Catholic Nutshell News: Wednesday 8/19/26
Catholics should know: CRS gets $50 million for aid; Imam’s Daughter becomes a Catholic sister; Despair in upcoming generation; & Blacks are the most religious racial group
“Here was an almond tree in bloom before me”
Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are the Zeale News, National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Zeale, and Augustine Institute. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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EWTN News
Catholic Relief Services receives share of $1.4 billion in aid
By Madalaine Elhabbal, August 18, 2026
The State Department awarded $50 million to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), part of a $1.4 billion partnership with faith-based organizations worldwide. CRS will receive the funding through the State Department’s Faith and Community Initiative (FCI) announced Aug. 6, alongside other international aid groups, including World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse. “CRS is so proud to be among the recipients of the new Faith and Community Initiative,” CRS spokesperson Brittany Wichtendahl said. They get $50 million in first-year funding to lead programming in Cameroon, Liberia, and Nigeria. “The funding will help improve hospitals, clinics, and the health networks in rural parts of the countries — where a lot of families have limited access to quality healthcare,” she said. “This investment reflects a core strength of CRS’ approach: working alongside trusted local Church, Caritas, and faith-based partners that are deeply rooted in the communities they serve.”
aciafrica
Imam’s Daughter in Guinea-Bissau Professes as Catholic Sister
By João Vissesse, August 18, 2026
A daughter of a Bissau-Guinean imam has made her first profession as a Catholic Religious Sister, describing the milestone as a response to God’s call and a moment of “joy, emotion and profound gratitude.” Aicha Settimia Canté, 27, made her temporary profession on August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Spirit (CDS). The celebration took place in the Catholic Diocese of Bissau and was presided over by Bishop Emeritus of Bissau, José Câmnate Na Bissign. Sr. Aicha’s religious vocation is particularly significant because she comes from a Muslim family and is the daughter of an imam, originally from Safim. She was baptized at Our Lady of Grace Farim Parish of Bissau Diocese and received Confirmation at St. Anne Mansoa Parish before embarking on her journey in Consecrated life.
National Catholic Register
The future Church likely to suffer folks in despair taking their lives
By Alberto M. Fernandez, August 18, 2026
Whatever the deep, personal reasons for the self-inflicted deaths of Jason Arday, the caught-out English academic, professor Mike Adams, singer Rob Pilatus, and so many more who are unknown to us, we do know that “deaths of despair” are increasing. They spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have been rising for years now. Often, mental illness and substance abuse can play a role, but not always. In Middle America, even before COVID, many of these deaths were connected to hollowed-out local economies devastated by globalization and job loss. Societal indicators suggest it will get worse before it gets better. Members of Generation Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) are among the most medicated and anxious young people in history. Adolescent suicide rates rose by 60% between 2007 and 2020. The problem may be growing nationally and internationally.
Related: The ‘valleys of despair’ are caused by the growing sports betting industry, Our Sunday Visitor, by Charlie Camosy, August 19, 2026
Zeale News
Democrats plan long-term strategy to push pro-LGBT narrative
By Elise Winland, August 18, 2026
Democrats and pro-LGBT groups are preparing a decade-long campaign to reverse public opposition to the “transgender” agenda by promoting personal stories intended to sway voters and investing millions of dollars into political campaigns, The Washington Times reported Aug. 15. The strategy, discussed during an LGBT caucus meeting at the Democratic National Committee’s summer gathering in Austin, Texas, is intended to counter an expected wave of Republican campaign ads focused on the harms of physicians performing “transgender” medical interventions on minors, male athletes participating in women’s sports, and boys entering female-only bathrooms and locker rooms. Human Rights Campaign (HRC), one of the country’s largest pro-LGBT lobbying organizations, plans to spend $15 million during the 2026 election cycle to promote “transgender” policies and support Democratic candidates who embrace them. HRC will target eight competitive House districts and Senate races in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Texas through advertising, events, and canvassing, according to AP News.
The PIllar
The Vatican has appointed a Mason to a pontifical committee
By Ed. Condon, August 17, 2026
In the last two weeks, prominent Italian bishops, including the pope’s own cardinal vicar for Rome, made dramatic interventions to prevent church funerals scheduled for men discovered to be Freemasons. In the same period, the Holy See announced the appointment of a prominent Italian academic to a pontifical committee who, it has since been reported, is also a Freemason. Umberto Longo, a prominent academic and Director of the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages in Rome, was named to the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences on August 13. InfoVaticana later reported that publicly available documents list Longo as a frequent attendee at Masonic conferences and recognize him as a relatively senior member of an especially anti-Catholic strand of Freemasonry.
Fides News Agency
Vicariate of Iquitos opposes spread of illegal mining in the Amazon
By Fides News Agency, August 17, 2026
The Apostolic Vicariate of Iquitos has issued an urgent appeal for immediate action against the devastating increase in illegal mining in the Nanay River basin, in an official statement released on August 17. The Nanay is the main source of drinking water for more than half a million people living in the city of Iquitos, as well as for numerous Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon. Of the 1,518 mining-dredging sites identified since 2017 on 13 rivers in the department of Loreto, almost half have appeared since the beginning of 2025. Some 70% of the total are located on the Nanay, the ancestral territory of the Ikitu people. The Nanay River has recorded the sharpest increase in dredging activity, followed by the Marañón, with 108 new sites since 2025, and the Tigre, with 67. At the same time, deforestation along the banks of the Nanay is advancing, linked to alluvial mining activities.
Graphs about Religion
Which racial group is the most religious?
By Ryan Burge, August 17, 2026
Blacks are the most likely to be Protestant, by nearly twenty-five percentage points. Hispanics, at 42%, twenty-five points higher than any other group, are likely to be Catholics. Asian Americans are far and away the most likely to identify with another faith tradition, a category that includes Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and the like. In the rest of the population, those groups rarely combine for more than 10% of the sample. Asians are the only racial group that is not majority Christian. Blacks are, by a long shot, the most likely to say that religion is very important to them — 58%, compared to 30-40% for every other racial group. African Americans are the most religious, Hispanic Americans are next in line, and then it’s basically a tie between white Americans, Asian Americans, and everyone else. African Americans, on belief metrics, are just in a different world than every other racial group in the United States. Who are the least likely to believe? The answer is Asian Americans, among whom only 37% believe in God with absolute certainty
Our Sunday Visitor
Kansas diocese: New seminary more than 20 years in the making
By Gina Christian, August 6, 2026
A Kansas diocese will open its own seminary at the end of August, realizing a dream more than two decades in the making. The Diocese of Wichita announced Aug. 6 that Bishop Carl A. Kemme will formally establish St. Philip Neri Seminary, named for the 16th-century priest and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory who helped to revive both the clergy and the Church during the Counter-Reformation. The seminary’s patron was “renowned for his joyful spirit, deep holiness, and dedication to forming priests and evangelizing through authentic friendship,” said Bishop Kemme in the diocese’s press release. Effective Aug. 26, the new seminary will succeed the St. Joseph House of Formation, which Bishop Kemme opened in 2017 “to provide local formation for college seminarians,” according to the diocese.
Keep informed - 8/19/26 news for Catholics
Snippets from Loop, Formed, & The Pillar
Zeale’s 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.”
CV PRESIDENT WARNS OF RADICAL LEFT-ISLAMIST ALLIANCE - CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt warned Aug. 18 that radical left-wing groups and Islamist political movements are forming a growing alliance that she said seeks to weaken the foundations of Western civilization.
WNBA FANS THREATENED WITH EJECTION OVER T-SHIRTS; LEAGUE BACKTRACKS - A mother and her teenage daughter were threatened with ejection from an Aug. 16 WNBA game unless they covered their XX-XY Athletics T-shirts supporting the view that only women should compete in female sports. The next day, the league acknowledged the incident “should not have happened.”
BABY GABRIEL UNDERGOES HEART SURGERY - Baby Gabriel, whose surrogate mother carried him to term after refusing his biological parents’ request for an abortion, underwent the first of three planned heart surgeries Aug. 17.
Augustine Institute
Formed Series Programs
Formed guides Catholics and those they evangelize to a fully Catholic life through faith-informed content and draws people closer to Christ. The Formed platform provides a captivating experience that empowers and satisfies curiosity by forming Catholics for life.
Triumph of the Heart - In the harrowing confines of Auschwitz’s starvation cell, Catholic priest St. Maximilian Kolbe volunteers to die in place of another prisoner, joining nine others condemned by the Nazis. Throughout, Kolbe’s appeal to their shared humanity and Polish identity forges a brotherhood that culminates in a poignant act of sacrifice, echoing beyond the cell and illuminating hope in one of history’s darkest moments.
Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist - This visually stunning film takes viewers on a global journey to uncover the transformative power of the Eucharist. Engaging in profound dialogue with prominent Catholic leaders, the film explores the biblical origins of the Eucharist and shares powerful personal stories of lives transformed.
Pier Giorgio Frassati: If I Didn’t Have Love - Frassati was a handsome, athletic, and fun-loving young man from a rich, aristocratic Italian family who turned from a life of privilege to one devoted to working with the poor, suffering, and homeless, and was a courageous witness of Christian faith and charity to many others.
The Pillar
Pillar Stories from the July calendar, 8/19/26
The Pillar offers a news summary and a capsule take on Catholic News. Here are news stories from the past few weeks in the Pillar Post:
Governor Maura Healey, or any other person enabling policy in grave defiance of Catholic morality, could face canonical sanction under the prescripts of canon 1368, which allows for a “just penalty” to be imposed when a Catholic in public “gravely harms public morals.” A Pillar explainer unpacks all that, plus other measures of canonical discipline which Healey might more plausibly face.
Lord David Frost, CMG, is a British politician and diplomat who is well known in the United Kingdom as the man who negotiated the terms of Brexit.
He has also recently become Catholic — and, surprisingly for one of Britain’s most well-known politicians, he came into the Church through the ordinary OCIA program at his local parish, with no special treatment.
And six weeks ago, an 80-year-old Nicaraguan bishop was taken into police custody, and more-or-less barricaded into a kind of de facto house arrest, without actually being accused of any crimes. He appeared last week in an interview on a state-controlled TV station, claiming that he is being treated very well.
August 19, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE or read HERE:
Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Crisis Magazine
The moral insanity of commercial surrogacy
By Auguste Meyrat, August 19, 2026
In case anyone doesn’t think that surrogacy shamelessly commodifies children, exploits women, and is an utterly evil and dehumanizing process, they should pay attention to the story unfolding in Texas with surrogate mother McKenna West and her baby Gabriel. Originally from Alaska, West was contracted to carry a baby for California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed. At 20 weeks, an ultrasound revealed that the baby had a congenital heart defect that would require immediate medical treatment after his birth. When the intended parents learned about this, they demanded that West abort the baby, evidently not wanting to deal with the hassle of heart surgery. Desperate, West sought sanctuary in Dallas, Texas. She petitioned the court to remain in the state and find treatment for the baby. However, West does not have custody of the baby and has “been forbidden from any contact with the baby after his birth.”
The Catholic Weekly
Inaugural Lion Pilgrimage ‘an immeasurable success’
By Alex Woolnough, August 19, 2026
During Pope Leo XIV’s Angelus address at a small church in Castel Gandolfo, just on the outskirts of Rome, Dylan House, a seminarian at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, witnessed an extraordinary event. He was in the front row amid hundreds of parishioners, visitors, and pilgrims, and as soon as Pope Leo appeared, “the whole place was just electric,” he said. Many young Australians experienced it as part of the inaugural Lion Pilgrimage, organized by Sydney Bishop Anthony Percy and running over two weeks in July. The pilgrimage, which draws its lion symbolism from Pope Leo and his predecessors, gave young people across the Sydney Archdiocese the opportunity to consider how they could engage with their faith as they enter public or political life. Accompanying the pilgrims were SmartLoving and CathFamily co-founders Francine and Byron Pirola, who said they were surprised by how important a role marriage played in the lives of the saints they encountered.
Catholic Digest
Do I worry too much about my kids?
By Marybeth Hicks, August 18, 2026
We all make rules that help ensure (to the extent we’re able) that our kids avoid injury and unnecessary risks while still having fun and enjoying healthy, vibrant childhoods. But when your rules stifle rather than support your children’s age-appropriate growth and development, you have to ask who those rules are for — your children, or you? As a culture, we’ve become almost obsessively fearful about our children’s health and safety, despite the fact that we live in the safest country in the world, at the safest time in human history. We’re so afraid that they’ll get hurt — or worse, that they’ll be victims of some evil stranger — that some parents eliminate the very activities and experiences that would teach their children to be self-reliant, resourceful, independent, and capable of taking care of themselves.
Church Life Journal
AI can’t care for creation
By Matthew Ramage and Samuel Shephard, August 18, 2026
Human impacts on the environment are a shared existential concern. Many of us feel helpless in the face of complex social-ecological issues: polar bears are going hungry, weird new bugs are eating our cabbages, and it rains too much—or not enough. All of this can feel overwhelming, leaving us with a new emotional buzzword: ecoanxiety. Some people look to artificial intelligence to integrate massive, ever-changing environmental data and monitor and manage Earth systems. Does care for the planet require an inevitable trajectory towards a worldwide web simulacrum of omniscience that disembodied AIs purport to offer, or is it necessarily anchored in organic human-nature experiences, relationships, and behaviors? Humans are capable of dying to protect their home or chaining themselves to a tree to conserve a beloved woodland. AIs probably do not care about anything. In the words of philosopher James Madden, AI cannot “give a damn.” This is not because they lack information, but because they lack embodiment—the very condition that makes caring possible.
Image of Almonds by Monfocus from Pixabay
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