“Here was an almond tree in bloom before me”
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EWTN News
Federal judge delays mifepristone lawsuit until after midterms
By Kate Quiñones, September 1, 2026
A federal judge on Sunday agreed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s request to pause a lawsuit over the safety of the Mifepristone pill and the drug’s mail-order distribution. Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ordered that the lawsuit would be delayed until either Dec. 1 or the completion of the FDA’s safety review of Mifepristone, whichever comes first. In the lawsuit, Texas and Florida asked the court to revoke the FDA’s approval of the abortion-inducing pill, saying the agency didn’t adequately evaluate its safety when it approved the drug in 2000. The lawsuit also challenged the pill's mail-order distribution. The FDA first announced it would review Mifepristone in September 2025. “This shift in timing for the lawsuit and their ‘promised’ review indicates that they are prioritizing politics over the safety of American women and children,” said Noah Brandt, spokesman for Live Action.
aciafrica
‘We are profoundly shocked’: Bishops condemn violence in Angola
By João Vissesse, September 1, 2026
Members of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) have condemned recent episodes of violence, conflict and intolerance in Angola, expressing concern about events in Uíge, Cazombo and other parts of the country. They said they were “profoundly shocked by the recent events that took place this month in Uíge, Cazombo, and other similar places, even if not all received the same level of media coverage.” The Catholic Bishops said the violence caused not only physical harm but also “emotional and spiritual damage,” while threatening the sense of nationhood that Angolans are seeking to build. On August 24, in Cazombo, Moxico-Leste province, riots occurred when the police intervened to prevent the burial of the 96-year-old Lunda-Ndembu King, Nkaka Chinunki Mukanda Nkunda, next to his residence, following tradition.
Related: AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Two religious sisters ambushed in South Sudan, Agenzia Fides, Fides News Agency, September 1, 2026
National Catholic Register
Wendell Berry, agrarian writer ‘Redeemed Only by Love,’ Dies at 92
By Daniel Payne/EWTN, September 1, 2026
Wendell Berry, the prolific American author whose work spanned decades and who spent his career urging Americans to pursue a simpler, more virtuous life, died on Aug. 31, his family said. The Kentucky-born writer was 92. A writer of fiction, poetry, and essays, Berry was known for his advocacy of rural life, his urging readers to develop a close connection to farming and food, and his calls for caring for the environment. His work united a broad cross-section of the American public from liberal environmentalists to Christian homesteaders to local food advocates to conservative conservationists. From 1965 until his death, he lived and worked at his farm, Lane’s Landing, in Henry County, Kentucky. Throughout his career, he remained devoted to both the natural world and to the small farm — a philosophy, he said in 2002, that meant he had “spent [his] life on two losing sides.”
Zeale News
Barron: Christian charity offers the antidote to ‘suicidal empathy’
By Zeale News Team, September 1, 2026
Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester reviewed Gad Saad’s new book Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind, agreeing that empathy not governed by reason and virtue could end the Christian West and encouraging virtue as the solution. Barron warned that empathy unmoored from Christian virtue will likely undermine and even destroy the Western world. Gad Saad’s latest book, Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind, argues that a distorted form of empathy is undermining the Western moral order. “Suicidal empathy is a deadly contagion of one of humanity’s most noble virtues,” he wrote. Barron argued that the Catholic answer is not less compassion but a recovery of charity as St. Thomas Aquinas defined it: willing the good of the other. “To love is not to have positive feelings about someone. It’s not to empathize with someone,” Bishop Barron said. “To love is to will the good of the other.”
The PIllar
Cardinal Ouellet wins defamation lawsuit
By Luke Coppen, September 1, 2026
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the former Vatican prefect, won a civil defamation lawsuit against a woman who accused him of sexual assault. In a 52-page judgment issued Aug. 31, Quebec Superior Court Justice Martin Castonguay ordered Ouellet’s accuser to pay the cardinal CA$100,000 (around $72,100) in damages. Ouellet — who served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, advising the pope on the selection of the world’s bishops from 2010 until he retired in 2023 — has said he will donate the money to organizations combating the sexual abuse of Canada’s Indigenous population. The claims against Ouellet, who was considered among the papabili at the 2013 conclave, were lodged as part of a class-action suit filed by people who said they were victims of clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of Quebec, with allegations dating back as far as 1940.
Fides News Agency
No papal event for Paris Rupnik chapel; Pope’s orders
By Junno Arocho Esteves, August 31, 2026
The apostolic nunciature in Paris, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas, confirmed to OSV News Aug. 31 that no papal celebration is scheduled in the Father Marko Rupnik mosaic-decorated chapel inside its Paris building during the apostolic trip to France Sept. 25-28. The confirmation came as French media confirmed with the bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes that Pope Leo XIV ordered the removal of artwork created by Father Marko Rupnik that was used on the Vatican News website. The pope made his willingness to resolve the matter regarding the controversial priest’s artwork “very clearly.” Pope Leo, he said, “immediately asked me how Lourdes was handling this issue” and expressed his support for “the way we have approached things,” following Lourdes’ covering of the priest’s mosaics at the entrance of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary. The pope “pointed out to me … to no longer use Rupnik’s mosaics to illustrate publications. He is truly very determined on this issue,” Bishop Micas told Paris Match.
Graphs about Religion
How Americans judge their own moral character
By Ryan Burge, August 31, 2026
Young folks have a term for self-improvement — “maxxing.” Young men are devotees of “jaw-maxxing,” a series of facial exercises meant to give them a more defined jawline. Another corner of the internet is obsessed with sleep-maxxing. These folks track their sleep patterns obsessively, always looking for ways to catch a few more minutes of shut-eye. We asked them: How close do you feel you are to being the kind of person you ought to be, morally speaking? Age clearly affects how people reflect on their moral character. Among the youngest adults, a significant portion (38%) say that they are “very far” or “somewhat far” from being the person that they ought to be from a moral standpoint. For those 55 or older, just 6% say they are “very far” from the person they want to be, and 8% say “somewhat far.” Older folks seem pretty content with who they’ve become. Yet older folks are 11% more likely than younger adults to say they try every day to improve their character.
Religion News Service
Samaritan’s Purse turns down $300M from State Department
By Yonat Shimron & Bob Smietana, August 31, 2026
Just three weeks ago, the U.S. State Department announced a plan to provide health and humanitarian assistance worldwide through a $2 billion pledge to faith-based and community organizations. But now those plans have hit a snag. Late last week, Samaritan’s Purse, the Christian humanitarian relief organization that was supposed to receive $300 million as part of the State Department grant, turned down the money, saying it will rely on God and its private donors instead. “While we deeply appreciate the confidence that the State Department has placed in Samaritan’s Purse, after prayer and discussion, we have withdrawn from being a recipient of these funds,” Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement Aug. 28. Graham, one of President Trump’s most stalwart evangelical allies, did not offer any other reasons for rejecting the federal funds, which would have included “immediate life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters.”
Keep informed - 9/2/26 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.”
HOUSE DEMOCRATS JOIN GOP TO CONDEMN SOCIALISM - A squadron of four congressional Democrats introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to formally condemn socialism and the Democratic Socialists of America in particular. The proposal would also weaken Republican efforts to enact election integrity measures.
DOJ SUES KANSAS SCHOOL DISTRICT OVER TRANS POLICY - The Justice Department sued the Kansas City school district for allegedly violating federal law and hiding students’ “gender transitions” from parents. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said that parental rights “are paramount” and pledged, “The Department will not tolerate school districts playing fast and loose with federal law in the service of radical gender ideology.”
KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL ACCUSES ABORTION GROUP OF VIOLATING STATE LAWS - Attorney General Russell Coleman said that a recent airplane-banner stunt promoting mail-order abortion pills may have been illegal. “It appears abortion activists are flying over Louisville advertising illegal drugs,” he said. “They are breaking the law.”
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.
Cabrini - From Alejandro Monteverde, director of Sound of Freedom, comes the epic of Francesca Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who arrives in New York City in 1889 and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini builds an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.
Our Lady of Guadalupe & St. Juan Diego | Littlest Saints - A boy, his sneakers, and a giant sombrero take up the story of St. Juan Diego's miraculous encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary. How far will Our Lady ask him to reach out in faith, trust, and confidence?
Eternal Rest: The Art of Dying Well - What happens when we die? What does Scripture teach about death? How do we prepare for the life to come? Explore the mystery of death, dying, and everlasting life through Eternal Rest, a new offering of the Augustine Institute. Eternal Rest examines the origin of death, the afterlife, and the powerful reality around the sacrament that ushers us into eternal life.
The Pillar
Pillar Stories from the July calendar, 9/2/26
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:
After a two-day preliminary hearing last week, a San Diego judge determined Friday that Bishop Emmanuel Shaleta will face a full trial on 16 counts of money laundering and embezzlement. The trial could begin this autumn. Shaleta is accused of embezzling almost $300,000 from the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter, which covers the western half of the United States.
The bishops’ conference of Germany has been consistently critical in recent years of the emerging Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. This week, Luke Coppen sat down for a great conversation with Dr. Sebastian Ostritsch, a German philosopher and journalist, to learn why. Listen up, it’s a good one.
An Indian cathedral at the heart of the Syro-Malabar liturgy dispute celebrated a Holy Qurban liturgy entirely facing the people on Sunday, after parishioners agreed to allow it alongside the Eastern Church’s new uniform Eucharistic liturgy. The agreement marks another step in the healing of a decades-long rift between Syro-Malabar Catholics
September 2, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE or read HERE:
Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Crisis Magazine
The tabernacle debate is front and center
By John M. Grondelski, September 2, 2026
The argument for placing the tabernacle off to the side was based on a so-called "return to the sources," because the Holy Spirit apparently got it wrong for over 1500 years. Stop Moving the Tabernacle!” exclaims Michael Sean Winters in the National Catholic Distorter Reporter. His cri de coeur comes from the renovation of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Norwich, Connecticut, which restored the tabernacle to the center of the former altar, on the cathedral's main axis. Winters laments that at least three other cathedrals have restored the tabernacle to “the central focal point of the sanctuary.” I didn’t hear any such standing athwart in the 1960s when none of the faithful but a couple of liturgists decided to relegate the Blessed Sacrament to corners and closets. A reality located in “the central focal point of the sanctuary” says this is important; a reality you have to search for in the corners says it isn’t.
The Catholic Weekly
Why do people stop coming to Mass?
By Dr Philippa Martyr, September 2, 2026
We talk about the decline in Mass attendance in Australia, and some of its drivers. We see the decline, and we grieve it. It seems wrong that people are leaving, and we feel like we should try to bring them back. But what else might be going on underneath all this? That takes a longer, more complex answer. Jesus talks about seed being sown on good and poor soil, with predictable consequences (Mark 4). He talks about weeds growing up with wheat (Matt 13). He talks about sheep and goats needing to be divided (Matt 25). He talks about shaking the dust off your feet when people won’t hear the Gospel (Luke 9). Jesus was clearly aware—and was trying to teach us—that not everyone is going to think the Gospel is a good idea. He’s also teaching us that when people stop believing and they leave our church, we must let them go. People’s free will (their freedom to believe or reject) is enormously important to God.
After Babel
Demons pull us downward: More selfish & easily tempted
By Jon Haidt, December 01, 2025
Someone started a viral trend of asking ChatGPT this question: If you were the devil, how would you destroy the next generation, without them even knowing it? Chat’s responses were profound and unsettling: “I wouldn’t come with violence. I’d come with convenience.” “I’d keep them busy. Always distracted.” “I’d watch their minds rot slowly, sweetly, silently. And the best part is, they’d never know it was me. They’d call it freedom.” I was stunned. Why? Because what the AI proposed doing is pretty much what technology seems to be doing to children today. It seemed to be saying: If the devil wanted to destroy a generation, he could just give them all smartphones. My work over the last decade has centered on one question: Why did the mental health of Gen Z — the cohort born between 1996 and 2012 — plummet in so many countries starting in the early 2010s? Our “better angels” call us upward and out of our daily concerns. Our inner demons pull us downward, where we become more selfish and easily tempted.
Church Life Journal
Challenge: The third objection to God’s existence
By Chad Engelland, September 1, 2026
When St. Thomas Aquinas set out to prove God’s existence in his Summa Theologiae, he articulated two objections. The problem of evil: How can an infinitely good God exist if there is evil in the world? He answers it by positing the principle of o felix culpa, O Happy Fault, demonstrated by salvation history. He permits evil in order to draw out of it a still greater good. The second objection is the apparent completeness of nature. He answers this objection with the five proofs themselves, which demonstrate that the world and its secondary causes are not self-sufficient and self-explanatory but stand in need of God’s primary causality. The person who has done more than Pascal or Nietzsche to make this third objection to God’s existence known is the contemporary philosopher, J.L. Schellenberg. He reasonably grants that it is no objection to God’s existence if some people do not find God, provided those who fail to find God are halfheartedly seeking or are otherwise puffed up with pride (or, in his terminology, “resistant”).
Image of Almonds by Monfocus from Pixabay
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