Catholic

I and many other active Catholics, and apparently including many in the clergy, are becoming more and more disgusted with our bishops. If marriage is only between a man and a woman according to natural law, and it is the most perfect way to live in family as human beings, as they proclaim, why have they wasted so many millions on interfering with state law and not working on a real problem in their own backyard. Why don't they have the courage to stand up and campaign against the "mandatory celibacy law" of our own priests - surely this is against the natural law, and it certainly didn't come from Jesus.

Commentator John Gehring asserts that Catholic hospitals and universities would not have to pay for birth control coverage for their employees under an accommodation with the Obama administration that requires insurance companies to pick up the tab ("Finding common ground," Nov. 12). This is not true. Neither the Affordable Care Act nor the finalized implementing regulations contain any such provision. Rather, that arrangement is discussed in the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published by the Department of Health and Human Services in March, which is not law. It is true that the president held a press conference to announce the proposed compromise, commonly referred to as the "accommodation.

The standout junior captured her second straight Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland cross country championship on Nov. 5, finishing in 18 minutes, 19 seconds for a comfortable 40-second win over runner-up Hannah Mansbach of Glenelg Country. As a sophomore last year, Gonzalez emerged as one of the area's finest distance runners. Last season, she set a meet record with a time of 17 minutes, 59 seconds to win her first IAAM cross country title. She followed that with conference championships in the 1600- and 320-meter races in both the indoor and outdoor track seasons.

Meeting for the first time since voters in Maryland and two other states legalized same-sex marriage, members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Tuesday that they have no plans to soften their position that genuine marriage can occur only between one man and one woman. "Are [the results] concerning? Sure they are," William E. Lori, the archbishop of Baltimore, said between sessions at the organization's fall general assembly in Baltimore, which has drawn about 300 bishops and archbishops to the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Harbor East this week.

More than a few Catholic bishops spent this election feverishly warning their flock that voting for Barack Obama put their souls at risk and posed a grave threat to religious liberty. Now that the president has been re-elected with a majority of Catholic voters, leaders of our nation's most influential church have some self-reflection to do at their national meeting in Baltimore this week. Bishops should take pause at recent national headlines ("Catholic bishops make last-minute pitch for Romney")

Roman Catholic bishops convening in Baltimore joined students and volunteers Sunday to transform a Harbor East hotel corridor into a food-packing operation to benefit West African orphans and battered women. Measuring out thousands of plastic bags of dry soy protein, rice, vitamins and dried vegetables, enough to feed six people, the volunteers worked alongside the humanitarian effort's sponsors, Catholic Relief Services and Stop Hunger Now, as well as the bishops. "This is so much more fun than sitting in meetings," said Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., who is also Catholic Relief Services board chairman.

It is disheartening to read letters from readers who call themselves Catholics but have no concept of true Catholic Social Teaching. Sadly, some Catholics are poorly informed about the basic tenets of our faith. To set the record straight: Catholic social teaching is all about caring for the well being of all people, especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged among us. This time-honored and apostolic teaching is in accord with the U.S. Constitution, which also seeks to entitle everyone to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Notwithstanding the assertions of Dan Rodricks in his recent column ("A Catholic priest speaks up in favor of same-sex marriage," Nov. 4), there is nothing courageous in Father Richard Lawrence's support of same sex marriage. If Father Lawrence, as an ordained Roman Catholic priest, finds that his conscience does not allow him to teach Christian doctrines and the meaning of Holy Scripture as interpreted by the Roman Catholic Church, then, if he were courageous, he would resign from the priesthood and found his own denomination to teach his doctrines and interpretations of Holy Scripture along with the other more than 26,000 Protestant denominations.

This season, Catholic's Ellie Gonzalez and the Archbishop Spalding girls cross country team set championship goals. They were able to realize those goals Monday afternoon at the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland championship race. Gonzalez repeated as the IAAM's individual champion with a time of 18 minutes, 19 seconds. She led from the start and easily won for the second consecutive year while Spalding's depth proved too much for the rest of the A Conference as the Cavaliers finished with a second straight team title.

As Garrison Forest fans waved posters and made sure to sit in the same bleacher seats at Goucher College they've sat in for the past two championship seasons, the No. 1 Grizzlies field hockey team took care of business on the field. Garrison Forest withstood a ferocious attack by No. 2-seeded Bryn Mawr and then pushed in goals by Bayly Jarrett and Erica Marshall to beat the Mawrtians, 2-0, and win the Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship for the fifth time in six years.