1. I’m of course, grateful to see the still lower abortion numbers in the news today, but it’s still legal in the United States of America, and they still happen, and it’s still a grave evil and a miserable reality for so many who never had the chance to see the light of day and from all who suffer the pain of the loss and the guilt and the sadness and anger that surrounds this issue. And, goodness, Lord have mercy:

As our Xan put it in her piece on the darkness out of South Bend, these are not mere numbers — or in the case of South Bend, some mere freak show — these are people we’re talking about, the most vulnerable, innocent people who were killed. And this is the culture that we must end, and with an overabundance of love in the way of support for women and families who need it. How scared and desperate must you have been to find yourself in the hands of a Kermit Gosnell or Ulrich Klopfer?

2. In the Washington Post: New attitudes toward adoption from foster care offer hope

3. About open adoption:

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4. New York Times (!): Why Fertility Awareness Is My Birth Control of Choice

5. It breaks my heart to see the Little Sisters of the Poor have to pull out of Boston. It is a traditional thing for Catholics to pray for religious vocations. You don’t need to be Catholic to want more Little Sisters of the Poor in the world, they make the world better as they care for the elderly poor with the love of Jesus, seeing them as Jesus. So, if you pray, please do have them on your list and in your heart.

6. There’s wisdom in Megan McArdle’s column today.

7. On clerical celibacy and spiritual fatherhood

8. Peter Berkowitz: Criticisms Illustrate Need for State Dept. Human Rights Panel

9. High School English: Balancing the Job with the Calling

10.

PLUS:

A Year with the Mystics is 7 (!) percent off today on Amazon

I’ll be talking about it in D.C. next week.

I have an audio spin-off version of this Corner feature weekdays on The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM (Channel 129). Some of them are up here. Yesterday’s was about silence, the day before was about the Uber driver I met in NYC recently who lived a few doors down from Mother Teresa in Calcutta. Today’s you can hear on the radio or it will be up on SoundCloud a little later today (you can follow there and be notified). They are also usually included on my weekly email which you can sign up for without cost here.