Read-to Kids Reap Rewards

A fun, formative and family-friendly factoid from a recent survey or study in the news.

More parents are reading to their kids these days, and the trend may be yielding benefits. According to the latest report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 60% of children 3 to 5 years old were read to daily by a family member in 2005. That’s up from 53% in 1993. Meanwhile, the same report noted an uptick in high-school completion, with some 88% of young adults holding high-school diplomas in 2005. (That’s up from 84% in 1980.) A coincidence? Maybe. And maybe the writing is on the wall: Reading to kids never hurts and can only help. 

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