Jane Golden Belford has been named chancellor of the Archdiocese of Washington. A Washington-area lawyer, Belford becomes the first layperson - and first woman - to hold the post in the Washington Archdiocese. As chancellor, she will be a member of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s senior staff, a corporate member of all archdiocesan corporations and founding chairwoman of a newly created Archdiocesan Women’s Commission. Canon law allows for laymen and women, and women religious, to serve as chancellor, an administrative position once open to only priests.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio discussed the faith-based-initiatives proposals of the Bush administration in a recent speech. "Faith and citizenship "must be joined in practice in our society if it is to advance human dignity, social justice and the common good." DiMarzio said in a March address in Sarasota, FL, to the Leaven VIII Conference sponsored annually by the peace and justice office of the Diocese of Venice, FL. DiMarzio is bishop of Camden, NJ. The proposals for faith-based initiatives give recognition to "the experience the churches have in tackling social problems and the need to engage them in collaboration toward the common good," DiMarzio said. In addition, he noted, the proposals "recognize that faith-based and community initiatives cannot substitute for just public policy and the responsibilities of the larger society, including government." He said, "Separation of church and state is no excuse for either government or organized religion not to collaborate toward the pursuit of a better life for its neediest fellow citizens." DiMarzio offered a list of 12 "essential elements of the church’s social mission in the new century." Two of these were directed at cooperation between church and government. He said that the church’s social mission must "advocate in the public forum for human rights as related to religion, family, work, sustenance and housing, economic well-being and governance, and to newcomers to our land" and must "collaborate with other communities of faith and with government and private agencies in social action."