You can watch the video above. Details from the press release:  Police are investigating a possible hate crime tonight after a man walked inside a Prospect lights Church and threatened a nun.p The nun, Mother Superior of her community, was praying in a pew at about 2:00 p.m. inside the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, located at 856 Pacific Street in Brooklyn, when the man approached her. He said, “I don’t believe in this because you don’t help the poor.” When the nun... Read more

One of the big takeaways from the historic convocation in Orlando came from Bishop Robert Barron:  The way we evangelize should grab the world by the shoulders and shake it out of its apathy, Bishop Robert Barron told a crowd of Catholic leaders Tuesday. Evangelization is especially urgent as the ‘nones’ – the number of the population who do not identify with a religion, continues to grow, he said. Bishop Barron, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and... Read more

And we continue to scramble down the slippery slope:   Politicians in the Netherlands are discussing the possibility of legalizing euthanasia for healthy people. The proposed “Completed Life Bill” would allow any person age 75 or over who decides their life is “complete” to receive euthanasia. It doesn’t matter if they are otherwise perfectly healthy. Under current Dutch law, a person only becomes eligible for euthanasia when they have a terminal illness and are suffering unbearably. Pia Dijkstra, an MP... Read more

The story that seized the attention of the world—from Donald Trump to the Pope and the Vatican—is now motivating people in Europe to life up this child in prayer. From the website:  This site intends to support the organization of prayer vigils for Charlie Gard throughout the whole Europe. Here is the calendar and map of the already planned vigils. Please join them and propose the organization of new ones! In the next few days, a ruling by the European... Read more

Details:  US President Donald Trump has made an eleventh-hour intervention in the case of terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard by offering help to save him. Speaking on Twitter, Mr Trump said: If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2017 It comes as Chris Gard and Connie Yates are spending the last days of their 10-month-old son’s life with him, after being... Read more

Some bizarre and disturbing news from the U.K.: Transgender women who were born male should be given womb transplants so that they can have children, leading NHS doctors have told The Mail on Sunday. And fertility experts say taxpayers should fund such transplants for those who identify as women, on the basis of ‘equality enshrined in law’. Leading the debate on the controversial procedure is medical ethics lawyer Dr Amel Alghrani, who is pressing for a talks on whether womb transplants... Read more

From CNA:  In a brief interview given just hours after hearing that he would no longer be heading the Vatican’s doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said the decision was normal, and was not the result of conflict between him and Pope Francis. “There were no differences between me and Pope Francis,” Cardinal Müller told Allgemeine Zeitung, a regional German paper from Mainz. Müller spoke to the paper while in Mainz for his 50th high school reunion. He traveled to the... Read more

It was a joy to hear this thrilling old hymn today at Mass as the recessional. Words by Daniel C. Roberts; music by George W. Warren. A great and rousing anthem for the Independence Day weekend. Too bad we didn’t have the full choir (they’re off for the summer) and trumpets! God of our fathers, whose almighty hand Leads forth in beauty all the starry band Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies, Our grateful songs before thy throne... Read more

She chatted with the Rev. Thomas Rosica on Salt + Light’s program Witness recently and shared some of her insights into the subject of deacons in general and women deacons in particular: Zagano appeared in a June 18 episode of Salt+Light’s ongoing “Witness” series to discuss the origins of women deacons in the Catholic Church and referred to the story of Phoebe delivering Paul’s letter to the Romans. In Romans 16:1, Paul calls Phoebe a deacon of the church in... Read more

While a lot of us are getting ready to fire up the grill or head for the beach or the lake this holiday, let me take you this morning to someplace altogether different. It is a racetrack in Ukraine in the middle of a torrential downpour. That is where a million believers found themselves in June of 2001, as they gathered to watch Pope John Paul II celebrate Mass. The great Vatican reporter John Allen was there and described what... Read more