“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”
Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are OSV News, EWTN, Catholic Stand, Big Pulpit, Aleteia, and Zeale. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
Click here to view this email on the Catholic Nutshell News website. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is also available on the Substack App.
Our Sunday Visitor
Appeals court rules Idaho abortion ban may be enforced
By Kate Scanlon, November 2, 2026
A federal appeals court panel ruled Oct. 30 that Idaho’s abortion ban may continue to be fully enforced as voters in the Gem State prepared to vote directly on the legality of abortion on Nov. 3. In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that a doctor who sued over Idaho’s abortion ban is unlikely to prevail on claims that the U.S. Constitution protects the right to an abortion where a mother’s life is at risk. Idaho currently bans most abortions, with some exceptions for a maternal mortality risk or in cases of rape or incest in the first trimester, but only with a police report. Data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey has estimated that most rapes committed against women go unreported to police.
Related: Nearly 100,000 signatures collected to challenge Massachusetts late-term abortion law - Elise Winland, Zeale, November 2, 2026
Zeale
New York City honors foundress of Hawthorne Dominicans
By Elizabeth Ervin, November 2, 2026
New York City honored Venerable Rose Hawthorne (Mother Mary Alphonsa) Oct. 1 by co-naming a street in recognition of her compassionate care for people with incurable cancer. The city designated a section of East 68th Street in Manhattan between First and York avenues as “Rose Hawthorne Way,” Independent Catholic News reported Nov. 1, citing the Dominican Order. The dedication marked 130 years since Rose Hawthorne welcomed her first patient into her home, the report noted. This year also marks the centenary of her death. Mother Marie Edward, the congregation’s superior general, welcomed the tribute to Hawthorne. “It is a tribute to her total dedication to the sick poor,” she said. “We thank you for this honor for our foundress. Her work continues 130 years after she began.”
EWTN News
American bishops, by law, can publicly take positions on ballots
By Tyler Arnold, November 2, 2026
Across the country, state-level Catholic bishops’ conferences are producing guidelines to help Catholic voters consider the moral implications of voting for or against referendums appearing on their Nov. 3 ballots. State-level bishops’ conferences are organizations jointly run by every diocesan bishop in that state and are active in every state with more than one diocese. A conference often comments on bills and referendums that implicate Catholic teaching and issues statements on matters specific to its state. In some states with contentious referendums on the ballot, bishops’ conferences have taken a clear position on initiatives, urging Catholics to either support or oppose the measures. Some of these measures are related to abortion, gender and sexuality, human trafficking, and gambling. American bishops do not campaign for specific candidates in elections. Yet, the tax code classifies advocating for and against referendums as “lobbying” rather than campaigning, which dioceses and jointly run Catholic conferences are permitted to do.
CBCP News
Philippines: Children need to be taught about holiness with saints
By CBCP News, October 31, 2026
A Catholic archbishop has reminded families to teach children to embrace holiness rather than glorify evil, encouraging Catholic communities to promote the lives and virtues of saints. In a pastoral letter for All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1, Archbishop Victor Bendico of Capiz discouraged Halloween activities that glorify Satan and occult practices, warning that such portrayals could influence children’s values. “Let us teach our children to admire what is holy, not to glorify what is evil,” Bendico said. While acknowledging that many Halloween activities are innocent recreation, he cautioned against celebrations that could obscure the solemnity of Christian meaning. “What seems entertaining can gradually shape the values and habits of our communities,” he said, recalling a similar warning issued by the archdiocese in 2006.
Fides News Agency
October conference gathered 5 continents on the gift of receiving
By Marie-Lucile Kubacki, October 23, 2026
The first international conference of “The Church of the Sheaves” focused on “Listening to the Continents.” The working groups of Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Latin America converged on Pope Leo XIV words in Paris on 26 September: “No one is so poor that they have nothing to give; no one is so rich that they have nothing to receive.” Sr Agnès Sory, for the Africa group, set the tone: “No local Church is only a giver. No local Church is only a beneficiary.” The three verbs “Give – Receive – Send” “do not describe three successive stages, but three inseparable dimensions of missionary communion.” Africa, with its Fathers of the Church and early monastic traditions, did not begin giving today: “What is new is the scale and visibility of its contribution.” Also, Filipino theologian Andrew Recepción said young people are attracted, “not by watered-down Christianity, but by a bold, joyful, and demanding faith.”
National Catholic Register
St. Joseph & St. Michael: Saints for spiritual warfare & elections
By Alberto M. Fernandez, November 2, 2026
As Election Day draws near for many states holding midterms, millions of Americans find themselves grappling with heightened anxiety. Many states are voting on issues that impact those who have no voice: life in the womb and those suffering from disease and age, with assisted suicide on the rise. As Catholics, we are called to prayer and fasting during these moments of tension, alongside our duty to exercise our right to vote. For those seeking internal calm, unity, and protection over their families and country during these contentious times, Catholic tradition offers a powerful solution: calling upon the intercession of the saints. Among the most potent intercessors in times of distress and conflict are St. Joseph — the guardian of the Holy Family — and St. Michael the Archangel — the defender against spiritual warfare.
Aleteia
Ukraine ceasefire: Families reunite before drones start up again
By Joanne McPortland, November 3, 2026
The short ceasefire for the town of Oleshky, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV, ended Sunday night. The pause brought aid and allowed some trapped villagers to escape, but it was not extended. The 4-day pause in military activity for the Ukrainian town of Oleshky and surrounding areas brought much-needed humanitarian aid to the citizens, most of them elderly or children, who have been cut off by Russian attacks for more than two years. Residents were given the choice to stay in the area or to be evacuated to safer areas of Ukraine or Russia to rejoin family members. Leaving town or receiving aid shipments has been impossible for villagers due to the constant drone and rocket attacks. Landmines and infrastructure damage made roads impassable.
Crux
Christians have ‘deep roots’ in Jordan
By Fionn Shiner, October 30, 2026
Following last week’s attack on a church in Jordan, Waseem Haddad, an expert on interreligious work in the region, said that Christians belong in the country and that interreligious dialogue is “under pressure” in the Middle East. Despite the Oct. 23 attack on a Greek Orthodox church in the Karak governorate that killed nine and injured tens of others, Christians belong in Jordan. “Christians have deep roots in Jordan. This is their country, and they take part in its public and political life, in business, education and across economic life. Christian Churches, schools, and charitable institutions have a longstanding role, with many services reaching both Christians and Muslims alike,” Haddad said. “This is their homeland, and we should speak about them as citizens and partners in its future, a shared future by all. That belonging must be reflected in how people are treated.”
Keep informed - 11/3/26 news for Catholics
Snippets: Pulpit, EWTN, & Aleteia
BIG PULPIT
Tito Edwards’ Catholic blogger site: November 3, 2026
The Big Pulpit website is an intelligent news aggregator offering insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide. Here are Chief Editor Tito Edwards’ top recommendations for today.
The Debate About Converting People to the Catholic Faith – Fr. Allan J. McDonald
Remembering Mother Teresa – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American Catholic
James Likoudis, the Forgotten ’65 Mass, & Ruin Done in Vatican II’s Name – Nuntiatoria
Key Issues in the 2026 Mid-term Elections – Gene M. Van Son at Catholic Stand Magazine
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — November 3, 2026
EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.
Pennsylvania teen’s witness of faith and hope inspires calls for her canonization - By Gigi Duncan - Six years after Maria’s death from a brain tumor at the age of 18, hundreds gathered Oct. 5 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, as Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia celebrated Mass marking the anniversary of her passing.
The mission: Pope Leo XIV in South America - By Francis X. Rocca - Pope Leo XIV leaves Rome on Friday, Nov. 6, for an apostolic journey to South America, his first visit there since his election as pope. The trip will take him to three countries, including Uruguay and Argentina, and culminate in Peru, where he served as a missionary and bishop for 20 years.
Leo XIV: Faith assures us that ‘our bond with the faithful departed has not been broken’ - By Victoria Cardiel - “We have gathered to celebrate the Eucharist in this place of prayer and remembrance, of affection and hope. We offer it in suffrage for the faithful departed, particularly for those who rest here and for those whom each of us carries in our hearts,” the pontiff said during Mass celebrated on the central avenue of Rome’s Verano Cemetery.
Aleteia
Aleteia’s global network reports for November 3, 2026
Aleteia (aleteia.org) is an online publication distributed in six languages (English, French, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, and Slovenian). Launched in 2013, it is one of the world’s leading news websites with content free from ideological influences.
Liechtenstein’s prince vetoes law relaxing abortion ban - Matthew Green - On October 20, Liechtenstein’s Hereditary Prince Alois vetoed legislation which, if enacted, would have permitted abortion during the first trimester. Parliament approved the bill by 13 votes to 12 in early September.
US Bishops launch prayer campaign as abortion rate now higher - Philip Kosloski - While the Supreme Court decision in 2018 opened the door for states to ban abortion, abortions have actually been on the rise since then, especially with the easy access to the abortion pill.
Polish bishops appeal for dialogue as constitutional court standoff deepens - By EWTN News Staff - The Polish prelates called on politicians to calm the conflict and asked for “the initiation of constructive dialogue and the peaceful resolution of all difficulties.” The bishops appealed to the faithful to pray “for light and wisdom for the rulers and all those responsible for public life.”
November 3, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE or read HERE:
Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Dominica
Real justice, and real mercy too
By Br. Andrew Lyons, O.P., November 3, 2026
The truth is, God doesn’t just wave his hands and “work everything out.” He doesn’t need to, because he has already established specific means of “working everything out,” and we know them: Mass, the sacraments, prayer, works of charity. These means are real, and they effect real, saving changes in those who use them. Yes, Jesus died to save everyone, but he doesn’t save you in some vague, general way. He saves you by the specific means he established for applying the grace of his Passion to you. God doesn’t hand-wave and wipe away. He changes by instruments of graced power. We forget that God has mercy on people through specific instruments, in a way that accords with divine justice too. Saint Thomas has words about purgatory that are striking because of just how real they take the Faith to be. Thomas writes, “those who deny Purgatory speak against the justice of God.”
Missio Dei Catholic
The table he set by emptying himself
By Deacon Michael Halbrook, November 3, 2026
Paul quotes what many scholars believe is an early Christian hymn - one of the oldest pieces of liturgical poetry the Church has. Although some scholars have started to challenge the claim, it has been widely believed that these words were likely sung by Christians before Paul wrote them down, which would mean they were being sung before most of the New Testament existed. The community at Philippi would have known these words by heart: “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” The one who was in the form of God and did not grasp at it - the one who emptied himself into slavery and death - is the same one who sets a table for those the world has passed by. The kenosis and the banquet are one movement. He descended to where the poor and crippled and blind and lame are, and He set a table there.
The Obscure, Forgotten, and Undiscovered
The cloister or the world?
By James K. Hanna, November 26, 2026
Consider the extraordinary lives of Thomas Merton and Jack Kerouac. Contemporaries, yes, but could there be two more disparate characters? Or more dissimilar vocations? One was the “Father of the Beats” and the voice of nonconformity, the other a cloistered monk “who spoke from the world of silence to millions questing for God.” Merton’s literary production was universally held in high esteem, while critics labeled Beat writing “zany without illumination.” The monk and the Beat — as different as chalk and cheese. But were they? Both were American writer-poet-mystics who emerged in the mid-20th century after attending Columbia University, where they studied literature under Mark Van Doren. Both were countercultural, engaging the world in ways few other Catholics did. Kerouac asserted that the Beats should be understood in the context of the poverty Christ mentions in the Beatitudes, which was also central to Merton’s monasticism.
Reprinted from the New Oxford Review, November 2026
Catholic Stand
Karen Quinlan and the ‘Right to Die’
By Lilia Borlongan-Alvarez, November 3, 2026
November is the month the Catholic Church dedicates to the faithful departed and the Holy Souls in purgatory. This time of year also ought to remind us how fragile and short life is – such as that of Karen Ann Quinlan, the 21-year-old American college student who died in 1985 after being in a persistent vegetative state for nine years. Her case spawned debates among ethicists, moralists, theologians, and skeptics on whether one had the “right to die.” For those of us who have been around long enough to follow the front-page news in the 1970s, Karen was kept alive with feeding tubes and a respirator for some months. Seeing no improvement in her condition, her father, a devout Catholic, appealed to the US courts to have the respirator removed and let his daughter die “with grace and dignity.” He won, but Karen didn’t die after the respirator was removed – she continued to breathe on her own until she died of natural causes – that is, infection and pneumonia.
Nutshell Pistachio Image by JetalProduções from Pixabay
Catholic Nutshell News is a subscription service hosted by Substack. Get up to a dozen recent articles from Monday to Saturday to review newsworthy issues. An easy way to browse top Catholic news and information services online. Edited by John Pearring.
Listen to an audio podcast of today’s Catholic Nutshell News on the Substack App!
At the top of your phone, while in the Substack app to read our post, you can press the ▶️ play button and have Catholic Nutshell News read to you daily …
