In this busy, fast-paced world, it’s crucial to step back and take time for reflection from time to time. Next week our team will take a week-long retreat together — an opportunity to recharge and refocus on the why behind our work with words: the Word.
Needless to say, we will also be praying for you, our readers. And we’ll also keep the newswire running — keep an eye out for our stories in your local Catholic news source, and on our website and social media.
Megan Marley
Digital Editor
P.S.: Enjoy reading this roundup? Sign up to receive our emails here.
NJ diocese, priests sue federal government over religious worker visa rule change
A New Jersey diocese and several priests are suing the federal government over a rule change in religious worker visas, in a case that highlights the perfect storm created by the nation’s shifting immigration policies and the Catholic Church in the United States’ increased reliance on foreign-born clergy.
A new incorruptible? Diocese finds Sister Wilhelmina’s body seems to have not decomposed
Bishop James V. Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, released results of the investigation by medical experts into Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster’s incorruptibility in a press release on the diocesan website Aug. 22, the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Vatican approves devotion at site of Marian apparition in Spain
CNS ROME: Devotions at a Marian shrine in Spain that communicate Mary’s “close and affectionate presence” can and should continue, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said. Also this week, the Our Lady of Akita visionary died on the feast of the Assumption at age 93.
Christian convert imprisoned in Egypt declares hunger strike; advocates urge his release
A Christian convert in Egypt imprisoned for more than two years for publicly speaking about his conversion has declared a hunger strike, prompting religious freedom advocates to increase their calls for his release.
Supreme Court temporarily blocks Biden administration’s new Title IX rule
The Supreme Court Aug. 16 declined to allow the Biden administration to enforce portions of a new regulation expanding Title IX protections from sex discrimination to include students who identify as transgender while legal challenges to the rule proceed.
20 ways for busy people to converse with God
FAITH FORMATION: As we go through our hectic days, it is important to take a moment to bring our prayers of thanks and petitions to God.
Boston’s new archbishop leans into transparency, trust in God’s grace to face challenges ahead
INTERVIEW: It was during a session for priests at the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July when Archbishop Richard G. Henning, who will be installed as archbishop of Boston Oct. 31, made peace with what was to come. “God finally broke me, in the best of ways,” he shared with OSV News a couple of weeks later during a lengthy and refreshingly candid Zoom conversation.
Biritual priests seen as witnesses to the Catholic Church’s ‘great unity’ in liturgical diversity
“Many Catholics don’t necessarily know about the great unity in diversity that the Catholic Church is an expression of,” Father Eugene Ritz, the chancellor of the Latin Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, told OSV News. In fact, the Catholic Church is made up of two dozen “Catholic churches,” each belonging to seven ritual families — Alexandrian, Armenian, Byzantine, Chaldean, Latin, Maronite and Syriac — and each church in that ritual family having its own distinctive traditions and liturgical variations.
US bishops’ diocesan survey sets new baseline for Hispanic ministry in parishes nationwide
A recent diocesan survey conducted by the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs offers a baseline to the parish-based pastoral response to Hispanic Catholics around the country.
British pro-lifer given payout after her arrest for praying silently calls the law ‘Orwellian’
A Catholic pro-life volunteer, twice arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic, has received a payout from the U.K. police force who arrested her.
Is spiritual communion the same as sacramental communion?
QUESTION CORNER: While a spiritual communion might be a praiseworthy aid to one’s spiritual life, it is not the same thing as a physical, sacramental Communion.
Pro-life Democrats urge their party to seek alternatives as convention spotlights abortion
The pro-life group Democrats for Life of America urged their party to work on policies that offer women and families support in an effort to reduce abortion at an event near the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where support for abortion was very much on display. President Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, Gov. Tim Walz, and others spoke at the convention.
“Blink Twice” (Amazon MGM)
MOVIE REVIEW: Dark psychological thriller follows a cocktail waitress as she and her best friend manage to get themselves invited to the private island of a famous tech magnate where they’re caught up in a nonstop party with his circle of pals. But the celebration takes an ominous turn when her friend disappears and everyone except the server behaves as though she had never been there in the first place. OSV News classification is O — morally offensive.
