Daily links, Mon., Mar. 26: Saints face off!

Two major legal events in the news today: The Supreme Court commences hearing arguments about the Affordable Care Act, and Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City faces misdemeanor charges for child endangerment in the case of Father Shawn Ratigan. They’re both big deals in their own way.

In international news, the pope throws in with social justice types, lamenting the public/private split in Catholic morality in response to a question about the distribution of wealth: “Naturally the church must always ask itself if it’s doing enough on behalf of social justice in this great continent.”

And here in this last full week of Lent, some encouragement from those who have gone before us. Rocco Palmo gives us a taste of the homily Oscar Romero preached the day he was martyred, the anniversary of which was yesterday. On the lighter side, you can take part in an ecumenical Lenten devotion–“Lent madness,” a bracket of saints competing for the Golden Halo–put together by an especially church-nerdy Episcopal priest and sports fan (and by “nerdy,” I mean into church stuff, which makes everyone who works at U.S. Catholic equally nerdy. OK, maybe just me.). Today you can cast your vote for either Paul of Tarsus or Emma of Hawaii.