Details:  Among the 21 Coptic Christian workers beheaded on a beach in Libya last year by ISIS was a father who, before he went to Libya as a migrant worker, told his wife he knew it was dangerous and that if he did not make it back alive, to please teach their children “the principles of Jesus Christ.” So testified lawyer and humanitarian Jacqueline Isaac, who met in Egypt with the families of 15 of the 21 victims and told Congress... Read more

Father Jacques Mourad answers that question and more:  Father Jacques Mourad ministers in Sulaymaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan. He serves the many displaced Christians from Qaraqosh, in the Nineveh Plain, who have fled in the face of the advance of the jihadists. It was these same jihadists who kidnapped him from the Syrian monastery of Mar Elian in May 2015, along with hundreds of other Christians. They all signed a “protection contract” with ISIS, that allowed them to continue living as Christians... Read more

Poignant and potent. How do we welcome the stranger? https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1397118016995719/ Photo: NPR Read more

You may remember this story from a few days ago. The little boy finally got his moment with the pope on Wednesday.  Details: An 11-year old boy from Rensselaer County experienced the thrill of a lifetime on Wednesday. Landon LaChance, who lives in Troy, was blessed by Pope Francis at the Vatican, fulfilling Landon’s Make-A-Wish request. Landon suffers from a rare genetic disorder. Last month Landon’s parish priest at Sacred Heart Church in Troy surprised him, by announcing his Make-A-Wish... Read more

The candidate took a break from her usual speech slamming Donald Trump and gave a rare glimpse into her religious faith Thursday. From Politico:  Hillary Clinton spent the morning savaging Donald Trump as unfit to serve as commander in chief. She spent the evening presenting herself as the only religious candidate in a 2016 election that has utterly redrawn the usual partisan battle lines. Making the case here on Thursday night to the annual session of the National Baptist Convention... Read more

From CNN:  Three women who were likely planning an “imminent and violent” attack were arrested near Paris on Thursday, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. According to Cazaneuve, the women, whom he referred to as radicalized, were arrested in connection with gas cylinders found this week inside a car left in front of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. One police officer was injured in the shoulder when one woman attacked him with a knife in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, southeast of Paris, the... Read more

Details:  Ordinations in the Extraordinary Form will take place in England and Wales possibly for the first time in decades next year. At the request of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) and with the permission of Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool, two deacons will be ordained to the priesthood on June 17. The ordinations will take place at St Mary’s Shrine Church in Warrington, North West England. Writing in the Catholic Herald this week, Fr Armand de Malleray,... Read more

Will he kneel after a home run? Tim Tebow is changing teams—and sports. And it’s bringing him, almost literally, to my backyard: The New York Mets signed Tim Tebow to a minor league contract and said he will begin his professional baseball career on their instructional league team in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The Mets decided to sign Tebow on Wednesday, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. General manager Sandy Alderson met with team co-owner Jeff Wilpon, who signed off... Read more

“This Church” would be the Catholic Church.  Here’s a welcome perspective, from Philip Jenkins in the Catholic Herald:  In many parts of the world, it’s difficult to feel optimistic about the future of the Catholic Church. Some years ago, the American Physical Society heard an alarming paper that predicted the countries in the world that would have no religion whatever by 2100, and high on the list were such former Catholic heartlands as Austria and Ireland – Ireland! For over... Read more

Over the weekend, I posted this video by Donald Trump, saluting Mother Teresa. I noted that the only thing more surprising would be a video by the Clinton campaign on the saint. Well, she didn’t produce a video, but Hillary Clinton did have some warm words for Mother Teresa over the holiday weekend. It appears she spoke about her at a Labor Day picnic in Illinois Monday. A reader wrote in to note: Dear Deacon Kendra [sic], I saw your writing... Read more