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| THURSDAY, MAY 10 – THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD |
| FREE AT LAST! Three Americans have been released by North Korea and have landed on U.S. soil in Alaska. They are scheduled to meet with President Trump in Washington early this morning. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and brought the hostages home. The summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un will be held in Singapore in early June. READ |
| CLOSER BATTLE FOR CONGRESS? It’s only one poll, but it’s striking. CNN asked Americans if they would prefer a Democratic or a Republican in their Congressional district. Democrats edged out Republicans 47 to 44% in the poll. CNN noted: “The Democrats’ advantage in the generic ballot dipped from 16 points in February to six points in March to just three points now.” Democrats still had a stronger edge in voter enthusiasm, though that advantage narrowed slightly. READ |
| STOPPING ANTI-RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION The Education Department is planning to remove rules that prevent educational institutions from receiving federal aid if they are religious. An Education Department official said: “Various provisions of the department’s regulations regarding eligibility of faith-based entities and activities do not reflect the latest case law regarding religion or unnecessarily restrict religion.” READ |
| BOY SCOUTS Mormons cut all ties with the Boy Scouts, ending a 105-year relationship between the two organizations. The announcement comes six days after the Boys Scouts said they will be dropping “Boy” from their name so that “all youth are welcome.” READ |
| PRO-LIFE WOMEN EXCLUDED As is typical, the voices of pro-life women are all but ignored in mainstream media coverage on abortion. That even happened in Iowa where a new pro-life bill was signed into law by a governor who is a pro-life woman. READ |
| LIAM NEESON BACKS ABORTION Terrible: Irish actor Liam Neeson is urging Irish voters to overturn the country’s pro-life constitutional amendment in the upcoming referendum May 25. READ |
| DIGITAL BLACKOUT Google and Facebook have said there will be no more ads regarding the May 25 abortion referendum in Ireland. And while it applies to both sides of the debate, it’ll cause greater damage to pro-lifers who cannot count on the media to represent them fairly. “This is the post-Brexit/Trump turning point where Silicon Valley has tasked itself with manipulating social media platforms to make sure the approved causes win elections,” writes Michael Brendan Dougherty, in “Silicon Valley Deletes the Pro-Life Campaign in Ireland.” READ |
| MET GALA Outreach or outrage? Catholics react to the Met Gala fashion show. READ |
| FAITH & POLITICS Pope Francis praises a new book by Benedict XVI called “Liberating Freedom: Faith and Politics in the Third Millennium.” The book will be published in Italian this week, and is a collection of essays written over several decades. Pope Francis said that Benedict’s “direct experience of Nazi totalitarianism led him from the time he was a young academic to reflect on the limits of obedience to the state in favor of the freedom of obedience to God.” READ |
| 40TH DAY Today is the 40th day of Easter, traditionally the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Many U.S. dioceses have transferred the feast to Sunday. Here’s a good article called, “The Solemnity of the Ascension: The Feast Who Was Thursday.” READ |
| SAINT OF THE DAY Here’s a brief history and customs associated with the Solemnity of the Ascension. READ |
| DAILY MASS READINGS “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.” (Ps 47:6) READ |
| BEAUTY The Ascension, Dosso Dossi, 16th century. |