WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A Catholic professor barred from teaching courses on Catholicism after he defended in class the church's teaching on homosexual behavior has been reinstated by the University of Illinois. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct professor in the university's religious studies department, learned of the decision July 29. He did not return phone calls from Catholic News Service seeking comment. The reinstatement came days after a deadline for suing the university set by the Alliance Defense Fund, which had taken on Howell's case.

PHOENIX (CNS) -- Arizona's Catholic bishops were among religious leaders who praised a July 28 ruling that blocked enforcement of the most controversial sections of the state's immigration law a day before it took effect. They also voiced a hope "that reaction to (the) ruling will be expressed only in peaceful and legal ways." Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and Salt Lake City Bishop John C. Wester, chairman of the U.S. bishops' migration committee, also weighed in support of the ruling by U.S.

LONDON (CNS) -- The British government has announced proposals to "hard-wire" abortion and contraceptive services into its overseas development programs. Andrew Mitchell, secretary of state for international development, told a conference in London July 27 that the government was preparing an "unprecedented focus" on family planning in the poorest countries of the world. He said the new approach was necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratios of poor countries by 2015 from their positions in 1990.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Canon law -- the legal rules that guide church operations and decision-making -- allows a local bishop to close any parish as long as his decision is made with the best interests of the entire diocese in mind. The responsibilities of a bishop regarding the opening or closing of a parish are covered in Canon 515, which was cited in a recent series of decrees issued by a panel of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, the church's highest court, in deciding the appeals of 10 closed parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston.