Catholic Nutshell News: Tuesday 5/19/26
What Catholic need to know: Cultural shifts drive decline in marriage; Religious Freedom Division restored; Gay couple broke into 29 churches in France; & Global executions hit 44-year high
“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
Cultural shifts drive decline in U.S. marriage rates
By Madalaine Elhabbal, May 19, 2026
Cultural shifts regarding sex and unwed childbearing, as well as heightened material expectations for marriage, are the driving forces behind America’s falling marriage rates, according to a Heritage Foundation report. While declining wages among working-class men is sometimes cited as a reason for declining marriage rates, especially among moderate- to low-income brackets, Rachel Sheffield, a Heritage Foundation research fellow, said: “The data tell a different story.” Over the past 50 years, the report said, marriage rates have declined from more than 90% of Americans having married by ages 30-35 in 1962 to 55% as of 2025. “While inflation-adjusted earnings did decline among working-class and lower-income men during the 1970s and 1980s, earnings rose thereafter and have fluctuated since then — even as marriage rates have steadily dropped,” the report said. “Although economic factors may explain why marriage declined during some periods across the past several decades, cultural shifts instead have been the main drivers.”
ACI Africa
Nairobi bishop encourages priests to embrace counseling
By Nicholas Waigwa, May 19, 2026
Newly ordained Catholic Priests in Kenya have been urged to prioritize their mental health and seek professional support to navigate the challenges of Priestly ministry. Bishop Obed Muriungi Karobia cautioned the two Priests-elect at the Priestly Ordination Mass on May 16 against the pressure to appear emotionally strong at all times. “I want to tell these brothers that this is one of the things we have to forget,” Bishop Karobia said, referring to the tendency among men to suppress emotions and avoid showing weakness. Drawing from his experience as a psychologist and counselor, Bishop Karobia said many men avoid seeking help despite facing emotional struggles. The Kenyan Catholic Bishop warned against isolation, saying it can contribute to emotional and psychological distress.
National Catholic Register
Religious Freedom Division restored at U.S. Health Agency
By Tyler Arnold/EWTN News, May 18, 2026
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to reestablish a civil rights division focused on religious liberty and conscience protections that was initially created during President Donald Trump’s first administration. The move, announced May 18, restructures HHS’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) with three divisions: the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the Civil Rights Division, and the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division. “This reorganization … strengthens the [OCR’s] ability to defend religious liberty, enforce conscience protections, and combat unlawful discrimination,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. The office was dissolved in 2023 under former President Joe Biden’s administration. According to an HHS news release, the restoration is intended to ensure HHS can better prioritize the enforcement of religious freedom and conscience rights.
Zenit
Captured & sentenced gay couple broke into 29 churches in France
By Covadonga Asturias, May 11, 2026
A French court has sentenced two gay men responsible for a months-long wave of burglaries targeting Catholic churches across northern France, in a case that has shocked many believers not only because of the thefts themselves, but because of the apparent contempt shown toward sacred objects and the Eucharist. According to investigators and court findings, Raphaël Hourdeaux, 35, and his partner, Tony Paupière, 30, broke into 29 Catholic churches during. The case drew national attention after authorities revealed that the men not only stole valuable liturgical objects, but also allegedly took consecrated hosts and used sacred vessels from churches as decorative items inside their home. The burglaries unfolded over approximately three months and affected small communities where churches often remain open during the day despite having only occasional liturgical activity.
CatholicVote
US, Nigeria launch new airstrikes against ISIS
By Elise Winland, May 18, 2026
U.S. and Nigerian forces carried out another round of airstrikes against ISIS fighters in northeastern Nigeria on May 17, just days after a joint operation killed a senior Islamic State leader, according to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). AFRICOM said in a press release that the “additional kinetic strikes” were conducted in coordination with the Nigerian government. Assessments are still underway, but no U.S. or Nigerian forces were harmed in the operation, the command said. “Back in November 2025, President Trump declared to the world that we will help protect Christians in Nigeria and instructed the Department of War to prepare for action,” Hegseth said. “So, for months, we hunted this top ISIS leader in Nigeria who was killing Christians, and we killed him — and his entire posse.” Over a two-month span of targeted operations, more than 50 ISIS terrorists had been killed or captured, and more than 100 ISIS infrastructure targets had been struck.
Aleteia
Global executions hit 44-year high: U.S. helped drive spike
By Theresa Civantos Barber, May 19, 2026
State-sanctioned killings reached their highest number in 44 years, with 2,707 executions in 2025 — an increase of 78% from 1,518 in 2024. Globally, more than two-thirds of countries have abolished the death penalty, while only 17 nations had executions in 2025. But those 17 more than made up for the rest. Amnesty International monitors the global use of the death penalty and reported that these figures do not include the thousands of executions believed to be carried out in China. The U.S. saw a sharp increase in executions — 47 across 11 states, up from 25 in 2024. The U.S. is the only country in the Americas to have carried out executions last year. Florida led the count with 19 executions, making up 40% of national executions. The state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has called the death penalty a “strong deterrent” to crime and stated his view that “it’s an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders.”
The Pillar
Louisiana bishop: Allegation report only ‘one point of view’
By The Pillar, May 19, 2026
After The Pillar reported on a pending Vatican-ordered investigation in a Louisiana diocese, the Bishop of Baton Rouge told priests that media reports did not tell the whole story, and that diocesan officials had not been informed whether an investigation was underway. Meanwhile, parents in the diocese say they have received no response to questions about the allegations leveled against the priest. Bishop Michael Duca told priests of the Baton Rouge diocese in a May 8 letter obtained by The Pillar. “Clearly, the article only contains one point of view.” Duca’s letter referenced a priest who had been accused in the diocese last year of making coercive sexual advances toward a parishioner in his 60s, and of allegedly admitting in the course of those advances to having had sexual contact with minors. The priest, Fr. Charbel Jamhoury — a Lebanese Maronite who had been serving as a pastor in the diocese — has denied those allegations to The Pillar.
OSV News
Baltimore Archdiocese changes plan for Chapter 11 reorganization
By Christopher Gunty, May 19, 2026
The Archdiocese of Baltimore submitted a proposed plan for reorganization on May 15 in an effort to complete its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, with the goal of equitably compensating victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and others affiliated with the Catholic Church in Maryland. The proposal includes establishing a survivor compensation trust with a minimum balance of $168.9 million to evaluate and resolve claims. That amount would be funded by contributions from the archdiocese and its insurers. Additional funds will be contributed by participating parishes, schools, and related Catholic entities. That amount is still to be calculated. A statement from the archdiocese at the time the plan was filed said, “At its core, the proposed plan seeks to provide equitable compensation to survivors while sustaining the Church’s mission and ministries. It reflects a commitment to transparency and a realistic assessment of available resources.”
Pulpit, EWTN, & Fides News for 5/19/26
BIG PULPIT
Tito Edwards’ Catholic blogger site: May 19, 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.
Cosmetics Mogul Gives It All Up to Become a Priest – Jacqueline Burkepile at EWTN News
The Hidden New Detail Making Sacred Texts Easier to Read in the Liturgy of the Hours – Aleteia
The Priest Whose Final Words Will Be Remembered Forever – The Aramaic Wire on X
Leo Seeks to Revive Talks with Coptic Orthodox After Fiducia Supplicans Scandal – D. Montagna
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — May 19, 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.
Christian churches and symbols hit during war in southern Lebanon - By Romy Haber - Two recent incidents brought attention to the desecration of Christian symbols in Lebanon — one involving an image of an Israeli soldier placing a cigarette in the mouth of a Virgin Mary statue.
Friar Storm: The pro wrestler and priest who inspired a Hollywood film and changed hundreds of lives - By Diego López Colín - Sometimes clad in alb and chasuble, other times in a wrestling costume: Such was the life of the Mexican priest Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez, better known as “Fray Tormenta” (“Friar Storm”), a man who celebrated Mass by day and wrestled in a mask by night.
Calling nuclear weapons immoral, Archbishop Wester urges halt to production of plutonium pits - By Amira Abuzeid - In a written statement, read by a priest on Wester’s behalf at a public hearing on May 14, the archbishop of Arizona described nuclear weapons as “immoral” and “genocidal.” The priest who read the statement is from Hiroshima, Japan, where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb in 1945.
Agenzia Fides
Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies - 5/19/26
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.
ASIA/INDIA - Hostage crisis in Manipur: Christian religious leaders mediate for release and peace - Imphal (Fides News Agency) - A delegation of Christian religious leaders from Manipur and other northeastern Indian states is attempting to mediate the ethnic conflict in Manipur.
ASIA/PAKISTAN - Archbishop Arshad: Faced with the educational emergency, “we are committed to the education and vocational training of young people” -Islamabad (Fides News Agency) – “In my ministry as a Pastor, first in Faisalabad and then in Islamabad, I have come to understand that in Pakistan we must focus on young people, because they represent 60% of the population.
Archbishop of Prague in the former Nazi camp: reconciliation must be proclaimed even if it does not seem "appropriate" - by Bohumil Petrík Litoměřice (Fides News Agency) - "Jesus does not want us to make exceptions when it comes to forgiveness, for example, saying, 'I forgive you up to this point, but here I no longer forgive you.'"
Nutshell reflections for 5/19/26:
USCCB Daily Reflection AUDIO - May 19, 2026
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
The Imaginative Conservative
Shocking theology that our God died and suffered
By F.J. Sheed, May 16 2026
The very heart of the doctrine of the Redemption is that the human acts of Christ were the acts of a Person Who was divine. Everything that Christ did, suffered, and experienced must be seen as done, suffered, and experienced by God. God grew to manhood; God was a carpenter; God rejoiced; God sorrowed; God suffered; God died. It is the last two phrases that really force us to face the mystery and test our understanding of it. Yet if God did not suffer and die, then no one did, for there was but the one person in Christ; that is, there was no suffering, no dying: no sacrifice, no redemption. The phrase “God died” gives us at first the greater shock, but afterward is less profoundly mysterious than the phrase “God suffered.” The whole created universe, with everything in it from archangel down to electron, or any lower thing there may be, is held in existence from instant to instant solely by the continuing Will of God to hold it so.
Missio Dei Catholic
He can use our misuse of free wills to further His will
By Cameron Daly, May 18, 2026
“Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone” (Jn 16:32a); and then further on, “In the world you will have trouble” (v. 33b). The ideas of being scattered, leaving God behind, and having trouble do not have peaceful connotations; yet, Jesus also says that “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me” (v. 33a). How does this make sense? God is like a GPS: when we make a wrong turn (such as by turning and running, leaving Him when the going gets tough), He immediately reroutes us back to Himself. God is better than a GPS because, in His omniscient and eternal perspective, He already knows that we are going to mess up (and how) before we even do. He can use even our misuse of our free wills to further His will. He is not telling us that we or our circumstances will be made perfect while in this world—far from it; but rather that He is ultimately in control of it all.
The Stand
Mary made worthy of the crown
By Dr. Pamela Mandela, May 17, 2026
For centuries, the Catholic Church has set aside the month of May as a special time to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. This tradition, which fully blossomed in the nineteenth century, invites the faithful to crown statues of Our Lady, pray the Rosary, and set up small “May altars” in homes and parishes. It is a month of flowers, filial love, and gentle devotion. It is a time when even the most distracted Catholic pauses to remember the Mother of God. But there is a danger in any long-standing tradition: we can mistake the gesture for the grace. We crown Mary with roses, yet fail to ask what made her worthy of the crown. We recite Hail Marys, yet never contemplate the interior dispositions that made her full of grace. We honor her from a distance, as if she were a statue in a niche—beautiful yet remote, perfect yet unreachable. The Church, however, offers us May not as a sentimental escape but as a school of discipleship. Mary is not a distant queen to be admired from afar; she is a mother to be imitated from within.
First Things
Liberalism Is Christianity’s Prodigal Child
By James R. Wood, May 18, 2026
Paul Kelly’s book, Against Post-Liberalism, and Matt Sleat’s work, Post-Liberalism, deserve credit for taking their interlocutors seriously. Too many critics of postliberalism have been content to gesture at the specter of authoritarianism, tether the entire discourse to Trumpist populism, and move on. These books do better. They trace intellectual genealogies, distinguish among competing strands, and engage with actual arguments. Kelly’s is the more prosecutorial critique. He wants to demonstrate that the postliberal program is a dead end, primarily for the left, but really for anyone who cares about egalitarian politics. Sleat is more constructive. He wants to hold a mirror up to liberals so that they can recognize what their opponents have actually identified. The challenge Sleat issues is not to liberalism as such but to liberals of every stripe: Stop retreating behind the pretense of neutral procedure and make your actual case.
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