From CNA: After years of darkness, hope has returned to Telekuf-Tesqopa. Located just 17 miles from Mosul, the village is rebuilding after being liberated from ISIS. As a visible sign of the rebuilding, a giant cross was erected on a hill, marking the victory of the Christian faith against the darkness of the jihadists. On Feb. 18, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad, Louis Sako, visited the village, where he blessed the large cross and participated in the celebration of... Read more

In the video above, you see he prayed at the graves and helped clean up some of the damage following the desecration that happened over the weekend. Earlier, he condemned acts of anti-Semitism: Vice President Mike Pence is visiting a suburban St. Louis Jewish cemetery where more than 150 headstones were damaged earlier in the week. He says there is “no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism.” Pence says at the cemetery in... Read more

Just a quick heads up: I’ll be in Anaheim this weekend for the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. For the first time, CNEWA will have a booth in the exhibition hall—and one of the people at the booth will be me.  It’s my first visit to this event. If you find yourself near Booth #780, stop by and say hello!  I’ll be the one looking dazed and confused. If I’m not there, just look across the street.  Read more

The best news of the day: Two Muslim-Americans activists launched a crowdfunding campaign Tuesday to raise money to repair a historic Jewish cemetery in St. Louis that was vandalized over the weekend. Within two hours, the fundraising campaign started by Linda Sarsour and Tarek El-Messidi had already surpassed its goal of $20,000. “Through this campaign, we hope to send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration, and... Read more

Loyola University profiled her last year on her 96th birthday (check out the video here), but she’s still going strong at 97. This is pretty great: Picture this: A 97-year-old woman, maybe 5 feet tall, is part of a huddle with Division I men’s basketball players. She’s wearing a Loyola University Chicago sweatshirt and a maroon-and-gold scarf. Her Nikes are also the school colors, and if you look closely, you’ll notice “SISTER” is stitched into the left heel and “JEAN”... Read more

This is highly unusual—first, because the victim is a bishop; and secondly, because he says he suffered the abuse as an adult. Details, from Australia:  The Catholic bishop of Parramatta has gone public for the first time about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of clergy. Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen talked about the abuse at a royal commission hearing in Sydney and called on the church to consider removing priests’ honorifics and giving parishioners more power. “I was... Read more

Details:  The gravesites of more than 170 Jews were vandalized at a cemetery in University City, Mo., sometime over the weekend. And on Monday, the Anti-Defamation League reported a wave of bomb threats directed against Jewish Community Centers in multiple states, the fourth series of such threats since the beginning of the year, it said, a development that elicited comments from a White House spokesman and Ivanka Trump, neither of which used the phrase “anti-Semitism” or mentioned Jews. There were... Read more

Mardi Gras is just a week from tomorrow, so to get you in the spirit, check out the jubilant video from Holy Name of Jesus Church in Los Angeles—a reminder, in so many ways, of James Joyce’s famous remark about the Catholic Church, “Here comes everyone.” We are a big Church. For further proof, read this story that accompanies the video, from Marquette University:  “What took you so long?” The Gospel Choir’s leader asked me these words as I signed... Read more

A great story of faith and witness: Coming from a family with a long line of Protestant pastoral work, newly ordained Catholic priest, Fr. Nickolaus Klemeyer broke the mold by joining the Church, and took his family with him. Watch the video for the whole story. Read more

This is something altogether different. When was the last time a president began a rally with a prayer? This was the scene in Florida late this afternoon.   Read more