A reading from the Book of Ezekiel
9:1-7; 10:18-22
The LORD cried loud for me to hear:
Come, you scourges of the city!
With that I saw six men coming from the direction
of the upper gate which faces the north,
each with a destroying weapon in his hand.
In their midst was a man dressed in linen,
with a writer?s case at his waist.
They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.
Then he called to the man dressed in linen
with the writer?s case at his waist, saying to him:
Pass through the city, through Jerusalem,
and mark a ?Thau? on the foreheads of those who moan and groan
over all the abominations that are practiced within it.
To the others I heard the LORD say:
Pass through the city after him and strike!
Do not look on them with pity nor show any mercy!
Old men, youths and maidens, women and children?wipe them out!
But do not touch any marked with the ?Thau?; begin at my sanctuary.
So they began with the men, the elders, who were in front of the temple.
Defile the temple, he said to them, and fill the courts with the slain;
then go out and strike in the city.
Then the glory of the LORD left the threshold of the temple
and rested upon the cherubim.
These lifted their wings, and I saw them rise from the earth,
the wheels rising along with them.
They stood at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord?s house,
and the glory of the God of Israel was up above them.
Then the cherubim lifted their wings, and the wheels went along with them,
while up above them was the glory of the God of Israel.
From the Gospel according to Matthew
18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
"If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them."
The Gospel text from chapter 18 of Matthew on the life of the Christian community tells us that brotherly love also involves a sense of mutual responsibility. For this reason if my brother commits a sin against me I must treat him charitably and first of all, speak to him privately, pointing out that what he has said or done is wrong. This approach is known as ?fraternal correction?: it is not a reaction to the offence suffered but is motivated by love for one’s brethren. (?)
Another fruit of love in the community is unanimous prayer. Jesus said: ?If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them? (Mt 18:19-20). Personal prayer is of course important, indeed indispensable, but the Lord guarantees his presence to the community ? even if it is very small ? which is united and in agreement, because this reflects the very reality of the Triune God, perfect communion of love. Origen says ?we should practise this symphony? (Commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew, 14,1), in other words this harmony within the Christian community. We should practise both fraternal correction ? which demands deep humility and simplicity of heart ? and prayer so that it may rise to God from a community truly united in Christ. (Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, 4 September 2011)
Read More
![Court reconsiders First Amendment challenge to Michigan school’s transgender policies – #Catholic – A federal court granted a request from two parents to consider whether a Michigan school district violated the First Amendment when officials began treating their daughter as a boy without informing them.Judge Paul Maloney granted the motion to reconsider Aug. 7 in light of the 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta. The Supreme Court decided 6-3 that a similar policy in California likely violated the parents’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion, which includes the right to direct the religious development of their children.Similar to the California lawsuit, the two Michigan parents — Dan and Jennifer Mead — have argued that their views on gender and human sexuality are based on their Christian faith. The original lawsuit states that the Meads believe “each of us is born with a fixed biological sex that is a gift from God, not an arbitrary imposition subject to change.”According to the lawsuit, their seventh-grade daughter asked school officials at the Rockford Public School District to refer to her with a masculine name and use male pronouns. School officials began doing this but never informed her parents, and the school counselor had discussed the daughter’s broader mental health struggles with her parents, the lawsuit states.Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, who represents the parents in court, said in a statement that “parents have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children — without government interference.”“By intentionally concealing this information from the Meads, the school district violated their constitutional rights as parents to make critical decisions about their daughter,” Anderson said. “The court’s ruling is a necessary step toward protecting the Mead family’s First Amendment rights.”Steve Matthews, superintendent for Rockford Public Schools, told EWTN News “the legal process continues to proceed” and “we have no comment at this time as we continue through this process.”Court proceedings continueThe lawsuit alleges that school officials began treating the Meads’ daughter as a boy in 2022. It states that the school used a masculine name and male pronouns when speaking with their daughter and in internal school records. Yet, they used her legal name and female pronouns when talking to her parents and in documents shared with parents, it states.Her parents removed her from the school in October 2022 after school officials forgot to alter a document that used the masculine name and male pronouns before giving it to her parents, the lawsuit states. This is how the parents discovered the school’s practices.The Meads filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging the school district violated their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the 14th Amendment’s protection of a parent’s right to raise his or her children.In 2025, a federal court allowed the 14th Amendment claims to proceed but dismissed the First Amendment claims. On Aug. 7, 2026, the court granted a motion to reconsider First Amendment claims in light of the new Supreme Court precedent set in Mirabelli v. Bonta.Maloney’s court order in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division states the Supreme Court ruling “calls into question the court’s interpretation of the relevant law and will grant the motion to reconsider.” It says the lawsuit filed in Mirabelli v. Bonta “involved school policies similar to the district’s policies here.”“When a student engaged in gender transitioning at school, the policy prevented school staff from telling the student’s parents about their child’s situation unless the student consented,” the judge said of the Mirabelli v. Bonta decision.“Like the policies at issue in Mirabelli, the policies here likely created a substantial burden on the Meads’ free-exercise rights,” the order adds. “The Meads share religious beliefs similar to the parents in Mirabelli about the permanency of biological sex and the fixed relationship between sex and gender.”The judge’s order notes that the Rockford Public School District’s position is that its policies are designed “to meet [the district’s] interest in promoting student safety and success.” Yet, the court order states that the policies “do not factor in parents’ views and, as a result, they ‘cut’ parents out.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/court-reconsiders-first-amendment-challenge-to-michigan-schools-transgender-policies-catholic-a-federal-court-granted-a-request-from-two-parents-to-consider-whether-a-michigan-school-dis.jpg "Court reconsiders First Amendment challenge to Michigan school’s transgender policies – #Catholic – A federal court granted a request from two parents to consider whether a Michigan school district violated the First Amendment when officials began treating their daughter as a boy without informing them.Judge Paul Maloney granted the motion to reconsider Aug. 7 in light of the 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta. The Supreme Court decided 6-3 that a similar policy in California likely violated the parents’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion, which includes the right to direct the religious development of their children.Similar to the California lawsuit, the two Michigan parents — Dan and Jennifer Mead — have argued that their views on gender and human sexuality are based on their Christian faith. The original lawsuit states that the Meads believe “each of us is born with a fixed biological sex that is a gift from God, not an arbitrary imposition subject to change.”According to the lawsuit, their seventh-grade daughter asked school officials at the Rockford Public School District to refer to her with a masculine name and use male pronouns. School officials began doing this but never informed her parents, and the school counselor had discussed the daughter’s broader mental health struggles with her parents, the lawsuit states.Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, who represents the parents in court, said in a statement that “parents have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children — without government interference.”“By intentionally concealing this information from the Meads, the school district violated their constitutional rights as parents to make critical decisions about their daughter,” Anderson said. “The court’s ruling is a necessary step toward protecting the Mead family’s First Amendment rights.”Steve Matthews, superintendent for Rockford Public Schools, told EWTN News “the legal process continues to proceed” and “we have no comment at this time as we continue through this process.”Court proceedings continueThe lawsuit alleges that school officials began treating the Meads’ daughter as a boy in 2022. It states that the school used a masculine name and male pronouns when speaking with their daughter and in internal school records. Yet, they used her legal name and female pronouns when talking to her parents and in documents shared with parents, it states.Her parents removed her from the school in October 2022 after school officials forgot to alter a document that used the masculine name and male pronouns before giving it to her parents, the lawsuit states. This is how the parents discovered the school’s practices.The Meads filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging the school district violated their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the 14th Amendment’s protection of a parent’s right to raise his or her children.In 2025, a federal court allowed the 14th Amendment claims to proceed but dismissed the First Amendment claims. On Aug. 7, 2026, the court granted a motion to reconsider First Amendment claims in light of the new Supreme Court precedent set in Mirabelli v. Bonta.Maloney’s court order in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division states the Supreme Court ruling “calls into question the court’s interpretation of the relevant law and will grant the motion to reconsider.” It says the lawsuit filed in Mirabelli v. Bonta “involved school policies similar to the district’s policies here.”“When a student engaged in gender transitioning at school, the policy prevented school staff from telling the student’s parents about their child’s situation unless the student consented,” the judge said of the Mirabelli v. Bonta decision.“Like the policies at issue in Mirabelli, the policies here likely created a substantial burden on the Meads’ free-exercise rights,” the order adds. “The Meads share religious beliefs similar to the parents in Mirabelli about the permanency of biological sex and the fixed relationship between sex and gender.”The judge’s order notes that the Rockford Public School District’s position is that its policies are designed “to meet [the district’s] interest in promoting student safety and success.” Yet, the court order states that the policies “do not factor in parents’ views and, as a result, they ‘cut’ parents out.”")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/TAL-italian-trapeze-knoebels-amusement-resort-FREEAMUSEPARK0824-7c9a692386ee488cb1dd6d326e7bd81f.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/TAL-channel-islands-national-park-NPBYBOAT0226-8b3a0e02b7964b6da74fca4abbfdf068.jpg)
,_Giraffe_--_2024_--_0431.jpg)