Welcome to an Advent edition of Wisdom Wednesday. Consider the sources as you join in the trek with the pope in Nicaea to a reporter’s visit to the year long nativity celebration in Bethlehem (Connecticut). We have a report that Hispanic immigrants and conservative Catholics are trending away from previous support of the administration, amid poking at changing realities in our society – even the end of a stereotype: the professionals say you don’t have to be white and overweight to be a true Santa.
Pope Leo XIV News and Analysis
This week Pope Leo XIV and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, were to make a joint pilgrimage to Nicaea to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the statement of faith shared by Christians of the Western and Eastern Churches. Lewis Ayres, in The Tablet says “what a creed is and how it should be used is often misunderstood.”
ANALYSIS Bob Mickens identifies Pope Leo XIV as “the apostle of non-violence. In his Letter from Rome, published by the Union of Catholic Asian News, he says Pope Leo isn’t just condemning wars, but also insisting that we “must reject the paradigm of war” itself and “prepare institutions of peace.”
Pope Leo XIV called on the world’s religious communities to break down “the walls of prejudice and mistrust” that divide them, at his first Mass abroad, rounding out a day of interreligious outreach and renewed appeals for Christian unity that included a pointed hint at a possible trip to Jerusalem in 2033. National Catholic Reporter has details from Istanbul, on Nov. 29, his last full day in Turkey.
Pope Leo XIV’s travels highlight Christian resilience in Lebanon despite regional turmoil. According to National Catholic Reporter, Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Lebanon over the weekend is a recognition of the importance of Lebanon’s religious pluralism and a message to Christians not to abandon the region.
An Instrument for Peace
For more than five decades, Thomas Michel lived among Muslims and Christians, Buddhists and the religiously unaffiliated, scholars and villagers, diplomats and refugees, according to a glowing obituary published by an online platform focused on Turkey, Politurco. “He listened, he learned, he taught, he befriended — and above all, he loved.” [Michel was a classmate and friend of Wisdom Wednesday contributor Bob Stewart.]
Advent
Advent is the time of preparation to receive the grace of Christmas the only way we Christians can truly prepare: clinging to the cross and begging for mercy for our sins, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.
“So, while it is understood that salvation always comes from God, God does expect and await human cooperation,” writes Barbara Molinari Quinby. “As we see in [Sunday’s] readings, Matthew underscores the human role in bringing about a world ruled by divine values.”
Immigration issues
STUDY Latino Christians disapprove of Trump, hit hard by mass deportation campaign. According to National Catholic Reporter, those opinions are being shaped as a majority of Latino Christians are witnessing the impacts of Trump’s mass deportation campaign in their own neighborhoods.
The much-discussed Hispanic turn in support of Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race is fading, according to new polling from Pew Research, as reported by Baptist News Global.
How one conservative Christian family is pushing back against ICE. Religion News Service reports a coalition of activists, everyday citizens and people of faith — including theologically conservative Christians — who have pooled resources and learned new technologies to mount an effort they say is designed to protect immigrants in their neighborhoods and around Chicago.
Texas bishops bemoan the uncertainty of the state’s DACA program. From National Catholic Reporter.
Christianity both challenges and supports LGBT migration, says a report from the Union of Catholic Asian News. “Religion influences queer migration by shaping acceptance, community ties, and access to legal recognition across borders.” George B. Radics, a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore (NUS), discusses the influence of Christianity, particularly Catholicism, on LGBT migration and policy formulation.
“Just a question for us Catholics. Did you hear from the pulpit or read on the website of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese [or any other Catholic source] the letter from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Nov. 12 about immigration?”
WEBINAR On Thursday, December 4, Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life Latino Leader Program will host a gathering on the effects of fear-inducing immigration enforcement tactics, the separation of families, and racial prejudice resulting from the violent rhetoric and policing that have accompanied the immigration policies of the last year. “Making Life Unbearable” will air Dec. 4 from 7 to 8 p.m. EST.
The Trump administration plans to review and possibly revoke the legal status of refugees resettled in the U.S. during Joe Biden’s presidency. The order affects more than 200,000 refugees who entered the country legally between Jan. 20, 2021, and Feb. 20, 2025, according to a federal memo reviewed by Reuters. Our report is from Baptist News Global.
Priest walks from Illinois to New York against ‘inhumane’ immigration enforcement. From Catholic News Agency.
Vatican II turns 60
Tony Magliano, in a column published by South Africa’s Catholic Magazine, zyx the Council has so much more to teach us.
South Africa’s Catholic Magazine
Opposing government support of World Youth Day
PODCAST South Korea’s largest Buddhist order has called for the immediate withdrawal of a proposed special law that would offer government support for the Church-organized World Youth Day in 2027. Listen to the UCAN story and more in a wrap-up of the weekly news from Asia.
‘Give us this day our daily bread’
With those words from the Lord’s Prayer, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is framing a new national reflection on food insecurity. According to National Catholic Reporter, the bishops believe affordable housing, just wages, environmental safeguards reduce food insecurity.
‘Say but the word’ – but not at COP30
National Catholic Reporter finds participants who say the UN climate summit in the Amazon falls short on fossil fuel phaseout plan. The words “fossil fuel” are missing from the final report.
In case you missed it
The Catholic University of America Press has released a new study titled “Rebuilding Trust: Clergy Morale in the Wake of the Abuse Crisis.” The report reveals a persistent and troubling lack of trust among diocesan priests toward their bishops. A significant factor contributing to this erosion of trust is the fear among priests of being falsely accused of sexual abuse. Read from First Things, “When Forgiveness of Sins Becomes a Financial Liability.”
Mental Health issues
“America’s Mental Health Crisis and the Religious Sister Who’s Confronting It in California,” reports the National Catholic Register. Sister Theres Hong Phuoc Tran utilizes spiritual tools to improve people’s well-being, especially youth.
National Catholic Register also reports the “U..S. Bishops Launch ‘Healing and Hope’ Initiative to Promote, Strengthen Mental Health.” The U.S. bishops have added three new elements to the mental health campaign to strengthen Catholic engagement ahead of World Mental Health Day.
Pope Leo’s visit to psychiatric hospital aims to combat stigma in struggling Lebanon. Religion News Service reports from Lebanon — a country battered by economic collapse and recurring conflict. Pope Leo XIV visited with patients battling trauma, recovering from addiction and with disabilities at the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross.
Our Society
OPINION On the right, Judeo-Christian values are out and Christian nationalism is in
As someone who has been studying the use of ‘Judeo-Christian’ in American public discourse for over 40 years, Mark Silk, in an RNS report, writes that he can say with confidence its usage has come full circle.
ANALYSIS Until this month, official Washington could still claim to know little about Nick Fuentes, the 27-year-old Christian nationalist whose livestreamed talk show, “America First,” draws half a million viewers and who has a million followers on X. RNS reports many of them are fans who call themselves “Groypers” and have been known to do Fuentes’ bidding, most notably on Jan. 6, 2021, when a boisterous group of young supporters gathered near the White House chanting, “Christ is king!”
BEHIND THE SCENES Security protocols at synagogues have expanded dramatically in recent times. RNS reports, “A Jewish institution in North America or Britain that doesn’t have a security plan is today an outlier.”
INVESTIGATION Is the Bible Belt no longer Israel’s Safety Belt? The American evangelical church has long supported Israel, with Jerry Falwell Sr. once saying the Bible Belt is Israel’s “safety belt.” Yet in recent years, polls reveal that the safety belt is fraying among evangelicals under 35.
ANALYSIS For first time ever, the United States refused to acknowledge World AIDS Day. Christina Stanton provides perspective from Baptist News Global.
FAITH STORY “How the Black Church saved me from white evangelicalism.” Joel Bowman Sr. writes in Baptist News Global, “There was a time when I almost lost myself trying to fit into white evangelical spaces that never were designed for me. These were spaces where I was preemptively labeled a “liberal” and my passion for racial justice was dismissed as a “distraction from the gospel.”
FAITH STORY “How Orthodoxy almost drew me in.” Christopher Schelin, for Baptist News Global, writes this introduction: “On The New York Times website recently, Ruth Graham wrote about the surge of converts to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, driven heavily by young, conservative men who crave the grounding in tradition it provides. I was immediately struck by the resonances of this story with my own past.”
Honoring first Josephite Parish in the South
Historic Black Catholic parish in Lebeau, Louisiana, to unveil historical marker. From Black Catholic Messenger.
‘Poetry and Prophecy’
This Land Is Home to Me, a pastoral letter on powerlessness in Appalachia, was issued by the Catholic bishops of the Appalachian region in 1975. The letter was the result of a year’s worth of synodal-style conversations between the Catholic Committee of Appalachia and area residents, who reflected on their experiences of economic precarity, environmental degradation, and dehumanization under the dominance of corporate wealth. From Today’s American Catholic.
‘Wicked: For Good’ review
It is “Crisp and timely social commentary in musical form.” Nate TInner-Williams at Black Catholic Messenger reviews the sequel to last fall’s blockbuster, calling it a defiant romp that is inspiring and challenging all at once.
A Tale of Two Towns
National Catholic Register finds the Little Town of Bethlehem planning a joyous Christmas to offer hope in the Holy Land.Bethlehem Plans Joyous Christmas to Offer Hope in the Holy Land – after five years of COVID and War.
The little town of Bethlehem in Connecticut celebrates Christmas all year long.
What makes a true Santa?
Religion News Service, following a survey of 849 professional Santas, found that one-third of them don’t match the usual image of a roly-poly bearded white man.
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