Welcome to today’s OSV News Showcase!
I’m fresh back from visiting relics of St. Jude, which are on a U.S. tour and currently hopping around the Twin Cities, where I live. For better or worse, I decided to bring my two oldest children, ages 7 and 10. I’ll write about this in a commentary piece next week, but I did have to think about how to introduce my kids to one of the stranger aspects of our Catholic faith. “Guess what we’re going to do: Go see an apostle’s arm!” didn’t elicit the “AWESOME!” response I’d been hoping for. My oldest said he had already heard about it from his teacher (yay Catholic school!) but — yawn — wasn’t interested; my second said that seeing a saint’s bones would give her nightmares. So, of course they came anyway, and I think they were glad for it (and no nightmares reported). There is something pretty surreal about seeing the arm bones of one of the Twelve, especially traveling through your city. I hope those of you in proximity to the tour seize the rare chance to venerate that humble holy humerus, too.*
Taking a moment to reflect on St. Jude, what it meant to be an apostle then and what discipleship means now provided yet another reminder that God is always at work in the world, something we see every day in the stories we share.
You can find more of our stories by following us on Facebook, X (aka Twitter) and Instagram, and I’m always happy to hear your story ideas messaged to us on those platforms. Have a great weekend.
Maria Wiering
Senior Writer
*TBH, the relics have only been described as his arm, but I’m counting on the reliquary containing the humerus for the sake of alliteration.
France’s reactions to pope’s upcoming visit are mixed; some see ‘Fratelli Tutti’ momentum
Highlighting the Mediterranean as the sea that connects nations, cultures and religions across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Pope Francis will travel to the southern French city Sept. 22-23 for a meeting of bishops, civic leaders and young people from across the region.
Bishops’ pro-life chair calls for ‘radical solidarity’ with pregnant, parenting women
U.S. pro-life efforts “must remain strong to end legalized abortion” in this nation, but all Catholics have a personal responsibility to accompany women facing difficult or challenging pregnancies, said the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
Amy Coney Barrett discusses originalism, praises ‘academic freedom’ at CUA law event
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett discussed the importance of academic freedom and offered career advice in remarks to law students at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington Sept. 21.
Bishop Strickland will not resign, but says he will respect Pope Francis’ authority if removed
In a Sept. 20 blog post on his website, bishopstrickland.com, the bishop said resigning “would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI.” However, he added, “I have also said that I will respect the authority of Pope Francis if he removes me from office as Bishop of Tyler. I love Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church which He established. My only desire is to speak His Truth and live God’s Will to the best of my ability.”
‘What’s going to happen?’: DACA ruling keeps ‘Dreamers’ in immigration limbo
Méndez Velázquez said he wants the government to give DACA recipients like him a path out of their immigration limbo, especially since he and fellow Dreamers generate jobs and contribute to the nation’s prosperity.
Russia’s goal is to destroy population in Ukraine, Lviv bishop says after drone attack
“In this war there are no moral principles, no moral values. Our enemy, the Russian Federation, is not guided by any values — they just destroy,” Bishop Kawa said. “This is my impression, that the most important goal of this war from the Russian Federation is simply to destroy the population in Ukraine.”
Pew: More Americans pessimistic than optimistic about future of marriage and family
The American public’s views of the family are “complicated” and becoming “more pessimistic than optimistic about the institution of marriage and the family,” according to a new report from Pew Research Center. Social and legal changes in recent decades have increased the variety of households in the United States, data shows.
House lawmakers grill Garland over retracted FBI memo on ‘radical traditionalist Catholics’
While the memo differentiated between “radical traditionalist” Catholics as “separate and distinct” from “traditionalist Catholics,” or Catholics who “simply prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings,” some accused the bureau of labeling Catholics as a threat or unfairly scrutinizing their worship.
Migrants stream northward toward U.S. border in record numbers
An estimated 2,200 migrants crossed the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass in the early morning hours of Sept. 18, one of the largest massive crossings on record, according to Fox News. It’s a scene playing out at other crossings across the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border as migrants arrive in increasingly large numbers, straining the resources of migrant assistance organizations and U.S. Border Patrol officials alike.
COMMENTARY: Don’t look now, but the next papal conclave has begun
Russell Shaw: Look closely and you can see it at work in the sort of speculation and maneuvering that typically precede a papal election.
