Ten Things That Caught My Eye Today

1. The Hill: Two mental-health patients drown while shackled in sheriff’s van during Florence flooding.

2. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Adopted son sets out to find his birth parents, who then reconnect and get married.

(Here’s the New York Times “Vows” story from Labor Day weekend.)

3. Russell Moore in his new book The Storm-Tossed Family puts foster care and adoption into some perspective:

I once had a couple ask me to reassure them that they could adopt without “too much risk.” When I pressed on what they meant, the husband told me that adoption and foster care was scary to him because, “You never know who is going to show up.” Now, I’m the first to admit that adoption and foster care being with them special challenges, and those who step into such arenas should be equipped for them. But it is also true that no matter how a child comes — whether by adoption, foster care, or biological reproduction — “You never know who is going to show up.”

(More from Moore on adoption here.)

4. Fr. Roger J. Landry: Spiritual Paternity, Anger, Lying, and Vulnerable Adults

5. Mary Katharine Ham remembers her husband Jake Brewer (from a 2015 memorial) — he died three years ago today.

A priest at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York (the church closest to NR’s offices) always includes a petition for those who will die today. If you pray, maybe say a prayer today for Mary Katharine and her family — and the repose of Jake’s soul — and all those young families missing a key component, gone suddenly.

6. Bethany Mandel on Yom Kippur and her father’s suicide.

Spare a prayer, too, for those suffering from depression, who believe they are alone or irredeemable — or whatever lies and demons are they are battling.

7. The surprisingly sophisticated diet of a medieval monk

8. Since I know many readers here are sci-fi fans: An event Saturday, September 29, at the Sheen Center in New York: Two Dominican friars talk about good and evil and meaning and morality through the lens of the Star Wars.