“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”
Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, & Aleteia. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
Please support the following Catholic news services and spiritual support sites. Click here to view this email on the Catholic Nutshell News website. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is available on the Substack App.
National Catholic Register
Latin Patriarch of Holy Land has a retiring ‘CEO’
By Michele Chabin, August 21, 2026
The Latin Patriarchate runs 64 parishes across its diocese and a network of 44 schools spread across Jordan, Israel and Palestine that serve 19,000 students and employ 1,750. One of its ministries is to build homes for young couples and needy families. El-Yousef became CEO of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 2017, after Cardinal Pizzaballa, then apostolic administrator, asked him to serve as the patriarchate’s chief administrator. At the time, expenses and debts were mounting, and fundraising was lagging. “Most of the work is behind the scenes, for sure,” said El-Yousef, who will retire when he leaves his post. “What is important is to work professionally, stay above board, work with full transparency.” Working alongside the Latin patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, El-Yousef has overseen the administrative, financial, and logistical operations that enable the Catholic Church to carry out its mission across Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and Cyprus.
Related: Catholic church vandalized in Israel’s capital amid ongoing attacks - ZENIT Staff, August 21, 2026
EWTN News
Bishop Boxie: From practicing law to the youngest U.S. bishop
By Tessa Gervasini, August 22, 2026
From practicing law to answering a call to the priesthood, Bishop Robert Boxie’s faith journey has led to several milestones, including becoming the youngest U.S. bishop and the first African American appointed to the leadership role in nearly a decade. With an Ivy League law degree, a successful career, and the ability to travel, Robert Boxie III seemed to have it all. Yet, he said he felt the Lord calling him to something even greater: religious life. Originally from southern Louisiana, Boxie grew up where “Catholicism runs deep in the soil,” he said in an Aug. 21 interview with “EWTN News In Depth” host Catherine Hadro. With that faith instilled in him, Boxie went on to attend Vanderbilt University, where he received a degree in chemical engineering and a second degree in music. He then worked for a year in France teaching English. He continued his education at Harvard Law School before working at a law firm in Washington, D.C. He entered seminary for the Archdiocese of Washington and was ordained a priest in 2016.
Aleteia
Conscience rights are key to defending liberty, says Pope
By I.Media, August 22, 2026
“Promoting freedom means defending the spaces of conscience,” Pope Leo XIV said during his first speech on his pastoral visit to San Marino, a landlocked country completely surrounded by Italy. Addressing the authorities of this small country of about 34,000 inhabitants, an enclave in northeastern Italy, the Pope delivered a wide-ranging reflection on sovereignty and freedom. “I wish to emphasize that there is no true civil liberty without personal liberty — that is, without respect for and the promotion of the dignity of the human person,” the Pope explained. He stressed that “this liberty is ultimately given and guaranteed by God, whose voice resounds in the conscience of every human being.” He thus paid tribute to the “martyrs of freedom,” mentioning in particular “Saint Thomas More, patron of rulers and politicians.” He added that freedom “flows from being sons and daughters of God.”
The Pillar
China’s Church crackdown extending into Hong Kong
By The Pillar, August 21, 2026
Two civil rights advocates were convicted Friday of national security crimes by a special court in Hong Kong, and now face up to a decade in prison. The convictions come as local clergy warns of increased harassment of Church officials in the territory. Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan were convicted of incitement to subversion for their roles in organizing a prayer vigil in 2021 to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The activists have been in prison since September 2021 and, along with a co-defendant who pleaded guilty in January, are the latest individuals convicted under the sweeping National Security Law brought into force in Hong Kong in 2019 by the mainland government. The convictions highlight how the Special Administrative Region is taking an increasingly hard line on once-tolerated basic civil liberties, with clerics in the region reporting heightened tensions and harassment of Church officials, mirroring similar circumstances on the mainland.
OSV News
‘Prayer is our number one weapon’ against Russian aggression
By Gina Christian, August 20, 2026
As Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine — which continues attacks launched in 2014 — nears its fifth year, OSV News sat down Aug. 12 with Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, papal nuncio to Ukraine, for a reflection on faith and prayer amid relentless conflict. “One of the challenges that Ukrainian Catholics are facing is that of not being understood, of course. I remind our bishops, priests and all the faithful that, well, even if our brothers and sisters — even if Catholics in the world — don’t understand us, God is the one who understands,” He said. Stressing that we never know God’s plan for us, he said, “We know that our main goal is not even our life of freedom on earth. Our vocation is to go to the divine kingdom, to live eternal life — so that means that we have no guarantees from God that he will protect our physical life as much as our spiritual life … we need to pray and to explain to our brothers and sisters that we need to keep our hope. And our hope is Jesus, not this life.”
Zeale
US imposes new sanctions on Cuban officials and state entities
By Elise Winland, August 21, 2026
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Aug. 20 a new round of U.S. sanctions targeting three Cuban officials and nine state entities, accusing the communist regime of using them to fund domestic repression and anti-American activities. The sanctions — issued under an executive order from President Donald Trump — target three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and state-controlled entities involved in mining, metals, construction, foreign trade, and labor contracting, according to a State Department press release. “The Cuban regime has long sponsored a vast subversive network in the United States aimed at identifying, cultivating, and radicalizing subversives, largely operating under the pretext of educational or cultural exchange,” Rubio said in the release. He said the regime recently sought to use events marking Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday to bring international sympathizers to Havana to network with regime officials.
Zenit
Rome reaffirms Catholic teaching on sex education in Hamburg
By Joachin Meisner Hertz, August 20, 2026
The Vatican has intervened with a clarification that Catholic educators and parents elsewhere in Germany will watch closely. Responding to concerns raised by parents over the Archdiocese of Hamburg’s framework for sex education, the Dicastery for Culture and Education reaffirmed the Church’s established position set out in its 2019 document “Male and Female He Created Them.” A dispute over sex education in Catholic schools in northern Germany has acquired a significance far beyond Hamburg. At issue is not simply the content of a diocesan educational program, but who ultimately defines the anthropological framework within which Catholic schools are expected to educate children: a local Church authority, or the universal teaching of the Catholic Church. The Vatican thanked the parents for their commitment to Catholic education. The parents' network welcomed the response, but it did not settle the dispute.
Related: Debate about sex ed guidelines for schools in German archdiocese continues after Vatican letter - EWTN, By Alexander Folz, August 22, 2026
The Angelus
What does plastic surgery actually change?
By Heather King, August 21, 2026
Recently, The New York Times ran a piece about the rising popularity of plastic surgery, titled “Three People on Why They Wanted New Faces.” It's wonderful that people are feeling better about themselves. Who would begrudge another human being even a moment of such solace? Still, elective cosmetic surgery always evokes a frisson of underlying … is it dread? Queasiness? It’s that many of us can’t quite buy the lie that cosmetic surgery will make things better for us in any lasting, meaningful way. It’d be one thing if the person undergoing the knife emerged from anesthesia more generous, tolerant, or compassionate. Instead, the hope is inevitably to be admired more, approved more, loved more. What happens, after the initial excitement dies down, when you look in the mirror and still don’t like what you see? Still you’re not perfect?
Keep informed - 8/22/26 matters for Catholics:
Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — August 22, 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.
Catholic fiber artist brings the Lamb of God to life in wool - By Kate Quiñones - Artist Holly Guertin, a Catholic convert, creates hyper-realistic sculptural art made of lambs’ wool — all with a sacramental worldview.
Advocates warn New Jersey law could criminalize prayer outside abortion clinics - By Kate Quiñones - The law criminalizes “interference” with “reproductive” or “gender-affirming” care, specifically citing “emotional harm” against those seeking or providing “reproductive health care services.” It also bans filming and sharing videos within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.
Surrogate mother faces $100,000 lawsuit from biological parents for refusing to abort baby - By Amira Abuzeid - McKenna West fled to Texas to give birth to the baby after his parents demanded he be aborted due to a heart condition. Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed have filed suit against McKenna West seeking more than $100,000 in damages, alleging she breached their surrogacy agreement
aciafrica
aciafrica’s top headlines — August 22, 2026
ACI Africa was founded in 2019 to provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, with particular emphasis on the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See.
Catholic Missionary Priest Reflects on Reversal of Vocations Flow - “I have in my lifetime seen a total turn in the Church in Europe,” Fr. McGrath told ACI Africa during a visit to Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Kakamega. He added, “I came to Africa on a plane full of missionaries, and I have witnessed vocations back home go down.”
Sixteen New Catholic Priests, Deacons in Angola Urged to Serve Without Seeking “a position of advantage” - “The ministry requires total and free self-giving,” Archbishop Zeca said in his homily on Sunday, August 16, emphasizing that ministers must place their lives “unconditionally at the service of Christ in the person of the poor.”
Newly Launched Paulines Publications Africa Book Presents Five Pathways to Personal Encounter with Christ - A newly launched Paulines Publications Africa (PPA) book presents belief in God as Creator, friendship with Jesus, companionship, community, and eternal fulfillment as five pathways through which Christians can deepen their faith and lead others to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
Word on Fire
Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - August 22, 2026
Word on Fire reaches millions every year by effectively sharing the Gospel via podcasts, videos, books, articles, Scripture studies, and Gospel meditations.
Exploring the Christian Philosophy of Dietrich von Hildebrand - Dr. Joshua Bitting - August 22, 2026 - We can look at persons in a superficial, transactional way, noticing in them only what makes them useful to us, or we can take our heavy hands off them and release them into their own being, getting caught up in what they are in their own right. DvH is a master at leading us into the depths, helping us make the transition from seeing the usefulness of other persons, their inner splendor.
God of the Mundane: Recapturing the Dignity of Toilet Cleaning - Sarah Larkin - August 21, 2026 - It’s somewhat comforting to remember that all vocations involve some level of drudgery. But the housewife’s primary commitment is to the mundane. A nun prays seven times a day, and she also cleans the abbey’s restrooms. The housewife’s first calling is to clean the toilet and do a thousand other housekeeping tasks. Then she gratefully receives an hour of peace and quiet in which to pray, if it ever comes.
Gestational Surrogacy and the Subversion of Human Dignity - Dr. Kody W. Cooper - August 19, 2026 - We were told that surrogacy is not “trafficking” in children but a safe medical procedure that promotes human dignity by giving the gift of life, and the Church’s critique of surrogacy was actually itself demeaning to the dignity of those who believe in conscience that surrogacy is the right way for them to have children.
August 22, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE — or read HERE:
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
National Catholic Register
Priests on the ‘Spectrum’: How the Church is responding
By Matthew McDonald, August 20, 2026
Psychologist and Catholic deacon Lawrence Sutton once worked with a seminarian, now a parish priest, who genuflected before the Blessed Sacrament but looked like a toy soldier. His autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was preventing him from performing the knee-to-floor movement in the customary manner. Sutton, director of pre-theology formation at St. Vincent College and Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, has more than a quarter-century of experience treating autism, a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how a person interacts with others and experiences the world. Instead of ignoring the man’s habit or recommending that he leave the seminary, the deacon pressed him to copy the more fluid motion that the other seminarians used and that most Catholics learn as small children. “He didn’t understand why he had to do it, but that wasn’t important.” Church leaders are examining the issue with urgency, as a society-wide rise in autism identification has raised new questions about the preparation and screening of seminary candidates who are on the spectrum.
First Things
Equipping the Church for the IVF Era
By Emma Waters, August 21, 2025
C. Ben Mitchell shared a surrogacy case study at the June 2026 launch of the Anglican Bioethics Center, and it reflects the reality many churches face today. Congregants are making weighty decisions about infertility and reproductive technology without ever hearing their church speak to them, and church leaders are unsure what to say and how to act when faced with those decisions. Christians can no longer afford to be silent, especially as the issue moves front and center in the national political debate. In 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos are persons thrust in vitro fertilization into the national spotlight, and both presidential candidates rushed to claim the “pro-IVF” mantle. I believe that 2024 may prove to be for IVF what 1973 was for abortion: a wake-up call to evangelicals and the beginning of a national movement to consistently honor life from the moment of conception.
The European Conservative
The illusion of a ‘Left’ without ‘Woke’
By Juan Carlos Aguilera Pérez, August 22, 2026
Can an intellectual tradition dissociate itself from the very ideas it has helped to develop? That is the question running through “Left Is Not Woke,” one of the most widely discussed political essays of recent years. In it, Susan Neiman argues that the woke phenomenon does not represent the Left's culmination, but its negation. The thesis is undeniably attractive. It preserves the moral legacy of the Enlightenment Left while attributing the excesses of identity politics to a deviation foreign to its own tradition. The question, however, is whether this historical reconstruction withstands scrutiny when examined in light of the history of ideas. At a time when many progressive intellectuals have become increasingly uncomfortable with the excesses of identity activism, Neiman offers an intellectually elegant way out. She seeks to recover a Left grounded in universalism, equality, and justice, contrasting that legacy with a politics that has replaced the citizen with identity. Her argument has resonated precisely because it articulates the unease of a significant part of the Left that no longer recognizes itself in either the language or the practices of woke politics.
The Catholic Thing
American Odyssey: We seek our proper place, our home
By Robert Royal, August 19, 2026
Now and then, we get it, for instance, Patrick J. Deneen’s new book American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals about Our Divided Souls. Many know Deneen as the author of Why Liberalism Failed and one of the brighter lights at Notre Dame. But he has long been interested in the Odyssey and its connections to the American experience. And he deliberately timed the book to come out at this moment. At first sight, connecting modern America to Bronze-Age Greece may seem a stretch. But in this brief, lively, and approachable treatment, Deneen ably uncovers several valuable truths. To begin with, as the book’s subtitle indicates, Deneen sees a deep divide, particularly in American souls, and one that has existed from the beginning. The Pilgrims, he notes, crossed the wide Atlantic on their “errand into the wilderness,” but also in search of a true home. They were not just explorers like Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci (who gave America its name), but also somewhat like Odysseus in seeking their proper place.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
Listen to an audio podcast of today’s Catholic Nutshell News on the Substack App!
At the top of your phone, while in the app and reading a post, you can press the ▶️ play button and have Catholic Nutshell News read to you every day …
