Fool’s Tube

Is there is a link between daytime TV and declining mental capacity? There may well be, say researchers at City University of New York who studied the viewing habits of elderly women. Memory problems were considerably worse among participants who watched soap operas and talk shows. The researchers were quick to add, however, that it’s not clear whether watching these shows cause the dip in brainpower — or people with weaker cognitive abilities are drawn to daytime TV fare.

Source: Forbes, March 20

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023.

Four German Bishops Resist Push to Install Permanent ‘Synodal Council’

Given the Vatican’s repeated interventions against the German process, the bishops said they would instead look to the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Meanwhile, on Monday, German diocesan bishops approved the statutes for a synodal committee; and there are reports that the synodal committee will meet again in June.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis