A couple of updates/clarifications on stories we’ve followed here in the past:

The Staten Island pastor who took desperate measures to combat non-Mass-attending families has a new fan – the mother of one of the affected families

When she finally spoke to Father Cichon last week, they discussed the issue but the conversation then veered off in another direction, to Mrs. Santana’s financial problems.

Recently remarried, the mother of four — including an 11-week-old — was up against some intractable deadlines with overdue bills. She told Father Cichon about her troubles, and he suggested she contact Catholic Charities, which she did.

The agency offered some assistance but before could pursue it further, she came home one afternoon to find a handwritten note from Father Cichon, and a check to cover her bills, tucked into a floral wreath on her door.

"I was floored," she said. "So many people say the church is just about money, but I want it to be known that in my situation, the church did just the opposite. I just want it known he was there for me when I needed him. He took the burden off my shoulders."

Mrs. Santana acknowledged that she had not been a regular church-goer, and said Christopher’s father has custody of the fourth-grader every other weekend and often does not bring him to church.

An on the Bethany Christian Services thing, a clarification that the Mississippi policy was not the national policy. I think that was mentioned in one of the articles I linked, but perhaps it got glossed over in the heat.