Copy Desk Daily, May 22, 2020

Recommended for you today, from the NCR/GSR/EarthBeat copy desk:

EarthBeat continues its celebration of "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home" at five years, with closer looks at its lasting (or lagging) impact. Here's a commentary from one of EarthBeat's advisory panel members, Allen Ottaro, executive director of the Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Read more about how Laudato Si' is faring on his continent.

One bishop says it may take 40 years for the Catholic Church to fully grasp the wisdom of Pope Francis' environmental encyclical. Another says that, given the urgency of climate change, we don't have that kind of time. Find out who is on which "side" in this report from Vatican correspondent Joshua J. McElwee.

NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters thinks First Things didn't have that fall to fall. Read: Has the conservative Catholic project exhausted itself?

The Templeton Prize — valued at 1.1 million British pounds (US$1.35 million) — is one of the largest annual awards given to an individual and in recent years has honored those who have made advancements in the understanding of religion and science. Here's this year's winner.

An everyday reality of religious life that gets little formal attention: lasting friendships between sisters and women who have left the religious communities that they once called home. Read more.

Kevin Mannara is a Basilian priest and the director of campus ministry at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, who wonders: Would prayer services during pandemic be more helpful than livestreamed Masses?

Your Thoughts (letters to the editor) are here on the involvement of Catholic clergy in political causes in regard to that phone call President Donald Trump held with several Catholic bishops.

Want to keep updated with the latest news from National Catholic Reporter's publications? Sign up here for news updates by email — including one that will send you Copy Desk Daily every Monday through Friday.