White House: Biden’s faith is not ‘political’ (POLITICO) White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that President Joe Biden did not interpret his Catholic faith “through a political prism,” declining to comment on a recent decision by U.S. Catholic bishops that could result in a rebuke of the president for his views on abortion. “Joe Biden is a strong man of faith. And as he noted just a couple of days ago, it’s personal. He goes to church, as you know, nearly every weekend. He even went when we were on our overseas trip,” Psaki told reporters — referring to the president and first lady’s attendance at a Sunday service last week at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the English seaside town of St. Ives…
Gomez: USCCB document seeks to ‘awaken amazement’ (CNA) The U.S. bishops are seeking to deepen “awareness” of the Eucharist with their new teaching document, the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference stated on Monday. “As bishops, our desire is to deepen our people’s awareness of this great mystery of faith, and to awaken their amazement at this divine gift, in which we have communion with the living God,” Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB), stated on Monday. “That is our pastoral purpose in writing this document…”
Two Catholic churches torched in Canada (Vancouver Sun) Two Catholic churches on Indigenous land in the southern Okanagan were destroyed by fire early Monday, as shock waves continue from the discovery of 215 unidentified graves near the old Kamloops Indian Residential School. According to Penticton South Okanagan RCMP spokesman Sgt. Jason Bayda, an officer on patrol spotted fire coming from the Sacred Heart Church on Penticton Indian Band land at around 1:20 a.m…
Pope releases message for first-ever World Day of Grandparents (Vatican News) Pope Francis on Tuesday released a message for the First World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly ahead of the date of the celebration which is scheduled for 25 July. The theme chosen by the Pope for the inaugural commemoration is “I am with you always” (Mt 28: 30). The Holy Father addressed the theme from the Gospel of Matthew to all Grandparents and the elderly, reminding them that this is the promise the Lord made to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. “The whole Church is close to you – to us – and cares about you, loves you and does not want to leave you alone!” the Pope said, identifying with the elderly, as one of them…
The pandemic takes a toll on priests (National Catholic Register) CNA spoke with pastors across England about the pandemic’s long-term impact on their parishes. The conversations revealed that the coronavirus had not only hit parishes hard, but also exacted a deep toll on priests. All of the pastors acknowledged that a significant number of parishioners had vanished during the crisis — and were unlikely to return…
The women who want to be priests (The New Yorker) Will the Roman Catholic Church ever ordain priests who are not men? Plenty of women feel that they have a priestly vocation, and many Catholics support them: according to a survey from the Pew Research Center, roughly six in ten Catholics in the United States say that the Church should allow women to become priests (and priests to marry). The figure is fifty-five per cent for Hispanic Catholics, the Church’s fastest-growing demographic. In Brazil, the Latin-American country with the largest Catholic population, nearly eight in ten Catholics surveyed by Pew endorse the idea of women priests…
