WASHINGTON (August 3, 2011)—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is sponsoring four refugees to attend the UNHCR Refugee Congress August 2-4, in Washington. Hailing from Sudan, Yemen, Iraq and Bhutan, these refugees were successfully resettled to the United States by the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services (MRS).  They live now in places like Jackson, Mississippi; Charleston, West Virginia; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Chicago and, this week, they will have a chance to share their stories and experiences with other refugees and to participate in an advocacy day, August 4, on the Hill.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sharply criticized a new HHS “preventive services” mandate requiring private health plans to cover female surgical sterilization and all drugs and devices approved by the FDA as contraceptives, including drugs which can attack a developing unborn child before and after implantation in the mother’s womb.

WASHINGTON—Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), will celebrate a Memorial Mass, September 14, at noon, for the late Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The Mass will be at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.