Here’s news of an interesting effort in France, where a local bishop organized a special meeting for separated, divorced and remarried Catholics: The unprecedented meeting took place in Le Havre on Sunday, the day of the presidential election. The bishop, Jean-Luc Brunin, had sent out plenty of invitations but fewer people than expected showed up: 26 people who had been through a breakup and who were now separated or divorced, and in some cases remarried after divorce. They were joined... Read more

From The Boston Globe:  The Archdiocese of Boston has been closing churches in the city for much of the past 13 years, especially in old ethnic enclaves in South Boston, East Boston, and the South End. On Sunday, it will open a brand new Roman Catholic church in the city for the first time in more than 60 years. Our Lady of Good Voyage Shrine stands on Seaport Boulevard just over the Evelyn Moakley Bridge from downtown at the gateway... Read more

From CNN:  The political world lost a legend this weekend. Kate O’Beirne, longtime Washington editor of National Review and longtime panelist on CNN’s “Capital Gang” passed away Sunday of cancer. Kate O’Beirne was a legend for all the right reasons. Kate was a fierce conservative woman during an era when she would have said women were rarely described as conservatives and even more rarely described as fierce. Kate O’Beirne wasn’t just a conservative, she was conservative with a pronounced New... Read more

Details:  One Saturday afternoon this month a band gathered to jam at the Dominican House of Studies, not far from the Catholic University of America. The drummer, a Dominican friar, counted them down. Brother Brad Elliott, dressed in a habit behind his drum kit, was joined by Sister Miriam Holzman on the piano. Sister Peter Grace Weber was off to the side, with a bass guitar. Sister Louis Marie Zogg, on the saxophone, stood next to Sister Mary André Thelen,... Read more

Pray for him:  The 28 percent of Democrats who oppose abortion have no place in the Democratic party, according to two of the party’s leading figures. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin echoed party chair Tom Perez Sunday in saying that there is no room in the party for dissent on the abortion issue. “I am committed to women’s rights under the law, reproductive rights certainly, and our party is [committed],” Durbin said in an appearance on CNN. “We’ve made that part of... Read more

From CNN: Pope Francis has drawn a rebuke from the American Jewish Committee after he likened European refugee centers to “concentration camps.” The Pope was speaking to migrants at the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Saturday about a man he met at a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last year. “I don’t know if he was able to get out of that concentration camp, because the refugee camps — many — are concentration (camps), because they are... Read more

This Sunday, the man I’m mentoring in the diaconate program made his profession of faith at our 11:30 a.m. Mass. I preached this homily at that liturgy. He will be ordained next month. Pray for him and all those discerning a vocation! + Two weeks ago, the world was horrified by the attacks that left dozens dead in Coptic churches in Egypt. But this past week, the world saw beyond that tragedy—and saw, unexpectedly, a beautiful witness to the faith. It... Read more

From CNN, a notable detail from the execution on Thursday: Arkansas executed convicted murderer Ledell Lee, the first inmate to be put to death in the state in more than a decade. Lee, 51, was administered the lethal injection at 11:44 p.m. Thursday (12:44 a.m. ET). He was pronounced dead 12 minutes later. …Just before Lee was put to death, officials at the Cummins Unit prison in Grady, Arkansas, asked him twice for his final words, but he did not... Read more

This story moved last month and is just now crossing my radar screen, from New York state: Town of Rochester Supervisor Carl Chipman will give up politics at the end of this year in favor of being a Catholic deacon. Chipman, a Republican who’s held elected office for 22 years and has been town supervisor since 2008, said his decision not to run for re-election this fall resulted in part from the stress of political battles that left him in... Read more

From CNS:  Bishop Randolph Calvo of Reno, Nevada, and Dominican Sisters Mary Peter Traviss and Gloria Marie Jones, made their presentations to a group of 80 religious and laywomen — and a few men — for a lively panel, followed by thoughtful questions. Calvo’s talk centered on “Women Deacons: What the Past Can Mean for Today.” His experience on the topic spans more than 20 years, he told the gathering. While serving as president of the Canon Law Society of America in November 1995,... Read more