1. A profile of three families who adopted from foster care by Joan Desmond

2. The New York Times campaigns for Northern Ireland to legalize abortion in a feature: “Climate of Fear: When Part of a Country Bans Abortion”

3. I’m grateful the Albany Times Union in New York for printing this: “abortion is a civil rights issue, a foundational element of social justice.”

4. Texas Department of Criminal Justice isn’t allowing chaplains in the room for executions. The Houston Chronicle pushes back: The belief that we all carry the possibility for redemption is central to most faiths. No one — including those on death row, no matter how heinous their crimes, no matter their religious beliefs — should be denied a chance at salvation.

5. Rick Garnett from Notre Dame on why lawsuits against Catholic schools about employment and same-sex marriage should fail:

Reasonable people in good faith can and will disagree about particular employment decisions, and it is appropriate to criticize what one regards as unfair, unjust, or uncharitable discrimination. In the United States, though, just as no one is forced to embrace a particular faith, no one is entitled to teach, lead, and minister in a particular religious school. The Constitution protects the right to reject a church’s teachings but does not permit the government to reshape them.

6. Rod Dreher talks to J.D. Vance about becoming Catholic (which he did this weekend)

7. The Legacy of 1619 Still Haunts Virginia, America

8. Today’s the feast day of St. Jane de Chantal. She advises spiritual simplicity and getting on with living virtue.

9. In a Suffering City, an El Paso Priest Needed a Message of Hope

10. First day of school photo of siblings praying goes viral: ‘We pray for everyone’