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Twenty Things that Caught My Eye Today (January 23, 2019)

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1. Barbara McClay writes a beautiful meditation on the month of January:

a kind of need for others and a sense of the future can’t go away, that people remain people in the grandest and most mundane ways throughout whatever happens to them…I want to believe, perhaps impossibly, that this can mean something more than retreating into little sealed-off spheres. And maybe sinking into the everyday need not mean retreating into private life and leaving others behind, but rather encountering ourselves and others at our simple and shared needs.

But anyway. January. One saying about New Year’s that I like is the one about starting as you mean to go on. I like it mostly because you don’t need New Year’s for it. You’re always starting, after all; your life is ever before you. You can always start living the way you mean to go on. You just have to choose—what it is that you want to do, what it means for you to go on.

2. A call to freedom – a poem by Rita Simmonds

3. From Ross Douthat:

The scissor is a statement, an idea or a scenario that’s somehow perfectly calibrated to tear people apart — not just by generating disagreement, but by generating total incredulity that somebody could possibly disagree with your interpretation of the controversy, followed by escalating fury and paranoia and polarization, until the debate seems like a completely existential, win-or-perish fight.

Pray for Ross. Pray for people with platforms.

4. Michael Brendan Dougherty made excellent observations in his piece today about news as the new devotional. And that even religious believers are susceptible. If you are a believer, this week ought to be the week we all do a little examination of conscience/inventory check and make sure we have some routines in place and people around us that keep in check and on the right path. I personally think there’s nothing like The Liturgy of the Hours, which you can get in old-school books, or there are a few apps for that. (Divine Office is my favorite, with ibreviary close behind it.) You can make a serious commitment throughout the day, or you can commit to morning or evening or night prayer (probably two of them). An easier way to do this, is to subscribe to Magnificat (in app and/or paper form), which has a modified morning and evening prayer. They’ve got the daily Mass readings and a meditation that will add to your day, whatever it looks like.And there are a whole host of e-mail devotional options — Daily Gospel, Rick Warren… I find the Pray More Novenas site a great kickstart often. There are people you can follow on Twitter who will help keep you better Gospel-minded (if you’re on there, I retweet them often).

Goodness, do we need some silence and contemplation in our lives! I sometimes find myself praying or working (truth be told) in the back of a centrally located city church and am heartened by the number of people who pop in for a few minutes – and often 15, not 2 – to allow God to truly be a part of their lives, to invite Him to work with them, to put their burdens at His feet. I don’t know what their prayers are, but I pray for them and I hope they occasionally pray for the crazy lady in the back, too.

This, by the way, struck me last night in the Liturgy of the Hours (and on my way into St. Patrick’s Cathedral):

5. And then there’s this: Make your home a church.

6. Tuesday night was a dark night in a series of dark days. Thanks be to God some of New York’s finest – the Sisters of Life and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal – managed to get people packed into St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a holy hour and Mass marking the 46th year of Roe v. Wade in the United States. This particular night was even darker, as Andrew Cuomo dug New York State deeper into the abyss of a culture of death, expanding abortion here. Much like the March for Life, the Mass was a witness, a protesting of evil, and a celebration of life, but most importantly it was the most important prayer Catholics can pray. It’s the most powerful thing we can do. And may we desire it to transform all we do. “Have hope, the [final] victory is won,” one sister said. “Yet the battle remains for us,” and we had best be engaged because the spiritual warfare leaves no one untouched – as anyone who saw or heard this had probably already been reminded.

7.

8. This actually appears on The New Yorker’s website.

The Reproductive Health Act, which state Democrats plan to pass by Tuesday, will remove barriers to abortion. But some wish it could have gone further:

I thought it might be a parody at first.

9. Oh this precious boy. God be good to him. And mercy. Mercy on his grieving and angry parents. Mercy on those children. Mercy on everyone involved who made mistakes along the way. May we do better, be better.

10. O how I was grateful to see this on Wednesday morning on Twitter (there are good things there, too, that can even prompt us to be better)!

11. Some good news from Washington on life and liberty and foster care – keeping faith-based foster care in the mix in South Carolina:

Today, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) granted a request from the state of South Carolina to protect the religious liberty of its state faith-based foster care providers.

Nine days before the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, the Obama Administration implemented a new regulation adding various new requirements — some of which are not reflected in the statutes authorizing the regulation — for federal funding recipients, including child welfare grantees.

The governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, asked ACF to grant the state an exception, highlighting discrimination against faith-based organizations arising from the December 2016 grants regulation, which became effective in January 2017.  It is a well-established process under HHS regulations that states can request an exception.  HHS’s grants regulation establishes that any grantee can seek an exception (or deviation) from particular grant requirements, and sets forth a process for seeking such exceptions.

“We have approved South Carolina’s request to protect religious freedom and preserve high-quality foster care placement options for children,” said Lynn Johnson, assistant secretary for ACF. “Faith-based organizations that provide foster care services not only perform a great service for their communities, they are exercising a legally-protected right to practice their faith through good works. Our federal agency should not – and, under the laws adopted by Congress, cannot – drive faith-motivated foster care providers out of the business of serving children without a compelling government interest, especially now that child welfare systems are stretched thin as a result of the opioid epidemic.”

In considering the request of the state of South Carolina, ACF consulted with department subject-matter experts including the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), to which HHS has delegated the responsibility to ensure compliance among its programs and its grantees with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

“This decision preserves all of the foster care agencies currently available for children in South Carolina by ensuring faith-based organizations can continue to serve this vulnerable population.  It protects minors who are in need of as many options as possible for being placed in loving foster families,” said Johnson.  “The government should not be in the business of forcing foster care providers to close their doors because of their faith.  Religious freedom is a fundamental human right.”

As before, all qualified persons interested in becoming certified foster care providers will continue to have multiple avenues for doing so within the state.  Additionally, as a condition of the relief HHS provided the state of South Carolina, subrecipients of grant funds will continue to refer any potential foster care families not accepted into subrecipients’ program to other placement agencies or to the state.

“By granting this request to South Carolina, HHS is putting foster care capacity needs ahead of burdensome regulations that are in conflict with the law,” said Johnson.

12. A young man writes: What I’ve Learned through the Pain of Miscarriage

13. Birth mother and daughter who reunited a year ago march for life together

14. Teen with Down syndrome is living her dream as honorary flight attendant

15. One of my favorite lights on Twitter:

And this:

16. Do you know about In Shifra’s Arms – Jewish support for pregnant women. They are having a gala fundraiser for their important work and it is honoring our friend Mona Charen. As Kate O’Beirne would often say: “We love Mona.” She’s always been a smart and clear voice – and doesn’t change with the trends but is cautiously discerning about them, as the wise can tend to be — since her early days at NR with WFB and all – and even has an adoption story to tell (she does share some about it in her latest book, and did at a National Review Institute event with the Heritage Foundation last year, which you can watch here). Anyway, do consider if you are in the D.C. What a wonderful way to spend a night out, supporting such beautiful work.

17. Something to get us thinking:

18. Today’s the feast day of a saint from New York, as it happens! Marianne Cope. This is what Pope Benedict XVI had to say about her when he canonized her (if you take a look, you will find he had some of the most beautiful things to say about women):

I now turn to Marianne Cope, born in 1838 in Heppenheim, Germany. Only one year old when taken to the United States, in 1862 she entered the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis at Syracuse, New York. Later, as Superior General of her congregation, Mother Marianne willingly embraced a call to care for the lepers of Hawaii after many others had refused. She personally went, with six of her fellow sisters, to manage a hospital on Oahu, later founding Malulani Hospital on Maui and opening a home for girls whose parents were lepers. Five years after that she accepted the invitation to open a home for women and girls on the island of Molokai itself, bravely going there herself and effectively ending her contact with the outside world. There she looked after Father Damien, already famous for his heroic work among the lepers, nursed him as he died and took over his work among male lepers. At a time when little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease, Marianne Cope showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm. She is a shining and energetic example of the best of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters and of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis.

Related: A homily for today.

19. Young Catholic women have until Feb. 4 to apply for the 2019 GIVEN Catholic Young Women’s Leadership Forum. Take a look or pass it along.

20.

The Philos Leadership Institute is a heavily subsidized, 2-week summer institute designed for Christian men and women between the ages of 18-35 who have a serious interest in working in a field that impacts the Middle East. Each year, we seek out the 40 most promising young Christian leaders in policy, media, ministry, education, medicine, business, the arts, and activism.

Feb. 1 is the deadline.

Plus: Do you know about Apostles of the Culture of Life?

I’m quoted in this Joan Desmond piece on faith in a time of crisis.

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