Stephen Spiewak

@SamanthaTaghoy data from America: hallow.com/blog/catholic-…

Good Friday. 3pm on a Friday afternoon. My little church in Durham is packed to the brim. There was a queue round the street. Every pew is full. The entryway is full, too. Over half the congregation is Gen Z. Many are Gen Alpha. We are in the age of the Catholic revival.

@BritHugoboom The data is real! hallow.com/blog/catholic-…

Holy Thursday Mass was completely packed. Anyone who thinks the media is making up this shift to Catholicism doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It’s not even a Holy day of obligation and the confession line was out the door and the church was standing room only. I grew up Catholic and started attending the Latin mass in 2010 when my husband introduced me to it. At the time, there were not many young people in mass. In fact, I often went to daily mass as a teenager and in my young 20’s (although typically Novus Ordo for daily, TLM sunday) and priests were always so happy to “see the youth” because most of the parishioners were in their 60’s and above. We started getting younger people in Hollywood introduced to TLM in the 2010’s and people our age were blown away by the beauty and traditionalism because they were used to cafeteria looking buildings and banjos. I often went to NYC during the covid era and mass wasn’t remotely as packed as it has been this last year. Lines out the churches, specifically the Dominican and more traditional adjacent ones that are filled with 20 year olds now, which was nonexistent 15 years ago outside of maybe liberal arts colleges. Not even in Italy. I’m not at all surprised. Of course, we know a big reason for this. Another is the craving for beauty and structure. Maybe some people are “going for the aesthetics” but falling in love with the process. Who knows. But it’s absolutely happening and not surprised it’s in NYC, home to some of the most gorgeous cathedrals in the USA.

@johnddavidson More rural dioceses are among the fastest growing in the nation. hallow.com/blog/catholic-…

Amen to this. The Catholic revival is taking root all over, including rural, humble parishes in out-of-the-way parts of the country. The fruits, though, are similar wherever the Church is growing: standing room only Masses, large families with small children, young people, chapel veils, more parishioners kneeling to receive the Eucharist, and a general embrace of ancient, once-neglected Catholic traditions. In my own humble parish, St. Michael’s in Palmer, Alaska, last night we held the second-ever Tenebrae service in an Alaskan parish (the first one was last year). The women’s schola sang polyphonic Latin hymns and chant, the teenagers blacked out all the windows beforehand, and the church, unlike last year, was totally full. The Catholic Church in America is rising—not just in the cities, but all over. In time it will transform this country.

Really incredible to see what’s going on across dioceses in the US this Easter. The Lord is truly at work, bringing so many back to Him and to experience His love right now. As we see firsthand at Hallow the impact of what so many priests, sisters, Church leaders, and more are doing across parishes in the US, it’s beautiful to see the fruits of their labor and the ways folks are reaching for the Lord. It’s been our mission from the beginning to introduce folks to the love the Lord has for them and lead them into a better relationship with Him through His bride, the Church - an honor to get to partner with so many parishes, schools, and dioceses that are doing just that. hallow.com/blog/catholic-…

@Lucas_Shaw wow nice exclusive!

BTS is about to return after three years in the South Korean Army. Then spoke Sohee and me about their long-awaited album/tour.

@kendallbaker brutal

“It’s weird. We want to win this game even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals.” — Team USA manager Mark DeRosa earlier today. Potential to be an ALL-TIME BAD clip if USA loses the tiebreaker and doesn’t advance out of Pool B.

@JHTScherck These tools are so empowering and building something like that that works only fuels the hunger to build more!

This weekend, I (who can barely write HTML) hooked Claude Cowork up to the GitHub, Vercel, and Supabase MCPs and built an app that ingests a big CSV of Peec prompt outputs and classifies them for accurate messaging and positioning using Kimi-K2.5 via the Vercel AI Gateway. Still buggy, but I haven't been so in flow in a long time. This is just so much fun!

@kendallbaker @ryanspoon 🐐

Nine years ago, I hit send on a daily sports newsletter to ~100 subscribers. Today, we’re nearing 1 million. - 2017: Launched Sports Internet - 2019: Acquired by Axios - 2023: Moved to Yahoo Sports Tomorrow, I’m announcing the next chapter — together with Yahoo. 👀

@Brianteta @TheView Congrats!

Congrats to @TheView Crew! detpress.com/abcnews/pressr…

@aubreystrobel @HallowApp Pray40!

Lent begins tomorrow! Not sure how many Catholic women follow me on here, but for Lent you can either give things up: complaining, scrolling, gossiping, or add things in: praying, volunteering, etc. I am continuing to pray the rosary daily. If you haven't been one to pray the rosary before, neither was I. I prayed it on occasion or when I was in need. It really only takes 15-20 minutes. You can do it on a one mile walk, in transit, or in the morning to start your day. It's great to offer it up for others during Lent. Additionally, I am doing an Lenten devotional that I have ordered from @blessedisshe__ -- really wonderful. You can expedite shipping to get it asap. Other ideas: The Bible in a Year Podcast by @frmikeschmitz is great. You can order the bible recommended by @AscensionPress to follow along.

@KyleScottL @GetGameChanger @DICKS GameChanger is the best

Youth sports tech is going through a massive boom. I had the opportunity to talk to @GetGameChanger President and @DICKS SVP Sameer Ahuja about GameChanger’s major product update today— which includes full 1080p live streaming for 8U baseball.

People say the NIL ruined college hoops. I say: listen to Hawk Rock.

@ChrisCillizza @ngreenberg Done

Folks, it's happening: @ngreenberg is on Substack. IMMEDIATE FOLLOW. fancystats.substack.com

@kendallbaker Such a sad day.

This guy is one of the best there is. I read everything he writes. The idea that a media company would be like "nah, we're good man, you can leave" is completely absurd. He'll land firmly on his feet

@KevinUhrm @maureenlinke @PostGraphics Awful

Underreported in today’s awful Washington Post news: the world-class @PostGraphics team was cut down significantly. Devastating and nonsensical.

@ngreenberg So sad to hear this. You do great work. Cant wait to see what’s next.

It’s official: my time with The Washington Post has come to an end💔 If any media outlet needs a data-driven sportswriter who can produce millions of page views let me know. March Madness is coming up.

@EmilyCWaldon You’re gonna beat it again 🙏🙏🙏

Some Personal News —

@kendallbaker So good!

This reader submission will be edited and published in a future Yahoo Sports AM newsletter, but couldn’t resist sharing now. Wait for the kicker!

@TicketsData 100%

The BTS fans are the smartest fans I’ve ever observed

@sportsrapport The question is will New Yawk be New Yawk in a big spot? When New Yawk is New Yawk, it’s London. But when London is London…….it’s Tokyo, okay

Listening to this pod now, *knew* this was gonna get clipped