"Doug Jones is gonna run it all the way back! DOUG JONES IS GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!"

Went to Fr. Solanus Casey's beatification in Detroit on Saturday.

It was an impressive ceremony.

My grandmother was a big fan of his work as a Capuchin priest in Detroit, and I wish she could have joined us on Saturday. Nevertheless, I was glad to make it there along with my dad.

Here's coverage from CNN and Local 4.

Tobin and Cupich: Battling the bullies; creating a culture of encounter

Speaking to his brother bishops, he said that if Catholics attend Mass each week and hear the gospel and leave church still imitating divisive rhetoric, then something is seriously wrong.

Following that intervention on the floor of the conference, he told Crux, “The real issue and challenge that we have today is that people are…living in our own camps. We have such a tribal approach to politics.”

Cupich recalled a recent meeting of Catholic Extension, a fundraising body that provides support to mission dioceses across the United States, where many of the bishops told stories about hurricanes and floods that had hit their dioceses hard.

“People put aside their ideologies and their political persuasions and everyone pitched in-black and white, men and women, Republicans and Democrats,” Cupich recounted. “Anything that we can do to bring people together and just encounter each other as the Holy Father is asking us to do.”

What's the plural of 'phoenix'? Utah father thinks it's vulgar and a bad mascot name

The mythical namesake of Arizona's capital and biggest city has appeared in countless pieces of literature, on flags and in even comic books, but one Utah parent is concerned that the phoenix should not be the mascot of a new high school in his town.

Farmington High School is set to open in 2018. Kyle Fraughton, of Farmington, doesn't think phoenix should be the school's mascot because the word sounds similar to "penises" when pluralized.

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Chris Williams, a district spokesman, said administrators remain confident students will mirror the reputation of the mascot.

"We don’t see anything about the plural version of phoenix having anything to do what’s going to be happening at the school or on the football field," he told Salt Lake City's Fox 13. "We think students are going to rise to the occasion."

Catholic church to make record divestment from fossil fuels

More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.

The sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5tn.

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Church institutions joining the action include the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the Episcopal Conference of Belgium and the diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino, the spiritual home of the world’s Franciscan brothers.

A spokesman for the €4.5bn German Church bank and Catholic relief organisation Caritas said that it was committing to divest from coal, tar sands and shale oil.

Man from guess-which-state stops to watch eclipse, gets arrested

Authorities in Florida say an auto theft suspect who wanted to watch the moon blot out the sun instead has a blot on his record.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said on its Facebook page that Jocsan Rosado was arrested Monday after he parked what deputies say was a stolen car to watch the eclipse.

Deputies say Rosado stole the vehicle, and unbeknownst to him, was being followed by detectives with the auto theft unit.

Deputies say he stopped at a hardware store to purchase a welding mask for watching the eclipse safely.

It's a Marian feast day, so you know what that means....

Take it away, Bing!

A Vatican Shot Across the Bow for Hard-Line U.S. Catholics

Two close associates of Pope Francis have accused American Catholic ultraconservatives of making an alliance of “hate” with evangelical Christians to back President Trump, further alienating a group already out of the Vatican’s good graces.

The authors, writing in a Vatican-vetted journal, singled out Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, as a “supporter of an apocalyptic geopolitics” that has stymied action against climate change and exploited fears of migrants and Muslims with calls for “walls and purifying deportations.”

The article warns that conservative American Catholics have strayed dangerously into the deepening political polarization in the United States. The writers even declare that the worldview of American evangelical and hard-line Catholics, which is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, is “not too far apart’’ from jihadists.

It is not clear if the article, appearing in La Civiltà Cattolica, received the pope’s direct blessing, but it was extraordinary coming from a journal that carries the Holy See’s seal of approval. There has apparently been no reprimand from the pope, who is not shy about disciplining dissenters, and La Civiltà Cattolica’s editor has promoted the article nearly every day since it was published in July.

'Bring back my wheelbarrow' sign gets results in Nova Scotia

A simple, hand-painted placard posted at the end of a driveway in Nova Scotia succeeded in changing the mind of an anonymous wheelbarrow thief, who apparently returned the ill-gotten implement a few days after the sign sought its return.

The original sign, which said “BRING BACK MY WHEELBARROW” in large, hand-painted green letters, was spotted sitting at the end of a driveway in rural Nova Scotia on July 29. Days later a second sign was spotted in its place, thanking whoever took the wheelbarrow for returning it.

“THANK YOU FOR BRINGING BACK MY WHEELBARROW,” the sign said.

Halifax-based TV producer Andrew Killawee posted the original photo on social media July 29, along with the caption: “Rural N.S. Crime Stoppers.” He later posted a photo of the second sign, along with his own incredulous caption that read: “I’m not even kidding…”

Land O'Lakes Statement Paved Way for LGBT Welcome in Catholic Higher Ed

First, inspired by Vatican II’s openness to the modern world, “Land O’Lakes” opened Catholic universities to all types of diversity in their communities. This openness has come to include a welcome to LGBT students, faculty (including theologians), staff, and alumni. New Ways Ministry’s LGBT-friendly Catholic colleges and universities listing, available here, attests to how widespread that welcome has become. This openness now increasingly includes an appreciation for the “rich contributions from their own various traditions” that LGBT people offer schools.

Second, “Land O’Lakes” shattered boundaries that had constrained Catholic theological exploration because educators firmly defended academic freedom. This claim did not mean it was easily implemented. In some cases, it erupted into major conflicts. The saga of Fr. Charles Curran and The Catholic University of America began that same year. But as society grappled with new issues in sexuality and gender, theologians at Catholic universities began to do so as well. The profound re-thinking and reclamation of tradition that has happened in the area of sexuality, including enriched theological anthropologies, continues to be a key foundation of Catholic efforts for LGBT equality in the church. Though not considered to be such by many church leaders, these efforts have been a true service to the people of God.

Third, “Land O’Lakes” desired that undergraduate education be oriented around human formation that encourages free inquiry in conjunction with service and spirituality. This kind of thinking paved the way for Catholic universities to create formal supports for LGBTQ students. In Jesuit terms, attention to cura personalis or “care of the whole person” means sexual and gender identities cannot be ignored if church institutions are to truly help form young people. This desire also created space for programming that educates all students on matters of the day, including LGBT issues.

As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the “Land O’Lakes” statement, the question raised is how Catholic higher education continues to receive Vatican II in the present moment. Since the 1960s, Pope John Paul II released Ex Corde Ecclesia, an apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education that in some ways challenged “Land O’Lakes” ideas. Even today, new challenges remain unsettled, and the path of LGBT inclusion has not been easy. But without the Land O’Lakes conference, we would never have been able to have come as far as we have on LGBT issues on Catholic campuses. So on this 50th anniversary weekend, I am grateful for how far we have come and hopeful for what is to come in the next fifty years.