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Steve McCluskey

@stevemccluskey.bsky.social
358 followers 34 following 310 posts

🇺🇸🇮🇪🇪🇺Chicago born Irish-American. History of Science / Cultural Astronomy: Medieval and Native American. USNavy 1961-7. Husband, father, grandfather. Catholic, Democrat, West Virginian.

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Reposted by Steve McCluskey
John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 10/09/2026
New from us: Anthropic just published scenarios for AI’s possible economic impacts, which range from minimal, to explosive GDP growth of 15% by 2030 as knowledge-worker unemployment hits 18%. I sat down with their co-founder Jack Clark to pick his brains on how they’re thinking about all of this.
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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
USCCB Labor Day Statement: “Pope Leo expressly acknowledges the great risks of AI for workers: de-skilling, surveillance, rigid and repetitive tasks, reduced agency and creativity, unemployment, job insecurity, concentrated power, and increased inequalities.”
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
“Trump … and his band of truculent lackeys won’t be around forever, but unless change comes soon, we’ll be paying for their mistakes for years to come.”
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Devastating news — the SBE started my career both in grad school (history of science) and a young faculty grant (hos and anthropology)
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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This church sits in a rather wealthy neighborhood of Chicago, and I’m reminded of John Chrysostom’s words: "If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find Him in the chalice."
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Commonweal @commonwealmagazine.org · 22/08/2026
The West still pictures India as rooted in Gandhian tradition. But it is Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s radical nationalism that drives Indian politics today. Shiv Parihar: 'India Without Gandhi' www.commonwealmagazine.org/india-withou...
commonwealmagazine.org
India Without Gandhi
The West still pictures India as rooted in Gandhian tradition. But it is Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's radical nationalism that drives Indian politics today.
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Michael Tomasky @mjtoma.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
New Column: The answer to the question my headline poses is a little more complicated than most people are allowing. newrepublic.com/post/214367/... via @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com
Why Don’t Leftie Candidates Do Better Among Working-Class Voters?
It isn’t that non-college voters are more “moderate.” It’s something else entirely, and it will probably take about a decade to fix, if it’s fixable at all.
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Important historical thread on the bombing of Nagasaki, showing it to be more bureaucratic inertia than a decision by the president. Read the whole thread
View of rebuilt  Immaculate Conception Cathedral (Urakami Cathedral) as seen from Nagasaki Peace Park (Nov 1964)
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mburnamfink.bsky.social @mburnamfink.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
5 stars to @wellerstein.bsky.social fantastic book on Truman and the atomic bomb. I'm really glad it finally arrived on the top of my queue, in partnership with the Hiroshima accounts from my short story book group. www.burrowedbooks.com/book/the-mos...
burrowedbooks.com
The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age — Burrowed Books
A review of The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age by Alex Wellerstein.
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
WaPo changed perspective with new headline and lede: 2 U.S. service members killed, 1 missing after Iran attack on Jordan, military says Iran launched a wave of attacks on U.S. allies Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as the U.S. military hit Iran, in the seventh consecutive day of clashes.
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Good investigation of ICE officers by the Times.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Forensic Architecture just published an in-depth investigation into the Minab school bombing in Iran that's well worth a read and watch forensic-architecture.org/investigatio...
forensic-architecture.org
Forensic Architecture
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Seb Falk @sebfalk.com · 16/07/2026
Since I completely forgot to post about my own presentation beforehand, here's the abstract. Thanks to everyone who came and/or chatted about the project with me afterwards. It was really useful to air some new ideas to a friendly crowd! Even more excited to get writing the book now!
Back to the Future of Wayfinding: Pre-modern astro-navigation in the GPS age

New technologies in the 20th century challenged the need for navigators to look to the stars. The rapid development of radio direction-finding, beam and hyperbolic systems, and finally satellite navigation, promised to make old methods redundant. An unfathomable global system of transmitters and receivers would replace skills in taking sightings and computing with brass and paper tools; the signals from atomic clocks would eclipse the long-fixed shapes of the constellations. 
Yet from the beginning this march of new technology was contested. In the first place, while black-box systems promised to make knowledge of location and direction universally accessible, the cost of equipment raised new barriers. As prices plummeted and precision soared, concerns grew that sailors and pilots might lack the understanding necessary to interpret navigational data, leading to increased risk. It has even been suggested that reliance on technology rewires our brains, making us 
stupider.Meanwhile, as ‘traditional’ techniques became outmoded, interest surged in 
reconstructing the seemingly miraculous methods of the past. Respect for the 
astrolabe-toting heroes of the European ‘Age of Exploration’ was complicated by a 
growing pluralistic awareness that their achievements had been preceded by a suite of skills and senses practised in the Pacific. In the Anthropocene, an instinctive feel for one’s environment seems ever more precious when alone atop a vast ocean.Most recently, fears about the vulnerability of GPS systems to jamming or even spoofing have become stronger – and more realistic. Put together, these pressures have caused hydrographic offices and training schools to pull back from abandoning old materials and methods. This paper will survey the arguments of manufacturers and mapmakers, technologists and traditionalists – from the backstaff to the blue dot – to show why, in the age of Google, navigation is so contested.
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
“The Church has a preferential option for the poor.… It’s a formal doctrinal position,… It means a living wage is not a socialist plot but a human right. Catholic social teaching insists on this point so often and explicitly that you have to work hard to miss it. Vance works hard to miss it.”
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Fine historical meditation on the Manhattan Project and its implications.
Mushroom cloud dominating a desert landscape,
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Fine, detailed account by noted Vaticanist, Nicole Winfield.
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
“Precision weaponry that widens the gap between soldier and enemy carries its own moral risks. Disembodied warfare is spiritually vacuous.… The way we conduct war today wounds those who fight it because they are kept from reckoning with the consequences of their actions.”
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E.J. Dionne @ejdionne.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Republicans have long claimed a monopoly on “values” issues. But this year, we’re witnessing a renewal of our tradition of moral engagement with our common life, the economy, social justice, technological revolution — and what we owe each other. My column www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | A Different Kind of ‘Values Voter’ Will Power the 2026 Midterms
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Marianne O'Doherty @marianneodoherty.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
OK #MedievalSky and #Skystorians: early career job klaxon! A post on my new project 'Strange Geographies: Spatial Imaginaries of Medieval Britain', 30 months (with poss. of extension). Details at jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... @royalhistsoc.org @memorients.bsky.social @imc-leeds.bsky.social
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Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
This is a really lovely interrogation of the use of AI in astrophysics that gets to this fundamental question—are we doing science because we want to know the answer (by any means) or because we like doing science? + www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Amid a flood of AI advances, astrophysicists are questioning the soul of their field
Researchers see enormous power in new tools—but also the potential end of astrophysics as a human endeavor
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Read this article in the Chicago Sun-Times all the way to the end.
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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Reupping: "Those who engaged in the attacks last week will be brought to justice." ---Trump on 1/13/21, after the House impeached him but before the Senate had voted on whether to convict.
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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
in dealing with a quasi-king, one king (also head of a church) and the pope (also head of a state) have performed better than others
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
King Charles:“Distinguished members of the 119th Congress, it is here in these very halls that this spirit of liberty and the promise of America’s Founders is present in every session and every vote cast. Not by the will of one, but by the deliberation of many”
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Beautiful rendering of a familiar figure.
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Harriet Fagerberg @harrif.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Cambridge Department of History and Philosophy of Science are now on Bluesky! 🔭📚 @hpscambridge.bsky.social
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 03/04/2026
More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕
A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Micheál Martin to Donald Trump: “You cannot be a rogue state with a nuclear weapon.”
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Honestly I need historians to be the plaintiffs in every case I cover because if they make it to discovery you just KNOW those primary sources are going public. Exhibit A: The American Historical Association uploading video depos of the DOGE bros to YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkCz...
youtube.com
Nathan Cavanaugh Deposition in ACLS-AHA-MLA Lawsuit About the NEH, Part 1 of 6
YouTube video by American Historical Association
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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 07/03/2026
Fantastic kicker from @oliviacgeorge.bsky.social here: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
On the wall near the plaque, they affixed a QR code titled "Honored Law Enforcement." A scan with a smartphone takes the viewer to a list of officers present that day. The list goes on for 45 pages.
By 4:25 a.m. they had finished. They packed up their tools and wheeled the plywood away, leaving the hallway empty once more.
Outside, the air was damp and filled with birdsong, the darkness gradually receding with the dawn of a new day.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Time: Asked if Americans should be worried abt attacks at home: I guess. Daily Mail: The White House blocked release of FBI/NCTC warning of elevated risks.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone bombardments against U.S. bases and allied territory, targeting military facilities across the Gulf, including Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. One Iranian drone killed six American service members at a U.S. command center in Kuwait. Asked whether Americans should be worried about retaliatory attacks at home, Trump acknowledges the possibility. “I guess,” he says. “But I think they’re worried about that all the time. We think about it all the time. We plan for it. But yeah, you know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die."Donald Trump’s White House is blocking top US intelligence agencies from warning law enforcement across the country about rising threats to the homeland tied to his war with Iran, the Daily Mail can reveal.

The FBI, Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center were preparing to put out a joint intelligence statement on Friday to state and local authorities alerting them of a heightened threat due to the ongoing war in Iran, a senior DHS official said.

The bulletin, which was reviewed by the Daily Mail, details 'elevated threats by the government of Iran to US military and government personnel and facilities, Jewish and Israeli institutions and their perceived supporters, and Iranian dissidents and other anti-regime activists in the United States.'

'Radicalized individuals with a variety of ideological backgrounds also may see this conflict or other geopolitical events as a justification for violence,' the report continues.

The five-page bulletin blocked by the White House provides specific details on how Iranian proxies may carry out attacks across the country. One section explains how local law enforcement can respond to this type of violence.

The official title is 'A Public Safety Awareness Report: Elevated threat in the United States during US-Iran conflict'. 

Homeland Security broke protocol and gave the White House a heads-up about the nationwide bulletin hours before it was set to be released. 

Top Trump officials ordered it placed on ‘hold’. The White House did not deny blocking the terror bulletin in a statement to the Daily Mail.
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Thony Christie @rmathematicus.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Nicolaus Copernicus was born 19 February 1473. @karlgalle.bsky.social's biographical sketch of his life & work #histsci thonyc.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/p...
thonyc.wordpress.com
Publish and Perish
As I announced yesterday I am playing away this week with a tasty post on astrology and astronomy on the excellent Forbidden Histories blog site. However the substitute bank here at The Renaissance…
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Rebecca Elliott @rebeccafelliott.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
A giant wind farm in Wyoming died after facing permitting delays. In Indiana, a solar project stalled after the Trump administration blocked it from using a taxpayer-funded database. A federal permitting ‘blockade’ is hitting renewables projects hard. Story with @bradplumer.bsky.social:
nytimes.com
A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects Nationwide
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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 25/01/2026
Minnesota National Guard members have arrived at a federal building and were directed to distribute donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate to anti-ICE protesters. Guard members were issued reflective vests so they would not be mistaken for federal agents.
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Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · 24/01/2026
A DHS statement claimed “an individual approached US Border Patrol officers” with “a handgun” in the Alex Pretti shooting incident. A Bellingcat analysis of the footage appears to show that a gun was taken away from where Pretti was situated by an agent just before the first shot was fired.
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Mohamed Qassiti @mqassiti.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Just shared by Samuel Gessner @sgessner.bsky.social via the Rete mailing list: The great programme of the international conference “Beyond Books: Instruments and Knowledge in #Libraries”, 14–15 January 2026 at @mhngeneve.bsky.social. #histstm #histsci #medievalsky @stephenaj.bsky.social
Programme of the international conference “Beyond Books: Instruments and Knowledge in Libraries”, 14–15 January 2026 at the Musée d’histoire des sciences, Geneva.Programme of the international conference “Beyond Books: Instruments and Knowledge in Libraries”, 14–15 January 2026 at the Musée d’histoire des sciences, Geneva.
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Seb Falk @sebfalk.com · 05/01/2026
JOB ALERT! 3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community. PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...
Here's what it looked like on my return to work this morning - beautiful red brick gabled building of Girton's Hall, with a dusting of snow on the grass in front.
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Seb Falk @sebfalk.com · 01/01/2026
There's room for another historian (or anthropologist) at @girtoncollege.bsky.social ! 3-year postdoc research fellowship, apply by 12 January! www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...
girton.cam.ac.uk
Research Fellowship in Arts
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American Historical Association @historians.org · 22/12/2025
Today, the AHA & CREW filed an amicus brief in support of Harvard University’s lawsuit against the federal government over the university’s ability to host foreign scholars and students. The brief conveys the importance of international scholars and students to American higher education. 🗃️
historians.org
AHA Files Amicus Brief in Support of Foreign Scholars - AHA
The American Historical Association (AHA), in collaboration with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), has filed an amicus brief in support of Harvard University’s lawsuit again...
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Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Of 107 democracies studied by @pewresearch.org, only one other country uses the same redistricting approach as the US, that is, single-member districts drawn mainly by state legislatures: the Federated States of Micronesia, with a population of around 100,000. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
pewresearch.org
U.S. stands out globally in how it draws legislative districts
Among 107 democracies, we found that only one other country uses the same redistricting approach as the U.S.
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Good first take on the rumored successor to Cardinal Dolan as archbishop of New York.
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
A chapter in Hegseth’s book is literally titled “More Lethality, Less Lawyers.” It’s almost as if there were signs!
Pete Hegseth Chapter 10
More Lethality, Less Lawyers
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 17/11/2025
Print dictionaries: the original large language models 11/18/25
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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
A judge ordered agents involved in the Chicago deportation blitz to have "visible identification … prominently displayed." But they've been missing in dozens of @chicago.suntimes.com photographs. From @bylaurenfitz.bsky.social, Anthony Vazquez and Ashlee Rezin: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
chicago.suntimes.com
IDs are mismatched, illegible or still missing 3 weeks after judge’s order to immigration officers
In dozens of photographs at four locations, Chicago Sun-Times photojournalists documented federal officers failing to wear the “visible identification” needed to hold individuals accountable during th...
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.”
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Steve McCluskey @stevemccluskey.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
“[T]o those immigrants without documents. Most of you have been here for years. You have worked hard. You have raised families. You have contributed to this nation. You have earned our respect.… You are our brothers and sisters. We stand with you. God bless you all.”
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H I Sutton @covertshores.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
*this* is how to legally and humanly deal with suspected drug smuggling vessels
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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
we can destroy that (aspirational)
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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Full homily text. adw.org/news/wdmr-ho...
adw.org
Mass for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees Homily Given by Robert Cardinal McElroy - Archdiocese of Washington
HOMILY Mass for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees Given by Robert Cardinal McElroy, Archbishop of Washington Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington, DC September 28, 2025 at 5:30 ...
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