From Religion News Service: 

***  Former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been defrocked. Vatican officials found McCarrick guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing confession, and sexual crimes against minors and adults. 

McCarrick is the highest-ranking churchman to be laicized, as the process is called. He can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments or be addressed by any religious title. 

McCarrick rose to the heights of church power, Despite the apparent common knowledge in church circles of his sexual behavior. He even acted as the spokesman for U.S. bishops when they enacted a “zero tolerance” policy against sexually abusive priests in 2002. 

***The embattled pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, has been fired by the Chicago megachurch he founded three decades ago. 

James MacDonald’s departure follows years of controversy over his leadership style and the church’s finances. MacDonald was removed as Senior Pastor for behavior Elders called contrary and harmful to the best interests of the church.” 

 *** Julián Castro officially launched his candidacy for president, stressing his Catholic faith. Castro served as U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development during President Obama’s second term. Analysts say Castro has the potential to galvanize a growing national Latino vote. Hispanic Catholics make up 34 percent of all American Catholics, and roughly 64 percent of them are Democrats or lean Democratic.  

***A third-party investigation into a controversial January encounter between a Native American group and students from a Kentucky Catholic high school concluded that there is “no evidence” of racist or offensive statements by the students. 

Yet the same report also conceded that some students from Covington Catholic High School responded to a Native American man drumming and singing by performing the “tomahawk chop” used by some sports teams — an action many Native Americans find offensive.