David Briggs writes in Wednesday’s RNS report about “revving reverends” who compete against each other in stock car races to benefit charities: The Rev. Jason Russ of Church of the Open Door in Elyria, Ohio, was closing in on the leader in a stock car race at Lorain County Speedway. The owner of the car he was driving had encouraged him to be aggressive and not be afraid to bump into another car on the way to the winner’s circle. Russ was only inches behind, with the pedal almost to the floor, and he wanted “like crazy” to get around the other driver. But he pulled back from the car driven by the Rev. Greg Ball of Church on the North Coast in Lorain. “All I could see was his wife and children. There’s no way I’m bumping him,” Russ recalled thinking. Ball finished first. Russ finished second. Welcome to the world of muscle-car Christianity.

We also offer a feature by Greg Garrison on Mother Angelica, who at 82 still wields tremendous influence despite suffering from debilitating strokes. Raymond Arroyo, EWTN news anchor and author of “Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles,” said, “She’s the most influential and powerful woman in the Catholic Church.”