WASHINGTON—After 25 years, Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, is stepping down from his duties as episcopal moderator of the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference (DFMC), the national association of financial leaders of dioceses in the United States and Canada, and will be succeeded by Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas. Bishop Farrell will assume the episcopal moderator’s duties at the conclusion of the DFMC’s 41st annual conference in New Orleans, September 26-29. Bishop Trautman asked Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), to name a replacement.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, welcomed the federal court injunction against the Obama administration’s funding of human embryonic stem cell research, calling the ruling a “victory for common sense and sound medical ethics.” He said this ruling also vindicates the bishops’ reading of the Dickey amendment, the amendment approved by Congress since 1996, which prevents federal funding of research in which human embryos are harmed or destroyed.

WASHINGTON—With millions unemployed and U.S. workers experiencing tragedies such as mining deaths in West Virginia and the oil rig explosion and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans “must seek to protect the life and dignity of each worker in a renewed and robust economy,” said Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York. Bishop Murphy addressed these issues in the 2010 Labor Day Statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), entitled “A New ‘Social Contract’ for Today’s ‘New Things,’” which can be found online in English (www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/labor_day_2010.pdf) and Spanish (www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/labor_day_2010_spanish.pdf).

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called on members of the House of Representatives to support the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (H.R. 5939), introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at the end of July.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has announced that the full text of the English-language translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, has been issued for the dioceses of the United States of America.

WASHINGTON— Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston and as chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, presented the People of Life award to three individuals for their lifetime commitment to the pro-life movement at a ceremony in Houston August 9. Those honored were Professor William E. May, Msgr. Philip J. Reilly and Patricia Bainbridge. Over 85 diocesan pro-life directors from across the country attended the private awards dinner during the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities’ annual Diocesan Pro-Life Leadership Conference.

WASHINGTON—As schools launch a new academic year, millions of children also are set to learn the ABC’s of child protection. In Catholic schools and parishes nationwide, safe environment training gives children the skills necessary to protect themselves from would be-offenders. Mary Jane Doerr, associate director of the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has listed here some of the messages children hear in safe environment programs.

WASHINGTON—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sponsored a delegation July 26-August 2 to Haiti and the Caribbean region to examine the plight of Haitians impacted by the January 12 earthquake.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Francis George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, decried the August 4 decision of a federal judge to overturn California voters' 2008 initiative that protected marriage as the union of one man and one woman.