Vatican releases Synod Preparatory Document (Vatican News) The General Secretariat for the Synod has published the Preparatory Document, along with a Vademecum (or handbook) to indicate the guiding principles that will direct the path of the Synod on Synodality. The solemn opening of the Synod will take place in Rome on October 9-10, and in the particular Churches on October 17; and will conclude in the Vatican in 2023 with the assembly of bishops from around the world…

Court rules Catholic school wrongfully fired gay teacher (AP) A gay substitute teacher was wrongfully fired by a Catholic school in North Carolina after he announced in 2014 on social media that he was going to marry his longtime partner, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn ruled Friday that Charlotte Catholic High School and the Diocese of Charlotte violated Lonnie Billard’s federal protections against against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Cogburn granted summary judgment to Billard and said a trial must still be held to determine appropriate relief for him…

Texas bishops applaud SCOTUS abortion ruling (Crux) Texas bishops have applauded the Supreme Court’s decision not to block a new law banning most abortions in the state, noting it’s the first time the nation’s highest court has allowed a prolife law to remain in place while litigation proceeds in lower courts. “We celebrate every life saved by this legislation,” the state’s 20 bishops said in a Sept. 3 statement, adding that attempts by opponents of the law to “dehumanize the unborn are deeply disturbing…”

Rabbinic seminary moving to Catholic university in California (RNS) The Academy for Jewish Religion California has rented space in several locations during its 21-year existence as a transdenominational seminary that trains rabbis and cantors. For a while it was housed in an office building in downtown Los Angeles, then at Hillel, the Jewish campus organization at the University of California Los Angeles. But beginning Oct. 1, in an arrangement both novel and pathbreaking, the academy will move to Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic school founded by the Jesuit and Marymount orders…

Indiana firefighters recall how work at Ground Zero linked faith, service (CNS) Sept. 11, 2001, started as an ordinary day for Charles Glesing, a firefighter in Indianapolis. He was off duty and had dropped off his children at school when he heard news on his car radio about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York….