rulings.

Activists who oppose the death penalty said the Justice Department's temporary stop of federal executions is a step in the right direction, but not enough.

In a 7-2 decision June 17, the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, saying the states that sued over the law did not have the legal right to do so.

In a unanimous decision June 17, the Supreme Court said that a Catholic social service agency should not have been excluded from Philadelphia's foster care program because it did not accept same-sex couples as foster parents.

A national Catholic group of over 50 religious and nonprofit organizations is urging President Joe Biden to address global COVID-19 vaccine access during the upcoming G7 summit.

Many Catholic dioceses and archdioceses across the country — which closed their parish doors for a time at the start of the pandemic last year and have gradually opened them to limited occupancy in the past year — are getting ready to fully reopen on the feast of Pentecost, May 23.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed into law a bill requiring death-row inmates to choose between the electric chair or the firing squad for their executions if lethal injection drugs are not available.

An Indiana trial court May 7 dismissed the lawsuit of a former Catholic high school teacher in Indianapolis who said he was fired in 2019 because of his same-sex marriage.

The Biden administration's May 5 announcement that it supports waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines — as a means to expand the vaccine's production and distribution — is a move the Vatican has been suggesting.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said April 27 that fully vaccinated people who wear masks can safely attend many indoor events such as worship services.

Msgr. Kieran Harrington, vicar of communications for the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, has been named national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order April 9 announcing the formation of a commission to look into possible reforms to the Supreme Court, including expansions and term limits.

On World Health Day, April 7, a new group of 31 U.S. Catholic organizations encouraged people to get the COVID-19 vaccine as an act of charity and solidarity with others.