Even in the exceedingly unlikely event that every bishop miraculously agreed on how to approach the question of Communion and abortion, it still would not resolve the political question of abortion in favor of the Catholic position.

When people meet me, at the Capitol or in a church, they may wonder or even ask me politely, “Are you a conservative or a liberal?” I smile and say, “I’m just a Catholic.”

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the National Black Sisters Conference issued a joint statement May 5 on the importance of ensuring that all people enjoy the right to vote “regardless of their race, zip code, economic status or party affiliation.”

In post-Civil War New Orleans, Creole leaders won elections and oversaw the desegregation of public schools, a short-lived experiment destroyed after Reconstruction.

Can we imagine Daniel Berrigan’s portrait, all gussied up, unfurled above the high altar of St. Peter’s? I know I can; but on his centenary it is more than enough to envision this great American’s visage on view in a gallery in the nation’s capital.

“People’s lives are complicated every place you look, and just as complicated as your own life is,” says author and director James Fallows.