Supreme Court rulings side with religious employers (The New York Times) The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Trump administration regulation that lets employers with religious or moral objections limit women’s access to birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act…
New bishop named for Savannah, Georgia (Vatican News) Pope Francis has named Father Stephen D. Parkes, a priest of the Diocese of Orlando, Florida, as the new Bishop of Savannah Georgia. Father Parkes has been serving in Orlando as the Dean of Central Deanery North and Pastor of Annunciation Parish in Longwood…
Pope Francis: Seek God in migrants, refugees (Vatican News) Pope Francis on Wednesday urged Christians to discover the face of Jesus in the migrants, refugees and the displaced who are forced to flee because of the many injustices that still afflict our world today. Celebrating a Mass in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta chapel, to commemorate the 7th anniversary of his visit to the migrants in the Italian island of Lampedusa, the Pope recalled the words of Jesus – “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me”. He said this warning, for better or for worse, is a burning issue today…
Bishops join other faith leaders in opposing executions (CNA) Several U.S. bishops, along with clergy and religious brothers and sisters from around the country, have signed a statement opposing federal executions that are scheduled to resume this month…
Israel’s West Bank plans could be ‘catastrophic’ (CNS) The threatened Israeli annexation of territory in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley could be “the final straw” for a viable Christian presence in Palestine, said a group of local Christian clergy. “For Palestine, Bethlehem and particularly for its Christian population, this new process of annexation will be particularly catastrophic,” priests from the Roman Catholic, Melkite Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Lutheran communities of the Bethlehem area said in a statement released July 7…
Third Mobile, Alabama, priest tests positive for COVID-19 (WALA) A Catholic priest in Baldwin County who tested positive for COVID-19 was taken to the hospital Tuesday evening. St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Foley said Father Paul Zoghby went to Thomas Hospital for treatment after his oxygen saturation levels dropped. The church asked for prayers as it awaits more information on his condition. Zoghby was the first of three priests in the Mobile area to test positive for COVID in the past week…
After ISIS: Christians are leaving homes in Iraq over security concerns (CNA) More Christian families left the Nineveh Plains than returned to their hometowns last year amid ongoing security concerns in northern Iraq, according to a recently published report by Aid to the Church in Need. The report, “Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq,” documents how Iraqi Christians’ worries over Iran-backed militias operating in their region drive emigration and economic insecurity…
Commentary: the Internet has taken away the joy of boredom (Catholic Herald) Bored, bored, bored … That’s been my coronavirus experience. Luckily, I’ve avoided the plague. But I’ve been thrown on my own inner resources – and found them woefully inadequate…
