Why fewer nuns?

(CNS/Theresa Laurence, Tennessee Register)

Today’s Vatican Letter by Cindy Wooden is on why the number of women religious has dropped sharply over the last 50 years. What do you think? Is it that many religious misunderstood the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, as one priest in the story says? Or is it something else since, as another priest says, the numbers actually started dropping in the 1930s?

You can comment here. (Remember, comments are moderated, so stay on topic and be charitable.) Or, you can go to the link on our Twitter page where we posed the same question and reply there.

Catholic newspaper to offer free ads for jobless and employers

Yesterday we ran a story for our clients (here’s a link to the news brief) on how the Rhode Island Catholic newspaper is planning to help connect the unemployed with jobs. You can also read the complete story on the paper’s Web site. Is this something other publications can be doing?

A flood recovery story told with photos and sound

After the devastating floods in the Midwest this summer, members of an Indiana parish stepped up to help with recovery in the community of Czech Village in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

A link on the Web page of the Northwest Indiana Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Gary, Ind., pulls up “Gerry’s Place,” a two-and-a-half minute audio-and-slide show by Tim Hunt of a project of  St. John the Evangelist Parish in St. John, Ind.

Participants explain that because of the parish’s Faith Without Borders program, some of them had experience with flood recovery from trips to New Orleans, helping people there rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. The work in Iowa was much the same, they said.

The photos are striking and the mixture of audio clips helps bring the story to life.