1+ week, 3+ day ago (205+ words) Bishop Michael Martin of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte is asking Catholics to observe a day of prayer and fasting this Friday in response to the ongoing federal immigration operation known as "Charlotte's Web." In a statement, Martin urged parishioners to support neighbors living with fear and uncertainty, while also cautioning against "vilifying" federal agents. Martin wrote that he had "no words to practically address the fear and uncertainty that many are feeling with the increased presence of federal immigration officials," but that "our faith teaches us to come to the aid of the poor, marginalized and most vulnerable." He called on worshipers to contact their elected representatives in Washington and "let them know that comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue, and given that both political parties have repeatedly called for this, it is their responsibility to get it done…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (1386+ words) SALZBURG, Austria " Morning Mass is underway at the chapel of Schloss Goldenstein, a convent in Elsbethen, an Austrian parish nestled between the church spires of Salzburg and the arresting backdrop of the Alps. Sister Rita is delighted to see so many people in attendance. As Catholic congregation numbers dwindle in Austria, Sister Rita says you'd expect the church to be equally thrilled by such tightly packed pews, but 82-year-old Rita and fellow Sisters Regina, 86, and Bernadette, 88, are in their superior's bad books. "People are calling us the rebellious sisters!" Rita says with a giggle and a glint in her eye. The three Augustinian sisters " who use only their religious names " recently ran away from a nursing home and, with the help of a local locksmith, broke back into the convent that used to be their home. Rita jokes that they…...