Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Calming Our Fears

A photo of a seedlings rising from the earth.

Do Not Be Afraid

Calming Our Fears

Monday, April 27, 2026

Father Richard responds to the question, “Why was Jesus not afraid?”:

Jesus seemed to know from an early age that we cannot build on fear. We can build only on life; only life leads to life. Jesus went to the deepest source of life. He gazed long and hard into God’s eyes; there, somehow, but most assuredly, he overcame fear. He did not find assurance that he would “win,” because humanly speaking, he didn’t. And I don’t believe that he found assurance that he was right, either, although we tend to think he knew it all.

Pew: In US and other countries, Catholicism loses more members than it gains

by Gina Christian - OSV News April 27, 2026

A file photo shows people praying inside Santa Ana Ixtlahuatzingo Catholic Church in Tenancingo, Mexico. Religious switching has affected Christianity's two largest subgroups, Catholicism and Protestantism, in 24 countries across Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America and sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new Pew analysis. Credit: OSV News photo/David Maung, file

(OSV News) — A new analysis from Pew Research Center has found that Catholicism has lost more members than it has gained in most of the 24 countries surveyed, while Protestantism has seen net gains in several nations, especially Latin America.

The shifts are due to religious switching, or leaving one’s childhood religious identity for another in adulthood.

Pew published its findings April 23, based on data from its surveys of 24 countries spanning Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.

The center’s 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study provided the data for the U.S., while international data was drawn from surveys conducted during the spring of 2024.

Will “Certified Human” writing become an expensive, niche product, like artisanal cheese? (Lawreyantsis/Dreamtimes.com, edited by David Sankey)

In the long history of workplace automation and its displacement of humans, people have typically started really paying attention only when it’s their job on the chopping block. Up until about two years ago, AI’s intrusion into the writing world had barely registered on my radar. A columnist who had AI write her column (not terrible, but no Pulitzer prizewinner); the 2023 screenwriters’ strike demanding protection from bots; Google developing an AI-driven tool that could generate news stories, and pitching it to major newspapers: these developments were weird but not unduly worrisome. In August 2024, The New York Times undertook a fascinating literary experiment, inviting pop novelist Curtis Sittenfeld to write a “beach read”—a short story centering on a romance in a summer setting—while simultaneously instructing ChatGPT to write a summer romance “in the style of Curtis Sittenfeld.” Sittenfeld welcomed the challenge. “I thought going head-to-head with the machine would give us real answers about what A.I. is and isn’t currently capable of,” she observed—“and, of course, how big a threat it is to human writers.” I decided to use the moment to take stock as well.

German Church defends blessings document after Pope voices concerns

Natalie K. Watson

28 April 2026, The Table

When asked about the German guidance, Pope Leo emphasised that ‘we do not agree with the formalised blessing of couples’.

Church leaders in Germany defended a document on blessings for couples in “irregular” situations after Pope Leo appeared to criticise it.

Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of Lay Catholics (ZdK) said that there was no reason to retract the text Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft (“Blessing gives strength to love”) because it merely recommended offering blessings to couples who did not wish to enter into a sacramental marriage or to whom this was not available.

“Nothing more and nothing less. There is no possibility of confusion with the sacrament of marriage,” she said, insisting that the German Church would continue its reform process but maintain communications with the Holy See.

Focus on a therapist's hand holding a pen over notes, with a client in the background (Dreamstime/Yuri Arcurs)

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Calming Our Fears

Do Not Be Afraid

Calming Our Fears