Getting Ready for Advent

 

We call this SoNoGo - South Park-North Park-Golden Hill & Our Mission: to see the baptized who live in SoNoGo worship in SoNoGo

New wesite: https://www.stpatrickschurchsd.org/ 

Saint Patrick Catholic Parish

The Catholic Church Explained

We, the church of Saint Patrick, in the community of North Park,

of the Roman Catholic Diocese and City of San Diego,

declare this to be our primary mission:

to come together to celebrate the Eucharist,

hear God’s word proclaimed,

give praise and thanksgiving to God,

and develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

We believe that by freely sharing our faith, talents, and treasures,

we discover Christ’s presence among us and bring Him to others.

We have a strong desire to give and receive love, service, peace, support,

and fellowship, within our families, our parish, our community, and the world.

Open to the power of the Holy Spirit, we pursue this mission faithfully and lovingly.

“We rejoice in our sufferings,” writes St. Paul

 

A Roman coin bears Caesar’s image, so it belongs to Caesar.

 

Firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter will not be livestreamed

Opinion: A “No” vote on Virginia’s Amendment 2 is more than symbolic

By John M. Grondelski, Ph.D. on Oct 16, 2026 04:00 am
This fall, in addition to electing a U.S. Senator and members of the House, Virginians are also voting on three amendments to the state constitution. Amendment 1 makes abortion-on-demand throughout pregnancy a “fundamental right” that [...]
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Firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter will not be livestreamed, Trump says

By Amira Abuzeid on Oct 15, 2026 11:32 am
The execution of the convicted mass shooter by firing squad is set for Dec. 3. [...]
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Wisdom from Four Saint Teresas

By Peter M.J. Stravinskas on Oct 15, 2026 10:10 am
Editor’s note: This homily was on the liturgical memorial of St. Teresa of Avila, October 15, 2026, at the Church of the Holy Innocents, New York City. Today, the Church keeps the liturgical memorial of [...]
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Eight Rules of Life from Saint Teresa of Ávila

By Dawn Beutner on Oct 14, 2026 08:00 pm
She would have laughed if she had been told that she would someday be named a Doctor of the Church. Teresa de Ahumada y Cepeda (1515-1582), better known as Saint Teresa of Ávila, received the [...]
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Pope Leo XIV sends message after surgery to Vatican conference, asks for prayers

By EWTN News Staff on Oct 14, 2026 04:33 pm
“I ask you please to pray for me, as I pray for you,” Pope Leo XIV wrote. [...]
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Unequal Monsters

By Matthew Becklo on Oct 14, 2026 10:04 am
In Book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, the goddess Circe prepares Odysseus for his trip between Scylla and Charybdis, two monsters dwelling on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina, dividing Sicily and Italy. The former, [...]
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Candace Owens and the sin of antisemitism

By George Weigel on Oct 14, 2026 04:00 am
According to the online Encyclopedia Britannica, Sir Moses Montefiore (1784-1885) was “an Italian-born businessman who was noted for his philanthropy and support of Jewish rights.” In the England to which he was brought as a [...]
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Michael O’Brien discusses Adeodatus, apocalypse, and the spiritual battle

By Paul Senz on Oct 12, 2026 09:03 pm
Michael D. O’Brien is a remarkably prolific author, iconographer, and painter, endlessly creating staggering works of art that break the reader’s heart (in the best way). O’Brien is the author of many tremendous novels, including [...]
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Brace yourself, because woke trigger season is here

By John M. Grondelski, Ph.D. on Oct 12, 2026 08:11 pm
If you have any woke friends, they’re going to need help soon! It’s the worst time of year for certain woke seasonal allergies. I don’t mean pollen or ragweed. The period from October to December [...]
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Speaking to Greeks in Athens, and to a few others

By Paul Seaton on Oct 12, 2026 03:17 pm
This past Wednesday, Secretary Rubio gave a widely viewed speech atop the Acropolis in Athens, largely focusing on the ancient Greeks’ contributions to Western civilization, then applying their lessons to the current geopolitical scene. Pundits, [...]
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Caryll Houselander, patron of artists, mystics, neurotics, and…

By Dawn Beutner on Oct 12, 2026 04:00 am
On October 12, 1954, Caryll Houselander died, a British laywoman with an unusual name and an unusual story. When writer and publisher Maisie Ward wrote Caryll’s biography, Ward subtitled the book “Divine Eccentric,” an apt [...]
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Ethiopian Bishop Semahun says that seeking peace isn’t “remaining silent before evil”

By Ngala Killian Chimtom on Oct 11, 2026 05:24 pm
Bishop Lisane-Christos Matheos Semahun of Ethiopia’s Eparchy of Bahir Dar-Dessie has called for a return to peace in the troubled eparchy, emphasizing that “to seek peace does not mean ignoring injustice or remaining silent before [...]
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Why Creation Matters: The Trinitarian Case for Environmental Stewardship

By Matthew J. Ramage, Ph.D. on Oct 10, 2026 08:00 pm
I was delighted to recently learn that Pope Leo had just authorized the publication of a substantial new study by the International Theological Commission (ITC) on a subject close to my own heart: Caring for [...]
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Opinion: Tuition assistance and Rube Goldberg economics

By Father Jerry J. Pokorsky on Oct 10, 2026 06:21 pm
Commentator M. Stanton Evans once quipped that Democrats want to drive off the cliff at 100 miles per hour, while Republicans want to stay within the speed limit. The ghastly $40 trillion national debt illustrates [...]
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The Wedding Feast, the Lamb, and the Kingdom

By Carl E. Olson on Oct 10, 2026 11:00 am
On the Readings for Sunday, October 15, 2017 [...]
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Eden Without the Serpent

By Anne Hendershott on Oct 09, 2026 09:45 pm
It is clear that John Steinbeck wrote East of Eden to make readers confront biblical evil. Not the softened, therapeutic version that our culture craves and is being portrayed in the new Netflix miniseries, but [...]
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“Celebrating the sacraments brings me the greatest joy…”

By Jim Graves on Oct 09, 2026 04:22 pm
Bishop Michael J. Sis has served as Bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, since 2014. He grew up in Bryan, Texas. He was the fourth of five children; his father, Raymond Sis, was [...]
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Cardinal Tagle elected new dean of the College of Cardinals

By Ishmael Adibuah on Oct 09, 2026 02:30 pm
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who leads the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, succeeded Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re on Oct. 9. [...]
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Pope Francis on Punishment Without Vengeance

 

Written by WPI Contributor

The Pentagon says it will livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, on Thursday, December 3, at Fort Hood — the first public execution in the United States in nearly a century. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the USCCB, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago have all objected, Archbishop Coakley calling the plan “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” Pope Francis addressed the death penalty, and the vengeance that drives it, in Fratelli Tutti, his 2020 encyclical on fraternity and social friendship, in these passages.

There is yet another way to eliminate others, one aimed not at countries but at individuals. It is the death penalty. Saint John Paul II stated clearly and firmly that the death penalty is inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice. There can be no stepping back from this position. Today we state clearly that “the death penalty is inadmissible” and the Church is firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide.

Fear and resentment can easily lead to viewing punishment in a vindictive and even cruel way, rather than as part of a process of healing and reintegration into society. Nowadays, “in some political sectors and certain media, public and private violence and revenge are incited, not only against those responsible for committing crimes, but also against those suspected, whether proven or not, of breaking the law… There is at times a tendency to deliberately fabricate enemies: stereotyped figures who represent all the characteristics that society perceives or interprets as threatening. The mechanisms that form these images are the same that allowed the spread of racist ideas in their time”. This has made all the more dangerous the growing practice in some countries of resorting to preventive custody, imprisonment without trial and especially the death penalty.

Let us keep in mind that “not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this”. The firm rejection of the death penalty shows to what extent it is possible to recognize the inalienable dignity of every human being and to accept that he or she has a place in this universe. If I do not deny that dignity to the worst of criminals, I will not deny it to anyone. I will give everyone the possibility of sharing this planet with me, despite all our differences.

— Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, nos. 263, 266, and 269, October 3, 2020

Photo: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)

How Politics Shapes American Catholicism

 

Written by Arne Conrad

[Editor’s note: I was recently interviewed by Arne Conrad for the German Catholic outlet DOMRADIO.DE about faith and politics in the United States. His article is translated below. —ML]

In November 2025, the Catholic bishops of the United States went public with an unusual special message. They spoke out against the indiscriminate mass deportations carried out by President Donald Trump’s administration. The backlash came quickly, and from within their own ranks. Some laypeople felt betrayed by their bishops, says American Catholic writer Mike Lewis, editor-in-chief of the website Where Peter Is.

Lewis describes “intense pushback from certain commentators,” and says it was not entirely surprising. In the last presidential election, 55 percent of Catholics voted for Trump. Whether they did so because of, despite, or independently of his immigration policy, however, cannot be determined from that figure.

Doctors report Leo’s “steady improvement”

Doctors report Leo’s “steady improvement” as he works from Gemelli

Pope Leo XIV’s doctors said Friday that blood tests and a chest X-ray that morning “confirmed the steady improvement in his overall condition,” and that his postoperative recovery now lets him “carry out normal daily activities entirely independently,” with respiratory physiotherapy continuing. The Friday medical note from Dr. Luigi Carbone and Prof. Stefano Margaritora, released by the Holy See Press Office around 8 a.m. ET, follows Thursday’s report that a chest X-ray showed good recovery of the operated lung. Press office director Matteo Bruni said Thursday that Leo had started back to work and received Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, the Substitute for General Affairs; he has also concelebrated Mass in a room on Gemelli’s 10th floor. The press office also released letters and drawings sent to the Pope by child cancer patients at Gemelli, including one from 18-year-old Giorgia: “Better days will come for the both of us.” Cardinal Pietro Parolin has floated a possible Angelus from Gemelli on Sunday if convalescence allows, while the November Latin America trip remains wait-and-see. Final histology is still pending; the expected hospital stay runs about through Oct. 20, and audiences remain canceled through that date. — Vatican News · Vatican News (Deborah Castellano Lubov and Benedetta Capelli) · America (Gerard O’Connell) · [ES] La Nación (Elisabetta Piqué) · National Catholic Reporter (Nicole Winfield and Colleen Barry / AP) · Also: AP on Angelus planning · [IT] ANSA

How politics shapes American Catholicism

Where Peter Is publishes Arne Conrad’s interview with editor Mike Lewis on whether U.S. Catholicism is splitting along political lines — a translation of Conrad’s Oct. 5 DOMRADIO.DE conversation, with an editors’ note from WPI. Against pushback after the U.S. bishops’ November 2025 migrant message and Nathan Pinkoski’s Washington Post “two directions” thesis, Lewis argues the bishops have long been consistent on immigration in an immigrant Church, that there has been no wholesale leftward shift under Leo, that Catholic voters largely moved with the country, and that while younger priests trend more conservative, 74% of post-2000 ordinations still prioritize migrants. His closing line: “Political ideologies are forming Catholics.” — Where Peter Is (Arne Conrad; interview with Mike Lewis) · Also: Domradio ([DE] original)

Leo to FAO: food is a basic human right; bread must never be a weapon of war

In his World Food Day 2026 message to FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, Pope Leo XIV says regular access to safe, adequate food is a basic human right and that bread must never be a privilege, a geopolitical lever, or a weapon of war. Under the theme “Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow,” he argues hunger is less a technical shortfall than a lack of political will, urges freeing food production from a speculative mentality, and calls for moral audacity — including redirecting war-industry resources toward sustainable agricultural research. The message, dated From the Vatican, 12 October 2026, was read at FAO by Msgr. Fernando Chica Arellano. — Vatican News · Full text (Holy See Press Office)

Trump calls off the livestream of Hasan’s firing-squad execution

After statements from Archbishop Timothy Broglio, Archbishop Paul Coakley, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Pope Leo XIV against the death penalty and the planned broadcast, President Trump says Nidal Malik Hasan’s Dec. 3 firing-squad execution will still go ahead but will not be livestreamed. America’s Kevin Clarke pairs the reversal with Catholic Mobilizing Network’s Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy on the barbarism of public spectacle and the context of Tennessee’s botched execution of Christa Pike. — America (Kevin Clarke) · Religion News Service · Also: National Catholic Reporter

Pope and Holy See

• Cardinal Cupich was “shocked” by the malignant diagnosis but is confident Leo can recover quickly. In an America interview, the Chicago archbishop says advances in treatment and Leo’s fitness give him hope, that an experience of fragility may deepen the pope’s credibility, and that Leo will obey his doctors on whether the Latin America trip can proceed. — America (interview with Cardinal Blase Cupich)
• Who’s in charge when the pope is unconscious? Still the pope. Canon law has no clear procedure for an impeded pope; while Leo recovers, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Curia continue ordinary governance without a transfer of the Petrine office. — Religion News Service (AP)

United States

• U.S. bishops speak out on voting rights ahead of the midterms. Brian Fraga gathers statements from Bishop Daniel Garcia, Archbishop Paul Coakley, Archbishop Joseph Weisenburger, Archbishop Thomas Wenski, and Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David urging accessible, peaceful elections and protection of the franchise. — National Catholic Reporter (Brian Fraga)
• Catholic and evangelical leaders issue a joint call for compassionate immigration reform. Bishops and evangelical partners urge laws shaped by compassion and wisdom rather than fear, marking a rare shared public appeal before the midterms. — National Catholic Reporter · USCCB

Around the World

• Sr. Mary Josephine Ogutu on advocating for persons with disabilities in Kenya. The Global Sisters Report Q&A follows her work for inclusion, dignity, and practical support for people with disabilities and their families. — Global Sisters Report

Video and Podcasts

• Jesuitical: Leo biographer Scott Detrow on the health scare and the Chicago-to-Rome journey. NPR’s Detrow, author of American Pope, joins America’s podcast to unpack the cancer diagnosis and the experiences shaping Leo’s papacy. — YouTube · America (Jesuitical)

Commentary

• Opinion: Catholic higher education has an indispensable moment. Michael Sean Winters argues Catholic colleges and universities face a defining chance to form students amid polarization and cultural pressure. — National Catholic Reporter (Michael Sean Winters)
• Opinion: What Do We Owe the Pope? Where Peter Is digital editor Andrew Likoudis, marking his book To His Face: Indefectibility & the Problem of Dissent, argues that progressive and traditionalist dissent alike can place private judgment above the living Magisterium — a reflection framed by Leo’s cancer news. — Where Peter Is (Andrew Likoudis)
• Opinion: More than a footnote: Amoris Laetitia and the Council’s turn to the person. Marking the exhortation’s tenth anniversary, Msgr. Arthur Holquin opens an essay series that reads Amoris Laetitia in light of the Second Vatican Council’s turn to the human person. — Liturgy and Truth (Msgr. Arthur Holquin)

Also today

• Trump sends Pope Leo “get well” wishes — America.
• Opinion: In midterms, Catholic voters must keep national parks in mind — National Catholic Reporter.
• The power of human connection — Global Sisters Report.
• Catholic activists stress voting and peaceful polling sites — National Catholic Reporter.
• Bishops conclude Vatican family meeting as Leo recovers — America.
• ‘At all cost’? Catholic challenge to Talarico on abortion — National Catholic Reporter.
• Third Space Podcast: Tony Annett on socialism and Catholic social thought — Where Peter Is.

Catholics Are Changing Their Votes in the U.S.: Poll Shows Decline in Support for Trump

Will the Pope Go to South America? Leo XIV Calls the Vatican’s No. 3 Official for an In-Person Meeting at the Hospital. Here’s the Latest on the Pope’s Health

Leo received respiratory physiotherapy and completed mobility exercises, beginning to walk around his hospital room and carrying out daily activities independently. He has also returned to his usual diet, eating both breakfast and lunch. According to his doctors, his recovery is following the expected course.

He walks, eats normally, celebrates Mass, and does physical therapy: what you need to know after Pope Leo XIV’s surgery

Jorge Enrique Mújica

The encouraging signs have prompted cautious optimism, but they do not yet provide a complete picture of his prognosis. The Vatican has confirmed that the cancerous tissue was removed, while the results needed to establish whether the disease had spread have not been made public

Catholics Are Changing Their Votes in the U.S.: Poll Shows Decline in Support for Trump

Jorge Enrique Mújica

The survey, conducted from September 28 to October 4 among 5,062 American adults, including 3,917 registered voters, found that Catholics favor Democratic House candidates over Republicans by 42% to 39%.

Seoul 2027: App for World Youth Day Launched—A Great Resource for Pilgrims

ZENIT Staff

Developed by the local organizing committee led by Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick, the application is provisionally named “WYD 2027” and is available through Apple’s App Store and Google Play in Korean and English

Names denied and properties demolished for Turkey’s Christians

ZENIT Staff

From Azekh (Idil in Turkish) to the village of Anhel (Yemisli), there have been worrying cases of violations of the rights of Assyrian-Chaldeans. In addition to private homes, a guesthouse belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church has also been targeted. At the centre of the controversy is a (Christian) mayor elected with the DEM who has now switched to the AKP.