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| THURSDAY, JUNE 14 – FLAG DAY |
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| IMMIGRATION Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller said that the Trump administration supports efforts by House Republicans to pass immigration reforms next week. “Both the bills are being finalized right now, but we strongly support what they’re doing,” said Miller. READ |
| ABORTION POLL According to a new Gallup poll, 48% of Americans believe abortion to be wrong, with 43% saying it’s acceptable. The poll found that most Americans favor at least some restrictions on abortion. READ |
| PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL It’s hard for many people to believe, but President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are better than Barack Obama’s during the same period of Obama’s first term. READ |
| ASSISTED SUICIDE The American Medical Association has vocally opposed physician-assisted suicide for two decades. But a report recommending continued opposition was sent back down to committee by the organization this week. The move was a missed opportunity, observers say. READ |
| THE MEANING OF FLAG DAY President Harry Truman signed the national observance of Flag Day into law on June 14, 1949. READ |
| THE CREEPER ACT House unanimously passed a bill that would prohibit child-like sex dolls. “My bill takes necessary steps to stop these sickening dolls from reaching our communities,” said Rep. Dan Donovan, R-NY, who spent 20 years as a federal prosecutor. If the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law, the United States would join Australia and the United Kingdom in banning such robots. READ |
| CLERGY NO LONGER TRUSTED? Fairfax County, Virginia, is considering removing clergy from a list of trusted adults in school curriculum. “I take that as a personal insult,” said Bishop Michael Burbridge. “What a great insult to our clergy who give their lives in service to God’s people, to God’s young people (helping) them to do what is good and right.” READ |
| THE GRAVEST SIN Pope Francis said: “Blasphemy, the sin against the Holy Spirit, is the only unpardonable sin – so Jesus says – because it starts from a closure of the heart to the mercy of God acting in Jesus.” READ |
| SAINT OF THE DAY Saint Albert Chmielowski was a talented painter and a Secular Franciscan. In mid-life, he founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants to the Poor, who worked with the poor and homeless. Known also as the Albertine Brothers, this community was renowned for depending completely on alms. READ |
| DAILY MASS READINGS “It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.” (Ps 65:2) READ |
| HOPE The Order of Preachers is challenging the secular consensus at America’s elite universities. “Questions we typically encounter concern the compatibility of science and religion, and the nature of objective moral truth claims, but there is also a strong interest in basic Catholic dogma,” said Fr. Thomas Joseph White. READ |