Christian Today

  Saint of the day August 17 ST. EUSEBIUS, POPE AND MARTYR, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Eusebius St. Hiero, 885 A.D. Irish martyr, also called Iero. He was an Irish missionary to Holland, where he was martyred https://celticsaints.org/2018/0817c.html St. Drithelm, 700 A.D.  A wealthy man of Northumbria, England, who supposedly died, experienced a powerful vision of heaven, hell, and purgatory, and then was found to be alive. He divided his possessions among his wife and children and made benefices for the poor before becoming a monk at Melrose Abbey. He lived as a hermit there with great austerities. St. Bede gives an account of his life.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryhthelm St. James the Deacon, 769 A.D. Italian monk and deacon. A companion of St. Paulinus in the missionary effort in Northumbria, England, he was so dedicated to the evangelizing cause that he remained in the region despite the constant dangers of the severe pagan reaction.https://en.wikip...

  Pope Francis: The Blessed Mother actively leads us toward eternal life https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/50431

  Saint of the day August 16 Bl. John of Saint Martha, Roman Catholic Franciscan Martyr of Japan. He was born in Prados, Spain, in 1578, and ordained a Franciscan in 1606. Sent to Japan, he mastered that nation's language and worked in the missions. He was arrested in 1615 and spent three years in prison before being beheaded. John was beatified in 1867. Feastday Aug 16 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_Martyrs_of_Japan Bl. Mary Magdalen Kiota, Roman Catholic Dominican tertiary and Japanese Martyr. A princess of Japan and relative of a local lord, she was a Dominican tertiary. Arrested for sheltering missionaries, she was burned alive at Nagasaki. Feastday Aug. 16 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_Martyrs_of_Japan St. Stephen the Great, Roman Catholic King. He gave his patronage to Church leaders, helped build churches, and was a proponent of the rights of the Holy See. Stephen also crushed the pagan counter reaction to Christianity, forcibly converting the so-called Black Hungarians...

  'What we shall do now is mission, what we shall later do is mission, as the road before us is revealed. The mission of Jesus Christ, whoever we shall be.'—Sr. Maureen Geary, president of LCWR https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/news/lcwr-assembly-invites-sisters-become-catalyst-social-transformation via @NCRonline

Saint of the day August 15 ST. TARCISIUS, ROMAN, MARTYR OF THE EUCHARIST,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarcisius ST. STANISLAUS KOSTKA, JESUIT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislaus_Kostka  

religion/fact-sheet/gay-marriage-around-the-world https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/gay-marriage-around-the-world/

 where-is-the-most-religious-place-in-the-world https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/08/09/where-is-the-most-religious-place-in-the-world/