10 July 2020

• Notre Dame Cathedral’s spire will be restored to 19th-century design, French President Macron announces...
  The spire of Notre Dame cathedral, which was destroyed in a fire last April, will be restored according to the original Gothic design. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the decision, putting an end to speculation that the spire would be rebuilt in a modern style. Mr Macron had previously hinted he was in favour of a "contemporary gesture". However he has said he wants the restoration to be completed by 2024, when Paris is hosting the Olympics.
• Joe Biden says if elected, he’ll end contraception exemption for Little Sisters of the Poor...
  Former vice president Joe Biden pledged on Wednesday to reinstate Obama-era policies that would require the Little Sisters of the Poor to ensure access to birth control and abortifacients for employees in violation of their religious beliefs.
• Robert George: Stand up to the woke bullying in America...
  “People have forgotten that bullies are cowards,” said Prof. Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and author of books and of articles, including “Solzhenitsyn's Prophecy.” “We need outspokenness. It's the power of the word, not the force of arms, that will win this battle. But if people are too afraid, too frightened, too intimidated, too bullied to speak out against the bully...”
• Dogma liberates and relativism enslaves. Here’s why.....
  Rusty Reno’s recent book ‘Return of the Strong Gods’ opened my eyes to some of the reasons why relativism has gained such a foothold in Western society. He shows how, after the second world war, a group of thinkers, philosophers, economists, political strategists, literary figures and theologians all began to believe that the wars that tore apart Europe for the last five hundred years were the fault of dogma...
• Why Catholic voters in four states could again decide the presidential election...
  The first six months of this year has produced a pandemic that has killed thousands of Americans followed by high rates of unemployment triggered by the coronavirus lockdowns. Add to that the fight for racial justice following the murder of George Floyd and the protests and civil unrest that followed and you can see how 2020 will be forever remembered as one of the toughest years in American history.