St. Lawrence of Brindisi explains how the Church is like Noah’s Ark, with clean and unclean animals

Brindisi Selection - Vintage 460TSAKANIKAS: The Church, accordingly, is called holy as if that were its title and epithet, not because all its members are holy and only the chosen of God and no sinners can be found in it, as many of the new sects and dogmatists like to pretend, but because true holiness of life and doctrine can be found only in the Church. In the Church of God not all Christians are holy and righteous and, in fact, many are despicable sinners. Yet if not all are good, neither are all bad.

I just had an odd experience at Confession. But, you know what? It was totally worth it...

A confession adventure - Our Sunday VisitorLOPEZ: “I can’t hear you!” So said the priest to whom I had just poured out my heart and soul in confession. It was the first days of an open church at a prominent shrine on the East Coast. A friend — a Sister of Life — and I had waited in line, got our temperatures checked, gave our names and numbers and went through multiple checkpoints stating our reasons for being in the church: confession! Then I had to negotiate a bit to pray in an actual pew...

Pro: Coronavirus contact tracing

Enable Bluetooth Coronavirus Tracing | Matthew SchneiderSCHNEIDER: Let’s examine both sides. First of all, this tracing is minimally burdensome. The only definite cost is that your phone battery will drain slightly faster. There is a slight issue of privacy but revealing info via hacking is unlikely and your phone already sends way more info to Google or Apple. Secondly, it seems like this is unlikely to protect you as it just informs when someone has been close to another with COVID...

Con: Coronavirus contact tracing

Contact tracing vs. the rights of the faithful | Catholic CultureLAWLER: In Massachusetts, Governor Baker is encouraging anyone who has participated in a “large public gathering” to be tested for the coronavirus. By “large public gathering” of course he means the Black Lives Matter demonstrations: the only large gatherings that have been allowed in Massachusetts during the past few months. The CO19 tests will be free: that is, they will be administered at public expense. And the results will be confidential.

NYTimes editorial takes alarmist tone on Monday’s ruling, saying “the latest Supreme Court decision sets the stage for further attacks on abortion rights...”

Opinion | John Roberts Is No Pro-Choice Hero - The New York Times: The Supreme Court upheld abortion rights on Monday, with Chief Justice John Roberts concurring with the liberals on the court to strike down a Louisiana anti-abortion law. That sentence might surprise a lot of people, given that the chief justice is a staunch conservative, and that the court now has a solid right-wing majority. President Trump achieved that majority by appointing two justices with the express purpose of pushing a hard-right agenda...

Texas hospital withheld treatment from disabled man who contracted coronavirus, says wife

Austin Hospital Withheld Treatment from Disabled Man Who Contracted Coronavirus | The Texan: Michael Hickson, husband to Melissa and father of five children, died at age 46 on Thursday, June 11 at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center after the hospital withheld treatment from him, including hydration and nutrition, for six days.

How civilizations rise and fall in 8 stages

How Civilizations Rise and Fall in Eight Stages - Community in MissionPOPE: In yesterday’s post we examined the danger of marginalizing God and how the Lord warns that such a thing is a civilization killer. In today’s post we ponder a more sociological examination of how cultures and civilizations go through cycles. Over time, many civilizations and cultures have risen and then fallen. We who live in painful times like these do well to recall these truths...

If you suffer from scrupulosity or OCD that’s interfering with key life goals, take heart...

Scrupulosity, OCD, and Life Goals – Jimmy AkinAKIN: OCD is a common disorder that feeds scrupulosity. There may be treatment avenues for OCD that you haven’t yet pursued that could help. If you are not already in contact with a physician or psychologist about the condition, I strongly recommend consulting one to see what options may be available.

One of the most promising treatments for OCD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which–among other things–can involve exposure to the things that trigger a person’s OCD to help him become desensitized to them.

Flannery O’Connor didn’t care if you liked her work

Flannery O’Connor Didn't Care If You Liked Her Work | Church Life Journal | University of Notre DameGRIFFITH: Flannery O’Connor once received a letter from a college professor asking her, on behalf of his students, to intervene in their interpretative conundrum over her now-canonic short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Most readers of O’Connor will know this story, so I will briefly sketch it: Essentially, the professor and students were convinced that the second half of the story, following the car crash, in which the family meets the Misfit and his gang, must be a dream conjured by Bailey, the driver of the car...

Italian financier at heart of Vatican scandal appeals to UK court

Italian financier at heart of Vatican scandal appeals to UK courtALLEN: According to a recent report in Corriere della Sera, Italy’s paper of record, an Italian financier now based in London named Raffele Mincione has filed two civil suits against the Vatican’s Secretariat of State before the UK’s High Court of Justice, both related to a now-infamous land deal in London’s Chelsea neighborhood he brokered in 2013. That $225 million deal...

New ‘ecclesial conference’ established for Amazon region

New 'ecclesial conference' established for Amazon regionSANMARTIN: Answering a call made by those who took part in the October 2019 meeting of bishops on the Amazon region held in Rome, on Monday leaders of the Catholic Church in Latin America announced the creation of the Amazonian Ecclesial Conference. The hope is that the new organism will help “delineate a Church with an Amazonian face, and to continue the task of finding new paths for the evangelizing mission,” says a statement signed by Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos...

The secret Soviet roots of Liberation Theology, which the future Benedict XVI called a “singular heresy” and “fundamental threat” to the Church

The Secret Roots of Liberation Theology | National Review: History often repeats itself, and if you have lived two lives, as I have done, you have a good chance of seeing the reenactment with your own eyes. Liberation theology, of which not much has been heard for two decades, is back in the news. But what is not being mentioned is its origins. It was not invented by Latin American Catholics. It was developed by the KGB. The man who is now the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, secretly worked for the KGB...

Supreme Court rejects Montana ‘Blaine Amendment,’ says public funding for religious schools is constitutional

Supreme Court rejects Montana 'Blaine Amendment' in religious schools case: The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Montana state constitution’s bar on public funding of religious institutions violates the First Amendment. The U.S. constitution “condemns discrimination against religious schools and the families whose children attend them,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion of the court in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. Religious schools must have coequal access to public aid programs with secular private schools, Roberts wrote.

“Demographic genocide”: China attacks Uighur population with IUDs, abortion, sterilization, draconian fines and concentration camps

China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization: The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children.

Vox warns pro-abortion readers: “Chief Justice Roberts didn’t save abortion rights. He told future litigants how to bury them...”

Supreme Court: Why Chief Justice Roberts struck an anti-abortion law - Vox: The Supreme Court just delivered the narrowest, most temporary victory for abortion rights. Though Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative who votes fairly consistently to uphold abortion restrictions, cast the key fifth vote to strike down a Louisiana anti-abortion law, his opinion makes it clear that his views about abortion haven’t changed.

Those caught up in the moral frenzy of the moment ought to think twice about what their “symbolic murder” symbolizes

Of Statues and Symbolic Murder | Wilfred M. McClay | First ThingsMCCLAY: In our culture, we have gotten so used to the idea that “iconoclasm” is a good and admirable thing, a vigorous rethinking of hoary pieties and staid traditions, that we have forgotten the horror and waste of what the word really signifies. We are now in the process of being reminded. Iconoclasm is nearly always associated with moments of religious or quasi-religious conflict, when profoundly different convictions and sensibilities come into conflict and understandings of the sacred become locked in a vicious combat to the death.

Today’s Supreme Court decision isn’t the last word on abortion — Roe v. Wade can still be overturned

Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Abortion RestrictionsALVARE: Today, by a vote of 5 to 4, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of their practice. The opinion in June Medical Services v. Russo is quite fractured and legally technical. It does not bring the pro-life movement any closer to overthrowing Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey; but it does not likely move us further away from that end either. More litigation to that end is still required.

Archbishop Viganò on the brink of schism — the unheeded lesson of Benedict XVI

Archbishop Vigano On the Brink of Schism. The Unheeded Lesson of Benedict XVI - Settimo Cielo - Blog - L’EspressoMAGISTER: Benedict XVI promoted him to apostolic nuncio in the United States in 2011. The meek theologian pope certainly could not have imagined, nine years ago, that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò - who returned to private life in 2016 but has been anything but hidden - would today be blaming him for having “deceived” the whole Church in that he would have it be believed that the Second Vatican Council was immune to heresies and moreover should be interpreted in perfect continuity with true perennial doctrine.

Pay close attention to this question and warning from the Lord...

A Question and a Warning from the Lord. - Community in MissionPOPE: In the 4th Century, St. Augustine lamented the decline of Rome and Roman culture. Like any good citizen, he loved his country and culture. But things were falling to pieces, decadence was everywhere. He struggled to understand this and accept it. In his sorrow he wrote The City of God which contains his own observations and explanations of a time much like our own wherein a civilization was collapsing.

We still don’t understand what water is. Here’s why...

New Advent: We still don’t understand what water is. Here’s why...: Water is actually really weird—like, way weirder than you probably realize—and our understanding of it might only just be coming to a boil.

Has the discussion on the next pope already begun?

MondayVatican – Vatican � Has the discussion on the next Pope already begun? | MondayVaticanGAGLIARDUCCI: “If I sit in a conclave tomorrow, I would not know the person sitting next to me.” This is what a cardinal – I will not reveal his name – told me some time ago. This says a lot about the feelings of the college of cardinals before an eventual election of another Pope. Until now, Pope Francis has held one consistory to create new cardinals per year and created 88 cardinals...

Cardinal O’Malley sacks MIT chaplain for his thoughts, as a Catholic priest, on mercy, justice and George Floyd

MIT chaplain sacked for his thoughts, as a Catholic priest, on mercy, justice and George Floyd — GetReligionMATTINGLY: Earlier this year, a Catholic priest published a book entitled "Mercy: What Every Catholic Should Know," focusing on doctrine and discipleship issues that, ordinarily, would not cause controversy.

But these are not ordinary times. Acting as a Catholic chaplain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Father Daniel Moloney tried to apply his words about mercy and justice to the firestorm of protests and violence unleashed by the killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.

In the end, the priest resigned at the request of the Archdiocese of Boston, in response to MIT administration claims that Moloney, in a June 7 email, violated a campus policy prohibiting "actions or statements that diminish the value of individuals or groups of people."

San Francisco’s Archbishop Cordileone performs exorcism where mob tore down St. Junípero statue

Archbishop Performs Exorcism Where St. Junipero Serra Fell, Asking For God’s Mercy: On June 19, the statue of St. Junípero Serra fell to angry protesters inside Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. On Saturday, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone visited the park where St. Junípero once stood to offer prayers, perform an exorcism and conduct other acts of reparation, in response to what he called “horrendous acts of blasphemy.”

Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana law that would have limited state to one abortion clinic

Supreme Court abortion decision: Louisiana law struck down: The Supreme Court on Monday voted 5-4 to strike down a restrictive Louisiana abortion measure in a major win for reproductive rights activists, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the court’s four liberals.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” — How Sister Thea Bowman set an example for a divided world

Why We Should Follow in the Footsteps of Thea Bowman | Grotto Network: Last year, I was among the estimated one million millennial mothers to give birth. Like everyone else, I spent inordinate amounts of time scouring baby name websites in search of the perfect moniker for our daughter. But unlike most of my peers, I didn’t pull our final selection from one of the dozens of popular lists I’d viewed. Instead, I named her after a relatively unknown, dead, black Franciscan nun.

To become who you are, give yourself away

This Sunday: To Become Who You Are, Give Yourself Away | The Gregorian Institute at Benedictine CollegeHOOPES: Sunday’s readings touch on one of the core question of our time, and give a surprising answer. The question is, “What makes me me?” and you see the consequences of the wrong answer all around us, in everything from protestors tearing down statues and rejecting their own history to gender ideology teaching people to reject the evidence of their own bodies. This is because from the very beginning, “I decide who I am” has been a recipe for disaster.

3 bogus objections to thinking about the next pope — because you’re not doing anything wrong by wondering who it might be...

Three bogus objections to thinking about the next popeALLEN: This week I participated in a panel discussion here in Rome to present a new book by a friend and colleague, Edward Pentin, titled The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates, to be published by Sophia Press on August 4. As I said that night, the book reflects a fairly conservative view on the state of the Church. Whatever one makes of that perspective, however...

The saints in the public square

Beginning to Pray: The Saints in the Public SquareLILLES: People of prayer are witnessing to the religious dimension of humanity. Even in the face of an angry crowd, the gentle tenderness of holy humanity is a sign that helps everyone return to their senses. The one thing all the politicians, experts and mobs have in common is that they do not understand the religious dimension of humanity. That is why saints are so important. The witness of someone praying the Rosary even as rancor is...

4 disciplines of worthy disciples

Four Disciplines of Worthy Disciples - A Homily for the 13th Sunday of the Year - Community in MissionPOPE: In the Gospel this Sunday, the Lord gives four important principles for a disciple. He also teaches on the concept of being worthy of Him. We tend think of being worthy as acting in a way that meets a certain standard, but the Greek word for “worthy” involves more than merely external behavior, important though that is. To be worthy of the Lord is to ascribe worth and give proper weight to who He is and what He teaches. Let’s take a look.

Pope’s Sunday Angelus: “There is no true love without the cross”

Pope Francis: ‘There is no true love without the cross’: There is no true love without the cross, Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Sunday. Speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square June 28, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus tells his disciples: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” “This means following Him along the path that He Himself trod, without looking for shortcuts,” he said, according to an unofficial translation provided by the Holy See Press Office.

Federal judge rules New York must give churches same consideration as protests, shopping malls during pandemic

Federal judge rules New York Catholic churches can reopen in line with businesses: A federal judge on Friday ruled that New York must allow indoor and outdoor religious services in the same way it would allow mass outdoor protests, or indoor shopping malls.

Judge Gary Sharpe of the Northern District of New York said that the state cannot limit outdoor religious services during the pandemic, provided that attendees follow social distancing requirements. For indoor services, he said, the state has to make the same allowances for churches as it does for other businesses.

The laity must help priests embrace their Eucharistic identity in Christ. Many souls are at stake, including the souls of priests...

An Identity Crisis in the Priesthood - Crisis MagazineHULL: As a new wave of protests erupt in response to the death of Rayshard Brooks, many Catholics are finding themselves angered, frustrated, and perplexed, but not in the way that immediately comes to mind. For months, we have been told that we must be exiled from the public celebration of the Mass, and, in some dioceses, from the Sacraments as a whole, for the sake of the common good. We were told by countless bishops and priests that we have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us from the spread of COVID-19.

Thoughts on various subjects, from the pre-history of Twitter

From the Pre-History of Twitter — FAITH & CULTURE: The cry “Liberty, equality, fraternity or death!” was much in vogue during the Revolution. Liberty ended by covering France with prisons, equality by multiplying titles and decorations, and fraternity by dividing us. Death alone prevailed. Even after the example of France, Europe lacks one last lesson. Woe to the people destined to give it to her! The most beautiful monuments executed in Paris under Bonaparte’s orders are the rue de Rivoli...

Pecknold and Anderson: How the Supreme Court is imposing sexual ideology on America

Respect Life Radio Podcast - Pecknold and Anderson: Supreme Court imposing sexual ideology on America | Free Listening on Podbean App: We have our highest court completely unhinged from reality," said C.C. Pecknold, Ph.D., a professor at The Catholic University of America, referring to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock vs. Clayton County. "Bostock unhinges just the very nature of the person as sexually differentiated. It's a kind of sad, in a way not surprising, conclusion to a long series of decisions.

How Flannery O’Connor fought racism

How Flannery O’Connor Fought Racism | Jessica Hooten Wilson | First Things: In a recent New Yorker essay, Paul Elie asks, “How Racist Was Flannery O’Connor?” His headline aims to be incendiary, to rile people up, to give us a scapegoat for our rage against racism. Racism is obviously a serious sin. But Elie’s portrait of the author is incomplete. Because he misreads much of O’Connor’s writing, he concludes that she was unrepentantly racist. But O’Connor did not embrace bigotry. Like all of us, she was a sinner who struggled to purge herself of prejudices she knew were immoral. And she boldly fought racism—in both others and in herself—the best way she knew how: by writing stories.

This chart reveals the oldest restaurant in (almost) every country

The Oldest Restaurant In (Almost) Every Country - NetCredit Blog: Good food is a cultural treasure that is handed down through generations. Many of the world’s oldest businesses are restaurants for the simple reason that delicious, familiar food never goes out of fashion. Everywhere in the world, we eat variations on centuries-old recipes embedded in the place we come from. Restaurant culture tells us who we are, where we’ve been, and where we are today.

What is the difference between a friar, a monk and a priest?

Difference between priests, friars, and monksSCALIA: “Friar,” “monk,” “priest.” These are somewhat flexible terms, but not exactly so. Popularly, they are all understood to point at a life of sacrifice and poverty. But while all variation of priesthoods may be equivalent, their vocations are not alike, except in that they are meant to live their lives in service. A priest may be monastic, or religious, or “secular”...

Are you a saint or an ain’t? There are no other options...

No Other Options: Are you a Saint or an Ain't - Community in MissionPOPE: In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord offers us a whole new life and we must choose to accept it and see our life change, based on it, or we will simply be unfit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Our flesh hates these sort of “all or nothing” scenarios. We prefer things to be vague and fuzzy. We prefer a “many paths to God” scenario. But in the end our preferences do not change the reality which the Lord sets before us...

Catholic Church in Germany loses record 272,771 members in single year

Catholic Church in Germany lost a record number of members last year: A record number of Catholics formally left the Church in Germany in 2019, according to official figures released Friday. The statistics issued June 26 showed that 272,771 people exited the Catholic Church last year, a significant increase on the 2018 figure of 216,078. In a June 26 statement, Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, said that he did not wish to “gloss over” the figures.

Catholics gather around Ventura’s St. Junípero Serra sculpture to save statue from mob

Ventura's anti-Serra mob held off by brave defenders - California Catholic Daily: Thanks to the presence of a small band of Catholics, a “Tear Down Junipero Serra” event in front of Ventura City Hall on Saturday concluded with the bronze statue of Padre Serra standing unharmed.

Up and down California, mobs are destroying statues of Junipero Serra, canonized in 2015, along with statues of other prominent and not-so-prominent historical figures. Vandals toppled and destroyed statues of the saint in San Francisco and Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday.

Getting back in the habit of Mass

Getting Back in the Habit of Mass - Magis CenterCLARK: After an accusation was made against him during his confirmation process two years ago, Judge Brett Kavanaugh submitted his highly-detailed personal calendar from his high school days as exculpatory evidence. Some of his opponents noticed that “going to Mass” was not on his calendar—and that seemed an odd omission for a devout Catholic. Kavanaugh explained this by saying, “Some have noticed that I didn’t have ‘church on Sunday’ on my calendars...

Will there be a Church in the U.S. in 2040?

Will there be a Church in the U.S. in 2040? - Adoremus BulletinPRIEST: “The real crisis has scarcely begun.” So was the forecast of Joseph Ratzinger in 1969. Recent projections by the Canadian Anglicans estimate that “there will be no members, attenders or givers in the Anglican Church of Canada by approximately 2040.” Is the Catholic Church in the United States heading in the same direction? As public Masses open up again in the United States, many dioceses are barely able to fill the 25-percent or 30-percent capacity now allowable in parish churches.

Vatican issues new catechetical directory addressing new sex and bioethics challenges

Catholic catechesis directory addresses gender, biological sex, and bioethics: Bioethics, gender identity, and biological sex are new subjects covered in the Vatican’s latest Directory for Catechesis, released Thursday. The revised directory says that new scientific developments must remain respectful of the creative will of God and human dignity. The 300-page book, which provides universal norms for pastors and catechists in the work of evangelization, was written in continuity with the Church’s directories from 1971 and 1997...

Pope’s Wednesday audience: ‘In life’s ups and downs, make prayer your constant’

Pope Francis: In life’s ups and downs, make prayer your constant: King David is an example of being consistent in prayer no matter what life throws at you or what good or bad you do, Pope Francis said during his general audience Wednesday. Prayer “is able to ensure the relationship with God, who is the true Companion of man’s journey, in the midst of the many hardships of life: good or bad,” the pope said June 24.

3 hard sayings of the Lord that irritate modern sensibilities

Three Hard Sayings of the Lord That Irritate Modern Sensibilities - Community in MissionPOPE: One of the reasons we are so easily offended today is, frankly, that we lack sophistication. We seem to have lost understanding of simile and metaphor. Metaphors and similes are figures of speech; they achieve their effect through association, comparison, and resemblance. They can highlight hidden similarities between two different things. A simile directly compares two different things and normally includes words such as...

BLM activist calls for destruction of statues of Jesus, Mary and the saints, and a priest and exorcist respond

BLM Activist Calls for Destruction of Jesus, Mary & Saint Statues, Priest & Exorcist Respond: Over the last several weeks, activists destroyed numerous statues across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd. Activists also tore down two statues of St. Junípero Serra in California over the weekend. Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King calls for the destruction of all white statues of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. He said in a series of tweets to “tear them down” because they represent “white supremacy.”

The Seven Seals and the Book of Revelation

The Seven Seals: The Book of Revelation, Part 2 | Catholic CultureMIRUS: Returning from a brief vacation, I find myself faced with St. John’s visions of the warfare between earth and heaven which characterizes the time remaining before Christ returns in glory. The Book of Revelation describes this in eschatological language—language which is symbolic of the battle between good and evil, God and Satan which fulfills and concludes our history.

Censorship and the future of e-readers

Censorship and the future of e-readers | Catholic CultureLAWLER: A Kindle, or any comparable e-reader, can be a great convenience. If you’re packing for a vacation trip (which you probably aren’t doing this year, but that’s another story), it’s nice to know that you can bring along all of Shakespeare, all of Trollope, a few dozen mysteries, and the Summa, without making your suitcase any heavier.

Where’s the Catholic voice on the Holy Land both sides could hear?

Where’s the Catholic voice on the Holy Land both sides could hear?ALLEN: According to World Bank statistics, almost three-quarter of the world’s population today wasn’t even alive in 1974, when a Greek Melkite archbishop from Syria named Hilarion Capucci was arrested in Israel for smuggling Kalashnikovs, pistols, dynamite and detonators for the PLO, presumably for use against Israeli targets.

Why “What are the bishops doing about it?” is the wrong question

Why “What are the Bishops Doing About it?” is the Wrong Question - Word on FireBARRON: Recently, the bishops of California made a statement regarding the attacks on the statues of St. Junipero Serra in San Francisco, Ventura, and Los Angeles. While acknowledging that there are legitimate concerns about racism both historical and contemporary, we insisted that the characterization of Serra as the moral equivalent of Hitler and the missions he founded as tantamount to death camps is simply unconscionable...

Spanish Baroque painting botched by amateur restoration

Spanish Baroque painting botched by amateur restoration - BBC News: A private art collector in Spain has been left stunned by the botched restoration of a painting by Baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

Father Michael Scanlan’s 1976 prophecy and the events of 2020

xsFather Michael Scanlan’s 1976 Prophecy and the Events of 2020ROBERTS: When leaders of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal heard Franciscan Father Michael Scanlan, the president of Franciscan University of Steubenville, deliver a prophecy in 1976 about a time of lawlessness and shuttered churches, no one imagined such a scenario occurring soon — or ever. “We didn’t dismiss it, but we kind of put it to the side,” Ralph Martin said. Now, 44 years later, the message has struck home, as the seemingly extreme events it cited are happening.

Catholic school closures rise amid COVID-19, recession

Catholic School Closures Rise Amid COVID-19, Recession - Education Week: While public school districts struggle with shrinking budgets, dozens of Roman Catholic schools already have permanently shuttered this spring, nearly all for reasons directly related to the coronavirus pandemic and its resulting campus and economic shutdowns.

Religious sisters risk lives to rescue the vulnerable amid pandemic

Religious sisters risk lives to rescue the vulnerable amid pandemic: Sister Stan Mumuni dedicates her life to caring for abandoned children with birth defects in Ghana. When the coronavirus pandemic spread to West Africa, she said that she ran to the market to buy soap and supplies, but the prices had already tripled.

Nicaragua and El Salvador bishops push back against government-backed critics

Nicaragua and El Salvador bishops push back against government-backed criticsSANMARTIN: Bishops in El Salvador have defended the country’s cardinal after he was attacked in social media over his comments about the government. Meanwhile, the president of Chile attended the funeral of his late uncle, a bishop who was under investigation for sexually abusing a minor and a bishop in Nicaragua warned about the persecution of the Church. These are some of the top stories from Latin America.

The bondage of cultural illiteracy

The Bondage of Cultural Illiteracy - Crisis MagazineRUTLER: “At last I am free!” declared Martin Niemoller, holding a small book as the prison door was locked behind him. He had been allowed to keep a Bible, and his words would have been an inscrutable paradox only to those who do not understand the freedom ensured by literacy, and the greatest freedom endowed by words that are sacred. After the destruction of the Second Temple in A.D. 70...

Say what you will about the Vatican, there’s no denying its sense of drama

Say what you will about the Vatican, there's no denying its sense of dramaALLEN: If it’s one of those days and you’re inclined to start moaning about the Vatican, it’s honestly hard to know where to start and stop: It’s clericalist, certainly, but also often benighted, obtuse, obstructionist, revanchist, spectacularly tone-deaf and inept, sometimes corrupt and, once in a while, just outrageously embarrassing. Pope Francis famously cataloged 15 spiritual diseases of the Roman Curia in his first Christmas address to the top Vatican brass, but if he were being graded by historians and experts, he’d probably get an incomplete.

Benedict XVI returns to Rome after visiting ill brother in Germany

Benedict XVI returns to Rome after visiting ill brother in Germany: Pope emeritus Benedict XVI arrived back in Rome Monday after a four-day trip to Germany to visit his ailing brother. The Diocese of Regensburg reported June 22 that 93-year-old Benedict XVI said goodbye to his 96-year-old brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, who is in poor health, before departing for Munich airport.

What did MIT chaplain Father Daniel Moloney say that got him fired by Cardinal O’Malley?

The Sacking Of Father Moloney | The American ConservativeDREHER: This is how sin works, says Father Moloney: it spreads like an infection through all things human. And he is right. This is the tragedy of being human: even those who seek to do good may find themselves suddenly doing evil, and even those who have done evil may find themselves victimized unjustly. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty because nobody loses their dignity as children of God, no matter what they have done. This is what the priest is reminding his flock.

Bringing Christ to the homeless

Bringing Christ to the Homeless | Ave Maria PressLOPEZ: The first time I ventured out in Manhattan after the Coronavirus shutdown was in mid-May. I saw men glaring at me—glaring and grunting. They were dazed and confused and angry. I was in New York’s Penn Station and you didn’t even have to hit the sidewalk to be hollered at. It was dark inside and everyone, except a few homeless men, was walking around with facemasks. The first man who stopped me seemed furious when he asked for money and I offered him a fresh sandwich instead...

‘Into the Spider-Verse’ and why we need more good fathers

'Into the Spider-Verse' and why we need more good fathers - Voyage Comics & PublishingSICAM: At the heart of the best stories are questions that ask about human nature: What does it mean to be human? We were given one of those stories in the Oscar-winning Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s an instance of the age-old “coming-of-age” narratives, which are interesting because they particularize the question, “What does it mean to be human?” into the question, “What does it mean to be a man, and how does a boy become one?”

The perils of overactive imaginations as Benedict XVI and his brother say goodbye

The perils of overactive imaginations as two brothers say goodbyeALLEN: Americans of a certain age grew up knowing there were two subjects you didn’t discuss at the dinner table: Religion and politics. Both stir deep and often uncontrollable passions, a problem that gets even worse when you weave the two topics together. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising, then, that a surprise trip by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI to his native Bavaria to be with his dying brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, seems to be stoking fevered political and religious imaginations.

Pope’s Father’s Day Angelus: Do not fear persecution; fear only “moral death, which is the effect of sin”

Pope Francis to Catholics: Do not fear persecution, violence: Pope Francis on Sunday encouraged Christians to fear sin, not the hostility, violence, or persecution they may face when sharing the Gospel with the world. “Jesus advises these disciples of yesterday and today who suffer persecution: ‘do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,’” the pope said Sunday from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

In praise of the Father, and our fathers

In praise of the Father, and our fathersBRISCOE: The English Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins captures the magnificence of creation, even something of the haunting mystery that there is something rather than nothing, in this marvelous poem. All things have come from God. They belong to the dynamic love of the Father. Hopkins in fact, concludes the paean of praise of creation describing God, saying, “He fathers-forth.” God is known by his work as Father, He who first creates, then sustains, and directs the whole of the order of creation.

The Holy Face of Lucca, an 8-foot-tall crucifix, is found to be Europe’s oldest surviving wooden statue

A Long Revered Relic Is Found to Be Europe’s Oldest Surviving Wooden Statue - The New York Times: For centuries, in a picturesque Tuscan town near the Mediterranean coast, legions of pilgrims came to venerate one of Christendom’s most treasured relics — an eight-foot-tall wooden crucifix known as the “Volto Santo de Lucca.”

‘Chasing Ice’ captures largest glacier calving ever filmed [language warning]

New Advent: ‘Chasing Ice’ captures largest glacier calving ever filmed [language warning]: It’s like watching the southern tip of Manhattan breaking away, they say...

Bruno Cornacchiola’s conversion reminds us that no sinner is out of reach of Sacred and Immaculate Hearts

Turning Sauls into Saints – Catholic World ReportMACDONALD: When one goes to the outskirts of the city of Rome along the Via Laurentina, one finds two significant sites that are reminders of the power of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The first site is the Trappist Monastery of Tre Fontane that houses three churches—the most famous of which being the Church of St. Paul at Tre Fontane. This Church marks the spot where the great persecutor-turned-Apostle to the Gentiles,1 was beheaded by the Romans for the glory of Our Lord and the sake of the Gospel.2

Heart of Jesus, Holy Temple of God

Heart of Jesus, Holy Temple of God - Word on FireBARRON: I’ve been reading, recently, a good deal of the work of Dietrich von Hildebrand—perhaps not a household name, but in fact one of the greatest Catholic philosophers of the last century. An inspiration to both John Paul II and Benedict XVI, von Hildebrand was designated by the Nazis themselves as their number one enemy in the 1930s—pretty high praise, that...

Protesters mark Juneteenth with destruction of St. Junípero Serra statue in California

Saint Junipero Serra statue torn down in San Francisco Park: A statue of Catholic missionary St. Junipero Serra was toppled in a San Francisco park Friday, along with statues of Francis Scott Key and Ulysses S. Grant. The statues were torn down Friday evening from Golden Gate Park, by a group of about 100 people.

Video: Juneteenth protesters topple St. Junípero Serra statue in California

New Advent: Video: Juneteenth protesters topple St. Junipero Serra statue in California: “Activists just toppled the Junipero Serra statue in Golden Gate Park here in San Francisco. Now they’re onto Francis Scott Key, slave owner and writer of the Star Spangled Banner...”

Pope Francis adds three new titles to Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Pope Francis adds three titles to Catholic litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Pope Francis has approved the inclusion of three additional invocations in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Litany of Loreto. In a June 20 letter to the presidents of bishops’ conferences, Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Liturgy and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said the invocations “Mater misericordiae,” “Mater spei,” and “Solacium migrantium” should be inserted in the Marian litany.

Transubstantiation defended by King Henry VIII — and an Anglican rector

New Advent: Transubstantiation defended by King Henry VIII — and an Anglican rector: Father Timothy Matkin of St. Francis Anglican Church in Dallas uses Henry VIII’s book, Luther’s logic, Occam’s razor, and the Bible’s grammar to prove the Catholic Church’s doctrine.

Blessed are those who mourn: The goodness of tears amid tumult

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn: The Goodness of Tears amid Tumult – The Sacred PagePROTHRO: In Ezekiel’s visions, God tells of the current and coming destruction of Jerusalem. “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice.” They, or the majority, have not only forsaken the Lord for idols and spurned God’s commands, but they have turned God’s calls to repentance and return as evidence that God has forsaken them...

Pope Francis declares Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, killed in Satanic ritual 20 years ago, a martyr

Pope Francis declares Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, killed in Satanic ritual, a martyr: Pope Francis declared Friday that Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, an Italian religious sister killed by three teenage girls in a Satanic sacrifice, was a martyr for the Catholic faith. The 60-year-old Sister of the Cross was in 2000 stabbed to death by three teenage girls in a park in Chiavenna, Italy. Mainetti's killers were convicted and imprisoned. The girls knew the religious sister because she had taught them catechism...

Petition calls for the city of St. Louis to be renamed, and for the removal of statues of King St. Louis IX

Petition calls for St. Louis to be renamed, statue removed | KMOX-AM: A petition has been made with hopes of changing the city's name in St. Louis and taking down a statue of its namesake, Saint Louis IX in Forest Park. The creators say the city's name is "outright disrespect" to Jewish and Muslim residents and they're asking for support.

Pope Francis names Rapid City administrator as bishop of Duluth, Minnesota

Pope Francis names Rapid City administrator as bishop of Duluth, Minnesota: Pope Francis Friday appointed Fr. Michel Mulloy as the next bishop of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota.

Bishop-elect Mulloy, 66, has been diocesan administrator of Rapid City since August 2019, leading the diocese while the bishop’s seat was vacant.

He leaves the Diocese of Rapid City just before the consecration of Bishop-elect Peter Michael Muhich, which will take place in July.

Contact tracing vs. the rights of the faithful

Contact tracing vs. the rights of the faithful | Catholic CultureLAWLER: In Massachusetts, Governor Baker is encouraging anyone who has participated in a “large public gathering” to be tested for the coronavirus. By “large public gathering” of course he means the Black Lives Matter demonstrations: the only large gatherings that have been allowed in Massachusetts during the past few months. The CO19 tests will be free: that is, they will be administered at public expense. And the results will be confidential.

Paul Kengor: Understanding the Marxist moment in America 2020

Paul Kengor: Understanding the Marxist moment in America 2020: Karl Marx “said so many things that, unfortunately, resonate with these radical elements today,” said Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and an author of numerous books including “Dupes” and “A Pope and a President.” “One of them at the close of the Communist Manifesto is, 'the Communists [everywhere] support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things.'”

Blessed Sacrament and tabernacle stolen from North Carolina parish

Eucharist and tabernacle stolen from North Carolina Catholic Church: Police are appealing to the public for help and a parish is requesting prayers after a tabernacle containing the Eucharist was stolen from a church in Boone, North Carolina on June 16.

“We are calling for prayers and the safe return of the Blessed Sacrament after the tabernacle was stolen from the church Tuesday night,” said a message posted on the website of Saint Elizabeth of the Hill Country Catholic Church.

Seeking dark matter, these scientists detected another mystery

Seeking Dark Matter, They Detected Another Mystery - The New York Times: It could be a key to the secret of the universe. Or just annoying background noise, another item to be calibrated in future experiments.

In both baseball and the Church, angry fans could accent the positive

In both baseball and the Church, angry fans could accent the positiveALLEN: Some years ago, I wrote a column listing nine reasons why baseball and Catholicism are a natural pair. The lineup included that both feature obscure rules intelligible only to initiates (the infield fly rule and the Pauline privilege, for instance), both are global games especially big right now in Latin America, and both venerate the past. Watching the current squabbles in the States between baseball owners and players which threaten to prevent a post-quarantine season, I guess we should go into extra innings so I can add a tenth similarity.

Amsterdam isn’t just Europe's ‘sin city’ — it’s the Eucharistic heart of the Netherlands

Amsterdam isn't just Europe's 'sin city': It's the Eucharistic heart of The Netherlands: The annual Corpus Christi procession along the Amsterdam canals was canceled due to coronavirus prevention measures. “It is necessary, but very unfortunate,” said representatives of the Catholic and Syriac Orthodox Church in a press release. “Especially at a time when there is a need for prayer among the inhabitants of Amsterdam.”

7 teachings on Hell from St. Thomas Aquinas

Seven Teachings on Hell From St. Thomas Aquinas - Community in MissionPOPE: The teachings of the Lord on Hell are difficult, especially in today’s climate. The most difficult questions that arise relate to its eternal nature and how to square its existence with a God who is loving and rich in mercy. First, does God love the souls in Hell? Yes. How could they continue to exist if He did not love them, sustain them, and continue to provide for them? God loves because He is love...

The loss of Catholic schools would be an American tragedy

Catholic schools and America's future | Angelus NewsGOMEZ: Earlier this week, I delivered a graduation message to the Class of 2020 — virtually. It was posted on YouTube and shared on social media. Another sign of these unusual times since the coronavirus. My prayer is that the Class of 2020 will be remembered as a heroic generation that used the gifts of a Catholic education to love and serve and build a better world at a time of national distress, when society had been turned upside down by a deadly pandemic and faced widespread uncertainty about the future.

Meet Elena, who was called from Wicca into the Catholic Church

Called & Led into His Friendship & Community | Parishable ItemsFELTES: Elena used to meditate by herself, worshiping the five elements and a pagan goddess, but she longed for more community. The coven, before they would admit her, asked that she research another religion besides Wicca first. Elena chose to read Christianity’s Gospels thinking she would be able to easily dismiss them. However, to her surprise...

God’s antidote for the sobering state of Catholicism in the United States

God's Antidote For The Sobering State of Catholicism In The USA - Catholic Missionary Disciples - College Station, TXLEJEUNE: There is no arguing with the data, and the facts are sobering (and sad) - most self-identified Catholics in the USA live like those who have no faith. They say they are Catholics and live like they are pagans. The statistics tell part of the story. These numbers tell us that most who identify as “Catholic” do not know, believe, or live as someone who has met Jesus, been transformed by him, and are now trying their best to follow him.

Go to Confession! The devil loves self-excusers, but he hates self-accusers...

The Confession Post… – Christian Renaissance MovementEAMONNCLARK: There are many means to fight against sin and everlasting death – principally, baptism, but also frequent prayer, fasting and other penances, and almsgiving, together with a constant desire to grow in virtue, the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation, and the reception of the Eucharist.

During segregation, these Dominican sisters established the first interracial monastery — in Alabama

During segregation Dominican sisters established the first interracial monastery — in AlabamaBRISCOE: One day, Mother Mary of Jesus, cloistered Dominican nun, had a vision. While in the monastery garden, she saw a scene of a race riot unfold before her. The sight was a violent one, with people of different races engaged in struggle.
Then Mother Mary of Jesus, who was white, saw a dark-skinned friar approaching the crowd. He was clad in the Dominican habit and holding a rosary...

Benedict XVI makes first trip outside Italy since stepping down, visits his ailing brother in Germany

Pope Benedict XVI Visits His Ailing Brother in Germany: Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is making a private visit to Germany to see his ailing brother Msgr. Georg Ratzinger. CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language partner agency, said June 18 it had confirmed with sources close to the pope emeritus that Benedict XVI was visiting his 96-year-old brother in Regensburg. It is believed to be Pope Benedict XVI’s first trip outside Italy since he stood down as pope in 2013...

Don’t miss these two big feasts this week — the Sacred Heart (Friday) and the Immaculate Heart (Saturday)

Don’t Miss These Two Big Feasts This WeekPRONECHEN: The big back-to-back feasts coming this Friday and Saturday are the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The best of all places for them to be celebrated is right where they are — next to each other. Why? Sister Lucia of Fatima gives one excellent reason she heard from Jesus himself. In A Pathway Under the Gaze of Mary we learn that Lucia wrote to her confessor in 1936...

The Church: milquetoast or militant?

The Church: Milquetoast or Militant? – Fr. Dwight LongeneckerLONGENECKER: The need for Catholics to understand the aspect of the Church being militant is greater than ever. With confusion, fear, deception and lies swirling about us we need clear voices and real action from Catholics, but instead of the Church Militant we too often get the Church Milquetoast. The name of this blog is “Standing on My Head” because one of my aims is to stand people’s perceptions and biases on their heads...

How to speak like a Christian (and not like a fool, a bully, or a buffoon)

How to Speak Like a Christian (and Not Like a Fool, a Bully, or a Buffoon) | The StreamMILLS: “A fool’s gun is soon fired,” wrote Charles Spurgeon, quoting an old proverb. He explained: “He has little to say, but he is in a desperate hurry to say it.” Here are some of the great preacher’s insights on how Christians should speak. He wasn’t aways so sharp. But he knew that Jesus teaches that what comes out of the mouth can defile a man. How we speak has eternal significance. And with Facebook and Twitter...

During these trials, let it not be said that we have forgotten God...

The Line Through Every Human HeartKIRK: In his famous 1983 Templeton Address, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (a Russian literary genius, sentenced to labor camps and later exiled for two decades by the Soviets) described the “ruinous” Russian Revolution and the murderous regime that followed, as well as the ways in which various internal forces in the West, such as materialism and unlimited “rights,” resulted in a corrosive hatred...

The biases of a Royal Commission

The biases of a Royal Commission - Denver CatholicWEIGEL: A brief dip into Latin helps us understand how preconceptions can lead to biased judgments that falsify history — as they did when an Australian Royal Commission on sexual abuse recently impugned the integrity of Cardinal George Pell. The Latin maxim is quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur – literally, “what is received is received according to the mode [or manner, or condition] of the receiver.”

On the power of the Fatima prayer, which is recited during the Rosary

On the Power of One Small Prayer - Community in MissionPOPE: Praying the rosary today I marveled once again at the Fatima prayer, which is recited at the end of each decade:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy!

I have often wondered how God reacts to a prayer like this. I am awed by the power of this simple prayer, even if said in a distracted way. God is surely pleased that we ask for the salvation of souls and that we have in mind especially those who are most in need, most lost, most wayward.

Pope’s Wednesday Audience: “Discover the riches hidden in the Sacred Heart of Jesus”

Pope Francis: Discover the riches hidden in Jesus’ Sacred Heart: Ahead of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to discover the riches of charity hidden in the heart of Christ. “Friday we will celebrate the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do not be afraid to present to him all the intentions of our suffering humanity, its fears, its miseries. May this Heart, full of love for men, give everyone hope and trust,” Pope Francis said June 17 in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

Villagers in India kill Christian teenage convert after accusing him of “witchcraft”

Villagers in India kill Christian teenage convert after accusing him of 'witchcraft': A Christian teenager in India was murdered after being accused of practicing witchcraft. Fifteen-year-old Samaru Madkami , a member of India’s marginalized Tribal community lived in the village of Kenduguda in Malkangiri district, located in the state of Odisha.

“But Gorsuch” crashes at the Supreme Court. Now watch for “Utah” references in news reports...

'But Gorsuch...' crashes at Supreme Court: Now watch for 'Utah' references in news reports — GetReligionMATTINGLY: It’s no surprise that mainstream news reports about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on LGBTQ rights for secular workers included a strong note of celebration. To the victors go the spoils and this was a big win for the cultural left and, one can only assume, the new middle America — as defined by the Harvard and Yale law schools. The unanswered question hanging over all of this was, of course...

No matter how hard you try, your brain won’t let you see all 12 dots in this image

This image has exactly twelve dots, but it’s impossible to see them all at once | Popular Science: Twelve black dots dance about this grid. They never actually move or vanish, but no matter how fast you twitch your eyes back and forth, you can’t seem to trap them all in your gaze at once...

Are you a slave to fashion?

Are You a Slave to Fashion? | Classical Catholic EducationLANGLEY: I don’t have any strong objection to men dressing according to the fashions of the 12th or 13th century if they happen to live in the 12th or 13th century. I assume the gentleman in the picture thought that he was looking pretty dapper. He lived in a time when the clothing fashions were perhaps a little extravagant and this fellow looks like he can afford it. My guess is that he thought he was approximating something on the side of the beautiful...

Life lessons: Four pillars, and the Three Little Pigs

Life Lessons: Four Pillars, Three Little Pigs - Public DiscourseMAIER: Here’s a simple fact: Life is brief. We have limited time in the world. So how should we use it? Before answering, consider that word should. Should is a modest, single syllable with immodestly thick implications. It suggests that different paths forward in life exist. Some are right, and some are wrong. Thus our choices have meaning. They also have consequences.

The spirituality and mission of a Benedictine Oblate

The Spirituality and Mission of a Benedictine Oblate – Building Catholic CultureSTAUDT: “Listen, my son, to the teaching of the Master,” Benedict exhorts his monks in the opening line of his Rule. Benedictine monks and nuns place themselves under the tutelage of St. Benedict’s Rule as a way of following Christ, the master. Entering into the monastic life is not taking on a contrived and superimposed life, but a following of the Gospel in a radical way, to live in a Christian community akin to Acts 2 and 4...

Overcome evil with good: The temptations of our time and the spirit of Christ

Overcome Evil with Good: The Temptations of Our Time and the Spirit of Christ | The Catholic GentlemanGUZMAN: A glance at the news headlines gives the very real impression that the world is in flames. Who can deny that we are in a tremendous state of turmoil, reeling from one crisis only to enter another one? I’ve refrained from commenting on the unfolding events we are seeing because the world does not need more opinions or commentary right now. But after further reflection and observation...

Meet the dad who’s teaching basic skills on YouTube for kids without a father figure

Meet the dad who’s teaching basic skills on YouTube for kids without a father figureGARDINER: Rob Kenney’s dad abandoned him and his seven siblings when he was just 14 years old. At a time when he was on the path to young adulthood, he had no father to guide him on the way. In an interview with Shattered Magazine, Kenney not only explains his heartbreaking experience as a young boy, but how seeking out God when his own marriage was in difficulty enabled him to forgive his dad just before his dad died in his 80s.

Catholic composer David Haas denies ‘sexual battery’ and coercion allegations; accusations range over 30-year period

Catholic composer David Haas denies 'sexual battery' and coercion allegations: Catholic composer David Haas has denied allegations of serial sexual misconduct and spiritual manipulation, and says the advocacy group bringing allegations forward aims to destroy his livelihood. “David Haas denounces Into Account Inc.’s allegations as false, reckless and offensive,” the composer said in a press release issued June 16.

Of hidden manna and a shining stone: A meditation on a text from the Book of Revelation

Of Hidden Manna and a Shining Stone: A Meditation on a Text From Revelation - Community in MissionPOPE: In the Office of Readings for Corpus Christi there is an antiphon rich in meaning yet at the same time mysterious. It is drawn from a longer text in the Book of Revelation, in the letter to the Church at Pergamum: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it...

If the sacraments aren’t essential, nothing is essential

If the Sacraments Aren’t Essential, Nothing Is EssentialCLARK: Last year, I wrote a column arguing that if priests and bishops refuse to stand up for the Sacrament of Matrimony, they will eventually grow reluctant to stand up for the other sacraments as well. I sorely hoped I would be wrong. With some of the clerical responses to COVID-19, however, that’s a prediction that has come true in ways far worse than I could have imagined.

Dutch doctor euthanized dementia patient despite being told ‘no’

Dutch MD Euthanized Dementia Patient Despite Being Told 'No' | National Review: I have written before about Marinou Arends, the Dutch doctor who euthanized a woman with dementia struggling to stay alive. Readers may recall the doctor first drugged her patient’s coffee and then, when the woman awakened and fought against being killed, had the family hold the patient down while administering the lethal injection. Not only was she exonerated, but she was even praised by the judge.

From Mormon deacon to Catholic deacon

From LDS Deacon to Catholic Deacon - The Coming Home Network: The Apostles failed in their mission. They neglected to properly appoint their successors. When the last Apostle died, the keys of the kingdom were lost from the earth. The Church given to them by Jesus lay in ruins, overcome by the forces of hell. The so-called Christian Church was no longer the Lord’s Church. A new organization, a “great and abominable church,” came into existence...

Audrey Donnithorne, who died in Hong Kong on June 8, was a woman of valor

Audrey Donnithorne: Woman of Valor – Catholic World ReportWEIGEL: Born on November 27, 1922, at a Quaker mission hospital in rural China, the self-styled “Sichuan country girl” died in Hong Kong on June 8. In ninety-seven years of an extraordinary life, Audrey Donnithorne navigated a kaleidoscope of experiences that rank her as one of the most remarkable Catholics of modern times and a genuine heroine of the faith.

Bishop Zanchetta returns to work at the Vatican amid abuse trial in Argentina

Bishop Zanchetta returns to work at the Vatican amid abuse trial in Argentina: Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta has returned to work at the Vatican amid an ongoing trial in Argentina, where he has been charged with sexual and financial misconduct. Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni told CNA June 15 that Zanchetta had resumed his work at the Vatican while “remaining available to the Argentine judicial authorities.”

Catholic composer David Haas accused of ‘sexual battery’ and ‘spiritual manipulation’

Catholic composer David Haas accused of 'sexual battery' and 'spiritual manipulation': The composer of several well-known songs used in Catholic liturgies has been dropped by a prominent hymnal publisher, amid accusations of serial spiritual manipulation and sexual misconduct. “Early this year we became aware of allegations of sexual misconduct by David Haas, and we learned the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was considering a decision not to provide him a letter of suitability,” GIA Publications said in a June 13 Facebook post.

Pope Francis names lay finance expert as secretary of APSA

Pope Francis names lay finance expert as secretary of Vatican ‘central bank’: Pope Francis Monday appointed Fabio Gasperini, an Italian financial adviser working at Ernst & Young, to the second-ranking position at the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). This is the first time in its history that the secretary of APSA will be a layperson. Gasperini fills the position following the end of the five-year term of Msgr. Mauro Rivella in April.

The open questions on the Vatican financial scandals

MondayVatican – Vatican Pope Francis, the open questions on the financial scandal | MondayVaticanGAGLIARDUCCI: The arrest of Gianluigi Torzi in the Vatican led to more questions than answers. Torzi is the Italian broker who lives in London that operated as an intermediary in the Vatican Secretariat of State purchase of a building in Sloane Avenue, in London. In the beginning, the Secretariat of State decided to invest in the real estate buying shares in the Athena Fund of the businessman Raffaele Mincione. The Secretariat of State did not buy real estate...

On the ministry of angels in creation

On the Ministry of Angels in Creation - Community in MissionPOPE: The conclusion of the Book of Tobit  features the Archangel Raphael revealing himself to Tobit and others and explaining his ministry to them. This post I write is not a full angelology, it is just a grateful reflection for God, his angels and his creation. Book-length treatments are necessary for a good angelology. If you are looking for a readable, and brief account of angelology I might recommend The Angels and Their Mission According to the Fathers of the Church, by Cardinal Jean Danielou...

The Synod of Germany has at least three antecedents. All ended with a schism...

The Synod of Germany Has At Least Three Antecedents. All Ended With a Schism - Settimo Cielo - Blog - L’EspressoMAGISTER: The “Synodale Weg” underway in Germany is revealing itself more each day as a serious risk for the “path” of the Catholic Church, not only German but universal. To realize this, just browse the documents it has produced so far. And also note the concerns it has engendered in an otherwise pro-German pope like Francis. On Settimo Cielo, Professor Pietro De Marco has repeatedly criticized the theological and ecclesiological configuration of the assembly...

Gorsuch, Roberts side with liberals in major Supreme Court victory for ‘gay or transgender’ employees

Supreme Court: Sexual orientation and gender identity covered under federal discrimination law: The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that employers cannot fire workers because of their sexual orientation or self-determined gender identity, while dissenting justices opined the Court was legislating from the bench. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion for the Court in a 6-3 decision, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor.

How do lighthouses work?

New Advent: How do lighthouses work?: Have you ever wondered how a lighthouse works? What a Fresnel lens is? What a lighthouse keeper does? Find out all about lighthouses in this video, as we discover how mariners are directed round the twists and turns of coastal obstacles.

In June, we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary

Honoring Two Hearts In The Month Of June The Wanderer NewspaperFOLEY: The Feast of the Sacred Heart falls on June 19, and June is the month which has been traditionally devoted to the Sacred Heart. The following day, June 20, is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. So the two feast days are right next to each other, which is appropriate given the closeness of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary, both on Earth and in Heaven...

Seeking reasons for violence and destructive ideologies, let’s not forget the consequences of our missing fathers...

Seeking answers to violence and rage, don't forget fatherhoodKIRBY: In the coming week, many American families, children, and loved ones will be preparing for our annual observance of Father’s Day. As the national holiday approaches, we find ourselves still enmeshed in moral uncertainties, civil disturbances, and confusion over the future.

Such a restless state of affairs in one of the most powerful countries in the world is itself a source of bewilderment. How has this happened? Could these things have been prevented?

60 years ago, Pope St. John XXIII met a Jewish icon and the world changed

60 years ago, a Pope met a Jewish icon and the world changedALLEN: In his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that Christianity doesn’t begin with an idea or an ethical system, but an encounter with the person of Christ. Personal encounters are indeed foundational to much of Christian history, and yesterday was the 60th anniversary of one of the most consequential such meetings of the last century.

Pope Francis on Corpus Christi: “The Eucharist is not simply an act of remembrance — it is a fact...”

Pope Francis on Corpus Christi: The Eucharist gives us Christ's healing love: Christ’s presence in the Eucharist heals wounds and transforms bitter negativity into the joy of Lord, Pope Francis said in his homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi Sunday.

Are you a mouse or a man? A homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi...

Are You a Mouse or a Man? A Homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi - Community in MissionPOPE: Sunday, the (moved) Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Our Lord is celebrated. While you may puzzle over my title for today’s blog, allow me to delay the explanation to a bit later. On a solemn feast like this, many things might be preached and taught. Let’s look at three areas for reflection: the Reality of the Eucharist, the Requirement of the Eucharist, and the Remembrance of the Eucharist.

Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron criticizes Church Militant for calling DC Archbishop Wilton Gregory an “African Queen”

Detroit archdiocese criticizes ‘racist and derogatory language’ from Church Militant website: The Archdiocese of Detroit responded Thursday to a video produced by a website operating in the Detroit archdiocese, which it said used “racist and derogatory language” to describe the African-American Archbishop of Washington D.C.

Oct. 10 beatification date set for Catholic computer programming teen Carlo Acutis

Date set for beatification of Catholic computer programming teen Carlo Acutis: Venerable Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager and computer programmer who died in 2006, will be beatified October 10 in Assisi, Italy. “The joy we have long awaited finally has a date,” said Assisi’s bishop, Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, according to Caritas Italiano. The beatification will take place at 4 pm at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, in Assisi. It will be chaired by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who is prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

President Trump’s tweet is the latest twist in the saga of Archbishop Viganò

Trump twitter mention latest twist in Archbishop Carlo Vigano sagaJDFLYNN: President Trump on Wednesday tweeted that he was honored by a letter written to him by former apostolic nuncio Archbishop Carlo Viganò, which warned the president against secular and ecclesiastical agents of an atheistic globalist new world order. The president's tweet is the latest in a series of events that have kept the archbishop in the headlines for much of the last two years, a period in which he has become a polarizing figure in the Catholic Church...

Scranton Catholic diocese: ‘No credible evidence’ against National Shrine rector Msgr. Walter Rossi

Scranton Catholic diocese: ‘No credible evidence’ against Msgr. Walter Rossi: The Diocese of Scranton released a statement Friday regarding Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The statement said that after an exhaustive investigation, investigators found no credible evidence to support allegations of misconduct against Rossi.

Trump administration reverses Obama-era regulation that redefined ‘sex’

‘Sex’ -- Trump Administration Reverses Obama-Era Regulation that Redefined Term | National Review: he Department of Health and Human Services has just announced a rule undoing an Obama-administration policy that had redefined “sex” to include “gender identity” and “termination of pregnancy” for purposes of nondiscrimination under the Affordable Care Act.

Have we considered that the lockdown of churches and sacraments could bear the fruit of social rage, despair and death?

Beginning to Pray: In Memory of John MathiasLILLES: Recently, I attended a funeral service for my nephew John Mathias. He was one of the victims, not of the corona virus, but of shelter-in-place. I would prefer not to see him that way ... for he is much more than this, and yet his blood cries out. Thus, I must write this difficult overflow of heart. Like many who suffered addictions, public policy held avid disregard for his safety...

U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski: How pro-life Democrats can make their voices heard

Respect Life Radio Podcast - U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski: How pro-life Democrats can make their voices heard | Free Listening on Podbean App: "You can be a Democrat and you can be pro-life," said U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Illinois, an eight-term Congressman. "About one out of every three Democratic voters in the country say that they are pro-life. I think it's very important for the pro-life movement to not just be a one-party movement, that there are not just Republicans, but there are Democrats who are pro-life."

Why do Americans fear their children?

Why do Americans fear their children? | Catholic CultureLAWLER: For more than a dozen years, I have been sitting on the planning board in the little New England town where we live. Our task is to ensure that as the community grows, the new developments are in harmony with the spirit of the town—which is rural, scenic, and rich in historical character. By now I know which sorts of proposals will trigger concerns among the town’s residents...

China reportedly removes over 250 church crosses in first 4 months of 2020

China removes over 250 church crosses in first 4 months of 2020: report - The Christian Post: Crosses were removed from over 250 state-sanctioned churches in China’s Anhui province between January and April as the Communist Party’s years-long crackdown on church crosses continues, according to the Italian-based magazine Bitter Winter. “All Christian symbols are ordered to be removed as part of the government’s crackdown campaign,” a provincial employee from Ma’anshan city told Bitter Winter, a publication produced by the Center for Studies on New Religion which covers human rights issues in China.

Virtue in obedience

Virtue in Obedience | Parishable ItemsFELTES: According to likely tradition, St. Ignatius the bishop of Antioch learned about our Faith from St. John the Apostle. Around the year A.D. 110, St. Ignatius was brought by Roman guards from Syria to Rome to his martyrdom. On this long journey he wrote seven famous letters which provide insight into the teachings and beliefs of the Early Church. In his letter to the Christians in Smyrna, he wrote...

Detachment, as seen in TV commercials

Detachment as Seen in a Commercial - Community in MissionPOPE: We all cling to certain things. Perhaps there is a sentimental attachment, or perhaps we think we might need some thing one day; even though that day never comes. Much of this is harmless. But certain attachments actually have negative impacts, hindering us from what we need to do. For example, we cling to an old car that frequently breaks down, or to an old wound that keeps us from relating to others in a healthy way free from past trauma...

Pope Francis, Vatican finances and the papal court

Pope Francis, Vatican Finances and the Papal CourtDESOUZA: The last few months have shut down much ecclesial life, but at the Vatican the financial reforms are going from strength to strength, with major new developments coming every few weeks. The financial reforms of Pope Francis, which began with a bang in 2014, were largely dead by 2017. Now they live again. What happened? The ups-and-downs reveal something of how popes govern...

Catholics fearful about looming Chinese restrictions on Hong Kong

Catholics Fearful About Looming Chinese Restrictions on Hong KongPENTIN: “People are afraid Beijing wants to control the city and make Hong Kong like the cities of mainland China,” said Father Sergio Ticozzi, an Italian missionary in the East Asian metropolis. “The young generation especially don’t feel they have any future, will have no freedom, and so are very worried about the situation.”

A priest of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Father Ticozzi shared these concerns with the Register on June 9 as China’s ruling Communist Party looks set to impose a controversial national security law on Hong Kong, bypassing its own legislature.

What to do when your children and grandchildren leave the Church

What To Do When Children Leave the ChurchARMSTRONG: It’s a heartbreak for faithful Catholics parents when their children leave the Church. Even among families trying to do everything right, results are often mixed. Since we are one family in Christ, it is a situation that affects us all. For families suffering this heartache, here are insights from an author in that situation, a deacon with powerful advice, and a prayer by Pope St. John Paul II.

Would-be Satanists again fail to make case against Missouri abortion law

Would-Be Satanists Again Fail to Make Case Against Missouri Abortion Law: State law requires abortion providers to distribute a booklet from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services which includes the statement: “The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.”

Wyoming’s Bishop Joseph Hart won't be charged for sex abuse, prosecutors say

Wyoming bishop accused of abuse won't be charged, prosecutors say: Following a decision by Wyoming prosecutors not to charge retired Bishop Joseph Hart for sexual abuse against minors, his alleged victims are looking to the Church’s canonical process as a last chance for the 88-year-old prelate to be brought to justice.

Watch 9 episodes of “The Chosen,” a series about the life of Our Lord, here...

Watch “The Chosen” | Parishable ItemsFELTES: “The Chosen” is a truly excellent dramatized series about Jesus’ early ministry. I highly recommend it. They flesh-out characters and scenes from the Gospel texts in creative but faithful ways. The depiction of Jesus is particularly compelling. You can see the first season’s episodes on YouTube or through this free app...

Ignore the optics. Trump’s executive order could jump-start the cause of global religious freedom...

Ignore the optics. Trump’s executive order could jump-start the cause of global religious freedom. | America MagazinePHILPOTT: On June 2, President Trump signed the Executive Order Advancing International Religious Freedom, but few noticed amid everything else that happened that week. The day before the signing, law enforcement officers used rubber pellets and tear gas to forcefully remove peaceful protesters near the White House so that Mr. Trump could hold a Bible aloft in a photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church...

Amid pandemic, scores of U.S. Catholic schools face closure

Amid pandemic, scores of US Catholic schools face closure: Catholic schools have faced tough times for years, but the pace of closures is accelerating dramatically amid economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, sparking heartbreak and anger in scores of affected communities.

“It’s not a pretty picture right now,” said Sister Dale McDonald, public policy director of the National Catholic Educational Association, which says about 100 schools have announced in recent weeks that they won’t reopen this fall. McDonald fears that number could more than double in the coming months.

Abortion opponents protest COVID-19 vaccines’ use of fetal cells

Abortion opponents protest COVID-19 vaccines’ use of fetal cells | Science | AAAS: Senior Catholic leaders in the United States and Canada, along with other antiabortion groups, are raising ethical objections to promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates that are manufactured using cells derived from human fetuses electively aborted decades ago. They have not sought to block government funding for the vaccines, which include two candidate vaccines that the Trump administration plans to support with an investment of up to $1.7 billion...

Exiting the coronavirus, does the Vatican need a “Dicastery for Disasters?”

Exiting the coronavirus, does the Vatican need a "Dicastery for Disasters"?ALLEN: Under the bold heading of “The World After the Pandemic,” the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs is devoted to the lessons to be learned from the experience of the COVID-19 coronavirus. According to the authors of the lead piece, the main point is that the next global contagion isn’t a matter of if, but when, so planning should be underway now.

Can contraceptives be taken for therapeutic purposes?

Can Contraceptives Be Taken for Therapeutic Purposes?BRUGGER: We should avoid saying that the Church teaches the contraceptives can be taken for therapeutic reasons. This is an ambiguous use of language. Contraceptives can never be taken — if by “taken” we mean “intended as contraceptive” — for any reason. But drugs that are sometimes also used as contraceptives may be used for non-contraceptive purposes. In this case, as we have said, that drug is not — for purposes of this treatment — a contraceptive.

Only 27 percent of U.S. voters see Trump as religious, with Catholics most skeptical

Only 27 percent of U.S. voters see Trump as religious, with Catholics most skepticalWHITE: Despite back to back photo ops in front of religious sites last week, new polling shows that only 27 percent of registered voters believe President Donald Trump to be religious. Further, according to data from POLITICO and Morning Consult, just over a third of all Christians polled view the president as religious, with 50 percent not seeing him as religious. Despite the president’s controversial visit last week to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine...

President Trump tweets thanks to Archbishop Viganò for ‘deep state’ letter

President Trump Tweets Thanks to Archbishop ViganoPENTIN: President Donald Trump has responded to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s open letter to him published on Sunday. “So honored by Archbishop Viganò’s incredible letter to me,” President Trump tweeted on Wednesday evening. “I hope everyone, religious or not, reads it!” In his June 7 letter, Archbishop Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016, praised President Trump’s leadership as he faced criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the protests over the death of George Floyd.

This Wyoming creek flows into two oceans

Two Ocean Creek: Where the Atlantic and Pacific Meet at the Continental Divide - Conde Nast Traveler: Anyone who's driven over the Rocky Mountains has probably seen signs for the Continental Divide, the backbone of North America. What the Continental Divide actually divides is watersheds: Everything on its western slope drains into the Pacific, and everything on its eastern slope into the Atlantic. But its most unusual feature might be one little creek in Wyoming—which drains into both.

Vatican halts German diocesan plan to turn 800 parishes into 35

Vatican halts German diocesan plan to turn 800 parishes into 35: The Vatican has intervened to halt a controversial plan to reorganize a German diocese. Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier met with the heads of the Congregation for Clergy and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in Rome June 5 to discuss the diocesan plans to restructure several hundred parishes into 35 “XXL parishes.”

How to be a father, and how to choose a spouse

A Father, and Choosing a Spouse | LifeCraftCUDDEBACK: How does one choose a spouse? Such is a topic worthy of careful consideration. Here Shakespeare offers what might be a couple helpful principles for all involved in such discernment—beginning with the point that perhaps more people should be involved than often are. In A Winter’s Tale Polixenes’ son Florizel has fallen in love and, convinced that his father will not approve, intends to marry without even consulting him...

“The heavens declare the glory of God…”

“The heavens declare the glory of God…” - Denver CatholicWEIGEL: In his Life of St. Augustine, the 5th-century bishop Possidius tells us that the greatest of the Latin Doctors of the Church, knowing that his earthly end was near, had four penitential psalms copied and hung on the walls of his room. “From his sickbed,” Possidius writes, Augustine “could see these sheets of paper…and would read them, crying constantly and deeply.” It was an act of deep piety that we all might ponder ways to emulate.

Deepfakes create many moral messes

Deepfakes Create Many Moral Messes | Matthew SchneiderSCHNEIDER: Deepfakes are a new technology where a person’s face is taken from stills or video and put onto some other video making it appear like they did whatever is in the subsequent video. Such videos are quickly becoming indistinguishable from real videos. I want to take a summary of deepfakes – the technology and the uses – then analyze the moral issues. Forbes recently ran a story...

Aristotle’s case for Catholic education: Why charter schools are not enough

Aristotle’s Case for Catholic Education: Why Charter Schools Are Not Enough – Building Catholic CultureSTAUDT: As a father of six, I know it’s hard to balance family priorities. Attending to everyone’s needs — emotionally, spirituality, materially, and socially —while managing the demands of family life, school, extracurricular activities, and work definitely takes its toll! It’s hard to stay focused on what matters most—getting our kids to heaven. Education forms a big part of parents’ strategy, though it takes navigating finances, prospects of future success, and religious formation. How do we pick the right school?

Tolkien was trying to be a good dad when he created Middle-Earth

Tolkien was trying to be a good dad when he created Middle-Earth - Voyage Comics & PublishingKOSLOSKI: J.R.R. Tolkien married Edith Bratt on March 22, 1916 and they would bring into the world four children: three boys and one girl. As many can attest, one of the greatest legacies he left was his devotion and love of his children.

In fact, nearly his entire world of Middle-Earth came from this love of his children.

In the early years when his children were still young, Tolkien would be found telling his children exciting stories when they had trouble falling asleep.

What is an annulment and how does it differ from divorce?

What is an Annulment and How Does it Differ From Divorce? - Community in MissionPOPE: There are some today who speak of annulment as “just another name for a Catholic divorce.” However, this is not correct. An annulment (more technically described as a “Declaration of Nullity”) is a recognition by the Church, based on evidence, that what may in fact have seemed to be a marriage, was not due to some intrinsic flaw at the time the vows we exchanged. A marriage may have been a civil marriage entered into in good faith by one or both of the parties...

Pope Francis appoints Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of Springfield (Mass.) as 10th Archbishop of St. Louis

Whispers in the Loggia: Bishop Mitch Goes to “Rome” – Pope Taps Mass. Prelate For St LouisPALMO: As the Vatican’s working year wends toward its close at month’s end, a cycle interrupted by a historic outbreak is making up for lost time, and wrapping up with more than one bang.

Accordingly, Roman Noon this Wednesday brings another “end-of-school” treat, as the Pope named 61 year-old Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of Springfield (Mass.) as the Tenth Archbishop of St Louis.

The first East Coast figure to inherit the “Rome of the West” since the Brooklyn-born John Joseph Carberry – the last of three (non-baseball) cardinals on Lindell Blvd. – arrived in 1968, the archbishop-elect succeeds Archbishop Robert Carlson, who reached the retirement age of 75 last June after 35 years on the bench.

Pope Francis appoints new bishop of Beaumont, Texas

Pope Francis Appoints New Bishop of Beaumont, Texas: Pope Francis appointed Msgr. David L. Toups as the next Bishop of Beaumont, Texas, Tuesday. The Holy See press office announced June 9 that Toups would succeed Bishop Curtis J. Guillory, 76, who has led the diocese since the year 2000. Msgr. Toups, 49, currently serves as rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boyton Beach, Florida. He was born March 26, 1971 in Seattle, Washington...

Charging that shady Italian moneyman is not the end of the latest Vatican scandal

Charging shady Italian moneyman not the end of latest Vatican scandalALLEN: Last Friday, the latest twist in the Vatican’s version of the “Great Fire of London,” in their case referring to a $225 million land deal in London that went spectacularly wrong and ended in scandal, came with the arrest of a shadowy lay Italian financier named Gianluigi Torzi. For those who haven’t followed the affair, the Vatican’s Secretariat of State originally laid out roughly $225 million to buy part of a former Harrod’s warehouse in the posh London neighborhood of Chelsea...

Journalism cancels its moral voice: What does this mean for Catholic news? For religion news?

Journalism cancels its moral voice: What does this mean for Catholic news? For religion news? — GetReligionLISI: I have always been fascinated with the concept that journalism functions as a moral watchdog on our society. As someone who spent most of his career at two New York tabloids (15 years at the New York Post, two others at the rival Daily News), reportage and story selection revolved heavily around morality.

A lot of it mirrored traditional religious morality.

Editors and reporters never used that language to describe their work, of course.

Relativism, irrational rage and revolution

Relativism, Irrational Rage and Revolution – Fr. Dwight LongeneckerLONGENECKER: One of the most disturbing aspects of the troubles of 2020 has been the confusion and bewilderment caused by so much uncertainty. When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic every other news report or social media link or comment has been contradictory. “Masks are useless. Everybody must wear a mask! Only sick old people will get this disease...

The COVID-19 lockdown hurt fishermen in the Keys — so a Catholic relief agency is buying their fish for the needy elderly...

ADOM :: St. Peter's Fleet fishes for the needy: Career fishermen like Captain Billy Wickers III were suffering for lack of business during the coronavirus lockdown. Meanwhile, food banks were scrambling for ways to feed needy seniors in the Florida Keys. But the two problems have helped solve each other, thanks to "St. Peter's Fleet," a new program of the SOS Foundation, based on Stock Island...

Archbishop Wilton Gregory invited to JPII Shrine Trump event days before public statement

Archbishop Gregory Invited to JPII Shrine Trump Event Days Before Public Statement: The White House said Sunday that Washington’s archbishop was invited to attend an event with President Donald Trump several days before it took place, amid media reports that the archbishop did not learn of the event until it was announced publicly the night before it took place. White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told CNA June 7 that Archbishop Gregory received an invitation to the President’s event at the St. John Paul II Shrine the week prior to the President’s visit...

Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is “very rare,” WHO says

Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is 'very rare,' WHO says: Coronavirus patients without symptoms aren’t driving the spread of the virus, World Health Organization officials said Monday, casting doubt on concerns by some researchers that the disease could be difficult to contain due to asymptomatic infections. Some people, particularly young and otherwise healthy individuals, who are infected by the coronavirus never develop symptoms or only develop mild symptoms. Others might not develop symptoms until days after they were actually infected.

Archdiocese of Washington, DC, invites priests to “prayerful protest” against racism at White House

Washington DC Catholic priests invited to 'prayerful protest' against racism at White House: Priests in the Archdiocese of Washington will demonstrate outside of the White House on Monday as a “prayerful protest” against hatred and institutional discrimination of all kinds. The June 8 protest will be led by Fr. Cornelis Ejiogu, SSJ, pastor of St. Luke Church in Washington, DC. “Our mission: to pray for a change of heart, an end to hatred and institutional discrimination of all kinds...”

From the Synod of Germany to the monastery of Bose — Anatomy of the Catholic revolutions

From the Synod of Germany To the Monastery of Bose. Anatomy of the Catholic Revolutions - Settimo Cielo - Blog - L’EspressoMAGISTER: Nothing seems to break the stride of the “synodal journey” undertaken by the Catholic Church of Germany. Neither the criticisms nor the defections of the rare dissenting bishops. Nor the serious concerns of Rome. Cardinal Reinhard Marx has been succeeded, as head of the episcopal conference, by Limburg bishop Georg Bätzing. But without any course correction. No less talkative than his predecessor, the new president immediately strung together a series of reckless statements on the most burning issues of the synod’s agenda...

Another glimpse of extreme secularism

Another Glimpse of Extreme Secularism - Community in MissionPOPE: Last week on the blog we discussed the rise of vocal, extreme secularism, as exemplified by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Extreme secularism is not merely a worldly attitude devoid of God, it is a position that actively denies that faith, prayer, and/or religious expression play a role worthy of recognition. Militant secularists go further, seeking to remove any religious practice or mention of God from the public square.

Special Olympian with Down syndrome trains to complete Ironman Triathlon

Ironman: Special Olympian with Down syndrome trains to complete race: Nik Nikic gets choked up thinking about what it would mean to him if his son accomplishes a seemingly impossible goal. Chris Nikic, who competes in the Special Olympics, is training to become the first athlete with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman Triathlon competition...

The Fox of Villa Crawford — On the life of Francis Marion Crawford

The fox of Villa Crawford by Stephen Schmalhofer | The New CriterionSCHMALHOFER: During the reign of Pope Pius IX, Lily Conrad was the most beautiful woman in Rome. Her widowed American mother remarried the Marchese Cavalletti, the last senator of Rome in the final days of the Papal States. Educated at Sacro Cuore della Trinità dei Monti atop the Spanish Steps, Lily felt the admiration of Roman society whenever her tall and slender figure, wrapped in Marian blue, walked down into the Piazza di Spagna...

What Mother Cabrini’s Colorado miracle taught me about our work

What Mother Cabrini’s Colorado Miracle Taught Me About Our WorkLICHENS: Not far from Denver is a miraculous spring where you can collect the water or get it blessed at the nearby shrine. This spring may provide miracles and comfort for modern pilgrims, but its original intent was for everyday needs. This spring on Lookout Mountain wasn’t there when St. Frances X. Cabrini established a small farm and summer camp for her orphanage...

WALL-E was one of Pixar’s biggest gambles — and it paid off

Infinity and Beyond: Pixar's WALL-E Revisited – /Film: How do you know for sure how much power someone has in Hollywood? For filmmakers, it can be as simple as seeing a studio greenlighting a pet project thanks to their success with big-budget blockbusters. For actors, it can be allowing them to pick and choose their preferred projects, no matter how it may look for their box-office prospects moving forward. Pixar Animation Studios is, and has always been, an entirely different beast...