From Pew:  There are many different kinds of gender gaps, including one in religion. In the U.S., for instance, women are more likely than men to say they attend worship services regularly – a trend consistent with many predominantly Christian countries around the world. But the U.S. gap in church attendance has been narrowing in recent decades as the share of women attending weekly has declined. Indeed, a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the General Social Survey (GSS)... Read more

A huge h/t to Joseph Susanka who posted this yesterday. It’s now exploded on social media. And it deserves the widest possible audience. Stop what you’re doing, crank up the volume and watch. Please. This is just beautiful. Watch it, share it, then watch it again. Boy, do we need this now. Caution: Kleenex required. Meantime, those who want to learn more about the wondrously talented Andrew Stanton should check out this interview in Christianity Today, wherein he discusses his faith:... Read more

Check out this amazing story from the Catholic Leader:  Last month the people of Wadeye, Northern Territory, celebrated the 80th birthday of Deacon Boniface Perdjert. Deacon Boniface is senior elder of the Kardu Diminin clan and Murrinhpatha language speaker, and the traditional owner of the land on which the town of Wadeye (Port Keats) is built. He is also Australia’s first permanent deacon and well known to Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who have worked in the Northern Territory. …Deacon Boniface was... Read more

Some very good and welcome analysis on the subject, via CNA:  A virtual brouhaha erupted Thursday after Pope Francis said in unscripted remarks that “the great majority” of marriages today are null, due to a “provisional” culture in which people do not understand permanent commitment. Although his comment was later revised to say that “a portion” of marriages are null, the question remains: What exactly makes a marriage invalid? “It’s certainly in my experience that the kind of provisional culture,... Read more

From Catholic News Agency: For the estimated 5,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing Catholics in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, parish participation can be difficult. From homilies to retreats, normal Church events can be inaccessible to those with auditory disabilities, unless specific accommodations are made in advance. Dr. Tomas Garcia Jr., who has been deaf since childhood, knows these challenges well. And now, he’s helping shed light on some of those challenges in his ministry as one of the newest deacons for... Read more

This morning, we find ourselves facing one of the defining moments in scripture, when Jesus asks Simon Peter: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answers: “The Christ of God.” or the anointed one. This scene actually occurs in three of the four gospels, and is commonly called “The Confession of Peter.” That these words come from the lips of Peter, who would later deny Jesus, is both ironic and poignant. The one who recognized the Lord most clearly... Read more

From Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, who notes: I can remember the days leading up to my own ordination to the priesthood constantly thinking to myself, “Can I do this? Can I really be a good priest?” My spiritual director at the time, reminded me of the line from Mark’s gospel, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” He was absolutely right. In all Christian vocations – marriage, the single life,... Read more

From NPR:  A German court sentenced 94-year-old Reinhold Hanning to five years in prison for being an accessory to the murder of 170,000 people between January 1942 and June 1944, when he served as an SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. More than 1 million people were systematically murdered at the camp during World War II. Almost all of them were Jewish. Hanning, who served in a unit that handled newly arrived prisoners and assisted in... Read more