Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez presided at the 31st anniversary Mass for Notre Dame Mission in Fort Pierce Aug. 16 in honor of its patroness, Our Lady of the Assumption, in thanksgiving for its years of serving the community and ministering to Haitians in the area. The celebration included a children’s procession, liturgical dance and song.

The Catholic Church’s present teaching is clear: the death penalty is inadmissible because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the human person. For this reason, the Church is firmly committed to its abolition throughout the world.

The Feast of the Queenship of Mary is celebrated one week after the Assumption as a fitting conclusion to an octave of days giving special attention to Mary. Originally, Aug. 22 was set by Pope Pius XII as the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and hence, August became the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The U.S. bishops offer a teaching document to guide Catholics in exercising their rights and duties as participants in our democracy. Pastors, lay and religious faithful, and all people of good will are urged to use this statement to help form their consciences, to teach those entrusted to their care, to contribute to civil and respectful public dialogue, and to shape political choices in the coming election in light of Catholic teaching.