By Bishop Joseph Strickland, Pillars of Faith – We live in a time when the world seems to be unraveling before our eyes. Nations are in turmoil. Wars and rumors of wars fill the headlines. Moral confusion spreads like a fog across cultures and generations. What was once clearly recognized as truth is now debated, denied, or even condemned… And many look at this and say: this is a political crisis … a cultural crisis … a failure of leadership among nations… But I say to you today: The crisis in the world is not merely a failure of governments – it is a failure of grace refused, and at times, grace neglected or obscured at the altar. 

By Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Catholic World Report – Our saint of the day, Athanasius of Alexandria, was probably born in that city between 296 and 298 A.D., a hub of the Greco-Roman world at that time, culturally, politically, intellectually, and morally. It was in that city that, centuries earlier, Jewish scholars rendered the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, giving us the Septuagint text, used by all the authors of the New Testament. Athanasius had a stellar education, fluent in both Greek and Coptic—although he admits ignorance of Hebrew.

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – In the rising tide of sexual immorality—or in judging the pitiful state of the world—devout Catholics tend to remember the famous statement by Our Lady of Fatima that “More souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason” (July 13, 1917). Ever since that time, we have been citing this statement as an indication that more souls go to hell for sexual sins than for any other cause. But this is not necessarily what Our Lady meant, and we will certainly not achieve Heaven simply by avoiding these sins ourselves.

By Jordan Sekulow, LifeNews – The Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias – established by President Trump’s Executive Order 14202 and led by the DOJ – has released its landmark 2026 report. It is a comprehensive, government-confirmed account of what the ACLJ has been fighting against for decades. The findings are sweeping, sobering, and, for those of us who have been on the front lines of these cases, entirely unsurprising… This report is a factual accounting – agency by agency, case by case, policy by policy – of how the Biden Administration weaponized the power of the federal government against people of faith. And the ACLJ’s own cases and advocacy are woven throughout its pages.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 14:1-6 – 1 “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. …

By Austin Ruse, Crisis Magazine – Journalist Josh Hammer is steamed at Tucker Carlson  for many reasons, but most recently he is upset because Tucker said, “Muslims love Jesus.”… Hammer is plenty annoyed that Tucker says anything that is complimentary of majority Muslim countries. You cannot say, according to Hammer, that cities in the Gulf states tend to be cleaner and safer than, say, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, or really almost any major American city. ….

By Jacob Airey, Live Action – The Prime Video adult animated superhero series “Invincible” recently stunned viewers with a blatant abortion propaganda episode, involving the titular hero and his girlfriend, Atom Eve… In the series, a couple discusses a female character’s pregnancy and decision to have an abortion… A similar storyline was featured in the comic book of the same name… In both circumstances, the decision to have an abortion was normalized and justified. …..

By Mary Rose, Zeale – Many Catholics can recite many of the prayers of the Mass by heart, but – if they’re honest – can’t fully explain them. The Mass is full of deeply meaningful gestures and words that are widely memorized through repetition but may leave most without a clear sense of what is being done and said or to whom… Theologian Edward Sri spoke to Zeale News about how every element of the Liturgy is legible – if only Catholics are given the tools to understand it.

By John Melnikov, Catholic Exchange – The truth of the matter is that teens want to fight for something meaningful. There is an inherent desire in the hearts and souls of teenagers today to be part of social movements that employ activism for the greater good of a segment of society, or society itself writ large. While this is a wholly noble desire, the problems that arise from desire without focus can lead to internal restlessness, anger, and confusion… Parents can address the desire for meaning through activism ….

By Victor Davis Hanson, Daily Signal Senior Contributor – We’re approaching 60 days of the so-called Iran war, and we’re still getting these loud voices that Donald Trump has failed, that the war’s not going well… It’s completely nonempirical. It’s antithetical to the evidence… Here we are at 60 days, and Iran is losing about $500 million in input per day. It’s running out of storage space in a week or two for its daily output of oil, at which point they either have to stop pumping or they’re going to have—if they don’t stop pumping—their wells will collapse.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – In Rome, a new book by Italian journalist Massimo Franco is drawing new attention to the claim that at the papal conclave of 2025, the electors saw Cardinal Prevost as a strong candidate because they were anxious to recover the confidence of American Catholic donors. Delia Buckley Gallagher, a capable reporter herself, treats that hypothesis as she introduces the book. But I’m not convinced.

By Josh Hammer, The American Spectator – One might be inclined to ask who started this latest bout of mass, iterative gerrymandering. … The reality is that both parties have gerrymandered their respective controlled states for a very long time. That is a tedious and uninteresting observation. The more interesting and pressing question, as this rare mid-decade redistricting war nears its end, is this: Looking at the aggregate nationwide redistricting efforts, which party will come out on top in advance of the midterm elections this November?

By Monica Migliorino Miller, Catholic World Report – Faced 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… First of all, I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters. We tend to think that when the Church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue. The Holy See has already spoken to the German bishops.

By Andrew J. Peach and Peter C. Fulweiler, Catholic Exchange – The Fellowship of St. Joseph (“FOSJ”) is flourishing. FOSJ is a men’s group in Wilmington, Delaware, devoted to the spiritual development of its approximately two dozen members. Started during the COVID lockdowns, the group meets a pressing need among Catholic men hungry for Christ in an increasingly hostile and vacuous culture. Entering its sixth year, FOSJ continues to thrive, with members expressing gratitude for the insight, consolation, and joy of the meetings.

By Joseph R. Wood, The Catholic Thing – The new month brings a trifecta on my ecclesiastical calendar: a full moon, First Friday, and the feast of St. Joseph the Worker… My calendar’s tracking of astronomical events is a holdover from long ago, when the Church had its own astrology. It accepted the possibility of the influence of the heavens on earthly events as natural causes, much as the relative orientation of the earth to the sun causes seasons, and the sun and moon cause tides.