Catholic Nutshell News: Thursday 9/4/25
Topics include: 1 in 4 Americans are caregivers; Pope Leo’s housemates might be Augustinians; Trump needs shift on Abortion Pill; & Shooting a toxic mix of ideology & political pathology
“The greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly”
Today's sources include Aleteia, OSV, CNA, National Catholic Register, The Pillar, CatholicVote, John Eldredge, and ChurchPOP. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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Aleteia
New report: 1 in 4 Americans are caregivers
By Caitlin Bootsma, September 4, 2025
One in four Americans – that’s 63 million adults – are serving as caregivers to family members, according to a 2025 report from the AARP. The study defines caregivers as family members who provide support for daily life to their adult family member and/or a medically complex child. Caregiving can include anything from medical care, such as helping to manage medical equipment or medication, to helping with daily needs like cooking, showering, laundry, and making it to appointments. For many caregivers, it's all of the above. According to the study, 30% of caregivers are providing assistance to their family members for five or more years, which it says is a “significant increase from 2020.” The average amount of time spent giving care is 27 hours per week, with 24% of caregivers providing 40 hours or more per week of needed aid.
Catholic News Agency
‘Jesus Bikers’, for charity, give a motorcycle to Pope Leo XIV
By Hannah Brockhaus / Rudolf Gehrig, September 3, 2025
A group of black-clad bikers rumbled into St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday to present Pope Leo XIV with a custom cruiser motorcycle destined for charity. The pope met members of the Christian Jesus Bikers at the end of his general audience at the Vatican on Sept. 3. The motorcycle club rolled into Rome for a Jubilee of Hope pilgrimage after a three-day daylight ride from Schaafheim, Germany. The pope blessed and signed the white BMW R 18 motorcycle before briefly climbing onto the seat to the bikers’ applause. The custom-designed papal bike will be auctioned off in Munich on Oct. 18, and the funds will benefit children working in mica mines in Madagascar through Missio Austria. The director of Missio Austria, Father Karl Wallner, OCist., told EWTN News on Wednesday that the point of the pilgrimage was “not just fun and coming to see the pope, but also to help the poorest of the poor” through the project for exploited children."
CatholicVote
Court sides with US administration on ‘green’ grant clawback
By Elise Winland, September 3, 2025
A federal appeals court cleared the way Sept. 2 for the Trump administration to reclaim billions in climate spending, overturning a lower court order that had blocked the effort. In a 2-1 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated a lower court order that had stopped the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from reclaiming money distributed under the Biden administration’s $20 billion “Green Bank” program. The program, created by the Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, had awarded funds to eight groups tasked with funding projects designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, according to The Hill. The groups that received grants filed the suit. “While some grantees may be forced to shutter their operations during the litigation,” the majority opinion stated, “their harms do not outweigh the interests of the government and the public in the proper stewardship of billions of taxpayer dollars.”
Crux
Envoy hopes Leo can succeed ‘when others fail’ at ending war
By Elise Ann Allen, September 3, 2025
As Pope Leo and Israeli President Isaac Herzog prepared to meet at the Vatican on Thursday, Palestine’s envoy to the Holy See voiced hope that the pontiff could succeed in advancing peace efforts. “His Holiness Pope Leo is receiving President Herzog in unusual times, as the catastrophe continues to unfold in the occupied state of Palestine,” Palestinian Ambassador to the Holy See Issa Kassissieh told Crux. In advance of Leo and Herzog’s meeting, Kassissieh said, “It is our hope, at a time when world leaders failed drastically to stop the war on Gaza, thus betraying the basic human values and dignity, that the Holy Father, the inherent of St. Peter on earth might succeed when others failed.” Kassissieh referenced Pope Francis’s repeated condemnations of war as a “defeat” for humanity, and lamented amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
National Catholic Reporter
Pope Leo’s housemates in Apostolic Palace might be Augustinians
By Camillo Barone, August 22, 2025
Pope Leo XIV is expected to bring Augustinian friars with him when he moves into the papal apartment of the Apostolic Palace in the autumn, the Italian daily La Repubblica reported. The decision reflects his determination to preserve the communal life of his religious order even after his election to the papacy. "The idea is not yet official but should become a reality in the fall," La Repubblica said Aug. 19. Leo had been expected to move into the papal apartment, a tradition that Pope Francis had broken. Word of friars joining has only recently been reported. The Italian daily said that workers are renovating the third floor of the Apostolic Palace to accommodate the housemates. The work has delayed the pope taking up residence, the newspaper said. Ten rooms have been refurbished so far, including the study used for the Sunday Angelus, the Pope's bedroom, a reception room, and a chapel.
National Catholic Register
Trump needs direction shift on Abortion Pill
By The Editors, September 2, 2025
There’s only one way Donald Trump’s second administration can be remembered as a pro-life presidency in a manner comparable to his widely praised first term in office. Then, he displayed impeccable pro-life credentials by fulfilling his crucial 2016 campaign promise to appoint U.S. Supreme Court justices who could be relied upon to help overturn the court’s disastrous Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationally — as they did via their support for the court’s landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision in 2022. This time, he needs to backtrack from a different 2024 campaign commitment: misguided pledges to uphold easy access to abortion pills. Instead, he must mandate swift and concrete action against the use of these life-destroying chemicals, which are now responsible for two-thirds of all U.S. abortions. Under the Food and Drug Administration’s current so-called “telehealth” regulatory framework, a pregnant woman can obtain abortion pills up to 10 weeks’ gestation after only one online or phone meeting with an abortion provider.
The Pillar
Irish missionary & seven Haitian nationals released by kidnappers
By Eduardo Campos Lima, September 3, 2025
Nearly four weeks after being kidnapped in Haiti, Irish-born missionary Gena Heraty has been safely released, along with the seven other people abducted with her. Heraty was kidnapped on August 3 at the orphanage she oversees, along with seven others, including a three-year-old child with special needs. “We can confirm that Gena Heraty and the seven Haitian nationals have now been released and reunited with their loved ones,” said an August 29 statement from Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters), the Christian-inspired organization in charge of the orphanage. Media reports said Heraty was released August 29 and is currently in the hospital being treated for malnutrition, but is otherwise healthy after her nearly four-week captivity. No details about the circumstances of the release have been disclosed.
Our Sunday Visitor
Minnesota shooting is a toxic mix of ideology & political pathology
By Kenneth Craycraft, September 3, 2025
The vicious transgender terrorist attack on Annunciation School in Minneapolis elicited the usual responses from the political left and right. From both sides, politicians and pundits have rushed to reduce the issue to a single causative factor, effectively blaming their political opponents for the shooting, not considering actual solutions to gun violence in the United States, but on commitments to political ideology. In fact, the shooting has been used — mainly by the political left — to double down on the divisive political ideology that is a substantive contributing factor to the attack. Exposing hypocrisy on both sides, they are more interested in advancing an agenda than proposing comprehensive solutions. More fundamentally, this shooting, like all the mass shootings before it, exposes the fatal flaw in the political theory upon which the U.S. is founded, a failure across the American political spectrum — far right (conservative liberals) to far left (progressive liberals).
CatholicVote, CNA & ChurchPOP for 9/4/25
CatholicVote - The Loop
Read daily news and political impact stories at the “LOOP”
Elections and politics matter. The LOOP gives you daily gems on the news that seek “to renew our country and culture.” CatholicVote’s advertised mission is “To inspire every Catholic in America to live out the truths of our faith in public life.”
VANCES VISIT ANNUNCIATION SHOOTING SURVIVORS - JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance visited Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis yesterday to pay their respects to the victims of the deadly shooting that took place there. "I have never had a day that will stay with me like this day did," Vance said after he visited with survivors. He made a prayer request, “straight from the parents and straight from the families to my fellow Americans.”
EPSTEIN VICTIMS VOW TO NAME NAMES - A group of Epstein accusers yesterday announced they will compile their own list of influential figures they allege abused them through Epstein’s trafficking network.
JUSTICE BARRETT TO RELEASE MEMOIR - Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic and one of the justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, is about to release a memoir that defends that decision. The book promises to contain other interesting revelations about her approach to applying the law. “If I decide a case based on my judgment about what the law should be" rather than what it is, she writes, "I’m cheating.”
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — September 4, 2025
The Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, and up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the happenings of the Holy See to anyone with internet access.
From Slovakia to Rome: Godzone's youth outreach faces mixed reactions - Sep 4, 2025 - By Bohumil Petrík - The Godzone Project, launched in Slovakia, has drawn thousands of people to worship concerts across Central Europe. The effort faces opposition from some clergy and Catholic faithful who question its Protestant-influenced methods.
CNA Explains: Everything you should know about relics - Sep 4, 2025 - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - Here are 10 of the most asked questions about relics and their veneration.
New report shows 1% of U.S. population identifies as transgender - Sep 3, 2025 - By Amira Abuzeid - A new report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that 1.0% of individuals aged 13 and older in the United States — approximately 2.8 million people — now identify as transgender.
ChurchPOP Trending
ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - September 4, 2025
We publish inspiring daily stories, fun and shareable faith-centered infographics, prayers, Church history, and more.
'What a Beautiful Smile': 111-Year-Old Nun Moves Hearts With Joyful Response to Rosary Gift - “It is the best gift you could have brought me.”
Bishop Robert Barron Takes the Gospel to City Streets, Offering Confession, Blessings & Prayer - Bishop Robert Barron took his evangelization to the streets, generating a massive response on social media.
The Miraculous Power of Carlo Acutis: Here's the Official Prayer for the Future Saint's Intercession - "Oh God, our Father, thank you for giving us Carlo, a model of life for young people and a message of love for all!"
Nutshell reflections for 9/4/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection - AUDIO - September 4, 2025
Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
What We Need Now
Straightening the crooked synodal lines
By Carl E. Olson, September 4, 2023
In October 2023, Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger, then in Tucson, wrote an essay for America magazine on the upcoming Synod on Synodality in which he stated, "it is clear that in the present moment, Pope Francis is calling us to be a truly listening church—a church of discernment." He then explains “what synodality is not”: It is not a political process in which there are winners and losers. We must not think of synodality as a power game whereby those with differing theological visions of the church and its mission contend for control and dominance. First, why do those who vociferously praise and promote the post-2015 version of synodality seem to demonstrate little to no interest in listening, accompaniment, dialogue, and diversity in their words and actions? Secondly, is their version of synodality the only one, or are there various (and even competing) versions? Thirdly, since the “process” of synodality has now been extended until 2028 (if not longer), what will come of it?
Imaginative Conservative
Willa Cather: The most Catholic of non-Catholic novelists
By Bradley J. Birzer, September 2, 2025
Willa Cather’s novel—or “narrative” in the style of legend, as she preferred—Death Comes for the Archbishop is not only the greatest book ever written about American Catholicism, but it may also be the “Great American Novel.” Huge claims, I know, but solid possibilities nonetheless. The Church, Cather seems to be arguing in strict Augustinian fashion, survives through the small and generally unrecognized acts of holiness and not through its corrupt and powerful offices and bureaucracies. Cather focuses on the heart and soul of the Church, not its physical body. Death Comes is not Cather’s only Catholic novel, but it is her best. She also wrote Shadows on the Rock, the story of a pre-teen Catholic girl in Quebec in 1697 and 1698. And in her most regarded novels—O Pioneers! (1913), My Ántonia (1918), and The Professor’s House (1925)—Cather favorably and accurately depicts the drama, struggles, and successes of Catholic immigrants in the New World.
Crisis Magazine
The madness of moral relativism
By John Mac Ghlionn, September 4, 2025
Cliffe Knechtle, the Yale-educated pastor, recently sat across from Tucker Carlson. The conversation, though wide-ranging, sharpened on one theme: moral relativism. Knechtle said what many already sense: relativism is on the rise, and our culture is increasingly allergic to moral absolutes. He lamented it, but he didn’t go nearly far enough. This subject deserves to be pressed harder because moral relativism isn’t just a philosophical curiosity. It is poison, and it’s poisoning us fast. Always, Knechtle has tried to nudge skeptics toward the idea that truth exists outside of our preferences. His effort is noble. But if moral relativism is gaining ground, then it must be answered with more than polite nudges. It must be answered with a definitive, uncompromising dismantling. Moral relativism is the belief that right and wrong depend on personal opinion or cultural perspective. It sounds tolerant. It flatters our desire for autonomy but crumbles under the force of its own contradictions.
Wild at Heart
God desires to use the enemy’s attacks to abide in Him
By John Eldredge, September 4, 2025
Once we begin to think about all the deceptions the Enemy is about with regard to our lives, we tend to become obsessed with him, fearful of what he is going to do next. Once we take him seriously, he switches from his tactic of “I’m not here” to one of having us worry about him day and night, which is almost a form of worship. God’s intention, on the other hand, is to use spiritual warfare to draw us into deeper communion with himself. Satan’s device is to isolate us and wear us out obsessing about what he has done and what he will do next. And he is very effective in using our particular Message of the Arrows to do it. God desires to use the enemy’s attacks to remove the obstacles between ourselves and Him, to reestablish our dependency on Him as His sons and daughters in a much deeper way. It is not really even about Satan anymore, but about communion with God and abiding in Jesus as the source of life.
Image of peanuts by Nicole Köhler, from Pixabay
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