Check out these recent articles from around the web:

Cardinal Wuerl on the Synod: ‘There will always be diversity of opinion in the church’: “The formula articulated by Pope Francis that I find very inviting is his challenge that we go out, reach out, to those who have drifted away from the practice of the faith. Our task when we meet them is not to scold them and announce to them all the things they are doing wrong, but rather to begin patiently and lovingly to accompany them towards a fuller, richer, deeper, more life giving experience of Christ and his church than they now have.”

San Diego Hits the Episcopal Jackpot by Michael Sean Winters: “The selection of Bishop McElroy tells us not only about this gifted prelate, but something about Pope Francis and the process of selecting bishops….An intransigent, culture war approach to the public square is no longer weighed on the plus side of the ledger and a pastoral sensibility is no longer seen as a deficit. In a country where income inequality is becoming the defining issue of our political life, having a bishop in a prominent see who understands the problem and does not repeat the theological absurdities issuing from the Acton or Napa Institutes is very welcome indeed. Most of all, the priests and people of San Diego can look forward to a leader who will listen to them and love them.”

A church for the poor, not a ‘pure’ church by John Gehring: “The U.S. bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) – which funds community organizing that addresses the root causes of poverty — and Catholic Charities USA are heavyweights in the fight against poverty. On the global stage, Catholic Relief Services helps 100 million people in 93 countries. These vital institutional expressions of the Gospel mandate to serve and empower the marginalized are exactly what Pope Francis has in mind when he calls for “a poor church for the poor.”

By listening to poor, mission of ‘Guadium et Spes’ lives, cardinal says by Dennis Sadowski: “By listening to people’s suffering, joys and daily endeavors, Catholics bring the vision of the Second Vatican Council to the world, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, told an audience at The Catholic University of America. Such action demonstrates that the church values the dignity of every person, especially the poor, and that it welcomes encounters with the world without fear, as expressed in Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Tagle said in delivering the annual Cardinal Dearden Lecture on Monday in Washington.”

Putin’s Culture of Fear and Death by Garry Kasparov: “The early themes in Mr. Putin’s reign—restoring the national pride and structure that were lost with the fall of the Soviet Union—have been replaced with a toxic mix of nationalism, belligerence and hatred. By 2014 the increasingly depleted opposition movement, long treated with contempt and ridicule, had been rebranded in the Kremlin-dominated media as dangerous fifth columnists, or ‘national traitors,’ in the vile language lifted directly from Nazi propaganda.”

They got his back: Teams honor ALS Ice Bucket Challenge pioneer Pete Frates by Chris Serico: “When the Boston Red Sox play an exhibition game Tuesday against Boston College, both teams will be wearing No. 3 jerseys in support of Pete Frates, the former BC team captain who wore that number and later helped popularize the Ice Bucket Challenge while fighting ALS.”

I Saw Christ’s Face in the Dominican Republic by David Janicki: “Since last August, I have been volunteering in the Dominican Republic, helping to establish a Catholic Worker community in Santo Domingo….I’m working with Felix Cepeda, a former Jesuit seminarian.  Our primary mission is to give the poor hope and to remind them that they are not alone and that they are in fact loved. The method by which we hope to achieve this is twofold: Establish relationships with several clusters of homeless in the city through music, prayer and, most importantly, food. Open a House of Hospitality in the city to supply the homeless with a place to rest, bathe and converse.”

Notre Dame bids farewell to ‘Father Ted’ by Michael O’Loughlin: “Jenkins recited Hesburgh’s many public accomplishments — marching with Martin Luther King, expanding Notre Dame’s reach and influence, and serving several American presidents — but it was Hesburgh’s small, unheralded acts of kindness were what made him what Jenkins called ‘a great American, a great citizen of the world.’”

What I learned from Fr. Ted Hesburgh by Nathan Hatch: “He was as close to a saint as anyone I have ever known, mostly because in his person he held in creative tension virtues that few people can keep intact. He was able to capture something powerful and elusive — like lightning in a bottle — and then show it to the world. He strived for greatness and despised mediocrity, yet he lived day-to-day as a person who took everyone seriously.”

How the DOJ Reforms a Police Department Like Ferguson by Sarah Childress: “Ferguson, Mo., police officers regularly discriminate against black residents, subjecting them to illegal stops, excessive force and arrests for petty offenses like ‘manner of walking in roadway,’ according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation released on Wednesday.”

Physician-Assisted Suicide in Maryland by Michael Sean Winters: “We don’t get to live forever. We don’t get to live without ailments and illnesses. But, we can help each other feel loved, not expendable, at the hour of our death.”

The terrible loneliness of growing up poor in Robert Putnam’s America by Emily Badger: “For the past three years, Putnam has been nursing an outlandish ambition. He wants inequality of opportunity for kids to be the central issue in the 2016 presidential election. Not how big government should be or what the ‘fair share’ is for the wealthy, but what’s happening to children boxed out of the American dream.”