1. I was so pleased to see Ericka Anderson in the Wall Street Journal with Friday’s Houses of Worship column, “Is God the Answer to the Suicide Epidemic?” She writes, in part:
Every year, institutions and organizations devoted to reducing the toll of suicide in America’s communities publish resources devoted to prevention. Some of the most prominent ones come from Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Yet attending religious services isn’t included on these lists of resources. It’s time for these and other groups to consider faith as an legitimate prevention method.
People living in our increasingly secular culture are hungry for spiritual wisdom and transcendent purpose. For the already vulnerable, this drought of meaning and connection can have deadly consequences. For thousands of years, practicing a shared faith was a principal way to meet these spiritual needs. It can be again.
Here’s the link.
2. And also in the Wall Street Journal, our wonderful Madeleine Kearns writes about the brave 16-year-old, Selina Soule in “A Connecticut Girl Challenges Male Domination of Female Sports”
3. From Colorado: Mental health care for veterans remains a troubled endeavor at Fort Carson and beyond.
4. The latest Becket case:
1. Sad violation of #ReligiousFreedom: Cesar and Diego Gonzales were banned from all interscholastic sports and clubs for the last 2 years because they keep a strand of hair uncut as a religious vow. No football team, no science fair, no math competitions: https://t.co/h0DXbewLca pic.twitter.com/HymzRjtsZI
— Luke Goodrich (@LukeWGoodrich) July 15, 2019
6. Behold, The Millennial Nuns.
8. This Roman basilica is dedicated to 20th century martyrs.
9. Novak Djokovic: “Before I am an athlete, I am an Orthodox Christian.”
10. If you go to church, invite people to go with you. They may have been waiting for the invitation. (Also, be prepared for a “no thank you” at first. Sometimes you may hear “not today,” but the day does come….)