PRO-LIFE VICTORY: MUSEUM SETTLES WITH PRO-LIFERS;CASE AGAINST PORN INDUSTRY GIANT ADVANCES;NEW YORK LAWMAKERS MAY FORCE CHICK-FIL-A TO STAY OPEN SUNDAYS;AMERICANS FLEEING BLUE STATES

 

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26 MASS AT COLOGNE CATHEDRAL WITHOUT INCIDENT  Cologne police reported no untoward incidents during their checks on the German city's famous cathedral following warnings of a possible terrorist attack on the traditional Christmas Eve Mass. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki thanked the congregation for not allowing the threat to keep them from gathering.  READ PRO-LIFE VICTORY: MUSEUM SETTLES WITH PRO-LIFERS  Three pro-lifers settled a lawsuit against the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C. this week after museum security guards allegedly targeted them in January for wearing clothing with pro-life messages. The museum agreed to pay out $10,000 and promised it would implement measures to ensure that such discrimination does not occur again.  READ CASE AGAINST PORN INDUSTRY GIANT ADVANCES  “A woman suing Pornhub over its alleged distribution of her childhood sexual abuse material has won a significant victory in her lawsuit against the pornography website’s parent company,” reports Mary Margaret Olohan.  READ NEW YORK LAWMAKERS MAY FORCE CHICK-FIL-A TO STAY OPEN SUNDAYS  Democratic New York state lawmakers have introduced a bill that may force Chick-fil-A restaurants located at rest stops along Interstate 90 to remain open on Sundays.  READ AMERICANS FLEEING BLUE STATES  New York, California, and several other Democratic states saw their native population decline in 2023, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. New York lost the most residents—101,984—followed by California with 75,423.  READ A PASTOR’S VIEW OF FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS The pastoral concessions the Vatican’s latest document gives for the blessing of people in same-sex relationships and other irregular marriages is imprudent and does not reflect reality “on the ground,” writes Fr. Jeffrey Kirby. READ SHARE YOUR NATIVITY SET!  Did the infant Christ arrive in your home this Christmas? Send your photos of the nativity set from your house, parish, or town green – and it might be featured in the LOOP this Christmastide!  EMAIL SUPPORT  It's twice as nice! Chip in today and your gift will be doubled thanks to a generous donor. But don't wait! This opportunity only lasts until New Year.  GIVE CHAPUT SHARPLY CRITIQUES FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS  Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia Charles Chaput lamented in an op-ed last week that the recent publication of Fiducia Supplicans is a “double minded exercise in simultaneously affirming and undercutting Catholic teaching.” He wrote that the damaging nature of the document has become a pattern in Pope Francis’ pontificate.  READ HONORING OUR LADY  After a miraculous healing from Our Lady of Guadalupe five years ago, a singer was able to show gratitude to Our Lady by singing at a festival in celebration of the apparition.  READ YOUR FIRST CONVENT CHRISTMAS  “Why is it that convent Christmas tends to imprint itself so forcefully on the memory of the new religious?” Sister Carino Hodder, OP, shares an inside look at what that first Christmas away from the familiarity of home is like for a new novice or postulant. And what the radical “newness” of the experience can mean for their discernment and growth as brides of Christ.  READ CATHOLIC 101  From the lords a-leaping to that lonely partridge, it’s a common claim among Catholics that the English Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is a secret code for Catholic doctrine that the faithful composed when Catholicism was illegal in England. But is that really true? Find out here!  READ SAINT OF THE DAY  St. Stephen, whom we celebrate today, was the first martyr of the Catholic Church. Before his execution, he had a vision of Christ in glory and declared “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” A deacon of the early Church, Stephen was stoned for his belief in Christ and forgave his killers as he died. The future St. Paul was among St. Stephen’s persecutors.  READ DAILY PSALM  “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” (Psalm 31:6)  READ DAILY READINGS  Today's Mass readings  READ BEAUTY  The Martyrdom of St. Stephen by Peter Paul Rubens, 1616  SHARE Paid for by CatholicVote Civic Action, a 501(c)(4) organization. CATHOLICVOTE  |  PO Box 3310  |  Carmel, IN 46082  |  (317) 669-6127