A blessed Easter Octave to you!
This week the OSV News wire saw coverage of earthquakes in Taiwan and the U.S., a recent report showing nearly all countries worldwide will fall below replacement fertility levels within the next 75 years, the solar eclipse happening on April 8, the Oklahoma Supreme Court hearing a case over a publicly-funded Catholic charter school and more. Read a selection of this week’s stories below, and keep an eye out for OSV News in your local Catholic newspaper.
Megan Marley
Digital Editor
P.S.: Enjoy reading this roundup? Sign up to receive our emails here.
‘Caitlin Clark has the world by her fingertips’: Iowa Hawkeyes basketball superstar supported by Catholic faith, family
FEATURE: “Her whole family lives out their faith. Caitlin doesn’t reach her stardom without her family background.” Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes compete against the UConn Huskies 9:30 ET tonight in the NCAA women’s Final Four.
Eclipse seen as a way to pray, ‘engage with the work of God’s hands’
An astronomy buff since childhood, Father Robert Schrader anticipates quite a birthday present when he turns 75 April 8. It’s a gift in which hundreds of thousands of people will share: the first total solar eclipse in the Rochester/Finger Lakes area in nearly a century.
Why does a paschal candleholder have bee artwork and when does Lent officially end?
Q&A: Your Catholic questions answered by canon lawyer Jenna Marie Cooper in her weekly “Question Corner”.
University launches authentically Catholic women’s and gender studies program
HOUSTON (OSV News) — As a headmaster, Kevin Stuart often wondered when the gender identity issue would touch his school community, and when it did, if he could handle the situation with truth and charity. As director of the Nesti Center for Faith and Culture at the University of St. Thomas Houston, he’s pioneering a program that he hopes will enable Catholic educators, health care workers, youth ministers and others to better understand, communicate and practically apply the church’s teaching on gender and sexuality in the workplace.
Multiple states to place abortion on the ballot in November
WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Multiple states will have measures to expand access to abortion on their ballots in November, a key challenge for pro-life groups in the fall after their losses on similar contests in post-Dobbs elections.
Worker who died in bridge collapse was loving, funny and ‘a motivating guy,’ says brother
Maynor Suazo Sandoval, who attended an evangelical Christian church in Owings Mills, was one of the six construction workers who perished March 26 when a cargo vessel apparently lost power, ran into the Francis Scott Key Bridge and caused it to collapse.
Record Easter Vigil baptisms in France reflect longer trend
PARIS (OSV News) — Over 12,000 people, adults and adolescents, were baptized in France on Easter — a record number in the country that experiences what many church leaders have called an accelerated “de-Christianization.” Requests for adult baptisms have been on the rise in France for the past 10 years.
Video series offers ‘deep dive’ into the mysteries of the Mass
CHICAGO (OSV News) — A new video series featuring several U.S. Catholic bishops will offer what organizers call a “deep dive into the sacred mysteries of the Mass.” “Beautiful Light: A Paschal Mystagogy,” produced by the National Eucharistic Revival, will be livestreamed on seven consecutive Thursdays from April 4-May 16 at 8 p.m. ET on the revival’s Facebook, YouTube and Instagram channels.
Iowa lawmakers putting hold on personhood bill seen as example of effects of Alabama IVF ruling
FEATURE: The Alabama Supreme Court’s recent in vitro fertilization ruling is placing a new spotlight on personhood legislation, or legislation that recognizes the unborn child as having the legal rights and protections of a person, experts acknowledge.
Nicaragua cracks down on church during Holy Week
Catholics turned out in large numbers to celebrate Holy Week in Nicaragua. But the ruling Sandinista regime prohibited public exhibitions of faith — such as processions and reenactments of the passion of Christ — as it continued exercising control over religious activities in what’s becoming an increasingly totalitarian country.
Cardinal Gregory: Biden ‘sincere’ in his faith but ‘there are things that he chooses to ignore’
While President Joe Biden is “very sincere” about his Catholic faith, “there are things that he chooses to ignore,” Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory said in an interview March 31.
Seton Hall University names new president after former head quits, sues school
A Catholic university in northern New Jersey has named a new president after its previous head abruptly left and sued the school.
The Year of Prayer: Don’t wait for guidance, just do it!
COLUMN: On Jan. 21 of this year, Pope Francis launched the Year of Prayer in preparation for the 2025 jubilee and called on Catholics “to pray more fervently to prepare ourselves to live properly this grace-filled event and to experience the power of hope in God.” Elizabeth Scalia gives some pointers on where to begin.
