The Diocese of Tulsa joined calls by a coalition of faith leaders and others for the Oklahoma governor to commute the death sentence of James Allen Coddington, 50, scheduled to die by lethal injection Aug. 25 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who was expected to meet Pope Francis at the Congress of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan, will not attend the interreligious gathering in September, a senior Russian Orthodox bishop said.

As Ukraine approached the 31st anniversary of its independence Aug. 24, it did so while embroiled in a bitter fight for that freedom, as it hit the six-month mark of defending itself against a Russian invasion.

Anna O’Day encourages her students at St. Mary’s in Annapolis to bring their deepest, most difficult questions, and she challenges them to tackle such inquiries with sincerity and rigor.

Not only did Kristin Urbanski wind back up at St. Joseph years later, but in May she won the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Elementary School Teacher of the Year – becoming the first St. Joseph teacher to win the award, according to principal Chrissie Ashby.