Check it out:  Roughly one-in-five U.S. adults were raised with a mixed religious background, according to a new Pew Research Center study. This includes about one-in-ten who say they were raised by two people, both of whom were religiously affiliated but with different religions, such as a Protestant mother and a Catholic father, or a Jewish mother and a Protestant stepfather. An additional 12% say they were raised by one person who was religiously affiliated (e.g., with Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism... Read more

A reader in Boston sent this my way: Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, chairman of the Saint John’s Seminary board of trustees, recently announced that Monsignor James Moroney, rector, signed a purchase and sale agreement with Boston College to buy back more than 13,000 square feet of space within the 127 Lake St. building for the creation of new student rooms and administrative offices. A press release from the seminary notes: Having just opened its doors to the largest class in... Read more

What a stunning moment it is.  Watch as Iraqi Christian fighters raise the cross on the churches of Bartella after it was liberated from ISIS. (Read more about it from John Burger here.) You can’t watch this without weeping. It’s just that beautiful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv3H-n-exNU Read more

A poignant look at those who fled Mosul and do not want to go back, from CNN: Anne Danyale can never go back to Mosul. It has been two years since her family fled from the Iraqi city fearing for their lives, as ISIS ushered in a reign of terror. As part of the local Christian population, there were only two choices facing Anne, her husband Sabhan and their two children: run or die. “When we left it was all... Read more

The strident anti-Catholic evangelist left quite a legacy. From AP:  Jack T. Chick, whose cartoon tracts preached fundamentalist Christianity while vilifying secular society, evolution, homosexuality and the beliefs of Catholics and Muslims, has died. He was 92. Chick died peacefully in his sleep on Sunday evening, according to a Facebook posting Monday by Chick Publications, based in Rancho Cucamonga. It did not provide other details, and a call for comment left after hours was not immediately returned. The posting promised that... Read more

From Vatican Radio:  The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Tuesday published a new instruction on the burial of the dead and on the conservation of the ashes in cases of cremation. The instruction reiterates the long held view that the Church is not opposed to the practice of cremation, though it continues to recommend that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places. However the new document insists that ashes should... Read more

Read on:  The relationship between the DePaul College Republicans (DCR) and university administration has been noticeably strained over the past six months. Disputes over what speakers should be allowed on campus and what speech is considered offensive have caused many members of the College Republicans to feel the university is silencing their political views. Despite this, when the DRC submitted a poster advertising their organization that said “Unborn Lives Matter” to the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) for approval, they... Read more

From The Boston Pilot: For Chris Ohlandt, seeing his friend John Czajkowski ordained a permanent deacon at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Oct. 15, required taking a flight from Maryland. But, he said, it was a trip worth making. “You don’t get to see this that often. This is a first for me — I’m 51 years old and I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s incredible,” said Ohlandt, speaking to The Pilot following the Mass.... Read more

If this doesn’t take the bad taste out of your mouth this year, nothing will. During this God-awful election year, is there anyone who can save us from ourselves? Yes. Gerald Daugherty. He has my vote, whoever he is. (Sources say he is a county commissioner in Texas.) Watch his superb ad below. It’s set the interwebs ablaze—and rightfully so.  Adweek calls it “the most charming ad of the 2016 election”and notes: The race for president has been characterized by negativity,... Read more

From Michigan Catholic: The role of the permanent deacon is relatively new in today’s Church. Since the ministry was reinstated after the Second Vatican Council, not everyone is familiar with exactly what a deacon does. But that’s OK, says Deacon K. Perry Clark; it’s part of a deacon’s job to help explain it. “We’re called to have one foot in the Church and one foot in the community,” said Deacon Clark, who along with three others was ordained to the... Read more