Weekly roundup: Friday the 13th, a full moon, and the FIFA world cup

It’s Friday the 13th, and there’s a full moon. That, apparently, will not happen again until 2049. So just in case you spent your week doomsday prepping, this is your weekly roundup.

First, let’s deal with the earthquake that struck American politics this week: Eric Cantor lost his primary race against David Brat. Representative Cantor was the only Jewish Republican member of Congress, and was slated to be the next Speaker of the House. David Brat, the new Republican candidate for Virginia’s seventh district, is an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College, and he got a chili pepper at ratemyprofessors.com.

In very sad, I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened news, one priest was killed and another was wounded in Phoenix, AZ in what is being called a “botched robbery.” Our prayers go out to Phoenix.

In St. Louis, Archbishop Carlson claimed that he was not sure that he realized that child sexual abuse was a crime, at least back in 1984. The good news is that the Archbishop is clear now that a priest engaging in sexual behavior with a child is indeed a crime.

Union Seminary in New York announced that it will be divesting its $108 million endowment from fossil fuels, as part of an attempt to atone for the sin of contributing to climate change. In an op-ed, the Board issued a statement, saying “As a seminary we are familiar with the scriptural warning that “the wages of sin is death,” and this could not be more literally true than it is in the case of fossil fuels.”

The FIFA World Cup is underway in Brazil. According to the UK’s Council of Christians and Jews, 11 of the 32 countries competing in the world cup are Catholic. If you are paying attention to the World Cup and you would like to contribute to good in the world, check out the #kickpoverty campaign by Catholic Relief Services.