Christ

Ancient Advent Mass gains new interest among younger Catholics #Catholic The Rorate Caeli Advent Mass celebrated at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. / Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion CNA Staff, Dec 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). Advent is a season filled with rich Catholic traditions, but a slightly lesser-known one is growing in popularity among younger Catholics. The ancient liturgy of the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass honors the Blessed Virgin Mary through a Mass celebrated at dawn, in complete darkness, and lit only by candles, which symbolizes Christ, the Light of the World, entering into the world with Mary as the vessel. Emerging in the Middle Ages, the Rorate Caeli Mass gets its name from the prophecy of Isaiah. Rorate Caeli is Latin for “drop down, ye heavens.” These are the opening words of this liturgy’s Introit, which is used as an opening psalm or entrance antiphon and comes from Isaiah 45:8.Father Tony Stephens, rector at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, calls this Mass “a teachable moment.”“As all of us are gathered in the church, only lit with the candles, slowly the light begins coming in through the windows and it’s like the light of Christ,” he told CNA. The process symbolizes “the light of Christ coming into our lives, slowly but surely and progressively as we go through life.”“And just like that light begins to come in through the windows, as the physical sun rises, so in our journey as Catholics, the closer we get to Christ, the more his light shines in our life,” he said. Fr. Nathaneal Mudd, CPM, celebrates the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in 2024. Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of ChampionStephens has been rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion for two years but was scheduled to celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass there for the first time on Dec. 13. The shrine is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States. It was here that the Blessed Mother is believed to have appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. When speaking about the Blessed Mother’s role in Advent, Stephens described it as “a season of anticipating Our Lord, but when you look at the subtext of Advent, things about Mary are everywhere — in the readings and her role in salvation history is so important. And so that’s, again, part of the reason you have these special Marian Masses honoring her during this Advent season.”He also highlighted the fact that this ancient Mass is seeing a resurgence in popularity and credited Pope Benedict XVI, in part, for reintroducing Catholics to older, traditional practices and his “desire of the hermeneutic of continuity.” “He in his pontificate really emphasized a desire to have that continuity between the earlier traditions of the Church, even prior to the [Vatican II] council … looking at all of the rich liturgical heritage that we have as Catholics,” he added. The priest pointed out that young people are also searching for more traditional practices.“There is a great love, especially amongst young people, for things that are traditional,” he said, adding that the Mass also “appeals to the senses in a way that technology and phones don’t.” “The real light of a candle is way different than the electronic light put off by a cellphone screen,” he said. “A burning, living candle, the way it flickers, and you can’t recharge a candle — it gives everything it has like Jesus did on the cross. A candle burns with all its might to put off that light. And so there is a selflessness about that light of that candle that’s different than technology, and young people desire that kind of self-gift and authenticity.”Stephens said he hopes those who attend a Rorate Caeli Mass will leave with “an eager anticipation of Jesus coming at Christmastime.”“A Rorate Caeli Mass is one of those times that we can have a little consolation and we’re reminded of the author of all consolation and his mother,” he said.
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Ancient Advent Mass gains new interest among younger Catholics #Catholic The Rorate Caeli Advent Mass celebrated at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. / Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion CNA Staff, Dec 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). Advent is a season filled with rich Catholic traditions, but a slightly lesser-known one is growing in popularity among younger Catholics. The ancient liturgy of the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass honors the Blessed Virgin Mary through a Mass celebrated at dawn, in complete darkness, and lit only by candles, which symbolizes Christ, the Light of the World, entering into the world with Mary as the vessel. Emerging in the Middle Ages, the Rorate Caeli Mass gets its name from the prophecy of Isaiah. Rorate Caeli is Latin for “drop down, ye heavens.” These are the opening words of this liturgy’s Introit, which is used as an opening psalm or entrance antiphon and comes from Isaiah 45:8.Father Tony Stephens, rector at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, calls this Mass “a teachable moment.”“As all of us are gathered in the church, only lit with the candles, slowly the light begins coming in through the windows and it’s like the light of Christ,” he told CNA. The process symbolizes “the light of Christ coming into our lives, slowly but surely and progressively as we go through life.”“And just like that light begins to come in through the windows, as the physical sun rises, so in our journey as Catholics, the closer we get to Christ, the more his light shines in our life,” he said. Fr. Nathaneal Mudd, CPM, celebrates the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in 2024. Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of ChampionStephens has been rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion for two years but was scheduled to celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass there for the first time on Dec. 13. The shrine is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States. It was here that the Blessed Mother is believed to have appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. When speaking about the Blessed Mother’s role in Advent, Stephens described it as “a season of anticipating Our Lord, but when you look at the subtext of Advent, things about Mary are everywhere — in the readings and her role in salvation history is so important. And so that’s, again, part of the reason you have these special Marian Masses honoring her during this Advent season.”He also highlighted the fact that this ancient Mass is seeing a resurgence in popularity and credited Pope Benedict XVI, in part, for reintroducing Catholics to older, traditional practices and his “desire of the hermeneutic of continuity.” “He in his pontificate really emphasized a desire to have that continuity between the earlier traditions of the Church, even prior to the [Vatican II] council … looking at all of the rich liturgical heritage that we have as Catholics,” he added. The priest pointed out that young people are also searching for more traditional practices.“There is a great love, especially amongst young people, for things that are traditional,” he said, adding that the Mass also “appeals to the senses in a way that technology and phones don’t.” “The real light of a candle is way different than the electronic light put off by a cellphone screen,” he said. “A burning, living candle, the way it flickers, and you can’t recharge a candle — it gives everything it has like Jesus did on the cross. A candle burns with all its might to put off that light. And so there is a selflessness about that light of that candle that’s different than technology, and young people desire that kind of self-gift and authenticity.”Stephens said he hopes those who attend a Rorate Caeli Mass will leave with “an eager anticipation of Jesus coming at Christmastime.”“A Rorate Caeli Mass is one of those times that we can have a little consolation and we’re reminded of the author of all consolation and his mother,” he said.

unitedyam

The Rorate Caeli Advent Mass celebrated at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. / Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion

CNA Staff, Dec 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Advent is a season filled with rich Catholic traditions, but a slightly lesser-known one is growing in popularity among younger Catholics.

The ancient liturgy of the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass honors the Blessed Virgin Mary through a Mass celebrated at dawn, in complete darkness, and lit only by candles, which symbolizes Christ, the Light of the World, entering into the world with Mary as the vessel. 

Emerging in the Middle Ages, the Rorate Caeli Mass gets its name from the prophecy of Isaiah. Rorate Caeli is Latin for “drop down, ye heavens.” These are the opening words of this liturgy’s Introit, which is used as an opening psalm or entrance antiphon and comes from Isaiah 45:8.

Father Tony Stephens, rector at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, calls this Mass “a teachable moment.”

“As all of us are gathered in the church, only lit with the candles, slowly the light begins coming in through the windows and it’s like the light of Christ,” he told CNA. The process symbolizes “the light of Christ coming into our lives, slowly but surely and progressively as we go through life.”

“And just like that light begins to come in through the windows, as the physical sun rises, so in our journey as Catholics, the closer we get to Christ, the more his light shines in our life,” he said.

Fr. Nathaneal Mudd, CPM, celebrates the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in 2024. Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion
Fr. Nathaneal Mudd, CPM, celebrates the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in 2024. Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion

Stephens has been rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion for two years but was scheduled to celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass there for the first time on Dec. 13. The shrine is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States. It was here that the Blessed Mother is believed to have appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. 

When speaking about the Blessed Mother’s role in Advent, Stephens described it as “a season of anticipating Our Lord, but when you look at the subtext of Advent, things about Mary are everywhere — in the readings and her role in salvation history is so important. And so that’s, again, part of the reason you have these special Marian Masses honoring her during this Advent season.”

He also highlighted the fact that this ancient Mass is seeing a resurgence in popularity and credited Pope Benedict XVI, in part, for reintroducing Catholics to older, traditional practices and his “desire of the hermeneutic of continuity.” 

“He in his pontificate really emphasized a desire to have that continuity between the earlier traditions of the Church, even prior to the [Vatican II] council … looking at all of the rich liturgical heritage that we have as Catholics,” he added. 

The priest pointed out that young people are also searching for more traditional practices.

“There is a great love, especially amongst young people, for things that are traditional,” he said, adding that the Mass also “appeals to the senses in a way that technology and phones don’t.” 

“The real light of a candle is way different than the electronic light put off by a cellphone screen,” he said. “A burning, living candle, the way it flickers, and you can’t recharge a candle — it gives everything it has like Jesus did on the cross. A candle burns with all its might to put off that light. And so there is a selflessness about that light of that candle that’s different than technology, and young people desire that kind of self-gift and authenticity.”

Stephens said he hopes those who attend a Rorate Caeli Mass will leave with “an eager anticipation of Jesus coming at Christmastime.”

“A Rorate Caeli Mass is one of those times that we can have a little consolation and we’re reminded of the author of all consolation and his mother,” he said.

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‘Holiness of family life’: A look behind the icon depicting a mother of 8 #Catholic Father Richard Reiser, an iconographer based in Omaha, Nebraska, writes an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden with her family for FOCCUS Marriage Ministries’ 40th anniversary. / Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUS CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). When an iconographer began his work on a unique icon, he looked to the bones of the saint’s husband for help.FOCCUS Marriage Ministries, a Catholic marriage ministry, invited the priest-iconographer Father Richard Reiser to make an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden, a mystic and the mother of eight. The ministry is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and chose St. Bridget to be the patron saint of its work.But there was one challenge. According to Reiser, historically there is no established iconographic prototype of an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden.So using his imagination and every historical source available — including the bones of St. Bridget’s husband — the priest developed an entirely new icon of a saint who has gone without an icon for hundreds of years.The domestic church “For me, iconography is first and foremost a form of prayer,” Reiser said. “The entire creative process is an act of listening to God and allowing the sacred story of a saint or mystery to take shape through layers of contemplation, color, and symbolism.”The end result was an icon ripe with symbolic meaning — at its heart, marriage and family.At the blessing ceremony of the icon are (left to right): FOCCUS Director of Ministry Father Michael Grewe, Archbishop Michael McGovern of Omaha, FOCCUS Executive Director Sheila Simpson, and Iconographer Father Richard Reiser. Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUSFOCCUS Marriage Ministries chose St. Bridget of Sweden to be its patron because of her commitment to marriage and the Church.St. Bridget’s life “beautifully reflects the heart of marriage ministry,” Sheila Simpson, who heads the archdiocese-owned nonprofit, told CNA.Now displayed in the hallway of the FOCCUS office in the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, the icon contains a quote from Pope Benedict XVI about the family as the domestic church as well as several symbols of the married couple’s life together. “The icon quietly teaches that marriage is both a covenant of grace and a living witness to the Gospel,” Reiser told CNA. With St. Bridget as its guiding light, FOCCUS is launching resources for couples whose marriages have unusual challenges, such as those who need their marriage convalidated by the Church, as well as those marrying later in life.FOCCUS is most well known for its inventories — questionnaires designed to help engaged couples prepare for marriage by initiating conversations about issues like finance and values. The additional, new questionnaires will have questions tailored for couples in unusual situations, including military couples, first responders, and deacons.Simpson said many couples say FOCCUS “became a turning point — not because it told them what to do, but because it helped them truly hear each other.”Windows into the divine Reiser said that one of the most “fascinating” parts of the icon-making process was consulting the bones of Ulf Gudmarsson, the husband of St. Bridget.“His bones indicated that he was significantly larger in stature than she was,” he said. “To honor historical accuracy while still emphasizing Bridget’s spiritual prominence, I placed her on a small set of steps so she would remain the central figure of the composition,” he explained. Icons are “created for contemplation and spiritual truth more than realism,” Reiser said. “They are windows into the divine — visual theology meant to open the heart and mind to God’s presence,” he continued. “They participate in the mystery of the Incarnation,” Reiser said. “The eternal Word of God takes visible form.”The icon depicts an emblem of the Third Order Franciscans, which the couple joined after they got married.In addition, Gudmarsson holds a staff with a shell, referencing the pilgrimage the couple took to northwestern Spain.It would be the last pilgrimage the couple ever made together. On the return journey from the pilgrimage, Gudmarsson grew ill and died soon after they returned to Sweden.As a widow, St. Bridget dedicated her life to Christ, founding the religious order now known as the Bridgettines, which still exists to this day.The icon of St. Bridget of Sweden and her family by Father Richard Reiser contains many symbols, such as the staff and shell, the 15 florets, and the clasp of St. Bridget’s cloak. Framing the icon are words from Pope Benedict XVI on the domestic church. Credit: Courtesy of FOCCUSAn icon of family and unityIconographers don’t paint — they write.“Every line, color, and gesture carries symbolic meaning,” Reiser said. “That is why we often say icons are ‘written’ rather than painted.”For instance, the 15 florets below St. Bridget of Sweden reference her 15 meditations on Christ’s passion. The cloak she wears has a brooch styled to symbolize the five wounds of Christ. Within the brooch is a relic of St. Bridget.“Writing the icon of St. Bridget of Sweden was a unique and grace-filled experience because, historically, there is no established iconographic prototype of her — especially not one depicting her with her family,” Reiser said. “Without a traditional image to follow, I drew from existing paintings of St. Bridget and shaped them within the contemplative, dignified structure of classical iconography.”With “no established icon tradition for Bridget’s family,” Reiser said he “consulted other family-centered icons, especially images of Christ with children, to discern how to portray children in an authentically iconographic style.”The paintings of the children visually form a circle, which Reiser said represents the unity of the family. One of the children, Ingeborg, holds bluebells, the national flower of St. Bridget’s homeland, Sweden.“Each of these details helps the icon speak not just as artwork but as a theological meditation on the holiness of family life,” Reiser said.
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‘Holiness of family life’: A look behind the icon depicting a mother of 8 #Catholic Father Richard Reiser, an iconographer based in Omaha, Nebraska, writes an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden with her family for FOCCUS Marriage Ministries’ 40th anniversary. / Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUS CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). When an iconographer began his work on a unique icon, he looked to the bones of the saint’s husband for help.FOCCUS Marriage Ministries, a Catholic marriage ministry, invited the priest-iconographer Father Richard Reiser to make an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden, a mystic and the mother of eight. The ministry is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and chose St. Bridget to be the patron saint of its work.But there was one challenge. According to Reiser, historically there is no established iconographic prototype of an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden.So using his imagination and every historical source available — including the bones of St. Bridget’s husband — the priest developed an entirely new icon of a saint who has gone without an icon for hundreds of years.The domestic church “For me, iconography is first and foremost a form of prayer,” Reiser said. “The entire creative process is an act of listening to God and allowing the sacred story of a saint or mystery to take shape through layers of contemplation, color, and symbolism.”The end result was an icon ripe with symbolic meaning — at its heart, marriage and family.At the blessing ceremony of the icon are (left to right): FOCCUS Director of Ministry Father Michael Grewe, Archbishop Michael McGovern of Omaha, FOCCUS Executive Director Sheila Simpson, and Iconographer Father Richard Reiser. Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUSFOCCUS Marriage Ministries chose St. Bridget of Sweden to be its patron because of her commitment to marriage and the Church.St. Bridget’s life “beautifully reflects the heart of marriage ministry,” Sheila Simpson, who heads the archdiocese-owned nonprofit, told CNA.Now displayed in the hallway of the FOCCUS office in the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, the icon contains a quote from Pope Benedict XVI about the family as the domestic church as well as several symbols of the married couple’s life together. “The icon quietly teaches that marriage is both a covenant of grace and a living witness to the Gospel,” Reiser told CNA. With St. Bridget as its guiding light, FOCCUS is launching resources for couples whose marriages have unusual challenges, such as those who need their marriage convalidated by the Church, as well as those marrying later in life.FOCCUS is most well known for its inventories — questionnaires designed to help engaged couples prepare for marriage by initiating conversations about issues like finance and values. The additional, new questionnaires will have questions tailored for couples in unusual situations, including military couples, first responders, and deacons.Simpson said many couples say FOCCUS “became a turning point — not because it told them what to do, but because it helped them truly hear each other.”Windows into the divine Reiser said that one of the most “fascinating” parts of the icon-making process was consulting the bones of Ulf Gudmarsson, the husband of St. Bridget.“His bones indicated that he was significantly larger in stature than she was,” he said. “To honor historical accuracy while still emphasizing Bridget’s spiritual prominence, I placed her on a small set of steps so she would remain the central figure of the composition,” he explained. Icons are “created for contemplation and spiritual truth more than realism,” Reiser said. “They are windows into the divine — visual theology meant to open the heart and mind to God’s presence,” he continued. “They participate in the mystery of the Incarnation,” Reiser said. “The eternal Word of God takes visible form.”The icon depicts an emblem of the Third Order Franciscans, which the couple joined after they got married.In addition, Gudmarsson holds a staff with a shell, referencing the pilgrimage the couple took to northwestern Spain.It would be the last pilgrimage the couple ever made together. On the return journey from the pilgrimage, Gudmarsson grew ill and died soon after they returned to Sweden.As a widow, St. Bridget dedicated her life to Christ, founding the religious order now known as the Bridgettines, which still exists to this day.The icon of St. Bridget of Sweden and her family by Father Richard Reiser contains many symbols, such as the staff and shell, the 15 florets, and the clasp of St. Bridget’s cloak. Framing the icon are words from Pope Benedict XVI on the domestic church. Credit: Courtesy of FOCCUSAn icon of family and unityIconographers don’t paint — they write.“Every line, color, and gesture carries symbolic meaning,” Reiser said. “That is why we often say icons are ‘written’ rather than painted.”For instance, the 15 florets below St. Bridget of Sweden reference her 15 meditations on Christ’s passion. The cloak she wears has a brooch styled to symbolize the five wounds of Christ. Within the brooch is a relic of St. Bridget.“Writing the icon of St. Bridget of Sweden was a unique and grace-filled experience because, historically, there is no established iconographic prototype of her — especially not one depicting her with her family,” Reiser said. “Without a traditional image to follow, I drew from existing paintings of St. Bridget and shaped them within the contemplative, dignified structure of classical iconography.”With “no established icon tradition for Bridget’s family,” Reiser said he “consulted other family-centered icons, especially images of Christ with children, to discern how to portray children in an authentically iconographic style.”The paintings of the children visually form a circle, which Reiser said represents the unity of the family. One of the children, Ingeborg, holds bluebells, the national flower of St. Bridget’s homeland, Sweden.“Each of these details helps the icon speak not just as artwork but as a theological meditation on the holiness of family life,” Reiser said.

unitedyam

Father Richard Reiser, an iconographer based in Omaha, Nebraska, writes an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden with her family for FOCCUS Marriage Ministries’ 40th anniversary. / Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUS

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When an iconographer began his work on a unique icon, he looked to the bones of the saint’s husband for help.

FOCCUS Marriage Ministries, a Catholic marriage ministry, invited the priest-iconographer Father Richard Reiser to make an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden, a mystic and the mother of eight. The ministry is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and chose St. Bridget to be the patron saint of its work.

But there was one challenge. According to Reiser, historically there is no established iconographic prototype of an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden.

So using his imagination and every historical source available — including the bones of St. Bridget’s husband — the priest developed an entirely new icon of a saint who has gone without an icon for hundreds of years.

The domestic church 

“For me, iconography is first and foremost a form of prayer,” Reiser said. “The entire creative process is an act of listening to God and allowing the sacred story of a saint or mystery to take shape through layers of contemplation, color, and symbolism.”

The end result was an icon ripe with symbolic meaning — at its heart, marriage and family.

At the blessing ceremony of the icon are (left to right): FOCCUS Director of Ministry Father Michael Grewe, Archbishop Michael McGovern of Omaha, FOCCUS Executive Director Sheila Simpson, and Iconographer Father Richard Reiser. Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUS
At the blessing ceremony of the icon are (left to right): FOCCUS Director of Ministry Father Michael Grewe, Archbishop Michael McGovern of Omaha, FOCCUS Executive Director Sheila Simpson, and Iconographer Father Richard Reiser. Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUS

FOCCUS Marriage Ministries chose St. Bridget of Sweden to be its patron because of her commitment to marriage and the Church.

St. Bridget’s life “beautifully reflects the heart of marriage ministry,” Sheila Simpson, who heads the archdiocese-owned nonprofit, told CNA.

Now displayed in the hallway of the FOCCUS office in the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, the icon contains a quote from Pope Benedict XVI about the family as the domestic church as well as several symbols of the married couple’s life together. 

“The icon quietly teaches that marriage is both a covenant of grace and a living witness to the Gospel,” Reiser told CNA. 

With St. Bridget as its guiding light, FOCCUS is launching resources for couples whose marriages have unusual challenges, such as those who need their marriage convalidated by the Church, as well as those marrying later in life.

FOCCUS is most well known for its inventories — questionnaires designed to help engaged couples prepare for marriage by initiating conversations about issues like finance and values. The additional, new questionnaires will have questions tailored for couples in unusual situations, including military couples, first responders, and deacons.

Simpson said many couples say FOCCUS “became a turning point — not because it told them what to do, but because it helped them truly hear each other.”

Windows into the divine 

Reiser said that one of the most “fascinating” parts of the icon-making process was consulting the bones of Ulf Gudmarsson, the husband of St. Bridget.

“His bones indicated that he was significantly larger in stature than she was,” he said. 

“To honor historical accuracy while still emphasizing Bridget’s spiritual prominence, I placed her on a small set of steps so she would remain the central figure of the composition,” he explained. 

Icons are “created for contemplation and spiritual truth more than realism,” Reiser said. 

“They are windows into the divine — visual theology meant to open the heart and mind to God’s presence,” he continued. 

“They participate in the mystery of the Incarnation,” Reiser said. “The eternal Word of God takes visible form.”

The icon depicts an emblem of the Third Order Franciscans, which the couple joined after they got married.

In addition, Gudmarsson holds a staff with a shell, referencing the pilgrimage the couple took to northwestern Spain.

It would be the last pilgrimage the couple ever made together. On the return journey from the pilgrimage, Gudmarsson grew ill and died soon after they returned to Sweden.

As a widow, St. Bridget dedicated her life to Christ, founding the religious order now known as the Bridgettines, which still exists to this day.

The icon of St. Bridget of Sweden and her family by Father Richard Reiser contains many symbols, such as the staff and shell, the 15 florets, and the clasp of St. Bridget’s cloak. Framing the icon are words from Pope Benedict XVI on the domestic church. Credit: Courtesy of FOCCUS
The icon of St. Bridget of Sweden and her family by Father Richard Reiser contains many symbols, such as the staff and shell, the 15 florets, and the clasp of St. Bridget’s cloak. Framing the icon are words from Pope Benedict XVI on the domestic church. Credit: Courtesy of FOCCUS

An icon of family and unity

Iconographers don’t paint — they write.

“Every line, color, and gesture carries symbolic meaning,” Reiser said. “That is why we often say icons are ‘written’ rather than painted.”

For instance, the 15 florets below St. Bridget of Sweden reference her 15 meditations on Christ’s passion. The cloak she wears has a brooch styled to symbolize the five wounds of Christ. Within the brooch is a relic of St. Bridget.

“Writing the icon of St. Bridget of Sweden was a unique and grace-filled experience because, historically, there is no established iconographic prototype of her — especially not one depicting her with her family,” Reiser said. “Without a traditional image to follow, I drew from existing paintings of St. Bridget and shaped them within the contemplative, dignified structure of classical iconography.”

With “no established icon tradition for Bridget’s family,” Reiser said he “consulted other family-centered icons, especially images of Christ with children, to discern how to portray children in an authentically iconographic style.”

The paintings of the children visually form a circle, which Reiser said represents the unity of the family. One of the children, Ingeborg, holds bluebells, the national flower of St. Bridget’s homeland, Sweden.

“Each of these details helps the icon speak not just as artwork but as a theological meditation on the holiness of family life,” Reiser said.

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New Carmelite monastery to open in Fort Worth Diocese following scandal #Catholic The skyline of Fort Worth, Texas. / Credit: 21 Aerials/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 09:41 am (CNA). Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the opening of a new order of Discalced Carmelite nuns after an older one in the diocese lost its canonical status last year. Olson announced the news of the opening in a letter on Dec. 2 in which he said the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gave permission for the new monastery.The prelate described it as “a moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church.”In an interview with CNA, Olson said there has been “a need in our diocese for prayers, for reparation of sin … and through adoration and contemplation and meditation, to pray for all of those intentions — that is the vocation of the new Carmel.”Olson said that about six months ago he requested that a new order of nuns come to reside in the diocese from the Christ the King Association of Discalced Carmelite Monasteries in the U.S.A.After making a formal request for permission from the Holy See in October, he received word in November that the Holy See approved the establishment of the new monastery. The nuns are coming from the Carmel in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. The bishop emphasized that the Carmel “is an autonomous body even though I have supervisory rights.”He said the land was “donated generously by the faithful in the diocese” after he acted as an intermediary between the sisters and parishioners.Asked when he believes the monastery, located in a rural part of northern Cooke County about 80 miles north of Dallas, will be completed, he replied: “That’s in God’s time.” He said the sisters will not have a website “because it’s a distraction from their religious life. Social media can have adverse effects on a religious vocation, as we have seen.” Olson told CNA he is “very grateful to the Holy See for this permission, but also to the religious sisters, the nuns who have given of themselves to Christ. It’s a very unique vocation.” The bishop is encouraging people to be generous with the sisters as they establish their new home in the Fort Worth Diocese: “They’re in full communion with the Church, are rightly ordered in their Carmelite vocation.”A new page for the Carmelites after scandalIn 2023, a public scandal erupted after Olson began an investigation of an alleged relationship of a sexual nature between the former prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Arlington, Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, and a priest outside the diocese. Gerlach denied the allegation and accused Olson of overstepping his authority while seeking to obtain the nuns’ property located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Olson has denied both claims. The scandal played out in the press through actions taken by the Vatican, lawsuits in civil courts, and through public statements on both sides. Last December, the Vatican issued a decree of suppression of the Arlington Carmelite monastery.Olson announced the suppression just over a year ago, on Dec. 2, 2024, emphasizing at the time that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”He added that the Holy See “suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”In August of that year, the nuns posted on their website that they had joined the Society of St. Pius X, a group that is in an “irregular” canonical situation within the Church.‘May their vocation bring forth many graces’In his most recent letter announcing the new monastery, Olson said it “will be a place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world. Through prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the Discalced Carmelite nuns will accompany the faithful and intercede for the needs of our communities.” “I ask all the faithful of the diocese to join me in prayer for these nuns as they begin this new chapter in their vocation,” the bishop said. “May their vocation bring forth many graces including priestly and religious vocations, holy and happy marriages, and faithful discipleship,” he added.
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New Carmelite monastery to open in Fort Worth Diocese following scandal #Catholic The skyline of Fort Worth, Texas. / Credit: 21 Aerials/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 09:41 am (CNA). Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the opening of a new order of Discalced Carmelite nuns after an older one in the diocese lost its canonical status last year. Olson announced the news of the opening in a letter on Dec. 2 in which he said the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gave permission for the new monastery.The prelate described it as “a moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church.”In an interview with CNA, Olson said there has been “a need in our diocese for prayers, for reparation of sin … and through adoration and contemplation and meditation, to pray for all of those intentions — that is the vocation of the new Carmel.”Olson said that about six months ago he requested that a new order of nuns come to reside in the diocese from the Christ the King Association of Discalced Carmelite Monasteries in the U.S.A.After making a formal request for permission from the Holy See in October, he received word in November that the Holy See approved the establishment of the new monastery. The nuns are coming from the Carmel in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. The bishop emphasized that the Carmel “is an autonomous body even though I have supervisory rights.”He said the land was “donated generously by the faithful in the diocese” after he acted as an intermediary between the sisters and parishioners.Asked when he believes the monastery, located in a rural part of northern Cooke County about 80 miles north of Dallas, will be completed, he replied: “That’s in God’s time.” He said the sisters will not have a website “because it’s a distraction from their religious life. Social media can have adverse effects on a religious vocation, as we have seen.” Olson told CNA he is “very grateful to the Holy See for this permission, but also to the religious sisters, the nuns who have given of themselves to Christ. It’s a very unique vocation.” The bishop is encouraging people to be generous with the sisters as they establish their new home in the Fort Worth Diocese: “They’re in full communion with the Church, are rightly ordered in their Carmelite vocation.”A new page for the Carmelites after scandalIn 2023, a public scandal erupted after Olson began an investigation of an alleged relationship of a sexual nature between the former prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Arlington, Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, and a priest outside the diocese. Gerlach denied the allegation and accused Olson of overstepping his authority while seeking to obtain the nuns’ property located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Olson has denied both claims. The scandal played out in the press through actions taken by the Vatican, lawsuits in civil courts, and through public statements on both sides. Last December, the Vatican issued a decree of suppression of the Arlington Carmelite monastery.Olson announced the suppression just over a year ago, on Dec. 2, 2024, emphasizing at the time that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”He added that the Holy See “suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”In August of that year, the nuns posted on their website that they had joined the Society of St. Pius X, a group that is in an “irregular” canonical situation within the Church.‘May their vocation bring forth many graces’In his most recent letter announcing the new monastery, Olson said it “will be a place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world. Through prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the Discalced Carmelite nuns will accompany the faithful and intercede for the needs of our communities.” “I ask all the faithful of the diocese to join me in prayer for these nuns as they begin this new chapter in their vocation,” the bishop said. “May their vocation bring forth many graces including priestly and religious vocations, holy and happy marriages, and faithful discipleship,” he added.

unitedyam

The skyline of Fort Worth, Texas. / Credit: 21 Aerials/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 09:41 am (CNA).

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the opening of a new order of Discalced Carmelite nuns after an older one in the diocese lost its canonical status last year. 

Olson announced the news of the opening in a letter on Dec. 2 in which he said the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gave permission for the new monastery.

The prelate described it as “a moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church.”

In an interview with CNA, Olson said there has been “a need in our diocese for prayers, for reparation of sin … and through adoration and contemplation and meditation, to pray for all of those intentions — that is the vocation of the new Carmel.”

Olson said that about six months ago he requested that a new order of nuns come to reside in the diocese from the Christ the King Association of Discalced Carmelite Monasteries in the U.S.A.

After making a formal request for permission from the Holy See in October, he received word in November that the Holy See approved the establishment of the new monastery. 

The nuns are coming from the Carmel in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. 

The bishop emphasized that the Carmel “is an autonomous body even though I have supervisory rights.”

He said the land was “donated generously by the faithful in the diocese” after he acted as an intermediary between the sisters and parishioners.

Asked when he believes the monastery, located in a rural part of northern Cooke County about 80 miles north of Dallas, will be completed, he replied: “That’s in God’s time.” 

He said the sisters will not have a website “because it’s a distraction from their religious life. Social media can have adverse effects on a religious vocation, as we have seen.” 

Olson told CNA he is “very grateful to the Holy See for this permission, but also to the religious sisters, the nuns who have given of themselves to Christ. It’s a very unique vocation.” 

The bishop is encouraging people to be generous with the sisters as they establish their new home in the Fort Worth Diocese: “They’re in full communion with the Church, are rightly ordered in their Carmelite vocation.”

A new page for the Carmelites after scandal

In 2023, a public scandal erupted after Olson began an investigation of an alleged relationship of a sexual nature between the former prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Arlington, Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, and a priest outside the diocese. 

Gerlach denied the allegation and accused Olson of overstepping his authority while seeking to obtain the nuns’ property located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Olson has denied both claims. 

The scandal played out in the press through actions taken by the Vatican, lawsuits in civil courts, and through public statements on both sides. 

Last December, the Vatican issued a decree of suppression of the Arlington Carmelite monastery.

Olson announced the suppression just over a year ago, on Dec. 2, 2024, emphasizing at the time that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”

He added that the Holy See “suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”

In August of that year, the nuns posted on their website that they had joined the Society of St. Pius X, a group that is in an “irregular” canonical situation within the Church.

‘May their vocation bring forth many graces’

In his most recent letter announcing the new monastery, Olson said it “will be a place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world. Through prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the Discalced Carmelite nuns will accompany the faithful and intercede for the needs of our communities.” 

“I ask all the faithful of the diocese to join me in prayer for these nuns as they begin this new chapter in their vocation,” the bishop said. 

“May their vocation bring forth many graces including priestly and religious vocations, holy and happy marriages, and faithful discipleship,” he added.

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Senate to vote on health care plans as subsidies near expiration #Catholic Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025.  / Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA). Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025. The Senate is expected to vote Dec. 11 on a Democratic proposal to extend existing ACA tax credits for three years, as 24 million Americans use ACA marketplaces for health insurance. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told reporters Tuesday after a Senate Republican meeting that lawmakers also will vote on a Republican alternative measure. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who leads the Finance panel, announced the legislation on Monday. The measure (S. 3386) would set requirements for Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions and direct that the money cannot be used for abortion or “gender transitions.” It would require states to verify citizenship and immigration status before coverage.Catholic bishops weigh inThe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have said they favor extending the taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the ACA, but said lawmakers must ensure that the tax credits are not used for abortions or other procedures that violate Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life. The enhanced premium tax credits “should be extended but must not continue to fund plans that cover the destruction of human life, which is antithetical to authentic health care,”  the bishops wrote in an Oct. 10 letter to members of Congress. There needs to be a policy that serves “all vulnerable people – born and preborn” and applies full Hyde Amendment protections to them, ensuring not only that government funding does not directly pay for the procuring of an abortion, but also that plans offered by health insurance companies on ACA exchanges cannot cover elective abortion,” they wrote. The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1977, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.Activists respondA coalition of more than 300 faith leaders including NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Church Of God In Christ Social Justice Ministry, Faith in Action Network, and  Franciscan Action Network, delivered a joint letter to Congress Dec. 8 urging legislators to pass a bipartisan bill that protects and expands the ACA premium tax credits.“Each life is sacred, therefore, there is a moral imperative to provide care for the sick and alleviate suffering particularly for those who lack resources to pay,” the letter wrote. There must be action to ensure everyone has “the health care they need to live and thrive, as people are currently making choices about coverage for 2026.”“The letter notes that renewing the tax credits will keep healthcare premiums under the ACA from spiking by an average of 114 percent in 2026,” NETWORK reported. “This would cause an estimated 4.8 million people to lose their health coverage because they cannot afford it. Subsequently, some 50,000 people could lose their lives without their health coverage.”Other pro-life organizations have warned against expanding the subsidies. “As Congress continues to face pressure to extend Obamacare’s abortion-funding premium subsidies, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) is making the facts clear on how Obamacare does not include the Hyde amendment and forces Americans to pay for abortions,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.“The enactment of Obamacare ruptured the bipartisan legacy of the Hyde amendment and resulted in the largest expansion of abortion funding since the 1970s,” she said. “Obama and the Democratic leadership at the time intentionally drafted the program to avoid annual appropriations bills, bypassing the Hyde amendment.”“Instead of stopping funding for health insurance plans that cover elective abortion, Section 1303 of Obamacare expressly permits subsidies for Obamacare plans that cover abortion using elaborate accounting requirements and an abortion surcharge to justify the funding,” she said.SBA and more than 100 other pro-life organizations are demanding that any extensions to Obamacare include a complete application of the Hyde policy. The groups sent a September letter and an October letter to lawmakers calling on Congress to ensure pro-life provisions. “Preventing taxpayer funding of abortion is a minimum requirement for any new Obamacare spending advanced by a Republican Congress and Administration,” Dannenfelser said.
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Senate to vote on health care plans as subsidies near expiration #Catholic Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025.  / Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA). Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025. The Senate is expected to vote Dec. 11 on a Democratic proposal to extend existing ACA tax credits for three years, as 24 million Americans use ACA marketplaces for health insurance. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told reporters Tuesday after a Senate Republican meeting that lawmakers also will vote on a Republican alternative measure. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who leads the Finance panel, announced the legislation on Monday. The measure (S. 3386) would set requirements for Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions and direct that the money cannot be used for abortion or “gender transitions.” It would require states to verify citizenship and immigration status before coverage.Catholic bishops weigh inThe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have said they favor extending the taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the ACA, but said lawmakers must ensure that the tax credits are not used for abortions or other procedures that violate Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life. The enhanced premium tax credits “should be extended but must not continue to fund plans that cover the destruction of human life, which is antithetical to authentic health care,”  the bishops wrote in an Oct. 10 letter to members of Congress. There needs to be a policy that serves “all vulnerable people – born and preborn” and applies full Hyde Amendment protections to them, ensuring not only that government funding does not directly pay for the procuring of an abortion, but also that plans offered by health insurance companies on ACA exchanges cannot cover elective abortion,” they wrote. The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1977, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.Activists respondA coalition of more than 300 faith leaders including NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Church Of God In Christ Social Justice Ministry, Faith in Action Network, and  Franciscan Action Network, delivered a joint letter to Congress Dec. 8 urging legislators to pass a bipartisan bill that protects and expands the ACA premium tax credits.“Each life is sacred, therefore, there is a moral imperative to provide care for the sick and alleviate suffering particularly for those who lack resources to pay,” the letter wrote. There must be action to ensure everyone has “the health care they need to live and thrive, as people are currently making choices about coverage for 2026.”“The letter notes that renewing the tax credits will keep healthcare premiums under the ACA from spiking by an average of 114 percent in 2026,” NETWORK reported. “This would cause an estimated 4.8 million people to lose their health coverage because they cannot afford it. Subsequently, some 50,000 people could lose their lives without their health coverage.”Other pro-life organizations have warned against expanding the subsidies. “As Congress continues to face pressure to extend Obamacare’s abortion-funding premium subsidies, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) is making the facts clear on how Obamacare does not include the Hyde amendment and forces Americans to pay for abortions,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.“The enactment of Obamacare ruptured the bipartisan legacy of the Hyde amendment and resulted in the largest expansion of abortion funding since the 1970s,” she said. “Obama and the Democratic leadership at the time intentionally drafted the program to avoid annual appropriations bills, bypassing the Hyde amendment.”“Instead of stopping funding for health insurance plans that cover elective abortion, Section 1303 of Obamacare expressly permits subsidies for Obamacare plans that cover abortion using elaborate accounting requirements and an abortion surcharge to justify the funding,” she said.SBA and more than 100 other pro-life organizations are demanding that any extensions to Obamacare include a complete application of the Hyde policy. The groups sent a September letter and an October letter to lawmakers calling on Congress to ensure pro-life provisions. “Preventing taxpayer funding of abortion is a minimum requirement for any new Obamacare spending advanced by a Republican Congress and Administration,” Dannenfelser said.

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Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025.  / Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025. 

The Senate is expected to vote Dec. 11 on a Democratic proposal to extend existing ACA tax credits for three years, as 24 million Americans use ACA marketplaces for health insurance. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told reporters Tuesday after a Senate Republican meeting that lawmakers also will vote on a Republican alternative measure. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who leads the Finance panel, announced the legislation on Monday. 

The measure (S. 3386) would set requirements for Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions and direct that the money cannot be used for abortion or “gender transitions.” It would require states to verify citizenship and immigration status before coverage.

Catholic bishops weigh in

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have said they favor extending the taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the ACA, but said lawmakers must ensure that the tax credits are not used for abortions or other procedures that violate Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life. 

The enhanced premium tax credits “should be extended but must not continue to fund plans that cover the destruction of human life, which is antithetical to authentic health care,”  the bishops wrote in an Oct. 10 letter to members of Congress. 

There needs to be a policy that serves “all vulnerable people – born and preborn” and applies full Hyde Amendment protections to them, ensuring not only that government funding does not directly pay for the procuring of an abortion, but also that plans offered by health insurance companies on ACA exchanges cannot cover elective abortion,” they wrote. 

The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1977, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.

Activists respond

A coalition of more than 300 faith leaders including NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Church Of God In Christ Social Justice Ministry, Faith in Action Network, and  Franciscan Action Network, delivered a joint letter to Congress Dec. 8 urging legislators to pass a bipartisan bill that protects and expands the ACA premium tax credits.

“Each life is sacred, therefore, there is a moral imperative to provide care for the sick and alleviate suffering particularly for those who lack resources to pay,” the letter wrote. There must be action to ensure everyone has “the health care they need to live and thrive, as people are currently making choices about coverage for 2026.”

“The letter notes that renewing the tax credits will keep healthcare premiums under the ACA from spiking by an average of 114 percent in 2026,” NETWORK reported. “This would cause an estimated 4.8 million people to lose their health coverage because they cannot afford it. Subsequently, some 50,000 people could lose their lives without their health coverage.”

Other pro-life organizations have warned against expanding the subsidies. 

“As Congress continues to face pressure to extend Obamacare’s abortion-funding premium subsidies, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) is making the facts clear on how Obamacare does not include the Hyde amendment and forces Americans to pay for abortions,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

“The enactment of Obamacare ruptured the bipartisan legacy of the Hyde amendment and resulted in the largest expansion of abortion funding since the 1970s,” she said. “Obama and the Democratic leadership at the time intentionally drafted the program to avoid annual appropriations bills, bypassing the Hyde amendment.”

“Instead of stopping funding for health insurance plans that cover elective abortion, Section 1303 of Obamacare expressly permits subsidies for Obamacare plans that cover abortion using elaborate accounting requirements and an abortion surcharge to justify the funding,” she said.

SBA and more than 100 other pro-life organizations are demanding that any extensions to Obamacare include a complete application of the Hyde policy. The groups sent a September letter and an October letter to lawmakers calling on Congress to ensure pro-life provisions. 

“Preventing taxpayer funding of abortion is a minimum requirement for any new Obamacare spending advanced by a Republican Congress and Administration,” Dannenfelser said.

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Trump honors Mary’s ‘freedom from original sin’ in Immaculate Conception message #Catholic U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 8, 2025 / 18:09 pm (CNA). President Donald Trump honored the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, which appears to be the first time an American president formally recognized the Catholic holy day.The presidential statement recognized the role Mary played in the salvation of humanity and the importance she has in American history. The statement does, however, contain one theological error about the Incarnation. It says God became man when Christ was born, although Catholic doctrine recognizes God becoming man at the Incarnation: when Mary conceived him.“Today, I recognize every American celebrating Dec. 8 as a holy day honoring the faith, humility, and love of Mary, mother of Jesus and one of the greatest figures in the Bible,” the statement said. Trump, who is not Catholic and describes himself as a “non-denominational Christian,” has cultivated strong bonds with a broad range of Christians and frequently referenced religious holidays and symbols in ways that resonate with supporters.CNA could not find similar proclamations on the Immaculate Conception from other presidents, including none from the only two Catholic presidents: John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden. Other presidents have spoken about Mary and the Immaculate Conception, sometimes in messages relating to Christmas or other topics, but not in a formal recognition of this feast.“On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Catholics celebrate what they believe to be Mary’s freedom from original sin as the mother of God,” the statement read.The feast day celebrates the miracle in which Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. Every person — with the exception of Mary and Jesus Christ — receives the hereditary stain of original sin, which was brought onto humanity through the first sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.Mary’s importance to humanity and the United StatesThe presidential statement said Mary’s agreement at the Annunciation to conceive and bear the child Christ was “one of the most profound and consequential acts of history,” and Mary “heroically accepted God’s will with trust and humility.” It cites Luke 1:38: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” “Mary’s decision forever altered the course of humanity,” the statement read, adding that Christ “would go on to offer his life on the Cross for the redemption of sins and the salvation of the world.”President Trump’s statement also describes the annunciation by the archangel Gabriel, who calls the Blessed Mother “favored one” and tells her “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”Later in the document, the presidential message says “we remember the sacred words that have brought aid, comfort, and support to generations of American believers in times of need,” and includes the text of the Hail Mary.Trump’s statement also acknowledges the “distinct role” Mary has played “in our great American story.”The president’s statement also specifically references Bishop John Carroll’s consecration of the United States to the Blessed Mother. Carroll was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. In addition, the statement references the annual Mass of Thanksgiving in New Orleans on Jan. 8, in which Catholics celebrate Mary’s perceived assistance to U.S. troops under the command of General Andrew Jackson in winning the Battle of New Orleans.The message notes that “American legends” including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and Venerable Fulton Sheen “held a deep devotion to Mary” and that many American churches, hospitals, universities, and schools bear her name. It adds that many Americans will also celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.“As we approach 250 years of glorious American independence, we acknowledge and give thanks, with total gratitude, for Mary’s role in advancing peace, hope, and love in America and beyond our shores,” the presidential message reads.The presidential message also recognizes Pope Benedict XV dedicating a statue of Mary, Queen of Peace, to encourage Christians “to look to her example of peace by praying for a stop to the horrific slaughter” occurring in World War I, which then ended just a few months later.“Today, we look to Mary once again for inspiration and encouragement as we pray for an end to war and for a new and lasting era of peace, prosperity, and harmony in Europe and throughout the world,” Trump’s statement added.Catholics react to Trump’s messageChad Pecknold, a political science professor at The Catholic University of America, said he welcomed the president’s recognition of the feast day.“The more America publicly honors Christian feast days such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, and the more we remember our greatest saints, as well as our national heroes, the better oriented our nation will be to God,” he said. “This is the spiritual key to raising up the Res Americana for the next 250 years.”Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), called the presidential message “a jaw-droppingly historic event.” For a president to celebrate Mary as “full of grace” and celebrate “the centrality of the Incarnation,” she said “goes beyond anything that Americans have ever heard in presidential public speeches.”“This pronouncement, along with the first American pope in world history, marks a watershed moment in American cultural history,” Hanssen said. Caleb Henry, a political science professor at Franciscan University, told CNA Trump’s message appears to be an extension of the president’s America Prays campaign, which asks Americans to pray for the country ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year.Henry said the initiative seeks to “reconnect America’s people of faith with … the signing of the Declaration of Independence.” He said the Immaculate Conception statement appears to be “a message to America’s Catholic faithful,” that the country’s history “while complicated, is rooted in these truths of natural law, laws of nature, and of nature’s God.”“We have a Marian tradition here in our country as well,” he said. The statement comes as the nation’s Catholic bishops have welcomed some of Trump’s policies, such as regarding gender ideology. Bishops also have expressed dismay about indiscriminate immigration enforcement and a plan to expand in vitro fertilization (IVF).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a unified special pastoral message against “indiscriminate mass deportations” on Nov. 12.Henry said a message like the one issued on the Immaculate Conception is “a typical Trump move” by “ignoring all existing hierarchies and going straight to the people.”Theological error in the messageThe statement contains a theological error. After discussing the Annunciation, the message states “nine months later, God became man when Mary gave birth to a son, Jesus.”Christ became man at the moment of the Incarnation, when Mary conceived him, not when he was born. Father Aquinas Guilbeau, OP, told CNA that although early councils clarified this teaching, the misunderstanding “endures today.” He said: “Even among Christians, sadly. It remains a favorite of poets.” He noted that even in “Silent Night,” the verse that says “Jesus, Lord, at thy birth” falls into this error because: “Jesus is Lord before his birth. He is Lord at his conception.”“Wherever it appears, the error may be pious and well-intentioned but it remains theologically inaccurate,” Guilbeau said.
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Trump honors Mary’s ‘freedom from original sin’ in Immaculate Conception message #Catholic U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 8, 2025 / 18:09 pm (CNA). President Donald Trump honored the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, which appears to be the first time an American president formally recognized the Catholic holy day.The presidential statement recognized the role Mary played in the salvation of humanity and the importance she has in American history. The statement does, however, contain one theological error about the Incarnation. It says God became man when Christ was born, although Catholic doctrine recognizes God becoming man at the Incarnation: when Mary conceived him.“Today, I recognize every American celebrating Dec. 8 as a holy day honoring the faith, humility, and love of Mary, mother of Jesus and one of the greatest figures in the Bible,” the statement said. Trump, who is not Catholic and describes himself as a “non-denominational Christian,” has cultivated strong bonds with a broad range of Christians and frequently referenced religious holidays and symbols in ways that resonate with supporters.CNA could not find similar proclamations on the Immaculate Conception from other presidents, including none from the only two Catholic presidents: John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden. Other presidents have spoken about Mary and the Immaculate Conception, sometimes in messages relating to Christmas or other topics, but not in a formal recognition of this feast.“On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Catholics celebrate what they believe to be Mary’s freedom from original sin as the mother of God,” the statement read.The feast day celebrates the miracle in which Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. Every person — with the exception of Mary and Jesus Christ — receives the hereditary stain of original sin, which was brought onto humanity through the first sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.Mary’s importance to humanity and the United StatesThe presidential statement said Mary’s agreement at the Annunciation to conceive and bear the child Christ was “one of the most profound and consequential acts of history,” and Mary “heroically accepted God’s will with trust and humility.” It cites Luke 1:38: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” “Mary’s decision forever altered the course of humanity,” the statement read, adding that Christ “would go on to offer his life on the Cross for the redemption of sins and the salvation of the world.”President Trump’s statement also describes the annunciation by the archangel Gabriel, who calls the Blessed Mother “favored one” and tells her “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”Later in the document, the presidential message says “we remember the sacred words that have brought aid, comfort, and support to generations of American believers in times of need,” and includes the text of the Hail Mary.Trump’s statement also acknowledges the “distinct role” Mary has played “in our great American story.”The president’s statement also specifically references Bishop John Carroll’s consecration of the United States to the Blessed Mother. Carroll was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. In addition, the statement references the annual Mass of Thanksgiving in New Orleans on Jan. 8, in which Catholics celebrate Mary’s perceived assistance to U.S. troops under the command of General Andrew Jackson in winning the Battle of New Orleans.The message notes that “American legends” including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and Venerable Fulton Sheen “held a deep devotion to Mary” and that many American churches, hospitals, universities, and schools bear her name. It adds that many Americans will also celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.“As we approach 250 years of glorious American independence, we acknowledge and give thanks, with total gratitude, for Mary’s role in advancing peace, hope, and love in America and beyond our shores,” the presidential message reads.The presidential message also recognizes Pope Benedict XV dedicating a statue of Mary, Queen of Peace, to encourage Christians “to look to her example of peace by praying for a stop to the horrific slaughter” occurring in World War I, which then ended just a few months later.“Today, we look to Mary once again for inspiration and encouragement as we pray for an end to war and for a new and lasting era of peace, prosperity, and harmony in Europe and throughout the world,” Trump’s statement added.Catholics react to Trump’s messageChad Pecknold, a political science professor at The Catholic University of America, said he welcomed the president’s recognition of the feast day.“The more America publicly honors Christian feast days such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, and the more we remember our greatest saints, as well as our national heroes, the better oriented our nation will be to God,” he said. “This is the spiritual key to raising up the Res Americana for the next 250 years.”Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), called the presidential message “a jaw-droppingly historic event.” For a president to celebrate Mary as “full of grace” and celebrate “the centrality of the Incarnation,” she said “goes beyond anything that Americans have ever heard in presidential public speeches.”“This pronouncement, along with the first American pope in world history, marks a watershed moment in American cultural history,” Hanssen said. Caleb Henry, a political science professor at Franciscan University, told CNA Trump’s message appears to be an extension of the president’s America Prays campaign, which asks Americans to pray for the country ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year.Henry said the initiative seeks to “reconnect America’s people of faith with … the signing of the Declaration of Independence.” He said the Immaculate Conception statement appears to be “a message to America’s Catholic faithful,” that the country’s history “while complicated, is rooted in these truths of natural law, laws of nature, and of nature’s God.”“We have a Marian tradition here in our country as well,” he said. The statement comes as the nation’s Catholic bishops have welcomed some of Trump’s policies, such as regarding gender ideology. Bishops also have expressed dismay about indiscriminate immigration enforcement and a plan to expand in vitro fertilization (IVF).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a unified special pastoral message against “indiscriminate mass deportations” on Nov. 12.Henry said a message like the one issued on the Immaculate Conception is “a typical Trump move” by “ignoring all existing hierarchies and going straight to the people.”Theological error in the messageThe statement contains a theological error. After discussing the Annunciation, the message states “nine months later, God became man when Mary gave birth to a son, Jesus.”Christ became man at the moment of the Incarnation, when Mary conceived him, not when he was born. Father Aquinas Guilbeau, OP, told CNA that although early councils clarified this teaching, the misunderstanding “endures today.” He said: “Even among Christians, sadly. It remains a favorite of poets.” He noted that even in “Silent Night,” the verse that says “Jesus, Lord, at thy birth” falls into this error because: “Jesus is Lord before his birth. He is Lord at his conception.”“Wherever it appears, the error may be pious and well-intentioned but it remains theologically inaccurate,” Guilbeau said.

unitedyam

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 8, 2025 / 18:09 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump honored the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, which appears to be the first time an American president formally recognized the Catholic holy day.

The presidential statement recognized the role Mary played in the salvation of humanity and the importance she has in American history. The statement does, however, contain one theological error about the Incarnation. It says God became man when Christ was born, although Catholic doctrine recognizes God becoming man at the Incarnation: when Mary conceived him.

“Today, I recognize every American celebrating Dec. 8 as a holy day honoring the faith, humility, and love of Mary, mother of Jesus and one of the greatest figures in the Bible,” the statement said. Trump, who is not Catholic and describes himself as a “non-denominational Christian,” has cultivated strong bonds with a broad range of Christians and frequently referenced religious holidays and symbols in ways that resonate with supporters.

CNA could not find similar proclamations on the Immaculate Conception from other presidents, including none from the only two Catholic presidents: John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden. Other presidents have spoken about Mary and the Immaculate Conception, sometimes in messages relating to Christmas or other topics, but not in a formal recognition of this feast.

“On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Catholics celebrate what they believe to be Mary’s freedom from original sin as the mother of God,” the statement read.

The feast day celebrates the miracle in which Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. Every person — with the exception of Mary and Jesus Christ — receives the hereditary stain of original sin, which was brought onto humanity through the first sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Mary’s importance to humanity and the United States

The presidential statement said Mary’s agreement at the Annunciation to conceive and bear the child Christ was “one of the most profound and consequential acts of history,” and Mary “heroically accepted God’s will with trust and humility.” 

It cites Luke 1:38: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” 

“Mary’s decision forever altered the course of humanity,” the statement read, adding that Christ “would go on to offer his life on the Cross for the redemption of sins and the salvation of the world.”

President Trump’s statement also describes the annunciation by the archangel Gabriel, who calls the Blessed Mother “favored one” and tells her “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”

Later in the document, the presidential message says “we remember the sacred words that have brought aid, comfort, and support to generations of American believers in times of need,” and includes the text of the Hail Mary.

Trump’s statement also acknowledges the “distinct role” Mary has played “in our great American story.”

The president’s statement also specifically references Bishop John Carroll’s consecration of the United States to the Blessed Mother. Carroll was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. In addition, the statement references the annual Mass of Thanksgiving in New Orleans on Jan. 8, in which Catholics celebrate Mary’s perceived assistance to U.S. troops under the command of General Andrew Jackson in winning the Battle of New Orleans.

The message notes that “American legends” including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and Venerable Fulton Sheen “held a deep devotion to Mary” and that many American churches, hospitals, universities, and schools bear her name. It adds that many Americans will also celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.

“As we approach 250 years of glorious American independence, we acknowledge and give thanks, with total gratitude, for Mary’s role in advancing peace, hope, and love in America and beyond our shores,” the presidential message reads.

The presidential message also recognizes Pope Benedict XV dedicating a statue of Mary, Queen of Peace, to encourage Christians “to look to her example of peace by praying for a stop to the horrific slaughter” occurring in World War I, which then ended just a few months later.

“Today, we look to Mary once again for inspiration and encouragement as we pray for an end to war and for a new and lasting era of peace, prosperity, and harmony in Europe and throughout the world,” Trump’s statement added.

Catholics react to Trump’s message

Chad Pecknold, a political science professor at The Catholic University of America, said he welcomed the president’s recognition of the feast day.

“The more America publicly honors Christian feast days such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, and the more we remember our greatest saints, as well as our national heroes, the better oriented our nation will be to God,” he said. “This is the spiritual key to raising up the Res Americana for the next 250 years.”

Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), called the presidential message “a jaw-droppingly historic event.” For a president to celebrate Mary as “full of grace” and celebrate “the centrality of the Incarnation,” she said “goes beyond anything that Americans have ever heard in presidential public speeches.”

“This pronouncement, along with the first American pope in world history, marks a watershed moment in American cultural history,” Hanssen said. 

Caleb Henry, a political science professor at Franciscan University, told CNA Trump’s message appears to be an extension of the president’s America Prays campaign, which asks Americans to pray for the country ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year.

Henry said the initiative seeks to “reconnect America’s people of faith with … the signing of the Declaration of Independence.” He said the Immaculate Conception statement appears to be “a message to America’s Catholic faithful,” that the country’s history “while complicated, is rooted in these truths of natural law, laws of nature, and of nature’s God.”

“We have a Marian tradition here in our country as well,” he said. 

The statement comes as the nation’s Catholic bishops have welcomed some of Trump’s policies, such as regarding gender ideology. Bishops also have expressed dismay about indiscriminate immigration enforcement and a plan to expand in vitro fertilization (IVF).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a unified special pastoral message against “indiscriminate mass deportations” on Nov. 12.

Henry said a message like the one issued on the Immaculate Conception is “a typical Trump move” by “ignoring all existing hierarchies and going straight to the people.”

Theological error in the message

The statement contains a theological error. After discussing the Annunciation, the message states “nine months later, God became man when Mary gave birth to a son, Jesus.”

Christ became man at the moment of the Incarnation, when Mary conceived him, not when he was born. 

Father Aquinas Guilbeau, OP, told CNA that although early councils clarified this teaching, the misunderstanding “endures today.” He said: “Even among Christians, sadly. It remains a favorite of poets.” 

He noted that even in “Silent Night,” the verse that says “Jesus, Lord, at thy birth” falls into this error because: “Jesus is Lord before his birth. He is Lord at his conception.”

“Wherever it appears, the error may be pious and well-intentioned but it remains theologically inaccurate,” Guilbeau said.

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What is ‘papal infallibility?’ CNA explains an often-misunderstood Church teaching #Catholic When Pope Pius IX declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary on Dec. 8, 1854, he had a golden crown added to the mosaic of Mary, Virgin Immaculate, in the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA CNA Staff, Dec 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). On Dec. 8 the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception — a paramount feast in the Church’s liturgical calendar and one that indirectly touches on a regularly misunderstood but important piece of Church dogma.The solemnity is the patronal feast of the United States and marks the recognition of the Blessed Mother’s freedom from original sin, which the Church teaches she was granted from the moment of conception.The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Mary was “redeemed from the moment of her conception” (No. 491) in order “to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation” (No. 490). The dogma was disputed and challenged by Protestants over the centuries, leading Pope Pius IX to affirm it in his 1854 encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, stating unequivocally that Mary “was endowed with the grace of the Holy Spirit and preserved from original sin” upon her conception. Ineffabilis Deus is among the papal pronouncements that theologians have long considered to be “infallible.” But what does papal infallibility mean in the context and history of the Church?Defined by First Vatican Council in 1870Though Church historians argue that numerous papal statements down through the centuries can potentially be regarded as infallible under this teaching, the concept itself was not fully defined by the Church until the mid-19th century.In its first dogmatic constitution on the Church of Christ, Pastor Aeternus, the First Vatican Council held that the pope, when speaking “in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority,” and while defining “a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church,” possesses the infallibility that Jesus “willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.”Father Patrick Flanagan, an associate professor of theology at St. John’s University, told CNA that the doctrine of papal infallibility “does not concern the pope’s character.”“The pope is human,” Flanagan said. “In other words, he is fallible. He can sin and err in what he says about everyday matters.”Yet in “rare historical, narrowly defined moments” when the pope “exercises his authority as the supreme teacher of the Church of the Petrine office” and speaks “ex cathedra,” he is guided by the Holy Spirit to speak “indisputable truth” about faith and morals, Flanagan said. Flanagan underscored the four specific criteria that a papal statement must make to be considered infallible. For one, the pope must speak “in his official capacity as supreme pontiff,” not off-the-cuff or informally. The doctrine, meanwhile, must concern a matter of faith or morals. “No pope would speak ex cathedra on scientific, economic, or other nonreligious subjects,” Flanagan said. The statement must also be “explicitly straightforward and definitive,” he said, and it “must be intended to bind the whole Church as a matter of divine and Roman Catholic faith.” John P. Joy, a professor of theology and the dean of faculty at St. Ambrose Academy in Madison, Wisconsin, told CNA that the doctrine can be identified in part by the reading of Matthew 16:19.In that passage, Christ tells Peter, the first pope: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”“Part of what Jesus is promising here is that he will endorse and ratify in heaven all of the judgments that Peter makes on earth,” Joy said. “So when Peter (or one of his successors) turns the key, so to speak, that is, when he explicitly declares that all Catholics are bound to believe something on earth, then we have the words of Jesus assuring us that God himself will hold us bound to believe the same thing in heaven,” he said. Though the concept of papal infallibility is well known and has become something of a pop culture reference, the number of times a pope has declared something infallibly appears to be relatively small. Theologians and historians do not always agree on what papal statements through the centuries can be deemed infallible. Joy pointed to the Immaculate Conception, as well as Pope Pius XII’s declaration on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in 1950, as two of the most well known.He pointed to numerous other statements, such as Pope Benedict XII’s Benedictus Deus from 1336 and Pope Leo X’s Exsurge Domine in 1520, as infallible statements. Flanagan pointed out that there is “no official list” of papally infallible statements. Such declarations are “rare,” he said. “A pope invokes his extraordinary magisterial powers sparingly.” When Catholics trust a papally infallible statement, Joy stressed, they “are not putting [their] faith in the pope as if he were an oracle of truth or a source of divine revelation.” “We are rather putting our faith in God, whom we firmly believe will intervene in order to stop any pope who might be tempted to proclaim a false doctrine in a definitive way,” he said. 
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What is ‘papal infallibility?’ CNA explains an often-misunderstood Church teaching #Catholic When Pope Pius IX declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary on Dec. 8, 1854, he had a golden crown added to the mosaic of Mary, Virgin Immaculate, in the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA CNA Staff, Dec 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). On Dec. 8 the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception — a paramount feast in the Church’s liturgical calendar and one that indirectly touches on a regularly misunderstood but important piece of Church dogma.The solemnity is the patronal feast of the United States and marks the recognition of the Blessed Mother’s freedom from original sin, which the Church teaches she was granted from the moment of conception.The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Mary was “redeemed from the moment of her conception” (No. 491) in order “to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation” (No. 490). The dogma was disputed and challenged by Protestants over the centuries, leading Pope Pius IX to affirm it in his 1854 encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, stating unequivocally that Mary “was endowed with the grace of the Holy Spirit and preserved from original sin” upon her conception. Ineffabilis Deus is among the papal pronouncements that theologians have long considered to be “infallible.” But what does papal infallibility mean in the context and history of the Church?Defined by First Vatican Council in 1870Though Church historians argue that numerous papal statements down through the centuries can potentially be regarded as infallible under this teaching, the concept itself was not fully defined by the Church until the mid-19th century.In its first dogmatic constitution on the Church of Christ, Pastor Aeternus, the First Vatican Council held that the pope, when speaking “in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority,” and while defining “a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church,” possesses the infallibility that Jesus “willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.”Father Patrick Flanagan, an associate professor of theology at St. John’s University, told CNA that the doctrine of papal infallibility “does not concern the pope’s character.”“The pope is human,” Flanagan said. “In other words, he is fallible. He can sin and err in what he says about everyday matters.”Yet in “rare historical, narrowly defined moments” when the pope “exercises his authority as the supreme teacher of the Church of the Petrine office” and speaks “ex cathedra,” he is guided by the Holy Spirit to speak “indisputable truth” about faith and morals, Flanagan said. Flanagan underscored the four specific criteria that a papal statement must make to be considered infallible. For one, the pope must speak “in his official capacity as supreme pontiff,” not off-the-cuff or informally. The doctrine, meanwhile, must concern a matter of faith or morals. “No pope would speak ex cathedra on scientific, economic, or other nonreligious subjects,” Flanagan said. The statement must also be “explicitly straightforward and definitive,” he said, and it “must be intended to bind the whole Church as a matter of divine and Roman Catholic faith.” John P. Joy, a professor of theology and the dean of faculty at St. Ambrose Academy in Madison, Wisconsin, told CNA that the doctrine can be identified in part by the reading of Matthew 16:19.In that passage, Christ tells Peter, the first pope: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”“Part of what Jesus is promising here is that he will endorse and ratify in heaven all of the judgments that Peter makes on earth,” Joy said. “So when Peter (or one of his successors) turns the key, so to speak, that is, when he explicitly declares that all Catholics are bound to believe something on earth, then we have the words of Jesus assuring us that God himself will hold us bound to believe the same thing in heaven,” he said. Though the concept of papal infallibility is well known and has become something of a pop culture reference, the number of times a pope has declared something infallibly appears to be relatively small. Theologians and historians do not always agree on what papal statements through the centuries can be deemed infallible. Joy pointed to the Immaculate Conception, as well as Pope Pius XII’s declaration on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in 1950, as two of the most well known.He pointed to numerous other statements, such as Pope Benedict XII’s Benedictus Deus from 1336 and Pope Leo X’s Exsurge Domine in 1520, as infallible statements. Flanagan pointed out that there is “no official list” of papally infallible statements. Such declarations are “rare,” he said. “A pope invokes his extraordinary magisterial powers sparingly.” When Catholics trust a papally infallible statement, Joy stressed, they “are not putting [their] faith in the pope as if he were an oracle of truth or a source of divine revelation.” “We are rather putting our faith in God, whom we firmly believe will intervene in order to stop any pope who might be tempted to proclaim a false doctrine in a definitive way,” he said. 

unitedyam

When Pope Pius IX declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary on Dec. 8, 1854, he had a golden crown added to the mosaic of Mary, Virgin Immaculate, in the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Staff, Dec 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On Dec. 8 the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception — a paramount feast in the Church’s liturgical calendar and one that indirectly touches on a regularly misunderstood but important piece of Church dogma.

The solemnity is the patronal feast of the United States and marks the recognition of the Blessed Mother’s freedom from original sin, which the Church teaches she was granted from the moment of conception.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Mary was “redeemed from the moment of her conception” (No. 491) in order “to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation” (No. 490). 

The dogma was disputed and challenged by Protestants over the centuries, leading Pope Pius IX to affirm it in his 1854 encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, stating unequivocally that Mary “was endowed with the grace of the Holy Spirit and preserved from original sin” upon her conception. 

Ineffabilis Deus is among the papal pronouncements that theologians have long considered to be “infallible.” But what does papal infallibility mean in the context and history of the Church?

Defined by First Vatican Council in 1870

Though Church historians argue that numerous papal statements down through the centuries can potentially be regarded as infallible under this teaching, the concept itself was not fully defined by the Church until the mid-19th century.

In its first dogmatic constitution on the Church of Christ, Pastor Aeternus, the First Vatican Council held that the pope, when speaking “in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority,” and while defining “a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church,” possesses the infallibility that Jesus “willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.”

Father Patrick Flanagan, an associate professor of theology at St. John’s University, told CNA that the doctrine of papal infallibility “does not concern the pope’s character.”

“The pope is human,” Flanagan said. “In other words, he is fallible. He can sin and err in what he says about everyday matters.”

Yet in “rare historical, narrowly defined moments” when the pope “exercises his authority as the supreme teacher of the Church of the Petrine office” and speaks “ex cathedra,” he is guided by the Holy Spirit to speak “indisputable truth” about faith and morals, Flanagan said. 

Flanagan underscored the four specific criteria that a papal statement must make to be considered infallible. For one, the pope must speak “in his official capacity as supreme pontiff,” not off-the-cuff or informally. 

The doctrine, meanwhile, must concern a matter of faith or morals. “No pope would speak ex cathedra on scientific, economic, or other nonreligious subjects,” Flanagan said. 

The statement must also be “explicitly straightforward and definitive,” he said, and it “must be intended to bind the whole Church as a matter of divine and Roman Catholic faith.” 

John P. Joy, a professor of theology and the dean of faculty at St. Ambrose Academy in Madison, Wisconsin, told CNA that the doctrine can be identified in part by the reading of Matthew 16:19.

In that passage, Christ tells Peter, the first pope: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

“Part of what Jesus is promising here is that he will endorse and ratify in heaven all of the judgments that Peter makes on earth,” Joy said. 

“So when Peter (or one of his successors) turns the key, so to speak, that is, when he explicitly declares that all Catholics are bound to believe something on earth, then we have the words of Jesus assuring us that God himself will hold us bound to believe the same thing in heaven,” he said. 

Though the concept of papal infallibility is well known and has become something of a pop culture reference, the number of times a pope has declared something infallibly appears to be relatively small. 

Theologians and historians do not always agree on what papal statements through the centuries can be deemed infallible. Joy pointed to the Immaculate Conception, as well as Pope Pius XII’s declaration on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in 1950, as two of the most well known.

He pointed to numerous other statements, such as Pope Benedict XII’s Benedictus Deus from 1336 and Pope Leo X’s Exsurge Domine in 1520, as infallible statements. 

Flanagan pointed out that there is “no official list” of papally infallible statements. Such declarations are “rare,” he said. “A pope invokes his extraordinary magisterial powers sparingly.” 

When Catholics trust a papally infallible statement, Joy stressed, they “are not putting [their] faith in the pope as if he were an oracle of truth or a source of divine revelation.” 

“We are rather putting our faith in God, whom we firmly believe will intervene in order to stop any pope who might be tempted to proclaim a false doctrine in a definitive way,” he said. 

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Hidden Catholic histories come alive in new Black and Native American films #Catholic A still from “Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics,” which tells the inspiring story of how African Americans found a home in Catholicism without abandoning their identity or culture. Those pictured are the African Americans currently on the path to sainthood: Venerable Henriette DeLille, Julia Greeley, Father Augustus Tolton, Mother Mary Lange, Pierre Toussaint, and Sister Thea Bowman. / Credit: Black and Indian Mission Office CNA Staff, Dec 7, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). The Black and Indian Mission Office in Washington, D.C., recently released two documentaries — one highlighting African American Catholics on the path to sainthood and the focusing on Native American Catholic communities in the United States. “Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics” tells the inspiring story of how African Americans found a home in Catholicism without abandoning their identity or culture. From the pioneering Oblate Sisters of Providence and St. Frances Academy to the lives of Venerable Henriette DeLille, Julia Greeley, Father Augustus Tolton, and Sister Thea Bowman, the documentary celebrates a legacy of leadership and faith.The second film, “Walking the Sacred Path: The Story of the Black and Indian Mission Office,” uncovers the often-hidden story of Native American Catholics in the United States. The film explores the powerful intersection of faith and culture — where the beauty of Native traditions and the universality of Catholicism meet — and highlights more than 140 years of the Black and Indian Mission Office’s mission to walk alongside Native American communities. Father Maurice Henry Sands is the executive director of the Black and Indian Mission Office. He told CNA in an interview that these documentaries were created “to educate people about these two groups of people that a lot of people don’t know much about,” as well as “to educate people about the work that our office is doing with these two groups of people.”The Black and Indian Mission Collection was the first national collection established at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 and is still taken up yearly funding the Black and Indian Mission Office.The United States bishops recognized the need to support missionary work among African American and Native American Catholics and since its creation the collection has allowed for grants to be given to dioceses across the country to operate schools, parishes, and other missionary services that build the body of Christ in Native American, Alaska Native, and Black Catholic communities.Sands shared that it is important for Catholics to walk alongside these communities because “we are all part of the human race that the Lord directs his work of salvation towards.”“It’s important that we learn how to live together and walk together because as human beings we do put up walls and barriers and we see differences among ourselves,” he said, adding that racism “has caused a lot of difficulties for the two groups of people.” “So, we have a fundamental call as disciples of Christ, as Catholics, as Christians, to help the Lord and his work of salvation to love one another and to have a special concern for those of our brothers and sisters who are disadvantaged and in need,” he said.Speaking specifically to the documentary on the African American Catholics on their way to sainthood, Sands explained that the six individuals included all serve as great role models for the faithful because “each of them had very challenging beginnings but went on to be great lovers of Our Lord and were a great witness to others and helped people in need as they saw the needs of people around them and were very effective in doing that.”He added that the early Church missionaries who served Native Americans also serve as role models in how to “help people where they are to come to know Christ, to love him, and to have a relationship with him.”Sands said he hopes viewers will feel moved to “learn more about how they can support the ministry to these two groups of people and to learn more about how they can support the work that we are doing in our office.”Both documentaries can be viewed on Formed.
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Hidden Catholic histories come alive in new Black and Native American films #Catholic A still from “Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics,” which tells the inspiring story of how African Americans found a home in Catholicism without abandoning their identity or culture. Those pictured are the African Americans currently on the path to sainthood: Venerable Henriette DeLille, Julia Greeley, Father Augustus Tolton, Mother Mary Lange, Pierre Toussaint, and Sister Thea Bowman. / Credit: Black and Indian Mission Office CNA Staff, Dec 7, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). The Black and Indian Mission Office in Washington, D.C., recently released two documentaries — one highlighting African American Catholics on the path to sainthood and the focusing on Native American Catholic communities in the United States. “Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics” tells the inspiring story of how African Americans found a home in Catholicism without abandoning their identity or culture. From the pioneering Oblate Sisters of Providence and St. Frances Academy to the lives of Venerable Henriette DeLille, Julia Greeley, Father Augustus Tolton, and Sister Thea Bowman, the documentary celebrates a legacy of leadership and faith.The second film, “Walking the Sacred Path: The Story of the Black and Indian Mission Office,” uncovers the often-hidden story of Native American Catholics in the United States. The film explores the powerful intersection of faith and culture — where the beauty of Native traditions and the universality of Catholicism meet — and highlights more than 140 years of the Black and Indian Mission Office’s mission to walk alongside Native American communities. Father Maurice Henry Sands is the executive director of the Black and Indian Mission Office. He told CNA in an interview that these documentaries were created “to educate people about these two groups of people that a lot of people don’t know much about,” as well as “to educate people about the work that our office is doing with these two groups of people.”The Black and Indian Mission Collection was the first national collection established at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 and is still taken up yearly funding the Black and Indian Mission Office.The United States bishops recognized the need to support missionary work among African American and Native American Catholics and since its creation the collection has allowed for grants to be given to dioceses across the country to operate schools, parishes, and other missionary services that build the body of Christ in Native American, Alaska Native, and Black Catholic communities.Sands shared that it is important for Catholics to walk alongside these communities because “we are all part of the human race that the Lord directs his work of salvation towards.”“It’s important that we learn how to live together and walk together because as human beings we do put up walls and barriers and we see differences among ourselves,” he said, adding that racism “has caused a lot of difficulties for the two groups of people.” “So, we have a fundamental call as disciples of Christ, as Catholics, as Christians, to help the Lord and his work of salvation to love one another and to have a special concern for those of our brothers and sisters who are disadvantaged and in need,” he said.Speaking specifically to the documentary on the African American Catholics on their way to sainthood, Sands explained that the six individuals included all serve as great role models for the faithful because “each of them had very challenging beginnings but went on to be great lovers of Our Lord and were a great witness to others and helped people in need as they saw the needs of people around them and were very effective in doing that.”He added that the early Church missionaries who served Native Americans also serve as role models in how to “help people where they are to come to know Christ, to love him, and to have a relationship with him.”Sands said he hopes viewers will feel moved to “learn more about how they can support the ministry to these two groups of people and to learn more about how they can support the work that we are doing in our office.”Both documentaries can be viewed on Formed.

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A still from “Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics,” which tells the inspiring story of how African Americans found a home in Catholicism without abandoning their identity or culture. Those pictured are the African Americans currently on the path to sainthood: Venerable Henriette DeLille, Julia Greeley, Father Augustus Tolton, Mother Mary Lange, Pierre Toussaint, and Sister Thea Bowman. / Credit: Black and Indian Mission Office

CNA Staff, Dec 7, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Black and Indian Mission Office in Washington, D.C., recently released two documentaries — one highlighting African American Catholics on the path to sainthood and the focusing on Native American Catholic communities in the United States. 

“Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics” tells the inspiring story of how African Americans found a home in Catholicism without abandoning their identity or culture. 

From the pioneering Oblate Sisters of Providence and St. Frances Academy to the lives of Venerable Henriette DeLille, Julia Greeley, Father Augustus Tolton, and Sister Thea Bowman, the documentary celebrates a legacy of leadership and faith.

The second film, “Walking the Sacred Path: The Story of the Black and Indian Mission Office,” uncovers the often-hidden story of Native American Catholics in the United States. The film explores the powerful intersection of faith and culture — where the beauty of Native traditions and the universality of Catholicism meet — and highlights more than 140 years of the Black and Indian Mission Office’s mission to walk alongside Native American communities. 

Father Maurice Henry Sands is the executive director of the Black and Indian Mission Office. He told CNA in an interview that these documentaries were created “to educate people about these two groups of people that a lot of people don’t know much about,” as well as “to educate people about the work that our office is doing with these two groups of people.”

The Black and Indian Mission Collection was the first national collection established at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 and is still taken up yearly funding the Black and Indian Mission Office.

The United States bishops recognized the need to support missionary work among African American and Native American Catholics and since its creation the collection has allowed for grants to be given to dioceses across the country to operate schools, parishes, and other missionary services that build the body of Christ in Native American, Alaska Native, and Black Catholic communities.

Sands shared that it is important for Catholics to walk alongside these communities because “we are all part of the human race that the Lord directs his work of salvation towards.”

“It’s important that we learn how to live together and walk together because as human beings we do put up walls and barriers and we see differences among ourselves,” he said, adding that racism “has caused a lot of difficulties for the two groups of people.” 

“So, we have a fundamental call as disciples of Christ, as Catholics, as Christians, to help the Lord and his work of salvation to love one another and to have a special concern for those of our brothers and sisters who are disadvantaged and in need,” he said.

Speaking specifically to the documentary on the African American Catholics on their way to sainthood, Sands explained that the six individuals included all serve as great role models for the faithful because “each of them had very challenging beginnings but went on to be great lovers of Our Lord and were a great witness to others and helped people in need as they saw the needs of people around them and were very effective in doing that.”

He added that the early Church missionaries who served Native Americans also serve as role models in how to “help people where they are to come to know Christ, to love him, and to have a relationship with him.”

Sands said he hopes viewers will feel moved to “learn more about how they can support the ministry to these two groups of people and to learn more about how they can support the work that we are doing in our office.”

Both documentaries can be viewed on Formed.

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Leader of schismatic Colorado Springs group disregards excommunication #Catholic null / Credit: Paul Gueu/Shutterstock Denver, Colorado, Dec 5, 2025 / 18:18 pm (CNA). After receiving a letter of excommunication from the Vatican, the leader of a schismatic group in Colorado Springs told congregants he would ignore it — furthering the divide between the small splinter group and the Catholic Church.Anthony Ward heads the Servants of the Holy Family, a group that labels itself as Catholic in spite of the Diocese of Colorado Springs’ declaration that the group is schismatic.  In a 40-minute speech to his congregation in which he called Church authorities “a kangaroo court” of “heretics” and “freemasons,” Ward went public on Nov. 16 about his excommunication and his plans to continue ignoring the Catholic Church’s directives. During a secret ceremony in 2024, a bishop whose name was withheld at the time consecrated Ward as a bishop without papal permission.In the Catholic Church, only the pope can appoint bishops. Consecrating a bishop without papal mandate is considered illicit and incurs an automatic “latae sententiae” excommunication for both parties.During the meeting at the Servants’ chapel on Nov. 16, Ward told his congregation that the Catholic Church had made a declaration of excommunication against him due to what he described as “persistent, rebellious disobedience.”Though excommunication is a “medicinal penalty” designed to urge an individual to repent, Ward has said he is “ignoring” the letter and will not be responding within the 30-day window given to him. Embracing the claims of the letter, Ward said he will continue to disobey, instead putting his loyalty toward what he called “the true Catholic faith.” “I have not and will not obey commands from the kangaroo court composed of heretics, schismatics, Freemasons, representatives of the most vile sinful perversions, enemies of the cross of Christ,” Ward told the congregation, “of whom the majority of bishops — particularly in this country — no longer believe in the real presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ in the Eucharist.”The U.S. Catholic bishops recently led a yearslong Eucharistic Revival that centered on the Catholic belief that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.Despite the local Catholic diocese’s denouncement of the Servants, the group continues to hold Eucharistic celebrations and is recruiting minors as well as adult men to be trained as priests.The Servants’ website advertises the group as “faithful to the Latin Mass” as well as to “Catholic doctrine and morals” and claims it is “endorsed by Catholic bishops worldwide.” Ward named Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu Lusaka, the African archbishop emeritus of Zambia, as the bishop who illicitly consecrated him, but the other bishops are not specified readily on the website. When asked to comment, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Colorado Springs referred to the most recent public statement by Bishop James Golka in April 2024. Since 2013, the Diocese of Colorado Springs has publicly held that the Servants are “not in good standing” with the Church.   Pointing to continued “obstinate ill will” by the Servants, Golka declared last year that Ward and other priests affiliated with the Servants “are not in good standing with the diocesan or the universal Catholic Church” and declared it “a schismatic group.” Pointing to canon law, Golka declared that its Eucharistic celebration “is illicit and a grave moral offense” and that its celebration of baptism “is illicit.” The bishop also declared celebrations of penance, the sacrament of matrimony, confirmation, and holy orders by this group to be invalid. Golka said it would be “an act of spiritual danger” for Catholics to attend celebrations led by the Servants and encouraged the faithful to pray for reconciliation. The Servants did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
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Leader of schismatic Colorado Springs group disregards excommunication #Catholic null / Credit: Paul Gueu/Shutterstock Denver, Colorado, Dec 5, 2025 / 18:18 pm (CNA). After receiving a letter of excommunication from the Vatican, the leader of a schismatic group in Colorado Springs told congregants he would ignore it — furthering the divide between the small splinter group and the Catholic Church.Anthony Ward heads the Servants of the Holy Family, a group that labels itself as Catholic in spite of the Diocese of Colorado Springs’ declaration that the group is schismatic.  In a 40-minute speech to his congregation in which he called Church authorities “a kangaroo court” of “heretics” and “freemasons,” Ward went public on Nov. 16 about his excommunication and his plans to continue ignoring the Catholic Church’s directives. During a secret ceremony in 2024, a bishop whose name was withheld at the time consecrated Ward as a bishop without papal permission.In the Catholic Church, only the pope can appoint bishops. Consecrating a bishop without papal mandate is considered illicit and incurs an automatic “latae sententiae” excommunication for both parties.During the meeting at the Servants’ chapel on Nov. 16, Ward told his congregation that the Catholic Church had made a declaration of excommunication against him due to what he described as “persistent, rebellious disobedience.”Though excommunication is a “medicinal penalty” designed to urge an individual to repent, Ward has said he is “ignoring” the letter and will not be responding within the 30-day window given to him. Embracing the claims of the letter, Ward said he will continue to disobey, instead putting his loyalty toward what he called “the true Catholic faith.” “I have not and will not obey commands from the kangaroo court composed of heretics, schismatics, Freemasons, representatives of the most vile sinful perversions, enemies of the cross of Christ,” Ward told the congregation, “of whom the majority of bishops — particularly in this country — no longer believe in the real presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ in the Eucharist.”The U.S. Catholic bishops recently led a yearslong Eucharistic Revival that centered on the Catholic belief that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.Despite the local Catholic diocese’s denouncement of the Servants, the group continues to hold Eucharistic celebrations and is recruiting minors as well as adult men to be trained as priests.The Servants’ website advertises the group as “faithful to the Latin Mass” as well as to “Catholic doctrine and morals” and claims it is “endorsed by Catholic bishops worldwide.” Ward named Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu Lusaka, the African archbishop emeritus of Zambia, as the bishop who illicitly consecrated him, but the other bishops are not specified readily on the website. When asked to comment, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Colorado Springs referred to the most recent public statement by Bishop James Golka in April 2024. Since 2013, the Diocese of Colorado Springs has publicly held that the Servants are “not in good standing” with the Church.   Pointing to continued “obstinate ill will” by the Servants, Golka declared last year that Ward and other priests affiliated with the Servants “are not in good standing with the diocesan or the universal Catholic Church” and declared it “a schismatic group.” Pointing to canon law, Golka declared that its Eucharistic celebration “is illicit and a grave moral offense” and that its celebration of baptism “is illicit.” The bishop also declared celebrations of penance, the sacrament of matrimony, confirmation, and holy orders by this group to be invalid. Golka said it would be “an act of spiritual danger” for Catholics to attend celebrations led by the Servants and encouraged the faithful to pray for reconciliation. The Servants did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

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null / Credit: Paul Gueu/Shutterstock

Denver, Colorado, Dec 5, 2025 / 18:18 pm (CNA).

After receiving a letter of excommunication from the Vatican, the leader of a schismatic group in Colorado Springs told congregants he would ignore it — furthering the divide between the small splinter group and the Catholic Church.

Anthony Ward heads the Servants of the Holy Family, a group that labels itself as Catholic in spite of the Diocese of Colorado Springs’ declaration that the group is schismatic.  

In a 40-minute speech to his congregation in which he called Church authorities “a kangaroo court” of “heretics” and “freemasons,” Ward went public on Nov. 16 about his excommunication and his plans to continue ignoring the Catholic Church’s directives. 

During a secret ceremony in 2024, a bishop whose name was withheld at the time consecrated Ward as a bishop without papal permission.

In the Catholic Church, only the pope can appoint bishops. Consecrating a bishop without papal mandate is considered illicit and incurs an automatic “latae sententiae” excommunication for both parties.

During the meeting at the Servants’ chapel on Nov. 16, Ward told his congregation that the Catholic Church had made a declaration of excommunication against him due to what he described as “persistent, rebellious disobedience.”

Though excommunication is a “medicinal penalty” designed to urge an individual to repent, Ward has said he is “ignoring” the letter and will not be responding within the 30-day window given to him. 

Embracing the claims of the letter, Ward said he will continue to disobey, instead putting his loyalty toward what he called “the true Catholic faith.” 

“I have not and will not obey commands from the kangaroo court composed of heretics, schismatics, Freemasons, representatives of the most vile sinful perversions, enemies of the cross of Christ,” Ward told the congregation, “of whom the majority of bishops — particularly in this country — no longer believe in the real presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ in the Eucharist.”

The U.S. Catholic bishops recently led a yearslong Eucharistic Revival that centered on the Catholic belief that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.

Despite the local Catholic diocese’s denouncement of the Servants, the group continues to hold Eucharistic celebrations and is recruiting minors as well as adult men to be trained as priests.

The Servants’ website advertises the group as “faithful to the Latin Mass” as well as to “Catholic doctrine and morals” and claims it is “endorsed by Catholic bishops worldwide.” 

Ward named Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu Lusaka, the African archbishop emeritus of Zambia, as the bishop who illicitly consecrated him, but the other bishops are not specified readily on the website. 

When asked to comment, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Colorado Springs referred to the most recent public statement by Bishop James Golka in April 2024. 

Since 2013, the Diocese of Colorado Springs has publicly held that the Servants are “not in good standing” with the Church.   

Pointing to continued “obstinate ill will” by the Servants, Golka declared last year that Ward and other priests affiliated with the Servants “are not in good standing with the diocesan or the universal Catholic Church” and declared it “a schismatic group.” 

Pointing to canon law, Golka declared that its Eucharistic celebration “is illicit and a grave moral offense” and that its celebration of baptism “is illicit.” The bishop also declared celebrations of penance, the sacrament of matrimony, confirmation, and holy orders by this group to be invalid. 

Golka said it would be “an act of spiritual danger” for Catholics to attend celebrations led by the Servants and encouraged the faithful to pray for reconciliation. 

The Servants did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

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U.S. Supreme Court hears dispute over faith-based pregnancy centers #Catholic null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller/Shutterstock Washington, D.C., Dec 2, 2025 / 17:04 pm (CNA). The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether a New Jersey faith-based pregnancy center may immediately assert its First Amendment right to challenge a state subpoena demanding donor information — including names, addresses, and places of employment — in federal court, or whether it must first proceed through the state court system.The case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, has drawn support from a diverse array of groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members of Congress, the Trump administration, and the ACLU. All argue that First Choice should be able to challenge the subpoena in federal court without first litigating the issue in New Jersey state court.At the center of the dispute is a 2023 subpoena issued by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin seeking extensive donor information from First Choice. In 2022, Platkin created what he called a “reproductive rights strike force” to “protect access to abortion care,” and his office issued a “consumer alert” describing crisis pregnancy centers like First Choice as organizations that may provide “false or misleading information about the safety and legality of abortion.”In its Supreme Court brief, First Choice describes itself as a faith-based nonprofit serving women in New Jersey by providing material support and medical services such as ultrasounds and pregnancy tests under a licensed medical director. The organization does not provide or refer for abortions, a point it plainly and repeatedly states on its website.Platkin’s subpoena commanded First Choice to produce documents and information responsive to 28 separate demands, including the full names, phone numbers, addresses, and current or last known employers of every donor who contributed money by any means other than one specific website. It warned that failure to comply could result in contempt of court and other legal penalties.The attorney general’s office said it needed donor identities to determine whether contributors were “misled” into believing First Choice provided abortions. Platkin argued he needed donor contact information so he could “contact a representative sample and determine what they did or did not know about their donations.”First Choice quickly sued in federal court, arguing the subpoena violated its First Amendment rights by chilling its speech and freedom of association. The federal district court dismissed the case as “unripe,” ruling that the pregnancy center must wait until a New Jersey court seeks to enforce the subpoena. The Supreme Court later agreed to hear the case to determine whether First Choice may pursue its challenge in federal court now.At oral argument, First Choice’s attorney, Erin M. Hawley, told the justices that the court has “long safeguarded the freedom of association by protecting the membership and donor lists of nonprofit organizations.” Yet, she said, “the attorney general of New Jersey issued a sweeping subpoena commanding on pain of contempt that First Choice produce donor names, addresses, and phone numbers so his office could contact and question them. That violates the right of association.”Hawley urged the court to recognize that the subpoena was issued by “a hostile attorney general who has issued a consumer alert, urged New Jerseyans to beware of pregnancy centers, and assembled a strike force against them.”She also noted that the attorney general “has never identified a single complaint against First Choice” and that the threat of contempt and business dissolution is “a death knell for nonprofits like First Choice.”Arguing for New Jersey, Sundeep Iyer, the attorney general’s chief counsel, said First Choice had not demonstrated that the subpoena “objectively chilled” its First Amendment rights. He argued that the subpoena is “non-self-executing,” meaning it imposes no immediate obligation and cannot require compliance unless a court orders enforcement.Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared skeptical, noting that New Jersey law gives attorney general subpoenas the force of law and allows the attorney general to seek contempt orders against those who fail to comply. “I don’t know how to read that other than it’s pretty self-executing to me, counsel,” he said.Justice Elena Kagan questioned whether an “ordinary person” receiving such a subpoena would feel reassured by the claim that it required court approval before being enforced. A donor, she said, is unlikely “to take that as very reassuring.”In an amicus curiae brief, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the court to side with First Choice. “Compelling disclosure of a religious organization’s financial support violates the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion,” the bishops wrote. Forced donor disclosure, they argued, interferes with a religious organization’s mission and burdens the free-exercise rights of donors who give anonymously in accordance with scriptural teachings.The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.
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U.S. Supreme Court hears dispute over faith-based pregnancy centers #Catholic null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller/Shutterstock Washington, D.C., Dec 2, 2025 / 17:04 pm (CNA). The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether a New Jersey faith-based pregnancy center may immediately assert its First Amendment right to challenge a state subpoena demanding donor information — including names, addresses, and places of employment — in federal court, or whether it must first proceed through the state court system.The case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, has drawn support from a diverse array of groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members of Congress, the Trump administration, and the ACLU. All argue that First Choice should be able to challenge the subpoena in federal court without first litigating the issue in New Jersey state court.At the center of the dispute is a 2023 subpoena issued by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin seeking extensive donor information from First Choice. In 2022, Platkin created what he called a “reproductive rights strike force” to “protect access to abortion care,” and his office issued a “consumer alert” describing crisis pregnancy centers like First Choice as organizations that may provide “false or misleading information about the safety and legality of abortion.”In its Supreme Court brief, First Choice describes itself as a faith-based nonprofit serving women in New Jersey by providing material support and medical services such as ultrasounds and pregnancy tests under a licensed medical director. The organization does not provide or refer for abortions, a point it plainly and repeatedly states on its website.Platkin’s subpoena commanded First Choice to produce documents and information responsive to 28 separate demands, including the full names, phone numbers, addresses, and current or last known employers of every donor who contributed money by any means other than one specific website. It warned that failure to comply could result in contempt of court and other legal penalties.The attorney general’s office said it needed donor identities to determine whether contributors were “misled” into believing First Choice provided abortions. Platkin argued he needed donor contact information so he could “contact a representative sample and determine what they did or did not know about their donations.”First Choice quickly sued in federal court, arguing the subpoena violated its First Amendment rights by chilling its speech and freedom of association. The federal district court dismissed the case as “unripe,” ruling that the pregnancy center must wait until a New Jersey court seeks to enforce the subpoena. The Supreme Court later agreed to hear the case to determine whether First Choice may pursue its challenge in federal court now.At oral argument, First Choice’s attorney, Erin M. Hawley, told the justices that the court has “long safeguarded the freedom of association by protecting the membership and donor lists of nonprofit organizations.” Yet, she said, “the attorney general of New Jersey issued a sweeping subpoena commanding on pain of contempt that First Choice produce donor names, addresses, and phone numbers so his office could contact and question them. That violates the right of association.”Hawley urged the court to recognize that the subpoena was issued by “a hostile attorney general who has issued a consumer alert, urged New Jerseyans to beware of pregnancy centers, and assembled a strike force against them.”She also noted that the attorney general “has never identified a single complaint against First Choice” and that the threat of contempt and business dissolution is “a death knell for nonprofits like First Choice.”Arguing for New Jersey, Sundeep Iyer, the attorney general’s chief counsel, said First Choice had not demonstrated that the subpoena “objectively chilled” its First Amendment rights. He argued that the subpoena is “non-self-executing,” meaning it imposes no immediate obligation and cannot require compliance unless a court orders enforcement.Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared skeptical, noting that New Jersey law gives attorney general subpoenas the force of law and allows the attorney general to seek contempt orders against those who fail to comply. “I don’t know how to read that other than it’s pretty self-executing to me, counsel,” he said.Justice Elena Kagan questioned whether an “ordinary person” receiving such a subpoena would feel reassured by the claim that it required court approval before being enforced. A donor, she said, is unlikely “to take that as very reassuring.”In an amicus curiae brief, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the court to side with First Choice. “Compelling disclosure of a religious organization’s financial support violates the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion,” the bishops wrote. Forced donor disclosure, they argued, interferes with a religious organization’s mission and burdens the free-exercise rights of donors who give anonymously in accordance with scriptural teachings.The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.

unitedyam

null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C., Dec 2, 2025 / 17:04 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether a New Jersey faith-based pregnancy center may immediately assert its First Amendment right to challenge a state subpoena demanding donor information — including names, addresses, and places of employment — in federal court, or whether it must first proceed through the state court system.

The case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, has drawn support from a diverse array of groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members of Congress, the Trump administration, and the ACLU. All argue that First Choice should be able to challenge the subpoena in federal court without first litigating the issue in New Jersey state court.

At the center of the dispute is a 2023 subpoena issued by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin seeking extensive donor information from First Choice. In 2022, Platkin created what he called a “reproductive rights strike force” to “protect access to abortion care,” and his office issued a “consumer alert” describing crisis pregnancy centers like First Choice as organizations that may provide “false or misleading information about the safety and legality of abortion.”

In its Supreme Court brief, First Choice describes itself as a faith-based nonprofit serving women in New Jersey by providing material support and medical services such as ultrasounds and pregnancy tests under a licensed medical director. The organization does not provide or refer for abortions, a point it plainly and repeatedly states on its website.

Platkin’s subpoena commanded First Choice to produce documents and information responsive to 28 separate demands, including the full names, phone numbers, addresses, and current or last known employers of every donor who contributed money by any means other than one specific website. It warned that failure to comply could result in contempt of court and other legal penalties.

The attorney general’s office said it needed donor identities to determine whether contributors were “misled” into believing First Choice provided abortions. Platkin argued he needed donor contact information so he could “contact a representative sample and determine what they did or did not know about their donations.”

First Choice quickly sued in federal court, arguing the subpoena violated its First Amendment rights by chilling its speech and freedom of association. The federal district court dismissed the case as “unripe,” ruling that the pregnancy center must wait until a New Jersey court seeks to enforce the subpoena. The Supreme Court later agreed to hear the case to determine whether First Choice may pursue its challenge in federal court now.

At oral argument, First Choice’s attorney, Erin M. Hawley, told the justices that the court has “long safeguarded the freedom of association by protecting the membership and donor lists of nonprofit organizations.” Yet, she said, “the attorney general of New Jersey issued a sweeping subpoena commanding on pain of contempt that First Choice produce donor names, addresses, and phone numbers so his office could contact and question them. That violates the right of association.”

Hawley urged the court to recognize that the subpoena was issued by “a hostile attorney general who has issued a consumer alert, urged New Jerseyans to beware of pregnancy centers, and assembled a strike force against them.”

She also noted that the attorney general “has never identified a single complaint against First Choice” and that the threat of contempt and business dissolution is “a death knell for nonprofits like First Choice.”

Arguing for New Jersey, Sundeep Iyer, the attorney general’s chief counsel, said First Choice had not demonstrated that the subpoena “objectively chilled” its First Amendment rights. He argued that the subpoena is “non-self-executing,” meaning it imposes no immediate obligation and cannot require compliance unless a court orders enforcement.

Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared skeptical, noting that New Jersey law gives attorney general subpoenas the force of law and allows the attorney general to seek contempt orders against those who fail to comply. “I don’t know how to read that other than it’s pretty self-executing to me, counsel,” he said.

Justice Elena Kagan questioned whether an “ordinary person” receiving such a subpoena would feel reassured by the claim that it required court approval before being enforced. A donor, she said, is unlikely “to take that as very reassuring.”

In an amicus curiae brief, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the court to side with First Choice. “Compelling disclosure of a religious organization’s financial support violates the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion,” the bishops wrote. Forced donor disclosure, they argued, interferes with a religious organization’s mission and burdens the free-exercise rights of donors who give anonymously in accordance with scriptural teachings.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.

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Bishop Patrick Neary of Saint Cloud to chair Catholic Relief Services board #Catholic Bishop Patrick Neary of the Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Saint Cloud Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2025 / 12:03 pm (CNA). Bishop Patrick Neary of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, has been appointed as the chair of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) board. Neary was appointed by Archbishop Paul Coakley, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) president. Neary succeeds Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia. Neary assumes responsibilities for the role immediately, and the term runs until November 2028. “It is a profound honor to serve as chairman of the Catholic Relief Services board,” Neary said, according to a press release. “My years in Africa and in parish ministry have shown me the face of Christ in the poor and the vulnerable, and I carry those encounters with me into this role.”Neary praised CRS for embodying the Church’s mission of compassionate accompaniment of those in need and lauded his predecessor, Pérez, for “his commitment to advocating for the dignity of the poor and amplifying the voices of the vulnerable.”“I hope to lead with a heart of mercy, listening and working alongside our partners to uphold the dignity of every person,” Neary said. “Together, we will continue to bring the light of Christ to communities around the world, especially those most in need.”Neary has served as bishop of Saint Cloud since he was appointed by Pope Francis in December 2022. He served in Kenya and Uganda for eight years before returning to the U.S., then served as rector of Holy Redeemer Parish in Portland, Oregon. “We are delighted for Bishop Neary to join as CRS chairman of the board of directors,” said Sean Callahan, president and CEO of CRS. “We are certain that he will bring strong leadership and help CRS continue our mission of lifesaving work and advocacy for our sisters and brothers around the world.”Neary was ordained a priest in 1991 at the University of Notre Dame, where he was also rector for many years. According to its website, CRS serves 225 million people across 122 countries annually and has 1,735 partners around the world. 
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Bishop Patrick Neary of Saint Cloud to chair Catholic Relief Services board #Catholic Bishop Patrick Neary of the Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Saint Cloud Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2025 / 12:03 pm (CNA). Bishop Patrick Neary of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, has been appointed as the chair of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) board. Neary was appointed by Archbishop Paul Coakley, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) president. Neary succeeds Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia. Neary assumes responsibilities for the role immediately, and the term runs until November 2028. “It is a profound honor to serve as chairman of the Catholic Relief Services board,” Neary said, according to a press release. “My years in Africa and in parish ministry have shown me the face of Christ in the poor and the vulnerable, and I carry those encounters with me into this role.”Neary praised CRS for embodying the Church’s mission of compassionate accompaniment of those in need and lauded his predecessor, Pérez, for “his commitment to advocating for the dignity of the poor and amplifying the voices of the vulnerable.”“I hope to lead with a heart of mercy, listening and working alongside our partners to uphold the dignity of every person,” Neary said. “Together, we will continue to bring the light of Christ to communities around the world, especially those most in need.”Neary has served as bishop of Saint Cloud since he was appointed by Pope Francis in December 2022. He served in Kenya and Uganda for eight years before returning to the U.S., then served as rector of Holy Redeemer Parish in Portland, Oregon. “We are delighted for Bishop Neary to join as CRS chairman of the board of directors,” said Sean Callahan, president and CEO of CRS. “We are certain that he will bring strong leadership and help CRS continue our mission of lifesaving work and advocacy for our sisters and brothers around the world.”Neary was ordained a priest in 1991 at the University of Notre Dame, where he was also rector for many years. According to its website, CRS serves 225 million people across 122 countries annually and has 1,735 partners around the world. 

unitedyam

Bishop Patrick Neary of the Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Saint Cloud

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2025 / 12:03 pm (CNA).

Bishop Patrick Neary of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, has been appointed as the chair of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) board. 

Neary was appointed by Archbishop Paul Coakley, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) president. Neary succeeds Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia. 

Neary assumes responsibilities for the role immediately, and the term runs until November 2028. 

“It is a profound honor to serve as chairman of the Catholic Relief Services board,” Neary said, according to a press release. “My years in Africa and in parish ministry have shown me the face of Christ in the poor and the vulnerable, and I carry those encounters with me into this role.”

Neary praised CRS for embodying the Church’s mission of compassionate accompaniment of those in need and lauded his predecessor, Pérez, for “his commitment to advocating for the dignity of the poor and amplifying the voices of the vulnerable.”

“I hope to lead with a heart of mercy, listening and working alongside our partners to uphold the dignity of every person,” Neary said. “Together, we will continue to bring the light of Christ to communities around the world, especially those most in need.”

Neary has served as bishop of Saint Cloud since he was appointed by Pope Francis in December 2022. He served in Kenya and Uganda for eight years before returning to the U.S., then served as rector of Holy Redeemer Parish in Portland, Oregon. 

“We are delighted for Bishop Neary to join as CRS chairman of the board of directors,” said Sean Callahan, president and CEO of CRS. “We are certain that he will bring strong leadership and help CRS continue our mission of lifesaving work and advocacy for our sisters and brothers around the world.”

Neary was ordained a priest in 1991 at the University of Notre Dame, where he was also rector for many years. 

According to its website, CRS serves 225 million people across 122 countries annually and has 1,735 partners around the world. 

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PHOTOS: Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree shines in Morgan Library’s Advent exhibit #Catholic Death of Uriah; David in Penance, from the Morgan’s famed Farnese Hours, demonstrates the enduring appeal of the penitential Psalms of David as seen in this early Renaissance book of hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.69, fols, 63v-63r. Photography by Janny Chiu. / Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library New York City, New York, Nov 30, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA). Part of the New York Public Library’s Spencer Collection, the Tickhill Psalter is on view throughout Advent and Christmas at The Morgan Library & Museum in its exhibit “Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life.” A full-page Jesse Tree introduces the Psalms in the Tickhill Psalter, a 14th-century illuminated manuscript from the Augustinian Worksop Priory in Nottinghamshire, England. Tree of Jesse (Psalm 1), from the Tickhill Psalter, England, Nottinghamshire, Worksop Priory, 1303-14, New York Public Library, Spencer 26. fol. 6v. The Medieval manuscript is on display in Morgan Library’s Advent exhibit. Credit: Courtesy of the Morgan LibraryDavid appears in the historiated B of Psalm 1, providing a conceptual link to scenes from his life in the Jesse Tree on the facing page. “Beatus vir,” or “Blessed is the man,” the first stanza opens in celebration of the one who delights in God’s law, concluding: “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, — what they do prospers.” These words and their historiated B, with its visual link to the facing page, highlight David as key author of the Psalms and their prefiguration of Christ, the good fruit of the Jesse Tree, a theme common to medieval illuminated manuscripts.King David as Psalmist, from Florence, Italy, ca. 1408-10, by Lorenzo Monaco, who was born Piero di Giovanni but took the name Lorenzo Monaco, or Lorenzo the Monk, upon joining the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where he became a skilled illuminator and translated themes common to illuminated manuscripts into panel paintings, like this tempera on wood with gold ground depicting David seated on a stone bench tuning a psaltery, lips parted, prepared to sing, with a halo backing the crown he wears to signify the divine inspiration of his compositions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 65.14.4. November 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkProphets stand in architectural niches on either side of the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree, heralding the Psalms as prophecy. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryThe central panel of a 1490 Flemish triptych with scenes from the life of Saint Augustine contextualizes the exhibit. This five-by-five-foot oil on wood painting references Augustine’s use of allegory, essential to his understanding of scripture and interpretation of the psalms as prophecy. One scene captures Augustine’s realization of the Trinity as boundless mystery that dwarfs human understanding, allegorized by a child trying to pour the sea into a hole in the sand. Scenes from the life of St. Augustine of Hippo, 1490, Bruges, Belgium, by the unnamed master of St. Augustine, amplifies the Church’s leading theologian on the allegorical interpretation of Psalms. At center, his installation as bishop of Hippo highlights his teaching authority, flanked by scenes of ordination and preaching on the left. On the right, he engages in scholarly discourse and converses with a child trying to pour the sea into a hole in the sand, illustrating the importance of allegory in Augustinian thought. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public LibraryLate 12th-century book comprised of Augustine’s Gradual Psalms and his Enchiridion (Greek for “handbook”). The well-worn and annotated pages reflect the proliferation of Augustinian influence on interpretation of Scripture. Spain, Santa Maria de Benevivere, near Palencia. Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E22, fols. 68v-69r. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public LibraryIn the book accompanying the exhibit, Morgan curator Deirdre Jackson extends the psalms’ significance to this triptych through a reference to a surviving panel housed in Ireland that shows Augustine on his deathbed. It’s a scene described by contemporary bishop Possidius of Calama, who said that Augustine “ordered those psalms of David which are especially penitential to be copied out and, when he was very weak, used to lie in bed, facing the wall where the written sheets were put up, gazing at them and reading them, and copiously and continuously weeping as he read.”Death of Uriah; David in Penance, from the Morgan’s famed Farnese Hours, demonstrates the enduring appeal of the penitential Psalms of David as seen in this early Renaissance book of hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.69, fols, 63v-63r. Photography by Janny Chiu. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public LibraryScenes from the Life of David, depicting the story of David and Goliath, exemplifies the significance attached to the figure of David in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Winchester Bible, England, Winchester, ca. 1160-80. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.619v. Photography by Graham S. Haber. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryIn his book “The Tickhill Psalter and Related Manuscripts,” 20th-century art historian Donald Drew Egbert speculates that the Tickhill Psalter was decorated by highly skilled illuminators working for Augustinian monasteries and patrons of Augustinian houses during a high point of book arts in England.St. Thomas More, “in tribulation vehementi et in carcere” (annotation), from the Prayer Book of Thomas More, France, Paris, 1522 (Psalter) and 1530 (Book of Hours), Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, MS Vault More, fol. 68v (Psalter section). Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryThis high point inspired a trend of books as personalized treasures, best exemplified in this exhibit by St. Thomas More’s prayer book. Containing much of his own writing in the margins, it consists of a Book of Hours and a Psalter and was with him in the Tower of London while he awaited execution. More’s notes during that time show his preoccupation with the psalms of David’s tribulations. Beside Psalm 87:5-10, “a man without help … in the dark places, and in the shadow of death,” More writes, “in severe tribulation and in prison.”The Prayer Book of Thomas More is backed by a wall-sized image of Hans Holbein’s “Sir Thomas More,” positioned to look like More is gazing intently across the gallery at an image of David from the Crusader Bible. Engelhard Gallery, Photography by Janny Chiu, October 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryMore’s thoughts in distress demonstrate the appeal of David’s story to the human heart, a reality repeatedly expressed throughout the treasures of this exhibit. In the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree, David is encircled by branches springing from a tree that grows out of his father, Jesse, sprawled in an active sleep, his elbow supporting a hand planted against his head as though dreaming of all that is to come. A crop of the enter of Tickhill Psalter showing the Virgin and Child and the figure of David playing a harp. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryThe branches of the tree wind around David and directly overhead to encircle the Virgin and Child, tracing Christ’s lineage through Mary to the House of David. At the top, the branches surround Christ enthroned in majesty, fulfilling the promise of victory over sin and death foreshadowed in the psalms.David strikes a joyous pose and plays a harp in celebration, and foliage on either side of the main branch wraps around prophets who unfurl scrolls to hint at mysteries about to be foretold in the reading of the psalms.Beneath the figure of Jesse, two separate depictions of David protecting his sheep from wild animals cast his actions as allegory in the fight against evil, segueing to his likeness in the historiated B, dancing and singing his story into the Psalms to animate their prefiguration of Christ.
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PHOTOS: Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree shines in Morgan Library’s Advent exhibit #Catholic Death of Uriah; David in Penance, from the Morgan’s famed Farnese Hours, demonstrates the enduring appeal of the penitential Psalms of David as seen in this early Renaissance book of hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.69, fols, 63v-63r. Photography by Janny Chiu. / Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library New York City, New York, Nov 30, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA). Part of the New York Public Library’s Spencer Collection, the Tickhill Psalter is on view throughout Advent and Christmas at The Morgan Library & Museum in its exhibit “Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life.” A full-page Jesse Tree introduces the Psalms in the Tickhill Psalter, a 14th-century illuminated manuscript from the Augustinian Worksop Priory in Nottinghamshire, England. Tree of Jesse (Psalm 1), from the Tickhill Psalter, England, Nottinghamshire, Worksop Priory, 1303-14, New York Public Library, Spencer 26. fol. 6v. The Medieval manuscript is on display in Morgan Library’s Advent exhibit. Credit: Courtesy of the Morgan LibraryDavid appears in the historiated B of Psalm 1, providing a conceptual link to scenes from his life in the Jesse Tree on the facing page. “Beatus vir,” or “Blessed is the man,” the first stanza opens in celebration of the one who delights in God’s law, concluding: “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, — what they do prospers.” These words and their historiated B, with its visual link to the facing page, highlight David as key author of the Psalms and their prefiguration of Christ, the good fruit of the Jesse Tree, a theme common to medieval illuminated manuscripts.King David as Psalmist, from Florence, Italy, ca. 1408-10, by Lorenzo Monaco, who was born Piero di Giovanni but took the name Lorenzo Monaco, or Lorenzo the Monk, upon joining the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where he became a skilled illuminator and translated themes common to illuminated manuscripts into panel paintings, like this tempera on wood with gold ground depicting David seated on a stone bench tuning a psaltery, lips parted, prepared to sing, with a halo backing the crown he wears to signify the divine inspiration of his compositions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 65.14.4. November 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkProphets stand in architectural niches on either side of the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree, heralding the Psalms as prophecy. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryThe central panel of a 1490 Flemish triptych with scenes from the life of Saint Augustine contextualizes the exhibit. This five-by-five-foot oil on wood painting references Augustine’s use of allegory, essential to his understanding of scripture and interpretation of the psalms as prophecy. One scene captures Augustine’s realization of the Trinity as boundless mystery that dwarfs human understanding, allegorized by a child trying to pour the sea into a hole in the sand. Scenes from the life of St. Augustine of Hippo, 1490, Bruges, Belgium, by the unnamed master of St. Augustine, amplifies the Church’s leading theologian on the allegorical interpretation of Psalms. At center, his installation as bishop of Hippo highlights his teaching authority, flanked by scenes of ordination and preaching on the left. On the right, he engages in scholarly discourse and converses with a child trying to pour the sea into a hole in the sand, illustrating the importance of allegory in Augustinian thought. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public LibraryLate 12th-century book comprised of Augustine’s Gradual Psalms and his Enchiridion (Greek for “handbook”). The well-worn and annotated pages reflect the proliferation of Augustinian influence on interpretation of Scripture. Spain, Santa Maria de Benevivere, near Palencia. Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E22, fols. 68v-69r. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public LibraryIn the book accompanying the exhibit, Morgan curator Deirdre Jackson extends the psalms’ significance to this triptych through a reference to a surviving panel housed in Ireland that shows Augustine on his deathbed. It’s a scene described by contemporary bishop Possidius of Calama, who said that Augustine “ordered those psalms of David which are especially penitential to be copied out and, when he was very weak, used to lie in bed, facing the wall where the written sheets were put up, gazing at them and reading them, and copiously and continuously weeping as he read.”Death of Uriah; David in Penance, from the Morgan’s famed Farnese Hours, demonstrates the enduring appeal of the penitential Psalms of David as seen in this early Renaissance book of hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.69, fols, 63v-63r. Photography by Janny Chiu. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public LibraryScenes from the Life of David, depicting the story of David and Goliath, exemplifies the significance attached to the figure of David in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Winchester Bible, England, Winchester, ca. 1160-80. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.619v. Photography by Graham S. Haber. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryIn his book “The Tickhill Psalter and Related Manuscripts,” 20th-century art historian Donald Drew Egbert speculates that the Tickhill Psalter was decorated by highly skilled illuminators working for Augustinian monasteries and patrons of Augustinian houses during a high point of book arts in England.St. Thomas More, “in tribulation vehementi et in carcere” (annotation), from the Prayer Book of Thomas More, France, Paris, 1522 (Psalter) and 1530 (Book of Hours), Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, MS Vault More, fol. 68v (Psalter section). Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryThis high point inspired a trend of books as personalized treasures, best exemplified in this exhibit by St. Thomas More’s prayer book. Containing much of his own writing in the margins, it consists of a Book of Hours and a Psalter and was with him in the Tower of London while he awaited execution. More’s notes during that time show his preoccupation with the psalms of David’s tribulations. Beside Psalm 87:5-10, “a man without help … in the dark places, and in the shadow of death,” More writes, “in severe tribulation and in prison.”The Prayer Book of Thomas More is backed by a wall-sized image of Hans Holbein’s “Sir Thomas More,” positioned to look like More is gazing intently across the gallery at an image of David from the Crusader Bible. Engelhard Gallery, Photography by Janny Chiu, October 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryMore’s thoughts in distress demonstrate the appeal of David’s story to the human heart, a reality repeatedly expressed throughout the treasures of this exhibit. In the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree, David is encircled by branches springing from a tree that grows out of his father, Jesse, sprawled in an active sleep, his elbow supporting a hand planted against his head as though dreaming of all that is to come. A crop of the enter of Tickhill Psalter showing the Virgin and Child and the figure of David playing a harp. Credit: Courtesy of the New York LibraryThe branches of the tree wind around David and directly overhead to encircle the Virgin and Child, tracing Christ’s lineage through Mary to the House of David. At the top, the branches surround Christ enthroned in majesty, fulfilling the promise of victory over sin and death foreshadowed in the psalms.David strikes a joyous pose and plays a harp in celebration, and foliage on either side of the main branch wraps around prophets who unfurl scrolls to hint at mysteries about to be foretold in the reading of the psalms.Beneath the figure of Jesse, two separate depictions of David protecting his sheep from wild animals cast his actions as allegory in the fight against evil, segueing to his likeness in the historiated B, dancing and singing his story into the Psalms to animate their prefiguration of Christ.

unitedyam

Death of Uriah; David in Penance, from the Morgan’s famed Farnese Hours, demonstrates the enduring appeal of the penitential Psalms of David as seen in this early Renaissance book of hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.69, fols, 63v-63r. Photography by Janny Chiu. / Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library

New York City, New York, Nov 30, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Part of the New York Public Library’s Spencer Collection, the Tickhill Psalter is on view throughout Advent and Christmas at The Morgan Library & Museum in its exhibit “Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life.” A full-page Jesse Tree introduces the Psalms in the Tickhill Psalter, a 14th-century illuminated manuscript from the Augustinian Worksop Priory in Nottinghamshire, England.

Tree of Jesse (Psalm 1), from the Tickhill Psalter, England, Nottinghamshire, Worksop Priory, 1303-14, New York Public Library, Spencer 26. fol. 6v. The Medieval manuscript is on display in Morgan Library’s Advent exhibit. Credit: Courtesy of the Morgan Library
Tree of Jesse (Psalm 1), from the Tickhill Psalter, England, Nottinghamshire, Worksop Priory, 1303-14, New York Public Library, Spencer 26. fol. 6v. The Medieval manuscript is on display in Morgan Library’s Advent exhibit. Credit: Courtesy of the Morgan Library

David appears in the historiated B of Psalm 1, providing a conceptual link to scenes from his life in the Jesse Tree on the facing page. “Beatus vir,” or “Blessed is the man,” the first stanza opens in celebration of the one who delights in God’s law, concluding: “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, — what they do prospers.” 

These words and their historiated B, with its visual link to the facing page, highlight David as key author of the Psalms and their prefiguration of Christ, the good fruit of the Jesse Tree, a theme common to medieval illuminated manuscripts.

King David as Psalmist, from Florence, Italy, ca. 1408-10, by Lorenzo Monaco, who was born Piero di Giovanni but took the name Lorenzo Monaco, or Lorenzo the Monk, upon joining the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where he became a skilled illuminator and translated themes common to illuminated manuscripts into panel paintings, like this tempera on wood with gold ground depicting David seated on a stone bench tuning a psaltery, lips parted, prepared to sing, with a halo backing the crown he wears to signify the divine inspiration of his compositions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 65.14.4. November 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
King David as Psalmist, from Florence, Italy, ca. 1408-10, by Lorenzo Monaco, who was born Piero di Giovanni but took the name Lorenzo Monaco, or Lorenzo the Monk, upon joining the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where he became a skilled illuminator and translated themes common to illuminated manuscripts into panel paintings, like this tempera on wood with gold ground depicting David seated on a stone bench tuning a psaltery, lips parted, prepared to sing, with a halo backing the crown he wears to signify the divine inspiration of his compositions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 65.14.4. November 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Prophets stand in architectural niches on either side of the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree, heralding the Psalms as prophecy. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library
Prophets stand in architectural niches on either side of the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree, heralding the Psalms as prophecy. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library

The central panel of a 1490 Flemish triptych with scenes from the life of Saint Augustine contextualizes the exhibit. This five-by-five-foot oil on wood painting references Augustine’s use of allegory, essential to his understanding of scripture and interpretation of the psalms as prophecy. One scene captures Augustine’s realization of the Trinity as boundless mystery that dwarfs human understanding, allegorized by a child trying to pour the sea into a hole in the sand. 

Scenes from the life of St. Augustine of Hippo, 1490, Bruges, Belgium, by the unnamed master of St. Augustine, amplifies the Church’s leading theologian on the allegorical interpretation of Psalms. At center, his installation as bishop of Hippo highlights his teaching authority, flanked by scenes of ordination and preaching on the left. On the right, he engages in scholarly discourse and converses with a child trying to pour the sea into a hole in the sand, illustrating the importance of allegory in Augustinian thought. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Scenes from the life of St. Augustine of Hippo, 1490, Bruges, Belgium, by the unnamed master of St. Augustine, amplifies the Church’s leading theologian on the allegorical interpretation of Psalms. At center, his installation as bishop of Hippo highlights his teaching authority, flanked by scenes of ordination and preaching on the left. On the right, he engages in scholarly discourse and converses with a child trying to pour the sea into a hole in the sand, illustrating the importance of allegory in Augustinian thought. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Late 12th-century book comprised of Augustine’s Gradual Psalms and his Enchiridion (Greek for “handbook”). The well-worn and annotated pages reflect the proliferation of Augustinian influence on interpretation of Scripture. Spain, Santa Maria de Benevivere, near Palencia. Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E22, fols. 68v-69r. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Late 12th-century book comprised of Augustine’s Gradual Psalms and his Enchiridion (Greek for “handbook”). The well-worn and annotated pages reflect the proliferation of Augustinian influence on interpretation of Scripture. Spain, Santa Maria de Benevivere, near Palencia. Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E22, fols. 68v-69r. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library

In the book accompanying the exhibit, Morgan curator Deirdre Jackson extends the psalms’ significance to this triptych through a reference to a surviving panel housed in Ireland that shows Augustine on his deathbed. It’s a scene described by contemporary bishop Possidius of Calama, who said that Augustine “ordered those psalms of David which are especially penitential to be copied out and, when he was very weak, used to lie in bed, facing the wall where the written sheets were put up, gazing at them and reading them, and copiously and continuously weeping as he read.”

Death of Uriah; David in Penance, from the Morgan’s famed Farnese Hours, demonstrates the enduring appeal of the penitential Psalms of David as seen in this early Renaissance book of hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.69, fols, 63v-63r. Photography by Janny Chiu. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Death of Uriah; David in Penance, from the Morgan’s famed Farnese Hours, demonstrates the enduring appeal of the penitential Psalms of David as seen in this early Renaissance book of hours. Italy, Rome, 1546. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.69, fols, 63v-63r. Photography by Janny Chiu. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Scenes from the Life of David, depicting the story of David and Goliath, exemplifies the significance attached to the figure of David in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Winchester Bible, England, Winchester, ca. 1160-80. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.619v. Photography by Graham S. Haber. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library
Scenes from the Life of David, depicting the story of David and Goliath, exemplifies the significance attached to the figure of David in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Winchester Bible, England, Winchester, ca. 1160-80. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.619v. Photography by Graham S. Haber. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library

In his book “The Tickhill Psalter and Related Manuscripts,” 20th-century art historian Donald Drew Egbert speculates that the Tickhill Psalter was decorated by highly skilled illuminators working for Augustinian monasteries and patrons of Augustinian houses during a high point of book arts in England.

St. Thomas More, “in tribulation vehementi et in carcere” (annotation), from the Prayer Book of Thomas More, France, Paris, 1522 (Psalter) and 1530 (Book of Hours), Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, MS Vault More, fol. 68v (Psalter section). Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library
St. Thomas More, “in tribulation vehementi et in carcere” (annotation), from the Prayer Book of Thomas More, France, Paris, 1522 (Psalter) and 1530 (Book of Hours), Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, MS Vault More, fol. 68v (Psalter section). Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library

This high point inspired a trend of books as personalized treasures, best exemplified in this exhibit by St. Thomas More’s prayer book. Containing much of his own writing in the margins, it consists of a Book of Hours and a Psalter and was with him in the Tower of London while he awaited execution. More’s notes during that time show his preoccupation with the psalms of David’s tribulations. Beside Psalm 87:5-10, “a man without help … in the dark places, and in the shadow of death,” More writes, “in severe tribulation and in prison.”

The Prayer Book of Thomas More is backed by a wall-sized image of Hans Holbein’s "Sir Thomas More," positioned to look like More is gazing intently across the gallery at an image of David from the Crusader Bible. Engelhard Gallery, Photography by Janny Chiu, October 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library
The Prayer Book of Thomas More is backed by a wall-sized image of Hans Holbein’s “Sir Thomas More,” positioned to look like More is gazing intently across the gallery at an image of David from the Crusader Bible. Engelhard Gallery, Photography by Janny Chiu, October 2025. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library

More’s thoughts in distress demonstrate the appeal of David’s story to the human heart, a reality repeatedly expressed throughout the treasures of this exhibit. In the Tickhill Psalter’s Jesse Tree, David is encircled by branches springing from a tree that grows out of his father, Jesse, sprawled in an active sleep, his elbow supporting a hand planted against his head as though dreaming of all that is to come. 

A crop of the enter of Tickhill Psalter showing the Virgin and Child and the figure of David playing a harp. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library
A crop of the enter of Tickhill Psalter showing the Virgin and Child and the figure of David playing a harp. Credit: Courtesy of the New York Library

The branches of the tree wind around David and directly overhead to encircle the Virgin and Child, tracing Christ’s lineage through Mary to the House of David. At the top, the branches surround Christ enthroned in majesty, fulfilling the promise of victory over sin and death foreshadowed in the psalms.

David strikes a joyous pose and plays a harp in celebration, and foliage on either side of the main branch wraps around prophets who unfurl scrolls to hint at mysteries about to be foretold in the reading of the psalms.

Beneath the figure of Jesse, two separate depictions of David protecting his sheep from wild animals cast his actions as allegory in the fight against evil, segueing to his likeness in the historiated B, dancing and singing his story into the Psalms to animate their prefiguration of Christ.

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Advent: What is it and how should it be celebrated? #Catholic Advent candles. / Credit: Romolo Tavini/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 30, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA). Advent begins this year on Sunday, Nov. 30. Most Catholics — even those who don’t often go to Mass — know that Advent involves a wreath with candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights. But Advent is much more than that. Here’s an explainer of what Advent is really about.What is Advent?The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior who would come to them to set them free from captivity and to lead them to the fulfillment of all that God had promised.Israel longed for a Messiah, and John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming and could be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting and longing for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord more deeply in our lives and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world. Preparations are practical, like decorating trees and gift giving, but they’re also intended to be spiritual.During Advent, we’re invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church — all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”What does the word ‘Advent’ mean?Advent comes from the Latin “ad + venire,” which means, essentially, “to come to” or “to come toward.” “Ad + venire” is the root of the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival.”So Advent is the season of arrival: the arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.So, it’s four weeks long?Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date and could fall on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day or as long as four weeks. Does Advent mark a ‘new year’?The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a yearlong cycle, which we call the “liturgical year.” The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of Advent. So it’s a new liturgical year when Advent starts. But the Church also uses the ordinary calendar, so it would probably be a bit weird to have a “New Year’s Eve” party the night before Advent starts.What is the significance of the Advent wreath? The Catholic Church has been using Advent wreaths since the Middle Ages. Lighting candles as we prepare for Christmas reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. And the evergreen boughs remind us of new and eternal life in Christ, the eternal son of the Father.It is definitely true that Germanic people were lighting up candle wreaths in wintertime long before the Gospel arrived in their homeland. They did so because candle wreaths in winter are beautiful and warm. That a Christian symbol emerged from that tradition is an indication that the Gospel can be expressed through the language, customs, and symbols of cultures that come to believe that Christ Jesus is Lord.One candle is pink on the wreath — why?There are four candles on the Advent wreath. Three are purple and lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete Sunday. On that Sunday, in addition to the pink candle, the priest wears a pink vestment, which he might refer to as “rose.”Gaudete is a word that means “rejoice,” and we rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because we are halfway through Advent. Some people have the custom of throwing Gaudete parties, and this is also a day on which Christmas carolers may begin caroling door to door.The three purple candles are sometimes said to represent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — the three spiritual disciplines that are key to a fruitful Advent.Is it wrong to sing Christmas songs during Advent?No, but there are a lot of great Advent hymns and songs, such as “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Come Divine Messiah,” “Come Thou Fount,” and “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding.”When should the tree go up?When to put up the tree is a decision that families decide on their own. Some people put up their tree and decorate it on the first Sunday of Advent to make a big transformation in their home and get them into “preparing for Christmas” mode. Some put up the tree on the first Sunday of Advent, put on lights the next Sunday, ornaments the next, and decorate it more and more as they get closer to Christmas. Some put up the tree on Gaudete Sunday, as a kind of rejoicing, and decorate it in the weeks between Gaudate and Christmas. When the tree goes up and gets decorated is up to the individual and family, but having a Christmas tree is a big part of many people’s Advent traditions. This story was first published in November 2019 and has been updated.
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Advent: What is it and how should it be celebrated? #Catholic Advent candles. / Credit: Romolo Tavini/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 30, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA). Advent begins this year on Sunday, Nov. 30. Most Catholics — even those who don’t often go to Mass — know that Advent involves a wreath with candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights. But Advent is much more than that. Here’s an explainer of what Advent is really about.What is Advent?The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior who would come to them to set them free from captivity and to lead them to the fulfillment of all that God had promised.Israel longed for a Messiah, and John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming and could be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting and longing for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord more deeply in our lives and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world. Preparations are practical, like decorating trees and gift giving, but they’re also intended to be spiritual.During Advent, we’re invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church — all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”What does the word ‘Advent’ mean?Advent comes from the Latin “ad + venire,” which means, essentially, “to come to” or “to come toward.” “Ad + venire” is the root of the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival.”So Advent is the season of arrival: the arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.So, it’s four weeks long?Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date and could fall on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day or as long as four weeks. Does Advent mark a ‘new year’?The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a yearlong cycle, which we call the “liturgical year.” The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of Advent. So it’s a new liturgical year when Advent starts. But the Church also uses the ordinary calendar, so it would probably be a bit weird to have a “New Year’s Eve” party the night before Advent starts.What is the significance of the Advent wreath? The Catholic Church has been using Advent wreaths since the Middle Ages. Lighting candles as we prepare for Christmas reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. And the evergreen boughs remind us of new and eternal life in Christ, the eternal son of the Father.It is definitely true that Germanic people were lighting up candle wreaths in wintertime long before the Gospel arrived in their homeland. They did so because candle wreaths in winter are beautiful and warm. That a Christian symbol emerged from that tradition is an indication that the Gospel can be expressed through the language, customs, and symbols of cultures that come to believe that Christ Jesus is Lord.One candle is pink on the wreath — why?There are four candles on the Advent wreath. Three are purple and lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete Sunday. On that Sunday, in addition to the pink candle, the priest wears a pink vestment, which he might refer to as “rose.”Gaudete is a word that means “rejoice,” and we rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because we are halfway through Advent. Some people have the custom of throwing Gaudete parties, and this is also a day on which Christmas carolers may begin caroling door to door.The three purple candles are sometimes said to represent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — the three spiritual disciplines that are key to a fruitful Advent.Is it wrong to sing Christmas songs during Advent?No, but there are a lot of great Advent hymns and songs, such as “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Come Divine Messiah,” “Come Thou Fount,” and “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding.”When should the tree go up?When to put up the tree is a decision that families decide on their own. Some people put up their tree and decorate it on the first Sunday of Advent to make a big transformation in their home and get them into “preparing for Christmas” mode. Some put up the tree on the first Sunday of Advent, put on lights the next Sunday, ornaments the next, and decorate it more and more as they get closer to Christmas. Some put up the tree on Gaudete Sunday, as a kind of rejoicing, and decorate it in the weeks between Gaudate and Christmas. When the tree goes up and gets decorated is up to the individual and family, but having a Christmas tree is a big part of many people’s Advent traditions. This story was first published in November 2019 and has been updated.

unitedyam

Advent candles. / Credit: Romolo Tavini/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 30, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Advent begins this year on Sunday, Nov. 30. Most Catholics — even those who don’t often go to Mass — know that Advent involves a wreath with candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights. But Advent is much more than that. Here’s an explainer of what Advent is really about.

What is Advent?

The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior who would come to them to set them free from captivity and to lead them to the fulfillment of all that God had promised.

Israel longed for a Messiah, and John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming and could be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting and longing for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord more deeply in our lives and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.

Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world. Preparations are practical, like decorating trees and gift giving, but they’re also intended to be spiritual.

During Advent, we’re invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church — all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”

What does the word ‘Advent’ mean?

Advent comes from the Latin “ad + venire,” which means, essentially, “to come to” or “to come toward.” “Ad + venire” is the root of the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival.”

So Advent is the season of arrival: the arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.

So, it’s four weeks long?

Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date and could fall on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day or as long as four weeks.

Does Advent mark a ‘new year’?

The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a yearlong cycle, which we call the “liturgical year.” The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of Advent. So it’s a new liturgical year when Advent starts. But the Church also uses the ordinary calendar, so it would probably be a bit weird to have a “New Year’s Eve” party the night before Advent starts.

What is the significance of the Advent wreath?

The Catholic Church has been using Advent wreaths since the Middle Ages. Lighting candles as we prepare for Christmas reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. And the evergreen boughs remind us of new and eternal life in Christ, the eternal son of the Father.

It is definitely true that Germanic people were lighting up candle wreaths in wintertime long before the Gospel arrived in their homeland. They did so because candle wreaths in winter are beautiful and warm. That a Christian symbol emerged from that tradition is an indication that the Gospel can be expressed through the language, customs, and symbols of cultures that come to believe that Christ Jesus is Lord.

One candle is pink on the wreath — why?

There are four candles on the Advent wreath. Three are purple and lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete Sunday. On that Sunday, in addition to the pink candle, the priest wears a pink vestment, which he might refer to as “rose.”

Gaudete is a word that means “rejoice,” and we rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because we are halfway through Advent. Some people have the custom of throwing Gaudete parties, and this is also a day on which Christmas carolers may begin caroling door to door.

The three purple candles are sometimes said to represent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — the three spiritual disciplines that are key to a fruitful Advent.

Is it wrong to sing Christmas songs during Advent?

No, but there are a lot of great Advent hymns and songs, such as “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Come Divine Messiah,” “Come Thou Fount,” and “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding.”

When should the tree go up?

When to put up the tree is a decision that families decide on their own. Some people put up their tree and decorate it on the first Sunday of Advent to make a big transformation in their home and get them into “preparing for Christmas” mode.

Some put up the tree on the first Sunday of Advent, put on lights the next Sunday, ornaments the next, and decorate it more and more as they get closer to Christmas.

Some put up the tree on Gaudete Sunday, as a kind of rejoicing, and decorate it in the weeks between Gaudate and Christmas.

When the tree goes up and gets decorated is up to the individual and family, but having a Christmas tree is a big part of many people’s Advent traditions.

This story was first published in November 2019 and has been updated.

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‘An encounter with Jesus’: Artist behind living wall memorial for unborn shares mission #Catholic A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA). Amid the sounds of Arkansas’ waterfalls, women who have had abortions will someday be able to find healing at a “living wall” memorial covered in flora and fauna, where the names of unborn children will be inscribed on the hexagonal stone floor thanks to local artist Lakey Goff, who submitted the living wall design, which was selected for Arkansas’ monument for the unborn.The memorial will be on state property, but funding must come from the people. Now Goff and other Arkansians are fundraising for the living wall.A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffOn Saturday morning, participants gathered at sunrise at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock to kick off the first annual Living Wall 5K — a race to fundraise for the memorial.Several groups, both local and national — including LIFE Runners, Caring Hearts Pregnancy Center, and Arkansas Right to Life — showed up to kick off the first annual 5K. Fundraising began in May 2024 and has reached nearly ,000; but the living wall’s proposed budget, as of 2025, is estimated to be million.November has been set aside as a month to remember the unborn in a proclamation signed by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.Goff shared with CNA that her inspiration for the wall comes from her faith in Jesus. She hopes it will be a place of healing for women who have had abortions.Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffCNA: What inspired the design and the Bible message accompanying it? Why a living wall?Lakey Goff: The monument itself is alive with plants, photosynthesis, and oxygen: There’ll be birds that live in it; there are the sound of seven different waterfalls that I’ve recorded from around Arkansas coming off the top of this wall in an audio loop. That is the sound of Jesus’ voice — the sound of many waters. Then, underneath, you’ll see on there are pavers where women have begun to name their babies that were aborted, to put dates when they were aborted and even Scriptures. It’s a way to be healed and set free and say this happened, where they’re no longer locked up in guilt and shame; and so the babies’ names will be underneath our feet in these hexagonal pavers. I believe this monument is from the heart of God, the heart of the Father, as he wants to heal our land from the bloodshed in our nation, starting in the state of Arkansas to lead the way. Why is this monument important? We don’t want to forget what happened during the 50 years of bloodshed, of innocent babies’ bloodshed in our state. It is an act of repentance, and it is saying, “This will not happen again.” We’re saying, “I’m sorry, God, and we want to honor you and honor life.”This is the very first living wall monument to the unborn in our nation — and so that’s why it’s taking a little while, because it’s never been done before. Runners at the 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffWhat inspired you to send in a design after the 2023 bill passed? I’ve always been an artist, but I was not in any way involved, at least in my adult years, with the pro-life movement or in the political realm. I said, “Lord, is there anything that you want to do for this monument?” And I immediately received a blueprint from the Holy Spirit of the details about this living wall. I received clearly that the Lord wanted to heal women and families who had abortions and who were held captive by guilt and shame. And he gave me Isaiah 61: He wants to give us double honor for shame; he wants to set the captives free.A 5K participant waves flags at first annual 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffWhat do you hope people will take away from experiencing it?   It will be an actual place for women, children, families to come and be healed. It’s a place for repentance. It’s a place of life, vitality. There’s nothing dead about Jesus — he’s the risen King.Even in the process, women, children, families have already started to be healed. I believe what they will take away from it is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his healing: He came for the lost, not the righteous.This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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‘An encounter with Jesus’: Artist behind living wall memorial for unborn shares mission #Catholic A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA). Amid the sounds of Arkansas’ waterfalls, women who have had abortions will someday be able to find healing at a “living wall” memorial covered in flora and fauna, where the names of unborn children will be inscribed on the hexagonal stone floor thanks to local artist Lakey Goff, who submitted the living wall design, which was selected for Arkansas’ monument for the unborn.The memorial will be on state property, but funding must come from the people. Now Goff and other Arkansians are fundraising for the living wall.A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffOn Saturday morning, participants gathered at sunrise at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock to kick off the first annual Living Wall 5K — a race to fundraise for the memorial.Several groups, both local and national — including LIFE Runners, Caring Hearts Pregnancy Center, and Arkansas Right to Life — showed up to kick off the first annual 5K. Fundraising began in May 2024 and has reached nearly $30,000; but the living wall’s proposed budget, as of 2025, is estimated to be $1 million.November has been set aside as a month to remember the unborn in a proclamation signed by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.Goff shared with CNA that her inspiration for the wall comes from her faith in Jesus. She hopes it will be a place of healing for women who have had abortions.Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffCNA: What inspired the design and the Bible message accompanying it? Why a living wall?Lakey Goff: The monument itself is alive with plants, photosynthesis, and oxygen: There’ll be birds that live in it; there are the sound of seven different waterfalls that I’ve recorded from around Arkansas coming off the top of this wall in an audio loop. That is the sound of Jesus’ voice — the sound of many waters. Then, underneath, you’ll see on there are pavers where women have begun to name their babies that were aborted, to put dates when they were aborted and even Scriptures. It’s a way to be healed and set free and say this happened, where they’re no longer locked up in guilt and shame; and so the babies’ names will be underneath our feet in these hexagonal pavers. I believe this monument is from the heart of God, the heart of the Father, as he wants to heal our land from the bloodshed in our nation, starting in the state of Arkansas to lead the way. Why is this monument important? We don’t want to forget what happened during the 50 years of bloodshed, of innocent babies’ bloodshed in our state. It is an act of repentance, and it is saying, “This will not happen again.” We’re saying, “I’m sorry, God, and we want to honor you and honor life.”This is the very first living wall monument to the unborn in our nation — and so that’s why it’s taking a little while, because it’s never been done before. Runners at the 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffWhat inspired you to send in a design after the 2023 bill passed? I’ve always been an artist, but I was not in any way involved, at least in my adult years, with the pro-life movement or in the political realm. I said, “Lord, is there anything that you want to do for this monument?” And I immediately received a blueprint from the Holy Spirit of the details about this living wall. I received clearly that the Lord wanted to heal women and families who had abortions and who were held captive by guilt and shame. And he gave me Isaiah 61: He wants to give us double honor for shame; he wants to set the captives free.A 5K participant waves flags at first annual 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey GoffWhat do you hope people will take away from experiencing it?   It will be an actual place for women, children, families to come and be healed. It’s a place for repentance. It’s a place of life, vitality. There’s nothing dead about Jesus — he’s the risen King.Even in the process, women, children, families have already started to be healed. I believe what they will take away from it is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his healing: He came for the lost, not the righteous.This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

unitedyam

A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff

CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Amid the sounds of Arkansas’ waterfalls, women who have had abortions will someday be able to find healing at a “living wall” memorial covered in flora and fauna, where the names of unborn children will be inscribed on the hexagonal stone floor thanks to local artist Lakey Goff, who submitted the living wall design, which was selected for Arkansas’ monument for the unborn.

The memorial will be on state property, but funding must come from the people. Now Goff and other Arkansians are fundraising for the living wall.

A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff

On Saturday morning, participants gathered at sunrise at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock to kick off the first annual Living Wall 5K — a race to fundraise for the memorial.

Several groups, both local and national — including LIFE Runners, Caring Hearts Pregnancy Center, and Arkansas Right to Life — showed up to kick off the first annual 5K. 

Fundraising began in May 2024 and has reached nearly $30,000; but the living wall’s proposed budget, as of 2025, is estimated to be $1 million.

November has been set aside as a month to remember the unborn in a proclamation signed by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Goff shared with CNA that her inspiration for the wall comes from her faith in Jesus. She hopes it will be a place of healing for women who have had abortions.

Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff

CNA: What inspired the design and the Bible message accompanying it? Why a living wall?

Lakey Goff: The monument itself is alive with plants, photosynthesis, and oxygen: There’ll be birds that live in it; there are the sound of seven different waterfalls that I’ve recorded from around Arkansas coming off the top of this wall in an audio loop. That is the sound of Jesus’ voice — the sound of many waters. 

Then, underneath, you’ll see on there are pavers where women have begun to name their babies that were aborted, to put dates when they were aborted and even Scriptures. It’s a way to be healed and set free and say this happened, where they’re no longer locked up in guilt and shame; and so the babies’ names will be underneath our feet in these hexagonal pavers. 

I believe this monument is from the heart of God, the heart of the Father, as he wants to heal our land from the bloodshed in our nation, starting in the state of Arkansas to lead the way. 

Why is this monument important? 

We don’t want to forget what happened during the 50 years of bloodshed, of innocent babies’ bloodshed in our state. It is an act of repentance, and it is saying, “This will not happen again.” We’re saying, “I’m sorry, God, and we want to honor you and honor life.”

This is the very first living wall monument to the unborn in our nation — and so that’s why it’s taking a little while, because it’s never been done before. 

Runners at the 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
Runners at the 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff

What inspired you to send in a design after the 2023 bill passed? 

I’ve always been an artist, but I was not in any way involved, at least in my adult years, with the pro-life movement or in the political realm. 

I said, “Lord, is there anything that you want to do for this monument?” And I immediately received a blueprint from the Holy Spirit of the details about this living wall. 

I received clearly that the Lord wanted to heal women and families who had abortions and who were held captive by guilt and shame. And he gave me Isaiah 61: He wants to give us double honor for shame; he wants to set the captives free.

A 5K participant waves flags at first annual 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
A 5K participant waves flags at first annual 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff

What do you hope people will take away from experiencing it?   

It will be an actual place for women, children, families to come and be healed. It’s a place for repentance. It’s a place of life, vitality. There’s nothing dead about Jesus — he’s the risen King.

Even in the process, women, children, families have already started to be healed. I believe what they will take away from it is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his healing: He came for the lost, not the righteous.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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Bishops lead Stations of the Cross at Colorado ICE center, urges dignity for migrants #Catholic Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. / Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 13:48 pm (CNA). Hundreds of Catholics gathered in front of the Denver Contract Detention Facility — an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado — on Nov. 22 for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver. Sponsored by the Committee for Pastoral Care for Migrants, individuals from over 36 local parishes gathered for a peaceful procession and to stand in solidarity with undocumented immigrants who are being impacted by the mass deportations taking place across the United States.Hundreds of Catholics gather outside an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025, for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic“I want to thank all of you for coming today as we have prayed and walked the Stations of the Cross. They are reminders to us of God’s love for all people and for the immigrant, for the stranger, for those who are sick and suffering, and for all those who are in need of our prayer,” Aquila said according to a statement in the Denver Catholic. Aquila reminded the faithful in attendance that “we must remember the dignity of every human being. That dignity is not bestowed by any government. That dignity comes from God and God alone.”The archbishop also called out both political parties for having “failed horribly when it comes to immigration. They have treated immigrants as pawns for their own elections, for their own desires, and they have failed every immigrant. Both political parties.”Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver CatholicEarlier this month, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a statement that opposes the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.The bishops approved their special message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12 in Baltimore. The motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted. It received 216 votes in favor, just five against, and only three abstentions.“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the message emphasized.“We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement,” it added. “We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials.”Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver CatholicOn Sunday Aquila also touched on the “Dignity Act,” a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would give undocumented immigrants a way to obtain legal status. “They may not have come with documents, but they have been living here peacefully for 10, 20, 30 years. Many of us know them, and they need a path to citizenship,” he said. He added: “The only ones who can mess that up are the political parties and the people of Congress, as they add their special preferences to the bill. If they just did not touch the bill the way it is today, it would be fine. But our system is broken, and it is because we put political parties before the dignity of the human being.”“And so I encourage you, my sisters and brothers, and I thank you for being here today to give witness to the dignity of the human person and to the goodness of every human being from the moment of their conception through natural death,” Aquila concluded. “Let us continue to work for the immigrant and to proclaim Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost. May the Lord bless all of you and thank you for your witness.”
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Bishops lead Stations of the Cross at Colorado ICE center, urges dignity for migrants #Catholic Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. / Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 13:48 pm (CNA). Hundreds of Catholics gathered in front of the Denver Contract Detention Facility — an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado — on Nov. 22 for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver. Sponsored by the Committee for Pastoral Care for Migrants, individuals from over 36 local parishes gathered for a peaceful procession and to stand in solidarity with undocumented immigrants who are being impacted by the mass deportations taking place across the United States.Hundreds of Catholics gather outside an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025, for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic“I want to thank all of you for coming today as we have prayed and walked the Stations of the Cross. They are reminders to us of God’s love for all people and for the immigrant, for the stranger, for those who are sick and suffering, and for all those who are in need of our prayer,” Aquila said according to a statement in the Denver Catholic. Aquila reminded the faithful in attendance that “we must remember the dignity of every human being. That dignity is not bestowed by any government. That dignity comes from God and God alone.”The archbishop also called out both political parties for having “failed horribly when it comes to immigration. They have treated immigrants as pawns for their own elections, for their own desires, and they have failed every immigrant. Both political parties.”Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver CatholicEarlier this month, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a statement that opposes the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.The bishops approved their special message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12 in Baltimore. The motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted. It received 216 votes in favor, just five against, and only three abstentions.“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the message emphasized.“We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement,” it added. “We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials.”Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver CatholicOn Sunday Aquila also touched on the “Dignity Act,” a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would give undocumented immigrants a way to obtain legal status. “They may not have come with documents, but they have been living here peacefully for 10, 20, 30 years. Many of us know them, and they need a path to citizenship,” he said. He added: “The only ones who can mess that up are the political parties and the people of Congress, as they add their special preferences to the bill. If they just did not touch the bill the way it is today, it would be fine. But our system is broken, and it is because we put political parties before the dignity of the human being.”“And so I encourage you, my sisters and brothers, and I thank you for being here today to give witness to the dignity of the human person and to the goodness of every human being from the moment of their conception through natural death,” Aquila concluded. “Let us continue to work for the immigrant and to proclaim Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost. May the Lord bless all of you and thank you for your witness.”

unitedyam

Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. / Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic

CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 13:48 pm (CNA).

Hundreds of Catholics gathered in front of the Denver Contract Detention Facility — an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado — on Nov. 22 for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver. 

Sponsored by the Committee for Pastoral Care for Migrants, individuals from over 36 local parishes gathered for a peaceful procession and to stand in solidarity with undocumented immigrants who are being impacted by the mass deportations taking place across the United States.

Hundreds of Catholics gather outside an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025, for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic
Hundreds of Catholics gather outside an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025, for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic

“I want to thank all of you for coming today as we have prayed and walked the Stations of the Cross. They are reminders to us of God’s love for all people and for the immigrant, for the stranger, for those who are sick and suffering, and for all those who are in need of our prayer,” Aquila said according to a statement in the Denver Catholic. 

Aquila reminded the faithful in attendance that “we must remember the dignity of every human being. That dignity is not bestowed by any government. That dignity comes from God and God alone.”

The archbishop also called out both political parties for having “failed horribly when it comes to immigration. They have treated immigrants as pawns for their own elections, for their own desires, and they have failed every immigrant. Both political parties.”

Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic

Earlier this month, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a statement that opposes the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.

The bishops approved their special message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12 in Baltimore. The motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted. It received 216 votes in favor, just five against, and only three abstentions.

“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the message emphasized.

“We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement,” it added. “We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials.”

Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic

On Sunday Aquila also touched on the “Dignity Act,” a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would give undocumented immigrants a way to obtain legal status. 

“They may not have come with documents, but they have been living here peacefully for 10, 20, 30 years. Many of us know them, and they need a path to citizenship,” he said. 

He added: “The only ones who can mess that up are the political parties and the people of Congress, as they add their special preferences to the bill. If they just did not touch the bill the way it is today, it would be fine. But our system is broken, and it is because we put political parties before the dignity of the human being.”

“And so I encourage you, my sisters and brothers, and I thank you for being here today to give witness to the dignity of the human person and to the goodness of every human being from the moment of their conception through natural death,” Aquila concluded. “Let us continue to work for the immigrant and to proclaim Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost. May the Lord bless all of you and thank you for your witness.”

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Fact check: Did Pope Leo host a rave last week in Slovakia #Catholic Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful in Piazza della Libertà in August 2025. / Credit: Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA). Social media lit up last week with claims that Pope Leo XIV “threw a rave” outside St. Elisabeth Cathedral in Košice, Slovakia. The viral stories included images of laser lights, electronic dance music, and a priest serving as DJ. But what really happened? Here’s what you need to know.What was the event?An outdoor electronic music event in front of the city’s iconic 14th-century cathedral was organized by the Archdiocese of Košice to celebrate the Jubilee of Young People and the 75th birthday of Archbishop Bernard Bober. It took place on Nov. 8 and included a Mass celebrated by Bober, who is also the president of the Slovakian Episcopal Conference, with the apostolic nuncio to the country, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli.Who was there?The main performer was Father Guilherme Peixoto, 51, a Portuguese priest and electronic music DJ, who led attendees in a mix of electronic and spiritual music. Peixoto also performed at the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon. “Electronic music is a privileged way to build a better world,” Peixoto has said.Catholic leaders in Košice also attended the event.Guilherme Peixoto, a priest and DJ, performs onstage during a fair in Coimbra, Portugal, on July 4, 2024. Credit: Felipe Amorim/Getty ImagesDid the pope attend or host the rave?Contrary to sensational headlines, Pope Leo XIV did not throw or personally attend a rave. Instead, the pope appeared on large LED screens via a prerecorded video message, greeting the young people and offering his apostolic blessing: “Dear young people, with joy, I greet you, as you gather before the splendid cathedral of Košice, which is a beating heart of faith and hope. Coming from different nations, yet united by the same faith, your presence is a tangible sign of the fraternity and peace that is instilled in our hearts by friendship with Christ.”What really happened?The DJ set blended techno music with fragments of the pope’s message and performed an unreleased track, “Dear Young People,” which included phrases spoken by Leo in his address. Lasers and lights lit up the cathedral, and the crowd — largely composed of young people — danced in celebration. According to press coverage at the time, the event aimed to connect faith with youth culture by “promoting inclusion, tolerance, and respect on the dance floor.”The pope’s video message included a final “amen,” which was woven into the musical performance. While the Vatican supported the event, it was local clergy and the DJ priest who were hands-on organizers and hosts.CNA finds: Claims that “the pope hosted or threw a rave” exaggerate the reality. The Vatican supported the event, the pope gave a prerecorded blessing, but the actual rave was organized and performed by Peixoto and the diocese in Košice. The pope did not attend in person nor DJ, but his message to young people and blessing were central to the celebration.
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Fact check: Did Pope Leo host a rave last week in Slovakia #Catholic Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful in Piazza della Libertà in August 2025. / Credit: Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA). Social media lit up last week with claims that Pope Leo XIV “threw a rave” outside St. Elisabeth Cathedral in Košice, Slovakia. The viral stories included images of laser lights, electronic dance music, and a priest serving as DJ. But what really happened? Here’s what you need to know.What was the event?An outdoor electronic music event in front of the city’s iconic 14th-century cathedral was organized by the Archdiocese of Košice to celebrate the Jubilee of Young People and the 75th birthday of Archbishop Bernard Bober. It took place on Nov. 8 and included a Mass celebrated by Bober, who is also the president of the Slovakian Episcopal Conference, with the apostolic nuncio to the country, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli.Who was there?The main performer was Father Guilherme Peixoto, 51, a Portuguese priest and electronic music DJ, who led attendees in a mix of electronic and spiritual music. Peixoto also performed at the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon. “Electronic music is a privileged way to build a better world,” Peixoto has said.Catholic leaders in Košice also attended the event.Guilherme Peixoto, a priest and DJ, performs onstage during a fair in Coimbra, Portugal, on July 4, 2024. Credit: Felipe Amorim/Getty ImagesDid the pope attend or host the rave?Contrary to sensational headlines, Pope Leo XIV did not throw or personally attend a rave. Instead, the pope appeared on large LED screens via a prerecorded video message, greeting the young people and offering his apostolic blessing: “Dear young people, with joy, I greet you, as you gather before the splendid cathedral of Košice, which is a beating heart of faith and hope. Coming from different nations, yet united by the same faith, your presence is a tangible sign of the fraternity and peace that is instilled in our hearts by friendship with Christ.”What really happened?The DJ set blended techno music with fragments of the pope’s message and performed an unreleased track, “Dear Young People,” which included phrases spoken by Leo in his address. Lasers and lights lit up the cathedral, and the crowd — largely composed of young people — danced in celebration. According to press coverage at the time, the event aimed to connect faith with youth culture by “promoting inclusion, tolerance, and respect on the dance floor.”The pope’s video message included a final “amen,” which was woven into the musical performance. While the Vatican supported the event, it was local clergy and the DJ priest who were hands-on organizers and hosts.CNA finds: Claims that “the pope hosted or threw a rave” exaggerate the reality. The Vatican supported the event, the pope gave a prerecorded blessing, but the actual rave was organized and performed by Peixoto and the diocese in Košice. The pope did not attend in person nor DJ, but his message to young people and blessing were central to the celebration.

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Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful in Piazza della Libertà in August 2025. / Credit: Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).

Social media lit up last week with claims that Pope Leo XIV “threw a rave” outside St. Elisabeth Cathedral in Košice, Slovakia. The viral stories included images of laser lights, electronic dance music, and a priest serving as DJ. But what really happened? Here’s what you need to know.

What was the event?

An outdoor electronic music event in front of the city’s iconic 14th-century cathedral was organized by the Archdiocese of Košice to celebrate the Jubilee of Young People and the 75th birthday of Archbishop Bernard Bober. It took place on Nov. 8 and included a Mass celebrated by Bober, who is also the president of the Slovakian Episcopal Conference, with the apostolic nuncio to the country, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli.

Who was there?

The main performer was Father Guilherme Peixoto, 51, a Portuguese priest and electronic music DJ, who led attendees in a mix of electronic and spiritual music. Peixoto also performed at the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon. “Electronic music is a privileged way to build a better world,” Peixoto has said.

Catholic leaders in Košice also attended the event.

Guilherme Peixoto, a priest and DJ, performs onstage during a fair in Coimbra, Portugal, on July 4, 2024. Credit: Felipe Amorim/Getty Images
Guilherme Peixoto, a priest and DJ, performs onstage during a fair in Coimbra, Portugal, on July 4, 2024. Credit: Felipe Amorim/Getty Images

Did the pope attend or host the rave?

Contrary to sensational headlines, Pope Leo XIV did not throw or personally attend a rave. Instead, the pope appeared on large LED screens via a prerecorded video message, greeting the young people and offering his apostolic blessing: “Dear young people, with joy, I greet you, as you gather before the splendid cathedral of Košice, which is a beating heart of faith and hope. Coming from different nations, yet united by the same faith, your presence is a tangible sign of the fraternity and peace that is instilled in our hearts by friendship with Christ.”

What really happened?

The DJ set blended techno music with fragments of the pope’s message and performed an unreleased track, “Dear Young People,” which included phrases spoken by Leo in his address. Lasers and lights lit up the cathedral, and the crowd — largely composed of young people — danced in celebration. According to press coverage at the time, the event aimed to connect faith with youth culture by “promoting inclusion, tolerance, and respect on the dance floor.”

The pope’s video message included a final “amen,” which was woven into the musical performance. While the Vatican supported the event, it was local clergy and the DJ priest who were hands-on organizers and hosts.

CNA finds: Claims that “the pope hosted or threw a rave” exaggerate the reality. The Vatican supported the event, the pope gave a prerecorded blessing, but the actual rave was organized and performed by Peixoto and the diocese in Košice. The pope did not attend in person nor DJ, but his message to young people and blessing were central to the celebration.

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16,000 teens attend Mass together to conclude NCYC #Catholic Priests process into Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 22, 2025, for the concluding Mass in Lucas Oil Stadium at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 24, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA). The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conferences (NCYC) concluded with a nighttime Mass drawing around 16,000 teenagers.After three days of prayer, community, sacraments, and a conversation with Pope Leo XIV, young Catholics packed into Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to end the conference with Mass on Nov. 22. Archbishop Nelson Pérez told CNA it was “beautiful” to celebrate the Mass alongside 25 of his brother bishops and more than 240 priests. “It’s the Church in its splendor,” Pérez said. “Tonight, we experienced the Church in its splendor.” The final Mass was celebrated on the Saturday before the solemnity of Christ the King. In his homily, Pérez said: “When I think about a king, I think about palaces and big thrones and power and authority.”“But when Jesus talks about king it’s … different,” Pérez said. “His throne is a cross. His crown is not made of gold and gems. It’s made of thorns. He doesn’t wear fancy, beautiful, priceless rings on his hands. He has nails.”The “very mystery of the life and the death of Christ, the King, and all of our lives is actually a dying and a rising — dying to sin, dying to the parts of our humanity that might be warped and wounded, and rising to new life to renewal of our soul.”Then “that process goes over and over over and over and over again until we die in Christ for the last time and then rise with him,” Pérez said. “How blessed, how filled with hope we are.”Pérez reminds teens: ‘Christ loves you just as you are’Pérez concluded his homily by tying his message back to what Pope Leo told the teens in his digital encounter with them on Nov. 21. Pérez told the teenagers Pope Leo spoke with them because he loves them.Pope Leo has “gathered with youth all over the place, especially this summer, [during] the Jubilee of Youth,” Pérez said. The pope’s “message is profound, powerful, and simple at the same time: ‘Christ loves you just as you are.’”Pérez reminded the crowd to listen to what the pope said to them. “Think of your closest friends. If they were hurting, you would walk with them, listen, and stay close,” the pope said. “Our relation with Jesus is similar. He knows when life feels heavy, even when we do not feel his presence, our faith tells us he is there.”“To entrust our struggles to Jesus, we have to spend time in prayer … We can speak honestly about what’s in our hearts,” Pérez said, quoting the pope. “That is why daily moments of silence are so important, whether through adoration, reading Scripture, or simply talking to him.”“‘Little by little, we learn to hear his voice, both from within and through the people he sends us. As you grow closer to Jesus,’ he said to us, ‘Do not fear what he may ask of you. If he challenges you to make changes in your life, it’s always because he wants to give you greater joy and freedom. God is never outdone in generosity.’”“The pope’s digital visit was what made this NCYC epic, really epic and different from any other,” Pérez told CNA. The success was from “the excitement of our youth to welcome the Holy Father” and Pope Leo’s “generosity and willingness” to speak with them. Being a part of the conference and seeing so many young Catholics at Mass together made Pérez feel “hopeful,” he said. “In a world and a country that’s so divided right now and violent at times, after this, I’m just so full of hope. It’s almost like we’re going to be OK.”“It’s incredible to see the young Church alive,” Pérez said. “It’s such a beautiful, beautiful gathering.”
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16,000 teens attend Mass together to conclude NCYC #Catholic Priests process into Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 22, 2025, for the concluding Mass in Lucas Oil Stadium at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 24, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA). The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conferences (NCYC) concluded with a nighttime Mass drawing around 16,000 teenagers.After three days of prayer, community, sacraments, and a conversation with Pope Leo XIV, young Catholics packed into Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to end the conference with Mass on Nov. 22. Archbishop Nelson Pérez told CNA it was “beautiful” to celebrate the Mass alongside 25 of his brother bishops and more than 240 priests. “It’s the Church in its splendor,” Pérez said. “Tonight, we experienced the Church in its splendor.” The final Mass was celebrated on the Saturday before the solemnity of Christ the King. In his homily, Pérez said: “When I think about a king, I think about palaces and big thrones and power and authority.”“But when Jesus talks about king it’s … different,” Pérez said. “His throne is a cross. His crown is not made of gold and gems. It’s made of thorns. He doesn’t wear fancy, beautiful, priceless rings on his hands. He has nails.”The “very mystery of the life and the death of Christ, the King, and all of our lives is actually a dying and a rising — dying to sin, dying to the parts of our humanity that might be warped and wounded, and rising to new life to renewal of our soul.”Then “that process goes over and over over and over and over again until we die in Christ for the last time and then rise with him,” Pérez said. “How blessed, how filled with hope we are.”Pérez reminds teens: ‘Christ loves you just as you are’Pérez concluded his homily by tying his message back to what Pope Leo told the teens in his digital encounter with them on Nov. 21. Pérez told the teenagers Pope Leo spoke with them because he loves them.Pope Leo has “gathered with youth all over the place, especially this summer, [during] the Jubilee of Youth,” Pérez said. The pope’s “message is profound, powerful, and simple at the same time: ‘Christ loves you just as you are.’”Pérez reminded the crowd to listen to what the pope said to them. “Think of your closest friends. If they were hurting, you would walk with them, listen, and stay close,” the pope said. “Our relation with Jesus is similar. He knows when life feels heavy, even when we do not feel his presence, our faith tells us he is there.”“To entrust our struggles to Jesus, we have to spend time in prayer … We can speak honestly about what’s in our hearts,” Pérez said, quoting the pope. “That is why daily moments of silence are so important, whether through adoration, reading Scripture, or simply talking to him.”“‘Little by little, we learn to hear his voice, both from within and through the people he sends us. As you grow closer to Jesus,’ he said to us, ‘Do not fear what he may ask of you. If he challenges you to make changes in your life, it’s always because he wants to give you greater joy and freedom. God is never outdone in generosity.’”“The pope’s digital visit was what made this NCYC epic, really epic and different from any other,” Pérez told CNA. The success was from “the excitement of our youth to welcome the Holy Father” and Pope Leo’s “generosity and willingness” to speak with them. Being a part of the conference and seeing so many young Catholics at Mass together made Pérez feel “hopeful,” he said. “In a world and a country that’s so divided right now and violent at times, after this, I’m just so full of hope. It’s almost like we’re going to be OK.”“It’s incredible to see the young Church alive,” Pérez said. “It’s such a beautiful, beautiful gathering.”

unitedyam

Priests process into Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 22, 2025, for the concluding Mass in Lucas Oil Stadium at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA

Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 24, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA).

The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conferences (NCYC) concluded with a nighttime Mass drawing around 16,000 teenagers.

After three days of prayer, community, sacraments, and a conversation with Pope Leo XIV, young Catholics packed into Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to end the conference with Mass on Nov. 22. Archbishop Nelson Pérez told CNA it was “beautiful” to celebrate the Mass alongside 25 of his brother bishops and more than 240 priests. 

“It’s the Church in its splendor,” Pérez said. “Tonight, we experienced the Church in its splendor.” 

The final Mass was celebrated on the Saturday before the solemnity of Christ the King. In his homily, Pérez said: “When I think about a king, I think about palaces and big thrones and power and authority.”

“But when Jesus talks about king it’s … different,” Pérez said. “His throne is a cross. His crown is not made of gold and gems. It’s made of thorns. He doesn’t wear fancy, beautiful, priceless rings on his hands. He has nails.”

The “very mystery of the life and the death of Christ, the King, and all of our lives is actually a dying and a rising — dying to sin, dying to the parts of our humanity that might be warped and wounded, and rising to new life to renewal of our soul.”

Then “that process goes over and over over and over and over again until we die in Christ for the last time and then rise with him,” Pérez said. “How blessed, how filled with hope we are.”

Pérez reminds teens: ‘Christ loves you just as you are’

Pérez concluded his homily by tying his message back to what Pope Leo told the teens in his digital encounter with them on Nov. 21. Pérez told the teenagers Pope Leo spoke with them because he loves them.

Pope Leo has “gathered with youth all over the place, especially this summer, [during] the Jubilee of Youth,” Pérez said. The pope’s “message is profound, powerful, and simple at the same time: ‘Christ loves you just as you are.’”

Pérez reminded the crowd to listen to what the pope said to them. “Think of your closest friends. If they were hurting, you would walk with them, listen, and stay close,” the pope said. “Our relation with Jesus is similar. He knows when life feels heavy, even when we do not feel his presence, our faith tells us he is there.”

“To entrust our struggles to Jesus, we have to spend time in prayer … We can speak honestly about what’s in our hearts,” Pérez said, quoting the pope. “That is why daily moments of silence are so important, whether through adoration, reading Scripture, or simply talking to him.”

“‘Little by little, we learn to hear his voice, both from within and through the people he sends us. As you grow closer to Jesus,’ he said to us, ‘Do not fear what he may ask of you. If he challenges you to make changes in your life, it’s always because he wants to give you greater joy and freedom. God is never outdone in generosity.’”

“The pope’s digital visit was what made this NCYC epic, really epic and different from any other,” Pérez told CNA. The success was from “the excitement of our youth to welcome the Holy Father” and Pope Leo’s “generosity and willingness” to speak with them. 

Being a part of the conference and seeing so many young Catholics at Mass together made Pérez feel “hopeful,” he said. “In a world and a country that’s so divided right now and violent at times, after this, I’m just so full of hope. It’s almost like we’re going to be OK.”

“It’s incredible to see the young Church alive,” Pérez said. “It’s such a beautiful, beautiful gathering.”

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5 Catholic resources to help you grow closer to Christ this Advent #Catholic null / Credit: Kara Monroe via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). As Advent quickly approaches and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins to make its way into our lives, here are five resources to help you prepare to welcome Jesus this Christmas. From Ascension: Join Father Mike Schmitz this Advent for “Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz” on the Ascension app. Beginning Nov. 30, a 26-day video series will guide viewers on becoming aware of how God is shaping them through seasons of waiting and how to wait well. Each day a five-minute video will be released and feature a reflection from Schmitz that unpacks the daily Mass reading as well as Scripture versus, catechism excerpts, and reflection questions to encourage participants to go deeper into the meaning of Advent. Ascension’s “Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz” video series. Credit: AscensionSchmitz’s weekly homily videos during Advent are part of the “Waiting Well” series and available for free on YouTube. However, the daily reflections will only be available on the Ascension app with a subscription or free trial.This year’s video reflections will also be accompanied by the “Waiting Well” printed journal for individuals, parishes, and small-group study. It is designed to help readers slow down for 15 minutes a day as they prepare to meet Christ in the manger. Each day includes a word or Scripture verse to pray with, a reflection, and a prompt to write down your thoughts and insights. From Hallow:Hallow’s annual “Advent Prayer Challenge” is back once again. Beginning Dec. 1, “Pray25: Be Still” features Jonathan Roumie; Chris Pratt; Gwen Stefani; Father John Burns; Mother Natalia; Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT; and Father Pierre Toussaint, CFR. This Advent, listeners are invited to discover deeper stillness amid the chaos of the holiday season, just like the Blessed Mother did that first Christmas. Roumie and Heidland will lead reflections on “The Reed of God” by Caryll Houselander, while Pratt will guide sessions on “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. Stefani and Mother Natalia will guide sessions focusing on being still, using the lives of saints as inspiration. Burns will guide listeners through sessions of imaginative prayer and Toussaint will offer homily reflections each Sunday during Advent.From Blessed Is She:Blessed Is She has Advent devotionals for the whole family this year — women, men, and children. “In Time: An Advent Devotional for Women” invites readers to reflect on God’s continuous presence in our lives. Written by Claire Dwyer, this devotional helps women see that waiting is filled with God’s loving action. “Feast: An Advent Devotional for Men” is written by Paul George, rooted in Scripture, and inspired by the story of the prodigal son. This devotional invites men to return to God the Father with courage, humility, and hope. It also aims to encourage those seeking renewal, healing, and deeper faith during Advent. Both the devotionals for men and women include daily Scripture readings, prayer, and reflection.Lastly, “Watch and Wait: A Kids Advent Devotional” written by Olivia Spears helps kids prepare for Christmas with daily prayers, reflections, and simple Scripture-based activities. This devotional teaches children to wait with hope and joy as they prepare for the birth of Christ. It is recommended for children older than 7 years old.The Augustine Institute’s campus in St. Louis. Credit: Courtesy of the Augustine InstituteFrom the Augustine Institute:The Augustine Institute is inviting Catholics to enter into the Advent season with renewed purpose and joyful expectation with a new video series titled “How To Advent.” The video series will consist of four 12- to 15-minute-long episodes that explore the beauty and meaning of Advent traditions in an engaging and meaningful way and highlight a different cherished Advent tradition — the Advent calendar, Advent wreath, Jesse Tree, and Nativity scene. The video series is available on Formed. From EWTN’s Religious Catalogue:The EWTN Religious Catalogue offers a wide variety of Advent devotionals including “Encountering Emmanuel: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation” by Heather Khym, cohost of the “Abiding Together” podcast, and “The True Gifts of Christmas” by Megan Alexander, which takes readers on a journey through the deeper meaning of our most cherished Christmas traditions. (Editor’s note: EWTN is CNA’s parent company.)
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5 Catholic resources to help you grow closer to Christ this Advent #Catholic null / Credit: Kara Monroe via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). As Advent quickly approaches and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins to make its way into our lives, here are five resources to help you prepare to welcome Jesus this Christmas. From Ascension: Join Father Mike Schmitz this Advent for “Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz” on the Ascension app. Beginning Nov. 30, a 26-day video series will guide viewers on becoming aware of how God is shaping them through seasons of waiting and how to wait well. Each day a five-minute video will be released and feature a reflection from Schmitz that unpacks the daily Mass reading as well as Scripture versus, catechism excerpts, and reflection questions to encourage participants to go deeper into the meaning of Advent. Ascension’s “Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz” video series. Credit: AscensionSchmitz’s weekly homily videos during Advent are part of the “Waiting Well” series and available for free on YouTube. However, the daily reflections will only be available on the Ascension app with a subscription or free trial.This year’s video reflections will also be accompanied by the “Waiting Well” printed journal for individuals, parishes, and small-group study. It is designed to help readers slow down for 15 minutes a day as they prepare to meet Christ in the manger. Each day includes a word or Scripture verse to pray with, a reflection, and a prompt to write down your thoughts and insights. From Hallow:Hallow’s annual “Advent Prayer Challenge” is back once again. Beginning Dec. 1, “Pray25: Be Still” features Jonathan Roumie; Chris Pratt; Gwen Stefani; Father John Burns; Mother Natalia; Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT; and Father Pierre Toussaint, CFR. This Advent, listeners are invited to discover deeper stillness amid the chaos of the holiday season, just like the Blessed Mother did that first Christmas. Roumie and Heidland will lead reflections on “The Reed of God” by Caryll Houselander, while Pratt will guide sessions on “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. Stefani and Mother Natalia will guide sessions focusing on being still, using the lives of saints as inspiration. Burns will guide listeners through sessions of imaginative prayer and Toussaint will offer homily reflections each Sunday during Advent.From Blessed Is She:Blessed Is She has Advent devotionals for the whole family this year — women, men, and children. “In Time: An Advent Devotional for Women” invites readers to reflect on God’s continuous presence in our lives. Written by Claire Dwyer, this devotional helps women see that waiting is filled with God’s loving action. “Feast: An Advent Devotional for Men” is written by Paul George, rooted in Scripture, and inspired by the story of the prodigal son. This devotional invites men to return to God the Father with courage, humility, and hope. It also aims to encourage those seeking renewal, healing, and deeper faith during Advent. Both the devotionals for men and women include daily Scripture readings, prayer, and reflection.Lastly, “Watch and Wait: A Kids Advent Devotional” written by Olivia Spears helps kids prepare for Christmas with daily prayers, reflections, and simple Scripture-based activities. This devotional teaches children to wait with hope and joy as they prepare for the birth of Christ. It is recommended for children older than 7 years old.The Augustine Institute’s campus in St. Louis. Credit: Courtesy of the Augustine InstituteFrom the Augustine Institute:The Augustine Institute is inviting Catholics to enter into the Advent season with renewed purpose and joyful expectation with a new video series titled “How To Advent.” The video series will consist of four 12- to 15-minute-long episodes that explore the beauty and meaning of Advent traditions in an engaging and meaningful way and highlight a different cherished Advent tradition — the Advent calendar, Advent wreath, Jesse Tree, and Nativity scene. The video series is available on Formed. From EWTN’s Religious Catalogue:The EWTN Religious Catalogue offers a wide variety of Advent devotionals including “Encountering Emmanuel: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation” by Heather Khym, cohost of the “Abiding Together” podcast, and “The True Gifts of Christmas” by Megan Alexander, which takes readers on a journey through the deeper meaning of our most cherished Christmas traditions. (Editor’s note: EWTN is CNA’s parent company.)

unitedyam

null / Credit: Kara Monroe via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

As Advent quickly approaches and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins to make its way into our lives, here are five resources to help you prepare to welcome Jesus this Christmas. 

From Ascension: 

Join Father Mike Schmitz this Advent for “Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz” on the Ascension app. 

Beginning Nov. 30, a 26-day video series will guide viewers on becoming aware of how God is shaping them through seasons of waiting and how to wait well. Each day a five-minute video will be released and feature a reflection from Schmitz that unpacks the daily Mass reading as well as Scripture versus, catechism excerpts, and reflection questions to encourage participants to go deeper into the meaning of Advent. 

Ascension's "Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz" video series. Credit: Ascension
Ascension’s “Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz” video series. Credit: Ascension

Schmitz’s weekly homily videos during Advent are part of the “Waiting Well” series and available for free on YouTube. However, the daily reflections will only be available on the Ascension app with a subscription or free trial.

This year’s video reflections will also be accompanied by the “Waiting Well” printed journal for individuals, parishes, and small-group study. It is designed to help readers slow down for 15 minutes a day as they prepare to meet Christ in the manger. Each day includes a word or Scripture verse to pray with, a reflection, and a prompt to write down your thoughts and insights. 

From Hallow:

Hallow’s annual “Advent Prayer Challenge” is back once again. Beginning Dec. 1, “Pray25: Be Still” features Jonathan Roumie; Chris Pratt; Gwen Stefani; Father John Burns; Mother Natalia; Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT; and Father Pierre Toussaint, CFR. This Advent, listeners are invited to discover deeper stillness amid the chaos of the holiday season, just like the Blessed Mother did that first Christmas. 

Roumie and Heidland will lead reflections on “The Reed of God” by Caryll Houselander, while Pratt will guide sessions on “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. Stefani and Mother Natalia will guide sessions focusing on being still, using the lives of saints as inspiration. Burns will guide listeners through sessions of imaginative prayer and Toussaint will offer homily reflections each Sunday during Advent.

From Blessed Is She:

Blessed Is She has Advent devotionals for the whole family this year — women, men, and children. “In Time: An Advent Devotional for Women” invites readers to reflect on God’s continuous presence in our lives. Written by Claire Dwyer, this devotional helps women see that waiting is filled with God’s loving action. 

“Feast: An Advent Devotional for Men” is written by Paul George, rooted in Scripture, and inspired by the story of the prodigal son. This devotional invites men to return to God the Father with courage, humility, and hope. It also aims to encourage those seeking renewal, healing, and deeper faith during Advent. Both the devotionals for men and women include daily Scripture readings, prayer, and reflection.

Lastly, “Watch and Wait: A Kids Advent Devotional” written by Olivia Spears helps kids prepare for Christmas with daily prayers, reflections, and simple Scripture-based activities. This devotional teaches children to wait with hope and joy as they prepare for the birth of Christ. It is recommended for children older than 7 years old.

The Augustine Institute’s campus in St. Louis. Credit: Courtesy of the Augustine Institute
The Augustine Institute’s campus in St. Louis. Credit: Courtesy of the Augustine Institute

From the Augustine Institute:

The Augustine Institute is inviting Catholics to enter into the Advent season with renewed purpose and joyful expectation with a new video series titled “How To Advent.” 

The video series will consist of four 12- to 15-minute-long episodes that explore the beauty and meaning of Advent traditions in an engaging and meaningful way and highlight a different cherished Advent tradition — the Advent calendar, Advent wreath, Jesse Tree, and Nativity scene. The video series is available on Formed. 

From EWTN’s Religious Catalogue:

The EWTN Religious Catalogue offers a wide variety of Advent devotionals including “Encountering Emmanuel: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation” by Heather Khym, cohost of the “Abiding Together” podcast, and “The True Gifts of Christmas” by Megan Alexander, which takes readers on a journey through the deeper meaning of our most cherished Christmas traditions. (Editor’s note: EWTN is CNA’s parent company.)

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What do we know about the presentation of Mary? #Catholic Alessandro Allori, “The Presentation of Mary,” 1598. / Credit: Public domain National Catholic Register, Nov 21, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA). It’s easy to conceptualize the presentation of the Lord because we find it in Scripture. Luke’s Gospel tells of the Holy Family’s journey to the Temple when Jesus was 8 days old. According to Jewish custom, Jesus was to be circumcised and Mary purified. There Mary and Joseph meet the prophets Anna and Simeon, who recognized the child as the Messiah who would bring about the fall and rise of many and become a sign of contradiction and the cause of a sword that would one day pierce Mary’s heart. We celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord annually on Feb. 2.The presentation of Mary, however, is not found in Scripture. Instead, we learn about Mary’s presentation from accounts that have come to us from apostolic times. What we know is found mainly in Chapter 7 of the “Protoevangelium of James,” which has been dated by historians before the year A.D. 200.The “Protoevangelium of James” was ostensibly written by the apostle of the same name. It gives a detailed account in which Mary’s father, Joachim, tells his wife, Anna, that he wishes to bring their daughter to the Temple and consecrate her to God. Anna responds that they should wait until Mary is 3 years old so that she will not need her parents as much. On the agreed day for Mary to be taken to the Temple, Hebrew virgins accompanied the family with burning lamps. The Temple priest received Mary, kissed her, and blessed her. According to James’ writing, the priest then proclaimed: “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest his redemption to the sons of Israel.” After that, Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and danced with joy. All the House of Israel loved Mary, and she was nurtured from then on in the Temple while her parents returned to their Nazareth home, glorifying God.The celebration of the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew slowly over the years. On Nov. 21, 543, Emperor Justinian dedicated a church to Mary in the Temple area of Jerusalem. Many of the early Church Fathers celebrated this feast day, such as St. Germanus and St. John Damascene. In 1373, it was formally celebrated in Avignon, France, and in 1472, Pope Sixtus IV extended it to the universal Church. The Byzantine Church considers Mary’s Presentation one of the 12 great feasts of the liturgical year.In 1974, Pope Paul VI wrote about this feast in his encyclical Marialis Cultus, saying: “Despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern Churches.”The memorial of the Presentation of Mary has been noted in the Church since its early years and yet is easily forgotten or misunderstood. Since it’s classified as a memorial and not a solemnity or holy day of obligation, it doesn’t draw much attention to itself other than a special opening prayer in the Mass. With this memorial, we celebrate the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a unique way. In response, she placed her whole self at his service. By our baptism, God invites us, too, into his service.But there’s more to celebrating the presentation of Mary. This feast gives us cause for great joy since Mary is truly our mother, given to us by Christ as he hung dying on the cross. Because we are part of her Son’s body, she loves us with as much devotion and tenderness as she loves Jesus. When we celebrate Mary’s presentation, we are giving Mary the honor she deserves and witnessing to her perfect purity as the virgin of Nazareth, the mother of God, and our mother.Sts. Joachim and Anne surrendered their only daughter to God so that she would be completely free to follow his holy will. Although they loved her dearly, they knew that in the Temple Mary would always be near the Holy of Holies, surrounded by an atmosphere of godliness and grace. She would be instructed in Scripture and the history of the Jewish people. She would be under the guardianship and tutelage of the holy women of the Temple who had given their lives to God. One of them, Scripture scholars believe, was Anna — the woman who prophesied at the presentation of Our Lord. In the Temple, Mary would be completely focused on God and well prepared for becoming the mother of the Savior and mother of the body of Christ.When we celebrate the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we remember the tremendous sacrifice Sts. Joachim and Anne made for our sakes. We give honor and respect to the Virgin, who is an example for all of us in our struggle for holiness. It is a privilege and an opportunity to express our gratitude for the gift of a pure, tender, and always-loving mother.This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Nov. 21, 2023, and has been adapted and updated by CNA.
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What do we know about the presentation of Mary? #Catholic Alessandro Allori, “The Presentation of Mary,” 1598. / Credit: Public domain National Catholic Register, Nov 21, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA). It’s easy to conceptualize the presentation of the Lord because we find it in Scripture. Luke’s Gospel tells of the Holy Family’s journey to the Temple when Jesus was 8 days old. According to Jewish custom, Jesus was to be circumcised and Mary purified. There Mary and Joseph meet the prophets Anna and Simeon, who recognized the child as the Messiah who would bring about the fall and rise of many and become a sign of contradiction and the cause of a sword that would one day pierce Mary’s heart. We celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord annually on Feb. 2.The presentation of Mary, however, is not found in Scripture. Instead, we learn about Mary’s presentation from accounts that have come to us from apostolic times. What we know is found mainly in Chapter 7 of the “Protoevangelium of James,” which has been dated by historians before the year A.D. 200.The “Protoevangelium of James” was ostensibly written by the apostle of the same name. It gives a detailed account in which Mary’s father, Joachim, tells his wife, Anna, that he wishes to bring their daughter to the Temple and consecrate her to God. Anna responds that they should wait until Mary is 3 years old so that she will not need her parents as much. On the agreed day for Mary to be taken to the Temple, Hebrew virgins accompanied the family with burning lamps. The Temple priest received Mary, kissed her, and blessed her. According to James’ writing, the priest then proclaimed: “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest his redemption to the sons of Israel.” After that, Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and danced with joy. All the House of Israel loved Mary, and she was nurtured from then on in the Temple while her parents returned to their Nazareth home, glorifying God.The celebration of the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew slowly over the years. On Nov. 21, 543, Emperor Justinian dedicated a church to Mary in the Temple area of Jerusalem. Many of the early Church Fathers celebrated this feast day, such as St. Germanus and St. John Damascene. In 1373, it was formally celebrated in Avignon, France, and in 1472, Pope Sixtus IV extended it to the universal Church. The Byzantine Church considers Mary’s Presentation one of the 12 great feasts of the liturgical year.In 1974, Pope Paul VI wrote about this feast in his encyclical Marialis Cultus, saying: “Despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern Churches.”The memorial of the Presentation of Mary has been noted in the Church since its early years and yet is easily forgotten or misunderstood. Since it’s classified as a memorial and not a solemnity or holy day of obligation, it doesn’t draw much attention to itself other than a special opening prayer in the Mass. With this memorial, we celebrate the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a unique way. In response, she placed her whole self at his service. By our baptism, God invites us, too, into his service.But there’s more to celebrating the presentation of Mary. This feast gives us cause for great joy since Mary is truly our mother, given to us by Christ as he hung dying on the cross. Because we are part of her Son’s body, she loves us with as much devotion and tenderness as she loves Jesus. When we celebrate Mary’s presentation, we are giving Mary the honor she deserves and witnessing to her perfect purity as the virgin of Nazareth, the mother of God, and our mother.Sts. Joachim and Anne surrendered their only daughter to God so that she would be completely free to follow his holy will. Although they loved her dearly, they knew that in the Temple Mary would always be near the Holy of Holies, surrounded by an atmosphere of godliness and grace. She would be instructed in Scripture and the history of the Jewish people. She would be under the guardianship and tutelage of the holy women of the Temple who had given their lives to God. One of them, Scripture scholars believe, was Anna — the woman who prophesied at the presentation of Our Lord. In the Temple, Mary would be completely focused on God and well prepared for becoming the mother of the Savior and mother of the body of Christ.When we celebrate the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we remember the tremendous sacrifice Sts. Joachim and Anne made for our sakes. We give honor and respect to the Virgin, who is an example for all of us in our struggle for holiness. It is a privilege and an opportunity to express our gratitude for the gift of a pure, tender, and always-loving mother.This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Nov. 21, 2023, and has been adapted and updated by CNA.

unitedyam

Alessandro Allori, “The Presentation of Mary,” 1598. / Credit: Public domain

National Catholic Register, Nov 21, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

It’s easy to conceptualize the presentation of the Lord because we find it in Scripture. Luke’s Gospel tells of the Holy Family’s journey to the Temple when Jesus was 8 days old. According to Jewish custom, Jesus was to be circumcised and Mary purified.

There Mary and Joseph meet the prophets Anna and Simeon, who recognized the child as the Messiah who would bring about the fall and rise of many and become a sign of contradiction and the cause of a sword that would one day pierce Mary’s heart. We celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord annually on Feb. 2.

The presentation of Mary, however, is not found in Scripture. Instead, we learn about Mary’s presentation from accounts that have come to us from apostolic times. What we know is found mainly in Chapter 7 of the “Protoevangelium of James,” which has been dated by historians before the year A.D. 200.

The “Protoevangelium of James” was ostensibly written by the apostle of the same name. It gives a detailed account in which Mary’s father, Joachim, tells his wife, Anna, that he wishes to bring their daughter to the Temple and consecrate her to God. Anna responds that they should wait until Mary is 3 years old so that she will not need her parents as much. 

On the agreed day for Mary to be taken to the Temple, Hebrew virgins accompanied the family with burning lamps. The Temple priest received Mary, kissed her, and blessed her. According to James’ writing, the priest then proclaimed: “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest his redemption to the sons of Israel.” 

After that, Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and danced with joy. All the House of Israel loved Mary, and she was nurtured from then on in the Temple while her parents returned to their Nazareth home, glorifying God.

The celebration of the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew slowly over the years. 

On Nov. 21, 543, Emperor Justinian dedicated a church to Mary in the Temple area of Jerusalem. Many of the early Church Fathers celebrated this feast day, such as St. Germanus and St. John Damascene. In 1373, it was formally celebrated in Avignon, France, and in 1472, Pope Sixtus IV extended it to the universal Church. The Byzantine Church considers Mary’s Presentation one of the 12 great feasts of the liturgical year.

In 1974, Pope Paul VI wrote about this feast in his encyclical Marialis Cultus, saying: “Despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern Churches.”

The memorial of the Presentation of Mary has been noted in the Church since its early years and yet is easily forgotten or misunderstood. 

Since it’s classified as a memorial and not a solemnity or holy day of obligation, it doesn’t draw much attention to itself other than a special opening prayer in the Mass. With this memorial, we celebrate the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a unique way. In response, she placed her whole self at his service. By our baptism, God invites us, too, into his service.

But there’s more to celebrating the presentation of Mary. 

This feast gives us cause for great joy since Mary is truly our mother, given to us by Christ as he hung dying on the cross. Because we are part of her Son’s body, she loves us with as much devotion and tenderness as she loves Jesus. When we celebrate Mary’s presentation, we are giving Mary the honor she deserves and witnessing to her perfect purity as the virgin of Nazareth, the mother of God, and our mother.

Sts. Joachim and Anne surrendered their only daughter to God so that she would be completely free to follow his holy will. Although they loved her dearly, they knew that in the Temple Mary would always be near the Holy of Holies, surrounded by an atmosphere of godliness and grace. She would be instructed in Scripture and the history of the Jewish people. She would be under the guardianship and tutelage of the holy women of the Temple who had given their lives to God. One of them, Scripture scholars believe, was Anna — the woman who prophesied at the presentation of Our Lord. In the Temple, Mary would be completely focused on God and well prepared for becoming the mother of the Savior and mother of the body of Christ.

When we celebrate the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we remember the tremendous sacrifice Sts. Joachim and Anne made for our sakes. We give honor and respect to the Virgin, who is an example for all of us in our struggle for holiness. It is a privilege and an opportunity to express our gratitude for the gift of a pure, tender, and always-loving mother.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Nov. 21, 2023, and has been adapted and updated by CNA.

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Bishops discuss faith formation before National Catholic Youth Conference #Catholic Organizers of Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming digital dialogue with young people Nov. 21 at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis speak to the media at the site of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12, 2025. Left to right: Cardinal Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States; Montse Alvarado, president and COO of EWTN News; Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Christina Lamas, executive director of National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry; and Archbishop Charles Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/National Catholic Register Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). Bishops discussed young Catholics’ place in the Church ahead of the National Catholic Youth Conference.At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, bishops spoke about the young generation as many prepare to attend NCYC. The conference will take place Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis for prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers.During NCYC, Pope Leo XIV will hold a digital dialogue with teens from across the nation. “When the pope speaks, he speaks to the world, and this will be a wonderful, wonderful moment. This encounter will engage young people in real time,” said Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia. At a Nov. 12 press conference at the USCCB fall plenary, Pérez said “there is a deep significance to this encounter.” He added: “It reflects the Holy Father’s desire to connect with young people, with our youth, whom his predecessor … Pope Francis, called ‘the now of God.’”Pérez said during his time as a priest and bishop, he has noticed teenagers “want a place in the Church.” He said: “They want to be seen, heard, and valued, which is so beautiful ... They want to be loved by the Church.”“Even in today’s interconnected world, the Church can seem far away from young people. The Holy Father’s choice to encounter the American youth ... is an expression of his closeness to the youth of the world.”“This moment will mark a powerful opportunity for young people to witness the beauty of the universal Church with our Holy Father and to express their concerns, voices, experience, [and] what’s in their hearts,” Pérez said.Bishop Joseph Espaillat, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York, has attended NCYC more than a dozen times. He told CNA “the energy and the vibrancy of the young people” is why he returns each year.“It’s not just the local parish or the local diocese, but it’s the national Church and there’s something powerful when we come together,” Espaillat said.​This year’s event is “the first time ever the Holy Father has a live online interview like this,” at NCYC, Espaillat said. “What I love about it is that the Church in the United States is leading right now. The young people being the focus with our Holy Father is going to be great, and it’s going to produce a lot of positive energy in our Church.”Espaillat encouraged attendees “to be open and allow yourself to be surprised by the Holy Spirit.” He added: “Don’t go in with a preconceived notion. It is a great event in which there are many, many fruits. I’ve seen young people just come to life at the event.”Youth draw closer to the ChurchAs thousands of teenagers plan to gather at the national conference, U.S. bishops further explained why so many young Catholics are looking to the Church. A number of bishops highlighted the Catholic presence on social media is helping to draw them in.Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Massachusetts, told CNA the exponential growth of young Catholics coming to the Church is “amazing and exciting.” Byrne, who served as chair for the USCCB’s committee on communications, detailed how much its online presence has grown its outreach to the young generation and wider population. “Beginning with the illness of our beloved Pope Francis, through the funeral, and then the transition to Pope Leo, we’ve actually had a 226% growth in our social media on the four platforms we use — TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube,” he said.“The amazing thing is, it’s still growing. It means that people are seeing it, sharing it,” Byrne said. He specifically noted it’s the “young people” spreading the message online. “So we see that we are reaching people,” Byrne said. “But our goal is not to get people locked on their phones. Our goal is to get people locked on Jesus Christ and have the impression be Jesus Christ and his bride, the Church.”“This is an exciting time. It’s not without its challenges, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity,” Byrne said. “We’re reaching young people who are curious and hungry. It’s so exciting to see the Church continue to speak to the world, because the Church has never lost her relevance.”The start of the Catholic online presence followed the movement of the new atheists, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said. He told CNA the movement was made up of “people who were really shaping the culture, saying: ‘There’s no purpose of life. We come from nowhere. We go nowhere. There’s no objective moral value.’”“A lot of people, myself included, began to get on social media with a religious voice,” Barron said. “People who had not heard a religious voice or who were disaffiliated … could find people like me and many others who were actually talking about God and about religion.”“But I think as a whole generation came of age, they realized what a desperately sad and empty message that is,” Barron said. “There’s this hunger in the heart for God, and so that just reasserts itself. I think a lot of younger people who were raised on this very vapid philosophy began to look to religion.”As more young Catholics get involved in youth formation whether in their parishes or at larger gatherings like NCYC, Barron said he encourages them to use the opportunities to “build community and build a sense of family with other believers.”Barron, who is the founder of the Catholic media organization Word on Fire, has gained nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers and millions of other followers across social media platforms. But, he said, “one drawback of social media is that it’s a little private world. It can be a lot of people accessing it, but privately.”“Maybe through social media an individual finds a path to religion, but then to look around a room and see thousands of other people that are on a similar path — that’s a great thing,” Barron said.
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Bishops discuss faith formation before National Catholic Youth Conference #Catholic Organizers of Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming digital dialogue with young people Nov. 21 at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis speak to the media at the site of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12, 2025. Left to right: Cardinal Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States; Montse Alvarado, president and COO of EWTN News; Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Christina Lamas, executive director of National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry; and Archbishop Charles Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/National Catholic Register Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). Bishops discussed young Catholics’ place in the Church ahead of the National Catholic Youth Conference.At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, bishops spoke about the young generation as many prepare to attend NCYC. The conference will take place Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis for prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers.During NCYC, Pope Leo XIV will hold a digital dialogue with teens from across the nation. “When the pope speaks, he speaks to the world, and this will be a wonderful, wonderful moment. This encounter will engage young people in real time,” said Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia. At a Nov. 12 press conference at the USCCB fall plenary, Pérez said “there is a deep significance to this encounter.” He added: “It reflects the Holy Father’s desire to connect with young people, with our youth, whom his predecessor … Pope Francis, called ‘the now of God.’”Pérez said during his time as a priest and bishop, he has noticed teenagers “want a place in the Church.” He said: “They want to be seen, heard, and valued, which is so beautiful … They want to be loved by the Church.”“Even in today’s interconnected world, the Church can seem far away from young people. The Holy Father’s choice to encounter the American youth … is an expression of his closeness to the youth of the world.”“This moment will mark a powerful opportunity for young people to witness the beauty of the universal Church with our Holy Father and to express their concerns, voices, experience, [and] what’s in their hearts,” Pérez said.Bishop Joseph Espaillat, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York, has attended NCYC more than a dozen times. He told CNA “the energy and the vibrancy of the young people” is why he returns each year.“It’s not just the local parish or the local diocese, but it’s the national Church and there’s something powerful when we come together,” Espaillat said.​This year’s event is “the first time ever the Holy Father has a live online interview like this,” at NCYC, Espaillat said. “What I love about it is that the Church in the United States is leading right now. The young people being the focus with our Holy Father is going to be great, and it’s going to produce a lot of positive energy in our Church.”Espaillat encouraged attendees “to be open and allow yourself to be surprised by the Holy Spirit.” He added: “Don’t go in with a preconceived notion. It is a great event in which there are many, many fruits. I’ve seen young people just come to life at the event.”Youth draw closer to the ChurchAs thousands of teenagers plan to gather at the national conference, U.S. bishops further explained why so many young Catholics are looking to the Church. A number of bishops highlighted the Catholic presence on social media is helping to draw them in.Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Massachusetts, told CNA the exponential growth of young Catholics coming to the Church is “amazing and exciting.” Byrne, who served as chair for the USCCB’s committee on communications, detailed how much its online presence has grown its outreach to the young generation and wider population. “Beginning with the illness of our beloved Pope Francis, through the funeral, and then the transition to Pope Leo, we’ve actually had a 226% growth in our social media on the four platforms we use — TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube,” he said.“The amazing thing is, it’s still growing. It means that people are seeing it, sharing it,” Byrne said. He specifically noted it’s the “young people” spreading the message online. “So we see that we are reaching people,” Byrne said. “But our goal is not to get people locked on their phones. Our goal is to get people locked on Jesus Christ and have the impression be Jesus Christ and his bride, the Church.”“This is an exciting time. It’s not without its challenges, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity,” Byrne said. “We’re reaching young people who are curious and hungry. It’s so exciting to see the Church continue to speak to the world, because the Church has never lost her relevance.”The start of the Catholic online presence followed the movement of the new atheists, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said. He told CNA the movement was made up of “people who were really shaping the culture, saying: ‘There’s no purpose of life. We come from nowhere. We go nowhere. There’s no objective moral value.’”“A lot of people, myself included, began to get on social media with a religious voice,” Barron said. “People who had not heard a religious voice or who were disaffiliated … could find people like me and many others who were actually talking about God and about religion.”“But I think as a whole generation came of age, they realized what a desperately sad and empty message that is,” Barron said. “There’s this hunger in the heart for God, and so that just reasserts itself. I think a lot of younger people who were raised on this very vapid philosophy began to look to religion.”As more young Catholics get involved in youth formation whether in their parishes or at larger gatherings like NCYC, Barron said he encourages them to use the opportunities to “build community and build a sense of family with other believers.”Barron, who is the founder of the Catholic media organization Word on Fire, has gained nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers and millions of other followers across social media platforms. But, he said, “one drawback of social media is that it’s a little private world. It can be a lot of people accessing it, but privately.”“Maybe through social media an individual finds a path to religion, but then to look around a room and see thousands of other people that are on a similar path — that’s a great thing,” Barron said.

unitedyam

Organizers of Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming digital dialogue with young people Nov. 21 at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis speak to the media at the site of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12, 2025. Left to right: Cardinal Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States; Montse Alvarado, president and COO of EWTN News; Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Christina Lamas, executive director of National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry; and Archbishop Charles Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/National Catholic Register

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Bishops discussed young Catholics’ place in the Church ahead of the National Catholic Youth Conference.

At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, bishops spoke about the young generation as many prepare to attend NCYC. The conference will take place Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis for prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers.

During NCYC, Pope Leo XIV will hold a digital dialogue with teens from across the nation. “When the pope speaks, he speaks to the world, and this will be a wonderful, wonderful moment. This encounter will engage young people in real time,” said Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia. 

At a Nov. 12 press conference at the USCCB fall plenary, Pérez said “there is a deep significance to this encounter.” He added: “It reflects the Holy Father’s desire to connect with young people, with our youth, whom his predecessor … Pope Francis, called ‘the now of God.’”

Pérez said during his time as a priest and bishop, he has noticed teenagers “want a place in the Church.” He said: “They want to be seen, heard, and valued, which is so beautiful … They want to be loved by the Church.”

“Even in today’s interconnected world, the Church can seem far away from young people. The Holy Father’s choice to encounter the American youth … is an expression of his closeness to the youth of the world.”

“This moment will mark a powerful opportunity for young people to witness the beauty of the universal Church with our Holy Father and to express their concerns, voices, experience, [and] what’s in their hearts,” Pérez said.

Bishop Joseph Espaillat, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York, has attended NCYC more than a dozen times. He told CNA “the energy and the vibrancy of the young people” is why he returns each year.

“It’s not just the local parish or the local diocese, but it’s the national Church and there’s something powerful when we come together,” Espaillat said.

​This year’s event is “the first time ever the Holy Father has a live online interview like this,” at NCYC, Espaillat said. “What I love about it is that the Church in the United States is leading right now. The young people being the focus with our Holy Father is going to be great, and it’s going to produce a lot of positive energy in our Church.”

Espaillat encouraged attendees “to be open and allow yourself to be surprised by the Holy Spirit.” He added: “Don’t go in with a preconceived notion. It is a great event in which there are many, many fruits. I’ve seen young people just come to life at the event.”

Youth draw closer to the Church

As thousands of teenagers plan to gather at the national conference, U.S. bishops further explained why so many young Catholics are looking to the Church. A number of bishops highlighted the Catholic presence on social media is helping to draw them in.

Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Massachusetts, told CNA the exponential growth of young Catholics coming to the Church is “amazing and exciting.” Byrne, who served as chair for the USCCB’s committee on communications, detailed how much its online presence has grown its outreach to the young generation and wider population. 

“Beginning with the illness of our beloved Pope Francis, through the funeral, and then the transition to Pope Leo, we’ve actually had a 226% growth in our social media on the four platforms we use — TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube,” he said.

“The amazing thing is, it’s still growing. It means that people are seeing it, sharing it,” Byrne said. He specifically noted it’s the “young people” spreading the message online. 

“So we see that we are reaching people,” Byrne said. “But our goal is not to get people locked on their phones. Our goal is to get people locked on Jesus Christ and have the impression be Jesus Christ and his bride, the Church.”

“This is an exciting time. It’s not without its challenges, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity,” Byrne said. “We’re reaching young people who are curious and hungry. It’s so exciting to see the Church continue to speak to the world, because the Church has never lost her relevance.”

The start of the Catholic online presence followed the movement of the new atheists, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said. He told CNA the movement was made up of “people who were really shaping the culture, saying: ‘There’s no purpose of life. We come from nowhere. We go nowhere. There’s no objective moral value.’”

“A lot of people, myself included, began to get on social media with a religious voice,” Barron said. “People who had not heard a religious voice or who were disaffiliated … could find people like me and many others who were actually talking about God and about religion.”

“But I think as a whole generation came of age, they realized what a desperately sad and empty message that is,” Barron said. “There’s this hunger in the heart for God, and so that just reasserts itself. I think a lot of younger people who were raised on this very vapid philosophy began to look to religion.”

As more young Catholics get involved in youth formation whether in their parishes or at larger gatherings like NCYC, Barron said he encourages them to use the opportunities to “build community and build a sense of family with other believers.”

Barron, who is the founder of the Catholic media organization Word on Fire, has gained nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers and millions of other followers across social media platforms. But, he said, “one drawback of social media is that it’s a little private world. It can be a lot of people accessing it, but privately.”

“Maybe through social media an individual finds a path to religion, but then to look around a room and see thousands of other people that are on a similar path — that’s a great thing,” Barron said.

Read More
DHS blasts order for improvements to migrant facility, says it houses ‘worst of the worst’ #Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Jose María García-Maldonado attempts to visit detainees at the Broadview, Illinois, immigration facility and was not admitted Nov. 1, 2025. / Credit: Bryan Sebastian, courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership Washington, D.C., Nov 7, 2025 / 18:40 pm (CNA). The Trump administration this week denounced a Chicago-based federal judge’s ruling that mandated cleanliness and hygiene standards as well as adequate legal representation at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Illinois.Government lawyers said Nov. 7 they are in compliance or are in the midst of complying with the judge’s conditions. The detainees’ attorneys, however, say they “are doubtful” the government is “actually in compliance” with some of the conditions, “including as to facility cleaning, the provision of food and water, and the provision of prescription medication.” The detainees’ attorneys asked the court to conduct an inspection with an expert and have the government provide immediate proof of compliance.Administration officials said an “activist judge” issued the temporary restraining order and based it on hoaxes, while religious and civil-rights advocates pressed for detainees’ access to the Eucharist. Access to CommunionA group of 19 spiritual leaders including six priests renewed a request to offer pastoral care and Communion at the Broadview facility in a Nov. 6 letter to ICE and asked to discuss “procedures by which our small delegation of religious ministers can be granted access.” The delegation bringing Communion was denied access Nov. 1.Scene from Nov. 1, 2025, Mass outside the Broadview facility near Chicago where immigration advocates allege federal authorities inhumanely treat detainees. Credit: Bryan Sebastian, courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public LeadershipThe judge’s temporary restraining order followed an Oct. 30 lawsuit in which detainees claimed they were placed in unsanitary conditions, provided inadequate food and water, and unconstitutionally deprived of access to legal representation and spiritual care. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said ICE’s Broadview facility houses “criminal illegal aliens” whom it described as “some of the worst of the worst.”“Some of the worst of the worst including pedophiles, gang members, and rapists have been processed through the facility in recent weeks,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant Homeland Security secretary for public affairs, said in a Nov. 5 statement.The list included Jose Manuel Escobar-Cardona, described by DHS as “a criminal illegal alien” from Honduras who was convicted of multiple charges of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, assault, driving under the influence of liquor, making a false report, illegal reentry, and making a false report.Also named by DHS was Alfonso Batalla-Garcia, “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of sex assault, kidnapping an adult to sexually assault, and homicide.”Other detainees named by DHS included migrants who were said to have been convicted of drug trafficking, kidnapping, first-degree murder, and weapons trafficking. Publicly reported individuals detained by ICE in November also included a day care worker at the Rayito De Sol center, a Chicago preschool where the woman was removed in front of children.Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 4 said: “Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now.” Leo invited authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of detainees.He reminded that “Jesus says very clearly … at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked … how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening.”A detainee testified he spent six days at the Broadview ICE facility before Judge Robert Gettleman ordered bedding, three meals a day, free water, hygiene products, papers translated into Spanish, a clock in each hold room, and free phone service for detainees to talk to counsel. Gettleman also ordered DHS to list all detainees on the Locator Online Detainee Locator System of ICE.DHS says facilities such as Broadview are designed to serve only as short-term holding centers, typically for about 12 hours, where individuals are briefly held for processing before being moved to longer-term detention facilities.“Despite hoaxes spread by criminal illegal aliens, the complicit media, and now an activist judge, the ICE Broadview facility does not have subpar conditions,” McLaughlin said. She said detainees receive three meals a day, access to water, and proper medical care.Neither McLaughlin’s statement nor the judge’s order addressed the lawsuit’s claims that Broadview detainees have been unconstitutionally denied access to faith leaders and clergy.McLaughlin wrote on X that “religious organizations have ALWAYS been welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities. Religious leaders may request access to facilities through proper channels and have those requests approved.”McLaughlin also responded to questions from CNA, saying dangerous conditions — including belligerent actions and “attacks,” such as the use of tear gas, by protesters — and Broadview’s status as a short-term “field office” have prevented ICE from accommodating requests by religious organizations seeking access to detainees there.“ICE staff has repeatedly informed religious organizations that, due to Broadview’s status as a field office and the ongoing threat to civilians, detainees, and officers, they are not able to accommodate these requests at this time,” McLaughlin told CNA. “Even before the attacks on the Broadview facility, it was not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out.”Chicago faith leaders wrote to ICE Nov. 7: “We understand that in past years ministers were granted access to the Broadview ICE facility for pastoral purposes. We also note public statements by DHS acknowledging detainees’ rights to chaplaincy and religious resources, while noting that requests for entry may require advance approval.”‘Careful review’Bishop Robert E. Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who serves on the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission, said on X that senior officials in the U.S. government “assured” him that detainees in immigration custody will have access to Catholic sacraments and that the situation is “under careful review.”The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) said in a email Nov. 7: “CLINIC is disturbed by these instances in which the human and constitutional right to religious practice is being restricted. We hope the administration follows up on its ‘careful review’ by rectifying this and taking further action.”Pope Leo’s recent exhortation Dilexi Te says: “The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome. And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”
Read More

DHS blasts order for improvements to migrant facility, says it houses ‘worst of the worst’ #Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Jose María García-Maldonado attempts to visit detainees at the Broadview, Illinois, immigration facility and was not admitted Nov. 1, 2025. / Credit: Bryan Sebastian, courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership Washington, D.C., Nov 7, 2025 / 18:40 pm (CNA). The Trump administration this week denounced a Chicago-based federal judge’s ruling that mandated cleanliness and hygiene standards as well as adequate legal representation at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Illinois.Government lawyers said Nov. 7 they are in compliance or are in the midst of complying with the judge’s conditions. The detainees’ attorneys, however, say they “are doubtful” the government is “actually in compliance” with some of the conditions, “including as to facility cleaning, the provision of food and water, and the provision of prescription medication.” The detainees’ attorneys asked the court to conduct an inspection with an expert and have the government provide immediate proof of compliance.Administration officials said an “activist judge” issued the temporary restraining order and based it on hoaxes, while religious and civil-rights advocates pressed for detainees’ access to the Eucharist. Access to CommunionA group of 19 spiritual leaders including six priests renewed a request to offer pastoral care and Communion at the Broadview facility in a Nov. 6 letter to ICE and asked to discuss “procedures by which our small delegation of religious ministers can be granted access.” The delegation bringing Communion was denied access Nov. 1.Scene from Nov. 1, 2025, Mass outside the Broadview facility near Chicago where immigration advocates allege federal authorities inhumanely treat detainees. Credit: Bryan Sebastian, courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public LeadershipThe judge’s temporary restraining order followed an Oct. 30 lawsuit in which detainees claimed they were placed in unsanitary conditions, provided inadequate food and water, and unconstitutionally deprived of access to legal representation and spiritual care. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said ICE’s Broadview facility houses “criminal illegal aliens” whom it described as “some of the worst of the worst.”“Some of the worst of the worst including pedophiles, gang members, and rapists have been processed through the facility in recent weeks,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant Homeland Security secretary for public affairs, said in a Nov. 5 statement.The list included Jose Manuel Escobar-Cardona, described by DHS as “a criminal illegal alien” from Honduras who was convicted of multiple charges of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, assault, driving under the influence of liquor, making a false report, illegal reentry, and making a false report.Also named by DHS was Alfonso Batalla-Garcia, “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of sex assault, kidnapping an adult to sexually assault, and homicide.”Other detainees named by DHS included migrants who were said to have been convicted of drug trafficking, kidnapping, first-degree murder, and weapons trafficking. Publicly reported individuals detained by ICE in November also included a day care worker at the Rayito De Sol center, a Chicago preschool where the woman was removed in front of children.Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 4 said: “Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now.” Leo invited authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of detainees.He reminded that “Jesus says very clearly … at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked … how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening.”A detainee testified he spent six days at the Broadview ICE facility before Judge Robert Gettleman ordered bedding, three meals a day, free water, hygiene products, papers translated into Spanish, a clock in each hold room, and free phone service for detainees to talk to counsel. Gettleman also ordered DHS to list all detainees on the Locator Online Detainee Locator System of ICE.DHS says facilities such as Broadview are designed to serve only as short-term holding centers, typically for about 12 hours, where individuals are briefly held for processing before being moved to longer-term detention facilities.“Despite hoaxes spread by criminal illegal aliens, the complicit media, and now an activist judge, the ICE Broadview facility does not have subpar conditions,” McLaughlin said. She said detainees receive three meals a day, access to water, and proper medical care.Neither McLaughlin’s statement nor the judge’s order addressed the lawsuit’s claims that Broadview detainees have been unconstitutionally denied access to faith leaders and clergy.McLaughlin wrote on X that “religious organizations have ALWAYS been welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities. Religious leaders may request access to facilities through proper channels and have those requests approved.”McLaughlin also responded to questions from CNA, saying dangerous conditions — including belligerent actions and “attacks,” such as the use of tear gas, by protesters — and Broadview’s status as a short-term “field office” have prevented ICE from accommodating requests by religious organizations seeking access to detainees there.“ICE staff has repeatedly informed religious organizations that, due to Broadview’s status as a field office and the ongoing threat to civilians, detainees, and officers, they are not able to accommodate these requests at this time,” McLaughlin told CNA. “Even before the attacks on the Broadview facility, it was not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out.”Chicago faith leaders wrote to ICE Nov. 7: “We understand that in past years ministers were granted access to the Broadview ICE facility for pastoral purposes. We also note public statements by DHS acknowledging detainees’ rights to chaplaincy and religious resources, while noting that requests for entry may require advance approval.”‘Careful review’Bishop Robert E. Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who serves on the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission, said on X that senior officials in the U.S. government “assured” him that detainees in immigration custody will have access to Catholic sacraments and that the situation is “under careful review.”The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) said in a email Nov. 7: “CLINIC is disturbed by these instances in which the human and constitutional right to religious practice is being restricted. We hope the administration follows up on its ‘careful review’ by rectifying this and taking further action.”Pope Leo’s recent exhortation Dilexi Te says: “The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome. And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”

unitedyam

Auxiliary Bishop Jose María García-Maldonado attempts to visit detainees at the Broadview, Illinois, immigration facility and was not admitted Nov. 1, 2025. / Credit: Bryan Sebastian, courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership

Washington, D.C., Nov 7, 2025 / 18:40 pm (CNA).

The Trump administration this week denounced a Chicago-based federal judge’s ruling that mandated cleanliness and hygiene standards as well as adequate legal representation at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Illinois.

Government lawyers said Nov. 7 they are in compliance or are in the midst of complying with the judge’s conditions. The detainees’ attorneys, however, say they “are doubtful” the government is “actually in compliance” with some of the conditions, “including as to facility cleaning, the provision of food and water, and the provision of prescription medication.” 

The detainees’ attorneys asked the court to conduct an inspection with an expert and have the government provide immediate proof of compliance.

Administration officials said an “activist judge” issued the temporary restraining order and based it on hoaxes, while religious and civil-rights advocates pressed for detainees’ access to the Eucharist. 

Access to Communion

A group of 19 spiritual leaders including six priests renewed a request to offer pastoral care and Communion at the Broadview facility in a Nov. 6 letter to ICE and asked to discuss “procedures by which our small delegation of religious ministers can be granted access.” The delegation bringing Communion was denied access Nov. 1.

Scene from Nov. 1, 2025, Mass outside the Broadview facility near Chicago where immigration advocates allege federal authorities inhumanely treat detainees. Credit: Bryan Sebastian, courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership
Scene from Nov. 1, 2025, Mass outside the Broadview facility near Chicago where immigration advocates allege federal authorities inhumanely treat detainees. Credit: Bryan Sebastian, courtesy of Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership

The judge’s temporary restraining order followed an Oct. 30 lawsuit in which detainees claimed they were placed in unsanitary conditions, provided inadequate food and water, and unconstitutionally deprived of access to legal representation and spiritual care. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said ICE’s Broadview facility houses “criminal illegal aliens” whom it described as “some of the worst of the worst.”

“Some of the worst of the worst including pedophiles, gang members, and rapists have been processed through the facility in recent weeks,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant Homeland Security secretary for public affairs, said in a Nov. 5 statement.

The list included Jose Manuel Escobar-Cardona, described by DHS as “a criminal illegal alien” from Honduras who was convicted of multiple charges of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, assault, driving under the influence of liquor, making a false report, illegal reentry, and making a false report.

Also named by DHS was Alfonso Batalla-Garcia, “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, convicted of sex assault, kidnapping an adult to sexually assault, and homicide.”

Other detainees named by DHS included migrants who were said to have been convicted of drug trafficking, kidnapping, first-degree murder, and weapons trafficking. 

Publicly reported individuals detained by ICE in November also included a day care worker at the Rayito De Sol center, a Chicago preschool where the woman was removed in front of children.

Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 4 said: “Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now.” Leo invited authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of detainees.

He reminded that “Jesus says very clearly … at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked … how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening.”

A detainee testified he spent six days at the Broadview ICE facility before Judge Robert Gettleman ordered bedding, three meals a day, free water, hygiene products, papers translated into Spanish, a clock in each hold room, and free phone service for detainees to talk to counsel. Gettleman also ordered DHS to list all detainees on the Locator Online Detainee Locator System of ICE.

DHS says facilities such as Broadview are designed to serve only as short-term holding centers, typically for about 12 hours, where individuals are briefly held for processing before being moved to longer-term detention facilities.

“Despite hoaxes spread by criminal illegal aliens, the complicit media, and now an activist judge, the ICE Broadview facility does not have subpar conditions,” McLaughlin said. She said detainees receive three meals a day, access to water, and proper medical care.

Neither McLaughlin’s statement nor the judge’s order addressed the lawsuit’s claims that Broadview detainees have been unconstitutionally denied access to faith leaders and clergy.

McLaughlin wrote on X that “religious organizations have ALWAYS been welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities. Religious leaders may request access to facilities through proper channels and have those requests approved.”

McLaughlin also responded to questions from CNA, saying dangerous conditions — including belligerent actions and “attacks,” such as the use of tear gas, by protesters — and Broadview’s status as a short-term “field office” have prevented ICE from accommodating requests by religious organizations seeking access to detainees there.

“ICE staff has repeatedly informed religious organizations that, due to Broadview’s status as a field office and the ongoing threat to civilians, detainees, and officers, they are not able to accommodate these requests at this time,” McLaughlin told CNA. “Even before the attacks on the Broadview facility, it was not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out.”

Chicago faith leaders wrote to ICE Nov. 7: “We understand that in past years ministers were granted access to the Broadview ICE facility for pastoral purposes. We also note public statements by DHS acknowledging detainees’ rights to chaplaincy and religious resources, while noting that requests for entry may require advance approval.”

‘Careful review’

Bishop Robert E. Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who serves on the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission, said on X that senior officials in the U.S. government “assured” him that detainees in immigration custody will have access to Catholic sacraments and that the situation is “under careful review.”

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) said in a email Nov. 7: “CLINIC is disturbed by these instances in which the human and constitutional right to religious practice is being restricted. We hope the administration follows up on its ‘careful review’ by rectifying this and taking further action.”

Pope Leo’s recent exhortation Dilexi Te says: “The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome. And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”

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Catholics mobilize in Caribbean following Category 5 hurricane  #Catholic Residents help move food supplies at a community center before distribution to the Whitehouse community in Westmoreland, Jamaica, one of the areas most severely affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa, on Nov. 2, 2025. / Credit: Ricardo Makyn/AFP via Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 6, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA). Catholic leaders and agencies have mobilized to help communities left devastated after Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica.The Category 5 hurricane swept through the Caribbean with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour and claimed up to 50 lives after making landfall on Oct. 28. Jamaica suffered the largest impact, but neighboring nations also experienced immense effects including flash flooding and landslides.In Jamaica, practically no buildings along the country’s southern coast remain intact. Areas have experienced structural failures, immense roof damage, floods, power outages, and communication disruptions. Families have a long road to recovery after many lost loved ones, property, possessions, and livelihoods.To help communities suffering from Hurricane Melissa’s aftermath, Catholic agencies are on the ground supporting relief efforts and fundraising across the globe to provide aid. Providing aid Dominican friars with St. Martin’s Missions, an initiative that supports communities in Jamaica and Grenada, are working to help communities most affected. Father Bede Mullens, OP, one of the friars working in Jamaica, told CNA they are based in Kingston, “which mercifully was left largely unscathed by the hurricane.”“Nonetheless, some of our poorer parishioners in August Town, an impoverished neighborhood, did lose roofs, walls, and in one case pretty much the whole house,” Mullens said. With the help of donations from across the globe, St. Martin’s will purchase and provide materials for repairs and food.Mullens explained that “after recent panic-buying, some food items are hard to come by, and food prices on the whole are set to go up in the coming months, as the part of the island hardest hit is a major agricultural area.”This Friday, Nov. 7, the friars will distribute 300 meals to students at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, and to several less-well-off parishioners. Mullens said: “We are trying to arrange sponsorship from local benefactors for students in need to receive support for food and personal hygiene items.”Across the island the friars have been able to contact some parishes near Montego Bay, which suffered great damage. “One of the churches is currently operating as a shelter with just half a roof,” Mullens said.The friars have also coordinated provisions of basic building materials and essentials including water and baby food that will be transported to Sacred Heart Church near Montego Bay and St. Agnes Church in Chester Castle.When the roads reopen and the friars are able to make contact with more parishes in other areas, they plan to also assist their rebuilding efforts and support the local community needs.“There is, of course, a massive need for material assistance, but for us it is very important that St. Martin’s bears witness to our worldwide solidarity in the body of Christ,” Mullens said. “We belong to a Church that is at once truly Catholic and truly one, at once global and personal.”Franciscan Friars Charities (FFC), the charitable arm of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, activated the Franciscan Relief Fund to help the people in western Jamaica recover from extensive damage.“The friars in Negril have quickly mobilized to assess the community’s needs after the storm,” FFC said in a statement. “Each day they ground their hearts in faith through morning prayer and daily Mass before heading out into the community to provide vital services.”The friars are serving warm meals daily at St. Anthony Kitchen, a soup kitchen in Negril. They anticipate a significant increase in the number of people coming to the kitchen, expecting approximately 400 to 500 people a day.The friars are cleaning the Revival Health Clinic, which provides basic medical care, and are looking into creating a mobile clinic to visit remote areas. They are also visiting parishioners, many of whom have lost their homes, and providing them with immediate relief including water and food.“Communicating with our friars in Negril has been difficult because there’s no electricity and the cellular services are down,” said Brother Jim Bok, OFM. “There’s just unbelievable destruction. It’s going to take years to recover. A tremendous amount of outside support will be needed to help deal with it.”Organizations respond with action Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, an Illinois-based organization that partners with organizations, hospitals, and clinics around the world, is working directly with Food for the Poor and other organizations transporting and distributing aid.After learning there was an urgent need for diapers, Mission Outreach’s warehouse team mobilized to send out 4,000 it had available. It also shipped out a 40-foot container to Jamaica filled with requested medical supplies and equipment.A number of Catholic relief organizations including Cross Catholic Outreach (CCO) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are fundraising to send food, medicines, and housing supplies to ministry partners in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba.CCO said it is “sending shipments of recovery supplies to the Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor and will airlift medical supplies into Montego Bay when conditions are safe enough to do so.” It is also working to help the Diocese of Mandeville to rebuild St. Theresa Kindergarten, which was destroyed in the storm.CRS is working to help on the ground with “a team of 100 staff in Haiti and local partners in Jamaica and the region,” the organization reported. “CRS and the Catholic Church are committed to walking with families through every phase of recovery — from immediate relief to long-term rebuilding. ”The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs will coordinate with the Catholic Church to distribute million in humanitarian assistance. The funds will go directly to helping those impacted in eastern Cuba by the devastation of Hurricane Melissa.
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Catholics mobilize in Caribbean following Category 5 hurricane  #Catholic Residents help move food supplies at a community center before distribution to the Whitehouse community in Westmoreland, Jamaica, one of the areas most severely affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa, on Nov. 2, 2025. / Credit: Ricardo Makyn/AFP via Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 6, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA). Catholic leaders and agencies have mobilized to help communities left devastated after Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica.The Category 5 hurricane swept through the Caribbean with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour and claimed up to 50 lives after making landfall on Oct. 28. Jamaica suffered the largest impact, but neighboring nations also experienced immense effects including flash flooding and landslides.In Jamaica, practically no buildings along the country’s southern coast remain intact. Areas have experienced structural failures, immense roof damage, floods, power outages, and communication disruptions. Families have a long road to recovery after many lost loved ones, property, possessions, and livelihoods.To help communities suffering from Hurricane Melissa’s aftermath, Catholic agencies are on the ground supporting relief efforts and fundraising across the globe to provide aid. Providing aid Dominican friars with St. Martin’s Missions, an initiative that supports communities in Jamaica and Grenada, are working to help communities most affected. Father Bede Mullens, OP, one of the friars working in Jamaica, told CNA they are based in Kingston, “which mercifully was left largely unscathed by the hurricane.”“Nonetheless, some of our poorer parishioners in August Town, an impoverished neighborhood, did lose roofs, walls, and in one case pretty much the whole house,” Mullens said. With the help of donations from across the globe, St. Martin’s will purchase and provide materials for repairs and food.Mullens explained that “after recent panic-buying, some food items are hard to come by, and food prices on the whole are set to go up in the coming months, as the part of the island hardest hit is a major agricultural area.”This Friday, Nov. 7, the friars will distribute 300 meals to students at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, and to several less-well-off parishioners. Mullens said: “We are trying to arrange sponsorship from local benefactors for students in need to receive support for food and personal hygiene items.”Across the island the friars have been able to contact some parishes near Montego Bay, which suffered great damage. “One of the churches is currently operating as a shelter with just half a roof,” Mullens said.The friars have also coordinated provisions of basic building materials and essentials including water and baby food that will be transported to Sacred Heart Church near Montego Bay and St. Agnes Church in Chester Castle.When the roads reopen and the friars are able to make contact with more parishes in other areas, they plan to also assist their rebuilding efforts and support the local community needs.“There is, of course, a massive need for material assistance, but for us it is very important that St. Martin’s bears witness to our worldwide solidarity in the body of Christ,” Mullens said. “We belong to a Church that is at once truly Catholic and truly one, at once global and personal.”Franciscan Friars Charities (FFC), the charitable arm of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, activated the Franciscan Relief Fund to help the people in western Jamaica recover from extensive damage.“The friars in Negril have quickly mobilized to assess the community’s needs after the storm,” FFC said in a statement. “Each day they ground their hearts in faith through morning prayer and daily Mass before heading out into the community to provide vital services.”The friars are serving warm meals daily at St. Anthony Kitchen, a soup kitchen in Negril. They anticipate a significant increase in the number of people coming to the kitchen, expecting approximately 400 to 500 people a day.The friars are cleaning the Revival Health Clinic, which provides basic medical care, and are looking into creating a mobile clinic to visit remote areas. They are also visiting parishioners, many of whom have lost their homes, and providing them with immediate relief including water and food.“Communicating with our friars in Negril has been difficult because there’s no electricity and the cellular services are down,” said Brother Jim Bok, OFM. “There’s just unbelievable destruction. It’s going to take years to recover. A tremendous amount of outside support will be needed to help deal with it.”Organizations respond with action Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, an Illinois-based organization that partners with organizations, hospitals, and clinics around the world, is working directly with Food for the Poor and other organizations transporting and distributing aid.After learning there was an urgent need for diapers, Mission Outreach’s warehouse team mobilized to send out 4,000 it had available. It also shipped out a 40-foot container to Jamaica filled with requested medical supplies and equipment.A number of Catholic relief organizations including Cross Catholic Outreach (CCO) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are fundraising to send food, medicines, and housing supplies to ministry partners in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba.CCO said it is “sending shipments of recovery supplies to the Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor and will airlift medical supplies into Montego Bay when conditions are safe enough to do so.” It is also working to help the Diocese of Mandeville to rebuild St. Theresa Kindergarten, which was destroyed in the storm.CRS is working to help on the ground with “a team of 100 staff in Haiti and local partners in Jamaica and the region,” the organization reported. “CRS and the Catholic Church are committed to walking with families through every phase of recovery — from immediate relief to long-term rebuilding. ”The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs will coordinate with the Catholic Church to distribute $3 million in humanitarian assistance. The funds will go directly to helping those impacted in eastern Cuba by the devastation of Hurricane Melissa.

unitedyam

Residents help move food supplies at a community center before distribution to the Whitehouse community in Westmoreland, Jamaica, one of the areas most severely affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa, on Nov. 2, 2025. / Credit: Ricardo Makyn/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 6, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders and agencies have mobilized to help communities left devastated after Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica.

The Category 5 hurricane swept through the Caribbean with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour and claimed up to 50 lives after making landfall on Oct. 28. Jamaica suffered the largest impact, but neighboring nations also experienced immense effects including flash flooding and landslides.

In Jamaica, practically no buildings along the country’s southern coast remain intact. Areas have experienced structural failures, immense roof damage, floods, power outages, and communication disruptions. Families have a long road to recovery after many lost loved ones, property, possessions, and livelihoods.

To help communities suffering from Hurricane Melissa’s aftermath, Catholic agencies are on the ground supporting relief efforts and fundraising across the globe to provide aid. 

Providing aid 

Dominican friars with St. Martin’s Missions, an initiative that supports communities in Jamaica and Grenada, are working to help communities most affected. Father Bede Mullens, OP, one of the friars working in Jamaica, told CNA they are based in Kingston, “which mercifully was left largely unscathed by the hurricane.”

“Nonetheless, some of our poorer parishioners in August Town, an impoverished neighborhood, did lose roofs, walls, and in one case pretty much the whole house,” Mullens said. With the help of donations from across the globe, St. Martin’s will purchase and provide materials for repairs and food.

Mullens explained that “after recent panic-buying, some food items are hard to come by, and food prices on the whole are set to go up in the coming months, as the part of the island hardest hit is a major agricultural area.”

This Friday, Nov. 7, the friars will distribute 300 meals to students at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, and to several less-well-off parishioners. Mullens said: “We are trying to arrange sponsorship from local benefactors for students in need to receive support for food and personal hygiene items.”

Across the island the friars have been able to contact some parishes near Montego Bay, which suffered great damage. “One of the churches is currently operating as a shelter with just half a roof,” Mullens said.

The friars have also coordinated provisions of basic building materials and essentials including water and baby food that will be transported to Sacred Heart Church near Montego Bay and St. Agnes Church in Chester Castle.

When the roads reopen and the friars are able to make contact with more parishes in other areas, they plan to also assist their rebuilding efforts and support the local community needs.

“There is, of course, a massive need for material assistance, but for us it is very important that St. Martin’s bears witness to our worldwide solidarity in the body of Christ,” Mullens said. “We belong to a Church that is at once truly Catholic and truly one, at once global and personal.”

Franciscan Friars Charities (FFC), the charitable arm of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, activated the Franciscan Relief Fund to help the people in western Jamaica recover from extensive damage.

“The friars in Negril have quickly mobilized to assess the community’s needs after the storm,” FFC said in a statement. “Each day they ground their hearts in faith through morning prayer and daily Mass before heading out into the community to provide vital services.”

The friars are serving warm meals daily at St. Anthony Kitchen, a soup kitchen in Negril. They anticipate a significant increase in the number of people coming to the kitchen, expecting approximately 400 to 500 people a day.

The friars are cleaning the Revival Health Clinic, which provides basic medical care, and are looking into creating a mobile clinic to visit remote areas. They are also visiting parishioners, many of whom have lost their homes, and providing them with immediate relief including water and food.

“Communicating with our friars in Negril has been difficult because there’s no electricity and the cellular services are down,” said Brother Jim Bok, OFM. “There’s just unbelievable destruction. It’s going to take years to recover. A tremendous amount of outside support will be needed to help deal with it.”

Organizations respond with action 

Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, an Illinois-based organization that partners with organizations, hospitals, and clinics around the world, is working directly with Food for the Poor and other organizations transporting and distributing aid.

After learning there was an urgent need for diapers, Mission Outreach’s warehouse team mobilized to send out 4,000 it had available. It also shipped out a 40-foot container to Jamaica filled with requested medical supplies and equipment.

A number of Catholic relief organizations including Cross Catholic Outreach (CCO) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are fundraising to send food, medicines, and housing supplies to ministry partners in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba.

CCO said it is “sending shipments of recovery supplies to the Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor and will airlift medical supplies into Montego Bay when conditions are safe enough to do so.” It is also working to help the Diocese of Mandeville to rebuild St. Theresa Kindergarten, which was destroyed in the storm.

CRS is working to help on the ground with “a team of 100 staff in Haiti and local partners in Jamaica and the region,” the organization reported. “CRS and the Catholic Church are committed to walking with families through every phase of recovery — from immediate relief to long-term rebuilding. ”

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs will coordinate with the Catholic Church to distribute $3 million in humanitarian assistance. The funds will go directly to helping those impacted in eastern Cuba by the devastation of Hurricane Melissa.

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Amid loneliness crisis, ‘men need a mission,’ Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly says #Catholic Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly (right) speaks at the Symposium on Young American Men, a national conversation on restoring purpose, flourishing, and belonging, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2025. Looking on is Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. / Credit: Matthew H. Barrick CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA). At the Symposium on Young American Men in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus said that young men are “lost” and need “purpose and mission.” The symposium highlighted the mental health crisis, social isolation, digital addiction, and other struggles young men face today.Panelists — including Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; and other experts — discussed ways to address these challenges by helping young men build community. “Many young men are lost and disconnected,” Kelly said in an opening statement at the beginning of the symposium. “Many come from broken families with fathers who are not a real part of their life. Many are drowning in the depths of the internet and social media.”Kelly, who heads the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus, pointed to loneliness and isolation as a challenge for young men. “It’s increasingly clear that millions of men no longer have friends who they can count on and who can spur them on to excellence,” Kelly continued. “More than a quarter of millennials say they have no close friends, and the rise of artificial intelligence has millions of young men looking for friendship in chatbots.”Ellen Carmichael, founder of The Lafayette Company, the communications group hosting the symposium, said there is an “urgent need” for action.“Recent incidents of political violence and growing national concern about young men’s social isolation have underscored what we already knew: This conversation cannot wait,” Carmichael stated. “We are hardwired as men for purpose and mission,” Kelly said, noting that the Knights of Columbus is centered on Christ and service to local communities.  “We are trying to tackle what the surgeon general recently called the epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” Kelly noted. “We’re giving men the kind of community they truly need, and we will continue to help America’s young men find meaning and mission in life.” “We’ve always known that men need meaning in life and that a man’s ultimate meaning comes from his personal relationship with others and with God,” Kelly said. “Friendship is the key,” he said. “Christ did his ministry through friendships … he assembled 12 friends, imperfect people.” In a panel on the role of faith in rebuilding community for men, Kelly said young men “have had enough” of what the culture offers them and “are really yearning for more of an institution and yearning for moorings.” He noted that the Knights of Columbus have been bringing in a growing number of men over the past few years and that after an era of relativism, there has been a “swing back” among young men toward tradition. In a change from previous generations, he said, young men are drawn to ritual. “The areas they’re searching leave them empty,” Kelly said, so “they turn to God.”
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Amid loneliness crisis, ‘men need a mission,’ Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly says #Catholic Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly (right) speaks at the Symposium on Young American Men, a national conversation on restoring purpose, flourishing, and belonging, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2025. Looking on is Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. / Credit: Matthew H. Barrick CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA). At the Symposium on Young American Men in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus said that young men are “lost” and need “purpose and mission.” The symposium highlighted the mental health crisis, social isolation, digital addiction, and other struggles young men face today.Panelists — including Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; and other experts — discussed ways to address these challenges by helping young men build community. “Many young men are lost and disconnected,” Kelly said in an opening statement at the beginning of the symposium. “Many come from broken families with fathers who are not a real part of their life. Many are drowning in the depths of the internet and social media.”Kelly, who heads the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus, pointed to loneliness and isolation as a challenge for young men. “It’s increasingly clear that millions of men no longer have friends who they can count on and who can spur them on to excellence,” Kelly continued. “More than a quarter of millennials say they have no close friends, and the rise of artificial intelligence has millions of young men looking for friendship in chatbots.”Ellen Carmichael, founder of The Lafayette Company, the communications group hosting the symposium, said there is an “urgent need” for action.“Recent incidents of political violence and growing national concern about young men’s social isolation have underscored what we already knew: This conversation cannot wait,” Carmichael stated. “We are hardwired as men for purpose and mission,” Kelly said, noting that the Knights of Columbus is centered on Christ and service to local communities.  “We are trying to tackle what the surgeon general recently called the epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” Kelly noted. “We’re giving men the kind of community they truly need, and we will continue to help America’s young men find meaning and mission in life.” “We’ve always known that men need meaning in life and that a man’s ultimate meaning comes from his personal relationship with others and with God,” Kelly said. “Friendship is the key,” he said. “Christ did his ministry through friendships … he assembled 12 friends, imperfect people.” In a panel on the role of faith in rebuilding community for men, Kelly said young men “have had enough” of what the culture offers them and “are really yearning for more of an institution and yearning for moorings.” He noted that the Knights of Columbus have been bringing in a growing number of men over the past few years and that after an era of relativism, there has been a “swing back” among young men toward tradition. In a change from previous generations, he said, young men are drawn to ritual. “The areas they’re searching leave them empty,” Kelly said, so “they turn to God.”

unitedyam

Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly (right) speaks at the Symposium on Young American Men, a national conversation on restoring purpose, flourishing, and belonging, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2025. Looking on is Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. / Credit: Matthew H. Barrick

CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

At the Symposium on Young American Men in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus said that young men are “lost” and need “purpose and mission.” 

The symposium highlighted the mental health crisis, social isolation, digital addiction, and other struggles young men face today.

Panelists — including Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; and other experts — discussed ways to address these challenges by helping young men build community. 

“Many young men are lost and disconnected,” Kelly said in an opening statement at the beginning of the symposium. “Many come from broken families with fathers who are not a real part of their life. Many are drowning in the depths of the internet and social media.”

Kelly, who heads the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus, pointed to loneliness and isolation as a challenge for young men. 

“It’s increasingly clear that millions of men no longer have friends who they can count on and who can spur them on to excellence,” Kelly continued. “More than a quarter of millennials say they have no close friends, and the rise of artificial intelligence has millions of young men looking for friendship in chatbots.”

Ellen Carmichael, founder of The Lafayette Company, the communications group hosting the symposium, said there is an “urgent need” for action.

“Recent incidents of political violence and growing national concern about young men’s social isolation have underscored what we already knew: This conversation cannot wait,” Carmichael stated. 

“We are hardwired as men for purpose and mission,” Kelly said, noting that the Knights of Columbus is centered on Christ and service to local communities.  

“We are trying to tackle what the surgeon general recently called the epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” Kelly noted. “We’re giving men the kind of community they truly need, and we will continue to help America’s young men find meaning and mission in life.” 

“We’ve always known that men need meaning in life and that a man’s ultimate meaning comes from his personal relationship with others and with God,” Kelly said. 

“Friendship is the key,” he said. “Christ did his ministry through friendships … he assembled 12 friends, imperfect people.” 

In a panel on the role of faith in rebuilding community for men, Kelly said young men “have had enough” of what the culture offers them and “are really yearning for more of an institution and yearning for moorings.” 

He noted that the Knights of Columbus have been bringing in a growing number of men over the past few years and that after an era of relativism, there has been a “swing back” among young men toward tradition. 

In a change from previous generations, he said, young men are drawn to ritual. 

“The areas they’re searching leave them empty,” Kelly said, so “they turn to God.”

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Preparing for death with the Sister Servants of Mary #Catholic The Sister Servants of Mary hold a procession with the statue of Our Lady of the Assumption at Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). When a 93-year-old Catholic father from New Orleans had a stroke, he knew he was prepared to die.Clinton Jacob attended adoration and Mass daily and was “rarely without a prayer book or rosary in hand,” according to his daughter, Kim DeSopo.“[He] never spoke of death with fear or sadness,” she told CNA. “He would simply say, ‘I’ll be going home.’”But not everyone feels prepared for death.The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, is a Catholic community of sisters who dedicate their lives to caring for the sick and dying in New Orleans and around the world. As nurses, they are at the bedside of the dying through the long nights, whether their patients are lifelong Catholics or have never thought about religion.The sisters often encounter patients as well as family members who are struggling to accept “an illness or imminent death,” Sister Catherine Bussen, a Servant of Mary, told CNA.“Many times, there is a need for reconciliation within the family, for a return to their faith, for acceptance of their condition, etc.,” Bussen said.As medical professionals, the sisters provide physical treatment, but they also walk with their patients throughout their illnesses, encouraging patients and families “always with the hope of eternal life,” Bussen said. DeSopo, Jacob’s daughter, called the sisters for support. The next day, Bussen arrived at their doorstep, and every night for two weeks, she sat at Jacob’s bedside. Bussen’s presence was “a gift,” DeSopo said. “Sister Catherine brought peace and calm into a time filled with stress and sorrow.”“Her prayers, patience, and care provided comfort not only to my father but also to my mother, who could finally sleep knowing someone trustworthy and compassionate was by his side,” DeSopo said, recalling Bussen’s “selfless dedication” and “unwavering faith.” Bussen was with Jacob when he died on Sept. 26, 2024. She prepared his body, cleaning him and sprinkling him with holy water, and then prayed with his wife and daughter.“I will never forget the care and dignity she gave him, even after his final breath,” DeSopo said.Sister Catherine (left) and Sister Dorian Salvador (right) pray for the soul of Kim DeSopa’s father on Oct. 1, 2024, at St. Clement of Rome Church in Metairie, Louisiana. Credit: Photo courtesy of Kim DeSopa and Sister CatherineMary at the foot of the cross “I was sick and you visited me.”This Scripture verse, Matthew 25:36, summarizes the charism of the Servants of Mary, according to Bussen. When they care for the sick, they care for Christ.The sisters will care for anyone in need, preferably within the sick person’s own home. In those who are suffering, the sisters “discover Jesus carrying his cross,” Bussen explained. “By caring for the sick, we believe that we are caring for Christ himself, who still suffers today in the suffering mystical body of Christ,” she said.Sister Angélica Ramos cares for Mrs. Hura, a resident of Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the SickFounded in Madrid, Spain, in the 1800s, the sisters care for the sick and dying in Louisiana, Kansas, and California as well as throughout Central and South America, Spain, France, England, Italy, Cameroon, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They run a hospital for the poor in Bamenda, Cameroon, as well as two missionary houses in Oaxaca, Mexico.The sisters look to Mary as an example as they accompany those who are suffering.“Although we are not able to take away someone’s cross, we are present to them, offering all to the Father, like Mary did at the cross of Jesus, that all suffering may be redemptive and fruitful,” Bussen said.“Every one of us sisters would tell you that it is an absolute privilege to be able to enter into the intimacy of a family’s home, listening to the dying, praying with them, and encouraging them on the final stage of their journey as their soul passes into eternity,” she said.Sister Servants of Mary Fatima Muñoz and Carmela Sanz (front) celebrate a May crowning in Kansas City, Kansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick“Our Catholic Christian faith is a beautiful comfort during these times because it is all about looking forward to the promised life to come, the whole goal of our lives, eternal life,” Bussen said.One woman from New Orleans received news no one wants to hear — she had a terminal illness. Though she was not religious, she knew she needed help and did not know who else to turn to, so she called the Servants of Mary.As they cared for her and helped her deal with her terminal diagnosis, the sisters learned the woman was “completely alone in the world,” said Bussen, who took care of her. Other people from the surrounding Catholic community volunteered to stay with her.During that time, the woman found a home in the Catholic Church and received the sacrament of baptism.Her “anxiety was transformed into peace,” said Bussen, who was with her as she died.“As the end drew near, she had a new faith family,” Bussen said. “She was no longer alone.”Remembering the dead The life of a sister Servant of Mary is “contemplative in action.” The sisters unite “our prayer life with our work — going about what we are doing, in all the business of daily life, in a prayerful spirit,” Bussen said.The sisters have time set aside for prayer and work, “but these two aspects cannot be separated from one another,” she continued. “The grace and light received in prayer flows into our work and ministry, and everything we experience in our ministry is taken to prayer.”The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick care for the sick and the dying. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the SickThroughout the year, the sisters take special care to remember the dead. In November especially, Bussen said the sisters “remember all our patients who have died with us by placing their names in our chapel and offering Masses for their eternal happiness.”“Even after a patient has passed,” she said, “and they no longer need physical care, our ministry continues by praying for their soul.”
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Preparing for death with the Sister Servants of Mary #Catholic The Sister Servants of Mary hold a procession with the statue of Our Lady of the Assumption at Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). When a 93-year-old Catholic father from New Orleans had a stroke, he knew he was prepared to die.Clinton Jacob attended adoration and Mass daily and was “rarely without a prayer book or rosary in hand,” according to his daughter, Kim DeSopo.“[He] never spoke of death with fear or sadness,” she told CNA. “He would simply say, ‘I’ll be going home.’”But not everyone feels prepared for death.The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, is a Catholic community of sisters who dedicate their lives to caring for the sick and dying in New Orleans and around the world. As nurses, they are at the bedside of the dying through the long nights, whether their patients are lifelong Catholics or have never thought about religion.The sisters often encounter patients as well as family members who are struggling to accept “an illness or imminent death,” Sister Catherine Bussen, a Servant of Mary, told CNA.“Many times, there is a need for reconciliation within the family, for a return to their faith, for acceptance of their condition, etc.,” Bussen said.As medical professionals, the sisters provide physical treatment, but they also walk with their patients throughout their illnesses, encouraging patients and families “always with the hope of eternal life,” Bussen said. DeSopo, Jacob’s daughter, called the sisters for support. The next day, Bussen arrived at their doorstep, and every night for two weeks, she sat at Jacob’s bedside. Bussen’s presence was “a gift,” DeSopo said. “Sister Catherine brought peace and calm into a time filled with stress and sorrow.”“Her prayers, patience, and care provided comfort not only to my father but also to my mother, who could finally sleep knowing someone trustworthy and compassionate was by his side,” DeSopo said, recalling Bussen’s “selfless dedication” and “unwavering faith.” Bussen was with Jacob when he died on Sept. 26, 2024. She prepared his body, cleaning him and sprinkling him with holy water, and then prayed with his wife and daughter.“I will never forget the care and dignity she gave him, even after his final breath,” DeSopo said.Sister Catherine (left) and Sister Dorian Salvador (right) pray for the soul of Kim DeSopa’s father on Oct. 1, 2024, at St. Clement of Rome Church in Metairie, Louisiana. Credit: Photo courtesy of Kim DeSopa and Sister CatherineMary at the foot of the cross “I was sick and you visited me.”This Scripture verse, Matthew 25:36, summarizes the charism of the Servants of Mary, according to Bussen. When they care for the sick, they care for Christ.The sisters will care for anyone in need, preferably within the sick person’s own home. In those who are suffering, the sisters “discover Jesus carrying his cross,” Bussen explained. “By caring for the sick, we believe that we are caring for Christ himself, who still suffers today in the suffering mystical body of Christ,” she said.Sister Angélica Ramos cares for Mrs. Hura, a resident of Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the SickFounded in Madrid, Spain, in the 1800s, the sisters care for the sick and dying in Louisiana, Kansas, and California as well as throughout Central and South America, Spain, France, England, Italy, Cameroon, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They run a hospital for the poor in Bamenda, Cameroon, as well as two missionary houses in Oaxaca, Mexico.The sisters look to Mary as an example as they accompany those who are suffering.“Although we are not able to take away someone’s cross, we are present to them, offering all to the Father, like Mary did at the cross of Jesus, that all suffering may be redemptive and fruitful,” Bussen said.“Every one of us sisters would tell you that it is an absolute privilege to be able to enter into the intimacy of a family’s home, listening to the dying, praying with them, and encouraging them on the final stage of their journey as their soul passes into eternity,” she said.Sister Servants of Mary Fatima Muñoz and Carmela Sanz (front) celebrate a May crowning in Kansas City, Kansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick“Our Catholic Christian faith is a beautiful comfort during these times because it is all about looking forward to the promised life to come, the whole goal of our lives, eternal life,” Bussen said.One woman from New Orleans received news no one wants to hear — she had a terminal illness. Though she was not religious, she knew she needed help and did not know who else to turn to, so she called the Servants of Mary.As they cared for her and helped her deal with her terminal diagnosis, the sisters learned the woman was “completely alone in the world,” said Bussen, who took care of her. Other people from the surrounding Catholic community volunteered to stay with her.During that time, the woman found a home in the Catholic Church and received the sacrament of baptism.Her “anxiety was transformed into peace,” said Bussen, who was with her as she died.“As the end drew near, she had a new faith family,” Bussen said. “She was no longer alone.”Remembering the dead The life of a sister Servant of Mary is “contemplative in action.” The sisters unite “our prayer life with our work — going about what we are doing, in all the business of daily life, in a prayerful spirit,” Bussen said.The sisters have time set aside for prayer and work, “but these two aspects cannot be separated from one another,” she continued. “The grace and light received in prayer flows into our work and ministry, and everything we experience in our ministry is taken to prayer.”The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick care for the sick and the dying. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the SickThroughout the year, the sisters take special care to remember the dead. In November especially, Bussen said the sisters “remember all our patients who have died with us by placing their names in our chapel and offering Masses for their eternal happiness.”“Even after a patient has passed,” she said, “and they no longer need physical care, our ministry continues by praying for their soul.”

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The Sister Servants of Mary hold a procession with the statue of Our Lady of the Assumption at Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick

CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When a 93-year-old Catholic father from New Orleans had a stroke, he knew he was prepared to die.

Clinton Jacob attended adoration and Mass daily and was “rarely without a prayer book or rosary in hand,” according to his daughter, Kim DeSopo.

“[He] never spoke of death with fear or sadness,” she told CNA. “He would simply say, ‘I’ll be going home.’”

But not everyone feels prepared for death.

The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, is a Catholic community of sisters who dedicate their lives to caring for the sick and dying in New Orleans and around the world. As nurses, they are at the bedside of the dying through the long nights, whether their patients are lifelong Catholics or have never thought about religion.

The sisters often encounter patients as well as family members who are struggling to accept “an illness or imminent death,” Sister Catherine Bussen, a Servant of Mary, told CNA.

“Many times, there is a need for reconciliation within the family, for a return to their faith, for acceptance of their condition, etc.,” Bussen said.

As medical professionals, the sisters provide physical treatment, but they also walk with their patients throughout their illnesses, encouraging patients and families “always with the hope of eternal life,” Bussen said. 

DeSopo, Jacob’s daughter, called the sisters for support. The next day, Bussen arrived at their doorstep, and every night for two weeks, she sat at Jacob’s bedside. 

Bussen’s presence was “a gift,” DeSopo said. “Sister Catherine brought peace and calm into a time filled with stress and sorrow.”

“Her prayers, patience, and care provided comfort not only to my father but also to my mother, who could finally sleep knowing someone trustworthy and compassionate was by his side,” DeSopo said, recalling Bussen’s “selfless dedication” and “unwavering faith.” 

Bussen was with Jacob when he died on Sept. 26, 2024. She prepared his body, cleaning him and sprinkling him with holy water, and then prayed with his wife and daughter.

“I will never forget the care and dignity she gave him, even after his final breath,” DeSopo said.

Sister Catherine (left) and Sister Dorian Salvador (right) pray for the soul of Kim DeSopa’s father on Oct. 1, 2024, at St. Clement of Rome Church in Metairie, Louisiana. Credit: Photo courtesy of Kim DeSopa and Sister Catherine
Sister Catherine (left) and Sister Dorian Salvador (right) pray for the soul of Kim DeSopa’s father on Oct. 1, 2024, at St. Clement of Rome Church in Metairie, Louisiana. Credit: Photo courtesy of Kim DeSopa and Sister Catherine

Mary at the foot of the cross 

“I was sick and you visited me.”

This Scripture verse, Matthew 25:36, summarizes the charism of the Servants of Mary, according to Bussen. 

When they care for the sick, they care for Christ.

The sisters will care for anyone in need, preferably within the sick person’s own home. In those who are suffering, the sisters “discover Jesus carrying his cross,” Bussen explained. 

“By caring for the sick, we believe that we are caring for Christ himself, who still suffers today in the suffering mystical body of Christ,” she said.

Sister Angélica Ramos cares for Mrs. Hura, a resident of Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick
Sister Angélica Ramos cares for Mrs. Hura, a resident of Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick

Founded in Madrid, Spain, in the 1800s, the sisters care for the sick and dying in Louisiana, Kansas, and California as well as throughout Central and South America, Spain, France, England, Italy, Cameroon, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They run a hospital for the poor in Bamenda, Cameroon, as well as two missionary houses in Oaxaca, Mexico.

The sisters look to Mary as an example as they accompany those who are suffering.

“Although we are not able to take away someone’s cross, we are present to them, offering all to the Father, like Mary did at the cross of Jesus, that all suffering may be redemptive and fruitful,” Bussen said.

“Every one of us sisters would tell you that it is an absolute privilege to be able to enter into the intimacy of a family’s home, listening to the dying, praying with them, and encouraging them on the final stage of their journey as their soul passes into eternity,” she said.

Sister Servants of Mary Fatima Muñoz and Carmela Sanz (front) celebrate a May crowning in Kansas City, Kansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick
Sister Servants of Mary Fatima Muñoz and Carmela Sanz (front) celebrate a May crowning in Kansas City, Kansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick

“Our Catholic Christian faith is a beautiful comfort during these times because it is all about looking forward to the promised life to come, the whole goal of our lives, eternal life,” Bussen said.

One woman from New Orleans received news no one wants to hear — she had a terminal illness. Though she was not religious, she knew she needed help and did not know who else to turn to, so she called the Servants of Mary.

As they cared for her and helped her deal with her terminal diagnosis, the sisters learned the woman was “completely alone in the world,” said Bussen, who took care of her. Other people from the surrounding Catholic community volunteered to stay with her.

During that time, the woman found a home in the Catholic Church and received the sacrament of baptism.

Her “anxiety was transformed into peace,” said Bussen, who was with her as she died.

“As the end drew near, she had a new faith family,” Bussen said. “She was no longer alone.”

Remembering the dead 

The life of a sister Servant of Mary is “contemplative in action.” 

The sisters unite “our prayer life with our work — going about what we are doing, in all the business of daily life, in a prayerful spirit,” Bussen said.

The sisters have time set aside for prayer and work, “but these two aspects cannot be separated from one another,” she continued. “The grace and light received in prayer flows into our work and ministry, and everything we experience in our ministry is taken to prayer.”

The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick care for the sick and the dying. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick
The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick care for the sick and the dying. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick

Throughout the year, the sisters take special care to remember the dead. 

In November especially, Bussen said the sisters “remember all our patients who have died with us by placing their names in our chapel and offering Masses for their eternal happiness.”

“Even after a patient has passed,” she said, “and they no longer need physical care, our ministry continues by praying for their soul.”

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10,000 pro-lifers join LIFE Runners annual relay across the U.S. #Catholic Finish line of the A-Cross America Relay, hosted by Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners. CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2025 / 05:55 am (CNA). A pro-life relay with more than 10,000 participants came to a joyful conclusion in Kansas last Saturday after runners made the shape of a cross as they ran across the U.S.The 5,124 mile “A-Cross America Relay,” organized by pro-life group LIFE Runners, kicked off in September in four cities around the country and ended at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas on Oct. 25.The starting points were San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; Austin, Texas; and Fargo, North Dakota, but participants around the world also joined to witness to life in their own nations. The San Francisco kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay began at Star of the Sea Church with students from Stella Maris Academy. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.With more than 25,000  “teammates” in nearly 4,000 cities across 50 countries, LIFE Runners aim to raise awareness for unborn children during their annual relay. Patrick Castle, president and founder of LIFE Runners, spoke with CNA about what inspires participants to run for the unborn.  CNA: What inspires the mission of LIFE Runners? Castle: LIFE Runners is inspired by the obvious responsibility of Christians to reach the youth, pregnant mothers, fathers, and influencers with God's love and the truth that abortion isn't a solution to anything, it is the greatest problem, the greatest evil by definition, by the numbers. Abortion claims more American lives in one year than all combat casualties in the history of America.  With the 250th anniversary of our country next year, may we reflect on who we are as Americans and as Christians. We are people who stand for God and His gifts of life and liberty. Amen!How does the relay help raise awareness for the unborn?Castle: The LIFE Runners A-Cross America Relay helps raise awareness for the unborn through our public witness [of] wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts.  Eighty-two percent of post-abortion mothers said if they had encountered one supportive person or encouraging message, they would have chosen life. For example, two mothers saw our “REMEMBER The Unborn” witness outside of the Omaha Planned Parenthood, asked for help, and chose life. New York City kickoff for the A-Cross America Relay. Participants prayed and then walked with the big “REMEMBER The Unborn” banner to the Father Francis Duffy statue in Times Square. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.Thousands of people witnessed thousands of LIFE Runners wearing "REMEMBER The Unborn" shirts across America and around the world during the 5,124 mile relay that made a cross over America.  With access to abortion in the mail and across state lines, LIFE Runners wear life-saving messages everywhere to inspire a culture of life at work, school, walking, running, grocery store; everywhere! What stood out to you from the finish line relay at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas? Castle: I am so encouraged by the authentic, Catholic, pro-life identity of Benedictine College … While running up the hill, students invited other students to join us, like a scene out of the "Rocky" movie when the local community joined him on a training run. The last mile ended on the main campus drive with President [Stephen] Minnis leading a large crowd with cheering. The finish was immediately followed by a beautiful prayer from Archbishop [Joseph]Naumann.What is the significance of having a national relay across the United States? Castle: The significance of having a relay that makes a cross over America is unity. [The relay] connects everyone in a pro-God way, allowing faith and light to overcome the darkness to end abortion — all in Christ for pro-life! Teammates in other countries adopt segments, knowing that America can and should lead the way in ending abortion around the world.  The relay is an inspiring light for the world. The cross is the greatest symbol of love, bringing hope that life will prevail!The North arm kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU Newman Center students helped launch the north arm with a 2.7 mile prayerful witness walk. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
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10,000 pro-lifers join LIFE Runners annual relay across the U.S. #Catholic Finish line of the A-Cross America Relay, hosted by Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners. CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2025 / 05:55 am (CNA). A pro-life relay with more than 10,000 participants came to a joyful conclusion in Kansas last Saturday after runners made the shape of a cross as they ran across the U.S.The 5,124 mile “A-Cross America Relay,” organized by pro-life group LIFE Runners, kicked off in September in four cities around the country and ended at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas on Oct. 25.The starting points were San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; Austin, Texas; and Fargo, North Dakota, but participants around the world also joined to witness to life in their own nations. The San Francisco kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay began at Star of the Sea Church with students from Stella Maris Academy. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.With more than 25,000  “teammates” in nearly 4,000 cities across 50 countries, LIFE Runners aim to raise awareness for unborn children during their annual relay. Patrick Castle, president and founder of LIFE Runners, spoke with CNA about what inspires participants to run for the unborn.  CNA: What inspires the mission of LIFE Runners? Castle: LIFE Runners is inspired by the obvious responsibility of Christians to reach the youth, pregnant mothers, fathers, and influencers with God’s love and the truth that abortion isn’t a solution to anything, it is the greatest problem, the greatest evil by definition, by the numbers. Abortion claims more American lives in one year than all combat casualties in the history of America.  With the 250th anniversary of our country next year, may we reflect on who we are as Americans and as Christians. We are people who stand for God and His gifts of life and liberty. Amen!How does the relay help raise awareness for the unborn?Castle: The LIFE Runners A-Cross America Relay helps raise awareness for the unborn through our public witness [of] wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts.  Eighty-two percent of post-abortion mothers said if they had encountered one supportive person or encouraging message, they would have chosen life. For example, two mothers saw our “REMEMBER The Unborn” witness outside of the Omaha Planned Parenthood, asked for help, and chose life. New York City kickoff for the A-Cross America Relay. Participants prayed and then walked with the big “REMEMBER The Unborn” banner to the Father Francis Duffy statue in Times Square. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.Thousands of people witnessed thousands of LIFE Runners wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts across America and around the world during the 5,124 mile relay that made a cross over America.  With access to abortion in the mail and across state lines, LIFE Runners wear life-saving messages everywhere to inspire a culture of life at work, school, walking, running, grocery store; everywhere! What stood out to you from the finish line relay at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas? Castle: I am so encouraged by the authentic, Catholic, pro-life identity of Benedictine College … While running up the hill, students invited other students to join us, like a scene out of the “Rocky” movie when the local community joined him on a training run. The last mile ended on the main campus drive with President [Stephen] Minnis leading a large crowd with cheering. The finish was immediately followed by a beautiful prayer from Archbishop [Joseph]Naumann.What is the significance of having a national relay across the United States? Castle: The significance of having a relay that makes a cross over America is unity. [The relay] connects everyone in a pro-God way, allowing faith and light to overcome the darkness to end abortion — all in Christ for pro-life! Teammates in other countries adopt segments, knowing that America can and should lead the way in ending abortion around the world.  The relay is an inspiring light for the world. The cross is the greatest symbol of love, bringing hope that life will prevail!The North arm kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU Newman Center students helped launch the north arm with a 2.7 mile prayerful witness walk. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.

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Finish line of the A-Cross America Relay, hosted by Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.

CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2025 / 05:55 am (CNA).

A pro-life relay with more than 10,000 participants came to a joyful conclusion in Kansas last Saturday after runners made the shape of a cross as they ran across the U.S.

The 5,124 mile “A-Cross America Relay,” organized by pro-life group LIFE Runners, kicked off in September in four cities around the country and ended at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas on Oct. 25.

The starting points were San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; Austin, Texas; and Fargo, North Dakota, but participants around the world also joined to witness to life in their own nations. 

The San Francisco kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay began at Star of the Sea Church with students from Stella Maris Academy. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
The San Francisco kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay began at Star of the Sea Church with students from Stella Maris Academy. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.

With more than 25,000  “teammates” in nearly 4,000 cities across 50 countries, LIFE Runners aim to raise awareness for unborn children during their annual relay.

Patrick Castle, president and founder of LIFE Runners, spoke with CNA about what inspires participants to run for the unborn.  

CNA: What inspires the mission of LIFE Runners? 

Castle: LIFE Runners is inspired by the obvious responsibility of Christians to reach the youth, pregnant mothers, fathers, and influencers with God’s love and the truth that abortion isn’t a solution to anything, it is the greatest problem, the greatest evil by definition, by the numbers. 

Abortion claims more American lives in one year than all combat casualties in the history of America.  With the 250th anniversary of our country next year, may we reflect on who we are as Americans and as Christians. 

We are people who stand for God and His gifts of life and liberty. Amen!

How does the relay help raise awareness for the unborn?

Castle: The LIFE Runners A-Cross America Relay helps raise awareness for the unborn through our public witness [of] wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts.  

Eighty-two percent of post-abortion mothers said if they had encountered one supportive person or encouraging message, they would have chosen life. 

For example, two mothers saw our “REMEMBER The Unborn” witness outside of the Omaha Planned Parenthood, asked for help, and chose life. 

New York City kickoff for the A-Cross America Relay. Participants prayed and then walked with the big “REMEMBER The Unborn” banner to the Father Francis Duffy statue in Times Square. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
New York City kickoff for the A-Cross America Relay. Participants prayed and then walked with the big “REMEMBER The Unborn” banner to the Father Francis Duffy statue in Times Square. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.

Thousands of people witnessed thousands of LIFE Runners wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts across America and around the world during the 5,124 mile relay that made a cross over America.  

With access to abortion in the mail and across state lines, LIFE Runners wear life-saving messages everywhere to inspire a culture of life at work, school, walking, running, grocery store; everywhere! 

What stood out to you from the finish line relay at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas? 

Castle: I am so encouraged by the authentic, Catholic, pro-life identity of Benedictine College … While running up the hill, students invited other students to join us, like a scene out of the “Rocky” movie when the local community joined him on a training run. 

The last mile ended on the main campus drive with President [Stephen] Minnis leading a large crowd with cheering. The finish was immediately followed by a beautiful prayer from Archbishop [Joseph]Naumann.

What is the significance of having a national relay across the United States? 

Castle: The significance of having a relay that makes a cross over America is unity. [The relay] connects everyone in a pro-God way, allowing faith and light to overcome the darkness to end abortion — all in Christ for pro-life! 

Teammates in other countries adopt segments, knowing that America can and should lead the way in ending abortion around the world.  

The relay is an inspiring light for the world. The cross is the greatest symbol of love, bringing hope that life will prevail!

The North arm kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU Newman Center students helped launch the north arm with a 2.7 mile prayerful witness walk. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
The North arm kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU Newman Center students helped launch the north arm with a 2.7 mile prayerful witness walk. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.

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Picture of the day Triumph of St. Ignatius of Loyola by Andrea Pozzo, celebrates the work of Ignatius of Loyola and the Society of Jesus in the world by depicting the saint welcomed into paradise by Christ and surrounded by allegorical representations of the four continents. The trompe-l’œil fresco adorns the flat ceiling of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius. Today is Ignatius of Loyola’s feast day. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day Triumph of St. Ignatius of Loyola by Andrea Pozzo, celebrates the work of Ignatius of Loyola and the Society of Jesus in the world by depicting the saint welcomed into paradise by Christ and surrounded by allegorical representations of the four continents. The trompe-l’œil fresco adorns the flat ceiling of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius. Today is Ignatius of Loyola’s feast day. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
Triumph of St. Ignatius of Loyola by Andrea Pozzo, celebrates the work of Ignatius of Loyola and the Society of Jesus in the world by depicting the saint welcomed into paradise by Christ and surrounded by allegorical representations of the four continents. The trompe-l’œil fresco adorns the flat ceiling of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius. Today is Ignatius of Loyola’s feast day.
Read More