iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

President Donald Trump wants the Oval Office declared a federal landmark so no one can take down the gilded accents he’s affixed to the walls. White House Renovations Dominate Trump’s Contentious Time Magazine Cover Interview www.washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/t...

washingtonsun.com

White House Renovations Dominate Trump’s Contentious Time Magazine Cover Interview

The president also complained about the tone of news coverage his presidency has garnered, at one point swearing at the reporters.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

MSW: LeoXIV is a pontificate of synthesis & enacting reforms in the day-to-day processes of the church. He is to Francis what Paul VI was to John XXIII, the pope who institutionalizes the vision. www.ncronline.org/node/340611 via @NCRonline

ncronline.org

Pope Leo synthesizes predecessors' style in speech to French bishops

When Pope Leo XIV spoke to the French bishops who had gathered at Lourdes this week, his message had echoes of Popes Francis, Benedict XVI and John Paul II.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Not quite sure this is a prayer God wishes to answer: “We pray for the president that he will not compromise. Father, we cry out, in the name of Jesus, that we will totally annihilate the regime!” We Need to Talk About the Apocalypse newrepublic.com/article/2150... via @newrepublic

newrepublic.com

We Need to Talk About the Apocalypse

End-times prophecy, pro-war prayer circles, Democrats as demons: Christian dominionism’s influence is everywhere in the second Trump administration—and increasingly, within America itself. Can democra...

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I just watched the Charlie Chaplin film "The Great Dictator" tonight on TCM. Looking at our current national & world situation it's "deja vu all over again" as Yogi Berra might have said...The movie's end does give one hope though!

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Trump at UN on Iran: "Do I annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?” How this is in accord with Catholic Social Teaching (and basic humanity)? Am waiting for "fraternal correction" from his episcopal advisors

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

“We need competent white men in positions of leadership,” he wrote in another message. “The founding fathers were wrong that all men are created equal … We need to reject that part of our heritage.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | The G.O.P. Has Gone Off the Deep End

The Republican fringe is becoming the Republican mainstream.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The Catholic Church & immigration: Towards a new “Humanae Vitae”? The question is ... how this doctrine will be further developed, given that these arguments come from an internal dissent that has consequences that go far beyond the life of the Church. www.globalcatholic.com/the-catholic...

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Allowing wrongdoers to keep power encourages more misconduct, which further erodes voter trust & widens polarization, as a partisan news media draws attention to the opposing party’s getting away with scandalous behavior." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/w...

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Used Small Cages as ‘Calming Areas,’ Report Says www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/u...

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The way individuals and societies consume resources expresses a vision of what human beings believe they need and what they believe they are entitled to take. A New Sin: Ecological Sin. Document Addressing Sins Against Creation - ZENIT - English zenit.org/2026/09/02/a...

zenit.org

A New Sin: Ecological Sin. Vatican Office Publishes Document Addressing Sins Against Creation - ZENIT - English

The document, Caring for Our Common Home: A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Triune God, runs to more than 29,000 words and was developed by a subcommission that worked between 2022 and 2025....

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

"However well-meaning the priest is in departing from the rubrics, the fact remains that it is a decision only he can make and that often draws attention to him. There is a word for that: clericalism." Priests should stick to the rubrics www.americamagazine.org/editorials/2...

americamagazine.org

A way out of the Vatican II liturgy wars: Priests should stick to the rubrics

Priests who depart from the rubrics of the Mass may mean well. But Catholics should consider why both Popes Leo and Francis have called such deviations a problem.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Gates: religious leaders "as people who spend their lives thinking about what it means to be human," play a key role in responding to questions posed by AI, "including how we preserve our humanity in a time when machines can out-think us." www.ncronline.org/node/338606 via @NCRonline

ncronline.org

Bill Gates and Silicon Valley congressman latest to endorse pope's AI encyclical

Three months after the release of Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica Humanitas continues to gain traction among tech leaders and policymakers alike.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

St. Peter's in Rome and Notre Dame in Paris and the Frauenkirche in Munich do not have a tabernacle on their main altars. All have a distinct chapel where the reserved sacrament is kept. Stop moving the tabernacle! www.ncronline.org/node/338461 via @NCRonline

ncronline.org

Stop moving the tabernacle!

"I understand that in a small parish church the only realistic place for a tabernacle may be behind the main altar. But in a cathedral?" NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters writes.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Waiting for a "magisterial" response from our "usual suspects" from the Culture Warrior and Just War contingent: Rome Advances Dorothy Day Toward Sainthood mikefoxcatechist.substack.com/p/rome-advan...

mikefoxcatechist.substack.com

Rome Advances Dorothy Day Toward Sainthood

As she would expect, not everyone is pleased.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

"Even the Devil can quote Scripture to his own advantage"

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

"There can be little doubt that Hegseth has failed even by his own simplistic standards. The blame belongs not just to him but also to the man who appointed him in the first place and to the senators who confirmed him despite his manifest unfitness." www.commonwealmagazine.org/editorial-he...

commonwealmagazine.org

Lethally Stupid

Pete Hegseth won’t be around forever—but unless change comes soon, we’ll be paying for his mistakes for years to come.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

"The argument increasingly is that only certain groups of people (the “blood”) are suitable to live on this land (the “soil”) & that only those belonging to those groups are true Americans. This is intellectually refined Trumpism." www.americamagazine.org/faith-and-re...

americamagazine.org

What’s wrong with the right-wing ‘heritage American’ story

Many arguments against migration suggest that only certain groups of people (the “blood”) are suitable to live on this land (the “soil”) and that only those belonging to those groups are true American...

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

John Carroll University Platform shared by our new JCU President Noll Sorg | Institutional Priorities youtu.be/J7nSqtTlEv4?... via @YouTube

youtu.be

President Noll Sorg | Institutional Priorities

YouTube video by JohnCarrollU

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Bishop DiMarzio: Until the American public realizes the drastic mark that will be left on our national conscience and strongly opposes this policy, these deportation programs will continue. The enforcement methods being used, ... should concern us all. www.thebostonpilot.com/article.php?...

thebostonpilot.com

Are there defensible reasons for mass deportations?

Two recent Supreme Court decisions have had a great effect on immigration. First, the Supreme Court affirmed that birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the practice of our country from the begi

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

RIP Dolly Parton---a great singer, performer and an even greater person. Rest in Power!

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Reposted by @jimbretzke.bsky.social

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 25/08/2026

"The Court’s MAGA majority, led by Roberts, continues to swallow the Trump administration’s laughable lies about what they are doing — lies that contradict both their own public statements and the dictates of logic" — @snipy.bsky.social

publicnotice.co

John Roberts sticks two more knives in democracy’s back

The mail voting and ballroom decisions are a travesty.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Inside Baseball, but reasonably presented: Who Will Be Offered the First Red Hats of Leo XIV’s Pontificate?| National Catholic Register www.ncregister.com/news/pope-le...

ncregister.com

Who Will Be Offered the First Red Hats of Leo XIV’s Pontificate?

ANALYSIS: The first American Pope has yet to appoint his inaugural batch of cardinals.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Entered the Jesuits 56 years on 23 August 1970. The 4 of us in ties were classmates (and co-novices) from Marquette High. The others were classmates, Jesuit teachers, and one younger brother. I'm in the lighter blue blazer.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Faggioli: The problem was not Douthat’s lack of deference towards Pope Francis; the age of deference is over. The problem was his glib dismissal of the content of Francis’s teaching and lack of engagement with the sources, www.commonwealmagazine.org/faggioli-dou...

commonwealmagazine.org

Learning from Ross Douthat

As a New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat's commentary on the Church was defined by a central antagonist: Pope Francis.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The only country in Western Europe I've never visited, despite having lived in Italy for a decade. 10 Things to Know About San Marino Ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s Visit| National Catholic Register www.ncregister.com/cna/10-thing...

ncregister.com

10 Things to Know About San Marino Ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s Visit

The pontiff will visit one of the world’s smallest countries on Aug. 22. Here’s what to know about San Marino’s deep Catholic roots.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

In the Church’s eyes, a vaccine has never been a private consumer choice, because the unvaccinated child sits in a classroom beside a newborn’s brother and a chemotherapy patient’s daughter. The common good has a body. open.substack.com/pub/lettersf...

open.substack.com

“A Suicidal Denialism” — Pope Leo XIV and the Catholic Church’s Defense of the COVID Vaccine

Trump rewrote the childhood vaccine schedule, Florida is threatening Catholic schools, and the Senate wants Fauci jailed. Before he was pope, Leo XIV fought for vaccines, oxygen, and to save lives.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The vaccinations in question are required for students by Florida law. Our Catholic schools do not grant “religious exemptions” for student vaccinations because the vaccines as presently developed and administered do not violate Church teachings. www.miamiarch.org/CatholicDioc...

miamiarch.org

ADOM :: Religious freedom is not the state’s to interpret

The Archdiocese of Miami :: 9401 Biscayne Blvd - Miami Shores, FL 33138

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Kaveny: In my view, recognizing our need for help from a neighbor is intertwined with recognizing our need for help from Christ himself. To think that we can always be helpful, and that we never can or should be a burden, is a spiritual vice. www.commonwealmagazine.org/importance-b...

commonwealmagazine.org

The Importance of Being a Burden

Physician-assisted suicide is not harmless or selfless: it is a rejection of the inherent dignity of the elderly and the vulnerable.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

There is also an attempt by Pence to absolve himself and the conservative movement of complicity in the disaster of Trumpism by creating distance between the two www.commonwealmagazine.org/lesson-waste...

commonwealmagazine.org

A Lesson Wasted

The memory of almost being hanged by Trump supporters doesn’t appear to have clarified Mike Pence’s conscience.

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

“Catholic schools or a Catholic diocese cannot grant an exemption on religious grounds since the Catholic Church does not teach that the use of vaccinations produced by cell lines derived from tissue from an aborted fetus is intrinsically evil” www.americamagazine.org/short-take/2...

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Kenneth Craycraft: "if the common good is the achievement of the conditions for true human fulfilment, some laws, policies and public institutions can never be compatible with common good." www.thebostonpilot.com/article.php?...

thebostonpilot.com

What is the 'common good,' anyway?

My social media feeds have recently been full of discussions of

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Why a child’s stuffed bunny is blowing up a political race — and the internet

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jimbretzke.bsky.social @jimbretzke.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Archbishop Wester: "Until the 1960s we often forced left-handed children to write with their right hand. I wondered if we were in a similar situation today by equating gender identity with some aberration." The church must draw closer to L.G.B.T.Q. people www.americamagazine.org/faith-and-re...

americamagazine.org

Archbishop Wester: The church must draw closer to L.G.B.T.Q. people

I recently attended a meeting in Racine, Wis., organized by New Ways Ministry, that deepened my pastoral concern, understanding and right judgment about the lives of L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics.

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