“If Marylanders do not repeal the same-sex marriage law by voting against Question 6, what happened to Dr. Angela McCaskill is just a taste of what will happen to religious institutions, ministries, businesses and other individuals.”
— Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, responding to Gallaudet University’s decision to place Angela McCaskill, its chief diversity officer, on paid administrative leave for signing a petition to bring Maryland’s same-sex marriage law to a public referendum
“We can easily remember a time in our lives when Facebook and YouTube didn’t exist — kids don’t remember that. We wanted to do something where we could help our kids become better catechized, but we knew we had to do it in a different, new kind of format.”
— Bob Perron, executive director of the Department of Youth Ministry in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., which recently launched “Video Catechism for Teens” — a free online resource for youth and young adults at www.vcat.org
“Christianity must never be seen as something from the past, nor lived with one’s gaze always looking back, because Jesus is yesterday, today and for all eternity.”
— Pope Benedict XVI, speaking during an audience Oct. 12 with 15 bishops who participated in the Second Vatican Council between 1962-65
“Our emphasis isn’t just on reorganizing the church, but on reinvigorating the missionary impulses of the entire Christian community.”
— Michael Pruller, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria, which is planning a major reorganization that will see its 660 parishes merged over the next decade into around 150 larger parishes, each served by three to five priests and offering regular Masses
