Catholic Nutshell News: Wednesday 8/12/26
Catholics should know: Trappist monk tortured in Mao communism dead at 108; Church in Africa has come of age; German crisis due to apostasy; & Loving those who ghost us
“Here was an almond tree in bloom before me”
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EWTN News
Attendance at Sunday Mass not replaced by virtual participation
By Ishmael Adibuah, August 12, 2026
Pope Leo XIV has urged Catholics to prioritize attending Sunday Mass, warning that active participation in the Eucharist cannot be replaced by virtual gatherings. He urged Catholics to attend Sunday Mass and warned against using virtual gatherings to substitute for in-person attendance. “To sanctify Sunday, it is essential to celebrate the Eucharist,” Leo said. “This assembly cannot be substituted by a solely virtual presence, nor can it be reduced to a merely passive gathering.” Leo explained the importance of the liturgical year, referencing his predecessor, Venerable Pope Pius XII, as well as Servant of God Abbot Prosper Guéranger, OSB, the first abbot of Solesmes Abbey in France and a key figure in the liturgical movement. It is “important to note that this way of referring to the cycle of Christian feasts as the ‘liturgical year’ became widespread in ecclesiastical language thanks to the work of the Servant of God Abbot Prosper Guéranger,” Leo said in his remarks.“I urge everyone to seek the best possible conditions so that even those who are unable to take time off work on Sundays may take part in holy Mass,” Leo said.
aciafrica
‘Church in Africa has come of age,’ Vatican archbishop says
By ACI Africa Staff, August 5, 2026
The Secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, has said the Church in Africa has matured into a vital force within global Catholicism, urging greater recognition of the continent's contribution to the universal Church and warning against attitudes that continue to treat its voice as immature. According to the Nigerian-born Vatican official, “The voice of the church in Africa is no longer and should no longer be treated as the voice of a baby in a crib.” Explaining the analogy, he said that, just as adults often dismiss the cries of a baby as an interruption rather than a meaningful contribution, the voice of the Church in Africa has long been treated similarly in some quarters. He attributed part of that perception to the continued financial dependence of many local Churches in Africa on older Churches.
National Catholic Register
The root of the German crisis is apostasy
By George Weigel, August 12, 2026
Speyer is a charming city on the west bank of the Rhine River. Its splendid medieval core is dominated by a magnificent 11th-century cathedral, the resting place of German emperors for 300 years and one of Europe’s greatest expressions of Romanesque architecture. There are 504,210 Catholics in the Diocese of Speyer, which I presume means that 504,210 people within the diocesan boundaries identify as Catholic when ticking the box for the Kirchensteuer, the “Church tax,” on their German tax returns. There were no priestly ordinations in the diocese in 2024, and at that point Speyer had four seminarians. Average Sunday Mass attendance is 5.1% of registered Catholics. In June, the diocese announced a major restructuring, with its 70 parishes being reduced by 87% to nine. This radical transformation — some might say, deconstruction — of a historic diocese formed a century before the pontificate of Pope St. Leo the Great. Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg defiantly supported the blessing of same-sex couples as couples. There are many intensely aggravating aspects of German Catholicism’s Gadarene rush down the cliff of ecclesiastical oblivion.
Related: Germany sees increase in adult baptisms amid overall baptism decline, Michelle La Rosa, The PIllar, August 11, 2026
Zeale News
Last Trappist monk who lived through Mao communism dead at 108
By Elizabeth Ervin, August 11, 2026
The last surviving member of a group of Trappist monks forced from mainland China during Mao-era communist persecution died July 31 at age 108 after 79 years of religious life. Father Benedict Chao was the world’s oldest Trappist monk and helped reestablish the Abbey of Our Lady of Joy in Hong Kong after communist persecution displaced his community from its original monastery in Hebei Province, according to an Aug. 9 report from AsiaNews. Father Chao professed his perpetual vows in 1947, the same year an advancing communist army forced his community to flee to Sichuan Province. As persecution intensified, Father Chao and several other monks found refuge at a Trappist monastery in Manitoba, Canada. Father Chao was among eight monks who returned to Asia in 1953 and opened the monastery on Lantau Island in 1956.
The PIllar
In complex dispute, Armenian bishop faces criminal trial
By Edgar Beltrán, August 11, 2026
The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church faced a courtroom last week, as Catholicos Karekin II faces obstruction of justice charges alongside five other Armenian bishops, as the latest in a long-running and complex dispute between Armenian Apostolic prelates and Armenia’s prime minister. Karekin II and six other Orthodox Armenian Church officials are accused of disobeying a court decision ordering the reinstatement of Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, an ally of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who was dismissed from his post and laicized by Karekin II after repeatedly calling for Karekin’s ouster. The trial is the high point of a conflict between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian government which began with Pashinyan’s election in 2018. Five other Armenian bishops are standing trial alongside Karekin II. If found guilty, the bishops could face two years in prison.
Fides News Agency
Papua New Guinea’s wisdom of elder missionaries
By Marie-Lucile Kubacki, July 8, 2026
Gratefully recognizing the great value of his experience as a young volunteer in Papua New Guinea and his close contact with missionaries from different nations, Father Christian Sieland, director of PMS Papua New Guinea, today participates in the adventure of a local Church in transition from ‘missionary dependency’ to full local responsibility, encouraging a renewed inculturation of the Gospel. “Most of the missionaries I visited are now in their late 80s or early 90s. My Bishop Emeritus, the Most Rev. Henk Te Maarssen, SVD, was in Teteringen when I visited; he will turn 93 this September.” In this context, his recent journey to visit elderly missionaries, who served in his homeland and now live in retirement homes in several European countries, becomes both an act of gratitude and a living lesson: by honoring those who first bore witness to the faith, he invites a new generation to remember its roots, to cherish its cultural heritage, and to let the Gospel take ever deeper root in the soil of their people’s lives.
Graphs about Religion
Finance majors go to Church, and English majors don’t
By Ryan Burge, August 10, 2026
The Stereotypes about which majors are religious and conservative turn out to be mostly true. The two most “techy” majors are the least Christian: data science and computer science. Just 27-28% of these folks identify as Protestants, Catholics, or generic Christians. In contrast, about 30% say that they are atheist/agnostic and another 13% are non-religious. Environmental Studies is the most secular of all, with 61% of students claiming that they are atheist, agnostic, or claim no religion in particular. English is at 60% on this metric. Finance and nursing sit at 68% as Protestants, Catholics, or generic Christians. It’s 62% among the Finance majors. The hunch about how computer science/data science students are more likely to be Hindus is absolutely confirmed in this table. In fact, those majors have more Hindus than Catholics. I did find it notable that the Anthropology majors are only 8% weekly attendees — that’s the lowest I can find.
Our Sunday Visitor
Eliminating ‘legal restraint’ on late-term abortion ‘gravely immoral’
By Wes Cipolla, August 11, 2026
At the signing ceremony, Healey, a Catholic and a longtime advocate of a legal right to abortion, promised that “no matter” what President Donald Trump, U.S. Senate Republicans or the Supreme Court do with regard to abortion, “we’re going to continue to make sure that women and families have access to the health care that they need right here in Massachusetts.” The four Massachusetts bishops — Archbishop Richard G. Henning of Boston, Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha of Fall River and Bishop William D. Byrne of Springfield — declared and invited “the Catholic community to pray for a renewal of reverence for all human life.” The new law allows physicians to perform abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy if in their “professional judgment” it is medically necessary. It also eliminates the requirement that late-term abortions be performed in a hospital setting, allowing licensed physicians to provide abortions in other eligible health care and treatment centers.
Keep informed - 8/12/26 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.”
SURROGATE FIGHTS TO SAVE UNBORN BABY - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured an emergency court order ensuring an unborn baby, whose intended parents requested an abortion after he was diagnosed with a serious heart condition, will receive life-saving care. Surrogate mother McKenna West refused to abort the baby. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., has also urged officials to protect the baby as West’s Sept. 2 due date approaches.
REPORTS: EL-SAYED SCRUBBED 100+ VIDEOS BEFORE CAMPAIGN LAUNCH - Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan’s Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate earlier this month, removed at least 100 YouTube videos — including one in which he called for an end to 4th of July fireworks and another floating the elimination of the Second Amendment — from his channel ahead of launching his campaign, according to reports. A campaign spokesman said the old videos do not reflect El-Sayed’s current views.
NO MORE FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ‘SEX-REJECTING’ PROCEDURES - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said yesterday that federal Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program funds will no longer pay for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or “transgender” surgeries performed on children.
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.
Eternal Rest: The Art of Dying Well - We all have very real questions about death. 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.
Catholic Saints - In this collection, you can find interviews on dozens of the lives of the saints. Learn about Sts. Monica, Augustine, Stephen, Philip Neri, Catherine of Siena, and more!
Divine Mercy Chaplet | Franciscan Friars of the Renewal - "Have mercy on us and on the whole world." Join the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet and asking God to shower his mercy upon us. While originally planned to be released closer to Divine Mercy Sunday, we have moved up our release date to encourage all people to pra...
The Pillar
Pillar Stories from the July calendar, 8/12/26
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:
An estimated 80,000 people flooded across the border from Morocco to Ceuta, a Spanish exclave in Morocco, in a matter of hours on July 30, overwhelming the city of just under 83,000 inhabitants. It is not entirely clear what caused the mass border crossing.
Catholics in the African nation of Angola are locked in a controversy centered on a historically significant diocese, over a letter that was seemingly leaked from within the country’s apostolic nunciature — which has spread across social media in Angola, and which requests that the pontiff appoint a “white bishop” to replace Bishop Vicente Kiazuku, the 69-year-old Angolan leader of the Mbanza-Kongo diocese.
And finally in the news, the number of adult baptisms in Germany rose significantly last year, even while infant baptisms are declining, and overall baptism numbers continue to decline. There are few ways to look at the rising number of adult baptisms.
August 12, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE or read HERE:
Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Crisis Magazine
On loving those who ghost us
By Samantha Stephenson, August 12, 2026
As Noelle Mering chronicles in her book No Contact: How a Seductive Ideology Broke Families and Friendships and How We Can Repair Them, more than 68 million Americans are estranged from close family members. Those numbers don’t even include friends who were like family, as in my case. Our culture is sick with a pandemic of loneliness, yet we are drinking the snake oil of an ideology that insists that isolation and abandonment—rather than communication and reconciliation—are the remedy. Many of us ghosted Christians are feeling the full force of Jesus’ words in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11) and His warning from Matthew 10:22, “Everyone will hate you because you follow me.” Painful as it is, the rejection of those close to us does not stop our flow of love for them; nor does it negate our responsibility to pray for them. If anything, this responsibility intensifies: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Still, the question remains:
The Catholic Weekly
Parents of older kids: You’re not done yet
By Simcha Fisher, August 12, 2026
This is not going to be a ‘parenting as death march’ essay where I lament over the unceasing agony of it all, or where I bemoan the lives my older kids are living, and then tell you how I’m managing to soldier on in spite of the pain. Actually, I think my adult kids are neat. Wonderful, even. Like every human being I know, all of them are struggling with various things, but they're also succeeding in various ways, and I’m proud of them all, and I like being with them. My relationship with my parents is still a work in progress, and they are both quite dead. I’m still learning new things about them, some that make me furious, some that make me groan with pity. I’m revisiting what I already knew, and I’m still molding and kneading the memories I have of being in their care. Most of your relationship with your children happens when they are adults. The bonus of understanding that, as long as you are alive, you have the freedom to do well by your kids, no matter how old they are.
George Weigel
The shocking martyrdom of seminarians in Spain
By Kathleen N. Hattrup, August 12, 2026
On July 20, 1936, shortly after the Spanish Civil War began, a group of anarchists stormed a Claretian community in Barbastro and imprisoned 51 missionaries; they would be persecuted, humiliated, and then martyred for their faith. The rebels imprisoned the Benedictines from a nearby monastery, and the Piarists who ran a local school. In fact, the school itself was made the prison, given that the small town had no place to suddenly house so many “prisoners.” Barbastro was the diocese that suffered the greatest percentage of clergy martyrdoms in the War; a total of 18 Benedictines, 9 Piarists, 51 Claretians, 13 canons of the Cathedral, 114 diocesan priests, 5 diocesan seminarians, and a bishop were martyred. The majority of them were in their early 20's, having arrived in Barbastro just some weeks before for their last academic year of seminary. Part of their torture was mock executions: They would be lined up by the firing squad, and then not shot — part of the attempts to make them give up their faith and vocation. Two Argentinian brothers were spared, and many of the details of the torture and death of the victims are well documented.
Church Life Journal
The Hillbilly Thomists – the Dominican friars - release sixth album
By ZENIT Staff, July 31, 2026
The Hillbilly Thomists released their sixth album, Strange Land, on July 27. Issued by Dominicana Records, the surprise release is now available. The Hillbilly Thomists are a bluegrass and American roots band composed of Dominican friars from the Province of St. Joseph. For the friars, making music is an expression not only of artistic collaboration but also of their common Dominican vocation. The new album features the acoustic arrangements, close vocal harmonies and original storytelling that have become hallmarks of the band’s distinctive sound. Its ten tracks range from explicitly spiritual songs such as “In-A-My Soul,” “Gloria” and “Maybe I’ll Rise” to playfully titled compositions including “Garrigou,” “Knockin’ the Dead (Alive)” and “Good Old Elvis.” “We just released our sixth album, Strange Land, as we begin our summer tour,” said singer-songwriter fr. Justin Bolger, OP. “I’m so grateful for this band of friars I get to make music with.”
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