SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News, and this is your OSV Newscast for Thursday, August 13th, 2026. Let's catch you up on the Catholic News of the Day. Here we go. The U.S. Supreme Court has set a date for one of the most closely watched religious liberty cases of the term, landing on a symbolically significant day. The court announced it will hear oral arguments in St. Mary Catholic Parish V. Roy on November 3rd, election day for the 2026 midterms. The issue on the docket is Colorado's Universal Preschool Program, which provides parents up to roughly $6,000 to send their child to the preschool of their choice, including faith-based schools. Two Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Denver, St. Bernadette in Lakewood and St. Mary in Littleton, allege the state excluded their preschools from the program because of their religious beliefs. Colorado, for its part, argues the schools ran afoul of a nondiscrimination rule barring participating schools from refusing admission based on a child's or family's sexual orientation or gender identity. The Supreme Court agreed to take up the case in April, setting the stage for a major ruling on religious liberty and public funding. The case, which involved the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, centered on a member who had confessed to abusing his children during the church's formal repentance process. Plaintiff sued the church and clergy for failing to report the abuse. All seven justices agreed that allowing such suits to proceed would violate the First Amendment. Vice Chief Justice John Lopez wrote that courts cannot resolve matters involving the interpretation of church discipline, doctrine, and internal procedures, including what qualifies as a confession under established religious custom. The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, Tucson, and Gallup all filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the Latter-day Saints Church, recognizing the ruling's direct relevance to defending the inviability of the Catholic confessional seal. Jordan is gearing up for one of the most significant milestones in Christian history set for 2030, the 2000th anniversary of the baptism of Jesus Christ. A $120 million development project is now underway at Bethany Beyond the Jordan, also known as Almagdas, the UNESCO World Heritage Site along the Jordan River where Christ's public ministry began. The initiative includes a new baptism museum, a dedicated pilgrim and visitor village, and ecological walking trails designed to support environmental conservation at the sacred site. Almagdas holds a singular distinction in modern church history. It's the only location ever visited by four popes: St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis. With preparations now well underway, Jordanian officials and church leaders expect millions of Christian pilgrims to journey to the site by 2030 for this historic commemoration of faith, unity, and Christian heritage. Pope Leo XIV is backing up his prayers for Colombia with concrete financial support. The Vatican has dispatched an initial 100,000 euros, roughly $115,000, in emergency aid to the country following Monday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake, channeled through the Vatican's charity office to assist hard-hit diocese providing frontline relief. The death toll from the quake has now climbed to at least 265, with thousands injured and hundreds still missing beneath collapsed buildings. Church leaders say additional resources are being prepared as damage assessments continue to reveal the scale of long-term recovery needs. During his weekly audience at the Vatican, Pope Leo offered prayers for the deceased and for the emergency workers on the ground. Local church leaders in Colombia welcomed the rapid response, calling the Vatican's donation a vital lifeline of concrete hope and solidarity for families facing the tragedy. A band of Dominican friars is proving that sacred music and rock and roll aren't mutually exclusive. The Hillbilly Thomas released their sixth album, Strange Land, on streaming platforms July 27th while touring 10 cities across the country, wrapping up their run in Nashville on August 8th, the Feast of St. Dominic. Four of the band's eight members spoke with OSV News from the Road, including Father Austin Litke, a founding member and theology professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, who said fans are already embracing the new music. Father Thomas Joseph White, another founding member and the university's rector, described the track Stormy Weather as a beautiful, haunting song about being stuck on I-95 and thinking about divine providence, with a little homage to the New Jersey Turnpike along the way. For Father Litke, the band's music reflects something deeper than performance. It has grown up out of our fraternal life, he said. And that's your OSV Newscast for today. I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News. Check out the show notes for direct links to the stories in this episode. Make sure to subscribe to this podcast, follow us on social media, and bookmark osvnews.com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless. This has been an OSV News production. To learn more, visit osvnews.com.