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Laurel Mathewson is co-vicar at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in San Diego and author of An Intimate Good: A Skeptical Christian Mystic in Conversation with Teresa of Ávila.
Friday, May 1, 2026
Catholics No Longer Go to Confession
A realignment: what the latest data reveal about faith, gender, and the future of religion among America’s youth
Jorge Enrique Mújica
Taken together, the evidence resists simplistic narratives of either religious revival or irreversible decline. Instead, it points to a more fragmented and internally differentiated Generation Z, in which belief, belonging, and practice no longer move in tandem
The positive effects of Mass on people’s health, as explained by a medical specialist
Enrique Villegas
From a clinical standpoint, the logic is coherent. Lower rates of smoking and alcohol abuse translate into reduced incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Improved mental health reduces vulnerability to a range of chronic conditions
This is the viral video with 8.1 million views showing happy nuns eating a Turkish kebab in Germany
Joachin Meisner Hertz
From the convent to viral fame: a 92-year-old nun, a kebab, and the digital face of religious life
“I’ve never seen anything like it”: Leon XIV recounts his trip to Africa and the impact his encounter with prisoners in Guinea had on him
ZENIT Staff
General Audience with the Pope, April 29, 2026, on the Apostolic Journey to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea
Ukraine: Priests on the front lines witness a «growing search for meaning»
ZENIT Staff
Priests go to the front lines and accompany soldiers in the most exposed and vulnerable areas. Many times, their role is simply to remain with them. They pray and celebrate Mass underground, often in situations of constant danger due to the threat of attack
An Analysis of the Current Situation: The Catholic Church in China
ZENIT Staff
After the 2018 agreement, pressure on Chinese Catholics is escalating amid apparent indifference from the Vatican, a Human Rights Watch Report says.
Catholics No Longer Go to Confession, Even Though They Desire It. Recent Study Reveals Why
ZENIT Staff
Only 23% of Catholics go to Confession at least once a year, according to a recent survey by the «Catholic Pulse Report.» Unless priests themselves prioritize this Sacrament — in terms of parishioner outreach, formation of their parishioners, daily time dedicated to the Sacrament, and by going to Confession themselves frequently — the situation will not improve.
Israeli police arrest Jewish man who pushed and kicked a French nun in Jerusalem: here are the videos
ZENIT Staff
Israeli police confirmed the arrest of a 36-year-old suspect shortly after the incident, describing the act as one they view with the “utmost severity,” particularly given the possibility of racial or religious motivation
They give the Eucharist to their dogs, are reported to the bishop, and the diocese issues a ruling: what was it?
ZENIT Staff
The gesture triggered a formal inquiry led by Bishop Joseph Maria Bonnemain. The central question was not whether the act had occurred—it had—but whether it constituted sacrilege in the strict sense defined by canon law
The story behind the feast of St. Joseph the Worker
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The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Black churches know exactly what to do.
Religion News
Service: We have been here before, and each time the Black church did
not simply encourage participation. We enabled it, writes Traci
Blackmon.
The testimony that pushed Camp Mystic’s leaders to announce it will not reopen in 2026*
Texas Monthly:
Investigators revealed that Dick Eastland, the camp’s executive director
who died in the July 4 flood, enforced a culture of obedience that
likely contributed to the chaos that unfolded during the disaster.
The pastor of the nation’s largest Methodist church is running for the US Senate in Kansas
AP: The Rev. Adam
Hamilton enters the race as a potentially formidable candidate, though
it appears likely that other Democrats also will make it to the Aug. 4
primary. The winner will face incumbent Republican Roger Marshall.
The Trump Administration aims to penalize disabled adults who live with their families
ProPublica:
Protecting the support program is “about how the faithful will be
judged, and our care for the most vulnerable,” said Galen Carey of the
National Association of Evangelicals, who is the father of a 35-year-old
son with Down syndrome.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin on her Jewish faith and her slain son's spiritual quest
Religion News
Service: In her new book, “When We See You Again,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin
explores the Jewish traditions her family has leaned on in mourning
their son, Hersh, who was kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, and killed in Gaza.
Is the Church dying or reviving?
Is the Church dying or reviving?
By David Paul Deavel on May 01, 2026 01:23 amWhat is going on in the Church in America? Is She singing a swan song, or is She rising again from the ashes like the legendary phoenix? In the spirit of legendary Yankee catcher Yogi [...]
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Supreme Court unanimously upholds the rights of a Christian pro-life center
By Charles J. Russo on Apr 30, 2026 07:52 pmIn a stunning unanimous opinion, on April 29, 2026, in First Choice Women’s Center, Inc. v. Davenport, Attorney General of New Jersey, the Supreme Court found in favor of officials of a faith-based pro-life pregnancy center [...]
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Sex and the Unity of the Catholic Church
By Monica Migliorino Miller on Apr 29, 2026 08:42 pmFaced with a German Church that may be, at this point, a schismatic ecclesial body, Pope Leo XIV made remarks on April 22nd that stirred controversy and debate. On April 20th, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of [...]
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UK assisted‑suicide push is ‘losing momentum,’ euthanasia prevention advocate says
By Tessa Gervasini on Apr 29, 2026 02:00 pmThere is a “big pushback happening” against assisted suicide, said Alex Schadenberg, executive director for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. [...]
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In thanksgiving for the gift of baptism
By George Weigel on Apr 29, 2026 04:00 amThree-quarters of a century ago, on April 29, 1951, I was baptized by Father Thomas Love, SJ, in Baltimore’s Church of Saints Philip and James. Old Scratch must have thoroughly sunken his claws into my [..]
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Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, April 29, 2026
By CWR Staff on Apr 29, 2026 03:00 amThe Vatican’s Deal with the CCP is Not Working—But Washington Can Help (Providence): “In 2018, the Holy See made a deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in an effort to ‘contribute positively to the life [...]
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The SSPX is now on a clear and direct collision course with Rome
By Larry Chapp on Apr 28, 2026 02:20 pmThe Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), Fr. Davide Pagliarani, has recently given a lengthy interview in which he lays out his case for why the Society is justified in defying [...]
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Vatican warns of political promotion of abortion as an instrument of population control
By Victoria Cardiel on Apr 28, 2026 09:37 am“Integral Ecology in the Life of the Family” is a comprehensive overview of environmental and human ecology drawing on the teachings of the previous four popes. [...]
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Saint Louis de Montfort and his “short, perfect and sure way” to Christ
By Dawn Beutner on Apr 28, 2026 04:00 amSaint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) is best known today as the author of the spiritual classics True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Secret of the Rosary. However, Louis de Montfort probably never thought [...]
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Pope Leo XIV meets archbishop of Canterbury amid deepening church divides
By Ishmael Adibuah on Apr 27, 2026 04:20 pmThe pontiff addressed "new problems" facing Catholic-Anglican dialogue in his meeting with Archbishop Sarah Mullally, the first woman to serve as spiritual head of the Anglican Communion. [...]
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On Colorado’s continuing assault on religious liberty
By Kenneth Craycraft on Apr 27, 2026 01:30 pmIf it’s a day that ends in “y,” the State of Colorado has probably passed another law hostile to free speech and religious liberty. And the state’s persistent animus toward Christianity has been keeping the [...]
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A new history of the unrecognized martyrs of the Christian militia orders
By Casey Chalk on Apr 26, 2026 10:47 pmWhen it comes to saints who were also soldiers, the list is relatively short. There is St. Louis IX, the medieval king of France, who fundraised and led two crusades against the Muslim kingdom in [...]
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Controversy at Catholic school in Georgia over reach of the “ministerial exception
By Charles J. Russo on Apr 26, 2026 04:41 pmAn unusual case arose after the principal of St. Peter Claver School in Savannah, Georgia, elected not to renew the contract of a first-grade teacher, Keshel S. Coates, who finds Catholicism “offensive.” The teacher, described as [...]
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Pope Leo XIV tells new priests: ‘You are a channel, not a filter’
By Victoria Cardiel on Apr 26, 2026 08:04 amThe pope ordained 10 men to the priesthood on Good Shepherd Sunday and later warned at the Regina Caeli against the “thieves” that rob people of freedom, dignity, and peace. [...]
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Seeing Woman through the Eyes of Gertrud von le Fort
By Vivian Dudro on Apr 25, 2026 02:03 pmEditor’s note: This essay was delivered as an address on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at the Symposium on Transforming Culture, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS. “The hand that rocks the cradle”, “The power behind the throne”—both [...]
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Saint Peter, the leader of the choir, the ardent lover of Christ
By Carl E. Olson on Apr 25, 2026 11:00 amReadings: • Acts 2:14a, 36-41 • Ps 23:1-2a, 3b-4, 5, 6 • 1 Pet 2:20b-25 • Jn 10:1-10 It would be difficult to find a more eloquent tribute to Saint Peter than that written by [...]
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Melkite priest finds consecrated host intact after 47 days in damaged church
By Romy Haber on Apr 25, 2026 09:00 am“Jesus was waiting for us,” a priest in southern Lebanon said after returning to his damaged church in the town of Tbenine following the ceasefire on April 17. [...]
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On Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, OFM Cap, martyr for the unity of the Faith
By Donald Jacob Uitvlugt on Apr 24, 2026 01:46 pmApril 24th is the feast day of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen (1577-1622), priest and martyr. St. Fidelis was baptized Markus Rey, born at a time when the Protestant Reformation in Europe was little over fifty [...]
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Tenuous unity and problematic blessings in an age of bourgeois love
By Carl E. Olson on Apr 24, 2026 06:48 am“Indeed it is through chastity that we are gathered together and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into multiplicity.” — Saint Augustine, Confessions (quoted in CCC 2340) “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by [...]
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