Despite being a short week thanks to the Labor Day holiday, it has still been a tiring one. But thankfully it is Friday afternoon and the weekend is just around the corner.
First and foremost on the minds of Americans this weekend is the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The editors here at U.S. Catholic shared our own personal memories of 9/11 and where we are 10 years later, part of our special section on 9/11. There is plenty more commentary around the web, but one worth checking out is at the Washington Post, where experts from various faith backgrounds ask what we’ve learned about religion from 9/11. A Catholic take is provided by Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who shares his prepared homily for this Sunday.
And if you want to do something tangible to remember 9/11 this weekend, learn how you can support the first responders who are facing serious health concerns as a result of their heroic actions 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, politics continue as usual with the 2012 presidential race heating up. Following the Republican debate this week, our own Liz Lefebvre calls for some honesty to replace the, well, “truthiness,” as Stephen Colbert would call it, that we’re getting from the candidates.
And it isn’t just the politicians being taken to task today, it is the audiences who applaud for them too. Christian pastor Bruce Reyes-Chow at Huffington Post is among the many who are condemning the shameful act of applauding the use of the death penalty during the debate.
There isn’t as much talk among religion writers today, at least not yet, about President Obama’s job speech last night. But Father Larry Snyder, head of Catholic Charities USA, has a blog post looking at the current labor situation in the U.S.
In the Catholic world today, there’s still a lot of talk about new Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, who was installed yesterday. Everyone knows he has his work cut out for him, but he’s already talking about getting personally involved in the ongoing strike of Catholic high school teachers, which is a good sign.
And speaking of good signs, a former priest who served in Massachusetts and Texas that was found guilty of multiple counts of sexual abuse has been defrocked. Now let’s get to work on clearing the rest of the offenders out of the priesthood.
Finally, with Fall upon us, you might want to start thinking about your Christmas shopping a little early, and here’s a perfect gift for the Catholic who has everything: Germany’s limited edition Pope Benedict XVI bear. OK, that’s actually a little creepy. I don’t know who’d actually want one of those.
Happy reading, and enjoy the weekend.
