Catholic school parent stabbed outside Mass celebrated by San Francisco archbishop

Pope Francis may visit United States in September after UN invitation

A source from the Vatican Secretariat of State told CNA this week that “a formal invitation has arrived from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.”

Catholic school parent stabbed outside Mass celebrated by San Francisco archbishop

Twenty-five-year-old Marko Asaulyuk of San Francisco was charged with attempted murder and eight counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

Louisiana police obtain new search warrant in New Orleans Archdiocese abuse investigation

A police spokesman confirmed that they obtained the warrant as part of the investigation into “numerous complaints of child sexual abuse” against the archdiocese.

Pope Francis to Vladimir Putin: A negotiated peace is better than an endless war

CBS News broadcast some excerpts April 24 from a new interview conducted by journalist Norah O’Donnell with Pope Francis at the pontiff’s residence in the Vatican.

Audience erupts in anger as trustees oppose flying pro-life flag at Toronto Catholic schools

The International Pro-Life Flag will not fly over Toronto Catholic schools this May after the Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees voted against a trustee’s motion.

United Methodists vote to restructure worldwide church

United Methodists vote to restructure worldwide church
Religion News Service: The plan, called “regionalization,” must now go before each region, called an annual conference, for ratification by the end of 2025.

There’s now half a dozen pastors vying to be SBC president
Baptist News Global: A record six candidates have now announced their intention to run for the presidency of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Inside the long-odds push to undo an abortion ban in ruby red Arkansas*
The Washington Post: After winning campaigns in both red and blue states, abortion rights activists are facing a test of the limits of their success in what is sometimes ranked as the most “pro-life state in America.”

Amid real disagreement, Christian unity still matters
Sojourners: “While the church’s divisions tend to grab headlines, I’ve noticed that examples of unity within the body of Christ often go unnoticed.”

Metal detectorist finds centuries-old religious artifact once outlawed by emperor
CBS News: Experts said the cross icon is likely a relic of the Orthodox communities that continued to practice after a series of reforms split the Russian church in the middle of the 17th century, and an example of the kinds of symbols that were outlawed during a later monarch's reign.

One Christ, One Savior, One Shepherd

Scandal begets a society that devalues human beings

By Susan Ciancio on Apr 26, 2024 04:00 am
Merriam-Webster defines scandal as “malicious or defamatory gossip,” a “disgrace,” or “a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions.” Those are probably the definitions most people are familiar with. But they barely touch upon [...]
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Pope Francis may visit United States in September after UN invitation

By Andrea Gagliarducci, Catholic News Agency on Apr 25, 2024 02:22 pm

Toward a Confessing Church

By Francis X. Maier on Apr 25, 2024 09:00 am
Note: Earlier this spring, Ignatius Press published “True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church.” The author delivered these remarks at the University of Dallas on April 19. I’d like these comments to [...]
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Defending Rupnik’s art is possible, but also scandalous and insulting

By Carl E. Olson on Apr 24, 2024 11:42 pm
A week ago, the editors of the National Catholic Register published an editorial titled “It’s Time to Remove Father Rupnik’s Art”. Their strong stance, they said, was “not an expedient surrender to iconoclasm or ‘cancel [...]
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Cisco CEO meets Pope Francis, signs AI ethics pledge at Vatican

By Catholic News Agency on Apr 24, 2024 06:06 pm
Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of the multinational digital communications conglomerate Cisco, signs the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a document by the Pontifical Academy for Life, on April 24, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome... [...]
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Thoughts on Dignitas Infinita

By George Weigel on Apr 24, 2024 11:00 am
When the always well-written and often wrongheaded New Yorker dislikes something, chances are good that I’ll like it – a principle that holds, with certain reservations, in the case of Dignitas Infinita, the April 8 “Declaration of the Dicastery for [...]
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Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, April 24, 2024

By CWR Staff on Apr 24, 2024 03:00 am
Hunger for God – “After researching the origins and studying the sacred texts of major world religions, [Megan] zeroed in the Bible. Ultimately it was the Eucharist and eucharistic miracles that sold her.” Conversions, reversions [...]
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“Welcome to the Reign of Gay”, a decade later

By Carl E. Olson on Apr 23, 2024 07:35 pm
Ten years ago, I wrote a CWR editorial titled “Welcome to the Reign of Gay”. In some ways, it seems more like fifty years ago, as the cultural and moral landscape has not just shifted, [...]
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Humanality project helps Catholic students escape screens, engage reality

By Julian Kwasniewski on Apr 23, 2024 06:59 pm
Across all sectors of society, strange and insane behaviors seem to be accelerating. With AI bursting on the public scene, mental health metrics plummeting across the globe, and the reliability of the media at an [...]
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There is no going back, just going through

By Christopher R. Altieri on Apr 22, 2024 08:14 pm
“I just want to go back to before,” says FBI Agent Olivia Dunham to Special Agent-in-Charge Phillip Broyles in the pilot episode of the science fiction series, Fringe (2008-13). Dunham is a good agent who found [...]
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Pew Research: Biden in trouble with Catholic voters

By Catholic News Agency on Apr 22, 2024 01:00 pm
President Joe Biden leaves after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27, 2023. / Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Pittsburgh, Pa., Apr 22, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA). Incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden, ... [...]
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Can I still meet my future spouse in real life?

By Rachel Hoover Canto on Apr 22, 2024 11:42 am
If you’re a single Catholic desirous of marriage, and you ask the Internet how to meet your spouse, you will invariably be given the same two suggestions: “Go to Mass and talk to anyone who [...]
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The poetic waters run deep in Jane Clark Scharl’s Ponds

By Shawn Phillip Cooper, PhD on Apr 21, 2024 07:34 pm
In early 2023, Jane Clark Scharl debuted her verse drama Sonnez Les Matines to appreciative audiences in New York City. The ability to sustain a successful drama in verse—and good verse, at that—was a worthy testament [...]
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Historic New York church with link to John Paul II struggles to stay open

By Catholic News Agency on Apr 21, 2024 02:00 pm
The nave of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. / Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com CNA Staff, Apr 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA). A historic Polish Catholic church in Buffalo, New York — one with a unique connection to St. John Paul... [...]
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Dialogue Is Never Enough

By James V. Schall, S.J. on Apr 21, 2024 08:00 am
Editor’s note: This essay by the late Fr. Schall, was first published on October 25, 2005, at Ignatius Insight. “But Barnabas took him (Paul), and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how [...]
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Jesuit priest: Stories of Rwandan women ‘scarred by genocide’ must be told

By Catholic News Agency on Apr 20, 2024 12:30 pm
Father Marcel Uwineza. / Credit: Sister Olga Massango/Daughters of St. Paul ACI Africa, Apr 20, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA). Women who were sexually assaulted, infected with diseases, and forced into exile, among other brutalities during the 1994 gen... [...]
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One Christ, One Savior, One Shepherd

By Carl E. Olson on Apr 20, 2024 04:00 am
On the Readings for April 22, 2018, the Fourth Sunday of Easter [...]
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Telling children the story of St. Dominic, with help from man’s best friend

By CWR Staff on Apr 19, 2024 11:17 pm
Eleanor Bourg Nicholson is an award-winning novelist, scholar, Victorian literature instructor for Homeschool Connections, a Dominican tertiary, and a homeschooling mother of five. Hound of the Lord: The Story of Saint Dominic, written for children and from [...]
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Biden administration redefines sex discrimination in Title IX to include ‘gender identity’

By Catholic News Agency on Apr 19, 2024 03:30 pm
null / Credit: Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA). President Joe Biden’s Department of Education issued new regulations on Friday, April 19, that prohibit discrimination based on a person’s “gender identity.”T... [...]
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Religion and Political Discourse

Authors Tim Alberta ("The Kingdom, The Power, & The Glory"), McKay Coppins ("Romney: A Reckoning") and Robert Jones ("The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy") discussed how religion has impacted American politics. This event was part of the 2024 Tucson Festival of Books. 

 

Do homeless people have constitutional rights?

United Methodists will again debate LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings
NPR: Same-sex weddings and LGBTQ clergy are two of the topics front and center as the United Methodist Church opens its General Conference today in Charlotte, N.C. Whatever decisions are made, many Methodists are hoping their church will be able to move on after years of focusing on these issues.

 

Protests roil Columbia, spread to other campuses*
InsideHigherEd: The moves from the universities reflect the ongoing challenge college administrators face as they navigate the fine line between free speech and hate speech and receive criticism from all sides.
Columbia Spectator: ‘I have your back’: Union Theological Seminary president criticizes NYPD sweep of ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’

 

Do homeless people have constitutional rights?
Religion News Service: Will we tolerate cruelty or promote compassion? writes Kevin Nye.

 

The so-called Satanists out to defend religious freedom
The Bulwark: Is the Satanic Temple a political stunt? Is it a parody of religion? Performance art? A genuine new religious movement? These questions could have legal implications, prompting discussions about whether Satanists meet the “sincere and meaningful belief” test from United States v. Seeger.

 

Pastor apologizes for inviting Mark Driscoll and sword-swallower to men’s conference
Religion Unplugged: Megachurch pastor John Lindell apologized to his congregation Sunday for inviting sword-swallower Alex Magala and disgraced pastor Mark Driscoll to the Stronger Men’s Conference in Springfield, Missouri.

Bishop Robert Barron 04.21.2024

Biblical Literacy in a Postliterate Age

 

Why religion is becoming an even stronger force within the Republican Party

Ron DeSantis brings volunteer chaplains into schools in the name of religion
Fortune: The only requirements for a chaplain to participate would be passing a background check and having their name and religious affiliation listed on the school website. 

'A NIMBY case': Houston pastor battles downtown real estate developers
Houston Chronicle: Rudy Rasmus, once Beyoncé's preacher at St. John's Downtown, is facing pushback as he helps build a development for people experiencing homelessness.

Why religion is becoming an even stronger force within the Republican Party*
Washington Post: Religion is declining in America overall but in some ways becoming an even more important force within the Republican Party. We have less religion but still very religiously influenced politics, writes Perry Bacon Jr.

 House bill aims to condemn ‘Hinduphobia’ but draws concern from progressive groups
NBC News: The resolution has several points, including that the House celebrates the contributions of Hindus and condemns anti-Hindu bigotry. But progressive groups say “Hinduphobia” was invented by the Indian far-right to shut down criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Russia is waging a war against religious freedom in Ukraine
The Hill: At least 630 religious sites have been damaged, looted or destroyed due to Russian aggression. Russia’s physical and spiritual pincer movement has wrought incredible destruction upon Ukraine’s religious landscape.