Catholic Church

By Stacy A. Trasancos, Catholic East Texas - Once out (of church my son) continued to wrestle in my arms, so I pointed to a life-sized statue of the Blessed Mother mounted high on the wall. In her left arm she held the Christ-child, staring out at the world. I had admired that statue many times before, the mother so still, the infant so small. It was beautiful, lifelike. On a whim, I lifted my boy up in the air, as if handing him to her… “Here, hold him for me,” I said. My son stopped wiggling and looked down to see if I was serious, somewhat concerned… “Yes,” I said to him, “I’m giving you to Mary because I need her help….

By Casey Chalk, Crisis Magazine - SB 360, also known as Senate Bill 360, a proposal requiring priests in California to break the sacramental seal of confession, was placed on hold by its sponsor, State Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), on 9 June, right before a hearing on the bill. For months before the vote, activists in California, across the nation, and even in Rome raised their voices against SB 360, securing a victory against this gross violation of religious liberty and Catholic practice.

By Diane Montagna, LifeSiteNews - The “firefighters for the new direction” being taken at the John Paul II Institute in Rome are “struggling” to put out a blaze of public scandal, as controversy sparked by a recent purge of professors threatens to reach the door of the Pope’s residence at Santa Marta… In a new letter published by respected Italian journalist, Aldo Maria Valli, an informed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the “violent upheaval in the teaching staff” and “drastic change in the curriculum and orientation of academic research” has sent “shockwaves” through the Church, and generated a reaction that is “unprecedented in the pontificate of Pope Francis, both in intensity and in duration.”

By Fr. John Nahrgang, Catholic Exchange - Death is swallowed up in victory. These words of St. Paul to the Corinthians sum up in a certain way the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She contended with the Angel of Death at various junctures, as signaled by her confrontation with the dragon in the Book of Revelation. But the Assumption demonstrates that victory eclipsed death so greatly in her life that God would not even allow her earthly body to experience the corruption of death.