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
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.
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).
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.
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.
The contemplative Sisters of the Monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, New York, support themselves by offering their hand-painted chinaware and other unique gifts for sale. / Credit: Monastery of Bethlehem
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 6, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Many monasteries and communities of religious brothers and sisters depend on proceeds from the sales of their products to sustain their lives of prayer and service throughout the year. These days, most have online gift shops that will ship your purchases to arrive before Christmas.
Here’s a guide to some of our favorite handmade gifts to give and receive this year:
Monastery Candy, Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey: These contemplative nuns in Dubuque, Iowa, are known for their delicious caramels, which they make by hand to support their way of life. A 9-ounce box of chocolate-covered caramels sells for $16.55.
Monastery Creamed Honey, Holy Cross Abbey: The monks at Our Lady of the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Virginia, support themselves financially through their own labor, a characteristic of the Cistercian order’s way of life. Their 100% natural Monastery Creamed Honey, locally sourced in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, makes a great gift. A set of four 10-ounce tubs includes natural-, cinnamon-, almond-, and brandy-flavored honey and sells for $35.95. Add some delicious chocolate truffles to the order for a sure-to-be-appreciated Christmas gift.
Cookies
Clarisa Cookies, Capuchin Poor Clare Sisters: The Capuchin Poor Clare nuns make their famous butter cookies from their monastery in Denver. The “Clarisas” come in a beautiful gift box featuring an image of St. Clare and sell for $18 for a 1.5-pound box.
Monks’ Biscotti, Abbey of the Genesee: The Trappist monks of the Abbey of the Genesee have been baking from their monastery in western New York since 1953. As their website explains: “The bakery supports the monastery’s primary mission, which is to pray for the world.” The twice-baked biscotti is a popular item, which makes a great gift basket when combined with monk-made coffee and a mug. A bundle of four boxes of biscotti in a variety of flavors sells for $33.99.
Springerele Christmas cookies, Sisters of St. Benedict: The Benedictine religious sisters are known for their Springerele cookies, a traditional German treat with an “Old World” charm. A package of six cookies, each bearing a different, intricate design, sells for $11.
Coffee
Mystic Monk Coffee, Carmelites Monks of Wyoming Monastery: The Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel live a cloistered life in the Rocky Mountains in the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming. They help support themselves through Mystic Monk Coffee, which they roast in small batches. The website CoffeeReview.com ranks their coffee among the highest of the coffees it reviews. A 12-ounce bag of their most popular flavor, Jingle Bell Java, sells for $14.95 in the EWTN Religious Catalogue. Visit their website for more coffee selections.
Fruitcake
Brandy-dipped fruitcake, New Camaldoli Hermitage: With all due respect, this is not your grandmother’s fruitcake. The monks of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, offer a fruitcake soaked in brandy and aged for three months. It “has converted many a fruitcake ‘atheist,’” according to its creators. Order a 1-pound fruitcake for $27.98.
Birra Nursia, Benedictine Monks of Norcia: In 2012, a community of Benedictine monks revived the order’s ancient beer-making tradition at their 16th-century monastery in Nursia, the birthplace of St. Benedict. Tragically, four years later, a devastating earthquake struck, seriously damaging their monastery and threatening their way of life. Today, their monastery is open again thanks to money raised in part from the beer they make and sell and export to the United States and elsewhere. Beer in 750-milliliter (25-ounce) bottles is available at their U.S. online store for $15.99 each.
Handmade Christmas-themed gifts
Christmas Boutique, Monastery of Bethlehem: The contemplative Sisters of the Monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, New York, support themselves by offering their hand-painted chinaware and other unique gifts for sale. This Christmas their online shop features several Christmas-related items that would make wonderful gifts.
A beautiful hand-carved Nativity, made in the sisters’ monastery in Mougères, France, includes Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, and a wooden manger, and sells for $180. This is a great value for a keepsake that is sure to be passed down from generation to generation. Or why not come bearing the gift of myrrh this Christmas with an attractive tin of imported incense ($56)? Also available: a pack of five Christmas greeting cards, hand-calligraphed by the sisters and duplicated on fine paper. Each card features a mystery of the lives of Jesus and Mary.
Custom rosaries, Carmelite Monastery of the Sacred Hearts: The cloistered nuns of the Carmelite Monastery of the Sacred Hearts in Colorado also offer several handmade items that would make beautiful gifts including custom, handmade rosaries. Those interested can choose their own beads, crucifix, centerpiece, the option to add decorative caps and side medals, and whether you would like the rosary to be a one-decade, five-decade, or 15-decade rosary.
Gifts from the Holy Land
Holy Land gifts, Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America: The Franciscan friars based at their monastery in Washington, D.C., are dedicated to supporting and protecting the sacred sites and people of the Holy Land. They sell products made by artisans in the Holy Land to help their businesses so they can continue to live in the land of their forefathers. Among the gifts at the Holy Land gift shop are hand-painted ceramic candleholders made by a young artist in Bethlehem; olive wood Nativity sets, crosses, and rosaries; and olive oil soap. Visit the Holy Land Gift Shop here.
Soaps and candles
Cloister Shoppe, Summit Dominicans: The nuns from the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey, live a life of prayer through Eucharistic adoration and dedication to the rosary. To support this way of life they create handmade candles and skin-care products, which they sell at their Cloister Shoppe. Create your own Christmas gift bag of two bars of soap, a hand cream, a jar candle, a face moisturizer, and a handmade rosary made from olive wood beads from the Holy Land for $50. Throw in a pair of Bayberry Christmas Eve Tapers for $18 to give your holiday table a festive glow.
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.
A 17th-century Japanese depiction of St. Francis Xavier from the Kobe City Museum collection. / Credit: Public domain
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
How far would you go to serve God? Would you be willing to travel to the ends of the earth, with nothing but the guarantee of hardship, deprivation, and persecution?
Dec. 3 is the feast of St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missionaries and missions who led an unlikely life of adventure and heroism, full of unexpected twists and turns, taking the faith to the ends of the earth.
Born in 1506 to a noble Navarrese-Basque family, Francis grew up in a land wracked with war. Wedged between the growing imperial powers of Castile-Aragon (Spain) and France, Navarre seldom knew peace during Francis’ childhood.
As a member of the nobility, Francis was expected to lead a warrior’s life along with his father and brothers. But at the age of 10, his life took its first dramatic and tragic turn. His father died, his homeland kingdom of Navarre was defeated by Spain, his brothers were imprisoned, and his childhood home, the Castle of the House of Javier (Xavier), was almost entirely destroyed.
With Francis’ family disgraced and nearly wiped out, his prospects for a bright future looked dim. But God still had incredible plans for young Francis.
Hoping to rebuild the family’s legacy, Francis was sent in 1525 to the center of European theology and studies — the University of Paris.
There, Francis quickly made a name for himself. Handsome, he also had a keen intellect and was an agile athlete with a particular gift for pole vaulting. The last thing on young Francis’ mind was a life of humble service to God and the Church. However, his life took a second dramatic turn after he met a fellow Basque noble, Ignatius of Loyola.
Headstrong and stubborn, Francis was initially repelled by Ignatius’ ideas of radical devotion to God. But Ignatius would remind him of Jesus’ words in the Bible: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul?” (Mt 16:26).
Inspired by Ignatius’ piety and fervor, Francis finally decided to dedicate his life to the service of God. In 1534, along with Ignatius and five others, Francis took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in a chapel at Montmartre in France.
Receiving holy orders alongside Ignatius in 1537, Francis had intended to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But war in the region made such a journey impossible. Once again, God was about to unexpectedly and radically alter the course of Francis’ life.
Pope Leo III asked the newly-founded Jesuits to send missionaries to the Portuguese colonies in India. Though Francis was originally not supposed to go, one of the Jesuits assigned to the mission fell ill, and Francis volunteered in his place. Through that courageous act of trust, God would use Francis to transform the entire Asian continent.
Francis set out for India in 1541 on his 35th birthday. Traveling by sea at this time was extremely dangerous and uncomfortable, and those who dared to do so risked disease with no guarantee of ever successfully arriving at their destination. Francis had to sail all the way around Africa, past the Cape of Good Hope, almost to the very bottom of the globe, just to cross the Indian Ocean and arrive in Goa, a province in India.
Upon his arrival in India in 1542, Francis immediately faced countless challenges in bringing the word of God to the people of this new and foreign region. For seven years Francis preached in the streets and public squares, laboring tirelessly across India and the Asian Pacific islands, contending with persecution from warlords and at times even from the Portuguese authorities meant to help him.
After converting tens of thousands and planting the seeds of a renewed and lasting Christian Church in India, Francis began to hear stories about an enchanting island nation known as “Japan.” His heart was set ablaze with the desire to bring the Gospel to Japan.
After he had ensured the faithful in India would be properly cared for, Francis set sail for the mysterious new land, becoming the first to bring the Christian faith to Japan, on the complete opposite side of the world from his home in Navarre.
In Japan, Francis and his companions traveled far and wide, often on foot and with almost no resources. Crisscrossing the nation, he built up a vibrant Christian community more than 6,000 miles from Rome.
Francis would then hear of the even more mysterious and closely guarded nation of China and there, too, he decided to bring the word of God. But before he could find a way into China’s heartland, he became ill and died in 1552 while on the Chinese Shangchuan Island.
Now considered one of the greatest of all the Church’s missionaries, St. Francis Xavier proved that one life lived in complete trust in God can transform an entire continent and the whole world.
This story was first published on Dec. 3, 2022, and has been updated.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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 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
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.”
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.”
Theo is a free Catholic prayer and meditation app for children and their parents. / Credit: Theo
CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Theo, a free Catholic prayer and meditation app for children and their parents, plans to host the largest Advent celebration for children to help them discover the true meaning of the season.
From Nov. 30 to Dec. 24, more than 1 million children are expected to take part in a 25-day journey filled with stories, songs, activities, and reflections.
The Advent campaign will be led by Theodore, a cheerful animated donkey who is described as a direct descendant of the donkey that carried the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bethlehem. It will also feature several special guests including Catholic actor David Henrie and Father Ambrose Criste, among others.
Participants will read through the first two chapters of Luke, which will be accompanied by some meditations and reflection questions for children to do with their parents as well as hearing the stories of several saints, listening to songs, and explaining activities that both parent and child can do together.
Theo, a free Catholic prayer and meditation app for children and their parents, plans to host the largest Advent celebration for children to help them discover the true meaning of the season. Credit: Theo
Francisco Cornejo, CEO of Theo, told CNA in an interview that this campaign will help children “hear the word of God” and “prepare their hearts for the birth of Jesus.”
“We prepared these four weeks in a way that is engaging; it’s fun, but it’s also educational,” he added.
While Theo can be used for children of all ages, Cornejo pointed out that the Advent campaign is best suited for children between the ages of 4 and 12.
“The content tends to be on the more mature side of things, I would say, meaning 6 to 8 and older, but again this is the beauty of creating an app that is for the parent and the child — if the theme or the topic is a little hard to grasp or we want to go deeper in the learning, you have your parent by your side,” Cornejo said. “So you can discuss that and we’ll provide those discussion points and all the guidance there.”
Theo launched seven months ago and already has over 2 million users. Cornejo attributes the app’s success first and foremost to God but also to the need among Catholics families for a tool like this.
“We’ve seen over the last few years how families and how parents specifically wanted to have something like Theo because it’s not enough to take kids to Mass every Sunday or to get them through holy Communion preparation or confirmation preparation,” he said. “What happens every other day of the year or of their lives? So we really wanted to create a tool that makes faith accessible and teachings accessible for everyday kids and families regardless of where they are in their faith journey.”
He added: “It’s not meant to replace all the good things that we parents have to do, but it’s meant to help make faith an everyday thing. Something that kids want to hear more because it’s packed in a way that it’s accessible for them.”
The content on Theo includes daily Scripture readings, prayers, bedtime stories, faith-based affirmations, meditations, novenas, stories of the saints, the rosary, and much more.
Cornejo also highlighted the importance of having both child and parent involved in using the app because “education needs to be done together.”
“You need to exemplify what you want to try to teach and you have to do it with your kids — that’s the domestic Church. That’s what we are meant to do as parents,” he added.
As for what he hopes children and their parents will take away from participating in the Advent campaign, Cornejo said: “I think the main thing is remembering and living the actual meaning of Advent — the waiting for Jesus’ birth, preparing our hearts as the manger to welcome Jesus into our hearts” and that participants “forget about the fluff and the gifts and the ‘me me me’ and start thinking about what this actually represents.”
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.
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
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
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.)
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.
St. Joseph Cathedral, Buffalo, New York. / Credit: CiEll/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2025 / 10:40 am (CNA).
Advocates in New York state are petitioning a Catholic foundation there to help fund major pension shortages and church preservation efforts as well as to help support victims of clergy sex abuse.
In a Nov. 13 letter to the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation in New York City, representatives of the group Save Our Buffalo Churches, sexual abuse victims, and pensioners of the former St. Clare’s Hospital asked the foundation to help the three communities with the “profound hardship” they are experiencing.
Numerous parishes in Buffalo have been fighting diocesan-mandated closures and mergers over the past year. Hundreds of former workers of St. Clare’s, meanwhile, saw their pensions reduced or eliminated starting in 2018 due to major shortfalls. The hospital itself closed about a decade before.
Abuse victims, meanwhile, have “been locked in a legal morass, denied the long-term healing resources and institutional acknowledgment of the harm they endured,” the letter said.
The foundation arose in 2018 after the Diocese of Brooklyn sold the health insurer Fidelis Care. The organization, whose roughly $3.2 billion in assets came from that sale, is named after Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American recognized as a saint, who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The letter noted that Cabrini “devoted her life to the people others overlooked,” including immigrants and the poor.
“Guided by that legacy, we ask the foundation to explore emergency relief, stabilization funds, and community support initiatives” to help fund the three groups.
The letter-writers asked for a meeting with foundation leaders “to explore potential pathways for assistance aligned with both the foundation’s mission and the pressing needs of survivors, pensioners, and parish communities.”
Mary Pruski, who leads the Save Our Buffalo Churches group, told CNA that advocates in New York City would be following up with the foundation this week.
“This is a complex project and will bring much peace and healing across [New York state],” she said.
Pensioners with St. Clare’s Hospital are currently in the midst of a lawsuit brought by New York state against the Diocese of Albany for what the state attorney general’s office says was “[failure] to adequately fund, manage, and protect hospital employees’ hard-earned pensions.”
The prosecutor’s office alleges that the diocese “[failed] to take adequate measures” to secure the pension fund, including “failing to make any annual contributions to the pension for all but two years from 2000 to 2019 and hiding the collapse of the pension plan from former hospital workers who were vested in the plan.”
Parishioners in Buffalo, meanwhile, have challenged the diocesan parish merger and closure plan, with advocates securing a reprieve against the diocese at the state Supreme Court in July.
A family grieves their lost baby at a funeral at the crypt at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in New Orleans. Many friends, relatives, and families attended the funeral that day. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies
CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Sandy Schaetz still mourns the baby she never met.
“It was terrifying and traumatic,” she said of her miscarriage. “I was consoled after by the prayers of a deacon, but never named the baby or knew if it was a boy or girl.”
“It was not something I understood at the time and I only wish I had known more of what was happening,” she told CNA.
Now, Schaetz volunteers with Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies (CBIB), an organization that buries babies who died, whether stillborn, miscarried, or aborted.
The group organizes everything for the funerals, which are held at a crypt at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in New Orleans.
A shoebox-sized casket lined with donated white fabric, usually from wedding dresses, is processed through the cemetery, with Knights of Columbus present as the honor guard. A volunteer musician plays at every funeral; a Catholic deacon presides at almost every burial.
Two Knights of Columbus carry the casket of a baby who was murdered. Credit: Photo courtesy of Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies
When Schaetz attended her first burial service as a volunteer, it hit her to the core.
“I find it difficult to put into words how it affected me,” Schaetz said. “All God needed me to do that day was to be present, to pray, to honor the life he had created.”
“It opened my eyes to how each life is such a gift, and when that life ends how important it is to show respect and pray for the soul and bury the dead with love,” Schaetz said.
Death and resurrection
Women who lose children through miscarriage often suffer silently, according to Lise Naccari, the founder of CBIB.
“Losing a child is hard. Often women suffer in silence the pain of infant loss and ride that sad emotional roller coaster ride alone,” Naccari told CNA.
One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage — a devastating statistic for many couples.
Naccari herself experienced a miscarriage as well as several challenging pregnancies.
“I feel a special connection with poor mothers who have lost a child. My heart goes out to them,” Naccari said.
Lise Naccari (right) embraces a grieving mother at a burial at the crypt at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in New Orleans. Credit: Photo courtesy of Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies
Naccari buries the babies who were wanted and loved, but also the babies who were thrown out or mistreated.
“CBIB has buried babies as big as a blueberry and up to 2 years old,” Naccari said. “We buried babies stillborn, miscarried, abandoned, unclaimed, aborted, murdered, and thrown away in the trash — and every situation possible.”
“Many babies were mistreated, abused, and tossed out … these are heartbreaking funerals to go to,” Naccari said.
CBIB dressed and buried seven babies who were left at hospitals labeled “unclaimed and abandoned,” Naccari said. CBIB buried the babies at the crypt at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in New Orleans. Credit: Photo courtesy of Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies
“Babies are left sometimes because some families can not afford funerals for them but would like one,” Naccari said. “Also, many parents are young, and the grief can be overwhelming and they cannot navigate through funeral arrangements.”
Her life’s work is to bury the dead — and she looks to the Resurrection.
“I consider what I do holy,” Naccari said. “I feel like this is my vocation and I know God orchestrated all of this. I give all honor and glory to him, our loving Father.”
“What I do is not about sorrow and death,” Naccari continued. “What I do is really about joy and life — eternal life.”
A father (right) whose child was murdered carries the casket with the help of others. Credit: Photo courtesy of Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies
It’s not an easy job, and Naccari looks to God for strength.
“Lord, I don’t want to do this anymore. It hurts my heart too much,” Naccari remembered praying as she prepared one baby for burial — a baby girl who had been abandoned and tossed out after she was born.
“I felt a still small voice within me say, ‘Lise, don’t think about their bodies, focus on the Resurrection,’” Naccari recalled.
“The sunlight from the stained-glass windows was shining down a warm yellow color on my face, as I looked up in it and I thought, yes, this is what I needed to hear to keep going — focus on the Resurrection,” she continued.
A resource for women in need
Sheena Lewis was in jail when her son, still a baby, passed away. She couldn’t attend the funeral, but Naccari organized the burial for her.
Lewis, now sober and out of jail, visits her son’s crypt often.
“I have solace in the fact he was laid to rest in a beautiful manner when I couldn’t be there for him or myself at the time,” Lewis told CNA.
Many young mothers CBIB helps are often “steeped in poverty” and have no support system. They are often “low income, uneducated, coming from sometimes addiction or problem homes,” Naccari said.
“Often I find at these funerals that the young mothers are alone or they may come with children or other women — but there are no men to help support them,” Naccari said.
“My heart is broken for them, for they are not only battling their poverty, they also have to deal with losing a child,” she said.
A moment to mourn
Funerals help families process their grief — a grief that’s often hidden away due to the nature of miscarriages.
Deacon Ricky Suprean preaches at almost every graveside burial — but after a couple years of volunteering, he realized God had called him to this so he could find healing.
Suprean and his wife, Lynn, experienced two miscarriages.
Suprean struggled to process it at the time, but through his volunteering, he’s found some healing. He still remembers the first CBIB funeral he presided at.
“I felt the power of life that day,” he told CNA. “It was cold. I had no idea I would kneel in front of each little coffin and pray for each child and each family with my hand touching each coffin.”
Volunteers hugged each family member, he recalled.
Deacon Ricky Suprean at the burial of two babies at the crypt at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in New Orleans. Credit: Photo courtesy of Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies
“God has allowed me to give a proper burial to my own two lost children through CBIB time and time again,” Suprean said.
“God created these children in my wife’s womb, and they will be waiting for us in heaven,” Suprean continued.
Struggling to process grief is common with loss of children, according to Naccari.
“Too often people are hurting so much and don’t want to face a funeral,” Naccari said. “They feel vulnerable and so it is easier to turn away and do nothing.”
“But on the contrary, I have observed that these funerals provide consolation, comfort, solace, and even a healthy way of healing after the loss of a baby,” Naccari said.
“It’s a good grief,” Naccari continued. “Funerals are about love and holding onto friends and family at a time of need. It can be life-changing.”
Some funerals have had as many as 100 people in attendance.
Many volunteers are “faithfully committed” to being present at every funeral.
“It could be freezing cold or blistering hot in the summer, but they just show up and either help set up, greet the parents, or stand tall next to a casket to show the love of Jesus to our families,” Naccari said.
The altar at a burial at the crypt at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in New Orleans. CBIB has buried hundreds of babies at the crypt. Credit: Photo courtesy of Compassionate Burials for Indigent Babies
These funerals “allow parents that special moment to mourn their loss and to remember their little one and ponder the person that little one could have been,” Naccari said.
“CBIB celebrates each life, and we believe that God somehow rights all the wrongs and makes all things new,” Naccari said. “And then we move to the next funeral.”
Children play as procession participants wait to enter the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne for adoration. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA
CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
On Nov. 18 the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a French religious sister who came to the United States as a missionary in the 1800s.
Rose was born on Aug. 29, 1769, in Grenoble, France. On the day of her baptism, she received the names Philip, honoring the apostle, and Rose, honoring St. Rose of Lima. She was educated at the Convent of the Visitation of Ste. Marie d’en Haut and became drawn to contemplative life. At the age of 18, she became a novice at the convent.
During the revolution in France, Rose’s community was dispersed and she ended up returning to her family home. After the Concordat of 1801, she tried to rebuild her community’s monastery but was unable to do so.
In 1804, Rose heard of a new congregation — the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She became a novice in the society that same year.
Despite her great desire for contemplative life, Rose also felt a calling for missionary work.
In a letter she wrote to Mother Madeleine Sophie Barat, the foundress of the society, Rose described an experience she had during adoration: “I spent the entire night in the New World … carrying the Blessed Sacrament to all parts of the land … I had all my sacrifices to offer: a mother, sisters, family, my mountain! When you say to me ‘now I send you,’ I will respond quickly, ‘I go.’”
In 1818, Rose was finally sent to do missionary work. Bishop Louis William Valentine DuBourg, the St. Louis area’s first bishop, was looking for a congregation of educators to help him evangelize the children of the diocese. At St. Charles, near St. Louis, Rose founded the first house of the society outside of France.
That same year, Rose and four other sisters opened the first free school for Native American children in the United States. By 1828 Rose had founded six schools.
The saint once said: “You may dazzle the mind with a thousand brilliant discoveries of natural science; you may open new worlds of knowledge which were never dreamed of before; yet, if you have not developed in the soul of the pupil strong habits of virtue, which will sustain her in the struggle of life, you have not educated her.”
Rose always carried a desire to serve Native Americans. In 1841, at the age of 71, she established a school for Potawatomi girls in Sugar Creek, Kansas. She spent a year with the Potawatomi, spending much of her time in prayer because she was unable to help with much of the physical work. They gave her the name “Quah-kah-ka-num-ad,” which means “woman who is always praying.”
In 1842, Rose returned to St. Charles and died there on Nov. 18, 1852, at the age of 83. She was declared a saint by Pope John Paul II on July 3, 1988, and is buried at the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne in St. Charles, Missouri.
This story was first published on Nov. 18, 2024, and has been updated.
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.
The Austrian Parliament building is lit red as part of the international “Red Week” in honor of persecuted Christians across the globe. / Credit: Aid to the Church in Need
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:
More than half a million people to participate in Aid to the Church in Need ‘Red Week’
Over 500,000 people will take part in Aid to the Church in Need International’s Red Week 2025, which will see churches and landmarks around the world illuminated in red to raise awareness of religious persecution internationally.
Set to take place Nov. 15–23, the global initiative is expected to see “over 10,000 direct participants for prayers, public events, school gatherings, concerts, and marches,” and to draw in “more than 500,000 participants through media outreach and online platforms,” according to an ACN International press release.
More than 100 events are scheduled around the world, including in Australia, Austria, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Hungary, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and more.
Catholic bishops in Ghana express closeness with stampede victims
Catholic bishops in Ghana have expressed their closeness with victims of a stampede at the El-Wak Stadium in Accra that left six people dead and several others injured during a Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported Nov. 13.
“We unite our hearts with the bereaved families in grief and lift our prayers to Almighty God for the eternal repose of the departed and the swift recovery of all who are injured,” Ghana’s Catholic bishops said in a statement following the Nov. 12 stampede.
Citing figures released by the acting minister of defense, Cassiel Ato Forson, the bishops noted that 34 casualties were recorded. Of these, six were reportedly confirmed dead, five were in critical condition, 12 were in fairly critical condition, and others were under observation.
Oman opens Catholic pastoral center in Muscat
Oman has inaugurated a new Catholic pastoral center in Muscat — an important sign of the country’s long-standing respect for religious diversity, according to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner.
Built on land donated in 1977 by the late Sultan Qaboos, the center provides formation programs, catechesis, and housing for clergy.
Omani Ambassador Mahmoud al-Hassani said the project reflects the nation’s vision of peaceful coexistence and aligns with the Vatican’s mission of dialogue. The center also strengthens ties between Oman and the Holy See, which formally established diplomatic relations in 2023.
International contemplative congregation of sisters celebrates 200 years
The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (RGS) officially concluded the yearlong celebration of their 200th anniversary on Nov. 11. The contemplative order was founded in 1825 by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Myanmar.
“I hope it rekindles in all of us a renewed openness to be shaped and made radiant by grace, so that together, as one congregation, and, as one people of God, we allow the fire of God’s love to warm, illumine, and shine through us into the heart of the world,” said Sister Joan Marie Lopez, RGS congregational leader, on her hope for the bicentenary year, according to Vatican News.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, presided over a Mass in Rome for the bicentennial celebration.
Christian families return to al-Ghassaniyah, Syria, after 13 years
After more than a decade of displacement, Christian families have begun returning to the village of al-Ghassaniyah in Idlib, Syria, ACI MENA reported Nov. 13.
Their return was made possible by a firm government decision to remove foreign extremist groups and by sustained efforts from the Franciscan community. Although many homes are damaged or looted, residents spoke of renewed hope as the Church offered support for the first returning families. The development comes amid wider security shifts in the region and ongoing diplomatic efforts related to extremist fighters.
The Catholic Church is calling for communities to respond after Typhoon Kalmaegi destroyed buildings across the Qui Nhon Diocese, including the house of the bishop and Lang Song Seminary.
“The main house of the Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross in Qui Nhon, the Congregation of the Handmaids of Jesus of Mercy, and many parish churches like Qui Nhon Cathedral and other churches throughout the diocese were severely damaged,” Fides News Agency reported. This comes after severe flooding the week prior, which left 13 dead, 34 injured, and 11 missing.
Maria Vu Thi Hong Anh, head of Da Nang Cathedral Parish Caritas, said in wake of the flooding: “Seeing the images of this historic flood, I feel very sorry for the residents in the rural areas; they are poor and now their life is much more difficult when losing their properties.”
Youth Encounter Triduum in Baghdad encourages holiness
The Catholic Youth Committee in Baghdad held a three-day gathering titled “Think, Discern, Decide,” bringing together young people from several dioceses, according to a Nov. 10 report from ACI MENA.
The event focused on the call to holiness, drawing inspiration from biblical teaching and modern Iraqi witnesses of faith such as Father Ragheed Ganni and other martyrs. Workshops, talks, and prayer times encouraged young participants to live holiness through everyday acts of love and commitment.
Catholic patriarchs and bishops open 58th session in Lebanon
Lebanon’s Catholic leaders gathered in Bkerke, Lebanon, for the opening of the 58th session of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops, ACI MENA reported.
The meeting focuses on building a synodal Church that listens and acts with spiritual discernment.
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi highlighted preparations for Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit and called for nationwide prayers and the ringing of church bells upon his arrival. Apostolic Nuncio Paolo Borgia noted that the papal visit will include meetings with all segments of Lebanese society.
A photo of St. Frances Cabrini from 1880, the year she founded her order, is seen against a 1913 painting by Harry J. Jansen, “The Steamship Titanic.” / Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
National Catholic Register, Nov 13, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
In April 1912, Mother Frances Cabrini was in Italy with her sisters. Her plans were to visit her foundations in France, Spain, and England before sailing back to the United States in mid-April to continue work in New York City. Her sisters in England were eagerly awaiting this visit from their 62-year-old founder and superior. To help make her journey back to the U.S. more comfortable, they bought her a ticket and booked passage on a new ocean liner, the RMS Titanic.
Although an intrepid traveler who would eventually make 24 transatlantic crossings to establish her foundation, hospitals, and orphanages, Mother Cabrini was not a fan of ocean voyages since she had almost drowned as a child.
While the sisters in England waited, word got to Mother Cabrini that there was trouble at the Columbus Hospital she had established in New York. It was overflowing and there was urgent business to settle connected to a new expansion. She could not wait. She had to get back to raise desperately needed money to proceed with the project. So she changed her plans and left early, sailing from Naples, disappointing the sisters in England who had booked her passage on the Titanic.
The prefix “RMS” in “RMS Titanic” stood for “Royal Mail Ship” because it would also carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail — an important bit of context for something she wrote in a May 5, 1912, letter to a Sister Gesuina Dotti:
“Only two of your letters I have received so far, and if you have sent five, then it must be said that it went down into the depths with the Titanic. If I was going to London, I might have left with it, but Divine Providence, which is constantly watching, did not allow it. God be blessed.”
Another close call at sea
This was not Frances Cabrini’s only miss with an iceberg.
In 1890, on her second trip to New York, she was among 1,000 passengers on a ship called La Normandie. The seas were very heavy one night and most skipped dinner and stayed in their cabins — except Mother Cabrini and five other souls. She knew of the dangerous situation and back in the cabin remained ready to save her sisters and herself if the call came to go to the lifeboats. She would later report that “the Good Lord … lulled us all to sleep on a great seesaw, rocking us back and forth.”
But that was only the beginning. As the storm raged on the next day, she braved going on deck, finding a chair in a relatively safe place, and continued writing a letter. In it, she wrote:
“You should see how beautiful the sea is in its great movement, how it swells and foams! It is truly a marvel! … If you were all here with me, daughters, crossing this immense ocean, you would exclaim, ‘Oh how great and wonderful is God in his works!’”
Now that is enlightenment from someone who did not like sailing one bit. Maybe because two days earlier she had, as told in an article about her, “compared the tranquility of the sea to the joy experienced by a soul abiding in the peace of God’s grace. No matter what the circumstances, she was able to see the love of Jesus shining through.”
That was not all on this trip.
Next, around midnight, “we felt a strong jolt and the ship stopped suddenly,” she would write about one such event after another on this journey. She and her sisters dressed and readied to board lifeboats if necessary. The trouble turned out to be something wrong with the engine. At that point “the sea became calm and beautiful” and the ship remained practically motionless until the engine was fixed by the morning and the ship was again able to continue. The breakdown caused an 11-hour delay — a delay that likely saved the ship and passengers from a disaster.
Two days later, Mother Cabrini said, “toward 11 we saw ourselves surrounded by icebergs on every part of the horizon … they were about 12 times the size of our ship.” The captain reduced the ship’s speed to weave slowly and carefully through the ice field to avoid colliding with the “immense, jagged fortresses.”
A story recorded at her shrine described it this way: “Mother Cabrini noted that though they had complained when the engine broke, the crisis was a great grace. Without that delay, the ship’s encounter with the icebergs would have occurred in the dark, most likely with dire consequences.”
‘Supported by my Beloved’
Then there was the time the train she was riding from one orphanage to another was shot at outside of Dallas by enemies of the railroad. She remained unruffled and recounted later how one bullet “aimed at my head fell to my side, while it should have pierced my cranium.” When those aboard were aghast about her escape, she told them: “It was the Sacred Heart to whom I had entrusted the journey.”
Shortly after this incident, she wrote a letter stating: “Didn’t I write and tell you that I am alive miraculously?”
From the Titanic to La Normandie to Dallas, there was no question about divine providence in Mother Cabrini’s life. As she would write: “Supported by my Beloved, none of these adversities can shake me. But if I trust in myself, I will fall.” And: “In whatever difficulty I may encounter I want to trust in the goodness of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who will never abandon me.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.
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
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.”
Volunteers prepare and distribute food to families coming through the drive-through distribution site at the Catholic Charities Diocese of Galveston-Houston Guadalupe Center, a food pantry near central Houston. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
CNA Staff, Nov 7, 2025 / 17:40 pm (CNA).
As federal food benefits have been frozen during the government shutdown, Catholic dioceses and charities around the country are holding emergency food drives and launching fundraising efforts.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will resume once the government passes a bill to fund the federal government — but, more than a month into the shutdown, there is no set end date in sight.
Two federal district judges at the end of October moved to compel the Trump administration to pay for SNAP benefits, but because Congress has not yet authorized funding for federal government operations, the Trump administration asked an appeals court on Friday to block the orders and continue with partial SNAP payments.
The pause in SNAP benefits is estimated to affect about 42 million Americans.
In St. Louis, food pantries saw an influx of people in need. In response, parishes across the archdiocese are holding emergency food drives for the first two weekends of November.
Nearly 300,000 people in the area could “lose access to vital food benefits,” Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski said in a letter to pastors, whom he asked to “respond with love and generosity to this urgent need.”
“We are called to be people of faith and action,” Rozanski said. “And so, I ask the good people of our archdiocese to come together to help our neighbors who are in danger of going without their ‘daily food.’”
The archdiocese is working with the local Catholic Charities and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to ensure that food pantries are full.
Julie Komanetsky, a spokesperson for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in St. Louis, said the food drives are “bringing great results for our food pantries.”
“This is our faith in action,” she told CNA. “Like the story of the good Samaritan who sees the victim and cares for him, Catholics see that people need to be fed and they are responding. They are answering God’s call to be good Samaritans rather than indifferent bystanders!”
So far, the parish food drives have been “very successful and will help keep our pantries stocked and able to support the need,” Komanetsky said.
“Our hope for this effort is to keep all within the boundaries of our archdiocese from going hungry during this difficult time in our country,” she continued. “This is our united Catholic effort to let all people know that we see them, we hear their needs, and we will help.”
“Pope Leo tells us: Faith cannot be separated from love for the poor,” she continued. “This effort is a testament of our faith and our love.”
St. Louis is not the only archdiocese finding creative solutions to the SNAP crisis. In Connecticut, Hartford Archbishop Christopher Coyne has released $500,000 of emergency funding to food banks.
Coyne said the funding is being contributed “in the spirit of Jesus’ command to serve our brothers and sisters in need.”
“The Catholic Church provides relief and hope for God’s children,” Coyne said in a statement. “It’s what we have done for over 2,000 years and what we continue to do today.”
Volunteers load food into a car at a drive-through distribution site in Houston. Credit: Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Catholic Charities is seeing a similar rise in need. Across its three food pantries Catholic Charities is extending hours and increasing distribution.
“Many families across our service area are struggling, worried about missing paychecks or not being able to put food on the table,” Cynthia Nunes Colbert, who heads the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, told CNA.
The group is also offering emergency rental assistance to federal workers and is reaching out to the wider community for support by encouraging food drives, volunteering, and donations, Catholic Charities told CNA.
“Whether it’s through financial donations, food drives, or volunteering, together we can provide hope and stability during these uncertain times,” Colbert said.
As part of a nationwide effort, Catholic Charities USA launched a fundraising effort in light of the funding cuts. The funds raised will go directly toward buying and sending food to Catholic Charities groups across the country to support ministries such as food pantries and soup kitchens.
For families who rely on food assistance programs, this a “catastrophic moment” said CCUSA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson.
The government shutdown “has created incredibly serious, real-life consequences for millions of people, from furloughed federal workers to those living in poverty who will now struggle even more to provide for their families,” Robinson said in a recent statement.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 7, 2025 / 15:41 pm (CNA).
An underground Chinese Catholic bishop from the Diocese of Zhengding has died at 90 years old.
Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, a Catholic bishop in China renowned for his unwavering adherence to the Church despite decades of persecution at the hands of the Chinese government, passed away on Oct. 29.
A member of the underground Church, unsanctioned by the Chinese government, Zhiguo was bishop of the Zhengnding Diocese in the Hebei Province. He was known for having a missionary spirit, promoting priestly training, caring for children with disabilities, and maintaining communion with Rome.
Born on May 1, 1935, in Wuqiu Village, Jinzhou City, Zhiguo was ordained a priest in 1980 by Bishop Fan Xueyan of Baoding, who later consecrated him as bishop, according to Vatican News’ Chinese-language site.
“The big problems started when I was a seminarian,” he told the Italian news outlet La Stampa in 2016. “From 1963 to 1978 I worked as a forced laborer in remote, cold and hostile areas.”
In the same interview, he said he had “lost count” of how many times he had been arrested. Latest UCA reports say his last arrest took place in August 2020.
“My life,” Zhiguo said when asked about his experience as a pastor in China, “consists of speaking about Jesus. I have nothing else to say or do. My whole life, every single day, is dedicated to telling others about Jesus. Everyone.”
Catholics in the United States will have an opportunity to support more than 21,000 retired priests and men and women religious from various orders during the weekend of Dec. 13–14 with the annual collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious.
According to a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), this collection, organized by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO), “helps provide critical financial assistance to eligible religious institutes caring for their retired members.”
For decades, consecrated men and women in the U.S. have served in multiple ministries — schools, hospitals, parishes, and social service organizations — often with little or no compensation. Today their communities face a serious imbalance between the rising costs of elder care and limited resources.
In 2024, religious over the age of 70 outnumbered the young by nearly 3 to 1, and only 4% of communities reporting to the NRRO indicated they had sufficient funds for retirement.
Since its creation in 1988, the fund has been “a lifeline for our aging religious leaders, but the need remains urgent,” the USCCB pointed out. Last year, the fund raised $28.1 million, while the annual cost of care exceeded $1 billion.
The average annual cost per person is $56,600, and specialized care costs $96,000. In contrast, the average Social Security benefit for a religious leader is just $9,090, less than half the average benefit for a layperson.
In light of this reality, NRRO Director John Knutsen noted that “for decades, the faithful service of these religious has touched countless lives, including my own.”
“Through your generosity, we can help ensure they are cared for with the dignity they so rightly deserve, while also living out the values of compassion and solidarity that unite us as disciples of Jesus,” he urged.
Knutsen also emphasized the gratitude owed to religious communities for their members: “Supporting our aging religious is a profound opportunity to show gratitude for their lifetime of service, and we hear all throughout the year how deeply thankful they are for that support.”
Since 1988, the fundraising campaign has distributed more than $1 billion to religious institutions across the U.S., sustaining daily care for the elderly, building up retirement funds, and funding educational programs on geriatric care and long-term planning.
The USCCB noted that “every gift makes a difference, providing retired religious with the care and dignity they deserve.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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
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
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
“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
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.”
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.
An image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the center of a rose window in Santa Ifigênia Church São Paulo, Brazil. Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the Roman Catholic Church.
Passion of Jesus; sculpture of Crucifixion of Jesus observing Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus (known as Pietà). National Gallery of Slovenia. Today is Good Friday.
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.
They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents.
Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.
The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgment of the great day.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
– John 10
A majestic lamb seated on a throne, adorned with a radiant crown, symbolizes a powerful blend of humility and royalty. This image, often associated with Jesus Christ, embodies the concept of innocence and purity exalted to the highest form of honor and authority. The lamb, a traditional symbol of sacrifice and redemption, as Jesus sacrificed Himself for us! contrasts with the grandeur of the throne and crown, highlighting the transformative power of meekness and grace. This portrayal evokes a sense of awe and reverence, inviting contemplation on the profound themes of sacrifice, triumph, and divine kingship of Jesus!
Lamb of God, Lamb, throne, Jesus Christ, Jesus, van Gogh, sacrificed
Revelation 14:14 – I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in hi
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.
Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation: 7Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you. 8Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”
Psalms 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.
He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebreateth me, how goodly
Peace is what I leave with You; it is My own Peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.
But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved me you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I.…
![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.](http://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/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-ou.webp)
![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.](http://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/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.webp)
![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.”](http://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/16000-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-co.webp)
![Catholic advocates petition New York foundation to fund pensions, church preservation #Catholic
St. Joseph Cathedral, Buffalo, New York. / Credit: CiEll/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2025 / 10:40 am (CNA).
Advocates in New York state are petitioning a Catholic foundation there to help fund major pension shortages and church preservation efforts as well as to help support victims of clergy sex abuse.In a Nov. 13 letter to the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation in New York City, representatives of the group Save Our Buffalo Churches, sexual abuse victims, and pensioners of the former St. Clare’s Hospital asked the foundation to help the three communities with the “profound hardship” they are experiencing.Numerous parishes in Buffalo have been fighting diocesan-mandated closures and mergers over the past year. Hundreds of former workers of St. Clare’s, meanwhile, saw their pensions reduced or eliminated starting in 2018 due to major shortfalls. The hospital itself closed about a decade before.Abuse victims, meanwhile, have “been locked in a legal morass, denied the long-term healing resources and institutional acknowledgment of the harm they endured,” the letter said.The foundation arose in 2018 after the Diocese of Brooklyn sold the health insurer Fidelis Care. The organization, whose roughly $3.2 billion in assets came from that sale, is named after Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American recognized as a saint, who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.The letter noted that Cabrini “devoted her life to the people others overlooked,” including immigrants and the poor.“Guided by that legacy, we ask the foundation to explore emergency relief, stabilization funds, and community support initiatives” to help fund the three groups.The letter-writers asked for a meeting with foundation leaders “to explore potential pathways for assistance aligned with both the foundation’s mission and the pressing needs of survivors, pensioners, and parish communities.”Mary Pruski, who leads the Save Our Buffalo Churches group, told CNA that advocates in New York City would be following up with the foundation this week.“This is a complex project and will bring much peace and healing across [New York state],” she said.Pensioners with St. Clare’s Hospital are currently in the midst of a lawsuit brought by New York state against the Diocese of Albany for what the state attorney general’s office says was “[failure] to adequately fund, manage, and protect hospital employees’ hard-earned pensions.”The prosecutor’s office alleges that the diocese “[failed] to take adequate measures” to secure the pension fund, including “failing to make any annual contributions to the pension for all but two years from 2000 to 2019 and hiding the collapse of the pension plan from former hospital workers who were vested in the plan.”Parishioners in Buffalo, meanwhile, have challenged the diocesan parish merger and closure plan, with advocates securing a reprieve against the diocese at the state Supreme Court in July.The state high court ultimately tossed the lawsuit out in September, ruling that the court had no jurisdiction over the dispute.](http://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/catholic-advocates-petition-new-york-foundation-to-fund-pensions-church-preservation-catholic-st-joseph-cathedral-buffalo-new-york-credit-ciell-shutterstockcna-staff-nov-20-2025-10.webp)
![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.](http://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/bishops-discuss-faith-formation-before-national-catholic-youth-conference-catholic-organizers-of-pope-leo-xivs-upcoming-digital-dialogue-with-young-people-nov-21-at-the-national-catholi.webp)
![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.”](http://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/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-h.webp)
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