Thank you, Heather King, for sharing his story:  Dr. Tim Flanigan of the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, is a husband, a father of five, an infectious disease doctor and a professor at Brown University. In September 2014, at the height of the Ebola epidemic, he traveled to Liberia as a volunteer for two months to help organize the response. “Listen, I’m no good in a tsunami or an earthquake. I’m not an orthopedic guy; I’m an infectious disease doc.... Read more

Details from the Catholic Herald:   Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Vatican’s liturgy chief, has asked priests to begin celebrating Mass ad orientem, that is, facing east rather than towards the congregation. The proposed reform is arguably the biggest liturgical announcement since Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum gave greater freedom for priests to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. Speaking at the Sacra Liturgia conference in London, the Guinean cardinal, who is Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, addressed priests who were present,... Read more

From The Independent:  One of the victims of the Dhaka cafe shooting was a Muslim student who, despite being allowed to leave by the militants responsible, refused to desert his friends and fellow hostages. Faraz Hossain, a Bangladeshi student at Emory University in the US, was killed alongside 19 others including Abinta Kabir, who was studying at the same US university. His nephew Hishaan said Mr Hossain had been offered the chance to leave the cafe along with women wearing hijabs. However, according to the New York... Read more

Details:  Conceding that it may come off as a “hard teaching,” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has decreed that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics in the archdiocese may receive Communion only if they refrain from sex, and that they cannot hold positions of responsibility in a parish or perform liturgical functions. That latter prohibition, according to a new set of pastoral guidelines issued by Chaput, is designed to avoid “the unintended appearance of an endorsement of divorce and civil remarriage.”... Read more

From RNS: The city council in Pensacola, Fla., will consider ending the traditional practice of inviting local clergy to deliver an opening prayer at meetings in order to thwart an invocation planned for July 14 by a representative of the Satanic Temple West Florida. City Council president Charles Bare said he will propose that regular meetings begin with a moment of silence instead. The controversy erupted in recent days when it emerged that David Suhor, a member of the local... Read more

Some food for thought today, from a homily delivered over the weekend by the Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, at the Church of the Holy Innocents in New York. Preaching at a Mass celebrated in the Extraordinary Form, he enumerated several points for Catholics to remember—especially those who dislike Francis—regarding the pope: 8) Catholics don’t have to like every Pope, but the lack of fondness ought never descend into carping or, worse, hatred.  However, we must love him, above all, willing his... Read more

This is priceless:  Weeks after responding to tragedy at an Orlando nightclub, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is once again performing double duty — this time with an uplifting dance video “to keep Orlando smiling.” In the hilarious three-minute video, posted Friday, hundreds of OCSO employees bust a move as part of the “Keep Dancing Orlando” challenge. Sheriff Jerry Demings is the first to call his employees to the floor during the opening — a mock press conference where he promises... Read more

Fascinating:  In the late 1980s, I was introduced to a self-styled Satanic high priestess. She called herself a witch and dressed the part, with flowing dark clothes and black eye shadow around to her temples. In our many discussions, she acknowledged worshipping Satan as his “queen.” I’m a man of science and a lover of history; after studying the classics at Princeton, I trained in psychiatry at Yale and in psychoanalysis at Columbia. That background is why a Catholic priest... Read more

From Crux: Pope Francis has vowed in a new interview that he won’t be slowed down by resistance from “ultra-conservatives” in the Church who “say no to everything,” insisting, “I’m going ahead without looking over my shoulder.” The pontiff also suggested he has no intention of launching a crackdown on the opposition, saying, “I don’t cut off heads. That was never my style. I’ve never liked doing that.” Weary of rumors that continue to circulate in his home country, Francis... Read more