News

Out of the Office Until Monday, June 8th – Thank you for your support!

By Francis X. Maier, The Catholic Thing – Now in my late 70s and the veteran of 56 annual performance reviews by a beautiful and highly intelligent Catholic female, I feel licensed to offer a few thoughts on the nature of an acceptably “Christian man,” married variety… In no special order, he must be: a fruitful provider; a good dad; fun, within traditional moral parameters; and an endearing but stubbornly long-term construction project.  This last trait is deceptively vital.  It keeps even the most gifted, crafty, and impatient Christian wife engaged for the duration. 

By Zeale News – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 2 that Alabama lawmakers can revert to a GOP-backed congressional map in the upcoming midterm elections – striking down a federal court panel order that blocked the map and claimed it was “tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.”… The U.S. District court for the Northern District of Alabama issued its order against the adoption of the 2023 map on May 26, meaning the state would have to “continue using a court-ordered remedial map with two black-majority or near-majority districts” …

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, White House Correspondent, Daily Signal – “We now can do it a very straightforward way for the 44 states that don’t have state-based Medicaid plans for us to be able to audit it,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said … “The people that we’re paying for, our citizens or not, in the state-based plans, like I mentioned in California, there’s a few other states, Colorado, Washington, Illinois, they have their own plan, so we have to now audit their plans.”… Oz said in November that “more than one billion of federal taxpayer dollars were being spent on funding Medicaid for illegal immigrants” by five states and the District of Columbia.

By Garrett D. Johnson, Crisis Magazine – St. Charles Lwanga and his companions, whose feast day is June 3rd, are red martyrs. They are patron saints of those served by the Courage apostolate, who are called to white martyrdom by striving to live according to the Church’s teachings regarding same-sex attraction… The inspiration we need to live out white martyrdom comes, in part, from bishops, priests, and deacons speaking clearly about the specific reasons for St. Charles and his companions’ martyrdom ….

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – …. Maria Montserrat Alvarado was born in Mexico City. But she is now a US citizen, and her professional background—first at the Becket Fund, more recently at EWTN—has been formed in the US. At Becket she learned, and demonstrated, how to run an effective public-relations campaign to influence public opinion. As president of EWTN News, she presided over an international media organization that is, frankly, more impressive than the one she will oversee in Rome.

By Linda Pieper, Catholic Exchange – “John Paul II taught that the body has a ‘spousal meaning.’ It is made to express love as a free, total, faithful, and fruitful gift.”… I graduated from high school in May of 1968. With my whole adult life ahead of me and college on the horizon, I wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening in the Church or in Rome. The world around me was in turmoil—the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and its protests, the Civil Rights movement, and the unfolding of the sexual revolution.

By Roger Kimball, American Greatness – Magnifica Humanitas is not only long. It is also prolix. Like the eponymous river in Turkey, it meanders. Its ostensible subject—the threat that artificial intelligence may pose to human flourishing—is counterpointed throughout by nuggets of politically correct sentiment. There is a lot about “economic injustices and the climate crisis” in this expostulation. Also migrants. He quotes with approval Pope Francis’s insistence that we view migrants “not simply as a problem to be managed but as a living image of the People of God on the move.” Leo is also against war, you will be relieved to hear, but he writes as if war were a modern invention. …

By Chuck Donovan, LifeNews – A new report from the Guttmacher Institute from its Monthly Abortion Provision Study estimates a total of 99,470 abortions for January 2026. The estimate follows a Guttmacher calculation of 1,126,470 abortions for all of 2025, or an average of 93,872 abortions per month for that year. The Guttmacher figures are indeed estimates, given the number of abortions taking place at home via the mail, with limited data regarding what proportion of pills mailed are actually consumed by the recipient… However imprecise the data are, they are disturbing numbers that should trouble the conscience of a nation.

By Alex Rosado, The American Spectator – Cassidy, Massie, and Cornyn are out, but they aren’t leaving without a fight. Cassidy may embrace being a nuisance with institutional weight. Massie can prove that a determined backbencher can still force votes and complicate Trump’s messaging. Cornyn, should he choose to go rogue, could use Senate insider tactics to pick and choose fights selectively… These congressional renegades can create visible GOP dissent at exactly the moment Trump and national Republicans need party discipline — a performance that will be remembered far after they leave office. For the sake of the GOP — and America — let’s hope they don’t put on a show.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 12:18-27 – 18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; 21 and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; 22 and the seven left no children. …

By Gigi Duncan, EWTN News – “In observance of the United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026, and rooted in the Church’s pastoral mission of welcome, accompaniment, and solidarity,” the instructions state, the service seeks “to acknowledge and honor the many diverse communities that have journeyed to the United States in search of hope, safety, and opportunity.”…

By Dan Fitzpatrick, The Catholic Stand – Today’s profane, pagan secular society says the month of June is for promoting and praising sexual disorder.  They say June is Pride Month. … You can’t avoid it, as every minute of every day in June you’ll find “pride” on display. … The month-long celebration of homosexuality and other perverted sexual behaviors loudly and proudly promotes disordered sexuality.  The Catholic Church, however, defines such behavior as acts of grave depravity, intrinsically disordered, and contrary to the natural law. …

By John B. Manos, The Bellarmine Forum – While the world argues whether AI will replace us, the Vatican just released a 42,000-word encyclical on the topic and managed to avoid the single sentence that actually matters… It never once said: Man has an immortal soul. AI does not. … Not once… Seventy-two pages later, after all the talk of dignity, imago Dei, and “humanity’s unique role,” the document still refuses to draw the line that separates persons from processors. … Even if you give the encyclical every benefit of the doubt — even if you accept its diffuse, post-Vatican II register — it still fails basic Catholic theology. …

By John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist – But the mass graves hoax in Canada stands as a stark reminder of how the left can, under the right circumstances, gin up a moral panic. … The real story of Canada’s “mass graves,” then, isn’t about residential schools or racism or the Catholic Church. It’s about how liberals are willing to demonize their opponents with outlandish fabrications and calumnies, destroy free speech under the color of law, incite violent mobs to punish perceived evildoers — and years later, when the dust clears and it turns out the whole thing was a hoax, you might get a single editorial to admit that, in hindsight, mistakes were made.

By Elise Winland. Zeale News – Israel pushed deeper into Lebanon than it has in decades and announced new strikes in the country. Trump also said U.S. talks with Iran were still ongoing, despite Iranian reports that Tehran suspended negotiations because of Israel’s offensive… In a Truth Social post, Trump said he had a “very productive call” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “there will be no Troops going to Beirut.” He said any troops en route to Lebanon had “already been turned back.”

By Samuel Gregg, The American Spectator – In economic terms, Europe’s importance is diminishing by the year, whereas the U.S. economy, for all its problems, continues to streak ahead. And although America has plenty of political difficulties, they pale next to those of many European countries, where accelerating bureaucratization and out-of-control welfare spending are steadily crippling the ability of political leaders to reform their economies, let alone tackle the cultural and political challenges associated with severely mismanaged immigration policies.

By Francis X. Rocca, National Catholic Register – By contrast, Olah told the Pope from the dais, AI systems “are not the cold, calculating robots we were promised,” but more like fictional characters come to life. He said that he and his colleagues who are studying AI models “find structures that mirror results from human neuroscience. We find evidence of introspection. We find internal states that functionally mirror joy, satisfaction, fear, grief and unease.”

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 12:13-17 – 13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to entrap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test?

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed a resolution designating June 2026 as “Nuclear Family Month” in the state, declaring that the nuclear family — defined as one husband, one wife, and their children — is “God’s perfect design for humanity… Lee signed the measure, HJR 182, on April 9. It states that the nuclear family has “been the bedrock of society since the creation of the world” and has served as the “basic building block of Tennessee’s society throughout her formative years” and helped foster prosperity within the U.S.

By Fr. Eric J. Banecker, Catholic World Report – Midtown brought its usual array of professionals in business casual attire and AirPods. When I was in high school, one of the assistant principals would encourage us to look at the faces of people on their way to work. He said it would tell you a lot about whether they like their jobs or not. He said this to encourage us to choose a career that we really enjoyed, and that also benefited others. As I looked at the faces of the people on the Avenue of the Americas—many right around my age—I had to wonder if they had the gnawing sense that they had chosen incorrectly …

By Kevin Wells, Crisis Magazine – Fr. Alex was only an infant when his father was killed in war. He and his mother, defrauded of the means of support available to them, were driven into the brush, where they were forced to survive with virtually nothing but themselves. He lived there until the age of seventeen… When he was eleven, his mother could find no more odd jobs. She told the boy Alex that she could no longer afford to send him to school, where he had been an A-student. In the years that followed, Alex fell into a deep sadness. …

By Andrew Peach, Catholic Exchange – Thérèse of Lisieux is justly famous for her “little way” of practicing “little virtues”—“making some small sacrifice” and “always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” Catholic ethics teachers should also follow the “little way,” urging students to fight for the daily good with seriousness and rigor… The first half of my course covered the philosophical and theological underpinnings of Catholic ethics—anthropology, divine revelation, natural law, the natural and theological virtues, the parts of the moral act, and so on.

By Liberty Counsel, (LifeNews) – The study, released last week by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), found that 64 drug sellers (81 percent of online vendors) are willing to dispense Mifepristone to women beyond the FDA’s 10-week gestational limit for the drug. The report also noted that 10 companies are violating federal law by selling “unapproved and misbranded abortion drugs” while eight online-only vendors are violating the federal Comstock Act and state abortion bans by shipping the drugs into pro-life states. …

By Darrick Taylor, Crisis Magazine – the Vatican’s attention economy contributes to the idea that belief or practice X is widespread enough that X can appear to the faithful (or even the hierarchy) as something definitively Catholic, without it actually being a permanent or even important part of the Church’s faith. This overwhelming focus on the papacy distracts Catholics from all the beautiful sources of the Christian Faith that can help us through this vale of sorrow, denying us the spiritual riches of the great Tradition that originally attracted some of us to the Catholic Church in the first place.

By Alden Abbott, The Catholic Thing – But good moral ends do not guarantee sound economic means. The encyclical criticizes market economics for allowing profit, technological efficiency, and concentrated ownership to outrun solidarity. It warns that automation may displace workers, data may become an instrument of control, and the benefits of innovation may be captured by a narrow elite… It therefore calls for stronger public oversight, redistributive taxation, social criteria for innovation, protection of workers, and regulation of AI and data so that economic life becomes more inclusive from the beginning rather than corrected after the fact. …

By Paul Gottfried, Chronicles – In April, I listened to Greg Gutfeld on Fox News’ The Five explain to his colleagues, who nodded in agreement, that the RNC should carefully avoid bringing up social questions in Ken Paxton’s battle with James Talarico. If Republicans don’t heed this advice, he said, they would be acting foolishly and could lose in November. The focus in the Senate race should be on the cost of living, because that’s what the voters care about most, and presumably that’s what they should care about most… These talking heads, it would seem, have no problem surrendering moral and social issues to the woke left. …

By Angeline Tan, LiveAction – US marriage rates have dropped drastically over the past five decades, and a new Heritage Foundation report found that the main causes of marriage decline are cultural changes toward sexuality and childbirth outside of marriage, together with escalating financial and lifestyle expectations linked to marriage… Though earnings for men in their 20s and 30s have remained stable, marriage rates have plummeted, weakening the argument that poor economics are responsible for the decline. …

Catholic Culture – Justin, the son of Priscus, was a Greek by race, and was born at Nablus in Palestine. He passed his youth in the study of letters. When he grew to manhood he was so taken with the love of philosophy and the desire of truth, that he became a student of philosphy and examined the teaching of all the philosophers. He found in them only deceitful wisdom and error. He received the light of heaven from a venerable old man, who was a stranger to him, and embraced the philosophy of the true Christian faith.

By Mary Rose, Zeale News – President Donald Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV’s meeting with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on May 30… (Trump wrote) the mayor is “useless” and reiterating his opposition to Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon… “Someone should explain to the Pope that the Mayor of Chicago is useless, and that Iran cannot have a Nuclear Weapon!” Trump wrote, attaching screenshots of social media posts showing Johnson with the Pontiff… As Zeale News reported, Johnson met privately with Pope Leo at the Vatican on May 28, where the two discussed social justice issues. The mayor also invited the Chicago-born pontiff to visit the city in 2027 and celebrate Mass in Grant Park.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – Hungary’s former ambassador to the Holy See, who has written a new booklet, recalls his first disorienting encounter with the old rite and explains how with this new work he aims to help others approach it with understanding and peace… The traditional Latin Mass has become a point of both devotion and controversy in recent years, drawing growing numbers of young faithful even in the face of restrictions from Rome. …

By Francis P. Sempa, The American Spectator – When Whittaker Chambers abandoned atheistic communism for Christianity in the late 1930s, he told his wife that they were joining the losing side in what he viewed as a great spiritual struggle. Later… wrote (in) his magnificent autobiography… which he described the struggle between communism and Western civilization as a battle between those who believe that “Man” is the center of the universe and those who believe that God is the center of the universe. Communism… is “man’s second oldest faith” whose “promise was whispered in the first days of Creation under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: ‘Ye shall be as gods.’” Artificial Intelligence (AI) whispers the same promise as the Serpent made to Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden.

By Jimmy Akin, Catholic World Report – The Catholic Church teaches that the Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith. But how much do we know about this mystery? What is its history? What does it mean? And how can it be proved?… Here are 12 things to know and to share… 1. Where does the word “Trinity” come from?… It comes from the Latin word “trinitas,” which means “three” or “triad.” The Greek equivalent is “triados.”

By Peter Wolfgang, Catholic Culture – Papal documents are not above criticism. But the criticisms from major right-leaning commentators, in outlets both secular and Catholic, were not always this silly. After 12 years of Francis, the office of the papacy no longer commands quite the same Olympian height of moral certitude in people’s minds than it once did under, say, John Paul II. That may be part of it. Traditionalists all along warned conservatives like, well, me, that “papalotry”—making a sort of oracle out of the Pope—would be our undoing, and that correction now seems to have arrived.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 12:1-12 – 1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. 2 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 …

By Kristen Ziccarelli, The Catholic Thing – And yet, the most important thing about Joan was … the fact that she was obsessed with the will of God. As Alexandre Havard writes from her perspective in “Coached by Joan of Arc: Lessons in Virtuous Leadership”, “my love for France was not the fruit of an extreme patriotism. It is true that my father was a patriot. However, what obsessed me was the will of God. My patriotism did not give birth to my visions; my visions gave birth to my patriotism. My voices advised me to do things I could not imagine; they commanded me to do things I found repugnant. I felt sorry for the French because God felt sorry for them. I loved France for God.” …

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – There are certain sounds that stay with us all our lives… Many of us remember nursery rhymes and lullabies long after we have forgotten so many other things. There is something about the voice of a mother that settles deeply into the soul. Even elderly men and women, after long lives and many years, will sometimes call out for their mother in moments of sickness or fear. Because somewhere deep within us is the memory of what it felt like to be protected – to be watched over – to belong completely to someone who loved us before we had done anything to deserve it. …

By Kate Scanlon, OSV News, (Complicit Clergy) – A group of U.S. bishops, most from the U.S.-Mexico border region, wrote a May 20 letter to members of Congress expressing “grave concern” with budget legislation that would provide an additional $72 billion for immigration enforcement… The letter came the same day Senate Republicans on the Budget Committee advanced the measure, and the day after it was advanced by the Senate Homeland Security and ‌Governmental Affairs Committee.

By Susan Ciancio, Catholic World Report – Mary continually offers herself as the mother we can strive to emulate, and every time she appears to us, she makes known her immense love… Our Blessed Mother constantly looks out for us, even when we aren’t thinking about her… I was reminded of this fact recently when I chanced upon Mary under the title of Our Lady of Charity. I had never heard of this specific title, so I searched the Internet and found a beautiful story of our heavenly mother’s protection and love. ..

By Daniel J. Flynn, The American Spectator – Where do the hearts of Democratic Party primary voters lie? With AOC… AOC looks like the kid in the square on Sesame Street that’s doing her own thing. When one needs to separate from the pack, separating from the pack seems like the smart move. AOC stands out. The rest try — and they have been trying all their life — to fit in. That’s their basic problem. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 11:27-33 – 27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. …

By Gayle Somers, Catholic Exchange – Sunday’s Gospel is different from any we have seen during the long seasons of Lent and Easter.  On Sunday after Sunday, the Gospels have reported actions of Jesus.  They have been passages full of conversations and events that moved His story along, culminating in His Ascension into Heaven and His promise to send the Holy Spirit.  This day, however, St. John gives us a kind of summary.  It’s simple, but what a sweep it has!

By Regis Martin, Crisis Magazine – Here’s a take-home question for you. Are you at home in the world? I mean, entirely and completely at home? Are you, to put it in a boringly pedantic way, perfectly reconciled with your place of residence in a world bound by space and time, a world framed by the window of the five senses through which you perceive and receive it?… If you are not, and there is evidence to suggest that you are not alone—that growing numbers of disaffected people agree with you—what is it that prevents your being wholly at home in such a world?

By Randall O’Bannon, Ph.D., LifeNews – Pro-lifers hoped that Roe’s fall in 2022 would finally bring the end of abortion in America. So far, that has not happened. And some are even claiming that the number of abortions has increased. How can that be?… Some states have tried to protect unborn children and their mothers but others have expanded abortion access. Wealthy abortion funds paid to transport women to abortion-friendly states, while abortionists in “Shield Law” states mailed abortion pills into states where abortion was restricted, flouting their protective laws. …

By Stephen Kokx, Integrity Magazine – On Pentecost Sunday, His Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò issued a blistering critique of the “conciliar and synodal church” and its exaltation of man… Delivered one day prior to the publication of Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas encyclical, the former Nuncio’s penetrating sermon acts as a powerful counterweight to the Masonic-inspired arguments put forth by the Vatican… In his remarks, Viganò explains that that there has been an “apostasy of the highest echelons of the Hierarchy” and that this has produced a “grotesque counterfeit of the true Church of Christ.”

By Kevin Cohen, The American Spectator – On May 7, 2026, a local court in Wood County, Ohio, handed down a sentence that should have turned the national immigration debate upside down. Instead, it was treated like a standard piece of local police blotter grime. Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national, got four to six years in state prison and a mandatory quarter-century on the Tier II sex offender registry for pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.

By Nancy Flanders, LiveAction – MirrorIndy recently highlighted the story of Ann, her husband, and their daughter Althea, who, based on ultrasound imaging, did not have kidneys. Doctors said Althea would not survive more than a couple of days after birth, leading her parents to request an abortion. However, their state of Indiana protected Althea’s life.

By Matthew McDonald, National Catholic Register – A former rector at a residence hall at the University of Notre Dame frequently weighed male students naked and alone in a deserted locker room and engaged in unwanted sexual contact with some of them during a 17-year span in the 1980s and 1990s, an investigative report commissioned by the university found… Victims told the investigator that they reported the behavior of Holy Cross Father Thomas King to various Notre Dame officials over the course of several years, but that inquiries and follow-up were slow and lackluster, the report found. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 11:11-26 – 11 And he entered Jerusalem, and went into the temple; and when he had looked round at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

By S.A. McCarthy, The Washington Stand – Recent controversy over ICE detention conditions at Delaney Hall in New Jersey is emblematic of a much larger problem with a broad swath of the foreign population in the U.S. Democrats recently made a spectacle at Delaney Hall, demanding better detention conditions for illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. According to (some Democrats)… illegal immigrants are being denied basic necessities like food. HHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin, however, confirmed that several detainees are actually rejecting the food provided for them and “hunger striking” instead. Their demands? Specific ethnic foods. …

By Austin Ruse, Crisis Magazine – The priest intones, “Peace be with you.”… The congregation responds, “And with your spirit.”… And then, sometimes it doesn’t come. The priest doesn’t say, “Let us offer each other the sign of peace.” Sometimes—often, around my town—he moves on with the Mass… Is this just a warm and fuzzy break from the solemn Mass, or are we stepping on one of the most important prayers of the Mass? “Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.”

By Casey Chalk, Catholic World Report – Through his profession, (Robert Collins, MD) perceived what makes Catholic thinking different: that our suffering can be united to the sufferings of Christ. Moreover, as St. Paul teaches in Colossians 1:24, we can “complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church.” Just as Christ redeems humanity through his salvific suffering on the Cross, Collins discovers, “we, in union with him as members of his Body, are perhaps playing a role in bringing his redemption to the part of the world that we touch.”

By Dan Hart, LifeNews – A startling new study has revealed that the vast majority of online abortion drug vendors are shipping the pills to women whose unborn children are past the point of 10 weeks’ gestation, in violation of the FDA’s federal safety limit… The report, released by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) on Tuesday, found that 81% of online abortion drug sellers are actively ignoring the federal safety guidelines, amounting to 64 vendors. The study further found that eight online-only organizations are violating state pro-life laws by shipping abortion pills into those states.

By Sophie Starkova, Patriot Post – With a $30 million proposal for one government-run grocery store and now a $22 billion proposal for 200,000 government-built “affordable” homes, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is on track to beat California Governor Gavin Newsom’s record of throwing the most taxpayer money at a problem with nothing to show for it. As usual, whenever affordability is the issue … the Dems’ go-to solution is to spend more taxpayer money, when all that will do is exacerbate the problem.

By Carter Stewart, Chronicles – Media coverage of illegal immigration serves primarily to obfuscate and distract from what should be the most important question: How many illegal aliens live in America, and what do they cost us? Instead, the media manipulates our emotions with fantastic descriptions of children in cages, the terrors of the Darien Gap and Alligator Alcatraz, and the tragedy of the deportation of virtuous “undocumenteds,” who upon further investigation often turn out to be MS-13 gangsters or child molesters.

By Maura Roan McKeegan, Catholic Exchange – Servant of God Don Dolindo Ruotolo went one day to the Carmelite convent to visit his dear friend Sr. Maria Giuseppina. Years earlier, Sr. Maria Giuseppina, on the brink of death from tuberculosis and spinal meningitis, had received a miraculous healing through the intercession of St. Francis Xavier, and Don Dolindo had been present when it happened. The miracle had bound these two saintly souls together in a close spiritual connection.

By Mary Rose, Zeale News – The USCCB criticized the Trump administration’s decision this week to accept South African Afrikaner refugees amid tight restrictions on almost all other refugee admissions, arguing the U.S. should reextend resettlement opportunities to other vulnerable groups, including people facing religious persecution… The criticism came after an Emergency Presidential Determination published May 27 in the Federal Register authorized the admission of up to 10,000 refugees during fiscal year 2026 to address what President Donald Trump described as an “unforeseen emergency refugee situation.” …

The Dynamic Catholic Institute – William’s early years in the military of the Holy Roman Empire earned him the reputation of a fearless warrior, but it was later in life that he won his greatest battles… At 46 years old, an age where most soldiers of that time would consider their greatest achievements behind them, William led a Christian army into Spain to take back control of the country. It was 801 and Spain was under the control of the Ummayad Caliphate, a dynasty that had seemed invincible ever since they declared a jihad against Christians in 793.

By Joseph R. Wood, The Catholic Thing – Much is already being written at the moment about AI and the suitable Catholic response to it. So this column will not be about AI… In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan Karamazov has been driven, by his revulsion to evil in the world, to “rebellion” against God, and perhaps to the edge of insanity. He has written a poem, “The Grand Inquisitor,” which he recounts to his brother, the devout (if perhaps a bit naïve) Alyosha.

By Jeffrey Bruno, National Catholic Register – The Mass was the center, as it must be. Then came the procession. The Blessed Sacrament was carried across the shrine grounds to the Rustic Altar, then to the Historic Chapel, where adoration continued throughout the day. In the blazing heat, people followed. They sang, prayed, knelt, walked, endured, and adored… And Christ was among them… It would have been enough to say that the pilgrimage began in St. Augustine. But that wouldn’t be enough. … Because this was not merely a location. It was a beginning returning to a beginning..

By Lisa Bast, LiveAction – Growing up in a Catholic household, Emily Geiger considered herself pro-life “by default” and never felt convicted to promote pro-life principles actively. She naively believed most Christians were pro-life until she entered St. Olaf College, an institution founded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church… There, she was startled to discover that many young people held passionate pro-choice views.

By Breccan F. Thies, The Federalist – The DHS effort to rein in immigration lawyers committing fraud comes after Trump issued a memorandum in March 2025 recognizing that “the immigration bar, and powerful Big Law pro bono practices, frequently coach clients to conceal their past or lie about their circumstances when asserting their asylum claims, all in an attempt to circumvent immigration policies enacted to protect our national security and deceive the immigration authorities and courts into granting them undeserved relief.”

By Peter Pinedo, Fox News – Bishop Robert Barron said he has been urging Catholics on the left to stop the “demonization” of the Trump administration, even when it comes to highly contentious issues such as immigration and border security… Barron, arguably the most prominent Catholic prelate in America, said that despite criticism within the church of the administration’s immigration policy, “there are darn good reasons, moral reasons, for being concerned about an open border.”… “I don’t think it’s fair to say to a conservative, to a Republican, you’re just being difficult and anti-humanitarian” …

By Dale Ahlquist, Catholic World Report – However, I think there are two main omissions in Magnifica Humanitas… First, while Pope Leo points out that our great technical advancements have created new forms of slavery, he misses the main form of slavery condemned by his namesake: wage slavery. One could argue that the main point of Rerum Novarum is that “more workers should become owners.” Leo XIV does not mention this at all. He does not acknowledge the importance of widespread ownership, which for Chesterton and Belloc was the key solution to modern social and economic problems. Subsidiarity is the small shop. Solidarity is the seed planted in the earth.

By  The Dynamic Catholic Institute – Saint Mariana of Jesus discovered God’s dream for her through discussions with her confessor and spiritual director… Mariana was born in 1618 in Quito, Ecuador. She took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience at the age of ten, but she did not enter a convent. Instead, under the guidance of her spiritual director, a Jesuit priest, she became a solitary consecrated woman and lived in her sister’s home. Mariana spent much of her time in the local Jesuit church, and many hours with her spiritual director, who was also her confessor.

By Martin Grichting, INFOVATICANA – In the Church, the problem of power is even more pressing. There, not all the means mentioned exist to fragment power. Rather, according to the doctrine of the faith and the Code of Canon Law (CIC/1983), the Pope “by virtue of his office possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church” (can. 331). … The Pope therefore possesses absolute power. Does absolute power therefore corrupt absolutely within the Church? If the Church is considered only with human eyes, one would have to say: yes, it does. But if considered with the eyes of faith, this is not true. For there is one single “instrument” to limit papal omnipotence: unconditional obedience to Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, to which the Pope is bound in conscience. …

Author Don Schwager , Servants of the Word – Mark 10:46-52 – 46 And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” …

By Edward Pentin’s Substack – The John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family has issued an open letter sharply criticising the Synod Study Group 9 report on same-sex relations, warning that its proposed “paradigm shift” departs from Catholic teaching and divine Revelation in favour of the “spirit of the age.”… The academy argues that the text is incompatible with the Church’s understanding of Revelation, risks reviving condemned modernist errors, and “touches the very integrity of the Catholic faith,” particularly by appearing to normalise or bless unions based on acts the Catechism calls “intrinsically disordered” ….

By Kath.net – The decrees of the Second Vatican Council were not accepted by all Catholics. Some were content with critical statements, but Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, who also served as Archbishop of Dakar, rejected even key reforms initiated by the Council, including the declaration Nostra aetate – the declaration that regulates the new relationship between the Church and the Jews. Furthermore, he rejected the 1965 liturgical reforms as well as the ecumenical movement. His strict rejection met with fierce resistance within the Church. To institutionalize his conservative stance, he founded the Society of St. Pius X in 1970.

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – “I’ve talked with hundreds of detransitioners across America. We’re all heartened by the news out of Texas,” (Chloe Cole — a detransitioner and activist who says she was prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones before undergoing a double mastectomy at age 15) wrote. “But we’re angry, too. It should have never taken this long to create a clinic dedicated to some of America’s most vulnerable young patients. It’s a medical and moral crime that any child was subjected to a sex change in the first place — and that many are still being pushed down this painful road.”

By Brittany Campbell, LiveNews – Canada made a dark choice in 2016… Instead of investing in more care, support, and hope for people who are suffering, the Canadian government legalized assisted suicide through a program called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). From the beginning, it was presented as a “last resort” for people with serious illnesses — treating death as the answer to suffering instead of offering true compassion, care, and support. …

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing – This encyclical declares its subject to be “On Safeguarding the Dignity of the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” And while this encyclical certainly deals with AI, the heart of the document is much more a positive defense of human dignity than it is a thoroughgoing or definitive critique of AI… Which brings us to the next observation about this encyclical: Magnifica humanitas is, in a way, as much an encyclical about Catholic Social Teaching as it is a contribution to that corpus of teaching. ….

By Jordan, Breitbart News – Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton decisively defeated John Cornyn, a roughly 23-year Senate incumbent, in Tuesday’s Republican U.S. Senate runoff, advancing to face Democrat James Talarico in November after opening a roughly 25-point lead… Associated Press called the race at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, estimating 49 percent of the vote had been counted. At the time of the call, Paxton led Cornyn 62.5 percent to 37.5 percent, with 505,741 votes to Cornyn’s 303,276.

By Matthew Plese, OnePeterFive – The Feast of Pentecost (i.e., White Sunday) is one of the principal feasts in the life of the Church. After Pentecost Sunday and its Octave, we will conclude Pascaltide and begin the Season after Pentecost. Consequently, the Vigil of Pentecost has been a day of required fasting and abstinence for centuries and it was kept as such even through the early 1960s. Catholics should fast and partially abstain from meat on the Vigil of Pentecost to better prepare themselves to celebrate Pentecost.

By J.T. Young, The American Spectator – Pope Leo XIV’s honeymoon with the Left has an expiration date… The Left will soon tire of Pope Leo XIV. This is so certain that we can even affix the day by which it will happen: Jan. 20, 2029. That’s the day Donald Trump will no longer be president… Currently, America’s Left is fawning over Pope Leo XIV. They quote him. They extol him. Of course, he is the first American pope. However, it is not patriotism that drives America’s Left to Leo; it is partisanship. In Pope Leo, America’s Left feels they have another foil for President Trump. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 10:32-45 – 32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; 34 and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise.”

By Bridget Sielicki, Live Action – In the latest episode of Human Matters, host Sami Parker discussed why cohabitation before marriage isn’t a good idea… She pointed to statistics that show that couples who live together before marriage face higher rates of divorce than couples who do not cohabitate… Cohabitating couples and married couples face the same challenges, but those who are married have made a vow and entered into a commitment to stay together, while cohabitating couples don’t have the same levels of commitment.

By Stephen Kokx, Integrity – On Tuesday, May 26, Integrity senior writer Riaan Van Zyl and podcaster The Catholic Esquire appeared on the Integrity Magazine podcast to discuss Leo’s deeply problematic encyclical Magnifica Humanitas… Earlier this week, Riaan wrote an essay about the document titled, “Vatican II’s religion of man on full display in Leo’s AI encyclical.” It has quickly become Integrity’s most-viewed essay published over the last seven days.

By David L. Gray, ThM, Catholic Stand – Chapter Four, “Truth, Work, Freedom,” is where the encyclical’s promise thins. Having diagnosed an “anti-human vision” that equates fullness with “having more” (§112), Leo arrives at work and retreats into the familiar grammar of Rerum Novarum and Laborem Exercens: the value of work, the dignity of the worker, the problem of unemployment, fair remuneration, “an economy that values dignity.”… Leo defends the worker’s place within that system; he does not imagine what labor might be when that system no longer needs most human labor. This is the document’s central omission, and it is a theological one before it is an economic one….

By McKenna Snow, Zeale News – The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) announced May 26 the names of the four priests chosen to be ordained bishops in July, weeks after the Vatican doctrinal chief declared warned that the ordinations, which lack papal approval, would “constitute ‘a schismatic act.’”… In its announcement, the SSPX stated that its superior general, Father Davide Pagliarani, maintains that the episcopal consecrations neither challenge nor deny the Pope’s authority over the Church.

By Fr. Kevin Drew, Catholic Exchange – Why does the Sign of Peace take place after the Our Father, right before Holy Communion? It almost seems to be in a bad location at Holy Mass. At the large parishes I’ve been at through the years, things got loud and disruptive. I would start singing the Lamb of God at the top of my lungs to get people to be quiet. And sometimes I’d get dirty looks for interrupting the community ritual of back slapping and shaking of hands.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – Although I generally admired Pope Leo’s first encyclical, I was dismayed to read, in paragraph 192: Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the “just war” theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated… Pope Leo is not the first Pontiff to say that just-war theory is outdated. Pope Francis said the same thing. …

By Daniel Payne, EWTN News – The U.S. bishops will continue to face a lawsuit over millions of dollars in contested papal donations after the U.S. Supreme Court on May 26 refused to weigh in on the case… The decision represents a blow for the USCCB, which was seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed on religious liberty grounds… The high court did not explain its reason for rejecting the petition from the U.S. bishops, issuing the decision as part of a larger order list. …

By Andrew J. Peach, Crisis Magazine – Americans have lost faith in either party to bring about a just economy. The Left has descended into communism, putting the means of production and the power to distribute property in the hands of the State. The Right disingenuously touts a free market while tilting the playing field toward the rich and wealthy corporations. Whatever crumbs either provides to the masses come at the cost of freedom. Both create slaves—the Left to government and the Right to the wealthy few (and government).

By Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – As a successor of the Apostles, I have a solemn duty not only to preach the Gospel, but also to help the faithful discern the spirits of the age in the light of the unchanging truth entrusted to the Church by Our Lord Jesus Christ… Therefore, I feel it is important to address concerns regarding the recently released Encyclical Letter, “Magnifica Humanitas,” of the Holy Father Leo XIV. Some have found parts of it insightful and compelling. Others have experienced a deep uneasiness while reading it – a concern that, beneath many true statements, the document reflects a broader theological shift that risks placing man at the center in a way that obscures the primacy of God. ….

By Muji Kaiser, Catholic World Report – The persecution of Christians currently taking place in Nigeria was foretold by the Blessed Virgin Mary in a church-approved apparition that many have never heard of… In 1992, the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl named Christiana Agbo in Aokpe… In her first message to Christiana, Mary said, “I come from Heaven. I am the refuge of sinners. I come from Heaven to gain souls for Christ and give refuge to my children in my Immaculate Heart. I want you to pray for the souls in Purgatory, and for the world, and to console Jesus. Will you accept?” …

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – In our highly politicized culture, we often use secular terms such as “issues” or “Church policies” to refer to the precepts of Catholic morality. However, policies come and go. God’s law remains forever. The framework and vocabulary of traditional Catholic moral theology reinforce the moral certainties that uphold our human dignity… The Blessed Trinity is the first mystery of the faith, gradually revealed throughout the Scriptures. The Father is Creator through His Word, Jesus, while the Holy Spirit sanctifies us: Creator (Genesis); Redeemer (the Gospels); Sanctifier (Pentecost).

By H. W. Crocker III, Crisis Magazine – According to the extraordinary research of Dr. Ryan Burge, Catholic seminaries are producing the most orthodox seminarians in living memory. Of priests ordained between 1965 and 1969—graduating in the immediate post-Vatican II world—68 percent described themselves as theologically progressive, and only 16 percent described themselves as theologically conservative. In every subsequent four-year period, however, those numbers shift—and always in the same direction. Of priests ordained since 2020, two percent describe themselves as theologically progressive and 84 percent describe themselves as theologically conservative.

By Carole Lieberman, The American Spectator – It is no secret that RFK Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, doesn’t like psychiatrists, and he has had good reason, based upon his personal life experiences. For example, his aunt, Rosemary Kennedy, was treated with a prefrontal lobotomy at age 23 in 1941, a dark chapter in the history of psychiatry which left her institutionalized for life. He credits his own recovery from addiction to abstinence-based 12-step programs, focusing on spiritual principles and peer support, rather than on psychiatrists or medication.

By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – On May 8, Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Finnish parliamentarian and former Minister of the Interior, announced that she will take her case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This follows seven years of police investigations, two unanimous acquittals overturned by the state, and finally a 3-2 conviction by Finland’s Supreme Court this past March under a statute on “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”… Her offense? Authoring a 2004 pamphlet for her Lutheran congregation, titled Male and Female He Created Them ….

By Danielle Chaffin, The Federalist – Thirty people died in 17 semi-truck crashes caused by noncitizen commercial truck drivers in 2025, according to the Department of Transportation. That number is almost certainly an undercount. Prior to 2025, the immigration status of a commercial truck driver was mostly not recorded in crash reports, court filings, or news coverage. The national conversation focuses on the truck driver at fault for the latest accident, but rarely goes deeper.

By Fr. Paul D. Scalia, The Catholic Thing – Philip Neri had the custom of rising late at night or in the first hours of morning, making his way through the sleeping city of Rome, outside the city walls, to the Basilica of Saint Sebastian. There he would descend beneath the church, to the ancient catacombs, where the first Christians of Rome met for Mass, where so many martyrs slept. In that sacred place he would spend time in prayer.

By Mario Smith, Catholic Exchange – The Catholic view on Renaissance humanism has generally been positive, understanding it as an important cultural and intellectual movement that enriched Christian civilization. It especially views its 13th- through 15th-century forms as compatible with faith, where most of its works were grounded in the dignity of the human person created in God’s image (imago Dei).

Vatican News, St. Philip Neri – When Philip Neri arrived in Rome in 1534, it was as if a light were lit in the darkness of misery that nestled amidst the glories of the Ara Pacis and the lustrous travertines of the noble palaces. The center of the city had the dirty face of the outskirts, and Philip would go and get a small room, in San Girolamo in via Giulia.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 10:28-31 – 28 Peter began to say to him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. ….

By Riaan Van Zyl, Integrity Magazine – Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, arrived with immense fanfare from the sycophantic “Catholic” media, as well as global and globalist attention… Presented as a social encyclical for the age of artificial intelligence (AI), it seeks to apply Catholic social doctrine to the digital revolution in an attempt to mimic how Leo XIII applied it to the Industrial Revolution in Rerum Novarum in 1891. …

By Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – There is an old song by Simon & Garfunkel called “The Sound of Silence.” Many of you know it. One line says, “People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening.” Those words have echoed in my mind as we approach Pentecost… Because we are living in an age filled with noise. Endless talking. Endless commentary. Endless statements. Endless meetings. Endless documents. Endless discussions. And yet beneath all the noise, there is a terrible silence growing in the world and even within parts of the Church… Not the holy silence of prayer. …

By Ray Sullivan, Catholic Stand – Catholic time-travel happens through the Eucharist, looking at the crucifix, saying the Rosary, and remembering the day of your marriage… Catholic time travel? Are you kidding me?  According to the rational mind, we live in the present age, and time travel is only something we read about in sci-fi novels or see in the movies. But in reality, everyone participates in time travel when we look up at the stars in the night sky. …

By Tessa Gervasini, DC Bureau, EWTN News – The 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, “One Nation Under God,” will kick off on May 24 in St. Augustine, Florida… In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the pilgrimage will begin in Florida, where the first recorded Catholic Mass within the future continental United States was celebrated, highlighting the country’s Catholic roots… “We have to return to one nation under God, and I think that by beginning this pilgrimage at St. Augustine, weʼre returning to one of the major start points for Catholicism,” …

By Joseph Pearce, Crisis Magazine – Something weird and wonderful is happening across the globe and is even reaching the grass roots in my own hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. This year, the five Catholic parishes in Greenville (Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Mary’s, St. Mary Magdalene, and Prince of Peace) have seen a remarkable 44 percent increase in the number of adults being received into the Church compared to 2025.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 21:20-25 – 20 Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” …

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – One of the most troubling aspects of arguing with those who hold all the standard popular errors is that false positions are so often advanced and defended based either on personal “feelings” (for which we can often read personal “desires”) or on what “everybody knows”, meaning that counter-opinions are instantly categorized as both inadmissible and personally vicious. Moreover, the intellectual and spiritual darkness is so willfully pervasive that it is hard even to get in a position to open a window to shed some light.

By Ingrid Skop, M.D., FACOG, LifeNews – A concerning trend has been noted from abortion advocates and their media allies in the face of any perceived threat to “abortion access.” As abortion limitations were implemented in many states in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade in 2022, medication abortion utilizing the FDA approved regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol was increasingly promoted ….

By Regis Martin, National Catholic Register – I once had an encounter with a hapless young cow that had gotten itself caught in a bush and, seeing that it was too stupid to figure out how to untangle itself, I simply went over and set the poor fellow free. He quickly rejoined his mother, who seemed grateful enough to get him back… Too bad it wasn’t some poor sheep I’d rescued. Or, better still, a cute little lamb to remind me of Jesus, who seems to have had a special connection with such creatures. Isn’t that why we call him the Good Shepherd? .

By John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist – This week, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced a joint resolution to bar foreign-born U.S. citizens from serving in Congress, the federal judiciary, and as Senate-confirmed political appointees. The Constitution already prohibits foreign-born citizens from serving as president and vice president, but Mace, who is currently running to be South Carolina’s next governor, wants to extend that to other high levels of government.

By Fr. Anil Prakash D’Souza, OP, Catholic Exchange – A few years ago, I travelled to Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, India, to teach classes. My overnight bus to Nagpur was scheduled for 9:30 pm, but it was delayed nearly two hours. I waited at the stop—perhaps dozing off or absorbed in my phone—distracted, not fully attentive. When I finally looked up, the bus had come and gone and was well on its way to my destination. I had missed it.

By Elizabeth Weiss, Zeale News – Celebrated 50 days after Easter, Pentecost  commemorates the Holy Spirit’s descent upon the apostles, marking the birth of the Church and empowering once fearful followers to boldly proclaim the Gospel… According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pentecost reveals the fullness of the Holy Trinity and the Church’s mission of evangelization… As the culmination of the Easter season, Pentecost marks the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to send the Holy Spirit. Before his Ascension, Jesus told His disciples: “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7). …

By Dr. Matt Mehan, Catholic Exchange – Patriotism can be a difficult virtue to practice, but the first step is to realize that it is a virtue and an important one at that. Without getting too technical, we can describe patriotism as the love of one’s civic fathers and mothers. It is a reverential love borne of gratitude for the many goods received from the hands of those fathers and mothers … With America’s 250th birthday or Semiquincentennial coming this July 4th and with Memorial Day coming up in this special year in our country’s history, we might do well to think more deeply about overcoming the obstacles to a deeper patriotism this summer and beyond. …

By Bridget Sielicki, LiveAction – The Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization has announced the installation of its very first boxes in New England — one in Maine and one in New Hampshire — bringing the total number of states offering the life-affirming option of baby boxes to 25… The boxes mark the first time the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization has come to New England… Safe Haven Baby Boxes offer a way for anonymous, legal surrender, and provide an option for parents who feel unable to parent their newborns. …

By Gayle Somers, Catholic Exchange – This Sunday’s Gospel tells us that Jesus surprised the disciples “on the evening of that first day of the week” by appearing in their midst without using a door (locked “for fear of the Jews”).  We wonder if He had to calm them down a bit, because He said, twice, “Peace be with you.”  We can imagine how startled they were.  He showed them His wounds, in case they thought He was a ghost.  Then, Jesus gave the apostles an astonishing commission: “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.”

By Mary Rose, Zeale News – Federal officials announced sweeping new Medicaid fraud charges in Minnesota May 21, accusing 15 defendants of schemes involving more than $90 million in alleged losses tied to autism services, disability care, housing support, and child care programs. The announcement came just hours after Aimee Bock, the “mastermind” behind the massive Feeding Our Future case, received the longest sentence yet connected to that fraud investigation.

By Mary Rose, Zeale News -Emotional scenes unfolded across Miami on May 21 after U.S. officials announced the indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of civilian aircraft operated by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue… Outside Miami’s historic Freedom Tower — long regarded as a symbol of refuge and hope for Cuban exiles — crowds waved Cuban and American flags, prayed, and chanted slogans celebrating an act of justice they had waited three decades for. …

By John M. Grondelski, The Catholic Thing – The dignity of the human person was so central to the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II that it was the focus of his inaugural encyclical, “The Redeemer of Man” (Redemptor hominis). Nor did that pope tire of quoting Gaudium et spes (no. 22) that Jesus Christ “fully reveals man to himself.” Note what the Council says – and doesn’t. The Council doesn’t say Christ “fully reveals God to man” (though that’s true). It affirms Jesus “fully reveals man to himself.”

By Auguste Meyrat, Crisis Magazine – President Trump recently signed an executive order to pull the United States out of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). Affiliated with the United Nations’ Global Compact for Migration, GFMD was one among countless organizations devoted to promoting “the right to migration.” In a written statement, Trump’s spokesman Tommy Pigott explained, “For too long, international organizations have fueled an endless flow of mass migration and have sought to compel Americans to accept the same destructive agenda.”

By J. J. Ziegler, Catholic World Report – 3,035 diocesan seminarians are preparing for priestly ordination in the Latin-rite dioceses of the United States, an increase of nearly 2% over the previous year, according to data published in the most recent (2025) edition of The Official Catholic Directory… Diocesan chancery offices supply statistics to the Directory, which also offers, as of January 1, 2025, an authoritative list of tax-exempt entities under the umbrella of the USCCBs. The statistics published in the 2025 edition of the Directory are thus over a year old ….

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 21:15-19 – 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” …

By Guy McClung, Catholic Stand – A human person is an ensouled body, an embodied soul  –  you can’t have one without the other. The “One Flesh” resulting from a  sacramental, covenantal marriage is not simply a physical-union, nor is it simply and entity of two physically intimate spouses. The 2/1 Person  of a marriage is a totally new individual entity, the result of divine design… “One flesh” appears in both the Old and the New Testaments: Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19: 5-6; Mark 10:8; 1 Corinthians 6:16; and Ephesians 5:31. …

By Ann Schneible, National Catholic Register – The synod working group’s document on homosexuality has broader implications for Courage International… As the hymn O God Beyond All Praising echoes through the church, the atmosphere is bittersweet for marking the end of another annual Courage International conference… It has been a few years since I attended the annual conference for the apostolate, where I worked as communications director from 2017 to 2021, but I still carry with me the stories of the men and women I encountered …

By S.A. McCarthy, LifeNews – President Donald Trump and his administration are restoring a religious liberty office dismantled under former President Joe Biden. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Monday that it is reorganizing its Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and establishing three divisions: the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the Civil Rights Division, and the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division ….

By The Catholic Esquire, (Integrity Magazine) – A new revelation would align quite well with the Modernists’ vision to transform the Church into a new, Synodal institution… The UFO and space alien conspiracy is in full swing now that President Trump has released files supposedly documenting what the government has rebranded as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a strong contingent of mainstream Catholics and Catholic media outlets promoting the existence of aliens.

Bellarmine Forum – ST. YVO HELORI, descended from a noble and virtuous family near Treguier in Brittany, was born in 1253. At fourteen years of age, he went to laris, and afterwards to Orleans, to pursue his studies. His mother was wont frequently to say to him that he ought so to live as became a saint, to which his answer always was, that he hoped to be one. …

By Daniel B. Gallagher, Crisis Magazine – When 60 Minutes is interested in you, you know you’re doing something either really good or really bad. The program’s April 12th segment on the surge in Catholic conversions suggests that the Church is doing something really good. Somehow, we’ve managed to welcome record numbers of converts into the Church, and there are signs the trend will continue, at least for the near future.

By Constance T. Hull, Catholic Exchange – I had a very difficult situation arise in the wake of my father’s death. A person in a position of authority, who by all accounts was filled with light and joy, led us astray. I knew it was false. I battled against it alone. The difficulty for me was the seemingly radiant light and joy emanating from this person. The things they said were half-truths and reminiscent of Pilate, which is why I left the situation deeply troubled in spirit. I was left to fend for myself spiritually ….

By Daniel Payne, EWTN News – The Diocese of Ogdensburg, New York, will pay out $45 million to abuse victims, part of a yearslong bankruptcy process that began after dozens of sex abuse cases were filed against it… The diocese said in a May 19 statement that the diocesan administration, along with “parishes, schools, and other Catholic entities,” would contribute into the settlement, which would be organized as a “survivor trust.”

By Thomas Gallatin, Patriot Post – The United Nations’ climate panel has admitted its extreme climate modeling is “implausible” as it backs away from climate alarmism dogma… “GOOD RIDDANCE!” posted President Donald Trump after the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ditched its use of extreme climate modeling scenarios known as the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5. Trump added, “After 15 years of Dumocrats promising that ‘Climate Change’ is going to destroy the Planet …..

By Nathan Pinkoski, American Greatness – The Italians have a venerable national tradition of commenting on papal controversies. This month, the Italian journal of geopolitics, Limes, has weighed in. They interviewed me on the recent exchanges between Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump… LIMES: Is Robert Francis Prevost an American pope or an American that happens to be the pope? In other words, is he a Roman pontiff or a patriot using his ministry to serve his own country? ….

By  Dawn Beutner, Catholic World Report – Bringing the Good News of Christ’s love to everyone was exactly how Eugene de Mazenod wanted to spend his priestly life… When he died on May 21, 1861, Charles-Eugène de Mazenod was mourned by French Catholics as a steadfast bishop, a zealous religious founder, and a humble and inspirational preacher. A century later, Pope Saint John Paul II named him a saint… Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod.. was born in 1782 into a family that could trace its noble lineage back for more than a century. …

By Daniel J. Mahoney, The American Mind – The great Christian apologist and literary critic C.S. Lewis provides a surprising amount of moral and political wisdom despite not being a political thinker in any formal sense of the term. For example, the three lectures that form The Abolition of Man remain a must-read for understanding the crisis of our time, as well as the path to recovering the wisdom that will allow us to overcome it.

By Diane Montagna, Substack – Jesuit Father James Martin was a key figure behind the inclusion of two testimonies in the Study Group No. 9 report on homosexuality, released earlier this month by the Vatican’s General Secretariat of the Synod… In an article published today in the Spanish-language online publication Página Católica (reproduced below in English), the author of Testimony 1 — a Portuguese layman openly living in a same-sex union — is revealed to be closely linked to the Jesuit priest.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 17:20-26 – 20 “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 ….

By Mary Rose, Zeale News – Federal prosecutors on May 20 announced charges against 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro for the 1996 downing of two civilian planes operated by Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, reviving one of the most contentious episodes in the history of U.S.-Cuba relations… An indictment unsealed in federal court in Miami accuses Castro — who was Cuba’s defense minister at the time — and several other Cuban officials of conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, destroying aircraft, and murdering the four men who were aboard the two unarmed Cessna planes …

By Daniel Payne, EWTN News – The Archdiocese of Baltimore is proposing nearly $170 million in compensation for abuse victims amid its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings there… A May 15 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court revealed that the archdiocese would contribute just under $44 million to an abuse settlement for survivors, while “settling insurers” would pay a total of $125 million into the fund… The insurance amount represents a 25% increase from an earlier proposed contribution of $100 million. …

By Brian Lonergan, Chronicles – While a public debate rages over how aggressively the federal government should enforce deportations, the Department of Justice recently took a quiet but consequential step toward restoring integrity to America’s immigration system… On May 8, federal prosecutors filed denaturalization actions in courts across the country against 12 naturalized U.S. citizens. The grounds for the actions could not be more serious: concealing material support for terrorist groups, committing war crimes, espionage, sexually abusing a minor, and other fraud committed during the naturalization process. …

By Harrison Berger, The American Conservative – Israel has relaunched and rebranded Act.IL, an online campaign originally designed by Israeli intelligence officials at the Ministry of Strategic Affairs to harass and intimidate American critics of Israel… Rebranded as RiseApp, the program is operated by Israel’s Reichman University (IDC Herzliya) and, according to the project’s website, aims to mobilize Act.IL’s existing database of more than 40,000 pro-Israel online operatives to counter what it describes as “antisemitism” and “misinformation.” …

By Jim Graves, Catholic World Report – Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) will be beatified and receive the title of “Blessed” at a beatification Mass on Thursday, September 24, at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri… Sheen was among the most popular and best-known Catholic evangelists and clerics of his time, and was known for his programs on radio and television. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Peoria in 1919, although he lived much of his life in New York.

By Salena Zito, The American Spectator – Since the first American road, the Lincoln Highway, opened in 1913, Americans have found that their relationship with their nation and the roads that connect us north, south, east, and west is almost patriotic in concept… Whether you are on the road for hours or days, whether you stay in your home state or visit multiple others, there is a breadth of history, scenery and experiences that connect all of us ….

By Gavin Oxley, LifeNews – On behalf of more than 300 pregnancy centers across the nation, Seven Weeks Coffee and Americans United for Life (AUL) delivered a letter to Congress today, urging pro-life leadership to stand firmly for authentic women’s healthcare by defunding abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – The HHS announced May 18 that it is reviving a dedicated division focused on religious freedom and conscience protections as part of a broader reorganization of its Office for Civil Rights (OCR)… President Donald Trump created the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division in 2018 during his first administration, but the Biden administration dissolved it in 2023, folding conscience and civil rights work into a single policy division, according to an HHS press release.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 17:11-19 – 11 And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. ….

By Brad Miner, The Catholic Thing – About this time next year, Mel Gibson will release the 2-part sequel to The Passion of the Christ. Better late than never, some will say, although not, perhaps, Jim Caviezel, who so memorably played Jesus, and who has, over the two decades since, spoken with excitement of the ever-imminent production of The Resurrection of the Christ.

By John Melnikov, Crisis Magazine – There is no group of people on Earth more sick and tired of hearing about the ill effects and addictive properties of social media than teenagers. In their homes, classrooms, team meetings, youth groups, etc., Western kids are inundated with warnings about what could happen to them if they fall victim to criminals or manipulators over the Internet.

By Suellen Brewster, Catholic Exchange – St. Therese of Lisieux, after a long struggle to discover what her life as a Carmelite was about, famously said, “My vocation is love!” If she couldn’t be a missionary or a soldier or a priest or any of the other things her wildly generous heart wished to be, she realized that she was to be love burning brightly inside the cloister.

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Catholic Stand – It is important to understand that the people we surround ourselves with have a massive impact on our lives. Our approach to life, the goals we set, and the opportunities we are given are usually correlated with the friends we choose and the relationships we forge… Parents would be smart to pass this knowledge on to their children. 

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – On May 8, the anniversary of the election of Pope Leo XIV, the internet was packed with commentary about how much we now know (or don’t know) about the new Pope’s pastoral plans. I refrained from joining in analysis, because frankly I still have questions about what this pontificate will bring. Next week we’ll know much more.

Bellarmine Forum – IN 1408, St. Vincent Ferrer once suddenly interrupted his sermon to declare that there was among his hearers a young Franciscan who would be one day a greater preacher than himself, and would be set before him in honor by the Church. This unknown friar was Bernardine. …

By Robert Lazu Kmita, PhD, OnePeterFive – Discussing the possible types of government, Saint Thomas follows the classification of the main types of political system used by Aristotle in Πολιτικά (Politics). The first type of government is that of a single individual—the king. If the king is corrupt and comes to ignore the common good, pursuing only his personal interests and whims, he becomes a tyrant, resulting in the worst form of government: tyranny …

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – RALLY ON NATIONAL MALL EMPHASIZES REPENTANCE. Thousands gathered for a daylong prayer rally to rededicate America to God Sunday, marking the 250th anniversary of a day of prayer called by the Continental Congress. In a video message, Trump recited a long passage of Scripture – in part: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – I’ve done a few national radio and podcast interviews since Saturday night, when Bill Cassidy’s career in electoral politics came to an abrupt end. A lot of the national folks are absolutely shocked at Cassidy’s dismal performance. I’m having to tell them that nobody in Louisiana — other than perhaps Cassidy and his wife — is at all surprised. Cassidy didn’t just lose Saturday night. He got clobbered. He finished third with only 25 percent of the vote behind Congresswoman Julia Letlow (45 percent) and State Treasurer John Fleming (28 percent).

By Joshua Arnold, The Washington Stand, (Patriot Post) – “GOOD RIDDANCE!” Trump proclaimed over the demise of the previous alarmist model. “The United Nations TOP Climate Committee just admitted that its own projections (RCP8.5) were WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!”… As he so often does, President Trump showed solid political instincts but a tenuous grasp of the details. Thus, he grasped the political implications of the change at once, “For far too long Climate Activism has been used by Dumocrats to scare Americans, push horrible Energy Polices, and fund BILLIONS into their bogus research programs. …

By Casey Chalk, Crisis Magazine – In the face of increasing hostility towards religion, and especially the Catholic Church, lay Catholics should in fact more fully live their faith… How “out” should Catholics be in the public square? Depending on the part of the country you live in, your career, and even your coworkers or boss, you might have a very different answer to that question. In some parts of the United States, finding a devout, practicing Catholic is about as rare as seeing a protected species in the wild. …

By FSSPX News – Dutch Cardinal Willem Eijk has also raised his voice against the final report of Study Group No. 9 of the Synod on Synodality. In an opinion piece published on May 14, 2026, by the National Catholic Register, the Archbishop of Utrecht and Primate of the Netherlands asserts that this document is not simply a pastoral reflection, but a direct attack on Catholic moral doctrine.

By Donald DeMarco, National Catholic Register – Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America’s most outstanding novelists, had a deep respect for the Catholic Church, although he never became a Catholic. He did have a strong influence on his daughter Rose, who not only embraced the Church but also founded what has come to be known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.

By Sumantra Maitra, Chronicles – In recent days, the Pentagon under President Trump has demonstrated its intention to reduce America’s presence in Europe. The Pentagon canceled the rotation of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in Poland, right after it decided to reduce troop presence in Germany and to close the Norfolk NATO training base, shifting them to France.

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – Immediately preceding His Ascension into heaven (cf. Matthew 28:16-20), Jesus commands His followers to make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Blessed Trinity, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” He concludes with an astounding promise: “And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” …

By Dr. Pamela Mandela, Catholic Stand – For centuries, the Catholic Church has set aside the month of May as a special time to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary. This tradition, which fully blossomed in the nineteenth century, invites the faithful to crown statues of Our Lady, pray the Rosary, and set up small “May altars” in homes and parishes. It is a month of flowers, filial love, and gentle devotion.

By Eddie Scarry, The Federalist – Republicans, take note: While it’s supposedly a major party foul to question the results of an election (at least when Republicans do it), it’s apparently just fine to undo the results when they don’t go your way. That should be really useful information going forward… A couple of prominent Democrats made those rules very clear in recent days, and, whaddayaknow, there wasn’t a peep out of our great democracy defenders in the dying news media. …

By Fr. Perricone, Substack, Complicit Clergy – Sermon of Father John A. Perricone on the Sunday After Ascension preached on Sunday, May 17th, 2026 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Hackensack, New Jersey. Father encourages Catholics to remain faithful amid confusion and suffering in the Church by remembering that Our Lord foretold these trials and uses them to deepen our fidelity and love for Him.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 17:1-11 – 1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ….

By Jarrett Stepman, Columnist, The Daily Signal – “Mainstream” Democrats are doing a good job right now of telegraphing to America what they plan to do with national power the second they get it back. They plan to make it permanently theirs, by any means necessary… You can be sure that they will be even more maniacally committed to this agenda following the Supreme Court’s 9-0 striking down of Virginia’s absurdly biased redistricting plan that would have effectively locked the GOP entirely out of power despite it being a divided state.

Patriot Post – “The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.” —James Madison (1788)

By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – On the Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19, Pope Leo XIV announced that he is convening the presidents of the world’s Episcopal Conferences in Rome this October. The occasion is the tenth anniversary of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The purpose of the meeting, in his own words, is “to proceed, in mutual listening, to a synodal discernment on the steps to be taken in order to proclaim the Gospel to families today.”

By INFOVATICANA – Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, Athanasius Schneider, has launched a harsh criticism against the recent document from study group number nine of the Synod on Synodality, which he accused of promoting the LGBT agenda within the Church and containing “heretical” positions contrary to Catholic doctrine. At the same time, the prelate publicly called on Pope Leo XIV not to excommunicate the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) if it proceeds with the episcopal consecrations scheduled for next July 1.

By Kevin Wells, Wellspring – At the rise of the moon at Metanoia Manor, shadows will move across bedroom walls like processions of ghosts. Screams split the stillness of this hidden corner of Louisiana, and are swallowed whole by the silvery-gray moss hanging like tinsel from ancient live oaks… Yet this place of terror and nightmares is no House of Usher. It is a sacred place—a humble kingdom of resurrection for the world’s most ruthlessly wounded children. Metanoia Manor is a refuge, a safe place where blood-curdling screams are met with religious sisters who were sent by God to love His most bullied children.

By Joy Pullmann, The Federalist – Many families I know are cutting summer road trips due to the highest gas prices many of us have ever seen. That’s especially sad given this national semiquincentennial should be the year of extra roadtrips to visit historical and commemorative sites and activities. The United States has such breathtakingly distinct landscapes, completely unlike any other place in the world.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – A rapidly growing pilgrimage in western France is showing how a new Catholic movement can be successfully founded by focusing on mission, tradition and heritage… The Feiz e Breizh pilgrimage, meaning “Faith in Brittany,” began in 2017, the initiative of four lay Catholic friends and backed by their local ordinary, Bishop Raymond Centène of Vannes.

By Mary Rose, Zeale News – Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said lawmakers heard testimony detailing the allegations that prisoners of conscience and religious minorities in China are being systematically targeted for forced organ harvesting, as he urged the Senate to advance legislation aimed at combating the practice.

By Gaetano Masciullo, The European Conservative – This urgent crisis for the Vatican dicasteries is the ecological crisis. For this reason, the text goes so far as to suggest that a Catholic family, in order truly to be such, cannot exempt itself from educating its members in ecological respect. Indeed, that the very concept of Catholic spirituality includes an “integral ecological” consciousness.

By Paul Suski, Catholic Exchange – On May 18, as the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception marks the birthday and liturgical memorial of its founder, St. Stanislaus Papczynski, it is fitting to reflect on this. One of the Congregation’s three principal aims is to help the dead suffering in Purgatory, especially the victims of wars and epidemics.

By Lou Aguilar, The American Spectator – Along time ago, the 20th Century, Hollywood knew how to make movies that entertained and enlightened. Their writers weren’t young saps indoctrinated by academia-boosted French Theory with disdain for more than half the audience, or DEI hires filling a quota. They were artists who respected the world they lived in and the history they inherited, whether they liked it or not. Any criticism of either came through in their storytelling, rather than sermonizing to people who know better than they.

By Mary Rice Hasson, Catholic World Report – A Synod Study Group Report (“Report”) published in early May has drawn searing criticism and predictable plaudits for its “paradigm shift” towards same-sex sexual relationships. New reports that Fr. James Martin, SJ, the founder of Outreach, an “LGBTQ Catholic Ministry,” likely secured publication of the two controversial testimonies in the Vatican Report are no surprise, if true.

By Carl E. Olson, Catholic World Report – May is designated by the Church as the Month of Mary. It is the time of the year in which we especially celebrate the many graces and virtues of the Blessed Mother of Our Lord—her sinlessness, her dedication and constancy, her solace for sinners, and any of a long list of attributes and patronages… St. Mary is an icon of devotion and docility, providing the model of how to say, “be it done according to your will.” …

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – The crisis of our age is not merely rebellion against truth. It is the slow training of souls to forget it… Not all at once. Not through open hatred of Christ in every case. Not always through direct attacks against the Church. The enemy has learned a quieter strategy, a more subtle corruption. If souls can be taught to forget, then eventually they will surrender truths they once would have died defending… And so we find ourselves living through a crisis of forgetting. …

By Brianna Lyman, The Federalist – When President Donald Trump descended the escalator in June of 2015, he reminded Americans of something many of their leaders had forgotten: “Our country has tremendous potential. We have tremendous people.”

By Margo White, Crisis Magazine – The emergence of MAHA in the Republican Party is blurring political lines and reshaping American politics for the better… Many of us are mothers—or hope to be mothers one day. Some of us work outside of the home and then come home to our more important roles of being mothers and wives… Regardless of our current situation, we care deeply about the health of our children and are increasingly skeptical of industrially-produced food and the harmful ingredients used in their production and to increase their shelf life.

By Cardinal Willem Eijk, National Catholic Register – By elevating such testimonies without doctrinal commentary, the report effectively normalizes homosexual relationships within a Church context… The recently published report from Synod Study Group 9 represents a troubling departure from the Catholic Church’s consistent moral teaching. While the authors claim they lack “the expertise or, above all, the necessary ecclesiastical authorization” to address individual moral issues definitively, the report’s methodology and framework systematically undermine the Church’s ability to proclaim and apply her moral doctrine. …

By Robert G. Marshall, Catholic Culture – Secularist politicians, primarily state and federal elected Democrats, seem personally and constitutionally driven to turn what Christian Ethics previously held to be private vices into public virtues, if not actual legal obligations, which are to be funded with public money… Here I will analyze these efforts which have occupied public discussion in the last several years as both ordinary legislation and voter-passed amendments to State Constitutions.

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, LifeNews – The acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration has promised to prioritize a safety review of the abortion pill after his predecessor was accused of delaying it, pro-life leaders say… Though the Trump administration is reportedly soon picking a permanent commissioner to lead the agency, Diamantas promised he will be the “most pro-life FDA commissioner that the FDA has ever had” …

By Matthew McDonald, National Catholic Register – The Vatican has authorized an investigation of Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca over the way he handled a complaint against a pastor accused of soliciting sex from an adult parishioner and reminiscing over purported past sex acts with boys, according to an official Church communication to a whistleblower.

By Stephan Kapustka, The American Spectator – Republicans have been on a roll in the redistricting wars as of late. However, some Republican state legislators in many states appear to be wary of fully pressing their new advantages. In doing so, they threaten to leave winnable congressional districts that could decide the majority on the table.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – The top pro-life bishop for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Congress to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business once again this year… Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wants Congress to block Planned Parenthood from receiving millions more in taxpayer dollars through the Title X family planning program.

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing – Whether the Evil One is operative in many of the current approaches to Scripture – in university departments and some Church circles – is a question best left to true authorities and even exorcists. But there’s no question that the people who wrote Final Report of Study Group Number 9: Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for Shared Discernment of Emerging Doctrinal, Pastoral, and Ethical Issues, which appeared just last week, were engaged in serial Scriptural abuse. …

By Mary Rose, Zeale News – The White House released a sweeping new counterterrorism strategy that calls for “the rapid identification and neutralization” of violent extremist domestic political groups, especially those it describes as anti-American, anarchist, and radically pro-transgender.

By Father Jerry J. Pokorsky, Catholic World Report – When life is separated from Christ, it does not become freer or fuller—it becomes spiritually unfruitful. We lose the life of His saving grace… Jesus makes it clear that there is a distinct relationship between love, keeping His commandments, and bearing fruit. God’s law, authentic Christian love, and life in abundance are inseparable. The unity helps us reject popular cultural patterns with false promises of fulfillment….

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito had some choice words for their Supreme Court colleagues on Thursday over their “remarkable” decision “undermin[ing]” the court’s historic Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade…. The stinging rebukes came in an order the high court handed down to temporarily pause an appellate court ruling that halted a Biden-era FDA rule allowing the mailing of mifepristone to women without an in-person doctor visit. …

By Nancy Flanders, Live Action – The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision on May 14 stating that the abortion pill can continue to be dispensed through the mail as Louisiana’s lawsuit proceeds… Following the filing of a lawsuit by the State of Louisiana that sought to reverse the FDA’s 2023 changes to abortion pill regulations, the Fifth Circuit paused mail order dispensing… The abortion pill manufacturer Danco Laboratories filed an emergency application before the Supreme Court on May 2, requesting a stay be placed on the Fifth Circuit’s decision. …

By Gayle Somers, Catholic Exchange – Ascension Sunday presents a paradox:  Jesus leaves His apostles for Heaven, but He assures them He is always with them.  What kind of departure was this?… Gospel (Read Mt. 28:16-20) … Sunday’s Gospel records the end of Jesus’ forty days of post-Resurrection appearances and teaching.  The account of what actually happened during those days is quite spare. 

By Regis Martin, Crisis Magazine – The Final Report of Study Group 9 of the Synod on Synodality is a jaw-droping attack on Scripture and everything that the Church has ever taught concerning sodomy… Is sodomy no longer a sin? Are instances of same-sex attraction among those inclined to commit it no longer to be viewed as a disorder? Will the sacrament of marriage soon be administered to couples in committed homosexual relationships?… Has the Church, in other words, changed her mind on the subject of sexual perversion, no longer insisting sodomites cease and desist from a practice that, until quite recently, she had unequivocally condemned?

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – Many faithful Catholics were shocked last week when a Vatican document quoted a man who proclaimed his homosexual inclination a “gift from God.” They were shocked again when they learned that the pop song “Dancing Queen”—widely recognized as a “gay anthem”—had been played by a visiting band at the Pope’s weekly public audience.

By Josh Hammer, The American Spectator – Because of the breadth and depth of its impact and lasting influence, the Divine Revelation at Sinai was the logical starting point for what we now call Western civilization. Writing thousands of years later at another inflection point in human history, Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist No. 31: “In disquisitions of every kind, there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasonings must depend.” In the United States specifically, and in Western civilization more generally, it was long obvious what those “primary truths” and “first principles” actually meant: the Word of God Himself.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic  Register – The final report of the Synod on Synodality’s Study Group 9 has drawn widespread criticism since its publication last week — not least for what its authors wrote about Courage International… A respected and canonically approved Catholic apostolate, since 1980 Courage International has been providing spiritual support to men and women experiencing same-sex attractions who wish to live chastely according to Church teaching. …

By Gregory Lyakhov, Patriot Post – The perception of neutrality can be far more influential because most Americans still fail to recognize the political slant that shapes coverage… For years, conservatives have operated under a fairly obvious assumption: mainstream media institutions are hostile to Donald Trump and, more broadly, hostile to right-leaning political movements… At this point, that observation is not particularly controversial. …

By David G Bonagura, Jr., The Catholic Thing – Mother Church is still celebrating the record number of converts who were  received into her family at Easter. Her task now, like that of all mothers, is to nourish her children so they grow in wisdom, age, and grace before God and man. As mothers with adult children know well, this task has no expiration date: the Church dispenses the gifts of salvation to each child until his final breath.

By Gigi Duncan, National Catholic Register – When a newly ordained priest celebrates his first Mass, one of his final gestures is often not toward the congregation, but toward his mother… In his hands is a simple strip of linen — a manutergium, used days earlier at his ordination to wipe the sacred chrism oil from his newly anointed hands. At the end of the Mass, he places it in her hands, entrusting her with a quiet but profound symbol of his vocation: one she will carry, by tradition, to the grave. …

By Arthur Schaper, American Greatness – The Dignity Act is amnesty dressed up as enforcement, proving once again that too many in Congress still value cheap labor over America’s borders, laws, and sovereignty… The DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act is all the indignant rage on Capitol Hill. It’s another immigration bill, putting out legal status for those in the country illegally, provided that they work and pay taxes.

By David Catron, The American Spectator – Probably the best description from a constitutional scholar on this failed Democrat gerrymandering scheme was offered by Jonathan Turley who wrote, “Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the Democratic establishment … tossed aside any pretense of principle in a raw political gambit. The resulting faceplant is nothing short of legendary: Spanberger’s Democrats have succeeded in alienating half of the state.”

By Roger D. McGrath, Chronicles – Chinese birth tourism and birth surrogacy to gain U.S. citizenship are the consequence of a misapplication of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, which was intended to do nothing more than prevent states from disenfranchising freed slaves by declaring them noncitizens. While brilliant legal minds endlessly manipulate the meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” our country’s sovereignty is being trashed and our people replaced.

By Scott Ventureyra, Crisis Magazine – Extending beyond Wilcock’s death, there have been the strange recurring reports of scientists, engineers, and officials connected to sensitive fields whose deaths or disappearances have raised further questions. Some reports have identified at least 10 to 12 scientists and researchers who have died or gone missing between 2022 and early 2026, many of whom were connected to nuclear or aerospace research, or other related fields. These would include figures such as Amy Eskridge (d. June 11, 2022), an anti-gravity researcher, and William Neil McCasland  ….

By Fr. Gerald E. Murray, The Catholic Thing – The Synod office has decided that it is necessary to publish the claim of a lobbyist for the homosexual lifestyle that the Catholic Church has harmed people with the “hateful arrows of homophobia.” Is this claim an example of the “sense of faith of the faithful”? Or a repudiation of the Faith of Christ on behalf of immorality?… This Vatican-sponsored destructive subversion must come to an end now. Souls are endangered by the scandalous false teachings being propagated by the Synod. Pope Leo needs to strengthen the brethren in the Faith by putting an end to this poisonous betrayal of God’s truth.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 15:26-16:4 – 26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; 27 and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. [John 16] 1 I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. …

By Peter Van Buren, The American Conservative – The Iran War may prove to be little more than a blip on the world’s radar. Or its real significance may lie less in who wins militarily than in whether it accelerates global recognition that the United States is no longer willing or able to enforce the international order it created after 1945… There is a strong argument that, even as the missiles continue to fly, the war is not that significant. It appears today the most likely outcome will be a return to something like the status quo in the Middle East.

By Russell M. Lawson, Catholic Exchange – In his first encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI looked over the course of his life, beginning before World War II, throughout which he witnessed firsthand the propensity of human beings to hate, interspersed with episodes of what the world called “love.” Love, he reflected, “has become one of the most frequently used and misused of words, a word to which we attach quite different meanings.” The misuse of love is the possessiveness that it entails, as humans seek material items ….

By Joseph Pronechen, National Catholic Register – May is the perfect time to celebrate Mother’s Day because it comes in the month dedicated to the greatest mother of all — the Blessed Virgin Mary. Considering both together, the Register asked some Catholic mothers to share their favorite Marian devotions…. While the Cowden home loves to honor the Blessed Mother with flowers year-round, they have a special floral-themed custom specific to the month of May. ….

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – On Mother’s Day, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched Moms.gov, a groundbreaking website for new and expecting mothers. This first-of-its-kind resource offers guidance and information to support the health and well-being of mothers and their families… Moms.gov also supports expecting parents who are navigating difficult or unexpected pregnancies. It features information about pregnancy centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers, nutritional guidance, Trump Accounts, and other resources that allow maternal and infant health to thrive.

By Angeline Tan, Live Action – In an incredible nod to the sanctity of life and medical ingenuity, Mia Pruzin of Shaker Heights, Ohio, triumphed over Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma while pregnant, delivering her baby girl Vivienne at 36 weeks and achieving full remission. Now, she is joyfully celebrating her first Mother’s Day as a cancer-free mom.

By Emily Chaffins, Catholic Exchange – When I was a teenager, my mom received a thyroid cancer diagnosis. This moment was particularly difficult for her because, when she was 15, cancer had claimed the life of her own mother. She told me later that getting cancer when my sister and I were kids was her worst nightmare… Originally from Cuba and raised in Miami, Florida, my mom grew up in a Catholic family that did not consistently practice their faith. However, when my grandmother was dying, my mom discovered the power of the rosary, which played a huge factor in her rediscovering the Faith several years later. …

By Star Parker, Patriot Post – The abortion issue won’t go away, as so many politicians wish it would… It persists because the discussion and debate are about our very existence. What is life?… The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, which has defined the abortion landscape in the United States since 1973. That landscape defined a right to abortion protected by the U.S. Constitution.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – The final report of Study Group 9 includes testimonies from ‘married’ gay men, questions whether same-sex relations are sinful, and draws strong criticism for its treatment of Courage International… A study group’s final report from the 2024 Synod on Synodality released Tuesday has been roundly criticized for attempting to change the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and for misrepresenting an apostolate, in good standing with the Church, that ministers to same-sex-attracted faithful.

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – We are watching Catholicism increasingly presented not as the narrow road to salvation, but as a vague humanitarian project designed to offend no one. And this confusion reaches even deeper… Many Catholics no longer hear about: Judgment, Hell, Sacrifice, Penance, Chastity, Mortification, The necessity of confession, The reality of spiritual warfare, Or the eternal consequences of sin… Instead, too often they hear a gospel of perpetual affirmation. But a gospel without repentance is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Lord did not say, “Remain as you are.” He said: “Go, and now sin no more.”  

By Joseph Pearce, Crisis Magazine – If the Church is to continue to transform and humanize the world, how can she dispense with beauty in her liturgies, that beauty which is so closely linked with love and with the radiance of the Resurrection?  ~Cardinal Ratzinger… This question, asked by the future Pope Benedict XVI, is purely rhetorical. The answer is that the Church cannot continue to transform and humanize the world if she dispenses with the beauty of the liturgy. “Without this,” Cardinal Ratzinger continued, “the world will become the first circle of hell.” …

By Bishop Louis Tylka, National Catholic Register – Archbishop Fulton Sheen offered 4 million listeners (a week) around the world much-needed truth on the radio with The Catholic Hour. The now-Venerable Fulton Sheen is revered as one of the most effective evangelists for Jesus Christ… Very soon, he could become the first American native-born bishop to be canonized a saint… As bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, where Fulton Sheen was born, ordained a priest, and first answered God’s call, I know how gravely the world needs Fulton Sheen’s legacy: clarity in confusion, hope in anxiety, truth spoken with love, and a reminder that life is worth living because it is rooted in Christ.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 15:18-21 – 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, `A servant is not greater than his master.’ …

Bellarmine Forum – GREGORY was born of saintly parents, and was the chosen friend of St. Basil. They studied together at Athens, turned at the same time from the fairest worldly prospects, and for some years lived together in seclusion, self-discipline, and toil. Gregory was raised, almost by force, to the priesthood; and was in time made Bishop of Nazianzum by St. Basil, who had become Archbishop of Cæsarea.

By Mark Haas, Catholic Exchange – Amid a world ripe with uncertainty, fear, and sorrow, the Catholic Church stands as a loving and consoling mother, guiding her children toward the eternal embrace of Jesus Christ in heaven. The Catholic Church describes herself as a she. She is not merely an institution or an assembly of believers—she is a living, breathing organism: the Bride of Christ. She is our spiritual Mother, nurturing us along our journey toward heaven.

By Richard K. Vedder, The American Spectator – Not only has DEI lowered productivity and thereby the standard of living, but the Star Chamber-like behavior of some DEI administrators of campus and probably corporate dealings with managers, unquestionably, sometimes led to fear, intimidation, self-censorship, and a decline in true freedom of speech and expression. The recent attacks on the academy by governments, wealthy donors, and others are at least partly justified by what economists call the “negative externalities” associated with the growth of DEI practices that originated largely on college campuses before spreading to corporate America.

By Chris Jackson, Hiraeth In Exile, Substack – Rome can tolerate ambiguity on sin, bishops who undermine marriage, synodal reports that place divine revelation under pastoral review, and German defiance. It can tolerate obscene slogans in the shadow of St. Peter’s. It can tolerate almost anything… But let Tradition secure bishops for survival, and suddenly everyone remembers law, unity, obedience, hierarchy, and wounds to the Mystical Body… How convenient. …

By Craig Bannister, MRC TV – On Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied a last-ditch effort to stop Louisiana from immediately complying with the High Court’s ruling requiring redistricting to erase the state’s race-based map, setting the stage for the redistricting effort to begin on Friday… “A Louisiana legislative committee that oversees redistricting will meet Friday to hear public comments on a new congressional district map after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the existing version,” Louisiana Illuminator reported Monday, citing State Senator Caleb Kleinpeter (R-Port Allen) …

By Kennedy Hall, Crisis Magazine – The word “prudent” gets thrown around a lot, and it is often misused. Recently, a friend posed a question to me about the prudence of the forthcoming SSPX consecrations, and it was not the first time I had been asked. There are, of course, many people who are sympathetic to the Society of St. Pius X to varying degrees. The consecration of bishops without papal approval, however, is something that troubles many consciences, for obvious reasons.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 15:12-17 – 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. …

By Justin Logan and Sumantra Maitra, The Federalist – President Trump is right to withdraw troops from Germany and from Europe. Neocon Republicans and Democrats are wrong. There is already a template for a rapid withdrawal from Europe: the one that took place after the end of the Cold War — incidentally, also the last era when the U.S. had a balanced budget. Our only criticism is that Trump’s current withdrawal numbers don’t go far enough. (In fairness, the president promised on Saturday that he is “going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”)

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – Secretary of State Marco Rubio met privately with Pope Leo XIV and other Vatican officials May 7 to discuss the Middle East, the Western Hemisphere, and the need to promote peace and human dignity, according to statements from the Vatican and U.S. officials… The discussions reaffirmed the “shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America,” according to a translation of the Vatican statement. …

By Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Contributor, The Daily Signal – Gerrymandering, or the protocol where states allot congressional seats by population, is in the news recently, and some states do it transparently politically, depending on the makeup of their state legislatures. Others go through the operation, sometimes genuine, sometimes not so much, of having a nonpartisan body redistrict… Now we’re in a gerrymandering war where some of the states are trying to redistrict and improve either the Democratic or Republican turnout. …

By Michael Haynes, European Conservative – The Catholic Church’s prohibition on the use of contraception is clear and unchanging, yet the tragic demise of the Vatican academy tasked with examining such matters is so great that its president remains unable to say whether he agrees with Church teaching or not… In a world heavily permeated by sexual proclivity and the complete degradation of morals and ethics relating to the sanctity of life, the clear guiding hand of the Church is sorely needed. Her teachings on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and sexuality are widely unpopular but increasingly serve as the last bastion in the defense of life.

By Bellarmine Forum – By Bellarmine Forum – Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel – IT is manifested, from the holy Scriptures, that God is pleased to make frequent use of the ministry of the heavenly spirits in the dispensations of His providence in this world, and especially towards man. Hence the name of Angel (which is not properly a denomination of nature, but office) has been appropriated to them. The angels are all pure spirits; they are, by a property of their nature, immortal, as every spirit is.

By Filip Mazurczak, Catholic World Report – “Compared to most other bishops in communist Poland and likely much of the world at the time, Wojtyła’s response to sexual abuse was exemplary,” says journalist and canon lawyer Tomasz Krzyżak… Tomasz Krzyżak, an expert in canon law and journalist who has conducted research in Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance and the newly opened archives of the Archdiocese of Kraków, disagrees with those claims. He says that the future Pope St. John Paul II, “dealt with sexual abuse seriously, applied the provisions of canon law, and never covered anything up.”

By Jonah McKeown, National Catholic Register – Kaminski, Sinha, and Murphy founded Petrine based on their own experiences of the positive effects of Catholic men living together… The idea for Petrine, the founders told the Register, was born from the founders’ recognition that amidst the well-documented modern epidemic of loneliness among young men, bringing young Catholics together under one roof is a powerful way to prepare those men for their future vocations …

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – What does the Pope think about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran? We don’t know; he hasn’t said. Complain about that if you like. Pope Leo has made it clear that he opposes the US war against Iran, but he has not said what American action, if any, would be justified… Pope Leo has said—as has every other Roman Pontiff of the nuclear era—that he longs for a world in which no country, including the US, has nuclear weapons. It follows, therefore, that he does not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. So Trump’s complaint is false.

By Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness – Today’s Democratic Party has abandoned its traditional working-class, patriotic roots and embraced a radical Jacobin ideology built on division, coercion, and political extremism… For the past century, the agendas of the Dem. Party were predictable. They professed concern for working Americans and supported blue-collar unions…  Unemployment insurance, a 40-hour work week, disability insurance, and Social Security… Still, many Democrats were socially conservative.

By Breccan F. Thies, The Federalist – The American medical establishment has been working for over 100 years to fabricate a mental health crisis, but with contemporary perceptions of depression and sadness at all-time highs, coupled with prescription drug use run rampant, they may have created a real one… An enormous amount of Americans are diagnosed with some form of mental illness, invariably leading them to be prescribed intense regimens of drugs that manufacturers and doctors claim will resolve the issues.

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – The U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29 ruling on Louisiana v. Callais has sparked a wave of redistricting activity in Republican-led states, with Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi moving to reshape congressional maps… As Zeale News previously reported, the high court’s 6-3 ruling struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, which included a second majority-black district, as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. That decision narrowed when states may intentionally draw majority-minority districts under the Voting Rights Act.

By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing – If I were created a Cardinal and dispensed from the canonical requirement to be ordained a deacon or priest – my vocation is as a layperson – this is how I would counsel the Holy Father on the first anniversary of his pontificate… “Holy Father, the first thing you must do is correct Francis, because only the pope may aptly correct a pope.  There is no need to judge his motives.  But he often caused confusion and distress, and his attempts to unify often seemed rather to divide.

By Craig Bannister, CNS News – The notification provided to Descano by Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division, cites the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Safe Streets Act, “both of which prohibit recipients of Federal financial assistance from discriminating based upon race, color, or national origin”: “Our investigation will also determine whether your office is engaged in a pattern or practice of depriving persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 12601.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 15:9-11 – 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

By Chelsea Jordan King, National Catholic Reporter, (Complicit Clergy) – Dubbed by some as the “climate pope,” Francis made care for creation central to Catholic social teaching in the 21st century… Leo has not retreated from that position. Rather, he is propelling it forward… From the earliest days of his papacy, (Leo) signaled continuity by calling for “urgent action” on climate change and emphasizing humanity’s responsibility to live in a “relationship of reciprocity” with the natural world.. he has insisted there is “no room for indifference or resignation” in responding to the climate crisis. …

By Fr. Francesco Giordano, STD, Catholic Exchange – In a world of abortion pills, euthanasia debates, cloning, hospital rationing, and endless moral gray zones, the question of cooperation with evil is anything but abstract. It is one of the most practical moral issues ordinary Christians face. Anyone living “in the world” will eventually confront it: in medicine, politics, education, business, family life, and even taxation. The issue is unavoidable because our actions often become occasions, opportunities, or instruments for the actions of others.

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – On Tuesday night, Indiana held primary races for some of its state Senate seats. That isn’t normally an occurrence meriting national attention, but this time it was… This year’s primaries were a test, one that the legacy corporate media completely failed to understand. And though the results were unmistakable, they’re still being fundamentally misinterpreted.

By Rob Marco, Crisis Magazine – I recently watched an interview with actor Shia LaBeouf that a friend tipped me off to. For the record, I didn’t make it very far into the interview, which was recorded the day after LaBeouf was released from jail on bail for a drunken physical altercation at a bar in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. The actor appeared to be somewhat inebriated, was dropping f-bombs left and right, deflecting responsibility for his recent objectionable behavior, and probably making his agent panic backstage.

By Carole Novielli, Live Action – The National Abortion Federation is a sought-after resource for the media regarding abortion… NAF took the lead in introducing mifepristone in the U.S., and early donors to NAF included the abortion pill manufacturer Danco Laboratories, LLC… NAF operates the largest national, toll-free, multi-lingual hotline for abortion information and abortion financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada… In 2021, NAF sought to hire an “Intelligence Analyst” to create “dossiers” to track pro-life activities, individuals, and groups.

By Dr. Mark Lowery, Catholic World Report – The tragic impasse that exists in our culture on the issue of homosexuality stems from two errors… On the one hand, many moderns have embraced an autonomous view of reality: “I can do what I want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.” According to such relativism, homosexual acts are perfectly legitimate so long as they are between two consenting adults. In stark reaction to such subjectivism, many others embrace a moralism that easily turns venomous when it vilifies and demonizes: “Homosexuality is wrong because God said so” (and nothing more).

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Pillars of Faith – In every age, the Church is called to love sinners while never blessing sin. Authentic charity calls every soul to repentance, chastity, holiness, and conversion through Jesus Christ. True pastoral care does not affirm souls in patterns of behavior that separate them from God. A shepherd who sees danger and remains silent is not merciful… The attempt to normalize or redefine homosexual relationships within the life of the Church is part of a broader effort to transform Catholicism into something more acceptable to the modern world. But the Church does not belong to the modern world. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ. …

By Diane Montagna, Substack – On Tuesday, the Vatican published the Final Report of the Synod on Synodality’s study group on “controversial doctrinal, pastoral and ethical questions,”prominently featuring two anonymous testimonies from openly homosexual men in “same-sex marriages.”… The decision was immediately praised by Fr. James Martin, SJ, as “a significant step forward in the Church’s relationship with the LGBTQ community.”… What neither the Vatican nor Fr. Martin has acknowledged, however, is that one of the testimonies appears to have been written by a man featured in a 2023 NY Times article receiving a blessing alongside his same-sex partner from the same Jesuit priest, just one day after the publication of Fiducia Supplicans.

By Angeline Tan, Live Action – (New Mexico) Gov. Grisham signed the bill during the state’s 2026 legislative session. This move will significantly decrease transparency around abortion practices, eradicating New Mexico’s only legal framework for garnering abortion data… The former law mandated that abortionists file confidential statistical reports within five days of performing an abortion. While these reports obscured any identifying details about patients, they supplied vital public health information utilized to keep tabs on statewide trends. …

By Casey Chalk, Crisis Magazine – I confess that I sometimes allow myself to be deceived. When things are going well professionally, when election results go the way I hoped, when I seem to be getting along with everyone I know—I can be disarmed into thinking that I am at peace with the world. Then, like a thunderclap, I’m jolted back to the truth of the matter: the world is not my friend.

By Jordan Boyd, The Federalist – The company responsible for manufacturing the most popular abortion pill on the market are more concerned about its profits than the harm its drugs are inflicting on women and babies… The confession from mifepristone maker Danco Laboratories came in its defense against Louisiana’s landmark lawsuit targeting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “mail-order abortion scheme.” The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously granted Louisiana’s request for a stay, effectively pausing the FDA’s mail-order abortion drug permissions ….

By Dan Hart, LifeNews – As the U.S. birth rate continues to plummet to record lows, data shows that a significant percentage of liberals are deprioritizing the importance of marriage and having children, especially among teens. Among conservatives, however, the phenomenon does not appear to be occurring… In an article published Friday by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), sociologists Brad Wilcox and Grant Bailey highlight how the aspirations that many liberals claim to have about marrying and having children are not lining up with their real-world behavior, which appears to be heavily influenced by negative media narratives. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 15:1-8 – 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ….

Catholic Culture – The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Peter Nolasco (1182-1258), born in France, but later settled in Barcelona, Spain. After taking part in the Crusades against the Albigensians, he used his inheritance to free Christian prisoners held by the Moors. He later founded the Order of Our Lady of Mercy (Mercedarians) beginning in 1218 devoted to ransoming Christians.

By M.D. Kittle, The Federalist – Indiana conservatives just sent a message to RINOs everywhere: FAFO. These voters are mad as hell and they’re not going to vote for spineless Republicans anymore… Hopefully GOP senators performing in the failure theater production of “debating” the SAVE America Act heard Indiana’s message loud and clear… Most of the Republican Indiana state Senate candidates endorsed by President Donald Trump won primary races Tuesday against incumbents who voted with Democrats to stop a congressional redistricting bill. …

By Dr. Donald DeMarco, Catholic Exchange – A metaphor needs a ground, just as an airplane needs a runway.  It has no meaning when it is separated from the base from which it is launched.  Marriage cannot be detached from its mooring and most assuredly not for political reasons.  Beautiful things will derive from a good marriage, and they will be properly honored in poetical verse.  But the genesis of marriage, that two-in-one intimacy between a man and a woman, will always be the way it is divinely described in the Book of Genesis.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – This summer Pope Leo will face two serious challenges to his authority: one from the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which has announced plans to consecrate new bishops without a papal mandate; the other from the German bishops’ conference, which is introducing a ritual for the blessing of illicit conjugal unions. On paper the two cases are quite different, involving distinct theological and canonical principles. But the Vatican’s treatment of the two wayward groups will surely invite comparisons, for two reasons. …

By Regis Martin, National Catholic Register – A young man, alone and forlorn following a late-night revel that has left him empty and unfulfilled, wanders into a darkened church that appears to be no less empty than the party he just left. Seeing that he is the only one there, he sits down and, amid the surrounding silence, stares into the darkness… He sees a light flickering in the distance. It is the light coming from the sanctuary lamp, upon which he fixes his gaze. It occurs to him in a single lightning stroke that if that light is true, if it actually signifies something real ….

By Steve Cortes, The Daily Signal – Despite this litany of abuses and clear anti-Catholic bias in the ongoing War on Faith, bishops continually insist on inserting themselves into highly partisan U.S. politics to side very publicly with Democrats. From the bishop of Rome himself, Pope Leo XIV, to various American bishops, on certain issues, these prelates seemingly take every opportunity possible to attack the church’s political protectors and join in league with the oppressors of Catholics.

By Paul Gottfried, Chronicles – Recently, I forced myself to reread (despite the accompanying torture) Lillian Hellman’s 1976 memoir, Scoundrel Time. Since its publication, this memoir has offered readers a progressive view of the film industry in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Hellman was a politically outspoken Hollywood scriptwriter who produced scripts for such films as Watch on the Rhine and Little Foxes, and was the longtime lover of fiction writer Dashiell Hammett.

By Steven Ertelt , LifeNews – The Supreme Court has restored mail-order abortions while the lawsuit from Louisiana and multiple states continues. This means babies will continue dying and women will continue being injured by the dangerous abortion pill… Responding to requests from two makers of the dangerous abortion pill, the Supreme Court reversed the block on mail-order abortions the 5th Circuit Appeals Court put in place late Friday… The high court’s order temporarily allows the Biden mail-order abortion rule to continue.

Fr. Mario Alexis Portella, Crisis Magazine – It would have been beneficial to Sarah Mullally had Pope Leo said the same thing—that the Church of England is merely an ecclesiastical community that needs to be in full harmony with the Roman Pontiff. Or if he had mentioned that Cardinal John Henry Newman, after his conversion to Catholicism, never engaged in any “dialogue,” for he knew that full communion could only be found within the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Catholic Church.

By Auguste Meyrat, The Catholic Thing – Although the idea of a midlife crisis feels like an outdated concept these days, there is still something to be said about it. It may look different for men today, but they are still forced to confront certain personal challenges that arise around their forties… This is because men at this point in their lives often must assume responsibility for everything and everyone everywhere: at home, at work, and in the community.

By Victor Davis Hanson,. The Daily Signal – We’re in the eighth week of the Iran waropens in a new tab, and things are starting to heat up even though there’s not kinetic action. What do I mean by heating up? The Iranian government has ceased to exist. We don’t know, and the Iranians don’t know who holds power… There is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. There is the theocracy, there is the elected people in Parliament, and there is a regular military. And those four groups operate in schizophrenic fashion.

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – Key leaders in the pro-life movement, once among President Donald Trump’s strongest backers, are openly criticizing the President and his administration for failing to restrict access to abortion drugs, despite Republican control of the White House and Congress… Even though the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion remains widely available in the U.S., with mifepristone now accounting for roughly 3 in 5 abortions nationwide.

By Elise Winland, Zeale News – Dem. congressional candidate J.P. Cooney, running for Virginia’s 7th District on a platform that stresses bipartisan accountability and nonpartisan integrity, is facing scrutiny over reported 2021 text messages that appear to mock Catholic nuns who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C… The messages… date to February 2021. At the time, Cooney and his colleague Molly Gaston were serving as DOJ prosecutors and referenced a NY Times photograph showing religious sisters in traditional habits and veils attending the Jan. 6, 2021, rally while wearing Trump scarves ….

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court opinions are often poorly argued and lack coherent legal reasoning. And in the high court’s latest release, Justice Samuel Alito made sure she knew it… The Alito-driven smackdown happened late Monday when the Supreme Court released an order related to its landmark Louisiana v. Callais decision, in which the majority (led by Alito) determined that Louisiana’s most recent congressional map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. …

By Ishmael Adibuah, EWTN News – On Monday, the Holy See Press Office confirmed that Pope Leo XIV will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 7… The meeting follows a period of tension between the Holy See and U.S. President Donald Trump. In April, Trump publicly attacked the pontiff on social media, calling him “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” in response to the pontiffʼs appeals for peace amid the U.S.-Israel war on Iran… Leo XIV has called repeatedly for a peaceful resolution to the armed conflict in the Middle East. In April, he described Trumpʼs threats against Iranian civilization as “not acceptable.”

By  Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – Intelligent irony without faith may be amusing, but often cynical, even vicious. Some comedians challenge the existence of God and His benevolence due to the various difficulties they find, particularly in the Old Testament. The brilliant and appropriately censored quips of George Carlin are insightful and hilarious. But he hated the Catholic Church, and his comedic attacks are legendary. …

By Thomas P. Harmon, Catholic World Report – Catholic schools and universities speak frequently, and rightly, about the formation of the whole person. They speak about service, solidarity, human dignity, vocation, and the call to holiness. What they often speak about less confidently is citizenship. One can move through a good deal of Catholic education in America today hearing many worthy things about community and discipleship, while hearing much less about the formation required for life in a republic. That lack is a problem—and an opportunity.

By Brianna Lyman, The Federalist – The SAVE America Act would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and voter ID to cast a ballot in federal elections. The current “safeguard” preventing noncitizens from registering to vote and voting is a tiny square box on the federal registration form asking applicants to attest they are telling the truth about their citizenship status. In other words, the honor system.

By Jed Babbin, The American Spectator – Unable to exit the alliance, the administration turns to troop movements to redefine US strategy…. President Trump has made no secret of his disdain for our NATO allies. In the past month or so, he has called them “cowards” and NATO a “paper tiger.” But, as I have written elsewhere, his notion that we should just get out of NATO is blocked by both the NATO Treaty and by a specific U.S. law that requires either a resolution passed by both houses of Congress or a two-thirds vote of the Senate. Neither is going to happen.

By Paul Kengor and Grace Reilly, The American Spectator – The Texas Congressman confronted a pro-abortion professor with the undeniable barbaric reality of the practice… It is easy for abortion activists to avoid the gruesome reality of abortion and just focus on the light-hearted talking points  of “ choice” and “women’s rights.” That is exactly what American University Professor Jessica Waters hoped to do when she testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government this past week. Rep. Brandon Gill made that impossible, questioning her in detail about barbaric abortion procedures in a tense exchange that has since gone viral.

By Bellarmine Forum – A DOMINICAN friar from his fifteenth year, Michael Ghislieri, as a simple religious, as inquisitor, as bishop, and as cardinal, was famous for his intrepid defence of the Church’s faith and discipline, and for the spotless purity of his own life. His first care as Pope was to reform the Roman court and capital by the strict example of his household and the severe punishment of all offenders.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 14:27-31 – 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, `I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. …

By Catholic World News – Pope Leo XIV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala of Washington, DC, as the new bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia… Born in El Salvador in 1970, Bishop Menjivar-Ayala was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington in 2004 and appointed an auxiliary bishop in 2022. He was the subject of a 2023 Washington Post essay, “He was an undocumented immigrant. He became ‘Your Excellency.’“

By Tyler Arnold, EWTN News, Catholic World Report – In New York, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who provide care to terminally ill people, faced a warning from the state Department of Health for “refusing to assign a room to a resident other than in accordance with the resident’s gender identity.” They are also fighting the rules in court… On April 30, Trump’s DOJ published a report on “anti-Christian bias” it alleges plagued the federal government under Biden’s presidency. It documents rules and regulations that damaged religious liberty related to abortion, contraception, and gender policies. It alleges weaponization of the government against Christians, including pro-life protesters.

By Daniel J. Flynn, Chronicles – A Laffer Curve exists for everything, and the Age of Trump’s overlap with the most brazenly biased media illustrates this truth.
How else to explain the coexistence of two forces pulling so hard in opposing directions? The more that activist journalists try, the less they influence public opinion. The less they influence public opinion, the more they try. Instead of demonizing Trump in the mind of the citizenry, they more successfully immunize the mind of the citizenry from their demonization attempts.

By Thomas Gallatin, Patriot Post – The DOJ’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias recently published its report for “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias within the Federal Government.” This follows a report released in the middle of last month, which highlighted how the Biden Justice Department targeted pro-life activists for prosecution using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act… This latest report digs even more deeply into the Biden administration’s anti-Christian bias, exposing how this bias influenced governmental policy and the application of law across the whole of the federal government. …

By Al Perrotta, The Daily Signal – “But I think very often, they don’t talk about what really matters. And what really matters are the institutions that we’re talking about today. And I think that the Bible fully and completely underscores the importance in a strong, confident nation of strong families, strong marriages, strong parents, kids who were raised well. A faith- and religion-based community that is nourishing to those communities.”… America’s seen the breakdown of these institutions since the 1960s, with a decimation of marriage and birth rates, the collapse of community, a decrease in church attendance, and an increase in loneliness. ….

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Catholic Stand – Many adults say today’s children and young adults are the me-generation, the selfie-generation, or the narcissistic-generation. But it is today’s parents that bear the blame for this…. Modern culture has conditioned young people to believe that “everybody deserves a trophy.”  As such, many in this age group wrongly assume that they are the most important people of the world… This is not to say that self-centeredness only affects the younger generation. …

By Anthony Esolen, Catholic Thing – The German episcopate appears all agog, not to say hot and lathery, to extend blessings to men who bed down with men, and women with women, apparently believing that Saint Paul and Saint Jude have nothing to teach them: Germany having led the way toward a world in which families are rich with children and stronger than ever; the love between man and woman is celebrated in song and confirmed in customs and laws; the popular culture is, in its most public manifestations, wholesome and clean;

By Stephen Soukup, American Greatness – In the week-plus since the latest attempt on President Trump’s life, many on the Right and in the political Center are, at long last, waking up to the possibility that the political opposition today is not entirely normal. It’s not unprecedented either, but it’s far from what we have come to expect in the so-called “civilized” world. As the polymath and public intellectual Eric Weinstein put it on Twitter/X, “These aren’t deranged liberals. They are normalized revolutionaries.”

By Daniel Payne, EWTN News – The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to a nearly $1 billion settlement for victims of clergy abuse, one of the largest abuse settlements in U.S. Church history that comes after more than half a decade of litigation… The New York-based law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates said in a press release on May 1 that the archdiocese had agreed with an abuse victims’ committee to recommend a settlement of $800 million, which would be paid “into a trust for approximately 1,300 survivors who have brought sexual abuse claims” …

By David Catron, The American Spectator – If the title of this column seems to exaggerate the potential impact of last week’s Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, it’s probably because most political pundits have focused on its effect below the Mason-Dixon Line. But the majority-minority congressional districts that will need to be altered pursuant to the Court’s ruling are far more pervasive than most realize. Ballotpedia, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey, estimates that these racially gerrymandered districts account for 148 seats in the House of Representatives.

Zeale News – The Carthusian order was founded in 1054 by St. Bruno. They are known for their intense fasts, solitude, and discipline – as well as for the production of chartreuse. King Henry II had ordered the death of St. Thomas Beckett and established a Charterhouse there as an act of reparation. The community first went to London in 1371. They came to care for and pray for the victims of the bubonic plague that was ravaging Europe at the time.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 14:21-26 – 21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ….

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – A federal court issued a ruling today that temporarily blocked mail-order abortions and, if ultimately upheld, could save tens of thousands of babies from abortions… The federal appeals court temporarily blocked a Biden administration rule allowing the abortion drug mifepristone to be dispensed through the mail, a victory for pro-life advocates working to protect women and unborn children from unregulated chemical abortions that bypass state laws protecting babies from abortions.

By David B. McGarry, The American Spectator – But with every batch of innovation and economic progress comes a fit of techno-skepticism and panic; the Luddite impulse will never be quelled entirely. Most recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) introduced “legislation that would enact a reasonable pause to the development of AI to ensure the safety of humanity.” The linguistic gamesmanship of “reasonable” and “safety of humanity” obscures …

By S.A. McCarthy, LifeNews – The presidency of Joe Biden was a dark, though relatively brief, chapter in American history, replete with widespread prosecution and persecution of American Christians. President Donald Trump repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail to establish a federal task force to investigate and eradicate the anti-Christian bias evinced and enacted by the Biden administration, and has delivered on that promise. On Thursday morning, the U.S. DOJ published a 209-page report entitled, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias within the Federal Government” ….

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.

By T. S. Flanders, OnePeterFive – The Crusade of Eucharistic Reparation is a lay sodality run by OnePeterFive in partnership with Benedictus and Mass of the Ages… This crusade was called by His Excellency, Bishop Athanasius Schneider in June of 2020 in response to the profanations of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament during the COVID crisis. Now he has also added the intention of the reversal of Traditionis Custodes… A crusade is a spiritual war called by the clergy, but waged primarily by the laity. …

By ACI Prensa – In the plan of salvation, the Blessed Virgin Mary holds a special place. By virtue of her role to be the mother of the Son of God by divine election, she was conceived immaculately — i.e., without the stain of original sin — and by fidelity to her son has been crowned queen of heaven and earth… Everything Mary said and did leads to Christ. Who knows a child better than a mother? And what good and loving child does not know his or her mother and love her with all of his or her heart?

By Randall O’Bannon, Ph.D., LifeNews – As you see in the accompanying chart that we have linked to, we have made substantial progress in reducing the number of abortions and lowering the abortion rate over the past thirty years. At the same time, though, as long as abortion is legal, each year we will keep adding to the total of lives lost to America’s greatest holocaust.