Friday, August 14, 2026

Moderates and liberals stopped going to church. We’re only beginning to see the effects.

by Kelly Sankowski August 13, 2026

Credit: Unsplash Illustration: America Media

Ryan P. Burge opens his new book, The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us, with a story that may feel all too familiar: The small Baptist congregation where he was serving as pastor was aging rapidly, and he began to ask himself when they were going to have to close. More hauntingly, he began to ask where he would go when they did—or if he would even return to church.

Guest Voices

Opinion

We need a biblical view of American history

Thomas Reese, Religion News Service ncr

Thursday, August 13, 2026

What I saw at the ‘Pope Hat’ White Sox game: A nun throwing the first pitch, a 5th-inning sign of peace and 35,000 miters

by Dominic Lynch August 12, 2026

Sister Mary Jo Sobieckm of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois, throws out the first pitch during the White Sox’s “Pope Night,” Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, in Chicago / White Sox fans cheer while wearing Pope hats Credit: Chicago White Sox Illustration: America Media

Ballpark giveaways are a staple of sports culture these days: From bobbleheads to replica jerseys to commemorative trinkets, teams have ranged far afield in their quest to draw in more fans. Perhaps no giveaway was more unique than that engineered by the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 11, 2026: pope hats.

Every attendee in a sellout crowd at Chicago’s Rate Field received a replica of a traditional papal miter (emblazoned with the White Sox logo, of course) to celebrate the connection between Pope Leo XIV and the venerable Chicago baseball squad. While the White Sox are in first place in the American League Central as of this writing, they haven’t had much to celebrate since they won the World Series in 2005—a series where one game was attended by the future pope.

Father Michael Pfleger, then pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina in Chicago, is seen in this 2015 file photo (CNS photo/Jim Young, Reuters).

On his last day of radiation treatment for prostate cancer, Fr. Michael Pfleger teared up as he hugged nurses and rang the bell in the hospital hallway, once for himself, once “for all the other people coming out of here.” Then he posted on Facebook that it was “Easier to beat Cancer than get Justice from the Archdiocese.” Earlier this summer, the popular yet controversial priest was temporarily removed from ministry while the Archdiocese of Chicago investigated an allegation that he sexually abused a minor decades ago. It is the fifth time that Pfleger, the senior pastor at St. Sabina Parish on Chicago’s South Side, has been accused; four previous allegations were found by the archdiocese to be unsubstantiated.

News

Pope Leo XIV to LCWR sisters: 'The church needs you'

ncr

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Florida has no business explaining Catholic teaching on vaccines to the bishops

by Francis J. Beckwith August 11, 2026

On July 31, the Catholic attorney general of Florida, James Uthmeier, sent an open letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops threatening to withhold state voucher money from diocesan schools unless the state’s bishops allow students to claim a religious exemption from mandatory immunizations for “poliomyelitis, diphtheria, rubeola, rubella, pertussis, mumps, tetanus, and other communicable diseases as determined by rules of the Department of Health.” State law requires every school—public or private—to allow religious exemptions, and the attorney general ordered Catholic schools to comply with that law.

Guest Voices

Opinion

Friday, August 14, 2026