The president of Catholic Charities USA has urged the Trump Administration to “rethink” its pause on federal funding for executive departments, noting the “millions of Americans who rely on this life-giving support.” In a two-page memo on Monday the Office of Management and Budget directed all federal agencies “to the extent permissible under applicable law...
Day: 28 January 2025
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Comfort in discomfort
In the first reading for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we are confronted with vivid images of fire and acid as tools of purification. Malachi tells us that the Lord “is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the...
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‘Knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up
In Chapters 8 and 10 of the First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul dealt with the question of eating meat offered to idols. Father George Montague S.M. explained: “Missionaries know what a struggle it is to wean recent converts from their former habits or lifestyles, which might involve superstition or idolatry. Converts would like...
U.S. bishops’ pro-life chair commends Trump on anti-abortion measures
The chairman of the bishops’ pro-life committee commended President Donald Trump for his executive order to end Biden administration policies that used taxpayer dollars to fund abortions worldwide. Bishop Daniel Thomas of the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio, also applauded a memorandum issued by the White House on Friday to reinstate the Mexico City policy to...
Pakistan sentences 4 men to death for alleged blasphemy on the internet
A Pakistani court has sentenced four young men to death for allegedly posting blasphemous content against Islam on social media, a prosecuting attorney said Jan. 27. The condemned men, who are Muslim, are between 20 and 32 years old and are from Punjab province. A member of the Voice of the Victims of Blasphemy Business...
Republicans introduce bill to protect parents’ rights
Republican members of Congress have introduced a bill to protect parental rights “to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their children.” Introduced by U.S. Sens. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina; James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; and Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act seeks to prevent government intervention in parental decisions. “Parents have a...
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Athletes for a year of hope
A few nights ago, I found time to watch the Christian biopic Big George Foreman. This movie showed the incredible journey of Foreman as he overcame incredible odds to become the world heavyweight boxing champion not once but twice, the second time occurring when Foreman was 45 years of age. In a few ways, I...
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Was it an apology? Pope Benedict’s 2009 meeting with Indigenous leaders
Near the end of last year, The B.C. Catholic began a series of articles examining over a century of truth, healing, and reconciliation between the Archdiocese of Vancouver and Canada’s Indigenous peoples. The articles highlighted the complex history of that relationship, the Archdiocesan Synod’s First Nations recommendations, and the progress made through dialogue and prayer....
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Joining the X-odus to greener, or bluer, pastures
Yes to Bluesky, no to Twitter/X. So went my thinking in late 2024, coincident with a sharp fall-off in traffic to Twitter/X and meteoric growth at Bluesky. A year earlier I’d toyed with Meta’s competitor, Threads, but I quickly lost interest in it. In the aftermath of the Trump election in the United States there...
Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios of Albania dies at 95 following illness
Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos of Albania, 95, died on Jan. 25 in Greece due to a recent illness. He led the Albanian Orthodox Church for nearly 33 years. Under his leadership, after the fall of communism, more than 400 parishes were reopened and several new churches were built to support the faith and piety of...