Carol Zimmermann

The Supreme Court's March 22 announcement that it would hear a government appeal to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev brings the death penalty issue in front of the Biden administration.

The Jesuit order is pledging to raise $100 million for descendants of people their order once enslaved and sold as a way to make reparations.

President Joe Biden addressed the nation in a speech from the White House Feb. 22, the day the nation reached, and then passed, what he called the "truly grim, heartbreaking milestone" of 500,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19.

"Authentic healing and authentic reconciliation require a community to commit itself to the long, slow, painful work of justice," says Fr. Bryan Massingale of Fordham University. For Catholic colleges and universities, this means a thorough "curricula review and overhaul," he says. It also means faculty and board members should reflect diversity.

No one needed to tell the Catholic college and university leaders, attending their annual conference virtually this year, that these different times are affecting their day-to-day operations and what they might do going forward.

The Supreme Court will not hear two scheduled arguments this term on immigration examining policies put in place by the Trump administration that Biden is likely to roll back.

The leaders of two U.S. bishops' committees applauded President Joe Biden's executive order reversing a policy of the previous administration that excluded unauthorized immigrants from the census count.

Long before she burst into the public spotlight delivering her inauguration poem, Amanda Gorman got a standing ovation from fellow parishioners of St. Brigid Church in Los Angeles for reciting a poem she wrote about the parish.

The over 30 faith leaders who joined the online service also prayed for President Joe Biden, members of Congress, the nation's front-line workers, victims of COVID-19 and immigrants. 

In his inaugural address Jan. 20, President Joe Biden said he is committed with his "whole soul" to bringing this country together.

Although the Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution of Dustin Higgs Jan. 15, two justices made their objections known loud and clear in dissents that called into question the speed of these decisions and even the constitutionality of capital punishment.

The Supreme Court Jan. 14 cleared the path for the federal government to execute Corey Johnson after denying his two last-minute appeals.

The Supreme Court Jan. 12 reinstated a federal requirement that women who are seeking abortion-inducing drugs must do so in person, not by mail, as a federal judge had allowed last year due to the pandemic and the high court had let stand.

Just days after the siege on the U.S. Capitol, several bishops, priests and deacons across the country used their pulpits during Jan. 9–10 weekend Masses in cathedrals, parishes and converted outdoor worship spaces to address what happened in Washington and how people of faith should respond.

This year, as tens of thousands of people nationwide protested racial injustices, Catholics similarly took to the streets and also joined in prayer services and discussions.

"We must stop the execution of Lisa Montgomery. Lisa was psychotic — unable to act rationally — when she committed a terrible crime. She desperately needed psychiatric care and instead she got a death sentence," said Sr. Helen Prejean in a Nov. 12 Facebook post.

The busy year for the Supreme Court had the attention of the Catholic Church from major decisions it announced this past summer to oral arguments this fall around key issues impacting church belief and practice.

Eight Catholic bishops serving Maryland dioceses urged President Donald Trump Dec. 22 to stop the planned federal execution of Dustin Higgs, a Maryland man on death row in Indiana.

Trump's order would exclude unauthorized immigrants from the 2020 census for redrawing congressional districts.

The Supreme Court, once again siding with houses of worship opposed to pandemic-related restrictions, ordered lower federal courts in Colorado and New Jersey Dec. 15 to reexamine state-imposed indoor worship restrictions.