Catholic Association

Msgr. Roger Landry on Cardinal Timothy Dolan: "If St. Patrick's is really America's parish church--and it is--it's got this massively impressive livestream that everybody watches all over the country, then Cardinal Dolan really is America's pastor." @FrRogerLandry @CardinalDolan @NY_Arch @archbishopdolan @StPatsNYC

FROM TODAY'S CLIPS: @nwinfield for @AP on "Pope Leo Endorses Francis' Divisive 2016 Text on Communion After Civil Remarriage"; @mboorstein and @TaraCopp for @washingtonpost on "To Catholic Thinkers, Pentagon’s AI Demands Violate ‘Human Dignity"; @tylerarnold for @EWTNews on "Trump’s HHS Investigates 13 States for Alleged Conscience Protection Violations on Abortion"; @AlmuMBordiu for @EWTNews for "Holy See Calls on Un to Eradicate Surrogacy ‘In All Its Forms’"; Mary Eberstadt for @TheFP on "Candace Owens and the Catholic ‘Monster Mash’" . . . and MORE. SUBSCRIBE for free.

♰ The Miraculous Stairs Built by Saint Joseph ♰ 🎥 The Miraculous Staircase at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA 🇺🇸 A spiral staircase built in 1878 without a central support, nails, glue, or metal fasteners—held together only by wooden pegs.  It rises 20 feet (6.1 meters) with two full 360-degree turns and contains 33 steps, symbolizing the age of Jesus at his crucifixion.  According to legend, when the chapel was completed, the Sisters of Loretto realized they had no way to access the choir loft. After consulting local carpenters who deemed it impossible due to the chapel’s narrow space, they prayed a nine-day novena (novena) to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.  On the ninth day, a mysterious, gray-haired man appeared, offered to build the staircase, and worked in complete privacy for months. When finished, he vanished without payment or leaving a trace.  The Sisters believed the carpenter was Saint Joseph himself, answering their prayers.  The staircase’s construction defies conventional engineering: it uses an unknown species of spruce, later named Pinacae Picea Josefii Easley (Loretto Spruce), which does not exist in New Mexico or nearby regions.  While modern engineers confirm the structure is physically possible through precise joinery and an inner stringer, the timing, skill, and secrecy of its construction remain deeply mysterious.  Sadly the Chapel is no longer in Catholic hands. It was sold off and holds non-denominational weddings.

The USCCB has put out a video urging all Catholics to reject antisemitism

GREAT CLIP ON DIGITAL DETOX with Andrew Laubacher of Humanality on our weekly podcast Conversations with Consequences. Andrew spoke with Ashley McGuire: "I would say with the smartphone specifically, we are now participating in an attribute of God, namely his omnipresence that we were never designed to handle. So you are, you can visibly see everything happening in the world in the palm of your hand. That power was only designed for God....we weren't designed for omnipresence." @AshMcG #digitaldetox #humanality

FROM TODAY'S CLIPS: @nwinfield for @AP on "Vatican Appeals Court Declares Mistrial in the ‘Trial of the Century’ Against A Cardinal"; @AshMcG for TCA Substack on "Cardinal Müller, Please Don’t Share the Stage with Catholics Who Traffic in Antisemitic Tropes"; @SaraLCline for @AP on "Judge Strikes Down Arkansas Law Mandating Schools Display The Ten Commandments. Here’s What to Know"; @UnvarnishedGME for @washexaminer on "House Republicans Seek to Use Water Pollution Rules to Restrict Abortion Pill"; @IshmaelAdibuah of @EWTNVatican for @EWTNews on "At a Time of Conflict, Pope Leo Sends a Bridge-Builder to the United States"; @canonlawyered for @PillarCatholic on "What the Vatican Court Ruling Means for Papal Sovereignty, and Cardinal Becciu" . . . and MORE. SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE. Link in comments.

When Beverly Jacobson first learned that her unborn daughter Verity would be born with the rare genetic condition trisomy 18, she “was filled with fear and anxiety” — but just a few weeks ago the family was able to celebrate Verity’s ninth year of “lots of smiles and giggles and pure joy.” “Just a happy little girl,” Jacobson told EWTN News in a 2025 interview. “We love her.” Verity just turned 9 on Feb. 28, less than three weeks ahead of Trisomy 18 Awareness Day, which is celebrated nationally on March 18. Her condition, also called Edwards syndrome, occurs when a person has an extra chromosome 18. Her name, Jacobson said, derives from the Latin word “veritas,” which means “truth.” She and her husband had considered the name before the diagnosis, but Jacobson said the name choice “was just solidified once we knew that she had this condition” because they wanted her name to “speak truth to the value of all human life.” “She also is made in the image of God just like every human being, and she’s worthy of life,” Jacobson said. Some complications often caused by trisomy 18 include growth deficiency, eating difficulties, breathing difficulties, heart defects, facial malformations, skeletal deformities, and intellectual development delays, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders. In Verity’s case, she is nonverbal, has developmental delays, cannot feed herself on her own enough to sustain herself, and needs help to move around. Yet, as Jacobson puts it, “she’s really thriving in her own special way.” Although Verity is nonverbal, Jacobson said this “does not mean noncommunicative” and that it is easy to tell when she is happy or irritated. Like other children, she has her favorite toys, enjoys music, and “has a sense of humor,” Jacobson explained. “She loves being outside, she loves the wind in her face,” Jacobson said. “It’s so cute.” Verity also “loves having people in her face — the people she knows,” Jacobson added. She also recounted stories about how children at Verity’s school play with her and “completely accept her,” saying it’s good to know “she is a part of their lives.” Jacobson noted her relationship with her daughter also helped provide a better understanding of God’s sacrificial love for humanity, noting that Verity is “never going to be able to serve someone else in that physical way and yet we love her so completely.” “Going from that state of fear … and just depression to where I am today — it’s 100% God’s work in my life through Verity,” Jacobson said. “Verity is his vessel to teach me more about the gift to lay down your life and sacrifice for someone else.” “I feel by far the joys and the blessings outweigh the difficulties because now we’ve grown and we’re all stronger,” Jacobson said. “We’re used to a new normal.” She said her message to families faced with this type of diagnosis is to let them know “they’re not alone” and that their child “is not a mistake,” and that finding “a community that can help you is so, so important.” Jacobson also launched the nonprofit Mama Bear Care to provide a community for families whose children are diagnosed with rare genetic disorders. The organization also helps the families connect with doctors and other resources to ensure those children receive necessary care. “This baby is a gift and not a mistake,” she said. “I really think that Verity’s life has so much value and serves a greater purpose. … I’m selfishly grateful that I get to be her mom.” When Jacobson was still pregnant with Verity, a common phrase she heard from doctors was that trisomy 18 was “incompatible with life” and that if she did not die in the womb, they “just indicated she would pass away within five to 15 days,” Jacobson told EWTN News. “[Verity is] very compatible with life,” Jacobson said, despite the doctors’ warnings. “Living a great life.” A large percentage of unborn children diagnosed with trisomy 18 die in the womb, and the ones who survive to birth only have about a 5% to 10% survival rate after their first year. Tragically, many of the children who would be born are not given the opportunity to fight for their lives because the post-diagnosis abortion rate is higher than 85%, according to a 2012 study published in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told EWTN News that doctors should stop using phrases like “lethal diagnosis” and “incompatible with life,” calling those terms “disparaging” and saying they are “incredibly difficult for the newborn’s parents to hear and process.” “Medical professionals should not view such a child as ‘less of a person’ because of his or her disability,” Pacholczyk said. “They need to remain resolute about treating such children with the same dignity and respect as any other child. It’s a travesty when some parents have to contend with a doctor who will not even address their child with a disability by his or her name.” Jacobson said, like with other genetic conditions, “there’s often a spectrum” for how trisomy 18 will affect a child, adding that doctors “don’t know how this is going to present.” Despite this, Jacobson said the doctor who provided the diagnosis for Verity “was very clinical” when explaining the condition and “referred to [Verity as] ‘the fetus’ and ‘it,’ instead of ‘the baby’ and ‘she.’” The family then met with a specialty doctor who told Jacobson and her husband that Verity would have a “futile life” and would be a “drain on the family” financially and emotionally. “It took away from the humanity of my growing daughter who was kicking and very much alive inside of me,” Jacobson said. Jacobson noted the specialty doctor callously referred to her daughter as “retarded,” which she said “was very hurtful,” adding: “I cried.” Yet, she said the coldness from the doctors motivated her to fight harder for Verity and give her “every opportunity to live.” “When I heard those words, it was like mama bear woke up and I felt this fierce protectiveness that Verity’s life matters,” she added. Pacholczyk said that many parents who face these diagnoses “quickly figure out they will have to become vigorous advocates for their children with disabilities.” “Parents in these situations rejoice when they can link up with an exceptional team of physicians who are hopeful and positive about their disabled child’s life and possibilities,” he said. Conditions like trisomy 18 have also been used by pro-abortion activists to justify expansions to the procedure in states that have enacted pro-life protections for unborn children, including ones with genetic conditions. In December 2023, a woman named Kate Cox sued Texas because state law would not allow her to abort her preborn child who was diagnosed with trisomy 18 in the womb. She ultimately left the state to obtain an abortion elsewhere. Much of the media coverage at the time similarly portrayed the diagnosis as “incompatible with life.” Jacobson said she felt “so much compassion for Cox,” adding: “I’m sure she’s experiencing a lot of emotional trauma and she’s not going to be able to talk about it honestly” because of how pro-abortion activists and the media used her story. “Many families are experiencing that pressure to abort appointment after appointment,” she added. Pacholczyk said that “discrimination against those with disabilities should never be allowed to gain a foothold in the medical profession, nor be allowed to guide public policy.” “The true measure of the greatness of a society will always be in terms of how it treats its weakest members, and the authenticity of our own love will be measured by our compassion and acceptance of the disabled and the powerless,” Pacholczyk said. “God seems to send us children with disabilities to help us grow, to remind us that every soul is of greater importance than its frail body, and to teach us how man’s highest calling is found in his God-like possibility of sharing unconditional love.” ewtnnews.com/world/us/this-…

Notre Dame announces that families with incomes under $150,000 will pay zero tuition: go.nd.edu/54c52a

@emzanotti catholicassociation.substack.com/publish/posts/…

thank you, TCA

TCA Senior Fellow Ashley McGuire shares her concern about Cardinal Müller, staunch defender of the Faith, joining via video the Catholics for Catholics "gala" tomorrow on the Feast of St. Joseph. Some of the other featured speakers, including Carrie Prejean Boller and Candace Owens, have unfortunate histories in disparaging the Jews. Ashley writes: "We need to clear the Catholic air. The Catholic Church fully and unequivocally condemns antisemitism in all its forms." @AshMcG

Can you remember the six Precepts of the Church? They’re not as important as the Ten Commandments or the Beatitudes, but they are what you might call “household matters” for us in the Catholic family. @thegnewsroom

"The mothers featured in @TheCut series are unwell and need love, support, and medical attention—not a microphone." ~ Ashley McGuire, @FamStudies

6 mos after publicly criticizing +Cupich’s plan to honor a pro-abortion-rights senator, a long-serving lay leader is being let go from the Catholic Conference of Illinois board--with an informed source saying the two developments are linked. ncregister.com/news/john-bree…

An answer to prayers!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘️

♰☘️ Saint Patrick's Breastplate ☘️♰ Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

Once celebrated as the “Land of Saints and Scholars,” Ireland was long regarded as one of the most deeply Catholic nations in the world. Yet in recent decades, the faith has experienced a steep decline across the Emerald Isle—driven in part by widespread secularization and the wounds left by clerical scandals. In 2023, EWTN traveled to Ireland to ask a pressing question: Is Ireland still Catholic? That journey explored the roots of the country’s spiritual decline and the challenges facing the Church today. Now, three years later, viewers from across the globe have reached out to share stories of renewal—signs of a quiet spiritual revival taking place in parishes, families, and communities throughout Ireland. So, we returned. This time, our mission was one of hope: to travel across Ireland, meet young Catholics, speak with bishops, and ask anew—Are there signs of hope for Ireland’s faith? Watch the full segment on @EWTNNews" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">YouTube.com/@EWTNNews