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Catholic in America With nearly one in four Americans in its fold, a powerful lobby and extensive charity work, the Catholic Church is one of the most influential institutions in America.
Nov. 12, 2012
Members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are seen above a piano as they applaud after Cardinal Timothy Dolan, of New York, president of the conference, spoke at the group's annual fall meeting in Baltimore. In recent years, the conference has been in the midst of many of the most contentious national debates --from immigration reform to gay marriage to coverage of birth control.
Patrick Semansky
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AP
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April 19, 2008
Pope Benedict XVI greets people as he arrives in the Popemobile for a Young Catholics Youth Rally at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. The pope's historic visit to the United States included visits with political leaders, including President George W. Bush, and public comments calling the clergy sexual abuse crisis a “deep shame.”
Chris McGrath
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Oct. 9, 2011
Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl greets his newest church members after performing the Rite of Reception for church members from St. Luke's Episcopal Church, who are joining the Catholic Church, at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. St. Luke's Episcopal was the first church in the Washington metropolitan area to take this step. The Catholic Church is welcome dissenting Episcopalians, including married priests, into full communion with the church through a process known as an ordinariate.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
May 18, 2011
Photographs of children who were abused by members of the Catholic clergy line the sidewalk during a protest outside the headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. The clergy sexual abuse crisis is still playing out through lawsuits in dioceses around the country.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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AP
New details show that Cardinal Mahony and other top Roman Catholic officials from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles maneuvered behind the scenes to shield molester priests, provide damage control for the church and keep parishioners in the dark, according to church personnel files. Mahony, who is retired, issued a statement Jan. 21, 2013, apologizing for his mistakes and saying he had been "naive" about the lasting impacts of abuse.
Reed Saxon
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AP
Feb. 22, 2012
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan joins fellow volunteers distributing food at a bread line at St. Francis Assisi on Ash Wednesday in New York City. Dolan was among 22 Catholic churchmen who were elevated to cardinal in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Spencer Platt
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Getty Images
Aug. 2009
Women from the Leadership Council of Women Religious, whose leaders represent the majority of Catholic sisters in the United States, hold a prayer service to advocate for the preservation of the wetlands in New Orleans. LCWR has come under scrutiny by the Vatican for "radical feminist" themes called incompatible with Catholic theology.
Jan. 27, 2012
The Rev. Tim Davison gives the sacrament of Holy Communion to Mother Miriam in Tulsa. Mother Miriam was born and raised in a conservative Jewish family, became an evangelical Christian and then converted to Catholicism. After studying to become a nun, she made her triennial vows in September. There are 55,944 sisters and 39,466 priests in the United States. Recent research shows that the average age of Catholic sisters in America is 69.
Michael Wyke
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AP
Sept. 18, 2011
Father William Norvel greets parishioners after Sunday service at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Baltimore. Father William Norvel is the first African American ever to lead this 140-year-old Catholic organization, the Order of Josephite at St. Francis Xavier, which was formed after the Civil War to minister to freed slaves.
Marvin Joseph
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The Washington Pots
Feb. 24, 2012
Then-Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who is perhaps the most prominent Catholic in political life today, greets Catholic nuns after he unveiled his "First 100 Days Economic Freedom Agenda of the Santorum Administration" at a rally at the Knights of Columbus Council in Lincoln Park, Mich. Santorum brought social issues front and center in the presidential primary race, once expected to focus exclusively on the economy.
Bill Pugliano
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Getty Images
Former congressman Bart Stupak, a Catholic who opposes abortion rights, found himself in the middle of a national debate over health care, when, in November 2009, he became one of the chief dealmakers in the health-care reform debate by spearheading language in the House bill prohibiting federal money from being used to cover abortions. In March 2010, the anti-abortion bloc of lawmakers he led pushed health reform over the top when President Obama agreed to sign an executive order restating that position.
Alex Wong
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Getty Images
Feb. 16, 2012
Rev. William E. Lori, Roman Catholic bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., gestures while testifying on Capitol Hill before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing. Alongside Lori are Rev. Matthew C. Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Despite some concessions from the Obama administration on coverage of contraception in health-care plans, the Catholic bishops have pressed on, calling their battle a fight for religious liberty.
Carolyn Kaster
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AP
Sept. 12, 1960
Then-Senator John F. Kennedy, who went on to become the nation's first Catholic president, answers questions put to him by clergymen of the Houston Ministerial Association in the Chrystal Room of the Rice Hotel in Houston. Kennedy's speech has reemerged in the 2012 presidential campaign, with candidate Rick Santorum saying Kennedy's “absolute” separation of church and state made him “want to throw up.”
Ted Powers
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AP
July 8, 2009
Carol Keehan, right, president and CEO of Catholic Health Association of the United States, speaks on health care as Vice President Biden listens at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House. Keehan, a Catholic sister with the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, found herself at the receiving end of criticism from the bishops conference for her endorsement of Obama's health-care bill, which they deemed insufficiently anti-abortion.
Alex Wong
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Getty Images
Feb. 22, 2012
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) displays a prominent mark of Ash Wednesday in Annapolis. O’Malley sparred with leaders of the Catholic Church in the past year over his shift to support same-sex marriage. According to a Pew Research poll, 46 percent of Catholics approve of gay marriage.
Greg Masters
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The Washington Post
Sept. 22, 2010
Perspective students leave the undergraduate admissions building to take a tour of Georgetown University campus in Northwest Washington. There are 235 Catholic universities in the United States, including Georgetown.
Nikki Kahn
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The Washington Post
April 23, 2005
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception stands in Northeast Washington. The basilica adjacent to the Catholic University of America is the largest Catholic church in the Americas and eighth largest in the world. There are 18,201 Catholic parishes in the United States.
Karen Bleier
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AFP/Getty Images
Monsignor William Lynn walks from the Criminal Justice Center, Wednesday, June 20, 2012, in Philadelphia. Lynn was convicted on June 22, 2012 of child endangerment but acquitted of conspiracy in a groundbreaking clergy-abuse trial, becoming the first U.S. church official convicted of a crime for how he handled abuse claims.
Matt Rourke
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AP
Feb. 22, 2012
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church parishioners attend an Ash Wednesday Mass at the church in Jonesboro, Ark. The photo includes Cross Jumper (from left), Alison Jumper, Reece Jumper, Ashley Davis and Katie Blevins.
Saundra Sovick
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AP
Nov 27, 2011
Laura DeRosa of Mission Viejo, center, prays at the Mission Basilica in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Roman Catholic parishioners began using revised responses to common prayers during Mass services, as a new translation of the ancient Latin prayer texts is rolled out across the English-speaking world. It's only the second time since 1570 that the Roman Missal prayer book has been revised.
Cindy Yamanaka
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AP
Feb. 5, 2012
Football fans pray at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church near the Super Bowl Village before the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in Indianapolis. The Giants won.
Eric Gay
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AP
April 22, 2011
Braving a driving rain, Fernando Comacho, center, helps to carry a cross with others during the tri-lingual Way of the Cross (in Spanish, English and French) in Takoma Park. Nearly a third of all Catholics in the United States are Hispanic, and that percentage is expected to tick upward in coming decades.
Matt McClain
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For The Washington Post
May 17, 2009
An anti-abortion demonstrator is arrested on the University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind. Anti-abortion activists from around the country gathered in South Bend to protest the university's decision to invite President Obama, who supports abortion rights, to deliver the commencement address and award him an honorary degree. Catholic organizations and activists are some of the most prominent leaders in the anti-abortion movement.
Scott Olson
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Getty Images
July 31, 2011
Anti-abortion demonstrators walk from a Catholic church to the business park in Germantown, Md., where Germantown Reproductive Health Services, which performs late-term abortions, is located. The demonstrators call their walk the Rosary Procession.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Feb. 16, 2012
A young participant holds a placard and a rosary during an anti-abortion demonstration in front of the White House. Park police detained at least six religious activists while they were protesting against President Obama over the mandate that religious institutions cover birth control, including sterilization and the morning-after pill, in their health plans.
Jewel Samad
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AFP/Getty Images
June 11, 2011
Lance Cpl. Blas Trevino of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, clinches his rosary beads as he is treated by a U.S. Army flight medic, Sgt. Joe Campbell, after being rescued onto a medevac helicopter in Afghanistan. Trevino was shot in the stomach outside Sangin, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.
Anja Niedringhaus
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AP
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