Here are some articles, essays, and editorials that caught our attention this past week or so.*
Fr. James Martin: The “Mastermind” Behind the Two Testimonies in the Vatican’s Synod Report on Homosexuality (Diane Montagna’s Substack): “Jesuit Father James Martin was a key figure behind the inclusion of two testimonies in the Study Group No. 9 report on homosexuality, released earlier this month by the Vatican’s General Secretariat of the Synod.”
African Member of Synod Group Did Not Help Draft Homosexuality Text (National Catholic Register): “The lone African member of a Vatican study group that published a controversial text on homosexuality in its final report did not participate in its drafting, raising further questions about the document’s representativeness and relevance.”
The Moral and Political Wisdom of C.S. Lewis (The American Mind): “The great Christian apologist and literary critic C.S. Lewis provides a surprising amount of moral and political wisdom despite not being a political thinker in any formal sense of the term.”
The Project of Christian Humanism (What We need Now – Substack): “Redemptor Hominis was the first encyclical written by John Paul II and with good reason. Its Christocentric theological anthropology was near and dear to everything he believed most constitutively as a Catholic thinker. “
Cardinal Eijk: Same-Sex Synod Report Must Be Forcefully Refuted (National Catholic Register): “By elevating such testimonies without doctrinal commentary, the report effectively normalizes homosexual relationships within a Church context.”
Save our Catholic colleges (The Pillar): “Having spent a lifetime in politics and higher education, too many Catholics value the former more than the latter.”
Benedictine College Responds to Leaflet and Email Campaign Targeting Church Teaching on Judaism (Benedictine College): Benedictine “In late April, Benedictine College was repeatedly leafletted with anonymous flyers from a group calling itself ‘Coalition of Catholics Against Jewish Supremacy.’”
Our Strange Catholic Moment (First Things): “At present, the trend in conversions shows no signs of offsetting broader decline. And yet something is stirring in the Catholic Church.”
Why Does The World’s Richest Man suddenly Care About Writers? (Onchain Journals – Medium): “Elon is betting on something counterintuitive: The attention economy has hit its floor. There’s nowhere shorter to go. The next frontier isn’t less attention but deeper attention. And whoever captures that depth captures the next decade of AI development.”
Ambassador Brian F. Burch II’s Address to the Class of 2026 (Thomas Aquinas College): “The modern university promises students three things: credentials, specialization, and the lure of a productive career. This institution proudly offers something older and far more demanding: truth, intellectual curiosity, and the formation of the soul.”
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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Agreement allows daily pastoral access at Illinois ICE facility, faith leaders say
The culture of death loses one—for the moment
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The culture of death loses one—for the moment
Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Two of Fulton Sheen’s nieces to participate in beatification events in September
Vatican to publish Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical May 25
By the way, Father Fessio, Tony Ryan, and I are at the Napa Institute for the balance of the week. Father Fessio is a participant in several breakout sessions. We’re also debutting the Augustine film, […]
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