Twenty Things That Caught My Eye: Peggy Noonan’s Wisdom, Melinda Henneberger’s Compassion, & More

I’ve been accumulating these for a few days . . .

1. Abortions in Texas dropped by 60% in month after ban took effect

2. Coalition of Pro-Life Leaders Call on Congress to Stop Medicaid Funding of Faulty Prenatal Tests

3. Abortion rights proposed for Maryland’s constitution

4. Gulchehra Hoja: Uyghurs still push for accountability 25 years after Ghulja Massacre

On a cold winter day 25 years ago, young Uyghurs in the western Chinese city of Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) staged a protest to call for an end to religious repression and ethnic discrimination.

The events of that day would instead come to be known as the Ghulja Massacre of 1997, an incident that Uyghurs now look upon as a harbinger of an even greater level of persecution and violence against the largely Muslim community in China that has unfolded in stages since then.

As many as 200 hundred people may have been killed in the massacre — one report said thousands may have died — but it received little international attention at the time.

5. Trial Begins in France Over Murder of Father Jacques Hamel

The 85-year-old Father Hamel was killed in a terrorist attack while he offered Mass in the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, in northern France, on July 26, 2016.

6. Ukrainian Catholic bishops in US beg prayers for peace in their homeland 

7. New York Times: 27 Years in Solitary Confinement, Then Another Plea for Help in Texas

8. The Dispatch: Florida’s Fight With Faith Groups Over Unaccompanied Minors

In September, DeSantis issued an order forbidding the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) from issuing or renewing the licenses of family foster homes, residential child-caring agencies, or agencies that care for unaccompanied migrant children and teenagers, and prohibiting them from accepting new unaccompanied migrant children.

The order says that no state agency may “provide support or resources” to any entity that works with “aliens apprehended at the Southern Border who do not have lawful status.”

Foster parents, childcare facilities, and a coalition of evangelical Christians and other faith leaders involved with the foster care system have blasted the order. Faith leaders told The Dispatch that the move raises religious freedom concerns, runs afoul of federal law, and may result in unsafe conditions for an already vulnerable group of kids.

9. Virginia Allen: With Future of Roe v. Wade Unknown, Pennsylvania in Battle for Unborn

Pennsylvania Family Institute’s Samek says he is optimistic that the pro-life amendment will pass because Republicans control both the House and the Senate.

That passage is critical, Samek said, because “we could wake up on July 1 and see that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and [Planned Parenthood] v. Casey was wrongly decided, and so the federal abortion jurisprudence gets kicked back to the states.”

But if lawmakers don’t ensure that life is protected by the state’s constitution, Samek said, abortion could become more prevalent.

10. Melinda Henneberger: ‘I feel like a toddler out here’: At 45, she’s free for the first time in her life

During her final weeks in prison, she was barely sleeping or eating, because she couldn’t stop thinking about “what it would be like to see my daughter, and actually hug her.” Because of COVID-19, she hadn’t touched or even seen a loved one in person in almost two years. In her last moment behind bars, a friend who will never walk free held her so long that she finally had to pull away. “She said, ‘Do good out there, and enjoy your life.’”

11. Jennifer Sey: Yesterday I Was Levi’s Brand President. I Quit So I Could Be Free.

I never set out to be a contrarian. I don’t like to fight. I love Levi’s and its place in the American heritage as a purveyor of sturdy pants for hardworking, daring people who moved West and dreamed of gold buried in the dirt. The red tag on the back pocket of the jeans I handed over to the Russian girls used to be shorthand for what was good and right about this country, and when I think about my trip to Moscow, so many decades ago, I still get a little choked up.

But the corporation doesn’t believe in that now. It’s trapped trying to please the mob—and silencing any dissent within the organization. In this it is like so many other American companies: held hostage by intolerant ideologues who do not believe in genuine inclusion or diversity.

12.  Tish Harrison Warren: ‘We’re All Sort of Primed for Addiction’

I was curious, since Trevor is both an active member in his church and a leader in his local government’s response to the overdose crisis, if he could help me think about the role that religious organizations could play in caring for those who are addicted.

13. Enrollment in US Catholic schools rebounds after sharp drop

14. Peggy Noonan: Republicans, Stand Against Excess

America is in a crucial, high-stakes moment. Since 2020 we have been roiled over the pandemic, wokeness, crime, inflation, the schools, illegal immigration. The Democratic Party has stood for, or failed to oppose, many unpopular policies. The Republican Party seems poised to rise.

So what is the job of the Republican Party at this time?

It is to be sane. It is to stand against excess. It is to put itself forward as worthy of leadership. It has to be centrist in its mood and attitudes, and in its internal understanding of itself.

15. Francis X. Maier: ​​Pro Deo et Patria

It’s true that patriotism can morph in toxic directions.  The nation can become a kind of idol.  As Chesterton suggested, “my country right or wrong” makes as much sense as “my mother, drunk or sober.”  Our loyalties have moral limits.  But human beings are creatures of place and the relationships that take root and bear fruit in it.  That “belonging” to something more than ourselves – the place and people that give us life, shape us, and sustain us – is what we mean by home, and why the best ideals of a “homeland” can rightly demand our service.

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18. Valentine’s Day Catholic Love Connection: 15 Quotes on the Beauty of Marriage

19. Southern Living: NFL Player Takes Texas Middle Schooler Who Lost Her Father to Daddy-Daughter Dance

Harris, who originally hails from Richmond, Virginia, told WCAU that he was “just trying to be a human.”

“You gotta cherish these moments. You never know how long we have here on this Earth,” he added. “So, the people that you care about, and you love, show support for them.”

20. We have job openings at the National Review Institute and National Review.