The News You May Have Missed: November 2026

Trivial Pursuit

In 1943, during World War II, an anonymous source alerted the FBI to Fulton J. Sheen’s strong criticism of the Soviet Union and its leader, Joseph Stalin. These were topics Sheen, then a monsignor, had been speaking about for many years, along with criticism of Marxism. At the time, the United States and the Soviet Union were allied against Nazi Germany, and some believed any criticism of allies could hurt the war effort. This led the bureau to open a file on Sheen and launch an investigation. According to OSV News (Sept. 21), the agents assigned to tail him came up with mostly worthless facts, such as that he liked chocolate ice cream, kept up a rigorous and somewhat ascetic schedule (including a daily morning Holy Hour), and once talked a police officer out of giving him a speeding ticket. By the early 1950s the bureau had closed his file, and director J. Edgar Hoover invited Sheen, now a bishop, to speak at a graduation ceremony of newly inducted agents.

Greatest Story, Continued

Gerhard Cardinal Müller spent an entire day on the film set of Mel Gibson’s The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One, discussing theology with the Catholic filmmaker (OSV News, Sept. 15). The film, a sequel to Gibson’s 2004 hit The Passion of the Christ, is scheduled to be released on May 6, 2027, the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. “We spoke for some hours,” Müller said. He was joined on set by other religious leaders, including Raymond Cardinal Burke and Protestant evangelist Franklin Graham. Burke called the first film “truly monumental, a story which touched profoundly the hearts of many.” With dialogue in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin, it depicted the final 12 hours of Jesus’ life. The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One, unlike its predecessor, will be in English. It stars Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen as Jesus, and Cuban-born Mariela Garriga as Mary Magdalene. The movie was filmed in Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi, and Matera, Italy. The final installment of the trilogy, The Resurrection of the Christ: Part Two, is scheduled to be released on May 25, 2028.

The Architecture of the Deal

Sainte Anne de Détroit, founded in 1701, is the second-oldest U.S. parish in continuous existence. Sainte Anne’s current church building, now 140 years old, is the eighth in the history of the parish. In recent years, it’s been in rough shape. Msgr. Chuck Kosanke, whose nickname in the Archdiocese of Detroit is “Mr. Fix-It,” was appointed pastor in 2016 to try to save the twin-spire, brick-and-stone Gothic Revival edifice. Eventually he contacted Mark Pulte, vice chairman of the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, whose father, home-building entrepreneur Bill Pulte, had been a major donor to the Catholic Church. That conversation led to an unusual offer: The charity would give more money than asked for, but the archdiocese can’t own the property. By mid-2025, with Vatican approval, the deal was settled: The archdiocese transferred ownership of the buildings and grounds to a nonprofit, which in turn gave the archdiocese a 200-year renewable $1/year lease. The restored church, serving a cash-poor but vibrant parish that has grown to 800 families, will reopen in late 2027 (National Catholic Register, Sept. 13).