With voting just around the corner — and with open attacks on Catholic beliefs in the political realm — a new video bears watching and a new pastoral letter bears reading.

CatholicAction.org posted an exclusive 25-minute video interview Catholic Action for Faith and Family’s president, Thomas McKenna, had in Rome with Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke on Oct. 20. (Update:The interview will air on EWTN (Eastern time) at 9pm Friday, Oct. 29, 6:30am Saturday, Oct. 30, and 5:30pm Sunday, Oct. 31, and on the EWTN Radio Network at 9am and 8pm Saturday, Oct. 30, and 11am and 6:30pm Sunday, Oct. 31.)

Cardinal-designate Burke is surely a voice that needs to be heard and heeded in our culture....READ MORE

Good news arrived from the Holy Land this week.

Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem marked a milestone birth: The 50,000th baby — named Aisha — was born on Monday. Fitting on the feast of St. Luke, who gave us the beautifully detailed account of the Nativity, because Holy Family Hospital is just 1,500 feet from where Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Aisha is the daughter of 19-year-old Hafsah Omar Radaydiah and her 24-year-old husband, Isam.

“I am so happy — have been waiting to become a mother,” said Hafsah. “This will change my whole life. I’m happy because she is so beautiful.”

With the only neonatal intensive care unit in the region, this state-of-the-art maternity hospital saves more than...READ MORE

The Vatican made the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization official last week, as the Register’s Edward Pentin noted here.

That brought to mind other recent news about creative Catholic outreach: St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson joined Facebook. You can also follow him on Twitter @abp_carlson.

Magdalen College in New Hampshire announced a new name and efforts for the New Evangelization.

And earlier this month St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosted its second “24 Hours of Grace.” St. John’s Chapel was open for 24 hours for adoration; priests were available for confession. Priests also took to the university’s quad to hear...READ MORE

College application season is upon us. During this stressful time of tests, essays and college visits, it’s wise to keep in mind Pope Benedict XVI’s general prayer intention for October: “That Catholic universities may more and more be places where, in the light of the Gospel, it is possible to experience the harmonious unity existing between faith and reason.”

The Register recognizes those schools that are striving to do just that in our annual Catholic Identity College Guide, which has been augmented this year with the National Catholic Register’s 2010 College Guide, a new 192-page, full-color book from Circle Press.

God bless your application process and future college success!...READ MORE

Mount St. Mary’s University seminarians proved victorious in the Vianney Cup Soccer Tournament over the weekend, prevailing over Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary 4-1 in the championship.

In the first round, Mount St. Mary’s beat Baltimore’s St. Mary’s Seminary 5-3. Saint Charles Borromeo won against Theological College of Catholic University 2-0. St. Mary’s took third place over Theological College in a 3-0 match.

The Vianney Cup will reside at the Mount until next year. Said Msgr. Steven Rohlfs, “The weather was perfect. The sportsmanship was memorable, and the outcome was an added treat. We look forward to competing in the Vianney Cup next year.”

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Mount St....READ MORE

Want to see a first-class relic of Cardinal John Henry Newman in the United States? Head to the Church of Our Savior in New York City, which is the first U.S. shrine dedicated to Cardinal Newman.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York will bless the shrine on Sept. 23, according to the Cardinal Newman Society. That’s just a few days after Pope Benedict XVI beatifies Cardinal Newman in Birmingham, England, on Sept. 19. (Follow the papal itinerary here.)

“What a great tribute to this wonderful priest and scholar, whose example and thought are so relevant to the Church in the United States today,” wrote Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, in a letter to Father George...READ MORE

The National Catholic Register is pleased to open its Second Annual Scholarship Essay Contest. To win one of three tuition-deferring prizes, all you have to do is think hard and write well on a basic but challenging theme: How I Expect My Catholic Faith to Impact My College Career.

We’ll award $1,000 to the winner, $750 to the first runner-up and $500 to the second runner-up. The prize money is generously donated by a magnanimous Catholic family whose members appreciate authentically Catholic education as much as they love the Register.

The contest is open to high-school seniors and college underclassmen. To enter, you’ve got to be a current subscriber to the Register or reside in a...READ MORE

Tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 10, Father Robert Spitzer, president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith and author of New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy, will defend God’s existence against physicist Stephen Hawking’s belief that God isn’t the creator of the universe on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

Father Spitzer already refuted Hawking’s claim on the Magis Center website.

It should be an interesting discussion. We’ll be sure to tune in!