1. Pope Francis Visiting Argentina could re-energize his papacy—and provoke a moral revolution, By Adam O’Neal. The Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2016, Pg. A9, Houses of Worship, Go Home.
Pope Francis has become a little less beloved in his homeland, according to a recent survey from Argentina’s Clarín newspaper. Some 75% of Argentines see the pope as either bueno or muy bueno. It’s an approval rating a politician would pray for, sure, but down from the 90% average he has received for most of his papacy. It seems that millions of the pope’s countrymen are unsure what to think of the Holy Father’s ambivalence toward home.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio is an Argentine through and through. Born in Buenos Aires, he speaks Spanish with a distinct Argentine accent. As a teenager, he felt called to the priesthood while celebrating confession at a neighborhood parish. Decades later, he would kiss the wooden confessional whenever visiting that church. Even today during general audiences in Rome he’ll sometimes take a sip of Yerba mate brought by Argentine pilgrims.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/go-home-pope-francis-1471560348
2. What clergy are hearing from Francis: ‘Presence, mercy and service’, By John L. Allen Jr., Editor. Crux, August 19, 2016,
Over the last month, I’ve had the chance to interact with a fairly wide cross-section of Catholic clergy from around the world. I spent two weeks in Krakow, Poland, covering World Youth Day, then several days in Toronto at the annual Knights of Columbus convention, and last week I was in Santa Barbara, California, spending some time with Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron and his crew.
(If you don’t know, Barron and his “Word on Fire” ministry is generally regarded as one of the most effective forms of evangelization for the Catholic Church in the American media universe. In September 2015, he was ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the sprawling Archdiocese of Los Angeles.)
One thing about Catholicism that’s sometimes a little hard for the outside world to understand is that although politics are certainly part of the Church’s life, that’s hardly all there is. Catholics, perhaps clergy in particular, also have a spiritual lens for assessing the vicissitudes of life, including the leadership of whoever the pope happens to be at a given moment.
https://cruxnow.com/analysis/2016/08/19/clergy-hearing-francis-presence-mercy-service/
3. The Mystagogy of Mercy in the Mass, By Fr. Roger J. Landry. The Anchor, August 19, 2016.
Fr. Roger J. Landry is the National Chaplain of Catholic Voices USA.
As we continue to examine, throughout this Jubilee of Mercy, God’s call to recognize our need for, receive, be transformed by and share the extraordinary gift of God’s merciful love, it’s key to turn to the school of the Mass.
The Mass is, in fact, the great prayer of Divine Mercy. We enter in time into Christ’s eternal mercy-obtaining intercession from the Upper Room, Golgotha and the Tomb. As Jesus’ Bride and Body, we offer ourselves to the eternal Father together with — as St. Faustina Kowalska taught us to pray — Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity in expiation for our sins and the sins of the world.
The Mass, the Second Vatican Council emphatically taught, is the source and summit of the Christian life, meaning that someone living in a fully Christian way will find in the Mass the starting point from which everything in life flows and the goal toward which everything is directed.
http://catholicpreaching.com/the-mystagogy-of-mercy-in-the-mass-anchor-august-19-2016/
4. Groups press Walgreens on religious restrictions in clinics, By Carla K. Johnson. Associated Press, August 18, 2016, 5:15 PM.
Four groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union are asking Walgreens for reassurance that its partnership with a Catholic health care system to run in-store clinics in the St. Louis area won’t limit women’s access to birth control.
The drugstore giant announced in April that SSM Health, a St. Louis-based Catholic system, would own and operate 27 health clinics in Walgreens stores in Missouri and Illinois. The clinics open later this month.
In letters dated Wednesday, the ACLU-led groups asked Walgreens and SSM Health whether the clinics would be restricted by religious doctrine from allowing consultations on birth control and referrals for abortion.
5. Dallas bishop vows to focus on laity in new Vatican post, Associated Press, August 18, 2016.
Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell said after being named by Pope Francis to head a new Vatican office for families and laity that, above all, he’ll promote the pope’s desire to ensure that ordinary Catholics are an integral part of the Church.
Farrell said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon: “I have always had in mind that in the Church, lay people needed to play an important role.”
The tweeting and blogging 68-year-old also said that in this new role he’ll also bring his department’s work “into the age of technology.”
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/08/18/dallas-bishop-vows-focus-laity-new-vatican-post/
