3 healthy habits to bring you closer to God in 2026



As Christians, when we consider New Year’s resolutions, we often think about reading the Bible more, praying more often, or maybe getting more involved in our church. Those are all wonderful things worthy of pursuing.

Rather than taking time to expound on those, however, I’d like to commend three other resolutions that may not make the usual lists.

Our bodies and souls are integrally connected, and each significantly influences the other.

These are practical — maybe even commonsensical — but given the times in which we live, they’re easy to neglect, with the result that we flourish less than we could.

1. Practice attention management

We hear a great deal about time management these days, but rarely about attention management. Americans spend multiple hours each day on their phones, with teens devoting more than nine hours(!) and adults more than four hours daily. We’re awash in a sea of texts, emails, videos, games, and alerts. If we’re not careful, these can become an endless series of distractions that divert our attention from more important things.

They can also subtly mold us in the shape of the secular culture that produces much of what we consume. As theologian Jason Thacker writes, “Following Jesus in a digital age requires ... having our eyes wide open and seeing how technology is subtly shaping us in ways often contrary to our faith. We need to learn how to ask the right questions about our relationship with technology, examining it with clear eyes grounded in the Word of God.”

It takes some intentionality to guard our hearts from the often counter-Christian messages coming through our screens, but we have to make it a priority because “everything [we] do flows from” our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). We can use technology in many beneficial ways, but we must also “examine everything” and “hold firmly to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) while avoiding obstacles to our spiritual growth.

2. Get more sleep

There’s an old saying among pastors that “sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.” After all, we’re not just souls or minds, but also physical beings, by God’s design. Christians are sometimes tempted to view our physical nature in a negative light, but this reflects a Gnostic view that sees the spiritual as good and the material as bad or inferior. This is alien to Scripture, however, which tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). As John W. Kleinig argues in his book "Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body":

The body matters much more than we usually imagine it does. It matters because it locates us in time and space here on earth. It matters because we live in it and with it. It matters because through it we interact with the world around us, the people who coexist with us, and the living God who keeps us physically alive in it.

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). In order to keep them healthy and functioning properly, adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each day. A lack of sufficient sleep can lead to heart disease, hormonal imbalances, reduced immune response, and a lack of mental focus, among other problems.

Since blue light from our phone and computer screens can make it harder to get deep, restful sleep, this is another good reason to limit screen time, especially close to bedtime.

Get enough sleep, and you’ll likely notice greater energy, optimism, and an increased capacity to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Our bodies and souls are integrally connected, and each significantly influences the other.

3. Cultivate friendships

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, half of U.S. adults reported feelings of loneliness, with 58% worrying that no one in their life knows them well. We live in a hyper-individualistic society that often views other people as obstacles to our personal agendas. Yet God designed us to live in close connection with other humans, especially fellow believers. The writer of Hebrews instructed his readers not to give up “meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:25). Like Christians in the early church, we should “[devote ourselves] to ... fellowship” (Acts 2:42).

Since we’ve been noting how some of these resolutions affect our physical health, it’s remarkable that chronic loneliness is more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes a day! Thus, author Justin Earley observes that “friendship will make or break your life.” We can see the wisdom of God’s statement in Genesis that “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

RELATED: 6 ways I'm using 2026 to deepen my relationship with God

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The quality of our friendships also makes a big difference. We’ve all seen groups of people sitting together in some public place, not interacting with one another, but engrossed in their phones. “This is what community often looks like in the digital age,” writes pastor Jay Kim. “Lonely individuals falling prey, over and over again, to the great masquerade of digital technology” that lulls us “into a state of isolation via the illusion of digital connection.”

As Kim goes on to note, while we can communicate digitally, we can only commune in person. Communication is about the exchange of information, while communing involves the exchange of presence. Communing is the more difficult task because it “requires more of us: more of our attention, empathy, and compassion.”

So this year, I encourage you to practice attention management, get enough sleep, and intentionally look for opportunities to begin new friendships and deepen old ones. It will take some deliberate effort, and every relationship will have growing pains, but the greater depth of fellowship will be worth it. As a saying often attributed to 18th-century evangelist George Whitefield goes, “No man is the whole of himself. His friends are the rest of him.”

A version of this essay originally appeared in the Worldview Bulletin Substack.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan resigns; pope appoints his replacement



Per the resignation norms revised by the late Pope Francis in 2014, Cardinal Timothy Dolan was obligated to present his letter of resignation from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of New York upon reaching the age of 75.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., confirmed on Thursday that Pope Leo XIV has accepted Dolan's resignation and appointed fellow Illinoisan Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet to take over the 4,683 square-mile archdiocese that serves over 1.5 million Catholics.

Cardinal Dolan — who has served as archbishop of New York since his appointment by the late Pope Benedict XVI in February 2009 — will continue to serve as the apostolic administrator until the installation of his 58-year-old replacement at Saint Patrick's Cathedral on Feb. 6, 2026.

'Running the New York archdiocese is a daunting task.'

Archbishop-designate Hicks, a native of Harvey, Illinois, will be the 14th bishop and 11th archbishop of the See of New York.

In addition to his time as bishop of Joliet, Hicks previously served in El Salvador as the regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, a home dedicated to caring for thousands of orphaned and abandoned children in various Latin American and Caribbean countries; dean of formation at Mundelein Seminary; vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago; and auxiliary bishop of Chicago.

Hicks is no stranger to the pope, having spoken with him at length just last year.

After Pope Leo's election, Hicks sung the Chicago native's praises and told WGN-TV, "I recognize a lot of similarities between him and me. So we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together."

RELATED: Packed churches, skyrocketing conversions: Is New York undergoing a Catholic renaissance?

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Rev. David Boettner, one of Hicks' former classmates at Mundelein Seminary, told Faith magazine in 2020, "As a seminarian and as a priest, he has always had a deep love of people and a generosity of his time to serve the needs of others."

"He has always lived his promise of obedience to the Church, and his first answer when asked to serve is almost always yes," added Boettner.

Rev. James Presta, a priest who worked with Hicks at Mundelein and at St. Joseph College Seminary, said, "He has been a mentor to young priests. He offers them fraternal support and sound, practical wisdom as a brother priest."

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, stressed that Cardinal Dolan will be missed.

"He is a very special man. He always fought for justice, and his amiable character won the applause of Catholics and non-Catholics alike. He was certainly very kind to me," Donohue said in a statement. "His fairness never stood in the way of being outspoken about contemporary issues. He was not tied to the politics of the left or the right."

While tethered neither to the left nor the right, Dolan called on Catholics to "be very active, very informed, and very involved in politics"; criticized the perverse secular culture that "seems to discover new rights every day"; championed religious liberty; and defended Christian morality, especially as it pertains to marriage and the rights of the unborn.

"Running the New York archdiocese is a daunting task, but it is one that suits the new archbishop," noted Donohue. "Archbishop Ronald Hicks is young and vibrant and will be able to put his considerable administrative experience to good use. We look forward to working with him."

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Growing up in the Hebrew Roots movement — and why I eventually had to leave



Several years before my husband and I met, one of his friends told him, “Modern youth are hungry for truth, and they are looking to the oldest forms of traditional orthodoxy to find it. This leaves them with two main choices: Catholicism or Hebrew Roots.”

My husband hadn’t heard of Messianics before this, or he had heard just enough to scoff at the idea of marrying someone who “pretended to be a Jew.” Nevertheless, his friend’s statement stuck with him. Who were these Protestants LARPing as Jews that they could draw intelligent youth in search of truth away from Catholicism?

We were all encouraged to study our Bibles for ourselves and to test one another. When the family home-churched together, it was always lively.

Relishing the chaos

Some would call us Judaizers.

We are certainly not ordinary Protestants. In fact, my family and most Messianics I grew up with believed that the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon and the Protestant churches are her daughters. Most Christians were “too Catholic” in our opinion because they went to church on Sunday and celebrated Christmas, two practices instituted by Catholicism.

Despite how odd Messianics might be, they are too disorganized to be classified as a cult. There are somewhere around 200,000-300,000 Hebrew Roots people with no central figure, and there are countless groups within the movement. Some of them are self-identifying Torah followers who may lead isolated lives or fellowship at home with a few like-minded people. Others are members of organized Messianic denominations.

The movement has very few real Jews in it, and for the most part Messianic believers reject modern-day Jewish practices. Instead we endeavor to interpret the Old Testament as literally as possible. This, of course, is nearly an impossible feat and the main cause for disunity in the Hebrew Roots movement.

Perhaps what makes this expression of group interesting is the fact that it is a movement that can’t really be defined as a whole, and yet all the members of it believe that the truth they have is absolute, even though all their like-minded compatriots disagree with them on how to execute this truth. To those raised in the movement, the disorder and chaos are natural and even relished. To those watching from the outside, I can only imagine how bizarre we appear.

Family tradition

My mom chose my name because it was old-fashioned. Most of the rest of the family didn’t like it and tried to give me various nicknames. But my parents named me perfectly.

Keturahmeaning a sacrificial aroma/incense — may be strange-sounding, but it also uniquely fits in all the worlds I’m most interested in. It is both a Jewish and an Amish name and, oddly, has a deep Catholic meaning. It has served me well in the secular world, too, with its unique sound. My name has made it possible for me to blend in among both Christian hippies and woke misfits.

I never considered how odd it was that my great-grandfather basically invented the religion I grew up with (with heavy modifications made by my grandfather). What should have been a red flag — why did nobody figure this out before my great-grandfather? — was instead championed as proof of our righteousness.

My great-grandfather had been a Pentecostal pastor. But he started reading his Bible one day. This led him to preaching on things that his congregation was not ready for, because “the ways of the world were too comfortable.” He left his church, took another wife (his first wife left him with their three children because his beliefs were getting strange), and began a road ministry that my grandfather eventually took over.

I was often told the story of the Rechabites, a family who were saved from being utterly wiped out because they obeyed the words of their great-grandfather. My great-grandfather, too, had left us an inheritance, and if we cherished it, we would be saved from the horrors of the world. I believed this.

RELATED: Deliverance requires memory — and America is forgetting

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Lively debate

I was neither brainwashed nor raised in a cult. There is nothing more American than leaving the beaten path to make your own way, especially when it comes to religion.

The women in my family are too mouthy and bratty, myself included, for the family to ever have fallen into true patriarchal suppression. We were all encouraged to study our Bibles for ourselves and to test one another. When the family home-churched together, it was always lively.

Even I, at the ages of 10 through 14, would get pulled into the heated dialogue with religious opinions of my own, carefully researched and passionately presented. I was obsessed with writing theological essays during those years.

We were not cosplaying as Jews any more than Amish are LARPing as peasants. We were more interested in what the Bible had to say than the traditions of modern-day Jews. In fact, anything that was “traditional” must be too much like Catholicism. We didn’t want to follow customs, but the law of Yahweh.

Although my great-grandfather and grandfather invented our faith, there was room for fluidity. It has changed much over the years. My great-grandfather kept the Saturday Sabbath and refused welfare for his family although they were poor and had 13 children. They did not eat pork, but ate according to Leviticus 11. We call this eating kosher, but it’s more accurately referred to as eating “clean.”

My grandfather started using the “Sacred Names” to refer to God when my father was young and warned against “calling upon the name of Jesus” because Jesus, he argued, was another form of Zeus. We argued over whether to spell the Messiah’s name Yahshua or Yeshua. We never referred to God as “God” or “the Lord” because those, too, were pagan names. It was always “Father” or “Yahweh.”

Which Sabbath?

When I was 9 years old, my grandfather realized that Saturday was not the true Sabbath. He had discovered an idea called the Lunar Sabbath.

The Sabbath is determined by the phases of the moon. At the end of the month when the moon goes dark, the Sabbath is two or three days long until the new moon appears and resets the Sabbath. And so Sabbath might be on a Tuesday one month and then Wednesday or Thursday the next month. If it were cloudy, it might be difficult to see the moon, and sometimes we would be keeping Sabbath wrong for a week or so until we were able to clearly see what the sky said. It was also difficult for making plans and having social relationships.

When I was 14, I sat down and did a long study on the Sabbath using encyclopedias, various Bibles, and concordances. After three months I presented my research to my family. I explained the pros and cons for the Lunar Sabbath, Saturday Sabbath, and Sunday Sabbath. I had become convinced that Sunday was still not the true Sabbath and that we should stop doing the Lunar Sabbath and revert to Saturday. My parents and siblings could not argue with my evidence. We voted. After five years of living by the moon, we unanimously agreed to revert back to Saturday Sabbath.

This situation taught me several things: We were not a cult, but most of my family was intellectually incapable of interpreting scripture for themselves. It was cool that my family changed after my research. But also why hadn’t they studied this properly at the start? I was 14 years old, and yet I had convinced my parents to make a major theological change. This both inflated my ego and left me feeling insecure and unstable because I was truly alone and could not go to my parents for answers about God.

This is part one of a two-part essay. Part 2 will appear next week. It was adapted and edited for length from an essay that first appeared on the Substack Polite Company.

‘The Case for Miracles’: A stirring road trip into the heart of faith



Lee Strobel doesn’t mind those who question his midlife Christian conversion.

Strobel’s shift from an atheist to rock-ribbed Christian came to life in 2017’s “The Case for Christ.” The film, based on his life story, showed how Strobel’s efforts to debunk the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the legal editor of the Chicago Tribune had the opposite effect.

‘There is evidence that points — compelling [evidence] — to the truth of biblical miracles and contemporary supernatural encounters. I’m not afraid of that.’

He says his shoe-leather reporting confirmed the resurrection. Looking back, Strobel tells Align his change of heart ruffled some professional feathers.

“After I became a Christian at the Chicago Tribune, somebody told me later that they overheard somebody in the newsroom say, ‘What happened to Strobel? He became a Jesus freak, like, overnight,’” Strobel says, laughing.

Miracle miles

Now, Strobel is back on the big screen with “The Case for Miracles,” in select theaters Dec. 15-18 via Fathom Entertainment. The film finds Strobel and director Mani Sandoval hitting Route 66 in an old Ford Bronco to swap stories and reflect on modern-day miracles.

Among the most poignant? A young woman with severe multiple sclerosis who is able to leave her hospice bed following a crush of community prayers.

It’s part travelogue, part documentary, and Strobel only wishes he had time to share even more remarkable stories on-screen.

“We had to leave out so many good ones. ... We had another case documented by medical researchers ... a guy who was healed from a paralyzed stomach,” he says. “He was prayed for, felt an electric shock go through him, and for the first time was able to eat normally.”

“He’s fine to this day,” he adds. “It’s the only case in history of its kind of [someone] spontaneously healed from this stomach paralysis.”

Meeting in the middle

Strobel says the film offers two very different perspectives on modern-day miracles given the key players involved.

“Mani grew up in a Pentecostal home. There was an anticipation that the miraculous would take place,” he says. “I was an atheist [growing up].”

The film is based on Strobel’s 2018 book of the same name, but he hopes the Fathom Entertainment release reaches a broader audience beyond his loyal readers.

“I think that cinema is the language of young people,” he says. “If we want to share this account, this evidence of the miraculous with a young generation, what better way than on the big screen? Among younger people, there’s something about a film that register deeply with them. ... We should seize opportunities to communicate to those outside the faith.”

RELATED: Lee Strobel’s top supernatural stories to challenge your atheist friends

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Creative control

And the timing couldn’t be better. Faith-friendly films and TV shows are all the rage in today’s pop-culture landscape. Think the groundbreaking series “The Chosen,” along with the upcoming “Passion of the Christ” sequel from Mel Gibson.

Both Netflix and Prime Video are producing faith-friendly content, and recent hits like “Jesus Revolution” flexed the power of spiritual stories.

“It satisfies me on a creative level when I see films that deal with very important topics, like the existence in God, in a way that’s creative and that aren’t going to make people cringe but sit forward in their seat and anticipate what’s coming next,” he says.

And that creative explosion has only begun, Strobel predicts.

“In three, four, or maybe five years, we’re gonna see stuff where we say, ‘Oh, I never thought of doing that,’” he says of the genre.

The incredible made credible

Strobel isn’t a filmmaker by trade. He’s a busy writer, having penned more than 40 books that have been translated into 40 languages.

Strobel, like the late Charlie Kirk, doesn’t mind interacting with skeptics on- or off-screen. He welcomes it. The book on which “The Case for Miracles” is based starts with an extended dialogue with noted atheist Michael Shermer.

Strobel eventually befriended Shermer, who has a cameo in the film version of “Miracles.”

“I let him have his say,” he says of their early exchanges. Strobel is confident in his faith and the miracles he sees flowing through it.

“There is evidence that points — compelling [evidence] — to the truth of biblical miracles and contemporary supernatural encounters,” he says. “I’m not afraid of that.”

For Strobel, a miracle requires four key elements:

  • Solid medical documentation;
  • Multiple, credible eyewitnesses who have no motive to deceive;
  • A lack of natural explanation; and
  • An association with prayer.

Meet all four requirements, he says, “and maybe something miraculous is going on.”

Strobel doesn’t mind that some of his former colleagues may question his religious conversion. He’s comforted by the fact that he has company in that regard.

“I’ve seen so many journalists coming to faith. ... I think God is stirring something in the culture right now,” he says.

'Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas' brings scriptural authenticity to Nativity story



Director David L. Cunningham brought some old-school Disney magic to his latest project.

The Hollywood veteran recalled how Walt Disney often appeared on camera to personally introduce the projects closest to his heart, putting his unmistakable stamp on them.

'By taking out the hardship and the risk, you diminish the courage that Mary and Joseph had, their faith, and so much of the sacrifice.'

So when Cunningham envisioned a fresh, authentic take on the Christmas story, he wondered if another icon could do the honors. And, as fate would have it, his producing partner knew Kevin Costner personally.

The busy film legend agreed to join the project, with one caveat.

“He insisted on bringing his story into it … and the pieces fell together,” Cunningham tells Align.

'Unifying celebration'

“Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas,” debuting Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC before hitting Hulu the following day, does more than put the Christ back in Christmas.

The special lets Costner share some personal anecdotes regarding the earliest days of his acting career, including how he participated in a Christmas story production with less than Hollywood-style results.

He improved over time, of course.

“The First Christmas” introduces us to Mary and Joseph, a young couple facing incredible hardships along with the most important pregnancy … ever.

“The intent was to try and find a unifying celebration of the story,” Cunningham says. “Let’s all get behind what matters the most. Jesus was brought into this world in this amazing way. … The goal wasn’t to put a spin on something but to revisit the ancient texts and try to honor it as much as possible.”

Not too 'cozy'

“The First Christmas” pushes past misconceptions about the holiday, blending polished dramatic beats with commentary bringing critical context each step of the way. That approach worked well with the material, the director says, comparing the expert commentary to “miniature podcasts” that pop in between dramatic elements.

“We didn’t want a theological, wag-your-finger thing,” he notes, but he also wanted to remove the “cozy interpretations” many have of the Nativity.

“By taking out the hardship and the risk, you diminish the courage that Mary and Joseph had, their faith, and so much of the sacrifice,” he says.

“There’s nothing wrong with having the cozy little Nativity, with the angels looking on, but let’s go back and revisit this and say, ‘Hey, what does the Scripture say and why?’”

The special features “talking head” interstitials from voices stateside and beyond, echoing Christianity’s global reach and impact.

“The West doesn’t have the corner on the [Christian] market,” Cunningham says, noting a spiritual rise in Brazil and other nations in recent years.

Sticking to the text

Cunningham is no stranger to faith-based productions, starting with one of his earliest projects: 2001’s “To End All Wars.” The film recalled the fact-based story of Japanese POW camp captives who embraced God to both endure and forgive their captors.

Those experiences have given him insight into Christian projects that connect with the masses and, more importantly, ring true.

“When a biblical movie works, it sticks to the text,” he says with a chuckle. “It also helps to have people who are leading the charge who believe in it.”

Cunningham studied faith-based films in film school, noting how the industry “lost the plot” over the years regarding Christian projects.

“We felt as Christians that somehow entertainment and Hollywood was of the devil. We didn’t want anything to do with it,” he says. “We just walked away from one of the most influential platforms there is.”

RELATED: 12 American-made Christmas gift ideas

Russell Moccasin

Cinematic revolution

That, of course, has changed dramatically over the past 20-odd years, from “The Passion of the Christ” to 2023’s “Sound of Freedom.” The clunky, low-budget stories of the recent past have been replaced by slick, soulful projects that reflect both faith and a dramatic upgrade in craftsmanship.

He name-checks “The Chosen” creator Dallas Jenkins and Jon and Andrew Erwin for being part of this cinematic revolution.

Cunningham also used his personal experiences to help inspire and shape “The First Christmas,” echoing what Costner brought to the project. He recalls his own days as a young father, with all the fear and uncertainty that came along with it.

“I’m walking out the door with this child. ... We had a car seat ready to go,” he says of his earliest hours as a parent. “Can you imagine a young couple in a cave when infant mortality was through the roof? Now you’re being born into this world that’s incredibly brutal and cruel. You’re a young couple, and by the way, that’s the Son of God.

“No pressure,” he says.

Journey's Jonathan Cain pays tribute to Charlie Kirk with 'No One Else'



Journey’s Jonathan Cain first met Charlie Kirk in 2016 outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

The conservative firebrand was in rare form, recalls Cain. The activist held a Big Government Sucks sign and vowed, “We’re gonna change the world.”

'I said to Paula, "He could be president someday,"' he says. 'He had the drive and the wisdom of the ages. … He reached generations.'

Kirk did just that. He started a youth movement in Turning Point USA. The organization empowered conservative college students nationwide and played a pivotal role in President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign.

His viral debates woke up countless Gen Zers to the power of faith and conservative values. And following his Sept. 10 murder, his legacy sparked a conservative college revival.

'No one else'

Cain, a singer/songwriter and keyboardist for Journey for 45 years, got to know Kirk via his wife, President Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain.

“It was such a blow to free speech, a mockery of everything he had done,” Cain tells Align of Kirk’s murder. The musician decided to write a pastor appreciation song for the slain leader.

“Not many pastors came close to what he accomplished … the revival, bringing kids back to church, having them look at their family values,” Cain says.

That impulse became “No One Else,” a new single dedicated to Kirk’s memory and cultural impact.

No one else reached generations
Could heal with truth and conversation
Setting all differences aside
No one else could question hate
Turn hearts and minds with true debate
From the battle our nation will arise
Faithful servant, you’ve done well
No one else

Like a few songs in his decades-long repertoire, this one came to him quickly.

“I went into my studio. ... Thirty minutes later, I fleshed out everything I wanted to say,” he says.

Men of faith

The track, like Kirk’s death, brought out the worst of the venomous left.

“The social commentary was really disgusting,” Cain recalls of some online reactions. “They accused me of trying to make money. … There’s very little money in music any more.”

Cain is an industry veteran, so he shrugged off the naysayers. He still seems stunned that he tried to get Rolling Stone magazine interested in covering his song, to no avail.

“They didn’t want to touch an interview with me,” he says. “The song was about Charlie.”

Like Kirk, Cain is a man of deep faith, as is his wife. The Cains’ Trump connection found them running into Kirk often over the years. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member was continually struck by how Kirk got “into the hearts and minds” of his young followers, sharing his conservative Christian values along the way.

“I said to Paula, ‘He could be president someday,'” he says. “He had the drive and the wisdom of the ages. … He reached generations.”

RELATED: Where evil tried to win: How a Utah revival turned atrocity into interfaith miracle

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'He saved you for music'

Cain credits his father, a “prayerful man,” for instilling faith in him at an early age. His faith was shaken by a 1958 fire at his school in Chicago, a disaster that took the lives of 93 children and three nuns.

“How could that evil happen?” he asked himself at the time.

His father, again, nudged him toward a spiritual path. He took the youngster to music school, imploring him to share his gifts with others.

“He saved you for music,” his father told him. The 8-year-old couldn’t initially get his hand around a guitar, but he did as he was told, and the music began to flow through him.

That wasn’t all.

“The idea of Jesus stayed with me, firmly planted,” he says.

Fateful Journey

The rest, as they say, is music history. Cain released his first solo record in 1976, joined the Babys three years later, and, in 1980, took over as the keyboardist for Journey. The band became a sensation, with Cain contributing keyboards and critical songwriting for the iconic band.

He played a key role in the band’s most famous song, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” with lyrics inspired by his father.

Now, at 75, he is prepping for Journey’s 2026 tour, complete with a reconstructed knee. Journey may keep rocking, but Cain knows when it’s time to step away from the band.

“I don’t want to die on the road. I’ve been out there for 50 years. … It feels like the time to get off the train is here,” he says.

He admits that matters have not always been smooth with longtime bandmates like Journey founder Neal Schon, including legal dustups in recent years.

“It’s sad, but it happens to most bands,” he says, noting that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards aren’t mates in the traditional sense, given their decades of acrimony. Still, the show must go on, and Cain appreciates his bandmates and, even more, the fans.

“They’re the gold that has given me a career. ... I’m grateful and thankful for them. I want to go out the right way,” he says. “I’ll be 77 to 78 [by the time the tour ends]. That’s enough.”

Pope Leo XIV, Eastern Orthodox patriarch signal greater unity at site where Nicene Creed was adopted 1,700 years ago



Pope Leo XIV joined Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and other Eastern Orthodox bishops on Friday at the site in modern-day Turkey where their predecessors met 17 centuries earlier to affirm and codify the core tenets of the Christian faith.

This meeting of leaders on either side of the Great Schism at the place of the Nicene Creed's adoption signals another major step in what the pope weeks ago called "the path towards the reestablishment of full communion among all Christians."

'We return to this wellspring of the Christian faith in order to move forward.'

The pope made reference to the lasting significance of the Council of Nicaea in his Friday address at the archeological site of the ancient Basilica of St. Neophytos on the shore of Lake Iznik, especially the council's rejection in the 4th century of the Arian heresy.

Pope Leo said that the question of who Jesus Christ is in the lives of men and women today "is especially important for Christians, who risk reducing Jesus Christ to a kind of charismatic leader or superman, a misrepresentation that ultimately leads to sadness and confusion."

The pope noted in a separate address earlier in the day at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul — where he blessed the first stone for a Catholic parish in Dallas — that the "new Arianism" attempts to reduce Christ to "a great historical figure, a wise teacher, or a prophet who fought for justice — butnothing more."

"By denying the divinity of Christ, Arius reduced him to a mere intermediary between God and humanity, ignoring the reality of the Incarnation such that the divine and the human remained irremediably separated," the pope said on the shore of Lake Iznik in the presence of the Eastern Orthodox bishops. "But if God did not become man, how can mortal creatures participate in his immortal life? What was at stake at Nicaea, and is at stake today, is our faith in the God who, in Jesus Christ, became like us to make us 'partakers of the divine nature.'"

Speaking of the creed, the pope noted that "this Christological confession of faith is of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making towards full communion," as it binds Christians across the world and paves the way for "ever deeper adherence to the Word of God revealed in Jesus Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in mutual love and dialogue."

RELATED: Together, pope and patriarch return to Nicaea on 1,700th anniversary of defining moment in Christendom

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"We are all invited to overcome the scandal of the divisions that unfortunately still exist and to nurture the desire for unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed and gave his life. The more we are reconciled, the more we Christians can bear credible witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is a proclamation of hope for all," added Pope Leo.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, considered first among equals among Eastern Orthodox bishops, noted at the ecumenical service in Nicaea that he was "deeply moved" by the Christian leaders' decision to "honor through this joint pilgrimage the memory and legacy of the First Ecumenical Council held here, at Nicaea, seventeen-hundred years ago."

Emperor Constantine I called over 250 bishops — 318, according to tradition — in the year 325 to convene during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in the Bithynian city of Nicaea.

The council that assembled 55 miles southeast of present-day Istanbul not only dealt with various ecclesiastic matters and set a date on which to commemorate Jesus' resurrection but tackled the Arian heresy, affirming that Christ is indeed "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made."

While similarly acknowledging the divisions that have marked many intervening centuries, the patriarch stressed that the purpose of the meeting was not simply to remember the past but to "bear living witness to the same faith expressed by the Fathers of Nicaea."

"We return to this wellspring of the Christian faith in order to move forward. We refresh ourselves at these inspired waters of rest in order to become strong for the tasks that lie ahead," said the patriarch.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew noted further:

The Nicene Creed acts like a seed for the whole of our Christian existence. It is a symbol not of a bare minimum; it is a symbol of the whole. Having the fervor of the faith of Nicaea burning in our hearts, "let us run the course" of Christian unity "that is set before us" (cf. Hebrews 12:1); let us "hope to the end for the grace" that is promised "at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (cf. 1 Peter 1:13); and, finally, "let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Trinity consubstantial and undivided."

The patriarch told the Agence France-Presse ahead of the meeting that his meeting with the pope was "especially significant" in light of the conflicts currently underway across the globe.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

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Jehovah's Witnesses: Worshipping with the most hated denomination



After attending a somewhat run-of-the-mill novus ordo Mass with only a few redeeming qualities, my husband and I decided to visit another church in Nevada that is possibly one of the most hated and misunderstood Christian denominations — even with the Latter-day Saints and Seventh-day Adventists.

It was both his and my first time attending a Jehovah’s Witness church.

'I personally don’t want to go to heaven, but want to remain on Earth when we’re resurrected. I want to live among the animals and trees and plants and not rule over others.'

We walked 40-some minutes to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and were greeted warmly, even though we were two minutes late and the congregation had already begun singing the first hymn. The setting might have been bland, but I felt I had achieved a bucket-list goal.

For years I’d tried to visit a Kingdom Hall. The Jehovah's Witnesses were one of the last churches to reopen nationwide after COVID, offering online meetings for nearly two and a half years, until summer of 2022. Even after that, many remained closed for another year, and a large portion still host hybrid Zoom/in-person gatherings for the immune-compromised.

Kingdom Hall

To many, the inside of the meeting hall would appear no different from a conservative Protestant church. Most women wore skirts or business suits; the men were in full suits. The carpet was gray, the walls plain, decorated with a few pictures of flowers. There were no windows.

Rows of theater chairs faced a pulpit. Though the Jehovah's Witnesses do not have ordained ministers, any baptized man may teach from Scripture. On the day we visited, a guest speaker from Idaho — tailored suit, bright red tie — delivered a sermon much like any Protestant pastor’s, citing extensive Bible verses to support his points. There was no American flag, unsurprising given JW pacifism. Jehovah's Witnesses do not vote, and while they don’t forbid self-defense, they register as conscientious objectors during drafts. They believe that those who live by the sword will die by the sword (Matthew 26:52).

RELATED: Church-hopping: Confessions of an itinerant worshipper

Keturah Hickman

The sermon

The message, titled “Is There in Fact a True Religion from God’s Standpoint?” began with statistics: 85% of the world identifies as religious, 31% Christian, across 45,000 denominations — with a new one forming every 2.2 days. “But how does Jehovah want to be worshipped?” he asked.

He read from Mark 7:6-7 and James 1:26, then cited Solomon: True religion is to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). More verses followed — Isaiah 48:17-18, Micah 6:8, Matthew 7:16 — arguing that true belief and conduct must fit like a well-tailored suit, not mismatched pieces.

He condemned most Christian denominations for justifying slavery so that men might Christianize pagan souls for the kingdom of God. He pointed out that the Jehovah’s Witnesses never supported such horrid beliefs. (He failed to mention that slavery was already abolished by the time they came along.) He warned against fatalism, ancestor worship, and faith in human institutions. “If a religion permits or promotes practices the Bible condemns, it is not true,” he said, citing Colossians 3:10, John 8:32, James 3:17-18, and others.

“Truth is found in the word of God,” he concluded. “When we love the word, we are peaceable.”

The sermon ended with the JW hymn “My Father, My God and Friend (Hebrews 6:10)."

All along the Watchtower

After the hymn, an elder read from "The Watchtower," the denomination’s monthly study magazine. Before the group was called Jehovah’s Witnesses, it was the Watch Tower Society, founded by Charles Taze Russell in 1881.

The article that day was “Jehovah Heals the Brokenhearted” (Psalm 147:3). The elder read each paragraph aloud, then passed the microphone for congregants — men and women, in person or on Zoom — to share reflections.

Here are some highlights.

  • Satan wants us to wallow in our feelings. Jehovah wants us to defy Satan and serve Him. When we do that, He sees us and is moved to help us.
  • Jehovah doesn’t keep track of our sins, but only of the good we do.
  • Jehovah does not put a time limit on our prayers as if it were a therapy session. We can pray to Him for as long as we like, and He’ll keep listening.
  • The Son’s sacrifice forgives our past sins so we can move ahead into the future.
  • We can comfort each other by being gentle and genuine.
  • We are not to blame for how others hurt us.

It was repetitive but sincere — an hour-long group meditation on comfort and resilience.

The service ended with another hymn. There was no tithe, and communion is held only once a year for those who believe they are among the 144,000 destined for heaven.

The congregants

Afterward, several congregants welcomed us. One woman, Linda, about 70, explained that she had converted from Protestantism before marrying.

“There aren’t many differences between us and other churches,” she said, “except that we don’t teach what other places teach.”

“Such as?”

“We teach that Jehovah is Almighty God and that Jesus is His son and our Messiah. And we don’t believe in hellfire,” she said. “You can’t really find that idea in the Bible.”

I asked her if that meant that she believes everyone goes to heaven or if they just die.

She said, “The Bible says 144,000 go to heaven to be kings and priests to be the government of the kingdom of heaven that will come to Earth. I personally don’t want to go to heaven, but want to remain on Earth when we’re resurrected. I want to live among the animals and trees and plants and not rule over others.”

Linda gave me a small Bible — I gladly accepted it because it was lightweight and would fit perfectly into my backpack, and until now I had only been able to carry a New Testament. She explained to me that the Jehovah's Witnesses didn’t approve of many of Scofield’s notes in the KJV and that their version had more accurate cross-references. I love having various versions of the Bible to read through, so there was no complaint from me!

She invited us to join her husband and friends at a cafe for a late lunch. And so we went with about 20 other congregants. I sat by a woman just a little older than I. Ozzy had been raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses and had spent much of her youth as a traveling nanny. She told me that nearly six years ago she had married a Grace Baptist Church man and had a daughter with him. They eventually divorced. “I’m just grateful my daughter is learning about God in both homes she’s raised in," she said.

Although Ozzy did not speak ill of her ex-husband, it was clear that she thought her expression of faith was more valid than his. So I asked her what was different between the two theologies, in her opinion.

“That’s a good question," Ozzy said. "Not much."

Then she added:

Except how we define the Trinity — you know, you can’t find that word in the Bible. I’ve searched every translation of the Bible, so I know. We both believe in the concept, though JW is more literal and bases their definition on how the Bible describes it. We believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three separate entities united by a common will. Grace Bible Church is more Catholic when they talk about the Trinity.

After a day with them, I found them sincere and Bible-focused, hardly cult-like. They loved God, quoted Scripture freely, and treated us with warmth — even when I somewhat aggressively asked about one of their more infamous beliefs.

“I have heard that your church does not allow people to get blood transfusions and that this has caused many people to die.”

"Yes, we believe blood is sacred and not to be spilled in war nor ingested for any reason," Linda responded. "But blood can be divided into four components, and it is okay to receive any of those minor fractions.

"Most people don’t even need blood transfusions as much as they used to," she added, noting that "scientists have discovered that there are healthier ways to fill a low blood count with supplements and iron.”

Are the Witnesses a cult?

I’m not sure what makes a group a cult any more. Some say it’s when people follow a man rather than the Bible — but the Jehovah's Witnesses have no central figure. They encourage personal Bible study.

Interestingly, 65% of members are converts — adults who join by conviction, not birth. While many leave, those who stay do so deliberately. Angry ex-members exist in every religion, and that alone doesn’t define a cult.

Much of JW doctrine is nothing your average Protestant would quarrel with: anti-abortion but pro-birth-control, personal responsibility for family size, and no institutional oversight (beyond guidance from JW Broadcasting in New York). There’s also no enforcement mechanism for rules on blood transfusions or holidays.

There are 8.6 million Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, compared to 15.7 million Jews, 17 million Mormons, and 22 million Seventh-day Adventists. Many Protestants single out the denomination's rejection of transfusions, but the Jehovah's Witnesses are neither faith healers nor anti-medicine. They are pacifists but politically moderate and scientifically literate.

Charles Taze Russell

Jehovah's Witnesses founder Charles Taze Russell was raised Presbyterian. At age 13 he left his church to embark upon a kind of quest for the truth, for a time backsliding into unbelief.

Known for writing Bible verse on fences as a way to evangelize, he founded a group called the Bible Student Movement in 1879. Much like Mormons, the Two by Twos, and the Jim Roberts Group, his group grew by sending out pairs of men to preach the word of God directly from the Bible.

Despite Russell's zeal, his life was riddled with scandal. He divorced his wife after she demanded a larger editorial influence on "The Watch Tower." He sued for libel often, occasionally winning — one time the jury mockingly ruled in his favor but gave him only one dollar, and so he filed an appeal and received $15,000.

After wrongly predicting the end of the world numerous times, Russell died in 1931. The group split apart. Approximately a quarter of the members remained faithful to Russell’s successors and began calling themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Their use of the name “Jehovah” also irritates critics, though it appears in the King James Bible (Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4).

Their rejection of the Nicene Trinity remains the sharpest point of division — a doctrine codified by the Catholic Church and later adopted by nearly all of Protestantism. It’s an irony of history: Protestants who define themselves against Rome still use Rome’s creed as the boundary of belief. Disagreement with that doctrine, however, does not make a faith a cult.

The trend to schism

One striking point from the sermon stayed with me: Every 2.2 days a new denomination is created.

Until the 16th century, Christianity had only a handful of branches. Now there are 45,000. The JW speaker said it is because everyone seeks truth; I think it’s because we’ve forgotten love.

As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13: “If I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.”

What merit is truth without love? God does not honor self-righteous division. This, perhaps, was Martin Luther’s and Henry VIII’s greatest sin — their pride tore Christ’s body into pieces.

Protestants readily maintain friendly regard for Judaism, which does not accept Christ’s divinity, while showing far less tolerance for groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, or Adventists — who profess Jesus as Lord and Redeemer.

For this reason, I urge believers: Visit all churches. Seek unity where possible. Not to follow fads, but to love the whole body of Christ — even the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Packed churches, skyrocketing conversions: Is New York undergoing a Catholic renaissance?



The years-long trend of American de-Christianization recently came to an end, with the Christian share of the U.S. population stabilizing at roughly six in ten Americans, according to Pew Research Center data. Of the 62% of adults who now identify as Christians, 40% are Protestants, 19% are Catholics, and 3% belong to other Christian denominations.

There are signs in multiple jurisdictions pointing to something greater than a mere stabilization under way — at least where the Catholic Church is concerned.

The New York Post recently found that multiple New York City Catholic parishes have not only seen a spike in conversions but their churches routinely fill to the brim. That's likely good news for the Archdiocese of New York, which was found in a recent Catholic World Report analysis to have been among the 10 least fruitful dioceses in 2023 in terms of baptism, conversion, seminarian, and wedding rates.

'We've got a real booming thing happening here.'

Fr. Jonah Teller, the Dominican parochial vicar at Saint Joseph's in Greenwich Village, told the Post that the number of catechumens enrolled in his parish's Order of Christian Initiation of Adults for the purposes of conversion has tripled since 2024, with around 130 people signing up.

Over on the Upper East Side, St. Vincent Ferrer has seen its numbers double since last year, jumping to 90 catechumens. The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral has reportedly also seen its numbers double, ballooning to around 100 people. The Diocese of Brooklyn doubled its 2023 numbers last year when it welcomed 538 adults into the faith and expects the numbers to remain high again this year.

Attendance in New York City reportedly skyrocketed in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was apparently attending mass with his Catholic wife, Erika, and their children.

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Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images

"We're out of space and exploring adding more masses," Fr. Daniel Ray, a Catholic Legionary priest in Manhattan, told the Post. "We've got a real booming thing happening here, and it's not because of some marketing campaign."

While a number of catechumens cited Kirk's assassination as part of what drove them to the Catholic Church, others cited a a desire for a life- and family-strengthening relationship with God; a desire to partake in the joy observed in certain devout Catholics; a desire for community; a desire for "guardrails"; and a desire for anchorage and meaning in a chaotic world where politics has become a substitute for faith.

"My generation is watching things fall apart," Kiegan Lenihan, a catechumen in the OCIA at St. Joseph's told the Post. "When things all seem to be going wrong in greater society, maybe organized religion isn’t that bad."

Lenihan, a 28-year-old software engineer, spent a portion of his youth reading the works of atheist intellectuals such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. After experiencing an anxiety-induced crisis at school, he apparently sought out something of greater substance, devouring the works of Marcus Aurelius. He found that his life still lacked greater meaning despite achieving material success.

'The Catholic Church is a place of sanity.'

"I realized on paper, I had everything I wanted, but I had no fulfillment in my soul," said Lenihan, who remedied the problem by turning to Christ.

Liz Flynn, a 35-year-old Brooklyn carpenter who is in OCIA at Old St. Patrick's, previously sought relief for her anxiety and depression in self-help books and dabbled in "pseudo spiritualism."

After finding a book about God's unconditional love for his children in a gift shop during a road-trip stop at Cracker Barrel, she began praying the rosary and developed an appreciation for Catholicism.

"I'm happier and calmer than I've ever been," Flynn told the Post. "Prayer has made an enormous impact on my life."

New York City is hardly the only diocese enjoying an explosion in conversions.

The National Catholic Register reported in April that numerous dioceses across the country were seeing substantial increases in conversions. For instance:

  • the Diocese of Cleveland was on track to have 812 converts at Easter 2025 — 50% more than in 2024 and about 75% more than in 2023;
  • the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, expected 56% more converts in 2025 (607) than in 2024 (388);
  • the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, was expected to see a year-over-year doubling of conversions;
  • the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, was expected to see a 59% year-over-year increase;
  • the Diocese of Grand Island, Nebraska, was set for a 45% increase;
  • the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, was expecting a 39% increase in converts; and
  • the Archdiocese of Los Angeles noted a 44% increase in adult converts.

Besides the Holy Spirit, the conversions were attributed to the National Eucharistic Revival, immigration, and evangelization.

Pueblo Bishop Stephen Berg told the Register that people are flocking to the church because it stands as a bulwark against the madness of the age.

"I think the perception of the Catholic Church is changing," said Bishop Berg. "In a world of insanity, I think that people are noticing that the Catholic Church is a place of sanity."

"For 2,000 years, you know, through a lot of turbulent times — and the Church has been through turbulent times — we still stand as the consistent teacher of the faith of Christ," continued Berg. "The people are intrigued by that."

As of March, 20% of Americans described themselves as Catholics, putting the number of Catholic adults at around 53 million nationwide.

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Bishop raises hell after woke priest allows homosexual ABC broadcaster to receive Eucharist beside his 'husband'



Bishop Joseph Strickland, the cleric removed from his office in Tyler, Texas, in 2023 by the late Pope Francis, urged his colleagues gathered on Wednesday for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' plenary assembly to address the matter of a woke priest's apparent willingness to run afoul of the church's custom and to turn a hallowed Catholic ceremony into a non-straight spectacle.

Gio Benitez, a homosexual ABC News correspondent who is "married" to a man, apparently decided after Pope Francis' passing last year to make his way back to the Catholic Church. Benitez, who was allegedly baptized in secret at the age of 15, was confirmed at St. Paul the Apostle's Church in New York City on Nov. 8.

'Here we are talking about doctrine.'

"My Confirmation Mass was a very small gathering of family and friends who have quietly been with me on this journey," Benitez wrote on Instagram. "I found the Ark of the Covenant in my heart, stored there by the one who created me… exactly as I am."

The ABC News correspondent also received holy communion from the church's woke pastor, Rev. Eric Andrews, at the highly publicized mass where LGBT activist Fr. James Martin was a concelebrant and where Benitez's "husband" served as his sponsor.

Blaze News reached out to Rev. Andrews for comment, but did not receive a response.

While the Catholic Church holds that homosexual acts are "acts of grave depravity," "intrinsically disordered," "contrary to the natural law," and "can under no circumstances" be approved, the Catechism states that homosexual persons must nevertheless "be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity."

RELATED: New head of US Catholic Bishops said he would deny communion to pro-abortion politicians

Bishop Joseph Strickland. Photo by Craig F. Walker/Boston Globe via Getty Images

The church has also made clear that Catholics with same-sex attraction who are chaste can "participate fully in the spiritual and sacramental life of the Catholic faith community."

However, those who regularly engage in sexual activity or are partners in a committed homosexual relationship that includes regular sexual relations are not to receive holy communion or serve in public ministries.

"Receiving the sacrament is the ultimate expression of our Catholic faith, an intensely personal matter between communicant and priest," wrote the late and posthumously exonerated Cardinal George Pell. "It's not a question of refusing homosexuals or someone who is homosexually oriented. The rule is basically the same for everyone."

"If a person is actually engaged in — by public admission, at any given time — a practice contrary to Church teaching in a serious matter, then that person is not entitled to receive Holy Communion," continued Pell. "This would apply, for example, to a married person openly living in adultery. Similarly, persons who openly declare themselves active homosexuals take a position which makes it impossible for them to receive Holy Communion."

During a USCCB discussion of doctrine on Wednesday, Bishop Strickland raised the matter of Benitez's highly publicized reception of holy communion while flanked by his "husband."

"I don't know how many of us have seen on the social media priests and others gathered, celebrating the confirmation of a man living with a man openly," said Strickland. "It just needs to be addressed. Father James Martin once again involved. Great pictures of all of them smiling."

Bishop Strickland and Martin have traded barbs over the years, largely around Martin's subversive LGBT activism and apparent efforts to liberalize the Catholic Church's stance on such matters.

Martin — who shared an article titled "Gio Benitez, Openly Gay ABC Anchor, Joins the Catholic Church" on social media this week with the caption "Happy to be a part of your journey!" — has made no secret of his activism. For instance, he took issue with the Supreme Court's June 2025 decision to let parents opt their children out of lessons featuring LGBT propaganda and insinuated that homosexual persons aren't really bound by church teaching.

"Here we are talking about doctrine," continued Strickland. "I just thought I need to raise that issue. I know it's not part of any agenda, but this body gathered, we need to address it."

The panel, focused on updated ethical and religious directives for Catholic health care services, did not take up Strickland's concern.

The Catholic Herald noted that Strickland's tenure as bishop of Tyler was "marked by a reputation for directness, a strong emphasis on Eucharistic devotion, and a willingness to challenge trends in the wider Church that he believed risked undermining the clarity of Catholic teaching."

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