CORPORATE DIVERSITY // A senior software engineer at Google wrote a memo that called for hiring based on merit instead of race or sex-based hiring preferences. In addition, his memo said that wage gap isn’t inherently discriminatory but could reflect the fact that men and women are different from each other in many ways and thus excel at different things. But these are apparently thought crimes now. And the media uproar was immediate. He was fired by Google. http://cvote.it/2ujmoIC
SHUTDOWN? // Another government shutdown could be on the horizon as both parties are balking on the debt ceiling hike. Members of the House Freedom Caucus have said they want spending cuts in exchange for supporting an increase in the debt limit. http://cvote.it/2uk7h1E
VATICAN // Pope Francis says it’s “terrible” that children are taught they can choose their own gender. “God created man and woman; God created the world like this and we are doing the exact opposite,” said Pope Francis. http://cvote.it/2ujWrc7
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY // Bakers refused to make a pro-Trump birthday cake for a 9-year-old boy. Writer Alexandria DeSantis replied: “I am told refusing to bake a cake for someone is illegal discrimination.” http://cvote.it/2ujJi2D
RIGHT TO TRY // President Trump backs legislation that allow terminally ill patients the ‘right to try’ experimental drugs that don’t yet have final approval from the FDA. Currently 37 states have right-to-try laws which apply only to drugs that successfully completed Phase 1 of the FDA’s approval process, but await final approval. http://cvote.it/2ujHXsp
CATHOLIC // Native Catholics say the Church risks losing some wisdom of holiness without St. Kateri’s Mohawk and other indigenous languages. http://cvote.it/2uju7X2
CATHOLIC // Bishop Thomas O’Brien, former bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix, has denied allegations that he sexually molested a young boy in the late 1970s and early 80s. http://cvote.it/2ujeqPH
SAINT // Saint Dominic – http://cvote.it/dailysaint
DAILY MASS // “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” (Ps 51:3) – http://cvote.it/Daily-Readings
MUSIC // What makes Vivaldi unique among composers? He was a priest. http://cvote.it/2vI4S4s