Catholic Nutshell News: Friday 7/18/25
Topics include: ‘Wedding without a dowry’; Massacre avoided in Gaza church attack; Sales of the Bible surging; & Hoped for relief from federal abortion rule
Fridays, "Living that coconut kinda life."
Today's sources: National Catholic Register, The UK Tablet, Catholic News Agency, Word on Fire, CatholicVote, Agenzia Fides, & Missio Dei. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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Agenzia Fides
‘Wedding without a dowry’ says Chinese Catholic community
By Agenzia Fides, July 16, 2025
Archbishop Meng Ningyou of Taiyuan, in the Chinese province of Shanxi, recommended in his homily at a church wedding last Sunday, July 13, that marriage, in the spirit of faith, be seen as a gift characterized by gratuitousness. He invited everyone to free themselves from the custom of demanding a "dowry" for marriage, which is still widespread in large parts of society. In the current social context, especially in rural areas, the practice of dowry (the assets in the form of money, real estate, jewelry, or cars that families of origin must provide to future spouses at the time of marriage) continues to be a burden for young future spouses and their families of origin, causing the union to break up for many young couples. Families often go into debt to comply with the custom.
Catholic News Agency
Gaza church attack: Warnings by priest stops ‘a massacre’
By Victoria Cardiel, July 17, 2025
Father Yusuf Asad, 49, who has been the assistant parochial vicar at Holy Family Church in Gaza for six years, had just celebrated morning Mass when a loud bang sounded. At around 10:20 a.m. local time, a projectile hit the building. “It fell directly on the roof. The explosion occurred next to the cross atop the church and soon scattered shrapnel throughout the courtyard,” said Anton Asfar, director of Caritas Jerusalem. “It was later clarified to us that at the time of the explosion, there were some people in the courtyard outside, even though Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor, had warned everyone to stay inside,” he explained. Still shaken, he added: “Without Father Romanelli's warnings to stay inside, we could have lost 50 or 60 people. It would have been a massacre.” Everyone “is determined to stay in the churches and continue taking refuge there. But the truth is that there are no safe areas in Gaza anymore,” Asfar lamented.
The UK Tablet
Sales of the Bible surging in the faltering non-fiction market
By Hugh Hudson, July 18, 2025
Sales of the Bible surged by almost 14% to more than £4 million in the first half of 2025 as religious books bucked the trend of a faltering non-fiction market. Data from consumer behaviour consultants NielsenIQ showed that book sales in the religion category grew by three-quarters of a million pounds, a 6.2% rise compared to the first six months of 2024. Four out of the five Christian sub-categories were responsible for generating an additional £826,404 over the period, with only Christian theology experiencing a decline in sales of £36,704. By contrast, the wider non-fiction market struggled in the same period, contracting by 5% year-on-year while the market as a whole grew by only 0.01%.
National Catholic Register
Priestly vocations booming in the Midwest and South
By Luke Larson, July 17, 2025
Measuring ordinations relative to total Catholic population is important because while 20 ordinations would be very impressive in a diocese with a small Catholic population like Jackson in Mississippi, it would not be in a diocese with large numbers of Catholics like Los Angeles. While diocesan ordinations have been falling nationwide (down 22% between 2014 and 2023), some dioceses in overlooked regions are bucking the trend. The South, America’s least Catholic region, and the Great Plains, one of America’s most sparsely populated regions, are hitting well above their weight. Of the nation’s 50 best-performing dioceses, exactly half are in the Midwest, and 18 are in the South (including Texas and Oklahoma). The rest of the country combined, despite making up 25 states, has just seven of the top 50.
Catholic News Agency
Catholic bishops seek relief from federal abortion rule
By Tyler Arnold, July 17, 2025
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is asking a federal district court to block the government from enforcing any portion of an abortion “accommodation” rule against them while they appeal a court order that provided only partial relief from the rule. Under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) abortion accommodation rule, the USCCB can deny workplace accommodations for employees who obtain purely elective abortions, but they may still have to provide accommodations for abortions related to treating medical conditions. The rule stems from the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, passed under President Joe Biden, which requires employers to provide reasonable workplace accommodations for women with limitations resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
CathNews Australia
Philosophy conference covers family & recovery in the home
By Darren Ally, July 9, 2025
The Dawson Society for Philosophy and Culture’s 2025 conference, “Home: Family, Place, Economics” held July 10-12 sparked vigorous conversations about the meaning of the home in modern society. “We chose ‘home’ as our theme because it sits at the junction of so many urgent cultural questions in today’s society,” Dawson Society president Thomas Gourlay said. “The success of this year’s conference shows that people are hungry to rediscover the moral, spiritual, and economic foundations of home in a world of fragmentation.” The event also marked the society’s growing national profile, drawing attendees from across Australia and even Singapore, and reinforcing its role as a leading voice in Christian intellectual renewal. The event was formally opened by Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, who led those assembled in prayer.
The Pillar
The 7-decade ban on churches endorsing political candidates is over
By Kelsey Reinhardt, July 17, 2025
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has already made clear that Catholic parishes will not be endorsing political candidates. We support this. However, these new changes in law now make possible (and encourage) honest and objective pastoral guidance on the principles that ought to guide our voting decisions – including the public positions of specific candidates and where they stand on fundamental Catholic moral teaching – from the pulpit. Too often we have heard the excuse: “I can’t speak about the blatant hostility of candidate X toward Catholic social teaching because we might lose our tax-exempt status.” Every election implicates Catholic moral teaching, and the lives and livelihoods of every Catholic citizen, school, charity, and institution.
ChurchPOP
Surprising Catholic facts you've probably not heard
By Caroline Perkins, July 17, 2025
In his latest episode of the YouTube series, “Breaking the Habit,” Father Casey Cole, OFM, shares 50 fast facts about the Catholic faith. The video sheds light on various points of Catholic trivia, ranging from Vatican secrets to shocking moments in Catholic history. They include: The Vatican has its own telescope in Arizona; The world’s largest Rosary exists in Beirut; There are at least 831 different religious communities in the Church; There are secret tunnels and passages underneath the Vatican; Groundhog Day has Catholic origins; and the strangest fact—at one time, the Church had to put out a decree stating that a greyhound dog was not, in fact, a saint, after a town declared a dog to be a saint and martyr.
Pillar, CNA & Satire for Friday, July 18, 2025
Big Pulpit
Tito Edwards Catholic site: July 18, 2025
The Big Pulpit website is a news aggregator offering quality insight & analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide.
Rod Dreher: Islam Will Bring Civil War to Europe – Matt Fradd at Pints With Aquinas
The Fake Martyrdom of Anonymous Bloggers (Messa in Latino) – Silere Non Possum
Pope Leo XIV & the Question of Women in Holy Orders – Deacon Dom. Cerrato, Ph.D., at CWR
Blood Oath? Scary Thing Is that This Is Not Close to the Bottom of the Barrel Yet – H. Millican
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — July 18, 2025
Catholic News Agency provides reliable and free up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the words of the Holy Father and the Holy See.
Violence against Christians escalates in Syria - Jul 18, 2025 - By Madalaine Elhabbal - Christian communities in Syria continue to experience escalating violence, with one church severely damaged and another narrowly escaping what would have been a fatal car bombing attack
Catholic youth urge European leaders to address migrant crisis with charity, understanding - Jul 17, 2025 -By Madalaine Elhabbal - This year’s written contribution by the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) Youth Net centers on immigration issues.
Bishop says U.S. aid cuts, not migrants, crippling South Africa’s health system - Jul 17, 2025 - By Agnes Aineah - South African bishop blames "recent suspension of most U.S. foreign aid" for medication shortages and a rise in violence against migrants and refugees.
Babylon Bee’s Satire News
Weird But True: Jesus Died For Man Currently Eating Massive Burrito In 2003 Honda Civic
By Theology Staff, July 17, 2025
Recent reports indicated that Jesus died for sinners all over the planet, including a gentleman who was currently demolishing a Taco Bell Grilled Stuft Burrito, a meal that could feed four people, alone in the driver's seat of his 2003 Honda Civic. Theologians confirmed that despite the man's unsightly spectacle, currently taking place in an empty parking lot at 3 PM, he was indeed an infinitely precious soul whom Christ died on the cross to save. "Woah, that's crazy. I didn't know that," said one bystander upon hearing the news. "Can't say I would've done the same thing." Heavenly authorities claimed that the man's sins — past, present, and future — were covered by the blood of the Lamb who was slain. Several others expressed skepticism at this claim after watching the man finish the burrito and immediately drive to Wendy's for a Frosty.
Nutshell reflections for 7/18/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection: AUDIO - July 18, 2025
Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Aleteia
Origin of the shrine to Our Lady of the Highways
By Christine Rousselle, July 18, 2019
Each day, thousands of travelers on Interstate 95 North in Maryland drive by Our Lady of the Highways, one of the most unique Catholic shrines in the country. Many people don't even realize it because most drivers passing by a Catholic shrine aren't traveling at 65 miles per hour, and most Catholic shrines aren't located on the side of a major interstate highway. On October 2, 1968, during a thick fog, three people were killed and many were injured in a massive, multi-car wreck, says the Oblates' website. The accident happened "just a few yards from an Oblate house," and many of the Oblates tended to the injured and dying on the side of the road. Three years later, Our Lady of the Highways was erected on the site of the accident, as both a tribute to those who were killed and a reminder to drive safely.
Catholic World Report
The normalization of homosexual acts as perfectly moral
By Larry Chapp, July 10, 2023
It is precisely the ongoing presence in the Church of an apparent set of double standards—one stern and directed at the traditionalist wing of the Church and the other a more lenient latitudinarian tolerance for the more progressive wing of the Church—that is the generative cause of whatever “overreactions” one sees among some traditionalists. Ecclesial peace, therefore, cannot be brought about in such an environment by doubling down on the double standard since all that does, as we saw with Traditionis Custodes, is create deeper resentments and encourages a festering anger. This implicit dissent leads to an inversion of moral values. Those who continue to affirm the Church’s teachings on homosexuality are accused of the all-purpose, catch-all term “homophobia.” The real issue here is not diversity but the normalization of homosexual acts as perfectly moral. Most parents recognize the battering ram of indoctrination into the supposed moral legitimacy of a set of sexual practices is at odds with the vast majority of the religions of the world.
Word on Fire
Sometimes grace speaks in the JavaScript of an App
By Sebastian Barros, July 16, 2025
Just outside the basilica, near a shaded column, I saw a small sign: “¿Quieres hablar con Juan Diego?” (“Want to talk to Juan Diego?”). I scanned it. Seconds later, an app loaded. A soft, indigenous voice greeted me. It was him, or rather, an AI version of Juan Diego, the humble Nahua man who claimed to see the Virgin in 1531. The app invited me to ask questions about the apparition, the basilica, even his doubts and struggles. I asked, “What did you feel when the bishop didn’t believe you?” The reply came with emotional nuance: “I felt small. But I knew she had chosen me, and that gave me strength.” It was surreal. Strange. And, to my surprise, moving. We’re conditioned to think of apps as trivial, tech as soulless, and AI as the cold antithesis of spirituality. But here, amid a centuries-old Catholic tradition, technology was not desecrating the sacred; it was mediating it. It was, in some quiet way, drawing people in.
Missio Dei
The old or the new you ... which will you choose?
By Lexis Challen, July 18, 2025
When someone seeks to follow Jesus, to grow in virtue and holiness, and to unite oneself wholly to God, but has allowed certain sins or vices to remain in their lives, such a person will not be able to achieve true union with God. The old sins or vices will make it difficult for one to attain progress in their journey of faith. They will be hindered from having a genuine relationship with the Lord, as their sins will tear away at one’s faith through temptation, distraction, and division. Just as Jesus’ analogy described, the old will ruin the new. As such, we are called to root out the ways of our old selves, as well as the ways of the world. If we recognize certain recurring sins or vices within our lives, may we act speedily and zealously through the help and strength of our Savior, to remove such evils from our lives.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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