“Timothy Dolan” on The Daily Caller

Amid polls showing that his efforts to regulate religious institutions have hurt his image among Catholics, President Barack Obama has begun touting his early ties to the church. (more)

On Wednesday’s “The O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and a man considered the post powerful cleric of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, leveled the charge that the Obama administration and its supporters are attempting to divide the Catholic Church. (more)

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday tried to shut down growing opposition to the president’s decision to force religious groups to pay fines if they decline to comply with a policy regarding health insurance and contraception. (more)

Yet another Catholic diocese has come under a deluge of criminal and civil suits from individuals claiming to have been sexually abused by priests. On February 16, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia agreed to reopen 37 possible cases of child sexual abuse mentioned during grand jury proceedings. The grand jury also recommended charging Monsignor William Lynn with two criminal counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and pressing other criminal charges against three priests and a Catholic school teacher. Several priests were placed on leave of absence after having been accused. (more)

(CBS/AP) In a noticeable departure from strict Catholic dogma decrying abortion no matter what, New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan called together religious leaders Thursday and asked everyone to work with each other to make abortion “rare.”  (more)

Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona has been at the center of a roaring controversy for his decision to remove the Catholic status from St. Joseph Hospital in Phoenix. The hospital may no longer refer to itself as a Catholic institution, Mass may not be celebrated there, and the Diocese of Phoenix will not give it any further support. The decision came as a result of an abortion procedure performed at the hospital, and the repeated violations of Catholic moral teaching that the hospital had perpetrated over the years. (more)

The Catholic world was rocked this past Tuesday when a new president was elected for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The results were shocking; for the first time since the creation of the conference in 1966, the sitting vice president lost the election for the presidency.  In a stunning rebuke, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, the vice president of the USCCB and scion of the liberal wing of the Church in America, was passed over for the New York Time’s biggest foe, the bellicose Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York City. (more)

NEW YORK (AP) — Citing a shortage of priests who can perform the rite, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops are holding a conference on how to conduct exorcisms. (more)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jerome Listecki has been installed as the Archbishop of Milwaukee. (more)