Elizabeth gives birth to a son. The neighbors assume he will be named after his father. She says no: "He will be called John." They don't believe her - no one in the family has that name. They turn to Zechariah, who has been mute since doubting the angel's word nine months ago. He asks for a writing tablet. He writes four words: "His name is John." Immediately his tongue is loosed and he praises God. The neighbors are seized with fear. "What, then, will this child be?" they ask (Luke 1:63-66). The answer: a burning and shining lamp. A voice crying in the wilderness. The greatest born of women, who would say of the one coming after him: "I am not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandal." Today we celebrate not the death of a saint - as we almost always do - but his birth. Because some lives are so shaped by God from the very beginning that even the birthday is sacred.

📰 Quick Hits

1. HHS Terminates $67 Million in Grants for Explicit Content Given to Minors

The Department of Health and Human Services is ending $67 million in teen pregnancy prevention grants after a department review found that many funded programs used curricula described as "sexually explicit," "age-inappropriate," and "medically inaccurate" for minors. The grants had been administered across dozens of organizations providing school-based and community-based programs to adolescents. The Church's teaching on human sexuality begins not with rules but with Genesis and with Psalm 139: "I praise you, for I am wonderfully made; you knit me in my mother's womb." Human sexuality is a gift, ordered toward love and life, and children deserve formation that honors that dignity - not curricula that bypasses it.

Faith Lens for the Home: The most important sex education your children will ever receive happens at your dinner table, not in a classroom. Ask your family: "What does our faith say about the human body and sexuality - and have we ever actually said it out loud?" Today's Psalm tells us: every child is wonderfully made. That is the foundation. Build on it.

2. Pakistani Court Acquits Blind Catholic Man in Blasphemy Case

A Pakistani court acquitted a blind Catholic man who had been imprisoned on blasphemy charges - charges his family and community maintained were entirely fabricated. The case drew condemnation from Pakistani Catholic leaders and international religious freedom advocates who noted that blasphemy laws in Pakistan are frequently weaponized against religious minorities, particularly Christians, with little evidentiary standard required for arrest. He goes home. His name is known. His case is closed.

Faith Lens for the Home: "The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name" (Isaiah 49:1). A blind man in a Pakistani prison was known by that name the whole time - by God, if not by his accusers. Ask your family: "What does it mean to pray for Christians being persecuted right now - people we will never meet, whose names we will never know? Does our prayer reach them?" It does. Tonight, pray for Pakistani Catholics by name - not by name individually, but as a community known to God.

3. Detroit Archdiocese Announces Suspension of Weekend Masses at 90 Parishes

The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced it expects to suspend weekend Masses at approximately 90 parishes in the coming years due to a declining number of priests, shrinking congregations, and aging buildings. Detroit was once one of the most heavily Catholic cities in America. The announcement is not unusual - similar restructurings have happened in Providence, Cleveland, and dioceses across the Northeast and Midwest. It is, however, a reminder of what John the Baptist came to do: prepare the way for Christ, who promised to be present wherever two or three gather. The form of the gathering may change. The presence does not.

Faith Lens for the Home: Ask your family: "What would our faith look like if our parish closed? What practices are we building right now that don't depend on a building?" The domestic church - your home - is not a fallback position when the parish fails. It is the primary place where faith is handed on. John the Baptist prepared the way in the wilderness, not in the Temple. Prepare yours at home.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. John the Baptist - June 24

One of only three birthdays the Church celebrates - Jesus, Mary, and John. Called by name before his conception, filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, he leaped at the sound of Mary's voice while still unborn. He ate locusts and wild honey. He wore camel hair. He called the crowds a "brood of vipers" and they kept coming. He baptized Jesus and said: "I am not the one. There is someone coming after me whose sandal I am not worthy to loose." He was beheaded at the request of a girl at a birthday party. His head was served on a platter. Jesus said: among those born of women, no one is greater. He must increase. I must decrease.

Ask at dinner: "John's whole life was about pointing at someone greater and stepping back. Is there something in our family's life that we are holding onto that we should be offering to God and stepping back from?"

✋ One Simple Action

Today is a Solemnity - go to Mass if you can. If not, pray Isaiah 49:1-6 aloud as a family tonight: "The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name." Let every child in your household hear those words directed at them. Then ask them: "Do you know that God named you before you were born? Do you know that he has been thinking about you since before your parents knew you existed?"

📚 Read More

• HHS terminates explicit content grants for minors: Zeale / The LOOP (https://zeale.co/news/articles/report-hhs-to-terminate-67-million-in-grants-funding-sexually-explicit-content-for-minors) and EWTN News (https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/hhs-to-terminate-67-million-in-teen-pregnancy-prevention-grants-over-sexually-explicit-curricula)
• Pakistani Catholic acquitted in blasphemy case: Catholic World Report (https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/06/23/pakistani-court-acquits-blind-catholic-man-in-blasphemy-case/) and Aid to the Church in Need (https://www.acnusa.org/news/pakistan-blind-catholic-blasphemy-acquittal-2026/)
• Detroit archdiocese Mass suspensions: Catholic World Report (https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/06/24/detroit-archdiocese-forecasts-suspension-of-weekend-masses-at-90-parishes/) and Detroit Catholic (https://detroitcatholic.com/news/archdiocese-of-detroit-forecasts-suspension-of-weekend-masses-90-parishes)
• Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist: Catholic Culture (https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2026-06-24)

Zechariah wrote a few words and his voice came back. A blind man in Pakistan was known by God the whole time. John was called before his birth to point at the one coming after him. His name is John. Your name is known. Go to Mass today.