Annie Burford smiles when she sees the pinwheels twirling in the afternoon breeze, forming a multicolor celebration of life. As a respiratory clinical specialist for Franciscan Health, Burford delights in knowing that each of the 466 pinwheels represents a COVID-19 patient who has been discharged from the health care system’s Indianapolis and Mooresville hospitals to date.
Every week since March, an army of volunteers and Father Evelio Menjivar, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in the Washington suburb of Landover Hills, Maryland, gather in the parish’s parking lot to give away boxes of food to local families in need.
On Oct. 10, three scenes from the new opera “This Little Light of Mine” were privately workshopped and filmed outdoors on the historic oil tanker Mary A. Whalen. The work, commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera, is part of the Opera for All Voices program and portrays key events in the life of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who rose to national prominence at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Pope Francis has appointed Father William D. Byrne, a pastor in the Archdiocese of Washington, to head the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts.
John DeBerry is running for re-election for his seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives, but not as a Democrat, which has been his party since the 1960s. Instead, he is campaigning as an independent after the Tennessee Democrat executive committee voted to take him off the ballot for the primary election in August.
Committee members cited DeBerry’s support of school vouchers and his pro-life votes as reasons for the ouster.
The Oct. 12 start of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett had two distinct focuses. Democratic senators homed in on concern that Barrett’s confirmation would lead to a vote to potentially overturn the Affordable Care Act when the legislation comes before the nation’s high court in November.
As Catholics around the country prepare to cast their votes for president, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced that it will be holding a virtual “Elections Novena” from Oct. 26 – Nov. 4.
In Lake Charles, one of the hardest-hit areas, churches and schools that had been damaged by Hurricane Laura in late August took a fresh beating. More than half of the diocese’s 39 churches had tarps on their roofs after Laura, according to Father Ruben Buller, vicar general, and most of those tarps blew off during Delta, soaking those churches anew.
Catholic bioethicists express concern about developing COVID-19 vaccines or therapeutics using cell lines created from fetuses aborted nearly five decades ago. One such drug was praised recently by President Donald Trump, who said it cured him from his recent bout with COVID-19.
The treatment that President Donald Trump has received to fight COVID-19 has turned the focus on an experimental drug that shows promise in combating the coronavirus but is raising ethical questions about the cell line that helped researchers develop the medicine.
