>>156948, >>156949, >>156950
Bcast_Md @Bcast_Md - The original version of The Price Is Right, hosted by Bill Cullen (left), aired from 1956 to 1965. The show returned in 1972, hosted by Bob Barker (right), who remained until retiring in 2007, when Drew Carey took over. It is the longest-running game show in television history.
https://x.com/Bcast_Md/status/1948055831716794878

Bishop J. Strickland @BishStrickland - July 24, 2025
THE CLOISTERED CRY:
DEFENDING THE HEARTBEAT OF THE CHURCH
There is a sacred power in silence. There is a shield in hidden prayer. And for centuries, the Church’s contemplative orders – especially cloistered women religious – have held that shield high. They have defended the Church not with policies or protest, but with lives utterly given to Christ in solitude, sacrifice, and ceaseless intercession.
Now, that shield is under siege – from within the Church herself.
The article, “Why is the Vatican Assailing Contemplative Life?” (Crisis Magazine), brings into the light what many faithful Catholics have quietly discerned for years: an active dismantling of contemplative life through documents like Cor Orans, which impose forced federations, revoke autonomy from flourishing communities, and penalize the very silence and enclosure that define the vocation.
More than 30 monasteries in Italy closed within a week of these mandates. In the United States, faithful Carmelite sisters are under pressure simply for desiring to remain who they are: brides of Christ, faithful to their charism, devoted to prayer, silence, and sacrifice.
This is not reform. It is erosion.
To treat these holy women – who have labored in silence for the salvation of the world – as relics of a bygone age is to forget who holds up the Church’s arms in the battle. As Moses was upheld by Aaron and Hur on the mountain, the Mystical Body of Christ is upheld by these hidden warriors of prayer.
As Jeremy Tate recently observed: “Until the late 1960’s, priests and nuns were everywhere – schools, hospitals, city streets. Their habits and collars were walking sermons.”
Now, in many places, their presence has nearly vanished – not because the Church no longer needs them, but because the Church has stopped defending them. We have allowed modernity to rob us of our sacred signs. We have traded holiness for efficiency, silence for activism, and contemplation for committees.
Let me say clearly:
Contemplative life is not obsolete. It is essential. Cloistered sisters are not irrelevant They are the beating heart of the Church.