It’s Louisville’s Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, whose has first-hand knowledge of Down syndrome. He wrote a response to this video for Crux: I know that parents facing a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome are frightened, and I can’t take away the fear and concern. But I can share with you my own experience of my brother, George, who was born with Down Syndrome. My engagement with my brother Georgie was not distant.  When our mother died in 1989, I became his... Read more

From Vatican Radio:  The Vatican Secretariat of State has unveiled a new website dedicated to the Pope’s charitable collection known as “Peter’s Pence”. The site went online on 21 November at www.peterspence.va. Currently available in English, Italian, and Spanish, a press statement said it would soon be translated into other languages. Containing reflections from Pope Francis, the website offers the faithful another way to contribute to Peter’s Pence, which is an annual collection held throughout the Catholic world on the Solemnity... Read more

Details:    Now, for those with a burning need to unburden themselves, one Roman Catholic archdiocese has launched what is thought to be the world’s first interactive GPS-powered “confession finder”. Using similar technology to the dating hook-up app Tinder, it guides the penitent from their current location within the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh to the nearest church offering confession or celebrating mass. Developed by the archdiocese and the technology company Musemantik, the new service, available on iPhone and tablet... Read more

Details:  The Vatican office that handles affairs relating to the Catholic church’s liturgical practices has confirmed that Pope Francis has decided not to renew the terms of several of its bishop-members, many of whom are known for preferring a more traditionalist practice of liturgy. Francis had appointed 27 new bishops to serve as members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on Oct. 28. But the announcement of the appointments did not make clear whether... Read more

From The Los Angeles Times: A man who was convicted of posing as a Roman Catholic priest and selling bogus trips to see Pope Francis returned to court on Friday after investigators discovered that once out of jail, he resumed trying to pass himself off as a man of the cloth. Erwin Mena, the judge said, was back to doing the same thing he wasn’t supposed to be doing. Mena, 60, had been convicted in February of grand theft in connection with... Read more

Details:  The 69-pound woman has battled anorexia for the majority of her life. In her preschool dance classes, she compared the size of her thighs to other girls’ limbs, and when she was 13, she started purging. Earlier this month, after spending nearly two years in a New Jersey psychiatric hospital, the 29-year-old woman with a bone density of a 92-year-old told a court that she refused to eat any food, and wished to enter palliative care instead, which focuses... Read more

A colleague who is active in the Catholic Worker movement sent this my way. It’s a huge loss for the Catholic Worker folks, he said. Reading this, I think it’s a huge loss for the world. Details:  Mark Zwick, who 36 years ago turned a tumble-down building on Washington Avenue into a thriving international refuge for immigrants and refugees, died Friday at his home in Houston after battling Parkinson’s Disease. He was 88. In 1980, Mark and his wife Louise... Read more

A little boy meets the Pope—and it’s priceless.  Who doesn’t appreciate tulips in November? https://www.facebook.com/TrideoNL/videos/1152958534782253/?autoplay_reason=all_page_organic_allowed&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0 Read more

And the reason for the ban is, frankly, appalling:  On November 10th, the French ‘State Counsel’ rejected an appeal made by people with Down syndrome, their families and allies to lift the ban on broadcasting the award winning “Dear Future Mom” video on French television. The ban was previously imposed by the French Broadcasting Counsel. Kids who are unjustly described as a ‘risk’ before they are born, are now wrongfully portrayed as a ‘risk’ after birth too. The video features... Read more

Here’s something you don’t see every day, from the Cistercians in Taiwan: On November 12, 2016, Brother Pius Chen was ordained a priest at the monastery of Shuili (Taiwan). Father Pius was born in 1946 in Ping Tung (Taiwan). He entered Shuili in 2011 and made his solemn profession in 2015. Ad multos annos!  I don’t imagine you’d encounter something like that in the secular/diocesan priesthood. But it’s something to celebrate and treasure—and it serves as a reminder that God never stops calling us. Read more