EL PASO, Texas (CNS) -- An unidentified Mexican man and his wife, fearful to reveal their true identities, spoke recently to a group of reporters and immigration advocates in this border city about the violence that forced them to seek refuge in the United States. The husband tearfully described how carloads of thugs arrived at their home in neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, burst onto their property, murdered four family members and shot at another two children in the neighborhood. The family subsequently fled across the border to El Paso.

ROME (CNS) -- An important part of preventing the sexual abuse of minors by clergy involves knowing what some of the "red flags" for potential child sex offenders are, said an influential Jesuit journal. The church needs to recognize the seriousness of the sex abuse crisis "not just by punishing abusers, but above all by asking itself how to prepare healthy priests," said La Civilta Cattolica. The May 1 article, released to journalists April 29, examined the social and psychological characteristics of sex offenders.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Citing concerns that some groups funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development fail to follow church teaching, Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt of Greensburg, Pa., has withdrawn support for the U.S. bishops' nationwide anti-poverty program. Instead, the bishop told the annual Communities of Salt and Light Awards Dinner April 22, the Greensburg Diocese would establish a separate fund to support basic services such as food, shelter and utility assistance for people in need.

CHICAGO (CNS) -- With "Caritas in Veritate," Pope Benedict XVI reminded the world of the need for all relationships -- including economic relationships -- to be conceived in and governed by love, according to speakers at DePaul University's World Catholicism Week 2010. Two days of the April 20-23 conference were dedicated to "Tradition and Liberation: Charity in Truth and the New Face of Social Progress." Over those days, speakers examined the encyclical released by Pope Benedict in July 2009, considering how to implement the ideas contained in the letter.