From The Catholic News Herald in Charlotte: Father Joe Mulligan, a warm-hearted, gregarious priest with 40 years of ministering to people in the Diocese of Charlotte, is seldom at a loss for words. But a phone call one week ago left him speechless. That phone call came from the Carolina Panthers’ director of Player Engagement, Mark Carrier, who told Father Joe that the Panthers’ Catholic players had chosen him to go to Super Bowl 50 as their chaplain. Carrier said,... Read more

Details:  Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle has refused to run an announcement in its alumni magazine for the same-sex marriage of an alumna who once served as student body vice president and homecoming queen. In response to the submission by the 1997 graduate, the school sent her a letter saying, in part, “… the Archdiocese does not permit this type of information to be published in our Catholic school magazine.” The reaction has been a much-circulated Facebook post by... Read more

She writes about it over at Oprah.com:    The Reverend Henri J.M. Nouwen, a Catholic priest, analyzes the story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus in the New Testament. Nouwen offers the perspectives of the father and of his sons, the one who returns home after squandering his fortune and the dutiful older son who never left. One sentence hit me like a lightning bolt: “The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am... Read more

From CNN:  President Barack Obama addressed the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, speaking about the need to overcome fear through faith, just one day after making a historic visit to a Baltimore mosque where he delivered a message of religious inclusivity. “Fear can lead us to lash out against those who are different or lead us to try to get some sinister ‘other’ under control,” said Obama, making a veiled reference to divisive rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail. “Alternatively,... Read more

Details:  The European Parliament unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday recognizing the Islamic State militant group’s (ISIS) systematic killing and persecution of religious minorities in the Middle East as a genocide. The vote, decided by a show of hands at a European Parliament plenary session in the French city of Strasbourg, was the first time that the body has recognized an ongoing conflict situation as a genocide. The resolution states that those who intentionally commit atrocities for ethnic or religious... Read more

From The Washington Post: An elite panel of scientists and bioethicists offered guarded approval Wednesday of a novel form of genetic engineering that could prevent congenital diseases but would result in babies with genetic material from three parents. The committee, which was convened last year at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, concluded that it is ethically permissible to “go forward, but with caution” with mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRT), said the chairman, Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethicist at Johns... Read more

A little-known short film is nominated for an Academy Award, and it’s garnering attention not only for its subject, but also its message:  Filmmaker Basil Khalil has come up with an astute resolution to the Mideast conflict, based on the proposition that Israeli Jews and Palestinians will cooperate if that’s the only way they can get away from each other. Khalil, born in Nazareth of a Palestinian father and a British mother, illustrates this dictum in his 15-minute movie “Ave Maria”... Read more

Seriously?  Yeah.  Details:  A woman who champions the rights of ISIS rape victims, Pope Francis, the Afghan women’s cycling team and Donald Trump are reportedly among the candidates for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee typically receives more than 200 nominations for the prestigious prize, and keeps candidates secret for 50 years. Panel members can make their own nominations during their first judging meeting on Feb. 29. Norwegian lawmaker Audun Lysbakken nominated Nadia Murad, a Yazidi... Read more