Professor Michael McConnell speaks after winning the Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty on June 25, 2025. / Credit: Casey Patrick/Notre Dame Law SchoolWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 3, 2025 / 09:45 am (CNA).During its recently concluded fifth annual Religious Liberty Summit, Notre Dame Law School recognized two scholars for their contributions to the promotion and protection of religious liberty around the world.The Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty, which is awarded to one person each year for his or her achievements in preserving religious liberty, was presented at last week's summit to former federal judge and constitutional scholar Professor Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School. Meanwhile, professor and author Dr. Russell Hittinger of The Catholic University of America (CUA) received the Religious Liberty Scholarship Award, which is given annually to an individual for accomplishments in advancing the understanding of how law protects freedom of religion.&n...
Professor Michael McConnell speaks after winning the Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty on June 25, 2025. / Credit: Casey Patrick/Notre Dame Law School
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 3, 2025 / 09:45 am (CNA).
During its recently concluded fifth annual Religious Liberty Summit, Notre Dame Law School recognized two scholars for their contributions to the promotion and protection of religious liberty around the world.
The Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty, which is awarded to one person each year for his or her achievements in preserving religious liberty, was presented at last week's summit to former federal judge and constitutional scholar Professor Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School.
Meanwhile, professor and author Dr. Russell Hittinger of The Catholic University of America (CUA) received the Religious Liberty Scholarship Award, which is given annually to an individual for accomplishments in advancing the understanding of how law protects freedom of religion.
Dr. Russell Hittinger receives the Religious Liberty Scholarship Award at Notre Dame Law School on June 25, 2025. Credit: Casey Patrick/Notre Dame Law School
Hittinger is executive director of CUA's Institute for Human Ecology and a research professor in the School of Philosophy. He has also taught at Princeton, Fordham, and the University of Chicago and has been a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.
McConnell sees welcome course correction
"When I look back, things are so much better now… in constitutional law, freedom of religion, we're doing a whole lot better today than we were before," McConnell said at the event.
McConnell is director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional history, the First Amendment, and interpretive theory.
USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at the bishops' spring meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024. / Credit: USCCBCNA Staff, Jul 3, 2025 / 18:38 pm (CNA).The U.S. House of Representatives passed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on Thursday, just in time for President Donald Trump to schedule his signing into law of the controversial bill on the Fourth of July.Following the bill's passage, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a statement lamenting "the great harm the bill will cause to many of the most vulnerable in society."Specifically, Broglio faulted the legislation for including "unconscionable cuts to health care and food assistance, tax cuts that increase inequality, immigration provisions that harm families and children, and cuts to programs that protect God's creation."Broglio also expressed disappointment over several "positive aspects" of the bill in the final version approved on Thursday that were ei...
Federal Reserve Bank of New York. / Credit: Velkiira, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Jul 3, 2025 / 11:48 am (CNA).A federal appeals court has revived a Catholic worker's lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York over the bank's having fired her for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in its Wednesday ruling partially reversed the findings of a district court, which had dismissed former Federal Reserve executive assistant Jeanette Diaz's lawsuit against the bank over her 2022 dismissal. Diaz had argued that the bank's policy requiring vaccination against COVID-19 would violate her Catholic faith, citing her opposition to vaccines "created using human cell lines derived from abortion." The worker had asked her pastor in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, to sign a letter on her behalf affirming her refusal on religious grounds, though her pastor "refused" to do so, ...
Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ (right), leads a press conference announcing the Mass for the Care of Creation at the Vatican on Thursday, July 3, 2025. / Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNAVatican City, Jul 3, 2025 / 12:18 pm (CNA).The Vatican on Thursday presented new Mass prayers and biblical readings to be used to support the Church's appreciation for God's creation.The "Mass for the Care of Creation," inspired by Pope Francis' environmental encyclical Laudato Si', has prayers and Mass readings designed "to ask God for the ability to care for creation," Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, said at a July 3 presentation."With this Mass, the Church is offering liturgical, spiritual, and communal support for the care we all need to exercise of nature, our common home. Such service is indeed a great act of faith, hope, and charity," the cardinal added.The "Mass for the Care of Creation" is part of the Catholic Church's Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions. It can be celebrated on a ...
Professor Michael McConnell speaks after winning the Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty on June 25, 2025. / Credit: Casey Patrick/Notre Dame Law School
