From AP:  El Salvador’s Roman Catholic Church announced Thursday it has suspended a well-known priest, saying he acknowledged sexually abusing a young girl. Monsignor Jesus Delgado was the vicar general of the Archdiocese of San Salvador and was considered a close associate of assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero. The 77-year-old Delgado is known affectionately as “Father Chus,” the familiar form of the name Jesus. He has written two books about Romero, who was gunned down by a right-wing death squad on... Read more

From The Wall Street Journal, evidence that Catholic education is on the rebound: At first the rise of charter schools—to 7,000 today from 1,900 in 2000—was thought to be the nail in the coffin for Catholic education, which had been in decline for decades. Charters offer many of the same strengths as Catholic schools: order, kindness, discipline, high expectations (ideas initially borrowed from parochial institutions). But because charters are publicly funded, families don’t have to pay tuition. How could Catholic... Read more

A glimpse at an upcoming diaconate ordination in Scranton, from The Wilkes Barre Times Leader:  After Saturday, Frank Hine will be in an unusual position for a Roman Catholic — when his daughter weds, he can both give the bride away and pronounce the couple man and wife. “It would be a little different than what people are normally accustomed to,” the Wilkes-Barre resident chuckled. Hine is one of 17 men who will be ordained as permanent deacons by Diocese... Read more

I suspect most Catholics don’t know the name Martin Rinkart. But this Lutheran deacon left us a beautiful testament to faith and thanksgiving: the words to the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God.” Some details about his life and times shed new light on this familiar hymn: German pastor Martin Rinkart served in the walled town of Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648. Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area. The fugitives suffered... Read more

Awesome:  The debate about resettling Syrian refugees has some people asking, “Why don’t we use that money on homeless veterans instead?” We asked homeless veterans in downtown Seattle what they thought. In line at The Millionaire Club, veteran Greg Klutcher shared his view: “The whole reason veterans fought for what they did is so that people like that could come here. Everybody needs a helping hand sometimes.” Klutcher has been homeless for six months. Also in line was Damon Lyons,... Read more

From KUTV:  The Salt Lake Catholic Diocese has started an investigation into what is being described as a ‘bleeding host’ at a local parish, St. Francis Xavier in Kearns. Images of the host, given to 2News, showed circles of deep red, and a section with a pink hue. As we understand it, a boy was given communion by a local priest. A relative told the priest the child had not yet made his first communion — or wasn’t Catholic —... Read more