Texas state capitol. / Credit: Inspired By Maps/Shutterstock
Houston, Texas, Oct 29, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Texas voters will head to the polls next week to consider Proposition 15, the Parental Rights Amendment, a constitutional amendment aimed at enshrining parents’ rights in the state constitution.
The measure, if approved, would add language to the Texas Constitution affirming that parents have the right “to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing” and the responsibility “to nurture and protect the parent’s child.”
Texas already ranks among 26 states with a Parents’ Bill of Rights enshrined in state law. That existing statute grants parents a right to “full information” concerning their child at school as well as access to their child’s student records, copies of state assessments, and teaching materials, among other provisions.
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops told CNA it supports the “proposed amendment to recognize the natural right of parents to direct their children’s upbringing.”
Other supporters include the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, Family Freedom Project, Texans for Vaccine Choice, Texas Eagle Forum, Texas Home School Coalition, Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Texas Right to Life PAC.
Marcella Burke, a Houston attorney, told CNA that “it’s good to live in a state where an amendment like this is on the table. Parents matter, their kids matter, and families should be protected against government interference. That’s exactly what this amendment seeks to do: keep governments from interfering with beneficial family growth and child development.”
“While these rights to nurture and protect children are currently safeguarded thanks to existing Supreme Court case law, there is no federal constitutional amendment protecting these rights,” Burke continued.
Opposition to the proposition has come from both Democratic as well as conservative advocacy groups.
According to the True Texas Project, a conservative group of former Tea Party supporters, the language of the amendment is too vague. In addition, the group argues that “Prop 15 would simply declare that parents have the inherent right to make decisions for their children. We should not have to put this into the state constitution! God has already ordained that parents are to be responsible for their children, and government has no place in family decisions, except in the case of child abuse and neglect.”
The group says that including the proposed language in the state constitution “equates to acknowledgement that the state has conferred this right. And we know that what the state can give, the state can take away.”
Burke said, however, that “an amendment like this will make governments think twice and carefully consider any actions affecting child-rearing. Keep in mind that no rights are absolute, so in this context, parents don’t have the right to abuse their kids — and that’s the sort of exception the amendment reads in.”
Katy Faust, founder of children’s advocacy group Them Before Us, told CNA parental rights are the “flipside of genuine child rights.”
Younger U.S. priests say they are far more conservative than older priests in their voting patterns, according to a 2025 survey. / Credit: TSViPhoto/Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 14, 2025 / 15:35 pm (CNA).
Younger U.S. priests are far more conservative than older priests, reaffirming a generational divide in political views, according to a 2025 survey.
The strong generational divide in political views among Catholic priests in the United States was reaffirmed in a 2025 survey that shows younger priests are far more conservative than older priests.
The National Study of Catholic Priests, published on Oct. 14, was commissioned by The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America and conducted by Gallup. Researchers surveyed the same priests who were surveyed in The Catholic Project’s 2022 survey to examine the U.S. priesthood.
According to the report, the 2025 survey “closely mirrors” the findings in 2022 and shows “a clear generational shift away from liberal self-identification.”
About 51% of priests ordained in 2010 or later said their political views are either conservative or very conservative. Another 37% said they were moderate and the remaining 12% were either liberal or very liberal.
For priests ordained between 2000 and 2009, 44% were conservative or very conservative and 44% were moderate. Again, only 12% of priests ordained in these years said they were liberal or very liberal.
Priests ordained between 1990 and 1999 leaned conservative, but to a lesser degree, with 38% saying they are somewhat conservative, 34% identifying as moderate, and 26% saying they are liberal or very liberal.
For priests ordained in the prior decade, 1980 to 1989, conservatism declines to about 22%, and 36% call themselves moderate. About 40%, a plurality, identify as liberal or very liberal.
Older priests are far more liberal. A majority of priests ordained between 1975 and 1979, about 53%, say they are either liberal or very liberal. About 34% are moderate and 11% conservative. About 61% of priests ordained before 1975 said they are liberal or very liberal, 25% are moderate, and 13% are conservative.
The theological leanings of priests followed a similar pattern, with an even sharper decline in theological progressivism, according to the researchers. About 70% of priests ordained before 1975 called themselves theological progressives, and only 8% of priests ordained 2010 or later said the same.
About 70% of the youngest priests self-report as conservative/orthodox or very conservative/orthodox on theological matters.
Generational divide on pastoral priorities
The political and theological shifts flow into generational divides about what issues the Church should be prioritizing as well, such as climate change, LGBTQ outreach, and synodality.
Regarding climate change, 78% of priests ordained before 1980 said this should be a priority, as did 61% of priests ordained between 1980 and 1999. Just 35% of priests ordained in 2000 or later agreed.
The trend is similar for outreach to the LGBTQ community with 66% of priests ordained before 1980 calling this a priority, but just 49% of priests ordained between 1980 and 1999 and 37% of priests ordained 2000 or later agree.
Synodality is also popular among older priests, with 77% of those ordained before 1980 calling it a priority. About 57% of priests ordained between 1980 and 1999 say the same, but only 37% of priests ordained 2000 or later agree.
Immigration
Some issues show smaller generational divides. For example, 93% of priests ordained before 1980 see immigration and refugee assistance as a priority, as do 82% ordained between 1980 and 1999 and 74% ordained in 2000 or later. Also, 98% of priests ordained before 1980 believe poverty, homelessness, and food insecurity are priorities, as do 92% ordained between 1980 and 1999 and 79% ordained 2000 or later.
There is a generational divide on whether Eucharistic devotion or access to the Traditional Latin Mass are priorities, with younger priests more focused on those issues.
About 88% of priests ordained in 2000 or later see Eucharistic devotion as a priority, as do 66% of those ordained between 1980 and 1999 and 57% ordained before 1980. About 39% of priests ordained in 2000 or later see Latin Mass access as a priority, but only 20% of priests ordained between 1980 and 1999 and 11% of priests ordained before 1980 agree.
Erika Kirk embraces U.S. President Donald Trump at the conclusion of the memorial service held for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21, 2025. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2025 / 09:35 am (CNA).
President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Erika Kirk, and more than a dozen others gave speeches to honor the late Charlie Kirk at Sunday’s memorial service, highlighting his efforts to promote conservative values to young people and promote the Gospel on campus.
Some 90,000 people gathered for the memorial service at State Farm Stadium and an adjacent venue in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21. Bishop Robert Barron, who had scheduled Kirk to come on his show, was among those in attendance.
Kirk, an evangelical Christian, was assassinated on Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University while debating students on campus. At the time, Kirk was conversing with a young ideological opponent about transgenderism and gun violence. Prior to the question, he had been discussing his Christian faith with another questioner, something he often included in his conservative campus activism.
“What was even more important to Charlie than politics and service was the choice he made in the fifth grade — which he called the most important decision of his life — to become a Christian and a follower of his Savior Jesus Christ,” Trump, a self-identified nondenominational Christian, said during his speech.
Trump praised Kirk’s legacy of evangelizing the message of Christ and his activism to promote conservative values on campus, saying Kirk was “inspired by faith and his love of freedom” to establish the conservative campus organization Turning Point USA when he was just 18 years old.
“Charlie Kirk started with an idea only to change minds on college campuses and instead he ended up with a far greater achievement: changing history,” the president said. “… Today Charlie Kirk rests in heaven for all eternity. He has gone from speaking on campuses in Wisconsin to kneeling at the throne of God.”
Vance, a Catholic who often discussed theology with Kirk, spoke about Kirk’s devotion to honest debate in his campus activism, saying his “unshakable belief in the Gospel led him to see differences in opinion, not as battlefields to conquer but as waystations in the pursuit of truth.”
“He knew it was right to love others, your neighbor, your interlocutor, your enemy,” Vance said. “But he also understood his duty to say what is right and what is wrong, to distinguish what is false from what is true.”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during the memorial service for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21, 2025. Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The vice president noted that even after death, Kirk’s message to defend life, to get married and start a family, and to follow Christ, continue to reach people. Vance said his own public appearances have been particularly influenced by Kirk after the assassination.
“I was telling somebody backstage that I always felt a little uncomfortable talking about my faith in public, as much as I love the Lord, as much as it was an important part of my life,” Vance told the crowd. “I’ve talked more about Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than I have my entire time in public life. And that is the undeniable legacy of the great Charlie Kirk. You know, he loved God and because he wanted to understand God’s creation and the men and women made in his image.”
Kirk’s widow forgives assassin
Kirk’s wife, Erika, said her husband’s devotion to Christ has influenced many Americans in the aftermath of the assassination.
“This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade, we saw people pray for the first time since they were children, we saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives,” Erika Kirk said.
“Pray again, read the Bible again, go to Church next Sunday and the Sunday after that, and break free from the temptations and shackles of this world,” she urged the audience.
“Being a follower of Christ is not easy,” she continued. “It’s not supposed to be easy. Jesus said ‘if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’ He said he would be persecuted, he said we would be persecuted, and Charlie knew that and happily carried his cross all the way to the end.”
Erika Kirk said he had gone onto Utah Valley University’s campus to show people, especially young men, “a better path and a better life that was right there for the taking.” She added: “He wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life.”
Appealing to the Gospel message, Erika Kirk also extended forgiveness to the man who shot her husband.
“On the cross, our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,’” she said. “That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”
‘I want to be remembered for courage for my faith’
Other speakers also highlighted Kirk’s emphasis on Christ in his campus activism.
Donald Trump Jr. reminded the crowd that Kirk said just months before his death that if he were to die, “I want to be remembered for my courage for my faith.”
“Those were not empty words,” Trump Jr. said. “Last week, Charlie joined a long line of courageous men and women who were martyred for what they believe.”
The country’s Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Catholic, said Kirk’s devotion to God modeled St. Francis of Assisi’s instruction to try to live one’s life in imitation of Christ.
“Charlie understood the great paradox: That it’s only by surrender to God that God’s power can flow into our lives and make us effective human beings,” Kennedy said. “Christ died at 33 years old, but he changed the trajectory of history. Charlie died at 31 years old, but because he had surrendered, he also now has changed the trajectory of history.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth similarly noted that Kirk “was a true believer,” one who understood that “Only Christ is King, our Lord and Savior.”
“Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus,” Hegseth said. “Fear God and fear no man. That was Charlie Kirk.”
Political commentator Tucker Carlson said Kirk was essentially “a Christian evangelist” who “was bringing the Gospel to the country.”
“He also knew that politics wasn’t the final answer,” Carlson said. “It can’t answer the deepest questions, actually. That the only real solution is Jesus.”
The Eucharist is displayed in a monstrance in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City before a Eucharistic procession on Oct. 15, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A recent study found that traditional liturgical experiences, including receiving the Eucharist by tongue, indicate a stronger belief among Catholics in the Real Presence.
Last year, Natalie A. Lindemann published a journal article on Catholics’ belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist. Lindemann, a professor in the department of psychology at William Paterson University, recently published a follow-up peer-reviewed article that uses a larger sample size and examines additional information.
Belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is central to the Catholic faith, but only about 57% of U.S. Catholics believe with certainty the Eucharist is Jesus’ body, according to Lindemann’s report.
The new study, published in the Catholic Social Science Review, found receiving the Eucharist on the tongue, attending a parish that rings consecration bells, and attending a parish that offers the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) have an effect on one’s belief in the Real Presence.
The research is from a survey of 860 U.S. Catholic English-speaking adults. The group closely reflects the ratio of men to women in the U.S. adult Catholic population. The ethnicity demographic was biased toward the overrepresentation of some ethnic groups, so a corrective weight was applied.
Participants’ Eucharistic beliefs varied with 31% reporting they are certain of the Real Presence, 23.6% being certain that the Eucharist is a symbol without Jesus being present, 10.5% said Jesus is probably present, 19.2% were not sure, and 15.8% said the Eucharist is probably a symbol.
How ‘bodily and related social liturgical practices’ predict beliefs
The survey asked participants to answer questions on a scale of 1 to 5. One represented the belief that “bread and wine are symbols of Jesus; I am certain that Jesus is not really present.” Five indicated that person is “certain that Jesus is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.” Belief in the Real Presence on the five-point rating scale was found to have an average mean (M) of 3.10.
Participants who have received the Eucharist on the tongue at some point (M=3.27) believe more in the Real Presence than those who have never received the Eucharist by tongue (M=2.79). People who often receive on the tongue, and often see others receive on the tongue, also reported a stronger belief in the Real Presence.
Those who always receive on the tongue (M=3.69) showed a moderately higher belief in the Real Presence than those who always receive in the hand (M=3). The report noted that since most participants consistently receive the Eucharist via one method, treating the reception method as a scale variable is questionable.
Catholics who said people should receive the Eucharist on the tongue had a significantly stronger belief in the Real Presence (M=4.32) than those who said one should receive in the hand (M=2.62). Those who reported they value personal choice regarding how one receives fell in between (M=3.37).
The report noted that 33 participants mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an effect by prompting more reception in the hand.
Factoring in the Traditional Latin Mass
“The TLM liturgy prescribes Eucharistic-reverent behavior … therefore, [Lindemann] expected that Catholics who attend the TLM would on average have stronger Real Presence beliefs.” The study found this to be true as participants whose parishes offer a TLM (M=3.63), whether or not the participant has ever attended it, showed a slightly stronger belief in the Real Presence than those whose parishes do not offer one (M=3.04).
The effect of the Latin Mass was slightly higher among those who both attend a parish that celebrates TLM and have attended it before (M=3.83), compared with Catholics with no exposure to a Latin Mass (M=3.07).
There was also a trend toward stronger Real Presence belief among people who have a positive perception of TLM (M=3.74) than those with a negative perception (M=2.44). Those with neutral feelings toward TLM were found to have a mean of 3.60.
“Since consecration bells signal the importance of the consecration,” Lindemann said she “predicted that participants whose parishes more often ring consecration bells would report a stronger belief in the Real Presence.” This prediction was found to be true. Specifically, there was a substantially higher belief among Catholics who have always heard consecration bells at Mass (M=3.43) than those who have never heard them before (M=2.53).
Other factors that tended to result in a higher belief in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist included more frequent Mass attendance and politically conservative viewpoints.
The participants were also asked about the location of the tabernacle at the altar, but the study found there was no relationship between where it is placed and Eucharistic belief. Sex, age, and ethnicity were also found to have no effect.
Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 12:02 pm (CNA).
Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was reportedly strongly considering becoming Catholic just prior to his assassination, according to a bishop who spoke to him shortly before his killing.
Robert Brennan, a Los Angeles-based writer and the brother of Fresno, California, Bishop Joseph Brennan, said in a Sept. 18 column in the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper Angelus that Kirk had a “personal exchange” with the California prelate about a week before Kirk’s murder at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
The writer Brennan, who said Bishop Brennan gave him permission to share the story, wrote that Kirk had spoken to the prelate at a prayer breakfast in Visalia. The conservative activist “told the bishop about his Catholic wife and children and how he attended Mass with them.”
Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno in California. Credit: Thank You (22 Millions+) views from Los Angeles, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kirk acknowledged “speculation” about his possible interest in becoming Catholic, Brennan wrote in Angelus; he subsequently told Bishop Brennan: “I’m this close” to converting.
In his Angelus column Brennan pointed to a recent video Kirk made in which he acknowledged some “big disagreements” with Catholicism but claimed that Protestants “under-value” the Blessed Mother.
“We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough,” Kirk said, arguing that Mary is “the solution” to “toxic feminism” in the U.S.
“[H]ow fitting one of Charlie Kirk’s last videos was about the preeminent mediatrix of all time and space,” Robert Brennan wrote in Angelus. “In his own way he was reaching out to her, and now, I am convinced, she is returning the favor.”
Kirk was fatally shot while taking questions from audience members during a stop at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” He is survived by his wife, Erika Frantzve, and their 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.
Prominent Catholics around the world have joined in the chorus of voices mourning Kirk’s death in the days since he was killed. German Catholic Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller referred to Kirk this week as “a martyr for Jesus Christ” and condemned the “satanic celebration” of his death by some of his detractors.
Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action and a close friend of Kirk’s, said on Sept. 13 that the activist’s death “will be a turning point” for the country.
And Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Kirk’s activism “restored optimism about the American future for millions of Americans.”
Portrait of French author George Sand by photographer Nadar in 1864. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, she stood up for women, criticized marriage and fought against the prejudices of a conservative society.
