Catholic Nutshell News: Tuesday 4/28/26
Topics include: Hotline operator volunteer of the year; Violence is becoming thinkable again; Pro-lifers win again at UN conference; & How prayers to Mary go to God
“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”
Today's sources are OSV News, EWTN, First Things, Big Pulpit, Zenit, and CatholicVote. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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EWTN News
Hotline operator is Catholic Charities 2026 volunteer of the year
By Tessa Gervasini, April 27, 2026
Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) has named Julie Abbott its 2026 volunteer of the year for her work as “a good and faithful servant.” Abbott has spent more than 15 years and nearly 5,000 hours answering the Relief & Hope emergency services hotline and accompanying callers, many of whom are at their lowest and most vulnerable points. The Catholic Charities Maine hotline provides immediate support for individuals and families experiencing crises. Abbott helps with a number of challenges related to finances, mental health, job loss, car repairs, housing, hunger, and other situations callers may find themselves in. The award also acknowledges Abbott’s work in developing a large database of resources covering Maine’s 16 counties. Due to its success, the state’s 2-1-1 operators, who provide residents with local health and human services information, have even been known to call her for guidance on referring their own callers to the appropriate services.
ACI Africa
‘Three years of silence: Priest, driver still missing in South Sudan
By Agnes Aineah, April 27, 2026
South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Tombura Yambio (CDTY) has sent out a passionate appeal for truth about what happened to a Priest of the Diocese who disappeared three years ago alongside his driver. Fr. Luke Yugue who served as the Parish Priest of Nazareth Nagero Parish in CDTY and his driver, Michael Gbeko went missing on 27 April 2024 on their way from a pastoral mission. The Diocese lost contact with the duo who were traveling on a motorbike from Nagero County to Tombura. The area where the Priest and his driver went missing is under the control of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which is primarily fighting the SPLM-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) in the country’s protracted civil strife. Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of CDTY said that the eyes of the entire Diocese are “fixed on the road”, waiting in anticipation for the return of the two.
National Catholic Register
In a polarized West, violence is becoming thinkable again
By Alberto M. Fernandez, April 27, 2026
If we’re not quite in an age of revolution in the West, there are many acting, or play-acting, as though we are. Ivy League graduate Luigi Mangione, who went to Penn, the same school as President Donald Trump, has become something of an icon on the left for murdering insurance executive Brian Thompson in 2024. Trans-identifying young people have shot and killed children in religious schools in Tennessee and Minnesota. The New York Times, the most influential newspaper on the planet, recently featured a fawning interview with leftist influencers Hasan Piker and Jia Tolentino, justifying Mangione, embracing Marxism, and endorsing “microlooting” — robbing stores and (in Piker’s case) even national museums — as some sort of principled stand against the powerful. Both Piker and Tolentino, like Mangione, come from upper-middle-class or wealthy backgrounds, but that doesn’t seem to have caused much introspection on their part.
Zenit
Pro-lifers win again at UN conference
By Stefano Gennarini, April 26, 2026
Pro-life advocates scored another victory during the second week of April 2026 at the United Nations as the chairman of the UN Commission on Population and Development, Ambassador Zéphyrin Maniratanga of Burundi, refused to put a document forward for approval. He objected to the European efforts to load up the document with abortion and gender ideology. Maniratanga’s decision was a quiet but sharp rebuke to the European and progressive governments that, just last month, forced a vote on the agreement at the Commission on the Status of Women rather than one that would have defined what a woman is. It was the first time in the history of that commission that a vote was necessary. Europeans and their allies seemed poised to call a vote this week, too. Gambia, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria, and the United States also congratulated Maniratanga and expressed similar concerns.
CatholicVote
Buffalo lowers amount parishes must contribute to abuse settlement
By Hannah Hiester, April 27, 2026
The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, reportedly issued a letter to diocesan priests in March walking back its request that parishes cover $80 million of its $150 million settlement with clergy sex abuse survivors and now asking churches to contribute a lower percentage of their assets. Local outlet WIVB reported that Bishop Michael Fisher said in the letter that the diocese has revised its contribution to the settlement, increasing its payout from $30 million to $40 million. The formula for working out how much parishes should now contribute has changed slightly. According to WIVB, parishes will be asked to provide an amount based on their total available cash. “We regard this as a more equitable approach in keeping with essential canonical consideration,” Bishop Fisher said in the letter, according to WIVB. The remaining settlement money is expected to come from affiliate organizations, real estate sales, and the diocese’s insurers.
Aleteia
How prayers to Mary go to God
By Philip Kosloski, April 27, 2026
When Catholics pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is not an act of worship, as worship is given only to God. St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, an 18th-century priest devoted to the Virgin Mary, explains what happens to prayers addressed to Our Lady. The explanation is found in his book True Devotion to Mary. He starts off by writing that sincere and devout prayers to the Virgin Mary “will give more glory to Jesus in a month than in many years of a more demanding devotion.” Montfort added, “She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say "Mary," she says "God." When St. Elizabeth praised Mary, calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with her canticle, "My soul glorifies the Lord." It's not an act of idol-worship, but a simple petitioning of a loving Mother to whisper in the ear of her Son.
The Pillar
German Church leaders defend blessing guidelines
By Luke Coppen, April 27, 2026
Bishop Georg Bätzing, who oversaw the guidelines’ introduction in April 2025 when serving as chairman of the German bishops’ conference, insisted that they posed no threat to Church unity. Leading German Church figures have also defended the country’s guidelines on the blessing of same-sex couples in response to critical comments from Pope Leo XIV. “Even though there are differing views on this within the universal Church, I believe this practice in the Diocese of Limburg is carried out within responsible limits. It serves the people and, in my view, does not jeopardize the unity of the Church.” ZdK president Irme Stetter-Karp told German media there was no reason to withdraw the guidelines following Pope Leo’s remarks. She said the document was aimed at encouraging the provision of blessing ceremonies “for couples who do not wish to enter into a sacramental church marriage or for whom such a marriage is not an option. No more and no less. There is no possibility of confusing it with the sacrament of marriage,” she said.
OSV News
Do you know his voice?
By Deacon Greg Kandra, April 24, 2026
How many times have we heard Jesus described as “The Good Shepherd”? Here it is again in the scriptures for this fourth Sunday of Easter (commonly called “Good Shepherd Sunday”). The image is familiar, poignant, tender; it asks us to think differently about our relationship with the Lord. He is one who guides, prods, leads, and protects with the attention and patience of a shepherd tending his flock, with a firm but gentle hand. The lesson in this passage is about more than herding livestock. It’s not just about the one we see and choose to follow. It’s also about listening. Hearing the shepherd’s voice. Recognizing it. Knowing it. Acting on it. Jesus mentions it no less than three times. “The sheep hear his voice,” Jesus says. When we hear the voice of Jesus, it is not a voice of fear or hostility; it is not a call to bitterness or rash judgment or dismissiveness or disdain. Turn down the volume on the chattering voices you hear on social media, cable television, and YouTube. You won’t hear Jesus there.
Pulpit, EWTN, & Fides News for 4/28/26
BIG PULPIT
Tito Edwards Catholic blogger site: April 28, 2026
The Big Pulpit website is an intelligent news aggregator offering insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide. Here are Chief Editor Tito Edward’s top recommendations for today.
Did This Priest Crack the Code for Vocational Discernment? – Jenny Lark Snarski at Aleteia
Hawaii Declares April 27 Joseph Dutton Day! – Joan Lewis at Joan’s Rome Blog
Latin Conquers All in America’s Catholic Classrooms – William Morton at The Catholic Herald
In Just Two Months, Leo Completes the Changeover: Załuski the New Nuncio – Silere Non Poss
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — April 28, 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.
Florida diocese set to debut ‘Trinity Village’ offering tiny homes for seniors - By Daniel Payne - The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee says the homes will include “affordable rents” to seniors at risk of homelessness. The “target population” for the small parcel of homes is senior citizens. The senior demographic is “one of the more vulnerable segments of the population” regarding housing costs.
Pope sends new shipment of humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Ukraine - By Victoria Cardiel - “The Dicastery for the Service of Charity serves as the conduit for the pope’s aid. In recent days, we dispatched a trailer to Ukraine containing medicines, food products, hygiene supplies, and clothing. We also sent 15,000 essential medicines to Lebanon,” the Spanish archbishop stated in a message posted on X.
‘A generation that won’t be silenced’: Young people turn out for pro-life march in Mexico City - By Diego López Colín - The administration of Claudia Sheinbaum, on Oct. 1, 2024, and backed by support from her party in the state legislatures, new laws permitting abortion were passed in Jalisco, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Mexico, Chiapas, Nayarit, Chihuahua, Campeche, Yucatán, and Tabasco states.
Agenzia Fides
Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies - 4/28/26
Fides News Agency (Fides) was established in 1927, at the direction of the Council Superior General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as the first Missionary Agency of the Church and among the first agencies in the world.
VATICAN/VATICAN - Vocations are growing in Africa and Asia, nourished by the faith of the People of God - (Fides News Agency) - the data for the 2023/24 academic year (778 seminaries with 82,859 seminarians) and the 2024/25 academic year (801 seminaries with 88,156 seminarians) - a positive difference of 23 seminaries and 5,297 seminarians.
AFRICA/NIGERIA - 23 Children kidnapped from an orphanage at Dahallukitab Group of Schools complex in Lokoja - Lokoja - (Fides News Agency) – No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on a Nigerian orphanage in which a group of gunmen kidnapped 23 children. The gang took the children late on Sunday, April 26
The silent massacre of humanitarian workers - Cosimo Graziani - The crises of the international order and the weakening of multilateralism, on the margins of major humanitarian catastrophes, take the form of a silent massacre: that of humanitarian workers.
Nutshell reflections for 4/28/26:
USCCB Daily Reflection AUDIO - April 28, 2026
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
The Imaginative Conservative
The Fruits of Contemplation: The Infused Virtues
By David Torkington, April 25, 2026
Conventional wisdom tells us that geniuses are born. However, the Catholic metaphysical poet Francis Thompson said there is an exception to this rule. He insists that at the moment of rebirth at baptism, the genius of God is implanted in the very depths of our being. It is his genius, the Holy Spirit, who supports, sustains, and keeps our hearts centered on God. In this way, our love, strengthened and fortified by his, begins to rise, piercing the evil that surrounds us and opening a mystical passageway. It is through this passageway that our augmented love rises to God, enabling his infinite loving to descend into us. In God’s time, not ours, his love prepares us for the fullest possible union with him that finally satisfies the profound primeval desire for love that he planted within us
Missio Dei Catholic
They spoke of the faith to Greeks
By Deacon Michael Halbrook, April 28, 2026
The persecution that rose up after Stephen’s death drove the disciples out of Jerusalem - to Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, further than they might otherwise have gone, further than the original mission seemed to require. Luke notes this almost in passing, as though it were an administrative detail: “those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen.” But it is not incidental. The violence that killed Stephen became the wind that carried the Gospel to people it had not yet reached. Some of the scattered disciples, Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, arrived in Antioch and did something that had not been done before: they spoke of the faith to Greeks. Not to Jews of the diaspora, not to God-fearers at the edge of the synagogue, but to Greeks - Gentiles, outsiders, people with no framework for the covenant and no preparation for the Messiah. “The hand of the Lord was with them,” Luke says, “and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”
The Obscure, Forgotten, and Undiscovered
Math trains the mind to love what is true
By James K. Hanna, April 21, 2026
Thanks to Jeremy Wayne Tate of A Beautiful Education for this outstanding explanation of why to learn math. I wish someone had shared this perspective with me the summer of junior high school. “But the origins of math have never been primarily about utility. Math is formative. It trains the mind to love what is true, to recognize what is orderly, and to be drawn toward what is beautiful. It teaches us that the universe is not chaos, but something intelligible, something structured, something that can be known. And you can see that truth made visible in the world’s most breathtaking churches and cathedrals: arches, vaults, domes, proportions, symmetry, harmony, light—geometry turned into glory. The mathematics that shapes a cathedral is not cold or sterile. It’s the language of wonder, carved into stone. We don’t teach math because everyone will use it. We teach math because it forms the kind of person who can see that reality has meaning.” (See his full Substack article here.)
First Things
Surrogacy is already illegal
By Josh Wood, April 28, 2026
In 1984, a Virginia physician named H. Barry Jacobs announced a plan to broker human kidneys on the open market. Congress responded within months. The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) made it a federal crime to “knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplantation.” Up to five years in prison. Up to $50,000 in fines. And the Senate report was blunt: “Human body parts should not be viewed as commodities.” That was then. Open the website of any commercial surrogacy agency in 2026, and you will find a fee schedule. Base compensation for the surrogate: $40,000 to $90,000. Additional compensation if she loses her uterus: $3,000 to $20,000. That is a published price for a federally protected human organ. And it is not the only organ involved in the transaction. The uterus has been classified as a human organ under NOTA since 2013, when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) added vascularized composite allografts to the statute’s coverage.
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