America the secular?

America the secular? What a changing religious landscape means for US politics
The Conversation: It will presumably come as no surprise that many secular voters lean to the political left. It may, however, be surprising to learn that a fairly large number of nonreligious voters supported President Donald Trump in the 2020 and 2024 elections.

Faith communities are setting a courageous example for standing up to Trump
Religion News Service: A growing number of religious communities are responding to the administration’s hostility to many of their core values and beliefs, despite having fewer resources than major firms or schools.

Abyssinian Baptist Church welcomes dismissal of pastor candidate’s discrimination suit
Religion News Service: The Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, who served in leadership roles at Abyssinian, including as assistant minister, said in a Wednesday statement that she is “prayerfully preparing” an appeal.

Ten Commandments, zero context*
The Christian Century: Many lawmakers want to see the commandments displayed in public schools. Are they also interested in the Hebrew Bible’s ethical demands?

US cuts of funds for fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa has many on edge
National Catholic Reporter: The halting of aid, especially for African health programs, is a constant worry for African Catholic bishops.

Is the family still fundamental?

Is the family still fundamental? By James Kalb on Apr 03, 2025 10:46 pm Last month, I suggested that subsidiarity comes from the idea that social order begins with the family, and proceeds from there to ever broader communities and ultimately to the whole world. This view makes the [...] Read in browser » Snow White survives the discourse By Joseph F. Martin on Apr 03, 2025 09:37 pm After months of online uproar that tagged the new Snow White as everything from “woke heresy” to “committee-made mush,” I braced for impact. So imagine my surprise when I found myself… enjoying it. Is it [...] Read in browser » Bishops urge Cameroonians to assert “right and duty” to engage in political life By Ngala Killian Chimtom on Apr 03, 2025 11:30 am As Cameroon prepares for a Presidential election later this year, Catholic Bishops in the Central African country are warning against apathy, stating that October’s presidential election could be the most consequential in the country. In [...] Read in browser » Lenten lessons from Saint Peter By John M. Grondelski, Ph.D. on Apr 02, 2025 10:38 pm This week’s Lenten focus on conversion and the old Confiteor takes us to “the holy Apostles, Peter and Paul.” I always liked the description an Australian priest friend once applied to them: they were “two [...] Read in browser » Concerns about Amoris Laetitia’s Chapter Eight: A Reply to Pedro Gabriel By Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ on Apr 02, 2025 10:08 pm Since the publication of Amoris Laetitia nine years ago, faithful Catholics from all quarters of the Church have expressed concern about the confusion that has followed in the wake of the Exhortation’s eighth chapter (AL8). We share [...] Read in browser » Report: Attacks on Catholics increasingly common and tolerated in Europe and Latin America By Catholic News Agency on Apr 02, 2025 04:46 pm Polonia Castellanos, founder of the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers. / Credit: Women World Platform, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Puebla, Mexico, Apr 2, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA). Attacks against Christians, especially Catholics, ar... [...] Read in browser » Pope St. John Paul II, Doctor of the Church? By George Weigel on Apr 02, 2025 04:00 am The Catholic Church is prudently patient in awarding the title “Doctor of the Church” to her greatest teachers. However luminous someone’s explication of the truths of the Catholic faith may seem in his or her [...] Read in browser » Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, April 2, 2025 By CWR Staff on Apr 02, 2025 03:00 am Hamas’s Bloodthirsty Rule – “Gazan protests against Hamas’s failed leadership broke out on Tuesday and continued throughout the Strip on Wednesday, the first public opposition shown to Hamas’s rule since the October 7 attacks.” Anti-Hamas [...] Read in browser » The Prophetic Witness of St. John Paul II By Carl E. Olson on Apr 01, 2025 07:00 pm Editor’s note: This essay originally appeared on CWR on April 1, 2015, and is reposted here, in slightly different form, to mark the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death on April 2, 2005. [...] Read in browser » Contemplating life and love with St. Pope John Paul II By Susan Ciancio on Apr 01, 2025 05:07 pm Twenty years ago, on April 2, 2005, St. John Paul II died, ending his 26-year pontificate. Throughout his long pontificate, he boldly taught the importance of building a culture of life. In Evangelium Vitae (given [...] Read in browser » On offices as hell, Severance, and white-collar work By Andrew Petiprin on Mar 31, 2025 07:35 pm A little more than two years ago, I wrote my first regular column here at Catholic World Report, and it was about work. I was reflecting on a trip I took to England as part [...] Read in browser » “Let the children come to me” By Nick Olszyk on Mar 31, 2025 05:00 pm MPAA Rating: PG Reel Rating: 3.5 out of 5 reels Cancer is a horrible, traitorous disease in which cells are warped and attack the body they serve. This is always tragic, but even more egregious [...] Read in browser » Lourdes bishop covers Rupnik mosaics on doors to Basilica of the Rosary By Catholic News Agency on Mar 31, 2025 10:03 am Mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik are displayed throughout the shrine in Lourdes, France. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2025 / 11:03 am (CNA). The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France announced Monday that t... [...] Read in browser » What it Means to be a Body: A Philosophical Primer By Matthew Nelson on Mar 31, 2025 04:00 am Gender-altering surgeries. Abortion on demand. “Swingers Break”, offering spring breakers “a personal paradise where you can explore and enjoy all your hedonistic desires” (yes, all one’s hedonistic desires). Pope John Paul II warned us that by abandoning [...] Read in browser » New song and video pay tribute to Carlo Acutis and the Eucharist By Kathy Schiffer on Mar 30, 2025 07:09 pm On April 27th, during the Vatican’s Jubilee of Teenagers, Pope Francis will canonize Blessed Carlo Acutis. Carlo, who died of leukemia in 2005, was a computer geek who loved video games. More than that, though, [...] Read in browser » Supreme Court to review Colorado ban on “conversion therapy” By Charles J. Russo on Mar 30, 2025 05:41 pm On March 11, 2025, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Chiles v. Salazar this fall, The case challenges a Colorado law infringing on the free speech rights of a licensed Christian counselor who provided “conversion therapy” [...] Read in browser » AI, the Technocratic Paradigm, and Integral Human Fulfillment By Deacon David H. Delaney, Ph.D. on Mar 29, 2025 04:20 pm At the end of January, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, together with the Dicastery for Culture and Education, released a document entitled Antiqua et nova: A Note on the Relationship Between Artificial [...] Read in browser » The Parable of the Merciful Father By Carl E. Olson on Mar 29, 2025 04:00 pm Readings:  • Jos 5:9a, 10-12 • Psa 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 • 2 Cor 5:17-21 • Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 The parable of the prodigal son is, along with the parable of the good Samaritan, the best-known [...] Read in browser » The Theotokos in Lent: Reflections on The Akathist Hymn By David Paul Deavel on Mar 28, 2025 08:00 pm The Lenten journey is one of following Christ. Throughout the ages, a great many Lenten hymns, prayers, and devotions involving Mary have developed. That’s not surprising at all. For Lent is about standing up and [...] Read in browser » Be free: Experiencing the promise of the Jubilee Year By Dr. R. Jared Staudt on Mar 28, 2025 05:00 pm Why does the Church celebrate Jubilee years? The concept comes from the Old Testament, marking the completion of seven cycles of sabbath years, a time of rest given to the land every seven years. In [...] Read in browser »

To Friends of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service

 

1,700th anniversary of First Council of Nicaea

 

On 20 May 2025, the Christian world will commemorate the 1700^th anniversary of the opening of the Council of Nicaea, which took place in Asia Minor in the year 325.  This was the first ecumenical council in history, and it produced the creed that, completed by the First Council of Constantinople in 381, has become the distinctive expression of the Church’s faith in Jesus Christ.  This anniversary occurs within the Jubilee Year, which is centred on the theme “Christ our Hope,” and it coincides with the common celebration of Easter by Christians of both East and West.  As Pope Francis has emphasized, in this historic moment—marked by the tragedy of war along with countless anxieties and uncertainties—what is essential, most beautiful, most attractive, and also most necessary for Christians is precisely the faith in Jesus Christ proclaimed at Nicaea.   Indeed, the proclamation of this faith is “the fundamental task of the Church” (Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 26 January 2024).

The International Theological Commission has now published an important and comprehensive document entitled, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior: The 1700^th Anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.”  It aims not only to recall the nature and significance of the Council, given its great historical importance for the Church, but also to highlight the extraordinary resources that the Nicene creed, continuously professed up to our own time, contains and re-proposes, especially in view of the new phase of evangelization that the Church is presently called to undertake.  The document also highlights the relevance of these resources for a responsible and shared approach to addressing the epochal changes that are impacting culture and society worldwide.  For the faith professed at Nicaea makes us see the explosive and enduring newness of the coming of the Son of God among us.  It encourages us to expand our hearts and minds in order to welcome and engage with the gift of this decisive insight into the meaning and direction of history in light of the God who, through his only-begotten Son, to whom he communicates the fullness of his own life, makes us participants in that life through the Incarnation, and generously bestows on all the breath of the Holy Spirit, which overcomes all barriers: a breath of freedom from selfishness, of openness to reciprocal relationships, and of communion with others.

A bishop of the Arctic says goodbye

Research shows that a majority of Christian religious leaders accept the reality of climate change but have never mentioned it to their congregations
The Conversation: While the overwhelming majority of Christian religious leaders accept the human-driven reality of climate change, nearly half have never mentioned climate change or humans’ role in it to their congregations.

Judge rules against former SBC President Johnny Hunt in Guidepost defamation suit
Religion News Service: One claim, about an allegedly defamatory tweet by another former denominational president, is still live. The SBC has spent more than $3 million in legal fees on the Hunt case.

A bishop of the Arctic says goodbye
Religion News Service: As Canada’s Anglican church dwindles, its most remote (and most expansive) diocese has shown growth. One bishop responsible for that trend is retiring, leaving his successor to find clergy willing to take on the Arctic’s challenges.

New Orleans clergy abuse survivors say they’ve lost confidence in case’s judge
The Guardian: Comments come after it was revealed judge ignored the Department of Justice’s recommendations against expelling survivors from panel.

Georgia lawmakers pass religious freedom bill despite discrimination concerns
The Associated Press: Lawmakers in Georgia’s House passed a controversial bill Wednesday that aims to protect people’s rights to express their religion, but that critics say could lead to discrimination.

Japan's Young Are Now Its Loneliest Generation

 

Last November, the World Health Organisation declared loneliness a ‘Global Public Health Concern’. Meanwhile, Gen Zs are emerging as the loneliest generation ever. Japan has a reputation as a lonely country, but here, there are more lonely people in their 20s and 30s than any other age group. An extreme expression of loneliness are the infamous “hikikomoris” – shut-ins who have isolated themselves from society. More join their ranks each year. But apart from this group, there are millions of other youths who experience alienation and loneliness. And with it comes a slew of social ills – from greater rates of depression, to falling marriage rates, to lower productivity. Social anxiety, the suffocating rat race and cultural stigma - Insight explores what is driving solitude in the Land of the Rising Sun.

St. Luke’s Breaks Ground on 78 Affordable Homes

The hum of passing traffic underscored a hopeful buzz of the crowd gathered at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Clergy, civic leaders, developers, and neighbors stood together at the corner of Gunn and 30th Streets to witness a remarkable milestone: the groundbreaking of a new 78-unit affordable housing development on church grounds.

The groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, March 28, 2025, marked the official start of construction on the first project of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego’s (EDSD) Mission Real Estate initiative—an effort to reimagine underutilized church property as a tool for community flourishing. In partnership with Trestle Build, the new development will provide much-needed housing for individuals and families earning 30–70% of the area’s median income.

News coverage from Fox5 San Diego can be found here.

News coverage from NBC San Diego can be found here.

News coverage from KPBS can be found here.