![Bishop Sweeney rejoices in celebrating Mass at Mary Help Camp #Catholic – Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney on July 27 visited Mary Help of Christians Camp in North Haledon, N.J., to the delight of about 300 campers, their families, staff, and the Salesian Sisters’ community that has run the camp for the past 102 years during the camp’s annual Family Day.
Bishop Sweeney presided over a Family Day Mass, which was concelebrated by Salesian Father Jim Mulloy, camp chaplain for about 20 years. The liturgy in St. Joseph Chapel occurred toward the end of the camp’s five-week season this summer, which welcomed 275 campers.
The Salesian Sisters of St. Don Bosco, also known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, run the camp with the help of lay volunteers on the Salesians’ sprawling 16.33-acre campus.
“MHC Camp provides meaningful leisure time activities as part of an enriching and enjoyable summer program for both boys and girls ages 4 to 13,” according to the Salesians. “We believe in the whole education of young people as a means for developing their potential as ‘good Christians and honest citizens.’”
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The camp offers a wide range of activities to keep campers engaged and having fun at all times of the day. Activities include archery, arts and crafts, boating and fishing, Christian formation, dance, gardening, indoor and outdoor sports, low-rope course, music, playground, STEM, and swimming. Many campers tried a new activity this season: cupcake and cookie baking and decorating.
Activities also include a “Fun Fact” game as a part of the traditional Salesian “Good Morning,” featuring prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, a “good spiritual thought” for the day, and announcements.
“The kids were excited to see Bishop Sweeney, who greeted them. It means a lot that the bishop, our shepherd, took the time to see what we’re doing. We were blessed,” said Salesian Sister Ramona Beltre, the camp’s director for the past 17 years.
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/bishop-sweeney-rejoices-in-celebrating-mass-at-mary-help-camp-catholic-bishop-kevin-j-sweeney-on-july-27-visited-mary-help-of-christians-camp-in-north-haledon-n-j-to-the-delight-of-about-300-ca.jpg "Bishop Sweeney rejoices in celebrating Mass at Mary Help Camp #Catholic – Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney on July 27 visited Mary Help of Christians Camp in North Haledon, N.J., to the delight of about 300 campers, their families, staff, and the Salesian Sisters’ community that has run the camp for the past 102 years during the camp’s annual Family Day.
Bishop Sweeney presided over a Family Day Mass, which was concelebrated by Salesian Father Jim Mulloy, camp chaplain for about 20 years. The liturgy in St. Joseph Chapel occurred toward the end of the camp’s five-week season this summer, which welcomed 275 campers.
The Salesian Sisters of St. Don Bosco, also known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, run the camp with the help of lay volunteers on the Salesians’ sprawling 16.33-acre campus.
“MHC Camp provides meaningful leisure time activities as part of an enriching and enjoyable summer program for both boys and girls ages 4 to 13,” according to the Salesians. “We believe in the whole education of young people as a means for developing their potential as ‘good Christians and honest citizens.’”
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
The camp offers a wide range of activities to keep campers engaged and having fun at all times of the day. Activities include archery, arts and crafts, boating and fishing, Christian formation, dance, gardening, indoor and outdoor sports, low-rope course, music, playground, STEM, and swimming. Many campers tried a new activity this season: cupcake and cookie baking and decorating.
Activities also include a “Fun Fact” game as a part of the traditional Salesian “Good Morning,” featuring prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, a “good spiritual thought” for the day, and announcements.
“The kids were excited to see Bishop Sweeney, who greeted them. It means a lot that the bishop, our shepherd, took the time to see what we’re doing. We were blessed,” said Salesian Sister Ramona Beltre, the camp’s director for the past 17 years.
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]")
Bishop Sweeney rejoices in celebrating Mass at Mary Help Camp #Catholic – 
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney on July 27 visited Mary Help of Christians Camp in North Haledon, N.J., to the delight of about 300 campers, their families, staff, and the Salesian Sisters’ community that has run the camp for the past 102 years during the camp’s annual Family Day.
Bishop Sweeney presided over a Family Day Mass, which was concelebrated by Salesian Father Jim Mulloy, camp chaplain for about 20 years. The liturgy in St. Joseph Chapel occurred toward the end of the camp’s five-week season this summer, which welcomed 275 campers.
The Salesian Sisters of St. Don Bosco, also known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, run the camp with the help of lay volunteers on the Salesians’ sprawling 16.33-acre campus.
“MHC Camp provides meaningful leisure time activities as part of an enriching and enjoyable summer program for both boys and girls ages 4 to 13,” according to the Salesians. “We believe in the whole education of young people as a means for developing their potential as ‘good Christians and honest citizens.’”
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
The camp offers a wide range of activities to keep campers engaged and having fun at all times of the day. Activities include archery, arts and crafts, boating and fishing, Christian formation, dance, gardening, indoor and outdoor sports, low-rope course, music, playground, STEM, and swimming. Many campers tried a new activity this season: cupcake and cookie baking and decorating.
Activities also include a “Fun Fact” game as a part of the traditional Salesian “Good Morning,” featuring prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, a “good spiritual thought” for the day, and announcements.
“The kids were excited to see Bishop Sweeney, who greeted them. It means a lot that the bishop, our shepherd, took the time to see what we’re doing. We were blessed,” said Salesian Sister Ramona Beltre, the camp’s director for the past 17 years.
– Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney on July 27 visited Mary Help of Christians Camp in North Haledon, N.J., to the delight of about 300 campers, their families, staff, and the Salesian Sisters’ community that has run the camp for the past 102 years during the camp’s annual Family Day. Bishop Sweeney presided over a Family Day Mass, which was concelebrated by Salesian Father Jim Mulloy, camp chaplain for about 20 years. The liturgy in St. Joseph Chapel occurred toward the end of the camp’s five-week season this summer, which welcomed 275 campers. The Salesian Sisters of St. Don Bosco, also known
![Peru seeks to turn Pope Leo’s legacy into an international pilgrimage destination – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit to Peru is not only building anticipation among the faithful but is also opening up the possibility of establishing permanent pilgrimage routes and showcasing the countryʼs rich spiritual heritage, which could boost local economies, according to national and international tourism experts.That was one of the key points presented at the First Specialized Conference on Religious Tourism held Aug. 3 and organized by the National Chamber of Tourism of Peru (CANATUR, by its Spanish acronym) and the World Religious Tourism Network, where experts agreed that the Holy Fatherʼs apostolic journey, scheduled for Nov. 11–17, could serve as a starting point.
Adrián Lomello, the World Religious Tourism Network’s director for the Americas, gives a presentation at the First Specialized Conference on Religious Tourism, held on Aug. 3, 2026, and organized by the National Chamber of Tourism of Peru (CANATUR) and the World Religious Tourism Network. | Credit: Diego Lopez Marina/EWTN News
Speaking to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Adrián Lomello, the World Religious Tourism Network’s director for the Americas, stated that “Peruʼs potential is limitless.”“The country’s resources are enormous, and it also possesses something no one else has: the blend of Catholicism and Andean cultures. That syncretism is unique in Latin America, and here it occurs quite naturally,” he stated.For Lomello, the challenge now lies in looking beyond the pope’s upcoming visit and establishing Peru as a regular destination for pilgrimages.During the event, a proposal was made to strengthen the “Paths of Pope Leo XIV” tourist route, which encompasses cities such as Chiclayo, Piura, Trujillo, and Callao, where the Holy Father carried out a significant part of his pastoral ministry. “The idea is for these destinations to outlast the time of the visit and become a permanent offering” to pilgrims, he explained.
Adrián Lomello gives a presentation at the First Specialized Conference on Religious Tourism in Peru | Credit: Diego López Marina/EWTN News
Religious tourism benefits the entire communityLomello highlighted that religious tourism does not benefit only shrines or churches but also stimulates the economies of the cities that welcome pilgrims.“Religious tourism has a direct impact on the community because the pilgrim arrives, spends money locally, buys handicrafts, stays overnight, perhaps extending their visit by a day, and visits a museum,” he explained to ACI Prensa.“We have demonstrated that the financial investment yields a sixfold return. The state invests 1 sol [Peru’s unit of currency] and gets 6 back, a 600% return,” he emphasized.He noted that cities must prepare to offer experiences that complement the pilgrimage, including “excellent cuisine, engaging activities, museums, and events.”
Adrián Lomello, director for the Americas of the World Religious Tourism Network. | Credit: Diego López Marina/EWTN News
He noted that Peru possesses numerous destinations with great potential beyond those that are already well established.“Cusco no longer needs further promotion. It even faces limitations in accommodating more visitors, and that’s fine. However, there are other destinations that offer the same impact and need to be developed,” he pointed out.Waldin Durán, one of the speakers at the event and a specialist in innovation and digital transformation for tourism, told ACI Prensa that Leo XIV’s visit should be understood not just as a one-time event but “the precedent and the beginning,” positioning Peru as an international destination for religious tourism.Durán noted that religious tourism represents about 20% of world tourism, and according to data from the World Tourism Organization, a pilgrim can generate up to 10% more income than a conventional tourist. He said the challenge will be to take advantage of Leo XIV’s upcoming itinerary to attract visitors on an ongoing basis.The event organized by CANATUR also provided an update on the progress of preparations for the papal visit.CANATUR general manager Carlos Loayza said the tourism sector is already working to engage hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, guides, restaurants, transportation providers, artisans, and local authorities.A country shaped by faithLomello also encouraged Peruvian authorities to promote religious tourism as a matter of state policy.“We would be delighted to see the government commit to this and make religious tourism a flagship initiative. I believe some steps have already been taken, and a commission has been established that strikes me as very promising,” he noted, referring to the alliance formed between the World Religious Tourism Network, CANATUR, and the Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism, which are making initial preparations for the apostolic journey.At the same time, he acknowledged that “the political transition Peru is undergoing,” with the election of Keiko Fujimori as the new president, “calls for a bit of patience” while the new government gets itself established.‘Leo XIV is Peruvian’For Lomello, one of the elements that will make the papal visit historic is the deep bond Leo XIV shares with the country.“He is of U.S. origin, but his mindset is Peruvian. His spiritual formation is Peruvian. His tastes are Peruvian,” he noted.
Pope Leo XIV gives his blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica following his election on May 8, 2025. | Credit: Vatican Media
In his view, that bond will give the visit a special significance. “The benefits in terms of Peruvian identity will be immense. The benefits regarding spiritual conversion will be enormous,” he added.“Let’s have the finest banquet prepared,” he said. “Peru is beginning to experience a celebration. And when there is a celebration, the people rejoice; everyone’s heart is full of joy.” “May no one be left out. That is the great challenge: making this a celebration for everyone,” he added.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/peru-seeks-to-turn-pope-leos-legacy-into-an-international-pilgrimage-destination-catholic-pope-leo-xivs-upcoming-visit-to-peru-is-not-only-building-anticipation-among-the-faithf.jpg "Peru seeks to turn Pope Leo’s legacy into an international pilgrimage destination – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit to Peru is not only building anticipation among the faithful but is also opening up the possibility of establishing permanent pilgrimage routes and showcasing the countryʼs rich spiritual heritage, which could boost local economies, according to national and international tourism experts.That was one of the key points presented at the First Specialized Conference on Religious Tourism held Aug. 3 and organized by the National Chamber of Tourism of Peru (CANATUR, by its Spanish acronym) and the World Religious Tourism Network, where experts agreed that the Holy Fatherʼs apostolic journey, scheduled for Nov. 11–17, could serve as a starting point.
Adrián Lomello, the World Religious Tourism Network’s director for the Americas, gives a presentation at the First Specialized Conference on Religious Tourism, held on Aug. 3, 2026, and organized by the National Chamber of Tourism of Peru (CANATUR) and the World Religious Tourism Network. | Credit: Diego Lopez Marina/EWTN News
Speaking to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Adrián Lomello, the World Religious Tourism Network’s director for the Americas, stated that “Peruʼs potential is limitless.”“The country’s resources are enormous, and it also possesses something no one else has: the blend of Catholicism and Andean cultures. That syncretism is unique in Latin America, and here it occurs quite naturally,” he stated.For Lomello, the challenge now lies in looking beyond the pope’s upcoming visit and establishing Peru as a regular destination for pilgrimages.During the event, a proposal was made to strengthen the “Paths of Pope Leo XIV” tourist route, which encompasses cities such as Chiclayo, Piura, Trujillo, and Callao, where the Holy Father carried out a significant part of his pastoral ministry. “The idea is for these destinations to outlast the time of the visit and become a permanent offering” to pilgrims, he explained.
Adrián Lomello gives a presentation at the First Specialized Conference on Religious Tourism in Peru | Credit: Diego López Marina/EWTN News
Religious tourism benefits the entire communityLomello highlighted that religious tourism does not benefit only shrines or churches but also stimulates the economies of the cities that welcome pilgrims.“Religious tourism has a direct impact on the community because the pilgrim arrives, spends money locally, buys handicrafts, stays overnight, perhaps extending their visit by a day, and visits a museum,” he explained to ACI Prensa.“We have demonstrated that the financial investment yields a sixfold return. The state invests 1 sol [Peru’s unit of currency] and gets 6 back, a 600% return,” he emphasized.He noted that cities must prepare to offer experiences that complement the pilgrimage, including “excellent cuisine, engaging activities, museums, and events.”
Adrián Lomello, director for the Americas of the World Religious Tourism Network. | Credit: Diego López Marina/EWTN News
He noted that Peru possesses numerous destinations with great potential beyond those that are already well established.“Cusco no longer needs further promotion. It even faces limitations in accommodating more visitors, and that’s fine. However, there are other destinations that offer the same impact and need to be developed,” he pointed out.Waldin Durán, one of the speakers at the event and a specialist in innovation and digital transformation for tourism, told ACI Prensa that Leo XIV’s visit should be understood not just as a one-time event but “the precedent and the beginning,” positioning Peru as an international destination for religious tourism.Durán noted that religious tourism represents about 20% of world tourism, and according to data from the World Tourism Organization, a pilgrim can generate up to 10% more income than a conventional tourist. He said the challenge will be to take advantage of Leo XIV’s upcoming itinerary to attract visitors on an ongoing basis.The event organized by CANATUR also provided an update on the progress of preparations for the papal visit.CANATUR general manager Carlos Loayza said the tourism sector is already working to engage hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, guides, restaurants, transportation providers, artisans, and local authorities.A country shaped by faithLomello also encouraged Peruvian authorities to promote religious tourism as a matter of state policy.“We would be delighted to see the government commit to this and make religious tourism a flagship initiative. I believe some steps have already been taken, and a commission has been established that strikes me as very promising,” he noted, referring to the alliance formed between the World Religious Tourism Network, CANATUR, and the Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism, which are making initial preparations for the apostolic journey.At the same time, he acknowledged that “the political transition Peru is undergoing,” with the election of Keiko Fujimori as the new president, “calls for a bit of patience” while the new government gets itself established.‘Leo XIV is Peruvian’For Lomello, one of the elements that will make the papal visit historic is the deep bond Leo XIV shares with the country.“He is of U.S. origin, but his mindset is Peruvian. His spiritual formation is Peruvian. His tastes are Peruvian,” he noted.
Pope Leo XIV gives his blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica following his election on May 8, 2025. | Credit: Vatican Media
In his view, that bond will give the visit a special significance. “The benefits in terms of Peruvian identity will be immense. The benefits regarding spiritual conversion will be enormous,” he added.“Let’s have the finest banquet prepared,” he said. “Peru is beginning to experience a celebration. And when there is a celebration, the people rejoice; everyone’s heart is full of joy.” “May no one be left out. That is the great challenge: making this a celebration for everyone,” he added.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.")
![Haiti bishop says gangs target Church as violence shuts parishes, schools – #Catholic – Bishop Joseph Gontrand Décoste of Jérémie, Haiti, detailed the ongoing violence in the nation and warned that the Church has become a target for gangs.The Church is “the last remaining bulkhead — moral, ethical, spiritual, and prophetic,” he said. “That is why they want to eliminate us.”Décoste told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an international Catholic pastoral aid organization, that despite the widespread violence in the Caribbean nation, the Church remains hopeful.“We keep praying, singing, and dancing. In Haiti we say: ‘As long as they haven’t cut off our head, we still have hope of wearing a hat.’ That is why we never lose hope,” he said.The bishop thanked organizations working to offer aid to the nation. He said: “Your prayers sustain us enormously; without them we could not carry on. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.”Gang violence in the nation continues to rise with armed gangs controlling between 70% and 90% of the capital.Amid the violence, in Port-au-Prince, 40 parishes have had to close, according to ACN. Schools and religious houses have also been attacked, burned, and seized.Sister Paesie, a Catholic sister who operates an organization to aid children in Cité Soleil, Haiti, also highlighted the increasing violence.The sister and her team at the Kizito Family, which runs homes, schools, and catechism programs, recently took in dozens more children following numerous recent attacks.Sister Paesie told EWTN News that last week gangs attacked an area in Port-au-Prince where the organization operates one of its schools. Most of the population fled besides a few elderly people who were unable to, and most were killed.“The parents began bringing children to us for shelter,” she told EWTN News. On Aug. 9, “we took in about 20” and “others came yesterday, and about 50 today.”“The Missionaries of Charity accepted to take in the girls” and “we have the boys,” she said.“Among them were four brothers [who] were alone when the attack took place. The parents had gone to work, and a cousin grabbed them and fled. When the father returned home, he was not aware of the attack. He was killed and burned. The mother did not show up … where the people took refuge,” she said.Sister Paesie also detailed how the attacks and destruction have left organizations, many of them run by religious orders, unable to operate and provide aid to those in need.She specifically noted a Missionaries of Charity convent that was attacked and burned down two years ago.It remains "completely empty and the buildings destroyed,” she said. “It used to receive more than 2,000 patients every year.”
Sister Paesie visits the Missionaries of Charity convent in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in May 2026. The convent was attacked and burned by gangs in 2024. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Sister Paesie
U.S. bishops urge protection for Haitian nationals on TPSU.S. bishops have continuously warned of the unsafe conditions in Haiti, urging lawmakers to extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian nationals living in the United States.Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has previously said that ending temporary residency protections for Haitians would be “sending people into a burning building.”He said Haiti “remains a country on the brink,” noting the “widespread gang violence and kidnapping, a rampant cholera epidemic, and spreading food insecurity.”“The lack of functioning state institutions has resulted in a general breakdown of security, with attacks on women and children becoming commonplace,” he said. “It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions.”Other Florida bishops, and many Ohio bishops, have also addressed the matter, calling for a more permanent solution to care for the refugees.The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in April, and the Senate has not acted on that measure or on a bill (S. 4814), which would require the Homeland Security secretary to designate Haiti for TPS through early 2029, giving eligible Haitian nationals in the United States protection from deportation and authorization to work while conditions in Haiti remain unsafe.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/haiti-bishop-says-gangs-target-church-as-violence-shuts-parishes-schools-catholic-bishop-joseph-gontrand-decoste-of-jeremie-haiti-detailed-the-ongoing-violence-in-the-nation-and-warned-that-th.jpg "Haiti bishop says gangs target Church as violence shuts parishes, schools – #Catholic – Bishop Joseph Gontrand Décoste of Jérémie, Haiti, detailed the ongoing violence in the nation and warned that the Church has become a target for gangs.The Church is “the last remaining bulkhead — moral, ethical, spiritual, and prophetic,” he said. “That is why they want to eliminate us.”Décoste told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an international Catholic pastoral aid organization, that despite the widespread violence in the Caribbean nation, the Church remains hopeful.“We keep praying, singing, and dancing. In Haiti we say: ‘As long as they haven’t cut off our head, we still have hope of wearing a hat.’ That is why we never lose hope,” he said.The bishop thanked organizations working to offer aid to the nation. He said: “Your prayers sustain us enormously; without them we could not carry on. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.”Gang violence in the nation continues to rise with armed gangs controlling between 70% and 90% of the capital.Amid the violence, in Port-au-Prince, 40 parishes have had to close, according to ACN. Schools and religious houses have also been attacked, burned, and seized.Sister Paesie, a Catholic sister who operates an organization to aid children in Cité Soleil, Haiti, also highlighted the increasing violence.The sister and her team at the Kizito Family, which runs homes, schools, and catechism programs, recently took in dozens more children following numerous recent attacks.Sister Paesie told EWTN News that last week gangs attacked an area in Port-au-Prince where the organization operates one of its schools. Most of the population fled besides a few elderly people who were unable to, and most were killed.“The parents began bringing children to us for shelter,” she told EWTN News. On Aug. 9, “we took in about 20” and “others came yesterday, and about 50 today.”“The Missionaries of Charity accepted to take in the girls” and “we have the boys,” she said.“Among them were four brothers [who] were alone when the attack took place. The parents had gone to work, and a cousin grabbed them and fled. When the father returned home, he was not aware of the attack. He was killed and burned. The mother did not show up … where the people took refuge,” she said.Sister Paesie also detailed how the attacks and destruction have left organizations, many of them run by religious orders, unable to operate and provide aid to those in need.She specifically noted a Missionaries of Charity convent that was attacked and burned down two years ago.It remains \"completely empty and the buildings destroyed,” she said. “It used to receive more than 2,000 patients every year.”
Sister Paesie visits the Missionaries of Charity convent in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in May 2026. The convent was attacked and burned by gangs in 2024. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Sister Paesie
U.S. bishops urge protection for Haitian nationals on TPSU.S. bishops have continuously warned of the unsafe conditions in Haiti, urging lawmakers to extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian nationals living in the United States.Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has previously said that ending temporary residency protections for Haitians would be “sending people into a burning building.”He said Haiti “remains a country on the brink,” noting the “widespread gang violence and kidnapping, a rampant cholera epidemic, and spreading food insecurity.”“The lack of functioning state institutions has resulted in a general breakdown of security, with attacks on women and children becoming commonplace,” he said. “It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions.”Other Florida bishops, and many Ohio bishops, have also addressed the matter, calling for a more permanent solution to care for the refugees.The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in April, and the Senate has not acted on that measure or on a bill (S. 4814), which would require the Homeland Security secretary to designate Haiti for TPS through early 2029, giving eligible Haitian nationals in the United States protection from deportation and authorization to work while conditions in Haiti remain unsafe.")
![Texas court orders hospitals to provide lifesaving care to baby at center of surrogacy dispute – #Catholic – Two hospitals in Texas have been ordered to provide lifesaving care for a soon-to-be-born baby at the center of an interstate surrogacy dispute. State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced in an Aug. 11 press release that UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas were legally obligated to care for Gabriel, a baby due to be born on Sept. 2 to surrogate mother McKenna West. A Texas district court had earlier ruled that the hospitals would be required to care for the baby.In an earlier letter to the hospitals on Aug. 10, Paxton said Gabriel had been diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and that his “intended parents” said they would seek to “refuse consent” to an operation. The parents, identified in court documents as Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, “may seek to move the child to California so that treatment can be withheld there,” the letter said. West reportedly traveled to Texas from Alaska after Gilkar and Ahmed urged her to seek an abortion after the diagnosis of the syndrome, according to news reports. She allegedly offered to take full responsibility of the baby, though the baby’s biological parents reportedly refused. In an emergency order dated Aug. 11, the Dallas district court ordered that upon birth the baby would be provided with “medically indicated stabilizing and life-sustaining care” at either of the hospitals. The court also barred the child’s removal from either the hospitals or the state of Texas except as necessary for his medical care. Paxton hailed the court’s order as “the right decision.” “My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s well-being,” the prosecutor said. “Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that’s exactly what I’ll fight for.” ‘A problem for the 13th Amendment’Anthony Sirven, a Catholic Florida-based attorney who has published on the subject of surrogacy, told EWTN News that this case and others like it portend “whether we’re going to decide custody based on a contract.”“The [surrogacy] contract is about a human life,” he said. “So the question is: How do you enforce a contract over a human life? The answer should be ‘you can’t’ because of the 13th and 14th Amendments.” The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States while the 14th Amendment enshrined equal protection and due process in the U.S. Constitution.Early litigation surrounding in vitro fertilization and surrogacy had to walk a careful line, Sirven said, as Roe v. Wade had asserted that unborn children are not human persons, putting their legal status into uncertainty. Courts ultimately settled around the idea that embryos are “a special kind of property,” he said, allowing courts to enforce contract-based rights over them.But the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision “overturned Roe and, arguably, every case that relied on Roe to recognize a property interest in human life,” he said, throwing years of precedent into uncertainty.On the Texas case, “we’ll see what happens,” Sirven said. “If this child is born and given lifesaving care, the next question will become ‘Who’s going to take custody of him?’ If the ‘intended parents’ seek custody or other rights under a contract, and the court rules in their favor on the basis of a contract, then that’s a problem under both the 13th and 14th Amendments.”Stefano Gennarini, the vice president for legal studies at the New York-based Center for Family and Human Rights, told EWTN News that “most lawyers” would agree it is “hard to predict a case like this.”Gennarini said he was not an expert in either Texas or Alaskan family law, but he said international legal conventions — specifically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — affirms “the human right of mothers and their children to receive special protections during pregnancy and after birth.”“Allowing a third party to contractually decide what kind of treatment a surrogate mother can seek eviscerates these international protections,” he said. “Overall, this case illustrates how dangerous any form of surrogacy is.”The practice of surrogacy, he said, “legally deconstructs the natural family as recognized in international law,” leading to what he described as “inhuman scenarios” such as that in Texas.The order handed down in Texas takes effect on the event of Gabriel’s birth and “remains in effect until further order,” the court said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/texas-court-orders-hospitals-to-provide-lifesaving-care-to-baby-at-center-of-surrogacy-dispute-catholic-two-hospitals-in-texas-have-been-ordered-to-provide-lifesaving-care-for-a-soon-to-be-born-b.jpg "Texas court orders hospitals to provide lifesaving care to baby at center of surrogacy dispute – #Catholic – Two hospitals in Texas have been ordered to provide lifesaving care for a soon-to-be-born baby at the center of an interstate surrogacy dispute. State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced in an Aug. 11 press release that UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas were legally obligated to care for Gabriel, a baby due to be born on Sept. 2 to surrogate mother McKenna West. A Texas district court had earlier ruled that the hospitals would be required to care for the baby.In an earlier letter to the hospitals on Aug. 10, Paxton said Gabriel had been diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and that his “intended parents” said they would seek to “refuse consent” to an operation. The parents, identified in court documents as Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, “may seek to move the child to California so that treatment can be withheld there,” the letter said. West reportedly traveled to Texas from Alaska after Gilkar and Ahmed urged her to seek an abortion after the diagnosis of the syndrome, according to news reports. She allegedly offered to take full responsibility of the baby, though the baby’s biological parents reportedly refused. In an emergency order dated Aug. 11, the Dallas district court ordered that upon birth the baby would be provided with “medically indicated stabilizing and life-sustaining care” at either of the hospitals. The court also barred the child’s removal from either the hospitals or the state of Texas except as necessary for his medical care. Paxton hailed the court’s order as “the right decision.” “My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s well-being,” the prosecutor said. “Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that’s exactly what I’ll fight for.” ‘A problem for the 13th Amendment’Anthony Sirven, a Catholic Florida-based attorney who has published on the subject of surrogacy, told EWTN News that this case and others like it portend “whether we’re going to decide custody based on a contract.”“The [surrogacy] contract is about a human life,” he said. “So the question is: How do you enforce a contract over a human life? The answer should be ‘you can’t’ because of the 13th and 14th Amendments.” The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States while the 14th Amendment enshrined equal protection and due process in the U.S. Constitution.Early litigation surrounding in vitro fertilization and surrogacy had to walk a careful line, Sirven said, as Roe v. Wade had asserted that unborn children are not human persons, putting their legal status into uncertainty. Courts ultimately settled around the idea that embryos are “a special kind of property,” he said, allowing courts to enforce contract-based rights over them.But the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision “overturned Roe and, arguably, every case that relied on Roe to recognize a property interest in human life,” he said, throwing years of precedent into uncertainty.On the Texas case, “we’ll see what happens,” Sirven said. “If this child is born and given lifesaving care, the next question will become ‘Who’s going to take custody of him?’ If the ‘intended parents’ seek custody or other rights under a contract, and the court rules in their favor on the basis of a contract, then that’s a problem under both the 13th and 14th Amendments.”Stefano Gennarini, the vice president for legal studies at the New York-based Center for Family and Human Rights, told EWTN News that “most lawyers” would agree it is “hard to predict a case like this.”Gennarini said he was not an expert in either Texas or Alaskan family law, but he said international legal conventions — specifically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — affirms “the human right of mothers and their children to receive special protections during pregnancy and after birth.”“Allowing a third party to contractually decide what kind of treatment a surrogate mother can seek eviscerates these international protections,” he said. “Overall, this case illustrates how dangerous any form of surrogacy is.”The practice of surrogacy, he said, “legally deconstructs the natural family as recognized in international law,” leading to what he described as “inhuman scenarios” such as that in Texas.The order handed down in Texas takes effect on the event of Gabriel’s birth and “remains in effect until further order,” the court said.")
![Medicaid formally ends funds for ‘sex-rejecting procedures’ for minors with final rule #Catholic The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it has implemented a final rule that formally bans using funds for “sex-rejecting procedures” for minors, which are drugs and surgeries used to facilitate “gender transitions.”According to a CMS news release, this includes puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations. It states these medical procedures cause irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other physiological effects.The move formalizes a policy of President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent minors from accessing these drugs and surgeries. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order that instructed agencies to adopt rules to “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”The final rule includes a tapering-off period of up to six months for children who are receiving cross-sex hormones, which allows them to be gradually weaned off the medicine. It does not affect mental health services.“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement.“By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish,” he said.Rachel N. Morrison, director of the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Administrative State Accountability Project, told EWTN News that government funding should never support “harmful, sterilizing, and often irreversible sex-rejecting procedures.”“I am grateful to CMS and the Trump administration for their efforts to combat gender ideology, protect children from the harms [of] sex-rejecting procedures, and advance policies that reflect a true understanding of the nature of the human person,” she said.The Church’s positionThe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) referred EWTN News to a Feb. 17 letter to CMS, which said the proposed ban on federal funding “aligns with Catholic teaching on the nature of the human person” and “reflects true distinctions between the sexes.” “Rejection of our God-given bodies, such as by modifying them to appear as the opposite sex, is a grave matter, and when done with full knowledge and complete consent, is a grave sin,” the letter states.In November 2025, the USCCB published a new edition of its ”Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” guidelines, which prohibit Catholic institutions from providing treatments that “aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function” such as “interventions that aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex (or to nullify sexual characteristics…).”Joseph Meaney, past president and senior ethicist for the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), told EWTN News CMS “should be applauded for putting an end to federal taxpayer funding of transgender procedures on children.”“There is substantial agreement between U.S. government policy and Catholic teaching in this area of healthcare policy,” he said.Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, an NCBC senior ethicist, told EWTN News that the implementation of the rule “is very sensible and long overdue.”“Countless youth have already been railroaded along this path, placing themselves at great risk and damaging their bodies as they struggle with this confusion,” Pacholczyk said. “Once a young person steps onto that train, they often become ‘regular business customers,’ with a lifelong dependence on the continued prescribing of hormones and additional cycles of expensive surgeries.”He said tax money should not pay for “a hysterectomy on a girl who wants to live as a boy, nor to provide breast implants into a boy who thinks he is a girl.” He said children “deserve far better from the world of medicine and psychiatry.”“They are entitled to solid psychotherapy as a means of assisting them to reintegrate their subjective gender identity with their objective lifelong biology so they can recognize and embrace the beautiful gift of the biological sex they have been endowed with from the beginning,” Pacholczyk said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/medicaid-formally-ends-funds-for-sex-rejecting-procedures-for-minors-with-final-rule-catholic-the-centers-for-medicare-medicaid-services-cms-announced-it-has-implemented-a-f.jpg "Medicaid formally ends funds for ‘sex-rejecting procedures’ for minors with final rule #Catholic The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it has implemented a final rule that formally bans using funds for “sex-rejecting procedures” for minors, which are drugs and surgeries used to facilitate “gender transitions.”According to a CMS news release, this includes puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations. It states these medical procedures cause irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other physiological effects.The move formalizes a policy of President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent minors from accessing these drugs and surgeries. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order that instructed agencies to adopt rules to “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”The final rule includes a tapering-off period of up to six months for children who are receiving cross-sex hormones, which allows them to be gradually weaned off the medicine. It does not affect mental health services.“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement.“By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish,” he said.Rachel N. Morrison, director of the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Administrative State Accountability Project, told EWTN News that government funding should never support “harmful, sterilizing, and often irreversible sex-rejecting procedures.”“I am grateful to CMS and the Trump administration for their efforts to combat gender ideology, protect children from the harms [of] sex-rejecting procedures, and advance policies that reflect a true understanding of the nature of the human person,” she said.The Church’s positionThe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) referred EWTN News to a Feb. 17 letter to CMS, which said the proposed ban on federal funding “aligns with Catholic teaching on the nature of the human person” and “reflects true distinctions between the sexes.” “Rejection of our God-given bodies, such as by modifying them to appear as the opposite sex, is a grave matter, and when done with full knowledge and complete consent, is a grave sin,” the letter states.In November 2025, the USCCB published a new edition of its ”Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” guidelines, which prohibit Catholic institutions from providing treatments that “aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function” such as “interventions that aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex (or to nullify sexual characteristics…).”Joseph Meaney, past president and senior ethicist for the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), told EWTN News CMS “should be applauded for putting an end to federal taxpayer funding of transgender procedures on children.”“There is substantial agreement between U.S. government policy and Catholic teaching in this area of healthcare policy,” he said.Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, an NCBC senior ethicist, told EWTN News that the implementation of the rule “is very sensible and long overdue.”“Countless youth have already been railroaded along this path, placing themselves at great risk and damaging their bodies as they struggle with this confusion,” Pacholczyk said. “Once a young person steps onto that train, they often become ‘regular business customers,’ with a lifelong dependence on the continued prescribing of hormones and additional cycles of expensive surgeries.”He said tax money should not pay for “a hysterectomy on a girl who wants to live as a boy, nor to provide breast implants into a boy who thinks he is a girl.” He said children “deserve far better from the world of medicine and psychiatry.”“They are entitled to solid psychotherapy as a means of assisting them to reintegrate their subjective gender identity with their objective lifelong biology so they can recognize and embrace the beautiful gift of the biological sex they have been endowed with from the beginning,” Pacholczyk said.")
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