OTTAWA — As Canada’s minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney is arguably the most influential Catholic in Canada. He is credited with the policy that wooed a large segment of immigrant and minority voters to his Conservative Party and away from the Liberals, giving the “Tories” their first majority in Parliament in decades in the spring 2011 election. He has criticized both his American Catholic university and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for un-Catholic behaviors.

Kenney is touted to succeed Prime Minister Stephen Harper as next leader of the Conservatives.

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CHICAGO (CNA/EWTN News) — Catholic Charities of Illinois plans to challenge the Department of Children and Family Services’ unexpected decision to end its foster care partnership with three local dioceses.

“We are going into court tomorrow in an attempt to stop this, because we believe it’s an illegal action for several reasons,” said Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel at the Illinois-based
Thomas More Society, in a July 11 interview with CNA.

“What the Quinn administration has done,” he said, “is a statement of wanting to end, unilaterally, an over 30-year partnership with Catholic Charities to provide foster care for the children of the state of Illinois. He said the...READ MORE

WASHINGTON (EWTN News) — The U.S. House of Representatives on July 8 voted to pass an amendment that blocks same-sex “weddings” on naval bases on the grounds they violate the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Supporters of the measure said it helped defend the religious liberty of chaplains.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., sponsored the amendment, which passed by a bipartisan vote of 236 to 184.

“What will happen to chaplains who decline to officiate over same-sex ceremonies?” he asked, referring to a rescinded U.S. Navy directive stating that chaplains “may” perform the ceremonies in states where they are recognized.

“I fear that chaplains who refuse to perform these ceremonies may find...READ MORE

In Israel, Diggers Unearth the Bible’s Bad Guys - Associated Press

Loving in the Truth Those Involved in the Gay Lifestyle - Father Roger J. Landry, Diocese of Fall River

Orthodox in Communion with Rome. . .Something to Think About - NGChase, Ramblings of a Byzantine Catholic

New Proofs for God’s Existence - Tom Hoopes, Catholic Vote

J.T. Whatsitworth, It’s My music, and I want it Now!- Charles Culbreth, The Chant Café

A New Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Africa? Or . . . Something Else? - Patrick Madrid

Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr - Catholic Lane

For the latest round-up on the best punditry in the Catholic blogosphere go to ThePulp.it.

WASHINGTON (EWTN News) — Local government funding of 300 abortions in the District of Columbia made taxpayers complicit in a moral wrong that ended lives, pro-life critics said.

When a congressional ban on abortion funding was lifted from 2009 to 2011, the District of Columbia paid for at least 300 abortions at a cost of $185,000 using local taxpayers’ money, The Associated Press reports.

In 2009, President Barack Obama’s administration put forward an altered version of the ban which declared that its prohibition on funding applied only to federal tax money, not funds raised locally. It also expanded the health exemptions under which abortion could be funded.

Mary Harned, staff counsel...READ MORE

No Homophobia - George Weigel

Abp. Nichols: Reflect on How to Receive the Lord in Holy Communion - Dylan Parry, A Reluctant Sinner

Cardinal Policarpo Backpedals On Female Ordination - Mundabor’s Blog

Reversal by Cardinal Policarpo: “Ordination of Women is Impossible” - La Stampa/Vatican Insider

No More Hymns? A New Translation of G.I.R.M. 48 - Jake Tawney, Roma locuta est

Church of England Faces Being Wiped Out, Report Warns - Tim Ross, The Telegraph

. . .Fr. Longenecker comments here. . .

Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria - Catholic Lane

For the latest round-up on the best punditry in the Catholic blogosphere go to ThePulp.it.

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — When the archbishop of Canterbury recently broke his church’s long silence and acknowledged that William Shakespeare was probably a Catholic, it was a moment of quiet satisfaction for Father Peter Milward, the author who began researching this subject a half century ago.

“I think the archbishop of Canterbury got his ideas from my book,” suggested Father Milward, a soft-spoken, seemingly ageless Jesuit academic who taught English literature at Sophia University in Tokyo and used his off hours to investigate the subject from every angle, producing several key works.

Father Milward is best known for several books: Shakespeare’s Religious Background (1973) and two volumes...READ MORE

MUNDELEIN, Ill.(CNA) — Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D., in a recent lecture, examined the sacrament of confirmation and explained his reasons for believing children should receive it before first Eucharist.

“One can speak of the many effects of confirmation and the impact it makes upon one’s life, but it is always important to remember that the divine Person of the Holy Spirit is received in confirmation,” he said in July 6 remarks at the Liturgical Institute at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois. “We need the gifts of the Holy Spirit every day, every hour, every minute and every second to live a life that gives
glory to the Father as Jesus glorified the Father.”

The bishop explained...READ MORE