Catholic Nutshell News: Tuesday 7/7/26
Catholics should know: Planned Parenthood to get millions; No public support for ‘transgender’ sports; Bishops invite SSPX folks back ‘home’; & Europe’s migration crisis from loss of faith
“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”
Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are OSV News, EWTN, First Things, Big Pulpit, Aleteia, and The Pillar. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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Our Sunday Visitor
Planned Parenthood to get millions in Medicaid again
By Kate Scanlon, July 6, 2026
A provision of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that stopped Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid payments for a year expired July 4, allowing the nation’s largest abortion provider to regain access to hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding. Although it was not named in the provision, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, sued in response, arguing the parameters for ending these funds effectively singled it out. However, courts eventually allowed the provision to go into effect. Pro-life groups, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, have pushed lawmakers to include a similar provision in an upcoming reconciliation bill. The organization’s latest annual report, just days before the defunding provision went into effect, showed it performed 434,450 abortions, an increase of 8% from the previous year. Meanwhile, the report showed 389,449 cancer screening and prevention services — such as pap tests and HPV vaccinations — a 9% decrease from 426,268 the previous year.
Zeale
Public support didn’t exist for ‘transgender’ sports campaign
By Elizabeth Ervin, July 6, 2026
A Washington Post opinion column published July 5 argues that the campaign to allow biological males identifying as “transgender” to compete in women’s sports was “doomed” after advocates mistook support from influential institutions for broader public support. In the piece titled “Why the transgender sports campaign was doomed,” columnist Megan McArdle reflected on the movement’s earlier legal “victories” and growing acceptance within major institutions, arguing they gave advocacy groups confidence that broader legal recognition of “transgender” rights would follow. That “hope was fanned by establishment institutions,” McArdle wrote, but advocates skipped persuasion, which she described as the “critical step in building consensus.” She argued that if athletic ability became the deciding factor, it was unclear where the line would be drawn, asking whether "any sufficiently unathletic male" would then qualify to compete on a women's team.
EWTN News
Various U.S. bishops invite SSPX members back ‘home’
By Kate Quiñones, July 6, 2026
A growing number of Catholic bishops are instructing the faithful to avoid illicit sacraments celebrated by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) after the traditionalist group’s bishops incurred excommunication last week. On July 2, the Vatican declared that six prelates involved in the SSPX’s unauthorized July 1 episcopal consecrations incurred automatic excommunication. The SSPX is a fraternity of priests known for its celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass and opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Various Catholic bishops with SSPX locations in their areas are explicitly forbidding Catholics from attending SSPX services while also urging frequent attendees or SSPX priests to seek spiritual guidance and return to the Catholic Church. Bishop Terry LaValley of Ogdensburg, New York, noted that in light of the “formal schism,” the disobedience “gravely harms the unity of the Church for which Christ so fervently prayed the night before he died.”
CBCP News
Laoag bishop says green energy must not come at expense of poor
By CBCP News, July 3, 2026
The Diocese of Laoag has called for careful discernment over proposed offshore wind farm projects in Ilocos Norte, urging development that protects both vulnerable fishing communities and the environment. In a statement, Bishop Renato Mayugba said the diocese’s position followed extensive consultations with fisherfolk, coastal residents, and other stakeholders, along with prayerful reflection rooted in the Catholic Church’s social teaching. The statement addresses proposed floating offshore wind farm projects in the coastal waters off Burgos, Bangui, and Pagudpud, where thousands of families depend on fishing for their livelihood. Mayugba stressed that the Church is not opposed to renewable energy but supports development that respects both the integrity of creation and the dignity of people, especially communities that could bear the project’s social and environmental costs.
National Catholic Register
Europe’s migration crisis reveals the West’s loss of faith
By Solène Tadié, July 7, 2026
That universal moral framework around migration issues encounters a particularly complex reality in Europe, where migration is overwhelmingly Muslim and where a long history of conflict with Islam still shapes political debate. Many European Catholics often feel torn between a desire to defend a culture and a faith they see eroding and a Church whose leadership has consistently called for welcome and mercy toward migrants, regardless of origin and religion. Raymond Ibrahim, a U.S. historian of Christian-Muslim relations and author, said the question of Muslim migration in Europe cannot be understood in isolation from the prior question of what happened to the West’s own confidence and religious identity. A civilization that no longer holds firm beliefs about itself, he argued, has no resistance to offer anything that does. Christianity has progressively reduced to a private, individualized faith, stripped of the cultural and civic weight it once carried.
Aleteia
Two lost sermons by Augustine were found in Poland
By Daniel Esparza, July 7, 2026
It began with a phone call in 2024. An employee of the Bad Doberan Monastery Association in northern Germany needed someone to decipher a 12th-century manuscript that had originally belonged to Bad Doberan Abbey but was now held at its daughter monastery in Pelplin, Poland. They called Professor Christian Tornau, a Latin scholar at the University of Würzburg. The manuscript contained six sermons attributed to Augustine of Hippo. Four were already known. Two were not. “Two of the six sermons are previously undiscovered writings by Augustine,” Tornau said, delighted with the unexpected find. The subject of both sermons is one of the most theologically awkward episodes in the entire Old Testament: the story of the Witch of Endor from the First Book of Samuel, chapter 28. King Saul, on the eve of battle against the Philistines, finds that God no longer answers his prayers.
The Pillar
The Church in England & Wales ‘lamentably’ failing the abused
By Luke Coppen, July 6, 2026
The quality of engagement with abuse survivors varies significantly across the Catholic Church in England and Wales, a major new report by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) said Monday. The CSSA report suggested that while initial complaints were generally handled well, dioceses and religious orders sometimes failed to sustain engagement with survivors, leaving them with a sense of abandonment. The document also said that, despite considerable progress, the unified “One Church” approach to abuse advocated in the 2001 Nolan Report on safeguarding in the Church in England and Wales remained unrealized 25 years later. The CSSA’s Survivor Panel, which gives a collective voice to abuse victims, said the new report “paints a picture of the Catholic Church in England and Wales lamentably failing to adequately care for people abused within it.”
Zenit News
Scottish bishops sell the Pontifical Scottish College in Rome
By ZENIT Staff, July 6, 2026
The Bishops of Scotland have confirmed the completion of the sale of the former Pontifical Scots College building on the Via Cassia in Rome, marking the end of an important chapter in the college's history. Since 1964, the Via Cassia building has been home to generations of Scottish seminarians during their formation for priestly ministry. The rector of the Pontifical Scots College, Fr Mark Cassidy, said: “The sale of the Via Cassia building brings to an end a significant chapter in the life of the Church in Scotland. We now look forward to the next chapter in our 425-year history and to finding a new home for the seminary, where we can continue to form men ready for the Church’s mission.” The bishops expressed their sincere gratitude to the rector of the College, Father Mark, and to the teams in Rome and Scotland who worked so diligently with him to bring the sale to a successful conclusion.
Keep informed - 7/7/26 news for Catholics
Snippets: Pulpit, EWTN, & Aleteia
BIG PULPIT
Tito Edwards’ Catholic blogger site: July 7, 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.
Date the Catholic Way: Practical Advice for Young Catholics Traversing Relationships – The Reg
Love is Patient: The Apostle Paul’s Lesson on Love – Russell M. Lawson at Catholic Exchange
The Christian Slaughter the World Ignores – James H. McGee at The American Spectator
Never Again So Readily Surrender Your Freedoms & Faith – Dan Fitzpatrick at Catholic Stand Mag
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — July 7, 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.
Memorials across India mark 5 years since Jesuit Father Stan Swamy died in custody - By Anto Akkara - Memorial programs were held across India on July 5 to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old tribal rights activist who died in custody at a Mumbai hospital in 2021 while awaiting trial on terrorism charges.
Lebanon’s Christians fear sovereignty will be traded in regional diplomacy - By Romy Haber - Maronite patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, who met with Pope Leo XIV last week, expressed hope that the ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would lead to a true, just, comprehensive, and lasting peace — but Christians there fear their country’s sovereignty may be at stake.
Netanyahu claims unnamed Lebanese Christian villages sought annexation - “Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them, and we do the same things with Christians everywhere,” Netanyahu said during an appearance on Fox News’ show “The Sunday Briefing” on July 5. The mayor of the Christian village of Rmeish, Hanna al-Amil, was quoted by Lebanese public broadcaster NNA as denying Netanyahu's claim.
Aleteia
Aleteia’s global network of experts, journalists, & contributors
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. Aleteia offers a Christian vision of the world by providing both general and religious content free from ideological influences.
1st feast for SAINT Peter To Rot, Papua New Guinea’s first - On October 19, 2025, Pope Leo presided over the canonization Mass for seven saints at the Vatican. Among them was the first saint from Papua New Guinea, the layman Peter To Rot. Peter, a lay catechist, continued his work despite Japanese occupation. He was slain for this and for defending monogamy in the face of Japanese polygamy.
Filipinos who received pallium showcase 3 very different flocks - The three Filipino metropolitan archbishops who received the pallium this year were not a random group. They represent the full breadth of the Philippines, with one archbishop coming from each of the country’s three main island groups.
Do angels really have wings? - While technically angels do not have wings, the artistic depiction of angels reflects their mission in the world. Angels are pure spirits, meaning they do not possess a physical body, though at times they can take on human form. They are messengers, not bound to this world, able to bring God's messages to whoever needs them.
July 7, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE - or read HERE:
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Catholic Culture
SSPX arose from the vast Vatican II liturgy changes
By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, July 6, 2026
Since the Council of Jerusalem, described in the Acts of the Apostles, the Church has convened councils of bishops to discuss and resolve questions of faith. Pope John XXIII hoped the Second Vatican Council would present the Catholic faith in terms more readily understood by the modern world. Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, was essentially traditional. It permitted limited use of the vernacular in the Mass. The intent was to make the liturgy more accessible to the faithful, though it is unlikely that the Council Fathers envisioned the entire Mass in the vernacular. By 1969, the sacred liturgy, which had gently evolved from the Last Supper to the 1962 Roman Missal, underwent a sweeping overhaul. The French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, with permission of the Holy See, had erected a quasi-religious group known as the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
Missio Dei Catholic
Then, ‘His heart was moved with pity’
By Deacon Michael Halbrook, July 7, 2026
Hosea is diagnosing a system failure. Israel has made its own kings - “not by my authority,” the LORD says, not by my knowledge. It has made its own gods from silver and gold - the golden calf of Samaria, the work of an artisan’s hands, destined for the flames. And then the line that stops everything: “When they sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.” The image is agricultural, but the logic is moral. What you plant is what grows. If the seed is wind—insubstantial, directionless, the motion of something that has no weight and no root—then the harvest is a whirlwind: the same nothingness, magnified, violent, destructive. The self-made system—self-made kings, self-made gods, self-made religion—does not produce freedom. It produces a larger version of its own emptiness. In Matthew, “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”
The Imaginative Conservative
Scripture as a source of prayer
By Michael De Sapio, July 7, 2026
There is a crisis in the world, and it is a crisis of prayer. There are many moral problems in our world, of course, but they are all arguably rooted in a lack of prayer, of regular communion with God. Our world offers endless distractions from prayer, from being alone with God. I strongly suspect that many of our friends and family members, even those sitting next to us in the pew, simply do not pray. I mean meditative prayer: serious, sustained, private prayer apart from participation in the liturgy. If I were a priest, I would abandon all biblical exegesis for one Sunday and devote my homily to instructing the parishioners on how to pray and what sort and amount of prayer they should be doing every day. I believe too many people are in the dark about this. They do not need commentary on current events. They need to know how to pray. They need to be reminded to pray, reminded of the importance of prayer, because prayer is simply the soul’s food and water.
First Things
Yale won: The debate on prayer at functions is over
By Jake Dell, July 7, 2026
In the fall of 1992, a Yale freshman named Jared Waxman wrote a letter to the editor of the Yale Herald. The Yale Freshmen Assembly had been held on August 29 of that year, and it began and ended with Christian hymns, including “We Gather Together,” a Calvinist doxology that has been sung in American churches since the Dutch colonists brought it over in the seventeenth century. Waxman was offended. His letter, cosigned by three classmates, demanded that the university remove “religious prayers from all Yale functions.” He argued that Yale “prides itself on being a non-sectarian institution” and that “the place for prayers is in a church, synagogue, mosque, or one’s home.” He compared the singing of hymns at Yale functions to the exclusion of women and African Americans from the university’s life, calling these “bigoted traditions” that had been overcome.
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