O God of new beginnings and wonderful surprises, thank you for the gift of a new year. May it be a time of grace for me, a time to grow in faith and love, a time to renew my commitment to following Your Son, Jesus. May it be a year of blessing for me, a time to cherish my family and friends, a time to renew my efforts at work, a time to embrace my faith more fully. Walk with me, please, in every day and every hour of this new year, that the light of Christ might shine through me, in spite of my weaknesses and failings. Above all, may I remember this year that I am a pilgrim on the sacred path to You. Amen.

–Courtesy of Saint Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre, New York

1 Jan 1622: The #Papal Chancery adopts January 1st as the beginning of the new year. Previously, the new year had been March 25.. #OTD #HappyNewYear #history #pope #NewYear #ad https://t.co/Esutcc8BN6 pic.twitter.com/IeuVjSHyBM

— Today In History (@URDailyHistory) January 1, 2026

And because of His visitation, we may no longer desire God as if He were lacking: our redemption is no longer a question of pursuit but of surrender to Him who is always and everywhere present. Therefore at every moment we pray that, following Him, we may depart from our anxiety into His peace.

–From Simeon in the Christmas Oratorio

Philippe de Champaigne, The Adoration of the Shepherds, ca.1640 pic.twitter.com/LatSDghLD3

— Solas (@solas_na_greine) December 12, 2025

Seek not in courts, nor palaces,

Nor royal curtains draw;

But search the stable,

see your God, Extended on the straw.

–William Billings, Methinks I See a Heav’nly Host,” in The Singing Master’s Assistant (1778)

Happy Christmas from the Yorkshire Wolds.
( photo taken a few weeks ago , see you after the holidays , best wishes James ) pic.twitter.com/GGEGOYPRSh

— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) December 23, 2025

I wonder if the popularity of the Coventry Carol today indicates that it expresses something people don’t find in the usual run of joyful Christmas carols – this song of grief, of innocence cruelly destroyed. The Feast of the Holy Innocents (Childermas, as it was known in the Middle Ages) is not an easy subject for a modern audience to understand, and the images which often accompany it in medieval manuscripts, of children impaled on spears, are truly horrible. But they are meant to be; they are intended to disgust and horrify, and they’re horrible because they’re not fantasy violence but all too close to the reality of the world we live in. Children do die; the innocent and vulnerable do suffer at the hands of the powerful; and as this carol says, every single form of human love, one way or another, will ultimately end in parting and grief. Every child born into the world – every tiny, innocent, adorable little baby – however loved, however cared for, will grow up to face some kind of sorrow, and the inevitability of death. Of course no one wants to think about such things, especially when they look at a newborn baby; but pretending otherwise, not wanting to think otherwise, doesn’t make it any less true.

Medieval writers were honest and clear-eyed about such uncomfortable truths. The idea that thoughts like these are incongruous with the Christmas season (as you often hear people say about the Holy Innocents) is largely a modern scruple, encouraged by the comparatively recent idea that Christmas is primarily a cheery festival for happy children and families.

Read it all.

Today we're marking Holy Innocents' Day, which commemorates the children slaughtered by King Herod in his attempt to destroy the infant Jesus. The massacre is depicted here in the 14th-century Litlyngton Missal. pic.twitter.com/SXlP1qJDxV

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) December 29, 2025

We remember this day, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by the order of King Herod. Receive, we beseech thee, into the arms of thy mercy all innocent victims; and by thy great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish thy rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today we commemorate the 14,000 Infants (the Holy Innocents) slain by Herod at Bethlehem

Read the account: https://t.co/IASbC8KhIU

More saints commemorated today: https://t.co/4wHTCz3Ka2

Music downloads: https://t.co/ISgw7RH8QE #saints #feastsandsaints pic.twitter.com/MHJK2WL1GU

— Orthodox Church OCA (@ocaorg) December 29, 2025

Lyrics:

Good people all, this Christmas time
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born
Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God’s angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
‘Prepare and go, ‘ the angels said
‘To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you’ll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born
With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went, this babe to find
And as God’s angel had foretold
They did our saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side the virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of life
Who came on earth to end all strife
Good people all, this Christmas time
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas day
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born

26 Dec: The feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr remembered for his charity, is also called Boxing Day, from the custom of giving alms or gift boxes to the poor and to workers in thanks. In the “Calendar of Flowers,” purple heather is his dedicated flower. #BoxingDay pic.twitter.com/6aKf4IcGUA

— VenetiaJane's Garden (@VenetiaJane) December 25, 2025

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay on their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

A very merry Christmas to all, from everyone here at Salisbury Cathedral pic.twitter.com/vcAUUOhyzq

— Salisbury Cathedral (@SalisburyCath) December 25, 2025

Ever since I first heard it, my favorite Christmas song–KSH.

Lyrics–The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be
of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

"Be like a tree
planted
by streams of water".
(Psalm 1 : 3)
Apple Tree by Lake Zurich, 1914
Karl Mediz (1868-1945) pic.twitter.com/xNVnxoo0Mg

— Jim Beattie (@JimBeattie18) April 16, 2023

Grim was the world and grey last night: The moon and stars were fled,
The hall was dark without song or light, The fires were fallen dead.
The wind in the trees was like to the sea, And over the mountains’
teeth It whistled bitter-cold and free, As a sword leapt from its
sheath.

The lord of snows upreared his head; His mantle long and pale Upon the
bitter blast was spread And hung o’er hill and dale. The world was
blind, the boughs were bent, All ways and paths were wild: Then the
veil of cloud apart was rent, And here was born a Child.

The ancient dome of heaven sheer Was pricked with distant light; A
star came shining white and clear Alone above the night. In the dale
of dark in that hour of birth One voice on a sudden sang: Then all the
bells in Heaven and Earth Together at midnight rang.

Mary sang in this world below: They heard her song arise O’er mist and
over mountain snow To the walls of Paradise, And the tongue of many
bells was stirred in Heaven’s towers to ring When the voice of mortal
maid was heard, That was mother of Heaven’s King.

Glad is the world and fair this night With stars about its head, And
the hall is filled with laughter and light, And fires are burning red.
The bells of Paradise now ring With bells of Christendom, And Gloria,
Gloria we will sing
That God on earth is come.

Buongiorno!

La Natività, c.1165.
Mosaico/Autore anonimo
Cappella Palatina, #Palermo #Italia
STELLA PARIT SOLEM ROSA FLOREM FORMA DECOREM (Una stella diede alla luce il sole, una rosa un fiore, la forma la bellezza).
I tre Magi sono bianchi!, pastori giunti in fretta con offerte. pic.twitter.com/7tbXOWEGUu

— Miguel Calabria (@MiguelCalabria3) December 23, 2025

She was five,
sure of the facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity
convinced every word
was revelation.

She said
they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost. The lady rode
a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lited the roof.
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?
Her quarter eyes inflated
to silver dollars.
The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air
whirled around, dove into the sofa
and buried her head under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News of the Incarnation.

–John Shea, The Hour of the Unexpected; one of my favourite Christmas poems, read every year on this day

'And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.'
John 1: 14

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from all of us at Westminster Abbey! pic.twitter.com/TwNZ9sXQlY

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) December 25, 2025

Men overlooked a baby’s birth
When love unnoticed came to earth
And later, seeking in the skies,
Passed by a man in workman’s guise.
And only children paused to stare
While God Incarnate made a chair.

–Mary Tatlow

Christmas Eve Mass was packed so much so my parish opened up the church basement to hold a separate Mass; according to our priest an extra 400 people were at the basement Mass to celebrate the birth of Christ (that that's how many folding chairs he said they had and still there… pic.twitter.com/6Ev97ZazRf

— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) December 24, 2025

An online Christmas service designed for people working shifts will be released on the Church of England website at 6 a.m. on Christmas Day.

Lasting 15 minutes, so that it can be watched in the course of a break from work, the service was created in response to a request by hospital chaplains, and includes a Gospel reading, sermon, prayers, and music.

The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, features in the service. A former nurse, and Chief Nursing Officer for the NHS, she says that she has “fond memories” of working on Christmas Day.

“Although not always easy, it is a privilege to be with people who need us most at this time. And of course, we receive so much from them too.”

Read it all.

An online Christmas service designed for people working shifts will be released on the Church of England website at 6 a.m. on Christmas Day.https://t.co/dVHP8yQ3VK

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 24, 2025

One major reason for the proposed changes is the radical upsurge of antisemitic attacks in Canada. According to B’nai Brith Canada’s “Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in Canada,” ntisemitic incidents rose 124 percent from 2022 to 2024.

“Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, Jewish institutions in Canada have faced unprecedented threats, such as shootings, arson and bomb threats,” the report added.  

But what are called “hate” laws frequently violate freedom of speech, of the press, and of religion. They also tend to be vague and, hence, their scope expands and governments use them to punish views that they simply do not like. Moreover, in free societies, they do not reduce extremist activity.

In addition, as the Canadian Constitution Foundation argues: “Bill C-9 would … remove safeguards against politically motivated charges, remove political accountability for charges, would create a risk of overcharging to force plea bargains, expand the availability of hate offences beyond the criminal law, and risks limiting constitutionally protected protest activity.”

Even if one were to accept the necessity of such laws, sections 318 and 319 of the criminal code already ban advocating genocide and the willful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group.

Read it all.

Canada’s Bill C-9 And The Growing Threat To Religious Freedom @drpaulmarshall https://t.co/ear0ALDqsE

— Baylor ISR (@BaylorISR) December 24, 2025

Concerned that artificial intelligence could threaten Communist Party rule, Beijing is taking extraordinary steps to keep it under control.

Although China’s government sees AI as crucial to the country’s economic and military future, regulations and recent purges of online content show it also fears AI could destabilize society. Chatbots pose a particular problem: Their ability to think for themselves could generate responses that spur people to question party rule.

In November, Beijing formalized rules it has been working on with AI companies to ensure their chatbots are trained on data filtered for politically sensitive content, and that they can pass an ideological test before going public. All AI-generated texts, videos and images must be explicitly labeled and traceable, making it easier to track and punish anyone spreading undesirable content.

Authorities recently said they removed 960,000 pieces of what they regarded as illegal or harmful AI-generated content during three months of an enforcement campaign. Authorities have officially classified AI as a major potential threat, adding it alongside earthquakes and epidemics to its National Emergency Response Plan.

Read it all.

China Is Worried AI Threatens Party Rule—and Is Trying to Tame It: Beijing is enforcing tough rules to ensure chatbots don’t misbehave, while hoping its models stay competitive with the U.S.@stuwoo https://t.co/wOtnfHJGQchttps://t.co/wOtnfHJGQc

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 24, 2025

The poll…finds 24% of Americans satisfied and 74% dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, which is unchanged from November but more negative than all other readings since January. As recently as May, 38% of U.S. adults were satisfied. Satisfaction levels remain slightly higher than at the end of the Biden administration.

Declining satisfaction has coincided with worsening views of the economy in recent months. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index currently sits at -33, which is down 10 points from October and 19 points from June, and is the lowest it has been since registering -35 in July 2024. The index summarizes Americans’ evaluations of current economic conditions and their perceptions of whether the economy is getting better or getting worse. It has a theoretical range of -100 to +100.

Read it all.

Americans End Year in Gloomy Mood https://t.co/JcHu7bBBn5

— Patrick Riccards (@Eduflack) December 23, 2025

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Kanishka Raffel, has told a gathering at the Great Synagogue, in Sydney, that Sydney Anglicans “abhor anti-Semitism . . . and will not turn away from anti-Semitism in silence”.

Archbishop Raffel was speaking at an event held on Friday to mark Hanukkah and mourn for the victims of the Bondi massacre on 14 December (News, 19 December).

It was intolerable, he said, “that over the last two and more years you have been terrorised in your homes, communities and synagogues . . . that you have to employ security guards for your places of worship, education, and society, as though this was normal or acceptable. It is intolerable that the streets of Sydney have been filled with voices of threat and violence and no one has silenced them.”

Jews deserved to be safe, respected, and protected, he continued, not just because they were Jewish but because they were Australians.

Read it all.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Kanishka Raffel, has told a gathering at the Great Synagogue, in Sydney, that #Sydney #Anglicans “abhor anti-Semitism . . . and will not turn away from anti-Semitism in silence”#Antisemitism #bondibeach… https://t.co/NzkO10Kztx

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 22, 2025

The standard sperm-meets-egg story posits that sperm cells are hardly more than bundles of shrink-wrapped DNA with tails. Their mission is simple: Deliver a father’s genes into a mother’s egg for sexual reproduction. Just about all other aspects of a developing embryo, including its cellular and environmental components, have nothing to do with dad. Those all come from mom.

But nearly two decades of studies from multiple independent labs threaten to rewrite that story. They suggest that dad’s gametes shuttle more than DNA: Within a sperm’s minuscule head are stowaway molecules, which enter the egg and convey information about the father’s fitness, such as diet, exercise habits and stress levels, to his offspring. These non-DNA transfers may influence genomic activity that boots up during and after fertilization, exerting some control over the embryo’s development and influencing the adult they will become.

The findings, so far largely described in mouse models, could end up changing the way we think about heredity. They suggest “that what we do in this life affects the next generation,” said Qi Chen(opens a new tab), a reproductive and developmental biologist at the University of Utah Medical School who is among the pioneers of this research. In other words: What a father eats, drinks, inhales, is stressed by or otherwise experiences in the weeks and months before he conceives a child might be encoded in molecules, packaged into his sperm cells and transmitted to his future kid. The researchers have largely zeroed in on RNA molecules, those short-lived copies of DNA that reflect genetic activity at a given time.

Read it all.

Growing evidence in mouse models suggests that non-DNA sperm molecules can pass along a dad’s condition at the time of conception. Researchers are working to understand how this occurs, and if it occurs in humans.@ivan_amato reports: https://t.co/6fc0bgO0M5

— Quanta Magazine (@QuantaMagazine) December 22, 2025

False reports are likely shaping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s understanding of the battlefield situation. The Financial Times (FT) reported on December 22 that two unspecified officials stated that Russian military and security authorities regularly give Putin updates that inflate Ukrainian battlefield casualties, highlight Russia’s resource advantages, and downplay tactical failures.

FT reported that Russian Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, is responsible for briefing Putin about the war. The sources reportedly stated that the “rosy picture” that military officials paint during their briefs has led Putin to believe that Russia can win the war. FT stated that the sources noted that Putin regularly meets with “confidants” who tell him that the war has become a “growing drag” on the Russian economy, however.

The Washington Post reported on December 22 that a Russian official stated that a banking or non-payments crisis in Russia is possible and that they do not “want to think about a continuation of the war or an escalation.” A Russian academic source close to senior Kremlin diplomats told the Washington Post that 2026 will be the “first difficult year” since the start of the full scale invasion but assessed that growing economic problems will not lead to social or political problems.

Read it all.

Western officials believe Putin is pressing on with his war in Ukraine partly because of flawed information he gets about the battlefield, @NastyaStognei and I write.

The rosy picture from his generals has led him to believe Russia can win outright:https://t.co/DzVErrPFXM

— max seddon (@maxseddon) December 22, 2025

In 2016, Beijing launched a new aerospace conglomerate called Aero Engine Corp. of China. It had a challenging mandate: to develop top-line aircraft engines, a technology China had long struggled to master.

Less than a decade later, Beijing’s newest stealth fighters are entering service with what officials call “Chinese hearts,” or indigenously made engines.

The progress marked a milestone in China’s quest to forge an arms industry worthy of a rising global power. For years, China’s rise obscured a sobering reality: It couldn’t make all its own weapons.

Beijing is now not only producing its own armaments, it is also selling more abroad. In some military technologies, China appears to be matching major arms producers such as Russia and the U.S., or even pulling ahead.

The ability to churn out advanced armaments is a key element in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s vision of making his country less reliant on the outside world for everything from food and energy to semiconductors. A more self-sufficient China is essential for preventing Western nations from locking it into a strategic stranglehold, Xi has argued.

Read it all.

How Beijing Built Arms Industry to Rival the West—New jet engines show results of China’s military self-sufficiency push@ByChunHan https://t.co/KKed5vXiO0https://t.co/KKed5vXiO0

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 22, 2025

It is not my habit to comment on the contents of sermons in this blog. However, the Dean of St Edmundsbury, The Very Reverend Joe Hawes, used his sermon at St Edmundsbury Cathedral last Sunday to comment on the Living in Love and Faith process[1] and it seemed to me to be important not to let the points he made about this subject go unchallenged.

The Dean makes five points in relation to the LLF process, and I shall consider each of them in turn.

The first point he makes is that he feels able to affirm:

‘… with heartfelt certainty, that although I get it wrong pretty regularly and need to hearken to the Baptist’s cry to repent, who I am in my creation, is essentially what God intended. That I am not an aberration, a mistake on God’s part, but, like all of you, a gift from God, and trying in my life, to be a gift back to God through loving service.’

The question that this statement raises is who the Dean thinks God created him to be. If he means that his creation as a male human being made in the image and likeness of God is willed by God and is ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31), I don’t think that there is anybody in the Church of England, even those who the Dean calls ‘hard line fundamentalists,’ who would disagree with him.

If, however, what the Dean means is that he was created by God to be a gay man then there would be many who would rightly disagree with him. This because, to quote Sean Doherty (who is himself same-sex attracted):

‘God did not create straight women, straight men, gay women and gay men. God created two sexes, with the capacity to relate to one another sexually.’ [2]

This truth is taught in the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 and, as Paul notes in Romans 1:26-27, it is also taught by nature in the sense that the observation of human biology teaches us that human beings have bodies that are designed to engage into the kind of ‘one flesh’ sexual union with a member of the opposite sex that has the capacity to produce offspring.

In the light of this truth the Pauline teaching that same-sex sexual attraction and the same-sex sexual activity that results from it are a result of the Fall makes perfect sense. If human beings are created to have sex with members of the opposite sex, it follows that desires and actions that are contrary to this must be seen not as a reflection of God’s original creative intention, but as a result of the distortion of the created order consequent upon demonic and human rebellion against God.

Read it all.

I have just published a new blog post, 'Why the cupboard is bare – a response to the reflections of the Dean of St Edmundsbury'https://t.co/fzxq2YZ4wr

— Martin Davie (@MartinBDavie) December 13, 2025

What I saw on Bondi was pure evil. The terror, screams and lifeless bodies. It felt like the Nova Music Festival all over again, except this time it was on the beach I’d grown up on—an Australian sanctuary. I’d moved my family here to escape war and was taking up a new job to help combat antisemitism.

Over the past two years, that scourge has surged unabated. The Jewish community has warned time and again that when hatred is allowed to fester, when it is excused, normalized or mainstreamed, it inevitably leads to violence. The Bondi attack is the deadly manifestation of the failures to heed those calls.

The warning signs were impossible to miss. On Oct. 9, 2023, while Jewish bodies were still being identified in Israel, crowds gathered outside the Sydney Opera House chanting: “Where are the Jews?” Synagogues have since been firebombed, schools have required heightened security, and families have been harassed. Each incident has been met with predictable statements of concern, promises of review and assurances of action. None came. If the horrors of last week are not to be repeated, Bondi must become a turning point.

Australia doesn’t need another inquiry, strategy document or press release expressing sorrow. We need urgent, decisive action. Our laws must be enforced. Incitement must have consequences. Intelligence must be acted on and radical Islamic extremism must be confronted, not managed.

Read it all.

Hanukkah teaches us that light isn’t inevitable. We must defend it. If Australia wishes to remain a country where Jewish life can flourish openly and safely, this moment must change us all, writes @Ostrov_Ahttps://t.co/ESem8brzKS

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) December 18, 2025

The Sandford St Martin Trust has welcomed the review by the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, of the BBC’s Royal Charter, but recommended reinstatement of the Corporation’s obligations to represent the UK’s diverse belief communities.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Trust called for “formal opportunities for representatives of faith communities to participate meaningfully in the public consultation as part of the Charter Review”.

It also urged the BBC to commit itself to commissioning and making available “programming and content that reflect the full diversity” of the UK. It cited 2023 Ofcom data, which included the finding of a 42-per-cent decline between 2010 and 2022 in the time devoted to religion and ethics programmes by public-service broadcasting networks.

“This included near-zero provision from Channels 4 or 5, raising concerns about religious literacy, cultural understanding and representation,” the Trust said.

Read it all.

The @sandfordawards has welcomed the review by the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, of the BBC’s Royal Charter, but recommended reinstatement of the Corporation’s obligations to represent the UK’s diverse belief communities#BBC #RoyalCharter #DonaldTrumphttps://t.co/Jl7np1og8c

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 17, 2025

The court also assigned minimal weight to the testimony of two prosecution witnesses, stating they “had not participated in diocesan leadership” and “possessed no firsthand knowledge” of Bishop Ruch’s conduct. 

Speaking with The Living Church, both witnesses disputed this characterization. The first witness served for almost two years on the diocese’s standing committee and two of its subcommittees, and the second witness led in creating a deanery child protection policy, then served on a diocesan task force to create its first protective standards in the aftermath of the Rivera disclosure.

“The [court decision] states again and again that too much of the testimony on the prosecution side was secondhand, based on emotion or opinion rather than on firsthand experience,” the first witness told TLC. “First of all, that’s false, and second of all, it’s really offensive to see misrepresentations of one’s service in the official record.”

“The court’s description of the development of safeguarding in the [Upper Midwest] does not comport with my experience as a Pastor to Children and Families in the diocese for nearly two decades,” the second witness added.

Ruch’s defense witnesses included five bishops, who testified that Ruch acted “in accordance with safeguarding expectations” and did not exhibit “patterns of neglect or inattentiveness.” 

A series of priests, deacons, and laypeople from the diocese also testified, persuading the court with respect to the charge that Ruch habitually promoted abusive ministers – some of whose backgrounds included solicitation of a prostitute and second-degree attempted murder, and some of whom reoffended – was not negligence but “difficult and imperfect work of assisting fallen men and women who sought vocational calling” that Ruch undertook with sincerity.

Read it all.

New for @Livng_Church: The ACNA court's ruling in the matter of Bp Stewart Ruch, its first ever acquittal, followed a decision to set aside two of three independent investigations and to admit additional evidence. https://t.co/YMgjiZQkOH

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) December 19, 2025

President Trump vowed on Saturday to retaliate against the Islamic State after an attack in central Syria killed two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian U.S. interpreter, the first American casualties in the country since the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad last year.

“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There will be very serious retaliation.”

The soldiers were supporting counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State group in Palmyra, a city in central Syria, when they came under fire from a lone gunman, according to American officials. Syrian security forces subsequently killed the gunman, American and Syrian officials said.

Read it all.

3 Americans Killed in ISIS Attack in Syria, Trump Says, Vowing to Retaliatehttps://t.co/HfAjRZka0C

— Hussam Hammoud | حسام (@HussamHamoud) December 14, 2025

Chinese intelligence is continuing a massive hack of US telecom networks in a cyber campaign that allows it to access the communications of almost every American, according to a top Democratic senator. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee who recently got a briefing on the extensive cyber campaign known as “Salt Typhoon”, said China was still infiltrating the US system.

“I believe they are still inside [our networks],” Warner told a Defense Writers Group event. Warner said he received a “really frustrating” government briefing with conflicting accounts about the Trump administration’s response to Salt Typhoon. According to the senator, the FBI said US networks were “pretty clean” despite contradictory evidence from several intelligence agencies.

“Other parts of our community are saying, ‘Hell no, it’s still going on’,” said Warner, who added that he had eight documents from agencies raising concerns about Salt Typhoon which has been ongoing for at least two years. “It is baffling to me that this is not a bigger issue,” said Warner, who lamented that it might take some kind of “catastrophic event” before the US government became more serious about tackling Salt Typhoon.

Read it all.

US has failed to stop massive Chinese cyber campaign, warns senator https://t.co/XvpxOYEqVp

— Financial Times (@FT) December 12, 2025

‘We are aware that an assessment such as we request raises practical questions and anxiety about what might be revealed. We ask you to remember alongside us that, in the words of our Lord, “there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open” [Luke 8:17]’.

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Out of love for the church and concern over the crisis, scandal, and abuse; we call for a fully independent, third-party assessment in the ACNA.
We invite all current or former ACNA clergy and laity to read and sign our open letter: https://t.co/NFEbBmH7p6

— anglicanrenewal (@anglicanrenewal) December 17, 2025

Incarnate God, who didst grant the grace of eloquence unto thy servant Dorothy to defend thy truth unto a distressed church, and to proclaim the importance of Christian principles for the world; grant unto us thy same grace that, aided by her prayers and example, we too may have the passionate conviction to teach right doctrine and to teach doctrine rightly; We ask this in thy name, who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever.

Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire, for #SteepleSaturday. The writer Dorothy L Sayers grew up in this parish. Her father was the rector, a bellringing enthusiast who restored the bells here and became the model for the Reverend Venables in her book The Nine Tailors.

The landscape of… pic.twitter.com/32423XEicR

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) July 5, 2025

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The decision in the trial of Bp Stewart Ruch, of ACNA's Diocese of the Upper Midwest, is out: Ruch has been found not guilty on all charges from the presentment. pic.twitter.com/prXLkZCtDf

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) December 16, 2025

Corporate America’s latest hot job is also one of the oldest in history: storyteller.

Some companies want a media relations manager by a slightly flashier name. Others need people to produce blogs, podcasts, case studies and more types of branded content to attract customers, investors and potential recruits. All seem to use the word differently than in its usual application to novelists, playwrights and raconteurs.

“As storytellers,” a Google job ad said last month, “we play an integral role in driving customer acquisition and long-term growth.”

The listing sought a customer storytelling manager to join the company’s Google Cloud storytelling team. One article the unit published this year was titled, “Lowe’s innovation: How Vertex AI helps create interactive shopping experiences.”

Microsoft’s security organization meanwhile is recruiting a senior director overseeing narrative and storytelling, described as part cybersecurity technologist, part communicator and part marketer. Compliance technology firm Vanta this month began hiring for a head of storytelling, offering a salary of up to $274,000. Productivity app Notion recently merged its communications, social media and influencer functions into one 10-person, so-called storytelling team.

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The hot new job at tech companies is leading "storytelling."

The term doubled on LinkedIn job posts in the U.S since last year. The WSJ writes:

"Compliance technology firm Vanta this month began hiring for a head of storytelling, offering a salary of up to $274,000."… pic.twitter.com/TQzUXPwl8g

— Natalie Sportelli (@N_Sportelli) December 15, 2025