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OSV News Showcase | July 5, 2024

Father Pat Sullivan, pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Roeland Park, Kan., blesses pilgrims with the Eucharist in Rosedale Park in Kansas City, Kan., June 28, 2024. The park was one of the stops on the St. Junipero Serra Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as it processed along various stretches of Mission Road in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, playing on the theme "Mission." (OSV News photo/Megan Marley)

“I greatly desire that you become great saints, since you are well equipped to reach this goal, if you will it.”

Recently I discovered the writings of St. Anthony Maria Zaccaria, an Italian priest and founder of the Barnabites, known for his efforts in religious reform and dedication to the spiritual renewal of the clergy and laity in the 16th century. His few extant writings have many nuggets of wisdom applicable even today for those striving for holiness.

This week we’ve had a number of stories of ordinary people living their faith out in ordinary and not-so-ordinary situations — from serving Christ in the poor and the migrant to seeking revival of sacred art and walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela. I hope our stories will help inspire you to do the same in your walks of life.

Megan Marley

Digital Editor

P.S.: Enjoy reading this roundup? Sign up to receive our emails here.


Ukrainian Catholic priests freed from Russian captivity

Two disappeared Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests seized by Russian forces from their church in Berdyansk in November 2022 have been released after months of captivity, according to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.


Sacred art project aims to revive the ‘language of the image’ in communicating the faith

“It is a project aiming at a revival of sacred art,” Dariusz Karlowicz, program director of the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Angelicum in Rome, told OSV News. The project brings together “contemporary artists, theologians and Catholic intellectuals to tackle the most important mysteries of the Catholic tradition and translate them into an artistic language understandable in today’s world.”


Lourdes bishop says it ‘will eventually be necessary’ to remove Rupnik mosaics, while others continue to be installed around world

As the commission discerning whether Father Marko Rupnik’s mosaics stay or go from the facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lourdes completed its work, no definitive decision was reached.


Texas Supreme Court upholds ban on some transgender interventions for minors

The Texas Supreme Court upheld a state law on June 28 banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender, allowing it to remain in effect.


Report says Germany’s Catholic Church continues to shrink; over 400,000 left in 2023

The Catholic Church in Germany continues to shrink, a new study found. 


‘We’re all mad here’: ‘Diabolical disorientation’ and the church

COLUMN: “Lately I’ve been considering “diabolical disorientation” in light of ongoing headlines that would happily belong with the Cheshire Cat’s Mad Tea Party observation (“We’re all mad here”), if they didn’t fit already fit neatly into the disorienting newspeak of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984.””


Pro-lifers ask delegates not to change Republican platform on abortion

Amid reports that members of the Republican National Committee are poised to change its written stance on abortion, pro-life activists have asked delegates not to remove opposition to abortion from the party’s platform, which is being revised behind closed doors. 


National pilgrimage stops in Chicago reveal life-changing encounters with the Eucharist

EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL: “I hope what’s going on is a fanning of the flames,” Brother Lawrence Johnson said. “There are the embers there of baptism and of the faith, and it just needs a little oxygen and it comes out stronger, clearer and brighter than before.”


Apache Christ icon, painting restored to New Mexico tribe and parishioners

An Indigenous image of Jesus Christ has now been returned to a New Mexico mission church, days after its sudden removal.


Two noteworthy 1934 events in Nazi Germany are a cautionary tale for the US

COLUMN: Idolatry takes many forms. The more dismissive we are of its seductive power, the more likely we are to succumb to it.


Judge says effort to shut down Catholic ministry to migrants violates Texas’ religious freedom act

Judge Francisco X. Dominguez also granted Annunciation House’s application for relief, finding, “The record before this Court makes clear that the Texas Attorney General’s use of the request to examine documents from Annunciation House was a pretext to justify its harassment of Annunciation House employees and the persons seeking refuge.” 


What does ‘Ordinary Time’ mean in the church’s calendar? 

QUESTION CORNER: Jenna Marie Cooper, who holds a licentiate in canon law, is a consecrated virgin and a canonist whose column appears weekly at OSV News. Send your questions to CatholicQA@osv.com.

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