Flora Tang writes for Christmas: "[D]rawing from the witness of the Gospel of Matthew and of Pax Christi USA, may we...remember all those who are forgotten in the eyes of the world. We remember that they, in a special way, lie at the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation and of the story of God."

Geopolitics in 2026 will be the world beginning to grasp how weak a US leadership is that is good at campaigning but comically inept at governing and how fragile a Chinese leadership is that is good at power consolidation but blinkeredly bad at sustainable domestic stability

"Hope is incompatible with the quiet life of those who do not raise their voices against evil and against the injustices consummated on the skin of the poorest.” - Pope Francis from his last Christmas Eve homily 2024

Hurricane Helene in Asheville, wildfires in LA, and flooding in Texas—these are just 3 of WCK’s responses in the US in 2025. Each community needed something different after disaster struck, so we listened & worked with impacted residents to help lead their own recovery efforts. #ChefsForTheWorld

The response to this feels somewhat akin to the response to Hillbilly Elegy— that certain liberals must read it and praise it so that they can properly and publicly perform humility to atone for their eliteness. This is despite both of these books being written by Ivy Leaguers.

In this video, which I found on Instagram published by GuerasAliadas, a network of immigrant allies suporting families with loved ones in ICE detention, an activist calls a detention center. This is a Kafkaesque nightmare.

After hearing testimony from those held by CECOT and those held in the US in ICE detention, the eery similarities are astonishing. 27/7 light, extreme temperature, no bedding, filthy water, and other methods of cruel torture. “This is Hell” means that the people responsible are devils. God help us

8/ Naval tradition holds that naming a ship after a living person is unlucky because it symbolically links the person's fate with that of the ship. If the person later falls from favour, dies badly, or is disgraced, the ship is "tainted". It also shows excessive hubris which can bring bad luck.

How can people of faith stand up for democracy in 2026? What challenges are we facing in this critical moment? Join us on Zoom on Tuesday, January 6 from 7-8 pm Eastern/4-5 pm Pacific for the fifth annual interfaith event, "Faith in democracy: Facing the challenges of 2026.’’

No Christmas is complete without recalling the epic battle between Johnny Sokko's Giant Robot and a huge flying eyeball. Fortunately Japan survived for more awesome adventures of Giant Robo. To my 7 year-old self, this episode was the pinnacle of human artistic achievement.

Support immigrant rights and find the perfect gifts for Christmas! Shop CLINIC's merch store today! 🎄 www.bonfire.com/store/clinic/

my mom calls our local megachurch Six Flags Over Jesus because it is basically a theme park, and heinous to her eyes

Yep, Pope Leo chose an immigrant pastor from Queens, where Trump grew up, to be bishop where Trump now lives most weekends at Mar-a-Lago. Right before Christmas too :)

I keep saying this but no one is connecting the dots. The war is to satisfy legal preconditions for mass removal *domestically* of Latinos (i.e., suddenly a lot of people are going to be “Venezuelan” for purposes of removal). This is 100% Stephen Miller…oil claim is to make grandpa go along

Activist Judge Cancels Christmas https://theonion.com/activist-judge-cancels-christmas-1819568174/

The Arms Control Association will select its 2025 Person(s) of the Year soon! Please support the choice of the Catholic bishops who have created the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons -- voting is open for everyone until January 12!

As the world awaits tomorrow’s major news from Rome, a simple yet profound image of the man about to inherit the Metropolitan See of New York: Ron Hicks (bottom right) bearing Romero’s relics at El Salvador Beatification in 2015. The photo is worth a thousand words about Hick’s heart for the poor.

Let alone the fact that it’s another man from Chicago, a Spanish-speaking missionary to El Salvador, close to George and Cupich. My God, they want to put Dolan in the ground.

White conservative churches in America is where art goes to die. Black churches, Catholics, white mainline Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox can still produce good art. White conservative Christians begged for slop before Sam Altman was born

"assisted dying", brought to you by those who said we can't give people anything anymore because these are tough times and we need to swallow our pride and suffer for austerity while billionaires' fortunes are growing at the rate of their all consuming AI datacenters. But they'll assist your death.

8/ Finally, there's a new report that shows deportation fears are shaping health behavior. 84% of surveyed health care workers report major drops in visits since 2025 immigration orders. Families are declining surgeries, ER visits, and specialty care due to fear of deportation.

9/ This is also having a massive effect on kids. They are afraid to play outside, which is increasing obesity & limiting healthy outlets. Children as young as six are showing up to clinics alone because parents fear ICE. These are preventable harms with lifelong consequences.

Conditions in "Alligator Alcatraz" from a report by Amnesty International. Lord have mercy.

The FIFA peace prize given to trump looks like it was designed by zombies. The oligarchs devour the earth.

And I should add, of how damaging that period was for perceptions of the West in general, especially in Russia, where Orthodox had gone through hell to preserve the faith. A lot of contemporary Russian anti-Westernism has roots in that experience with American missionaries in the 90s.

Hay un profeta dentro de cada conciencia; nos grita hasta que le hacemos caso,… o hasta que lo matamos. There is a prophet within every conscience; he shouts at us until we pay him mind,… or until we kill him.

Frank Gehry No Longer Allowed To Make Sandwiches For Grandkids

"Sources in the Trump administration have previously told Zeteo that officials will at times intentionally use popular music from vocally anti-Trump performing artists, in order to trigger a negative response from a famous liberal and provide further amplification of their pervasive culture war,"

A Catholic parish in Massachusetts is displaying a sign saying “ICE was here” in place of the Holy Family in this year’s outdoor Nativity scene. paxchristiusa.org/2025/12/03/i...

religionnews.com/2025/12/03/c... @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social

Happy Birthday (Observed) to the uncontested KING Jonathan The Tortoise, estimated to be 192 years old 192 MORE YEARS! 192 MORE YEARS!

🎵 🎄

During this season of thanks, it is important that we uplift and appreciate all the cultures and traditions that have helped shape the way we celebrate with our loved ones. 🍽️👪🦃 Learn more about how immigrants have shaped #Thanksgiving today: www.cliniclegal.org/stories/immi...

During the foreclosure crisis researchers (including me) found that many homeowners started missing housing payments after an unexpected medical event. This has me worried about what could happen to the housing market if ACA subsidies go away.

Hopefully the cause for canonization of Dorothy Day will move forward under Pope Leo.

If the outcome is in the job description, then the job isn't "judge."

There is also the problem where a lot of Christian cultural products are political propaganda on top of religious propaganda. You rarely have to worry about a Christian movie not featuring the main character turning to the camera and saying what kind of conservative he is.

Pax Christi USA will hold weekly online prayer services on Mondays during Advent -- December 1, 8, 15, and 22. Sign up to join us, 8:30-9 PM Eastern. Find the Zoom registration link on our website.

Just as I thought.

Leo has agreed in principle to throw out the first pitch at a new White Sox stadium. “Schedule permitting.”

I checked out that interview. He also says that those movies are basically commercials for a certain brand of Christianity, so they don't grapple with issues of faith. Good stuff

Can a Christian Thanksgiving really ignore who is missing from the table this year? Can it ignore the dispossessed? The forcibly disappeared migrants? The victims of greed and exploitation? To paraphrase Richard Rohr: we deny our monotheism if we deny the dignity of any human being.

I wanted to share probably the most important sermon I’ve given and it’s while I’m being arrested. It’s torture pure and simple what happens at #Broadview. I’m ok, though I was thrown to the ground and choked with my pectoral cross. A review of the video shows I was peaceful - did I deserve this?

Bishop Flores Emerges as a National Catholic Voice Rooted in Service to the Poor A border-diocese bishop rises to national leadership

On the other hand...for the bishops to list all these outrages in a matter-of-fact "this is happening" way may be a good first step in educating Catholics who still, somehow, believe we once had "open borders" and now have sober and necessary enforcement of immigration law. They need to see reality.

E.G., if your position is something other than "people have a right to migrate" "asylum is a human right" "our society has an obligation to welcome the stranger" "every human deserves the full protection of the law" then you are not in accord with Catholic teaching and you better fix your soul!

“War is never holy; only peace is holy, because it is willed by God.” - Pope Leo XIV

It's a little mean to do this to Greg this year because he's recovering from shoulder surgery, but it's a long tradition to fill his November and December with wild feats of impossible logistics to get kids who rely on school breakfast/lunch fed over winter break.

"Are we standing at the threshold of a new era, or will human beings sooner or later bring about their own extinction through the introduction of artificial forms of life? Will we degenerate into mere simulations that no longer recognize human dignity?" www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-c...

Pope John Paul II, in his 1999 letter to artists, distinguishes creating and crafting; only God can create from nothing, to craft is to manipulate what is already present He states that artists, made in the image & likeness of God, are able to participate in true creativity. AI cannot.