The Church of Scientology is a notoriously difficult subject for a journalist. The press has long been considered an enemy of the Church, which was founded half a century ago by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

From the pulpit where he stood one day last week, Richard James Cardinal Cushing, 68, looked down not at the familiar Irish faces of his own Boston congregation but rather into the docile and questioning gaze of brown Peruvian eyes. The occasion was the blessing of a new brick-and-concrete Roman Catholic church in a slum suburb of Lima. "Mindful of the fact that you live in an agricultural country," rumbled Cushing, "I presume you know what an ass is. ...

The most important social statement of the Roman Catholic Church in recent centuries has been a document known as Rerum Novarum * issued on May 15, 1891 by 81-year-old Leo XIII as a papal encyclical—an open letter to the bishops of the church. Dealing directly and forcibly with the social ills facing the world at the turn of the century, it condemned socialism as immoral but supported trade unions and higher wages, state regulation of industry and broader distribution of property and wealth. Brought up to ...

Eleven-year-old Shawn Walsh paid a poignant tribute to the brother, just two years older, he had lost. Gripping a microphone as he stood at the altar of the First Baptist Church in Tehachapi, Calif., Shawn joshed that his brother could be "a pain in the butt" at times but that Seth was "the best big brother in the world — no, the galaxy." Wearing a yellow

ROME has spoken," runs an ancient proverb of the Roman Catholic Church. "The case is closed." No longer true. Last week Pope Paul VI formally promulgated his encyclical on birth control, which condemns all methods of contraception, except rhythm, as against the will of God. The pronouncement caused perhaps the most serious outburst of dissent the Catholic Church has experienced in centuries. Innumerable Catholics made clear that they would refuse to heed the words of a reigning Pontiff. Theologians defied ...

The Year of Our Lord 1962 was a year of American resolve, Russian orbiting, European union and Chinese war. In a tense yet hope-filled time, these were the events that dominated conversation and invited history's scrutiny. But history has a long eye, and it is quite possible that in her vision 1962's most fateful rendezvous took place in the world's most famous church—having lived for years in men's hearts and minds. That event was the beginning of a ...

The scrum of reporters assembles in the pre-dawn quiet two blocks from the border of Chinatown. It is more than two hours before Dominique Strauss-Kahn is scheduled to make an appearance, but it doesn't matter. On Monday the curtain will lift on Act I of the trial of the new century, and the courtroom has precious few seats. Two hours early might be too late. After being herded through metal detectors, we ride the nearest elevator to ...

A fortnight hence in the Vatican, 2,600 bishops of the Roman Catholic Church will meet in a gathering so rare that only 20 others like it have been convened in the 20 centuries of Christian history. The purpose of the Second Vatican Council is what His Holiness Pope John XXIII, who has the Catholic prelate's traditional wariness of words that suggest drastic change, calls an aggiornamento—a modernization. This self-reform will affect the life, the worship and the discipline ...

A sweeping study released Wednesday covering 60 years of sexual abuse allegations against the U.S. Roman Catholic church identified no definitive cause for the crisis and proposed changes that would require radical reforms to its hierarchy. The 300-page report is the product of five years of work by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. It comes at a time when the Catholic church continues to be rocked by the trauma of clergy ...

When America's Catholic bishops gather next week in Baltimore for a four-day conference, they will hear an update on the Catholic Church's ongoing fight to convince the country that marriage as an institution should never include gay couples, and they'll get a sneak peek at how that fight will be waged in the coming year. Videos aimed at priests and deacons are being produced in English and Spanish to give the pastors better tools to reach their ...