Catholic Nutshell News: Monday 6/15/26
What Catholics should know: Deal with Iran ends hostilities, but ...; Unborn Down Syndrome babies; 9,500-year-old village; & Needed renewal of failed Catholic colleges
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Your 5-minute daily Catholic briefing. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, Zenit, & Aleteia. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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National Catholic Register
Trump announces peace deal with Iran, ending hostilities, but …
By Gigi Duncan, June 8, 2026
President Donald Trump announced on June 14 that the United States and Iran had reached a deal to end months of hostilities that have claimed thousands of lives. A formal signing ceremony is scheduled for June 19 in Switzerland. The pact is expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports, and include a 60-day period for further negotiations, particularly on Iran’s nuclear program. The deal only partially addresses the issues that sparked the conflict, which began on Feb. 28 with strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The agreement requires Iran to refrain from producing or acquiring nuclear weapons and to maintain the current nuclear status quo during the 60-day negotiation period, but does not require Iran to halt funding, arming, or directing its network of militant groups, including Hezbollah. Those questions have been deferred for future talks.
Related: Pakistan plays pivotal role in Iran peace agreement - By Crux Now Staff - Jun 15, 2026
EWTN News
Pro-lifers defend unborn Down Syndrome babies after viral abortion
By Kate Quiñones, June 13, 2026
Pro-life advocates are defending unborn children with Down syndrome after a YouTuber told the world that he and his wife aborted their child who had been diagnosed with the condition. YouTube creator Jesse Ridgway went viral for posting about how he and his wife decided to abort their unborn baby after they learned the child would likely have Down syndrome. Advocates on X reacted by sharing posts celebrating the worth of individuals with the medical diagnosis. “Down syndrome shouldn’t mean a death sentence,” Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose said. SBA Pro-Life America posted in response to Ridgway’s post: “This is so sad and awful. We CANʼT stand silently by.” “Research shows 99% of people with Down syndrome are happy with their lives, and their families love them,” the pro-life group continued. “Families deserve truthful information & support. People with Down syndrome deserve to live. They should never be targets for discrimination, inside the womb or out. Period.”
Related: Jérôme Lejeune’s legacy endures as France celebrates 100th birthday of the geneticist - Lejeune identified that an extra chromosome 21 causes Down syndrome - by Caroline de Sury, OSV News, June 15, 2026
PIMA asia news
9,500-year-old village re-emerges beneath Jordan desert
By Giuseppe Caffulli, June 13, 2026
Amid the sands of southern Jordan, where the wind has been sculpting stone arches and rust-colored canyons for millennia, the Wadi Rum desert (one of the most popular destinations on tourist tours of the Hashemite Kingdom) appears to be a landscape frozen in time. Amongst tracks once trodden by Bedouins and rock faces covered in prehistoric engravings, archaeologists have identified one of the most important Neolithic sites in the Middle East: Ayn Abu Nukhayla, a small settlement dating back some 9,500 years that tells, with surprising precision, the story of the birth of human society where the desert now stretches. The ‘Red Desert’ has been known primarily for its rock paintings and petroglyphs scattered across the rocks. The excavations have revealed a village from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, comprising semi-underground oval dwellings, storehouses, communal areas, and animal enclosures. It is surprisingly modern.
The Pillar
Bishops asked to lead renewal of failed Catholic colleges
By Michelle La Rosa, June 10, 2026
Catholic colleges and universities today are largely failing to fulfill their mission, and the bishops have an important role to play in correcting the problem, Dartmouth College's provost said last Wednesday. Santiago Schnell, a renowned mathematical biologist, spoke to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Orlando. He offered his reflections on the state of Catholic higher education today, 25 years after the conference implemented Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Questions of policy, leadership, and culture at Catholic universities remain points of contention in the United States. This past year, the University of Notre Dame appointed an outspoken abortion advocate to direct one of its academic institutes, still supporting her after she refused the appointment. Schnell said that although Catholics are present in American public life today, they lack a sufficient presence in the institutions that form ideas, language, and imagination. “A massive infrastructure of higher education, with average outcomes.”
aciafrica
‘Spiritans’ (order from five African countries) take their vows
By ACI Africa Staff, June 14, 2026
Thirteen African members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans/Holy Ghost Fathers/CSSp.) made their perpetual profession in Uganda on Saturday, June 13, committing themselves to a life of chastity, poverty, and obedience amid what a Spiritan Superior described as an increasingly complex world marked by rapid technological change, commercialization, and shrinking space for the Church’s prophetic voice. The 13, drawn from five African countries, made their Perpetual Profession during a Eucharistic celebration at St. Theresa Bakka Catholic Parish of Uganda’s Kampala Catholic Archdiocese. Spiritans serve in more than 66 countries and are united by the Spiritan motto, “Cor Unum et Anima Una” (With one heart and one soul). Fr. Kamoga warned that the 13 Spiritans making their Perpetual Profession would carry out their ministry in a society undergoing profound transformation.
Zeale
Michael Knowles: Faith & patriotism are natural allies in America
By Annie Ferguson, June 13, 2026
Conservative commentator and author Michael Knowles said in a Zeale News interview on June 13 that faith and patriotism are not competing loyalties but complementary obligations rooted in the same source: love of God, family, and country. Speaking with Zeale during CatholicVote’s America 250 celebration in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Knowles reflected on the relationship between spiritual and civic life, arguing that religion cannot be separated from public life and that healthy societies depend on moral truths informed by faith. He also discussed the recent consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, calling it a significant moment in the nation’s spiritual history and a reminder of God’s providence throughout the American story. In the interview, Knowles explains why faith and patriotism belong together, how Catholics can live out those principles in daily life, and why he sees renewed public devotion to the Sacred Heart as a hopeful sign for the country’s future.
ZENIT
Diocese of Nottingham launches novel vocation drive
By ZENIT Staff, June 13, 2026
The Diocese of Nottingham held a special event linked to its recently launched Called by Name campaign on June 7. “Priests do not grow on trees,” said Bishop McKinney in the Cathedral Hall, in front of 37 young men. “They do not come out of the clouds. They come from parishes.” The turnout had moved him. “I had no idea how many might come, and this is far more than I thought might come.” Called by Name asks nothing of the men invited by their parish staff, but a willingness to wonder, and to be open to whatever the Lord might be calling them to. “You’ve got nothing to lose,” said the man from Grantham. “It’s been very ‘no pressure’ today. It’s very relaxed.” The men swapped phone numbers, compared parishes, and laughed at the stories of how they’d each ended up there on a Sunday afternoon. None of the 37 has committed to anything, and that’s the point. Called by Name asks nothing of them but a willingness to wonder and to be open to whatever the Lord might be calling them to.
CRUX
The Catholic Church — there is paperwork involved
By Charles Collins, June 14, 2026
“The Catholic Church: Our Lord is the Way to Eternal Life, but there is paperwork involved.” It was a good line, I thought, certainly worth a chuckle, so I shared it to X. It struck a nerve: 17,000 views and 15 reshares, which is a lot for me, but it wasn’t the biggest social media hit I had all week, not by a long shot. That came from the story to which that quip I just mentioned was a follow-up, my contribution to people’s accounts of “petty tyranny” in the Church, many of them turning on the strict enforcement of mostly bureaucratic procedure that isn’t strictly necessary or even useful. That one — the really big one (for me) — has nearly 170,000 views, more than 70 reposts, and close to 2,000 “likes” to date. The largest complaint is that red tape at the local level is keeping people from the sacraments, especially the ones that are supposed to draw people in.
Keep informed - 6/15/26 news for Catholics:
Snippets: EWTN News, Catholic World Report, & Catholic World News
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — June 15, 2026
EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.
Pakistan government takes over historic Christian college building in Lahore - By Kamran Chaudhry - Punjab authorities have seized Ewing Hall, a century-old building tied to Lahoreʼs Forma’s Forman Christian College, as Christian leaders and rights groups warn it could be lost for good.
Life is beautiful: Thousands join annual pro-life march in Rome - By Ishmael Adibuah - The participants in the “Scegliamo della Vita” March opposed Italyʼs existing abortion laws and proposals to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide. Massimo Gandolfini, spokesperson for the Scegliamo della Vita March, expressed opposition to such laws and discussed the role that men have in promoting a pro-life culture.
Norway’s March for Life returns after 40 years, uniting Christians for the unborn - By Bryan Lawrence Gonsalves - Catholics, Lutherans, Pentecostals, and evangelicals marched together for the unborn through a rainy Oslo in Norwayʼs first major March for Life in some 40 years.
Catholic World Report
CWR’s Columns, Analysis, & Features
Catholic World Report is a free online magazine that examines the news from a faithful Catholic perspective.
How the Female Imagination is Being Corrupted - Marcus Peter - June 14, 2026 - Beatrice Scudeler’s recent essay on the Public Discourse about Gen Z women and the internet fascination with “men who yearn” exposes a rather inconvenient truth for a culture that has spent sixty years telling women that marriage is servitude, motherhood is social death, homemaking is wasted talent, and worse.
Fr. Rossetti, Cardinal McElroy, and the case of unidentified ecclesiastical motives - Eamonn Clark - June 12, 2026 - In a video released May 29, now-former exorcist of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C., Msgr. Stephen Rossetti (a priest from Syracuse, New York) expressed his opinion on UFOs and their possible connection.
Celebrating 250 Years of American Mythology? - Kenneth Craycraft - June 9, 2026 - As the Fourth of July approaches, we Americans are collectively claiming to be celebrating 250 years of American independence. More accurately, we are commemorating the 250th anniversary of a declaration of, and adherence to, a set of moral and political ideas—some number of “self-evident truths.”
Catholic World News
CatholicCulture.org from Trinity Communications
Catholic World News (CWN) is an independent Catholic news service staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate global news from a distinctly Catholic perspective.
New statutes clarify the relationship between DDF & the Pontifical Commission for Protection of Minors - Pope Leo XIV approved new statutes that will provide direction to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors for a three-year trial period. The statutes—announced in Italian and English, but currently published only in Italian—replace the commission’s original statutes, issued in 2015.
“My Will Be Done”: On the SSPX Consecrations - Eamonn Clark, STL - Every schismatic and every disobedient person claims they are acting for the greater good. Yet the greatest good lies in doing the will of God, even when one is the subject of a superior with less talent than oneself, and even when the superior is evil. Even if bad motives enter into a command which is materially legitimate, God’s motives are never bad.
Relationships stabilized by love…and prayer…and grace - Dr. Jeff Mirus - One of the most consistent messages from the opinion-makers in the dominant culture today is that a stable family is irrelevant to human happiness, an attitude which (I suppose) is based on the mistaken belief that happiness depends only upon each individual pursuing his or her own immediate desires. But as St. Paul once said, “You did not learn so in Christ!” (Eph 4:20).
June 15, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE — or read HERE:
Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Aleteia
Pope Leo on being drawn in by Jesus’ gaze
By Kathleen N. Hattrup, June 14, 2026
Pope Leo noted before praying the midday Angelus on June 14 how the Gospels emphasize the gaze of Jesus: Today’s Gospel (Mt 9:36–10:8) brings us a great gift, for it draws all who hear it into Jesus’ gaze: it is a story that bears witness to the attentiveness of this gaze, as well as telling us what the Lord sees. We read, in fact, that Christ “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless” (v. 36). Having become our brother, the Son of God looks at the people, he looks at humanity: he sees the oppression that burdens and the violence that causes strength to fade. He sees the wounds of war and the emptiness of consumerism. He sees faces reduced to masks, families torn apart by evil, and young people misled by false ideals. Jesus sees and loves. He loves and suffers for and with us: his compassion expresses not only fraternal closeness, but his desire to redeem.
National Catholic Register
How can I forgive… God?
By Greg Popcak, June 12, 2026
In my work with CatholicCounselors.com, I often accompany people who have similar questions: How do I forgive the people who hurt me? And how can I forgive God for letting it happen? St. Augustine and Pope St. John Paul II said that forgiveness is simply the decision to surrender our desire for revenge. Forgiveness doesn’t require us to pretend the offense never happened, or put ourselves in harm’s way again, or refuse to hold the person accountable. It simply means, as the Catechism teaches, that I am committed to giving up my desire to hurt someone for having hurt me (2843). It’s possible for a Christian to forgive someone but not be reconciled to them, especially when the other person remains unrepentant or unsafe. How can I reconcile with God when the things I have suffered cause me to feel that he abandoned me, or worse? It’s based on a misunderstanding of God’s original plan for us, how that plan was destroyed, and what God is doing — even now — to make that plan a reality.
First Things
Pierre Manent and the threat of humanitarianism
By Paul Seaton, June 15, 2025
Pierre Manent is widely recognized as one of the most insightful political philosophers writing today. In an ever-growing corpus, he has deeply considered liberalism (without succumbing to either adulation or undue hostility), the nation-state, modern democracy, and the nature of the EU, with constant attention to the “depoliticization” of Europe, as the self-governing citizen is increasingly sidelined in a postnational, postreligious, technocratic Europe. Manent is one of the most incisive defenders of “man, the social and political animal,” as well as of the Christian understanding of the imago Dei against the effort to subvert and replace both of these constituent foundations of Western civilization with the “religion of humanity.” He speaks of a Europe “sleepwalking through history,” with dire prospects in sight unless it regains a minimal awareness of “the instinct for political existence.”
The Catholic Thing
We need ‘Ars Poetica’ — artful poetry
By Robert Royal, June 15, 2026
The proverbial Martian visiting America in this 250th year (a whole quarter millennium) of our existence would be struck by many things. But probably by nothing more obvious than the large gap between what, on the one hand, we daily say and do, and on the other, what we would like to be. We’re worried about how technologies like AI are coming to define us, but are mostly blind to how we’ve already defined ourselves – confined ourselves, really, even before the devices took over – to a materially prosperous but flat view of the world and ourselves. The Church, in recent years, has been trying to compensate with terms like Dignitas infinita and Magnifica humanitas, concepts that, in their argumentative way, do try to get at the problem. But they fall well short because what we desperately need now is not yet more arguments, but serious and artful poetry.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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