Newly installed statue vandalized in Queens (CNS) A newly installed and dedicated statue of St. Bernadette outside St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Flushing in the Brooklyn Diocese was found vandalized Aug. 17. The incident occurred at about 3:30 that morning when a man jumped over the church fence and knocked the statue over, according to a diocesan news release. The damage to the statue was in the area of its left forearm and wrist. The statue of St. Bernadette and a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes were dedicated earlier this summer in remembrance of all parishioners who lost their lives to COVID-19…
Caritas: ‘Wait and see’ how Taliban affects aid work (Crux) As the Taliban reclaim power over Afghanistan, a question in the mind of many rank and file Catholics is how can they help. Yet the situation is still so convoluted, even Caritas Internationalis, the largest network of Catholic charities is grappling to answer the same question…
‘It’s insane’: Assessing the fall of Afghanistan (CNS) In a politically polarized society, it’s hard for opposites to agree on something, but in the case of the collapse of Afghanistan so soon after U.S. forces pulled out of the country, there’s agreement. It’s a disaster — but for different reasons. “It’s insane, to say the least,” said David Crum, national commander of the Catholic War Veterans and Auxiliary of the United States of America, in an Aug. 17 phone interview with Catholic News Service from his home in Bellerose, New York. “I think it’s a scandal, as far as it goes. They put that much time and investment for 20 years, we have people that came back without limbs or anything else,” said Crum, a Coast Guard veteran who served in 1968 in Vietnam. “Obviously, we didn’t learn the lesson from that…”
Bishop resigns over explicit video (CNA) Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Bishop of São José do Rio Preto on Wednesday, five days after a sexually explicit video of the bishop was shared on the internet…
Philadelphia archdiocese orders priests not to offer religious exemptions for vaccines (The Philadelphia Inquirer) The Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Wednesday became the latest to declare a position. In a letter to clergy obtained by The Inquirer, it ordered priests not to assist parishioners seeking religious exemptions, joining some of the nation’s largest Catholic dioceses, including New York and Los Angeles, which have implemented similar policies in recent days. “Individuals may wish to pursue an exemption from vaccination based on their own reasons of conscience,” wrote the archdiocese’s vicar for clergy, the Rev. Michael F. Hennelly. “In such cases, the burden to support such a request is not one for the local Church … to validate and we are not able to provide support for exemption requests on that basis…”
