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Two California teens who were forced to withdraw from an elite Catholic high school over accusations of blackface have been awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement. A Santa Clara County jury sided with the teens, identified by the initials A.H. and H.H., on two claims concerning breach of oral contract and lack of due process. The boys sued Saint Francis High School in August 2020 after photos circulated of them sporting acne treatment masks. The controversy started when the boys were accused of performing blackface and were ultimately pressured into withdrawing from the prestigious Mountain View school. 'It was quite...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.

WASHINGTON — President Biden blurted Wednesday that one of his childhood Catholic school teachers was drafted by the Green Bay Packers — an assertion disproven by a simple check of publicly available NFL records. The 81-year-old president shared the false claim as he boasted of his connection to Wisconsin sports fans during a trip to the swing state. “My theology professor at the Catholic school I went to was a guy named Reilly — last name — and he had been drafted by the Green Bay Packers,” Biden said in Racine, south of Milwaukee. “And he decided to become a...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” John 16:12–13This passage still rings true for all of us today. God wants to reveal to us, within the depths of our consciences, the deepest, most profound and transforming truths that flow from the mind of the Father in Heaven. But we cannot bear it all now. Not fully. And eternity will be spent continually deepening our understanding of all that God reveals....

Wednesday 8 May 2024 Wednesday of the 6th week of Eastertide Hermitage of St. Arsenius, Decatur Texas (Eastern Orthodox) Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 17:15,22-18:1 ©I proclaim the God you already worship without knowing itPaul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could. So Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech: ‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:5–7Jesus continues to speak prophetically to His disciples about the necessity for Him to go to the Father so that He...

7 May 2024 Tuesday of the 6th week of Eastertide St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, Wilmington, DelawareReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 16:22-34 ©Become a believer and you will be saved, and your household tooThe crowd joined in and showed their hostility to Paul and Silas, so the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be flogged. They were given many lashes and then thrown into prison, and the gaoler was told to keep a close watch on them. So, following his instructions, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the...

The Biden administration’s persecution against pro-life Christians in America is getting worse. Just days after LifeNews reported that federal prison officials put a pro-life woman in solitary confinement for 22 days for sharing food with fellow prisoners, a new report indicates that Biden officials are preventing a pro-life Christian from attending church. Paulette Harlow is one of a dozen pro-life Americans the Biden administration has targeted with prosecution for protesting abortions while it ignores hundreds of pro-abortion crimes committed across America. Harlow, who is 73, could be sentenced to up to 11 years in prison for protesting abortion. While Americans...

Leftists love to believe that churches should be run like clubs -- the majority rules. So they'll make a big deal out of polls, like the Pew Research Center finding six of ten Catholics disagree with the church's opposition to abortion. They do not ask self-identified Catholics whether they actually go to church on Sundays, or if they stopped the minute they became an adult. You would get a more conservative result. On Tuesday, NPR's newscast All Things Considered brought on reporter Katia Riddle to channel the views of pro-abortion Catholics, but what made it more shocking is touting a...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15:26–27Jesus informs His disciples that “the Spirit of truth” will come and that the Spirit, as well as the disciples, will “testify” to Him. When Jesus first spoke these words to His disciples, they would not have comprehended what He meant. Since these words are prophetic in nature, they are words...

6 May 2024 Monday of the 6th week of Eastertide St. Dominic Savio Parish in Bellflower, CA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 16:11-15 ©The Lord opened Lydia's heart to accept what Paul was sayingSailing from Troas we made a straight run for Samothrace; the next day for Neapolis, and from there for Philippi, a Roman colony and the principal city of that particular district of Macedonia. After a few days in this city we went along the river outside the gates as it was the sabbath and this was a customary place for prayer. We sat...

5 May 2024 6th Sunday of Easter Edmund Rice Heritage Centre, Mount Sion, Waterford, Ireland Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).If the Ascension of the Lord is going to be celebrated next Sunday, the alternative Second Reading and Gospel shown here (which would otherwise have been read on that Sunday) may be used today.First readingActs 10:25-26,34-35,44-48 ©The pagans have received the Holy Spirit just as much as we haveAs Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, knelt at his feet and prostrated himself. But Peter helped him up. ‘Stand up,’ he said ‘I am only...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” John 15:15–17Just prior to the passage quoted above, Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what...

In 1967 the Beatles wrote and performed a song for one of the first world-wide TV broadcasts called, “All You Need is Love.” It became a classic and as late as the 1980’s I can remember working on the trombone line of an adaptation of it for my high school band. It’s one of a number of Beatles songs where they stumbled on something true out of their Christian heritage, without understanding the full implications. In fact, they actively distorted the real implications of love by overly-eroticizing the concept. Be that as it may, “All You Need is Love” could...

St. William Catholic Church in Cashion, Arizona, was destroyed in an overnight fire May 1. The fire broke out just before 1 a.m. Local station Fox 10 Phoenix reported that firefighters arrived and found flames coming from the attic of the church. The roof of the church ultimately collapsed as firefighters fought the flames. "This is a devastating loss to this community," Avondale Fire Battalion Chief Steve Mayhew said. "This church is a pillar of this community, so definitely a lot of heartbreak this morning." "I also run the pantry here at St. Williams — that's gone," Gonzalo Ortiz, a...

4 May 2024 Saturday of the 5th week of Eastertide San Ciriaco – Ancona's Cathedral Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 16:1-10 ©'Come across to Macedonia and help us'From Cilicia Paul went to Derbe, and then on to Lystra. Here there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer; but his father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy, and Paul, who wanted to have him as a travelling companion, had him circumcised. This was on account of the Jews in the locality where...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” John 15:18–19This is a sobering thought: “the world hates you.” That is, if you are among those who have been taken by our Lord out of the world. In that case, Jesus says that the world will hate you. No one wants to be hated. No...

Daily Readings from the USCCBPhilip said to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” John 14:8–9Today’s liturgical feast is in honor of two of the Apostles, Philip and James the Lesser. Little is known about James other than that he was chosen by our Lord for the apostolic ministry and that we have one of his...

Friday 3 May 2024 Saints Philip and James, Apostles Feast St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church, Flower Mound, Texas Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II).First reading1 Corinthians 15:1-8 ©The Lord appeared to James, and then to all the apostlesBrothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else will not lead to anything. Well then, in the first place, I taught you...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” John 15:10When Jesus spoke the line above, He followed it by saying, “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.” These two lines, taken side by side, provide a helpful unity of Jesus’ teaching regarding holy obedience to Him. First, Jesus speaks of the necessity of keeping His commandments. To some, such a statement, when taken by itself, can seem burdensome,...