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.”
Father Gary Graf walks down a rural road during his trek across America in support of immigrants on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Gary Graf
CNA Staff, Nov 24, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
After a month and a half of walking an average of 17 miles a day, 67-year-old Father Gary Graf said he is starting to get “a little pain in one shin,” but his broken ribs are “getting much better.”
On Oct. 6, Graf, a Catholic priest from Chicago, began a journey on foot from Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, to New York City to bring attention to the plight of immigrants amid the sometimes “inhumane” ways the Trump administration is treating them during its immigration enforcement actions.
He hopes to arrive at the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island, where his own great-grandparents entered the country as immigrants, by Dec. 2.
Father Gary Graf speaks to a fellow American at Red Horse Tavern in Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Gary Graf
A few weeks ago, when visiting a parish in Indiana, he was invited to ride a horse. He fell off as it galloped and broke several ribs, which led him to take one day off to recover. That day, friends walked in his stead.
Graf, the pastor of the mostly Hispanic Our Lady of the Heights Catholic Church in Chicago Heights and a longtime member of Priests for Justice for Immigrants, has committed his life to helping immigrants. Ordained in 1984, he spent five years as a priest in Mexico serving a people “with whom I fell deeply in love.”
He told CNA that after initially feeling helpless watching the raids taking place against his beloved community in his hometown of Chicago, he “felt a call that was directly from above” to start walking.
Father Gary Graf poses before a sunrise near Fremont, Ohio, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Gary Graf
Within weeks, he was on the road. He first spoke to an old friend about his idea, who immediately connected him with Lauren Foley, the head of a public relations firm. She “immediately embraced the idea,” and between her help and that of some “young people who understand social media,” a website as well as social media accounts were set up to chronicle his journey and to share the stories of immigrant families.
Of the immigrants on whose behalf he is walking, Graf said: “I look to help people who get up every single morning to work and raise their families. If I can do this small gesture on their behalf, what a blessing it is, what a privilege.”
Asked about the most profound insight he has gained thus far, Graf said his long days walking through the wide expanse of rural America have helped him understand better the ways of people who did not grow up in a multicultural city like he did.
“We have to reverently appreciate and try to connect with those whose lives we’re passing through,” he said.
As he has spoken with people in diners along his path, Graf has developed “a greater sensitivity,” discovering that “there’s not a lot of animosity against the immigrant.”
Many of the people he has met simply do not know any, he said.
Along the way, he has also experienced unity with Christians from other denominations, as well as with those without religious faith, who all care about the humane treatment of human beings.
“I have seen so much goodness,” he said. “This has brought so many of us together: people from many different faith traditions, or none. This is an opportunity given to us.”
During his quiet walks through rural farmland, he has marveled at the amount of labor it took to build the many roads, bridges, and overpasses he has seen.
“I’m sure the hands of many immigrants helped build these things,” he reflected.
Graf said he is delighted that both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pope Leo XIV addressed the immigration enforcement situation in the past week.
The U.S. bishops issued a special message during its Fall Plenary Assembly two weeks ago, calling for “a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures.” The bishops argued that “human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of goodwill work together.”
The pope echoed the bishops’ message. On Nov. 18, he acknowledged to reporters that “every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.”
“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least — and there’s been some violence, unfortunately — I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said.”
“I think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them,” the pope said.
“Both the pope and the bishops used the word ‘indiscriminate’ to talk about the way people are being singled out and aggressively having their wrists zip-tied behind their backs as their faces are pushed to the ground in front of their children,” Graf said.
“It is indeed indiscriminate. This reflects dishonesty on the administration’s part,” he said. “They said they were going after the ‘worst of the worst,’ criminals, but this isn’t the case, at least in Chicago. They’re grabbing people first and asking questions later.”
“The violent way many of these people are being treated is amoral and un-American,” he said.
Like the pope and the American bishops, Graf said he hopes the federal government will establish a more humane immigration system that respects the dignity of immigrants as well as the rule of law and the country’s right to regulate its borders.
“I am not a politician,” he said. “My job is to mediate, to speak up, in God’s name, in the united name of the Church. But can we look for a way for those who are fulfilling their responsibilities; for them to one day receive the rights of citizens?”
The priest, who appeared on “EWTN News Nightly” in October, said he has been “impressed by the media” and is grateful his message is being spread.
“If we don’t hear the whole truth, the incredible ignorance and darkness we live in can paralyze us, and keep us from doing what we ought to do,” he said.
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.)
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.
4 out of 5 Americans have concerns with embryonic screening, study finds
Four in five voters have some at least some concerns about embryo screening, a recent Ethics and Public Policy Center poll found.
Embryonic screening is the practice of selecting some babies to be born because of their genetic traits — such as appearance, health, or predicted intelligence — while discarding other unborn babies.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center poll, led by center fellow Patrick Brown, comes in the wake of some Silicon Valley-funded startups saying they will give parents the ability to screen embryos.
The poll found that very few Americans want Silicon Valley to “hack” reproduction.
“While Americans support measures to help infertile couples have children, they express concerns about broader implications of these technologies,” the report says.
Across demographic groups, voters voiced support for “commonsense regulations.”
Women were more likely to have concerns about embryo screening than men, while older voters (ages 46+) were more likely to have concerns than younger voters (ages 18-45).
South Carolina right-to-life group opposes proposed bill to criminalize women who have abortions
A South Carolina bill would enable prosecution of women who have abortions — a practice that South Carolina Citizens for Life (SCCL) and most pro-life groups oppose.
The bill, which would designate abortion as equivalent to the homicide of a born person, contains no provisions protecting women who obtain abortions.
While pro-life groups tend to support prosecution of abortionists who illegally perform the deadly procedure, most groups oppose the prosecution of abortive mothers themselves, whom they also consider to be victims of abortion.
Holly Gatling, who heads South Carolina Citizens for Life, called the bill “unacceptable.”
“This provision of the law alone would shut down post-abortion ministries such as Rachel’s Vineyard and jeopardize the livesaving, compassionate work of pregnancy care ministries,” she told CNA.
The Catholic bishops ask that Project Rachel, a counseling resource for post-abortive women, be present in every diocese in the U.S.
Gatling said she opposes the bill “because it criminalizes post-aborted women, jeopardizes the work of pregnancy care centers and post-abortion ministries, and undermines the pro-life legislation previously passed by the General Assembly.”
“Not only are post-aborted women subject to criminal prosecution, but pastors, counselors, and any ‘person’ also can be compelled to testify in the criminal prosecution of a post-aborted woman,” Gatling said.
Gatling noted that South Carolina’s current heartbeat law has saved thousands of lives while explicitly protecting women from prosecution.
“SCCL and many other pro-life and pro-family organizations in South Carolina oppose legislation that reverses this protection for women,” Gatling said.
U.S. government can’t compel Christian employers to accommodate abortions, judge rules
A federal court has issued a permanent injunction ruling that Christian employers will not be compelled to accommodate abortions.
The Herzog Foundation in a lawsuit had argued that a Biden-era rule requiring employers to accommodate abortions for pregnant employees violated the First Amendment.
On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted the permanent injunction protecting faith-based employers.
Herzog Foundation spokeswoman Elizabeth Roberts lauded the court’s decision in a Nov. 20 statement, saying that the ruling “solidifies that the government cannot overstep its authority by trying to dictate or suppress our beliefs.”
3 state attorneys general file challenge to mail-in chemical abortion drugs
Attorneys general of Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri filed a challenge to stop mail-order abortion drugs and block the recent approval of generic mifepristone.
The Nov. 20 challenge claims that the FDA “cut corners when it removed safeguards from this dangerous drug.”
Mifeprisotone’s label says that 1 in 25 women will go to the emergency room after taking the drug, while other studies have found that it poses a risk to the women and girls who take it.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said in a statement that Missouri “will not stand by while manufacturers gamble with women’s lives.”
“Mifepristone is sending women to the hospital with life-threatening complications, and yet drug companies continue pushing new versions of it into the market without basic medical safeguards,” Hanaway said.
Texas sees decrease in minors getting abortions
After Texas implemented a heartbeat law protecting unborn children when their heartbeats are detectable, the state has seen a marked drop in abortions among minors, a recent study found.
Published online on Nov. 13 by the American Journal of Public Health, the study found that abortions decreased by more than 25% among minors in Texas.
Additionally, among Texans ages 18-24, abortions decreased by about 20%; for Texans aged 25-29, abortions decreased by 17%, the study found.
The study, which cited concerns about “young people’s reproductive autonomy,” has several authors affiliated with abortion clinics including Planned Parenthood as well as two authors affiliated with a pro-abortion research center, Resound Research for Reproductive Health.
Pope Leo XIV greets young American Catholics from the Vatican during a digital dialogue held between the Holy Father and participants in the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2025 / 07:56 am (CNA).
The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference features prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers from Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis. Follow CNA’s live coverage of the event below.
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.
Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered at his general audience on Oct.25, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV will hold a historic live digital conversation with American teenagers at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) on Friday. The faithful across the globe can also tune in to watch the encounter.
The pope will speak at 10:15 a.m. ET on Nov. 21 and enter into dialogue with a group of high school students.
People attending NCYC in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium can watch the encounter at the event, but others across the world are able to join online from homes, schools, and parishes.
The exchange will be broadcast via a livestream available on EWTN YouTube. Viewers can also watch through the EWTN app or on EWTN’s cable channel.
This marks the first time that a pope will directly engage with U.S. youth in a live digital encounter at NCYC. More than 40 teens have participated in the dialogue planning process, and five of them will get the chance to speak directly with the Holy Father.
For other news about the pope’s discussion and NCYC, the faithful can stay informed on CNA’s live updates page.
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.
After pushback from investors, Microsoft has signed a statement agreeing not to discriminate against religious or conservative nonprofit groups seeking a discount the tech giant offers to other nonprofits.
On Oct. 10, Microsoft and Boyer Research, a group of shareholders represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal group, signed the agreement. News of the agreement was published on Nov. 14.
The shareholders had planned to put forth a proposal asking Microsoft on Dec. 5 at its annual meeting for a report on the company’s discounting practices, according to Bloomberg News.
The shareholders agreed not to move forward with the proposal after Microsoft signed the agreement, which stated that nonprofits no longer needed to affirm a nondiscrimination attestation. The company also said a categorical ban on pregnancy centers would be removed.
In a statement to CNA on Nov. 19, Microsoft said: “The broad and diverse array of nonprofits is one of America’s great strengths, and the purpose of this nonprofit program is to provide discounts to a broad group of organizations that qualify as nonprofits under the federal tax code. We don’t think it’s desirable to pick and choose among these organizations based on ideological orientation. In this instance, we found that a small number of organizations that should have been eligible for these discounts were not receiving them. We’ve fixed this and those organizations are now eligible.”
ADF attorney Alexandra Gaiser, who represented the shareholders, told CNA that the legal group and some pregnancy centers they represent are now in “wait-and-see mode.”
She said since the agreement was signed, one pregnancy center has applied for the discount and been denied, but “a couple have received the nonprofit discount.”
“We are looking forward to seeing more nonprofits get the discount,” Gaiser said.
Microsoft is not the only corporation alleged to have discriminatory practices against faith-based or conservative groups that ADF has contended with.
ADF filed two federal lawsuits this year, one against California-based software company Asana and the other against OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT, who both agreed in settlements to give previously withheld nonprofit discounts to Holy Sexuality, a Christian nonprofit group that makes videos and courses that teach about biblical principles on human sexuality.
In the settlements, both tech companies said they would remove barriers to the discounts for religious organizations, according to ADF.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier shared a letter he sent to Microsoft on social media on Nov. 3 in which he said the state might take legal action against the company if discriminatory practices against religious groups continued.
Mia Smothers is among the teens chosen to ask Pope Leo XIV questions at the National Catholic Youth Conference Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Mia Smothers said she is looking forward to the “opportunity of a lifetime” as she prepares to speak with Pope Leo XIV during a digital encounter at the upcoming National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC).
The Holy Father will hold a 45-minute digital encounter with young people from across the United States during the Nov. 20–22 conference hosted by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) in Indianapolis.
More than 40 teens have participated in the dialogue planning process, and five of them will get the chance to speak directly with the Holy Father. Smothers, a high school freshman from Joppa, Maryland, is the youngest teen selected to speak with the pontiff.
“I’m feeling excited,” Smothers said in a Nov. 18 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.” She added: “This is a very good opportunity for me to learn more about my faith and others around me.”
This year marks the first time Smothers will attend NCYC. She said she is looking forward to the opportunity for adoration at the conference, because she heard it “is a very powerful experience.”
Smothers said she thinks the young attendees of NCYC want to get a better understanding of how the Church wants them to act in the faith, how they can be more helpful, and how they can be more hands-on in the Church.
The NCYC team and the students who will speak with the Holy Father have been preparing and practicing in anticipation for the encounter to get a better idea of how they can establish themselves in the Church.
“We have been meeting up on Zoom and doing follow-up questions — practicing what the pope might tell us and to figure out how we could answer and how we could switch the conversation to something that we want to ask,” Smothers said.
As a teenager in the Church, Smothers is concerned about how people are supposed to find their vocations in life. She said: “I really want to ask him how he found out he wanted to become a priest and then how he felt about becoming pope.”
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime and something that you’ve never heard of and never … seen before,” Smothers said. “I plan to tell all of my siblings, all of my friends, and everyone at my school … to be involved and see what the pope wants for us.”
The Vatican choosing to set up this dialogue with the youth at the conference is “making a difference,” Smothers said. She said the Vatican and the pope are starting something that will be passed on to the following generations.
It is impactful that the pope himself is going to be “talking with young kids and trying to make a difference in their lives,” Smothers said.
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.
Jessica Williams and her 3-year-old daughter were helped by First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 16:11 pm (CNA).
When Jessica Williams became pregnant with another man’s child while she and her husband were separated, her husband pressured her to abort the child.
As soon as she took the first abortion pill, mifepristone, she regretted it.
“As a nurse, the reality of what I had done had hit me hard,” said Williams, who was nine weeks pregnant at the time. “Here I was working to save lives and about to take one of my own child’s lives.”
But as a nurse, Williams knew that in spite of the pill cutting off the progesterone supply to her child, the baby might still be alive. She hadn’t yet taken the second pill, misoprostol, which would expel the child from her body.
When she found a pregnancy center, First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas, staff immediately brought her in for an ultrasound.
“They provided a free ultrasound, and that moment changed everything,” she said.
Her baby was still alive.
First Choice helped her through the abortion pill reversal process, a practice to reverse the effects of mifepristone soon after the woman takes the first abortion pill.
Now, her daughter is a “healthy” and “thriving” 3-year-old, Williams said when she shared her story at a Nov. 17 online press conference.
Williams is one of many women who have received help from pregnancy resource centers.
Pregnancy centers across the U.S. “provided over $452 million in total medical care, support and education services, and material goods in 2024,” according to a Nov. 17 report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Pregnancy centers saw a total of 1 million new patients last year, “which is the equivalent of each center serving a new client every day in 2024,” Karen Czarnecki, the head of Charlotte Lozier Institute, said during the press conference.
During the press conference, Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called pregnancy centers the “beating heart” of pro-life movement.
Pregnancy centers, Dannenfelser said, “are going to the roots of the problem” by providing support for mothers across the board, whether they are struggling with addiction, domestic abuse, homelessness, completing school, or any other challenge.
Report debunks false claims about pregnancy centers
Dannenfelser noted there are some claims “often unchecked in the media” that call pregnancy centers “fake clinics” or say they “don’t have licensed medical staff.”
“This is flat-out false,” Dannenfelser said. “Eight in 10 centers are providing free or low-cost medical services, staffed by over 10,000 medical professionals.”
More than 80% of these centers provide ultrasound services, according to the report. Many of the centers also provide STD and STI testing and treatment, as well as abortion pill reversal, like in Williams’ experience.
The report also found a 98% satisfaction rate among their clients — something Williams attested to.
“They greeted me gently and were nonjudgmental,” Williams said of the staff and volunteers at the pregnancy clinic she went to. “They provided a safe, calm space for me, emotionally, spiritually.”
“They gave me information and education without pushing me in any direction,” she continued. “They simply supported me in whatever path I chose.”
More than three years later, Williams still keeps up with the women at the clinic.
“I’m meeting with these ladies every month still,” Williams said. “They’re just a phone call, a text away, anything I need. I mean, we’re just almost becoming a family now.”
Pregnancy centers also provide material, educational, and emotional support. For instance, 92% of centers offer material items to women in need. On average, each pregnancy center distributed six-packs of diapers and five baby outfits every day, according to the report.
First Choice “provided diapers, material support, emotional and spiritual support groups, parenting resources, community connections, and just so much practical help in general,” Williams said. “It was a level of compassion that carried me through my entire pregnancy.”
Offering material support is a growing effort in the pro-life movement. At pregnancy centers, material support has grown by more than 300% from 2019 to 2024.
Many pregnancy centers also offer a variety of other resources, including childbirth classes, breastfeeding consultations, and outreach to victims of human trafficking.
“Even right now, they’re doing a monthly get-together — we get to network with other mamas,” Williams said. “We’re [able] to access any resources.”
The majority of pregnancy centers also help support women who are recovering from abortions.
Williams said the women at the clinic “understood the pressure and fear” she was under to abort. Even after the reversal, her husband drove her to an abortion clinic when she was 16 weeks pregnant “to finish the job,” she said.
“The clinic was on the same exact street [where] I saved my baby,” she said. “I couldn’t do it and demanded he take me home. I now know that the strategic location has also saved many other babies.”
“They created a safe place for me to heal and feel supported,” she said of the clinic.
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.
Slightly over 10 years after it redefined marriage to include same-sex couples, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 declined to revisit that controversial decision, upholding at least for now its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that made “gay marriage” the law of the land.
A decade after that ruling, nearly a million same-sex couples in the U.S. are participating in what the law now defines as marriage. Yet the Catholic Church has continued to affirm the definition of marriage as being exclusively a union between a man and a woman.
That has been the prevailing definition of marriage around the world for at least about 5,000 years of human history, though many societies have allowed polygamy, or multiple spouses, in various forms. The same-sex variant of marriage, meanwhile, only became accepted in recent decades.
The Church has held since its beginning that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman. The Catechism of the Catholic Church directs that marriage occurs when “a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life.” It is “by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.”
Church Fathers and theologians from the earliest days of Catholicism have consistently upheld that marriage is meant to be a lifelong, permanent union between one man and one woman, with St. Augustine explicitly naming “offspring” as one of the blessings of marriage, along with “fidelity” and “the sacramental bond.”
Gay marriage a ‘misnomer’ by Church teaching
John Grabowski, a professor of moral theology at The Catholic University of America, told CNA that marriage in the Catholic Church’s teaching is based on “unity, indissolubility, and [is ordered] toward life,” or the begetting of children.
“Those criteria can only be met in a union between a man and a woman,” he said. “They cannot be met in a union between two men and two women. ‘Gay marriage’ is thus a misnomer in the Church’s understanding.”
The Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage, Grabowski argued, was an act of “judicial fiat” rather than a recognition of what marriage actually is. He said the high court was functioning more as a “cultural barometer” reflecting an erroneous shift in perception on what marriage is.
“It would be similar to if the court passed a rule saying we could call a square a circle,” he said. “It’s just not based on the reality of the natural world.”
The Obergefell ruling came after years of LGBT activist efforts to redefine marriage both within individual states and at the federal level. Advocates had argued that there was no meaningful reason to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples and that to do so constituted discrimination.
Many critics have claimed that the Church’s broader teaching on marriage actually left the door open for same-sex couples to marry — for instance, they argued, by allowing opposite-sex couples to marry even if one or both of the spouses are infertile, the Church implicitly divorces biological childbearing from marriage itself.
Grabowski acknowledged that the Church does allow infertile couples to get married (and to stay married if infertility occurs at a later date). But he pointed out that the Church does in fact prohibit marriage for those who are impotent, or constitutionally incapable of intercourse.
The key point for the Church, he said, is what St. John Paul II called the “spousal meaning of the body.” The late pope argued that men and women “exist in the relationship of the reciprocal gift of self,” ordered to the communion of “one flesh” of which the Bible speaks in Genesis.
The Church’s teaching, Grabowski said, “is based on the natural law. It tells us that the way God designed us is for the good of our flourishing, both as individuals and as the good of society.”
Though marriage advocates have continued to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision over the past decade, others have at times suggested a pivot away from directly challenging it at the legal level.
In 2017, for instance, Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron affirmed his opposition to gay marriage but questioned “the prudence and wisdom” of attempting to legislatively outlaw it at that time. The bishop suggested instead that “personal witness and education” were better tools for the current political climate.
Grabowski acknowledged that one “could say, realistically, the ship has sailed and the political question is dead.”
“But that’s a political judgment,” he said. Catholics should not lose sight of the goal to reestablish correct laws on marriage, he argued.
“In terms of something to hope for, pray for, and to the degree that we’re able to, work for it — that’s something Catholics should aspire to.”
The University of Notre Dame. / Credit: Matt B. via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Here’s a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the United States:
Notre Dame drops ‘acceptance and support for Catholic mission’ from staff values
The University of Notre Dame has dropped acceptance and support for its Catholic mission from the list of staff values it has held for the past 20 years.
The university’s leadership announced new updates to its staff values at its Fall 2025 Staff Town Halls on Oct. 29 and 30, according to a press release. Human Resources President Heather Christophersen said the new values were “an expression of how we seek to advance Notre Dame’s mission as a global, Catholic research university.”
Prior to the change, Notre Dame’s staff values were as follows:
— Accountability: Takes responsibility and ownership for decisions, actions, and results. Accountable for both how and what is accomplished
— Teamwork: Works cooperatively as a member of a team and is committed to the overall team objectives rather than own interests
— Integrity: Demonstrates honest and ethical behavior that displays a high moral standard. Widely trusted, respectful, and honorable
— Leadership in Excellence: Demonstrates energy and commitment to improving results, takes initiatives often involving calculated risks while considering the common good
— Leadership in Mission: Understands, accepts, and supports the Catholic mission of the university and fosters values consistent with that mission
The new and pared down values and their descriptions are:
— Community: Treat every person with dignity and respect.
— Collaboration: Work together with honesty, kindness, and humility.
— Excellence: Pursue the highest standards with a commitment to truth and service.
— Innovation: Embrace opportunities with creativity and dedication.
According to the Notre Dame Observer, Christophersen said in an email to staff that the former Notre Dame values “had only one value that pointed into mission” and that the decision to remove the “Leadership in Mission” value was motivated by a desire to reframe the school’s Catholic mission as all-encompassing. She said the old values had caused confusion in staff evaluation processes during annual performance reviews and that the school does not monitor religious affiliation for staff in the same way as faculty and students.
Notre Dame did not return multiple requests for comment.
University of St. Francis and Belleville Diocese announce student admission partnership
The University of St. Francis (USF) and the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, have announced a new partnership guaranteeing admission for diocesan high school graduates.
Students from Althoff Catholic High School, Mater Dei Catholic High School, and Gibault Catholic High School will have guaranteed admission at the university as well as the opportunity to earn scholarships of up to $3,000.
“We are so pleased with this partnership and look forward to welcoming students from the Catholic high schools within the Belleville Diocese,” University of St. Francis President Ryan C. Hendrickson said in a press release announcing the partnership.
“In addition to the guaranteed admission, USF plans to host workshops and information sessions for diocese-based school counselors, teachers, parents, and prospective students. USF will also offer campus visitation days, facilitating exploration and engagement with the diocese schools,” the release stated.
Archdiocese of Hartford to open 2 new Catholic schools amid Mass attendance boom
The Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, will open two new Catholic schools next year as Mass attendance and renewed interest in the faith continues to rise.
“A lot of the decisions that are being made in the public-school systems are not decisions that a lot of people find easy to hold, and they’re looking for places where they could just find a little bit less politics,” Archbishop Christopher Coyne said, emphasizing the important role of Catholic schools in this environment, according to a local report. Coyne said elsewhere that the new school openings come amid “a great reversal of the downward trends we experienced before and during COVID.”
One of the schools, Chesterton Academy of St. Francis of Assisi, will accept ninth and 10th grade students in fall 2026. The other school, the Catholic Academy of Hartford, will accept pre-K through second graders starting in the fall, adding a grade each year until it reaches the eighth grade. The school will operate on an income-based tuition model.
St. Anselm College announces reception of $40 million gift
St. Anselm College, a Benedictine liberal arts school in New Hampshire, announced a $40 million gift, the largest donation in the school’s 136-year history.
The gift was from Robert and Beverly Grappone, whose son, Greg, graduated from the college in 2004 and passed away from cancer at the age of 35. “While many colleges and universities are struggling in a challenging higher education environment, St. Anselm is fortunate to have a different story,” the college said in a press release announcing the historic gift. “The college has seen enrollment growth over the last four years, increasing each year since the post-COVID class. This year’s incoming freshmen class set a record with 647 students. The college has a retention rate of 90%.”
The gift includes $11 million designated for the school of business, which will be named the Robert J. Grappone School of Business and Innovation, a $5 million endowment to the Grappone Humanities Institute, and “multimillion dollar renovations” to the school’s residence halls, support for the athletic complex, an endowment for the school’s nursing program, scholarships, and further campus improvements.
The Archdiocese of Denver and a coalition of Catholic preschools are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow them to access a Colorado universal preschool program.
The petition to the high court comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in September that Colorado may continue to exclude Catholic preschools from its Universal Preschool Program because of their religious beliefs.
Catholic preschools in Denver ask teachers and families to sign a pledge promising to uphold their religious mission, including teachings on sexuality and gender identity. The Colorado preschool program’s nondiscrimination clause, however, requires schools to uphold provisions on sexual orientation and “gender identity.”
Two Catholic parish preschools and the Denver Archdiocese first filed suit in August 2023 against the requirement.
In a Nov. 14 press release, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty — which has represented the schools and the archdiocese in the lawsuit — said the Catholic schools “are asking the Supreme Court to ensure that Colorado makes good on its promise of universal preschool.”
“Colorado is picking winners and losers based on the content of their religious beliefs,” Nick Reaves, a senior lawyer at Becket, said in the release.
“That sort of religious discrimination flies in the face of our nation’s traditions and decades of Supreme Court rulings,” he said. “We’re asking the court to step in and make sure ‘universal’ preschool really is universal.”
Scott Elmer, who serves as chief mission officer for the Denver Archdiocese, said the schools are seeking “the ability to offer families who choose a Catholic education the same access to free preschool services that’s available at thousands of other preschools across Colorado.”
Becket in its press release said the Colorado rules have had a “predictable effect” in which “enrollment at Catholic preschools has swiftly declined, while two Catholic preschools have shuttered their doors.”
The law group said the lower court rulings go against recent Supreme Court decisions on religious freedom, including Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which held that the Montana Constitution’s bar on public funding of religious institutions violated the First Amendment.
In May the Supreme Court declined to rule in a contentious case involving what was proposed to be the nation’s first religious charter school, leaving untouched a lower court ruling that forbade the Oklahoma Catholic institution from accessing state funds.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order related to foster care and foster parents on Nov. 13, 2025. / Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom
CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system, including the modernization of the current child welfare system, the development of partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs.
The executive order issued Nov. 13 states that the Trump administration is “dedicated to empowering mothers and fathers to raise their children in safe and loving homes.”
The order says current problems with the foster care system include overworked caseworkers, antiquated information systems, and policies that “prohibit qualified families from serving children in need as foster and adoptive parents because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs or adherence to basic biological truths.”
The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has represented Christian families who were barred from serving as foster parents because of their faith, suing on behalf of Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt after the Vermont Department for Children and Families informed the two families that their belief that persons cannot change biological sex and that marriage is only between a man and a woman precluded them from serving as foster parents in the state.
Despite describing the Wuotis and the Gantts as “amazing,” “wonderful,” and “welcoming,” state officials revoked the couples’ foster care licenses after they expressed those beliefs. The state said these beliefs made them “unqualified” to parent any child, regardless of the child’s age, beliefs, or identity.
ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who represents the Wuotis, Gantts, and other Christian families who are prohibited from fostering in lawsuits in Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, told CNA that he hopes the executive order will lead to the states “prioritizing the best interests of children rather than ideological agendas.”
In the face of shortages of foster families, he said the states should be “pursuing a big tent, welcoming as many loving families as possible. But they’re doing the opposite while children who need foster care are sleeping in unlicensed group homes, police stations, and hospitals.”
Trump’s executive order directs the department of Health and Human Services, the White House Faith Office, and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to “take appropriate action to address state and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
It also directs those agencies to “increase partnerships between agencies and faith-based organizations and houses of worship to serve families” involved with the foster care system.
Widmalm-Delphonse told CNA it is “difficult to say how the states will respond” to the executive order, indicating that he hopes either the order or the pending lawsuits will lead to changes in their “discriminatory” policies against families of faith.
“The path the states should take is obvious: It’s a win-win when you open up foster care to people of faith and put the interests of children first,” he said.
St. John Paul II. / Credit: Adrian Tusar/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
A new Vatican-set thriller based on a true story is currently in the works, according to Variety.
“Santo Subito!” will follow Father Joseph Murolo, an American priest asked by the Vatican to serve as the “devil’s advocate” in the investigation of Pope John Paul II’s life and his path to sainthood.
The film will take place after the pontiff’s death and follows Murolo, who “must make sure that nothing undermines the sanctification of Karol Wojtyla, the first non-Italian pope in 450 years,” the synopsis reads, as he interviews candidates and witnesses. The description goes on to say that the priest will navigate a “moral labyrinth” that will “put his own faith to the test.”
Murolo will be played by actor Mark Ruffalo, known for his role as Bruce Banner, or the Hulk, in “The Avengers” movies.
Filming is expected to begin on March 9, 2026, on location in Italy and Poland.
“The film offers a genuine behind-the-scenes investigation of the Vatican world, while also taking us into the deeper realm of faith and values,” a co-producer of the film, Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, said. “The script itself is a page-turner, and I can’t imagine any audience remaining indifferent to Father Murolo’s journey.”
In the canonization process of the Catholic Church, the “advocatus diaboli,” or the devil’s advocate, was established to ensure rigorous scrutiny of a candidate’s life, virtues, and reported miracles. The role’s purpose was to consider all possible doubts and inconsistencies, and to present evidence that might challenge claims of holiness, so that only those truly worthy would be declared saints.
However, in 1983, Pope John Paul II reformed the process through the apostolic constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister, changing the role of the devil’s advocate, also known as the “promoter of faith.” The emphasis shifted from an adversarial model to one more focused on collecting and verifying evidence, with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints overseeing the process.
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 person detained is taken to a parking lot on the far north side of the city before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Chicago on Oct. 31, 2025. / Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 13, 2025 / 18:26 pm (CNA).
The Catholic advocacy organization CatholicVote has released a report examining the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, concluding Christians must balance charity toward the immigrant with the common good of the receiving state.
“A faithful Catholic approach to immigration begins not with politics but with people. Compassion, hospitality, and solidarity with the poor are not optional virtues,” CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt said in a press release accompanying the report.
“They are at the center of the Gospel,” she added. “Yet, mercy and justice travel together. One without the other distorts both.”
The report by author Benjamin Mann labels the Biden administration’s border policies as “reckless” and credits them for resulting in human trafficking, sexual exploitation of immigrants without legal status, and rampant drug cartels.
“Catholics who advocate strong but humane immigration enforcement are sometimes accused of disobeying their bishops or the pope, and even violating Church teaching,” the report states. “Properly speaking, there is no such thing as an official ‘Catholic position’ on the practical details of immigration policy.”
The report says that “despite what some Church leaders in America have indicated, a faithful Catholic can support strong and humane immigration law enforcement — by means such as physical barriers, detention, and deportation — without violating the teaching of the Church.”
The report asserts that Catholic teaching on immigration has been distorted by “an ideological immigration lobby” within the Church that “has sought to present amnesty, minimal law enforcement, and more legal immigration as the only acceptable position for Catholics.”
“This is not an act of disobedience or disrespect toward the Church hierarchy but a legitimate difference of opinion according to magisterial teaching,” the report says.
“The truth is that faithful Catholics can certainly disagree with the anti-enforcement position — even if some bishops happen to share the policy preferences of these activists. Such disagreement is not a dissent from Church teaching,” the document continues, citing “recent popes” as having said the Catholic Church “has no ‘official position’ on the practical details of issues like immigration policy.”
“Rather, our faith teaches a set of broad moral principles about immigration, and their application in public life is a matter of practical judgment for laypersons,” the report said.
The CatholicVote document further argues that “it is actually immoral in the eyes of the Church for a country to accept immigrants to the detriment of its own citizens,” citing paragraph 1903 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states: “Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience. In such a case, ‘authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse.’”
According to a new survey, engagement among U.S. adults who identify as Catholic is strong, especially among the youngest adults, and there is growing trust in the Church after the fallout of the clergy sexual abuse crisis of the early 2000s.
In July, Leadership Roundtable commissioned a polling firm to conduct a national survey of Catholics in the U.S. in order to inform Church leaders of problems as well as strengths within the Catholic Church since the sexual abuse crisis came to national attention in 2002 and the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was composed to address it.
Researchers composed a 72-question survey and divided respondents into three groups: the Faithful (1,541 respondents), the Occasional (472 respondents), and the Disengaged (1,020). The Faithful said they attend Mass at least monthly, the Occasional said they go a few times a year, and the Disengaged said they go “seldom” or “never.”
Although the Catholic Church in the U.S. has shrunk from 65 million to 50 million people in the more than two decades since the sexual abuse crisis and engagement is “at an all-time low,” the survey’s findings are cause for hope, the authors say.
In a reversal from the organization’s 2003 survey, adults between the ages of 18–29 are now the most likely group (84%) to attend Mass regularly and to be active in their parishes in addition to Mass (attending Eucharistic adoration, social events, and confession), the survey found.
The group’s 2003 survey of 1,004 Catholics found that Mass attendance increased with age. The 2025 survey found the opposite to be true: Two-thirds of young adults (65%) said they attend Mass at least monthly now, compared with 43% of adults aged 45–64 and 42% of those over 65 years old. In 2003, 83% of adults 45–64 and 85% of those over 65 attended monthly.
Trust in the Church
The survey found that Catholics trust their pastor and other parish staff more than they trust the Church as an institution.
Nearly 80% of respondents said they trust parish staff and volunteers to protect children, and 77% said they trust their pastor and other clergy.
“Building a transparent and accountable leadership culture” was one of the highest priorities across all age groups, according to the survey. For 77% of respondents, it was among their top two priorities, with 45% giving it the highest possible rating of “extremely important.”
In 2003, 70% of respondents said they had high confidence in their bishops as doctrinal authorities but low confidence in them (44%) as listeners of the opinions of laity or parish priests.
That low confidence has not changed much in two decades. In the recent survey, just 49% said they think their bishops involve the laity in solving Church issues. Fewer, 47%, believe bishops “lead with financial transparency,” and 45% worry that their donations will go to paying legal fees and abuse settlements.
Catholics who donate regularly to their parishes (61%) say they would give more if they thought the Church was more transparent about financial matters. Nearly three-quarters of them (72%) said they would give less if there was a scandal in their parish or diocese.
Of Catholics who go to Mass sometimes, 58% donate financially to their parish at least once a year. Of the 42% who never give, 39% cited a lack of financial transparency as their reason.
Regarding education, of U.S. Catholics whose parishes have a parish school, only 53% said they think the school is thriving. This was the lowest rating of all youth formation activities surveyed.
According to its website, Leadership Roundtable, founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, is a nonprofit organization composed of clergy, laity, and religious “working together to promote best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications, and human resource development of the Catholic Church in the U.S., including greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity.”
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.
First responders provide aid after a bus carrying a group of mostly teenagers from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana, California, on its way home from a three-day retreat at Camp Nawakwa in the San Bernardino Mountains crashed on a two-lane highway near Running Springs on Nov. 9, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District
CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).
As a group of mostly teenagers made its way home from a Catholic youth retreat in the mountains of Southern California this past weekend, the bus rolled over at a winding turn, injuring 26.
Nearly 40 parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana were on their way home from a three-day retreat at Camp Nawakwa in the San Bernardino Mountains on the evening of Nov. 9 when their bus crashed on a two-lane highway near Running Springs.
When emergency responders arrived, passengers were still escaping from the bus, with many exiting through the roof hatch. Twenty-six passengers were treated for their injuries, including 20 who were later hospitalized, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department. Three passengers had major injuries.
Jarryd Gonzales, a spokesman for the Diocese of Orange, told CNA that the Diocese of Orange “offers heartfelt prayers and support to the youth, families, and staff of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana who were involved in a serious bus accident.”
“We extend our deepest gratitude to the first-responder agencies for their prompt and professional response in safely evacuating passengers and ensuring they received proper medical attention,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales said about 125 people participated in the retreat, which started Friday and ended Sunday. Most left the retreat in vans, except for the one group that took the bus.
Gonzales said the diocese will continue to “provide further updates as information becomes available.”
“Until then, our entire Diocese of Orange community will keep all those affected in prayer, and we thank all for their continued support,” he said.
Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ migration committee, speaks during a press conference on Nov. 11, 2025, at the USCCB’s fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Hakim Shammo/EWTN News
Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA).
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is launching an initiative called “You Are Not Alone” to focus on providing accompaniment to migrants who are at risk of being deported.
Bishop Mark Seitz, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, announced the nationwide initiative during the conference’s Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 11.
The initiative, which was inspired by similar efforts in Catholic dioceses throughout the country, will focus on four key areas: emergency and family support, accompaniment and pastoral care, communication of Church teaching, and solidarity through prayer and public witness.
Seitz said the Catholic Church has been “accompanying newcomers to this land since before our country’s founding.” He said — in addition to spiritual and corporal works of mercy — the Church “cannot abandon our long-standing advocacy for just and meaningful reform to our immigration system.”
He said clergy will continue “proclaiming the God-given dignity of every person from the moment of conception through every stage of life until natural death,” which includes the dignity of those who migrated to the United States.
The bishop said many dioceses have launched migrant accompaniment initiatives already.
For example, the Diocese of San Diego launched its Faithful Accompaniment in Trust & Hope (FAITH) initiative on Aug. 4. The diocese works with interfaith partners to provide spiritual accompaniment to migrants during court proceedings and throughout the court process.
Seitz reiterates opposition to ‘mass deportations’
In his address to his fellow bishops, Seitz criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for carrying out its “campaign promise of mass deportations,” which he said is “intimidating and dehumanizing the immigrants in our midst regardless of how they came to be there.”
He said the accompaniment initiative was launched because Trump’s immigration policy has created “a situation unlike anything we’ve seen previously.” He specifically referenced efforts to revoke Temporary Protected Status designations for migrants in several countries, including Venezuela and Nicaragua, and restrictions on certain visas.
“Those who lack legal status are far from the only ones impacted by this approach,” Seitz said.
He said most deportees “have no criminal convictions,” and the administration has pressured immigration enforcement “to increase the number of arrests.”
“Our immigrant brothers and sisters … are living in a deep state of fear,” Seitz said. “Many are too afraid to work, send their children to school, or avail themselves to the sacraments.”
Seitz, earlier in the day, noted that bishops are primarily pastors, and “because we’re pastors … we care about our people, and we care particularly for those who are most vulnerable and those who are most in need.”
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged the American bishops to be vocal on the dignity of migrants. In October, the pontiff met with American bishops, including Seitz, and other supporters of migrants.
According to one person present, Dylan Corbett, the founding executive director of Hope Border Institute, Leo told the group: “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.”
An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.
From September to November 2023 Salah “traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado” with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he “planted” the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.
Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack,” the department said. FBI investigators said they seized “component parts of an improvised explosive device” from a storage unit being rented by Salah.
Salah also had been actively searching for “extremist propaganda online,” the government said, including searches for videos such as “infidels dying.”
The jury that convicted Salah in 2025 found that he “targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.”
U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins levied a $10,000 fine against Salah, telling him he “failed to take responsibility for [his] actions.”
U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Salah’s ultimate goal appeared to be “many deaths and injuries.”
“Thanks to the action of church security, local law enforcement, and the FBI, this defendant was stopped before he had a chance to carry out the crimes he sought to commit,” he said.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, meanwhile, said in the press release that criminals “who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”
“The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them,” she said.
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, speaks with EWTN News on Oct. 9, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: EWTN News
CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).
Legislation that would provide protections for people lacking legal immigration status won endorsement from Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who has served as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration.
The bill (HR 4393), which would not lay out a direct path to citizenship, would give people who lack legal status the chance to earn it through labor and financial penalties if they lack a criminal record. It would apply to people who entered the United States before 2021.
The measure would authorize funding for border security and create centers for asylum seekers during consideration of their case. It would require asylum cases to be completed within 60 days.
Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Florida, sponsored the measure, which she named the Dignity Act and first introduced in 2022. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, cosponsored the measure, along with 22 other members of Congress. No hearings or other legislative action has been scheduled.
Seitz, who is expected to address fellow bishops Nov. 11 about immigration, said in a joint statement with Salazar in August that he is “deeply grateful to Congresswoman Salazar, Congresswoman Escobar, and their colleagues for this sustained commitment to working across the aisle.”
Seitz said: “Pope Leo XIV has emphasized the responsibility of all political leaders to promote and protect the good of the community, the common good, particularly by defending the vulnerable and the marginalized. Under our current system, families across our nation are living in fear. Bipartisan proposals such as the Dignity Act are a step toward fulfilling the call made by our Holy Father to offer a better way forward — one that begins and ends with respect for the God-given dignity of every person.”
The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, comprising over 42,000 affiliated churches, has endorsed the measure. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Immigration Forum, Business Roundtable, and the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities also are backing the bill.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform has voiced opposition to the measure, saying it would forgive illegal entry and allow authorities to waive offenses such as certain controlled substance crimes and prostitution.
The group criticized the bill’s proposal to create the Dignity Program to provide a renewable seven-year grant of deferred action, saying it is likely that future legislation would attempt to provide a direct path to citizenship if “Dignity status” was granted.
Gabriel Dionisi, a 22-year-old college student who makes pro-life bumper stickers with the goal of spreading the pro-life message and spread awareness to others, displays one of his works. / Credit: Gabriel Dionisi
CNA Staff, Nov 10, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Born and raised Catholic, 22-year-old Gabriel Dionisi always knew that life begins at conception and that it’s wrong to kill an unborn child in the womb. But it wasn’t until he was a teenager that he became more interested in his faith and started to read more Catholic news, which led to him learning more about the abortion issue. Feeling called to do more for the unborn, he created a pro-life ministry using bumper stickers to help spread awareness.
“I’d heard the word abortion before, I knew it was a sin, but I didn’t realize how widespread it was,” Dionisi told CNA in an interview.
One day at Mass, he read a pamphlet explaining the different abortion procedures and was left “disturbed” after reading about how many unborn babies are dismembered in certain kinds of abortion procedures.
He said he was also surprised to hear how many women are pressured into abortion.
“I remember being struck by reading about how many women didn’t want to have abortions — felt pressured or coerced or it wasn’t their first choice — and that was also surprising to me because it made me think, ‘OK, we could actually do something about this,’” he said.
Gabriel Dionisi’s pro-life bumper sticker rests on an information table with other resources for pregnant women. Credit: Photo courtesy of Kevin Jorrey
In 2018 Dionisi decided to create bumper stickers encouraging individuals to “choose life.” For women who might be in crisis pregnancies, the stickers include the URL to Option Line, a website run by Heartbeat International that offers a map of pregnancy resource centers around the country. The site also offers a 24/7 helpline with counselors who speak both English and Spanish.
Dionisi explained that he chose to create bumper stickers because they’re inexpensive to print and “there’s such a good return on investment because if you put a bumper sticker on your car and let’s say 20 people see it every day as you drive, you multiply that by 365, that’s over 7,000 a year.”
Since launching his pro-life ministry, Dionisi has shared over 10,000 bumper stickers with people in 45 out of the 50 states.
Speaking to the importance of defending the unborn, Dionisi said: “It’s foundational. If we want to see our country succeed and thrive, we need to respect that value of equal human dignity.”
He added: “The magnitude of the problem is that so many babies are being lost and not just that, but so many women who are being hurt, men who are being hurt, and it affects our whole society when people are just carrying that wound around with them.”
Dionisi said he hopes his bumper stickers are helping to spread awareness of the many resources available for pregnant women in need.
“I think it’s important to spread this awareness to everybody because you never know when someone in your own life might be going through a situation where they need help,” he said.
“The amazing thing about the pro-life movement is that there are so many opportunities for us, just as regular people, to literally save the lives of others. This is especially important as Catholics, because we know that every human being is made in the image of God and has an enormous potential to bring more love into the world.”
Dionisi’s free pro-life bumper stickers can be found here.
Police protect marchers at the fourth annual National Men’s March to Abolish Abortion and Rally for Personhood in Boston on Nov. 1, 2025. / Credit: Brother Anthony Marie MICM
CNA Staff, Nov 8, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:
Amid clown protesters, Boston men’s march for life remains ‘prayerful’
Hundreds gathered in Boston last Saturday for a men’s march for life, which drew a rambunctious crowd of protesters dressed as clowns and inflatable dinosaurs.
While counterprotesters — some dressed as clowns or wearing inflatable dinosaur costumes — played instruments and yelled on the sidelines, marchers carried on in a “prayerful and well-composed” manner, said march co-founder and president Jim Havens, who called the event “outstanding.”
At the rallying point at Boston Common, an estimated 50 Antifa members also showed up. Another counterprotester wore a pony costume and carried a megaphone.
Though the event sees protesters every year, Havens told CNA that the marchers have a good relationship with local law enforcement, so the event is “safe and secure.”
“In our current culture of death, when we publicly stand for the least among us and for the abolition of the ongoing daily mass murder of our littlest brothers and sisters, protesters are to be expected,” Havens said. “We strive to incorporate the protesters into those for whom we pray as we march.”
The march invites men “to step forward to protect the women and children,” Havens explained.
The idea that abortion is not a men’s issue is “nonsense,” Havens said.
“As men, we have a moral responsibility to protect and defend vulnerable women and children, and it’s time we all get off the sidelines and do so,” Havens said.
Speakers included Sister Deirdre Byrne, pro-life activist Will Goodman, and Bishop Joseph Strickland, among others.
“As we marched, there was a sense among the men that we were simply being true to who we are as men,” Havens said.
“Now active in the urgent fight for abolition, these men will not be going back to the sidelines,” he said. “Instead, they are now asking, ‘What more can I do?’”
South Carolina man arrested for threatening pro-lifers with grenade
A group was gathered outside a South Carolina church on a Sunday morning to protest board members’ involvement with abortion funds when a man threatened them with a grenade.
Video footage shows Richard Lovelace, 79, holding up a grenade, saying: “I have a grenade for y’all, a gift for you protesters.”
After Lovelace was arrested, police found that the grenade was hollowed out.
Lovelace, a member of St. Anne Episcopal Church, is a retired lawyer whose wife is on the church’s board and is a judge in South Carolina.
The Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust group was protesting the board’s involvement with the Palmetto State Abortion Fund, a group that partners with Planned Parenthood to bring illegal abortion pills into the state and helps women travel out of state for abortions.
Police charged Lovelace with four counts of having a hoax device and threatening to use it. On Monday, he was released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on a $60,000 bond.
Nebraska governor signs order barring abortion providers from state funding
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Nov. 6 issued an executive order preventing abortion providers from receiving taxpayer funding in Nebraska.
While the federal law and some state laws prevent taxpayer funding from going directly to abortion, state governments often subsidize providers for other services, therefore indirectly funding abortion.
In Nebraska in 2025, more than $300,000 went to abortion providers, according to the governor’s office. President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act recently prohibited federal funds from going toward abortion providers for one year.
Pillen said he is “proud that we can take this bold step in halting funding to abortion providers that receive Medicaid funding.”
“Nebraskans have made clear they support a culture of love and life in our state — one that provides protections for the unborn,” he said in a press release.
Attorney General Mike Hilgers said the issue has “been in the background for a long time for a lot of people.”
“In fact, the desire of Nebraska taxpayers to not have their funds be used for abortions has been in state statutes for some time,” Hilgers noted.
Thousands gather for Michigan March for Life
Thousands gathered for the March for Life in Lansing, Michigan, on Thursday, Nov. 6.
March for Life president Jennie Bradley Lichter, who spoke at the event, called the march a chance to “send a vital message to our legislators who have the power to support women, children, and families.”
“The women of Michigan deserve better than the tragedy of abortion, and we want them to know we are here for them, no matter what they are facing,” Lichter said in a statement shared with CNA.
Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing as well as Knights of Columbus State Deputy Barry Borsenik spoke at the event. Michigan state lawmakers including state Rep. Ann Bollin, state Sen. John Damoose, and state Rep. Jennifer Wortz also spoke at the event.
President of Right to Life Michigan Amber Roseboom said the pro-life movement in Michigan stands with women facing unplanned pregnancies.
“While a woman in Michigan can have an abortion at any point in her pregnancy for any reason, no woman should ever be made to feel that abortion is the best or only option,” she said in a statement shared with CNA.
“Pro-lifers from across our state have a powerful message for women facing unplanned pregnancies: You are not alone! We stand with you. We stand for you,” Roseboom said.
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.”
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 7, 2025 / 18:10 pm (CNA).
A Catholic diocese in New Jersey has dropped a lawsuit against the U.S. government over a rule change to the religious worker visa used by foreign-born priests.
Attorneys for the Diocese of Paterson dropped a lawsuit they filed last year against the Biden administration’s State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, along with their respective heads, after reportedly coming to an agreement regarding a solution with national implications, according to local reports.
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 8, 2024, in the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey.
Raymond Lahoud, the lawyer representing the diocese, said in an Oct. 31 email that the diocese and its five foreign-born priests listed as plaintiffs moved to dismiss the case “to allow for agency action and/or rulemaking that will render moot the relief plaintiffs sought from the court.”
The priests named in the suit include Filipino citizens Father Regin Nico Dela Cruz Quintos, Father Joemin Kharlo Chong Parinas, Father Armando Diaz Vizcara Jr., and Father Joseph Anthony Aguila Mactal, and Colombian national Father Manuel Alejandro Cuellar Ceballos.
Lahoud also said in the email that his team had “reached a deal that impacts the entire country” and that he would provide more details “as soon as I am permitted.”
Lahoud did not respond to multiple requests by CNA for comment.
The lawyer later said the diocese “was hoping proposed legislation regarding religious worker visas would resolve their lawsuit,” citing legislation introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate that would allow religious workers to remain in the country amid the unprecedented backlog in the EB-4 visa category.
Neither piece of legislation has moved forward amid the government shutdown.
Religious workers such as foreign-born priests come to the U.S. on R-1 visas, which allow them to remain in the country for up to five years. During this time, religious workers seeking to apply for a green card must do so in the EB-4 visa category. However, due to an unprecedented backlog, the former 12- to 24-month process has stalled significantly enough that religious workers are faced with the possibility of having to return to their home countries before completing their green card application.
The EB-4 “special immigrant” category can distribute up to 7.1% of all available immigration visas, the second-lowest of any category, and contains not only programs for religious workers but also individuals such as former employees of the U.S. government overseas, broadcasters, and, recently under the Biden administration, unaccompanied minors.
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.”
A Wisconsin religious community says it has completed the first known instance of a Catholic group returning land to a Native American tribe, hailing it as a move made in the “spirit of relationship and healing.”
The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration announced the transfer in an Oct. 31 news release on its website. The community is located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, near the state’s border with Minnesota.
The sisters had purchased the land from the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa tribe in 1966 and used the property for its Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center.
The sisters said they sold the property to the tribe for $30,000, the exact amount for which they paid for the land six decades ago. The modern sale price represented “just over 1% of [the land’s] current market value,” the sisters said.
The bargain sale represents “the first known return of Catholic-owned land to a tribal nation as an act of repair for colonization and residential boarding schools,” the sisters said.
“Today, the tribe’s reservation represents only a fraction of [its] traditional territories,” the news release said. “Rebuilding and protecting tribal land bases is vital to sustaining sovereignty — it restores the ability for self-determination, cultural preservation, and community development.”
“A strong land base supports essential services, creates employment opportunities, and provides a foundation for long-term economic and social resilience,” the sisters said.
Tribal President John Johnson hailed the sale as “an example of what true healing and partnership can look like.”
“We are proud to welcome Marywood home, to ensure it continues to serve future generations of the Lac du Flambeau people,” Johnson said.
The sisters said the retreat center was “facing challenges to its viability,” leading the community to “discern a future for the land” in line with its institutional priorities.
In their press release, the sisters said they have also been in “a process of reckoning” with the history of St. Mary’s Catholic Indian Boarding School. The sisters administered the school in Odanah, Wisconsin, from 1883 to 1969.
Critics in recent years have claimed that such boarding schools participated in the erasure of Native American culture. Others have alleged that significant clergy sex abuse took place at such institutions.
The sisters on Oct. 31 said such schools were guilty of “separating children from their families, suppressing Native identity, and paving the way for the large-scale seizure of Native homelands.”
“It was painful to address our complicity, but we knew it had to be done,” former community president Sister Eileen McKenzie said in the press release.
Diocese of Superior Bishop James Powers, meanwhile, praised the transfer, describing it as “a tangible act of justice and reconciliation that flows directly from the heart of our Catholic faith.”
The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration traces its roots to a group of Bavarian immigrants who traveled to Milwaukee in 1849 “intent upon founding a religious community to spread the Gospel among German immigrants.”
The community has run hospitals and schools in Wisconsin and has also sponsored medical clinics and mission schools abroad.
Residents help move food supplies at a community center before distribution to the Whitehouse community in Westmoreland, Jamaica, one of the areas most severely affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa, on Nov. 2, 2025. / Credit: Ricardo Makyn/AFP via Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 6, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).
Catholic leaders and agencies have mobilized to help communities left devastated after Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica.
The Category 5 hurricane swept through the Caribbean with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour and claimed up to 50 lives after making landfall on Oct. 28. Jamaica suffered the largest impact, but neighboring nations also experienced immense effects including flash flooding and landslides.
In Jamaica, practically no buildings along the country’s southern coast remain intact. Areas have experienced structural failures, immense roof damage, floods, power outages, and communication disruptions. Families have a long road to recovery after many lost loved ones, property, possessions, and livelihoods.
To help communities suffering from Hurricane Melissa’s aftermath, Catholic agencies are on the ground supporting relief efforts and fundraising across the globe to provide aid.
Providing aid
Dominican friars with St. Martin’s Missions, an initiative that supports communities in Jamaica and Grenada, are working to help communities most affected. Father Bede Mullens, OP, one of the friars working in Jamaica, told CNA they are based in Kingston, “which mercifully was left largely unscathed by the hurricane.”
“Nonetheless, some of our poorer parishioners in August Town, an impoverished neighborhood, did lose roofs, walls, and in one case pretty much the whole house,” Mullens said. With the help of donations from across the globe, St. Martin’s will purchase and provide materials for repairs and food.
Mullens explained that “after recent panic-buying, some food items are hard to come by, and food prices on the whole are set to go up in the coming months, as the part of the island hardest hit is a major agricultural area.”
This Friday, Nov. 7, the friars will distribute 300 meals to students at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, and to several less-well-off parishioners. Mullens said: “We are trying to arrange sponsorship from local benefactors for students in need to receive support for food and personal hygiene items.”
Across the island the friars have been able to contact some parishes near Montego Bay, which suffered great damage. “One of the churches is currently operating as a shelter with just half a roof,” Mullens said.
The friars have also coordinated provisions of basic building materials and essentials including water and baby food that will be transported to Sacred Heart Church near Montego Bay and St. Agnes Church in Chester Castle.
When the roads reopen and the friars are able to make contact with more parishes in other areas, they plan to also assist their rebuilding efforts and support the local community needs.
“There is, of course, a massive need for material assistance, but for us it is very important that St. Martin’s bears witness to our worldwide solidarity in the body of Christ,” Mullens said. “We belong to a Church that is at once truly Catholic and truly one, at once global and personal.”
Franciscan Friars Charities (FFC), the charitable arm of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, activated the Franciscan Relief Fund to help the people in western Jamaica recover from extensive damage.
“The friars in Negril have quickly mobilized to assess the community’s needs after the storm,” FFC said in a statement. “Each day they ground their hearts in faith through morning prayer and daily Mass before heading out into the community to provide vital services.”
The friars are serving warm meals daily at St. Anthony Kitchen, a soup kitchen in Negril. They anticipate a significant increase in the number of people coming to the kitchen, expecting approximately 400 to 500 people a day.
The friars are cleaning the Revival Health Clinic, which provides basic medical care, and are looking into creating a mobile clinic to visit remote areas. They are also visiting parishioners, many of whom have lost their homes, and providing them with immediate relief including water and food.
“Communicating with our friars in Negril has been difficult because there’s no electricity and the cellular services are down,” said Brother Jim Bok, OFM. “There’s just unbelievable destruction. It’s going to take years to recover. A tremendous amount of outside support will be needed to help deal with it.”
Organizations respond with action
Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, an Illinois-based organization that partners with organizations, hospitals, and clinics around the world, is working directly with Food for the Poor and other organizations transporting and distributing aid.
After learning there was an urgent need for diapers, Mission Outreach’s warehouse team mobilized to send out 4,000 it had available. It also shipped out a 40-foot container to Jamaica filled with requested medical supplies and equipment.
A number of Catholic relief organizations including Cross Catholic Outreach (CCO) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are fundraising to send food, medicines, and housing supplies to ministry partners in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba.
CCO said it is “sending shipments of recovery supplies to the Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor and will airlift medical supplies into Montego Bay when conditions are safe enough to do so.” It is also working to help the Diocese of Mandeville to rebuild St. Theresa Kindergarten, which was destroyed in the storm.
CRS is working to help on the ground with “a team of 100 staff in Haiti and local partners in Jamaica and the region,” the organization reported. “CRS and the Catholic Church are committed to walking with families through every phase of recovery — from immediate relief to long-term rebuilding. ”
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs will coordinate with the Catholic Church to distribute $3 million in humanitarian assistance. The funds will go directly to helping those impacted in eastern Cuba by the devastation of Hurricane Melissa.
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.
Father Guillermo Treviño Jr.’s national profile stemmed from his immigrant rights work with Escucha Mi Voz Iowa (“Hear My Voice Iowa”), a group aiding Latino workers, including immigrants. He is shown here during a meeting earlier this year with U.S. Sen.Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Escucha Mi Voz Iowa
CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2025 / 17:33 pm (CNA).
Father Guillermo Treviño Jr., a 39-year-old priest who advocated for the rights of immigrants in the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, passed away suddenly on Oct. 31, just hours after returning from a trip to the Vatican.
His death from sepsis after a fatal stomach perforation was a complication of undiagnosed diabetes, according to his sister, Mariela Treviño-Luna, who had traveled with him to Italy.
Due to a shortage of priests in Iowa, Treviño served as a pastor of St. Joseph Church in Columbus Junction as well as St. Joseph Church in West Liberty, southeast of Iowa City.
Treviño’s national profile stemmed from his immigrant rights work as a founder, board president, and chaplain of Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, a group aiding Latino workers, including immigrants. Treviño had just returned from Rome, where he represented the group at Pope Leo XIV’s World Meeting of Popular Movements.
He fought deportations, notably for his godson, 18-year-old Pascual Pedro, a West Liberty High School soccer star U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported this summer despite his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.
In a statement issued on the day of his death by the Diocese of Davenport, Bishop Dennis Walsh said: “Father Guillermo’s heart was consistently with those in need. Throughout the current migrant crises, he showed great compassion for the many migrants who find themselves on edge due to aggressive immigration enforcement action.”
As pastor of both St. Joseph churches, Treviño nurtured the meatpacking and farming communities there with “remarkable authenticity,” Walsh said.
“His voice was becoming a beacon of hope and advocacy on this vital issue, gaining national prominence,” Walsh continued in the statement. “He was recently invited to be part of a panel discussion at Georgetown University and had the distinct honor of traveling to the Vatican as part of the World Gathering of Popular Movements. His leadership and commitment to justice will be deeply missed by the Church and the wider community he so faithfully served.”
Archbishop Thomas Zinkula of Dubuque recalled Treviño’s “playful and serious sides,” telling the Des Moines Register this week that “Father Guillermo loved movies, Star Wars, and professional wrestling. But he also was passionate about serving and advocating for immigrants. I was inspired by his total commitment to seeking justice and mercy for people on that particular margin of society.”
Born on March 7, 1986, in San Antonio, Texas, to Maria Luna and Guillermo Treviño Sr., Treviño and his family moved to Moline, Illinois, when he was 3. He earned an associate’s degree from Black Hawk College before entering seminary at Conception Seminary College and Mundelein Seminary. Despite an initial rejection, he said at the time that his faith — rekindled after his father’s early death — drove him forward. Ordained on June 6, 2015, he quickly became a force in rural Hispanic parishes.
According to the diocese’s statement, Treviño “received the National 2022 Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award. The award recognizes a ‘young faith-filled Catholic who has demonstrated leadership against poverty and injustice in the United States,’ according to the USCCB [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops].”
“It recognizes the leadership, energy, and diverse skills that young people bring to the anti-poverty work of low-income projects and Catholic parishes. It highlights the gifts of young leaders and their Gospel commitment to the poor,” the statement said.
Treviño’s funeral Mass is set for Nov. 7 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport and will be livestreamed on YouTube. He is survived by his mother, sisters, and extended family.
Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly (right) speaks at the Symposium on Young American Men, a national conversation on restoring purpose, flourishing, and belonging, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2025. Looking on is Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. / Credit: Matthew H. Barrick
CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
At the Symposium on Young American Men in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus said that young men are “lost” and need “purpose and mission.”
The symposium highlighted the mental health crisis, social isolation, digital addiction, and other struggles young men face today.
Panelists — including Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; and other experts — discussed ways to address these challenges by helping young men build community.
“Many young men are lost and disconnected,” Kelly said in an opening statement at the beginning of the symposium. “Many come from broken families with fathers who are not a real part of their life. Many are drowning in the depths of the internet and social media.”
Kelly, who heads the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus, pointed to loneliness and isolation as a challenge for young men.
“It’s increasingly clear that millions of men no longer have friends who they can count on and who can spur them on to excellence,” Kelly continued. “More than a quarter of millennials say they have no close friends, and the rise of artificial intelligence has millions of young men looking for friendship in chatbots.”
Ellen Carmichael, founder of The Lafayette Company, the communications group hosting the symposium, said there is an “urgent need” for action.
“Recent incidents of political violence and growing national concern about young men’s social isolation have underscored what we already knew: This conversation cannot wait,” Carmichael stated.
“We are hardwired as men for purpose and mission,” Kelly said, noting that the Knights of Columbus is centered on Christ and service to local communities.
“We are trying to tackle what the surgeon general recently called the epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” Kelly noted. “We’re giving men the kind of community they truly need, and we will continue to help America’s young men find meaning and mission in life.”
“We’ve always known that men need meaning in life and that a man’s ultimate meaning comes from his personal relationship with others and with God,” Kelly said.
“Friendship is the key,” he said. “Christ did his ministry through friendships … he assembled 12 friends, imperfect people.”
In a panel on the role of faith in rebuilding community for men, Kelly said young men “have had enough” of what the culture offers them and “are really yearning for more of an institution and yearning for moorings.”
He noted that the Knights of Columbus have been bringing in a growing number of men over the past few years and that after an era of relativism, there has been a “swing back” among young men toward tradition.
In a change from previous generations, he said, young men are drawn to ritual.
“The areas they’re searching leave them empty,” Kelly said, so “they turn to God.”
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 4, 2025 / 17:47 pm (CNA).
U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders are offering “prayers of support and solidarity” for world leaders who will discuss climate change and other environmental matters at an upcoming conference.
The 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) is scheduled for Nov. 10–21 in Belém, Brazil. World leaders, scientists, and representatives from civil society will discuss ways to implement solutions to combat climate change and form new national action plans.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace; and Sean Callahan, CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), are calling for “urgent, courageous action to protect God’s creation and people.”
“This year’s COP30 convenes while the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee Year of Hope,” the leaders said in a Nov. 4 statement. It is “a sacred opportunity to restore relationships and renew creation at a time when the gift of life is under grave threat.”
“Pope Leo XIV called for the participants of COP30 to ‘listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, families, Indigenous peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world,’” the leaders said.
“Climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation are devastating communities already burdened by poverty and exclusion. Farming and fishing families confront threats to their livelihoods; Indigenous peoples face destruction of their ancestral lands; children’s health, safety, and futures are at risk,” the statement said.
“A decade ago, in Laudato Si’, Pope Francis reminded us that the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all, and that intergenerational solidarity is not optional,” the statement said. “Failing to steward God’s creation ignores our responsibility as one human family.”
The leaders are calling on world leaders to act “urgently” to implement the Paris Agreement, a 2015 international treaty to limit global warming that “protects God’s creation and people.”
The leaders asked that countries and civil society organizations recommit to implementation that fosters economic opportunities, commits to efforts that reduce climate warming emissions, and pledges loss and damage financing that guarantees priority and direct access to vulnerable communities.
They also asked that they ensure a just transition to a sustainable economy centered on workers, communities, and creation and make financing for climate solutions timely and transparent while also upholding human dignity.
“As all of us are impacted, so must we all be responsible for addressing this global challenge,” the leaders said. “Together, these actions can work towards integral ecology and ‘give priority to the poor and marginalized in the process.’”
Catholic schools are faring much better in dioceses in which state-funded voucher programs are available for parents to use to pay school tuition, one researcher has found, though enrollment is still declining in most places.
John F. Quinn, a historian at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island, examined six Catholic dioceses over the last 16 years — three in states with voucher programs and three in states without them — and found that parochial schools are benefiting from vouchers.
He presented his research at the Society of Catholic Social Scientists’ annual conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, in October.
Quinn found that since 2009, the dioceses of Providence, Rhode Island; Fall River, Massachusetts; and Rockford, Illinois — none of which are located in states with voucher programs — have seen school closures and drops, some very large, in their parochial school enrollment.
Providence schools have seen a two-thirds drop, from 16,000 students in 2009 to about 10,000 in 2025, according to the historian.
The Diocese of Fall River, meanwhile, saw a 36% drop in enrollment, going from 7,800 students in 2009 to 5,000 in 2025. Rockford’s diocese saw a precipitous 52% drop, with 15,500 students in 2009 and 7,400 today. All three dioceses also saw multiple parochial school closures.
The numbers are very different in the dioceses in states that have voucher programs.
According to Quinn, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis only saw its enrollment numbers drop 3% since 2009. Nearly 23,000 were enrolled in its parochial schools in 2009, and the number stands at 22,300 today. The overall population of the archdiocese has also dropped 5% over the same time period, he noted.
Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program was launched in 2011 and expanded to nearly all residents in 2025.
Two other dioceses, Orlando and Venice, are both in Florida, a state that approved its voucher program in 1999 and expanded it significantly in 2023.
The Diocese of Orlando has seen a 13% drop, going from 14,500 students in 2009 to 12,750 in 2025.
The Diocese of Venice, a relatively new one established in 1984, has seen a 52% increase in parish school enrollment since 2009 and growth in its number of parochial schools. In 2009, 4,400 students attended three high schools and 10 elementary schools, and today there are four high schools and 12 elementary schools with an enrollment of 6,800.
Quinn acknowledged that Florida has a growing population but said even taking that into account, the voucher programs have indisputably aided the Catholic schools there.
“We are full up with nearly every school at capacity,” Father John Belmonte, SJ, Diocese of Venice Superintendent of Catholic Education, said in September.
History of parochial schooling
“America’s Catholic leaders have long seen parochial schools as critical to the well-being of the Church in America,” Quinn noted.
He recalled the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884, at which the bishops “called for every parish to have a school and for all Catholic parents to send their children” to them.
Quinn noted that pastors would sometimes build a parish school first before completing the church building.
In 1965, the high point of parochial school enrollment, 52% of American Catholic children, or 5.2 million students, were enrolled at 13,000 Catholic grammar and high schools.
Quinn cited the National Catholic Educational Association’s annual report, released in the spring, that showed just under 1.7 million students are currently enrolled in the nation’s current 8,500 parochial schools.
In 1965, nearly 70% of all parochial school teachers, or 115,607, were religious sisters, priests, or brothers, according to the Cardinal Newman Society.
By 1990, only 2.5% of parochial school faculty were priests or religious, and that number remains the same today.
Quinn said costs started rising as more lay teachers replaced religious and priests in the classroom.
The Intercession of Charles Borromeo supported by the Virgin Mary dome fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr in St. Charles’s Church, Austria. / Credit: godongphoto/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 4, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
St. Charles Borromeo, whose feast day the Catholic Church celebrates Nov. 4, was a cardinal and a prominent teacher of the Catholic faith. He generously donated much of his considerable wealth to charity and sacrificed his own health to help plague victims at a time when many other authorities fled.
And, despite what you might have heard, he probably wasn’t obese.
Why does that matter? Well, because Charles is popularly invoked as a patron saint of stomach ailments and also of obesity and dieting. These patronages — and whether or not he was himself obese — are not mentioned in hagiographies of St. Charles, so it’s unclear how this particular association began. Charles was known for helping the poor in times of famine and for practicing self-mortification, and he was certainly not known to indulge in food to excess.
Whether or not his invocation by dieters is appropriate, what is clear is that St. Charles Borromeo had a massive influence on the Church.
Charles was born in 1538 near Milan. He was born wealthy — in fact, he was part of the famously rich and influential Medici family — but sought to use his wealth to benefit the Church rather than himself.
Owing in part to his well-connected family, Charles soon assumed staggering responsibilities, serving as a papal diplomat and supervisor of major religious orders.
Charles was a central figure in the Council of Trent (1545–1563), which among other things served as the Church’s official answer to the Protestant Reformation. Its twofold mission was to clarify Catholic doctrine against Protestant objections and reform the Church internally against many long-standing problems. As a papal representative, Charles participated in the council’s conclusion in 1563, when he was only 25, and was ordained a priest during the council. He also played a leading role in assembling its comprehensive summary, the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
Charles’ uncle, Pope Pius IV, appointed him archbishop of Milan in 1563, and soon after he became a cardinal. He found his diocese in a state of disintegration, after two generations of virtually no local administration or leadership. Charles got straight to work establishing schools, seminaries, and centers for religious life. He constantly directed the work of restoration of ecclesiastical discipline and the education of the young, even down to minute details. He tried as much as possible to live a simple life and give to the poor whenever possible, and he practiced self-mortification.
The clergy during this time were in many cases lax and careless, living scandalous lives, such that the people had grown to be equally negligent and sinful. While bishop of Milan, St. Charles oversaw many dramatic and effective reforms of the clergy, the liturgy, and of religious education. He encountered much opposition to those reforms, so much so that a group of disgruntled monks attempted to kill him, but he was miraculously unharmed when an assassin fired a gun straight at him while kneeling in prayer at an altar.
He was very active in preaching and ministry and was famous for bringing back many lapsed Catholics to the Church. As a result, today he is honored as the patron saint of catechists and catechumens, people who teach and learn the faith. In fact, he was the founder of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, which systematically instructed children in the faith — the forerunner of the modern “Sunday school.”
In 1571, the region where Charles was working suffered a severe famine, during which he worked tirelessly to help the starving, supporting at his own expense as many as 3,000 people daily for three months. At the same time, Charles himself suffered various ailments, including a low fever.
A few years later, a plague struck Milan. Charles was convinced that the plague was sent as a chastisement for sin and sought to give himself all the more to prayer and to service to his people. He paid personal visits to plague-stricken houses to comfort those suffering, and as a spiritual penance, he walked in procession, barefoot, with a rope around his neck and a relic in his hand.
At the end of 1584 Charles suffered a skin infection in one of his legs but still continued to travel to take care of his diocese. He died young at the age of 46 on Nov. 3, 1584, and was canonized 26 years later, in 1610.
This story was first published on Nov. 4, 2022, and has been updated.
St. Martin de Porres. / Credit: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
On Nov. 3, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Dominican brother who lived a life of humble service and charity and became the first Black saint of the Americas.
Here are seven fascinating facts about this inspiring saint:
1. His father refused to acknowledge him.
De Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. He was the son of a Spanish nobleman and former Panamanian Black slave. His father, Don Juan de Porres, refused to publicly acknowledge the boy as his own because Martin was Black, like his mother. Being biracial would prove challenging for Martin de Porres throughout his life.
2. He started practicing medicine before he was 13.
De Porres served as an apprentice to a doctor, and before the age of 13 he began to learn the practice of medicine. He would eventually become a barber, which at the time performed minor medical and surgical procedures like pulling teeth or emptying abscesses.
3. He faced discrimination as a Dominican.
De Porres entered the Dominican order in 1603. Becoming a Dominican brother proved to be challenging for de Porres because a Peruvian law at the time prevented people of mixed race from joining religious orders. Therefore, he lived with the community and did manual work, earning himself the nickname “the saint of the broom” for his diligence in cleaning the Dominicans’ quarters.
Eventually he was allowed to enter the order, despite the law, and worked in the infirmary tending to the sick and among the impoverished of Peru. “I cure them, but God heals them,” de Porres would say when curing the sick. He also had the task of begging for alms that the community would use to clothe and feed the poor. He also established an orphanage and planted an orchard from which those in need could freely take a day’s supply of fruit.
4. He levitated and bilocated.
De Porres was deeply prayerful, so much so that many of the brothers witnessed him levitating in intense prayer and embracing the crucified cross. De Porres reportedly also had the gift of bilocation, and some of his contemporaries said they encountered him in places as far off as Japan even as he remained in Lima. Some claimed he had appeared to them supernaturally behind locked doors or under otherwise impossible circumstances.
5. He refused to eat meat.
De Porres loved animals. He refused to eat meat and ran a veterinary hospital for sick animals that seemed to seek out his help. Portrayals of the saint often include cats, dogs, and even the rats to whom he showed compassion.
6. He is the patron saint of multiple manual labor occupations.
De Porres was known for the various assignments he carried out and which earned him the title of patron saint of barbers, the sick, and street cleaners. On the 50th anniversary of St. Martin de Porres’ canonization, Father Juan Anguerri, director of the St. Martin de Porres Home for the Poor, said: “These are often thankless tasks, but yet through his humble service, St. Martin sent a message to revitalize these jobs.”
7. He was canonized more than 300 years after his death.
Martin de Porres died on Nov. 3, 1639, at age 60. He was canonized by Pope John XXIII on May 16, 1962. At his canonization Mass, John XXIII called him “Martin of Charity.”
This story was first published on Nov. 3, 2021, and has been updated.
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.”
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.
7 in 10 voters support requiring doctor’s visit for abortion pills
More than 7 in 10 voters believe a doctor’s visit should be required for a chemical abortion prescription, a recent poll found.
The McLaughlin & Associates poll of 1,600 participants found that 71% of voters approved of a proposal “requiring a doctor’s visit in order for the chemical abortion drug to be prescribed to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.”
The poll also found that 30% of voters had “significant concerns” about the safety of the abortion pill.
Current federal regulations allow providers to prescribe abortion drugs through telehealth and send them by mail.
States like California even allow anonymous prescription of the abortion pill, and states including New York and California have “shield laws” that protect abortion providers who ship drugs into states where it is illegal.
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said this week, “The harmful impact of Biden’s FDA removing safeguards on abortion drugs, like in-person doctor visits, is an issue that overwhelmingly unites voters of all stripes.”
“As a growing body of research indicates these drugs are far more dangerous than advertised, and new horror stories emerge day after day of women coerced and drugged against their will, landing in the ER and even dying along with their babies, Americans’ concerns are more than valid,” she said in an Oct. 28 statement.
Dannenfelser urged the Trump administration to “heed the emerging science and the will of the people and immediately reinstate in-person doctor visits.”
Texas AG Paxton secures win in Yelp’s targeting of pregnancy centers
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured an appellate court victory against Yelp, Inc. for allegedly adding misleading notices to pro-life pregnancy centers.
Paxton filed the lawsuit after misleading notices were attached to the pages of crisis pregnancy centers. The 15th U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s dismissal, which had concluded that Texas did not have jurisdiction over Yelp because it is based in California.
The 15th U.S. Court of Appeals concluded this week that the company is still “subject to specific jurisdiction in Texas” and that the concern is relevant to other states as well.
“As evidenced by the number of attorneys general who signed the letter sent to Yelp, several states share Texas’s interest in ensuring that Crisis Pregnancy Centers are not the targets of actionable misleading statements,” Justice April Farris wrote in the opinion.
Paxton said in a statement that Yelp tried to “steer users away from pro-life resources,” noting that Texas will keep Yelp accountable.
Paxton pledged to “continue to defend pro-life organizations that serve Texans and make sure that women and families are receiving accurate information about our state’s resources.”
Virginia superintendent denies that staff facilitated student abortions
A Virginia public school district has denied allegations that staff at a high school facilitated student abortions without parental consent or knowledge.
In an Oct. 16 letter to families and staff at Centreville High School, Fairfax County Superintendent Michelle Reid said that internal investigations found that the “allegations are likely untrue” as “new details have emerged.”
In the wake of an investigative report by a local blogger and accusations by a teacher on staff, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin instructed police to launch a criminal investigation. U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee as well as the U.S. Department of Education also launched investigations.
Reid said that “such behavior would never be acceptable” in the school district, which “is fully cooperating with these government investigations.”
Planned Parenthood Wisconsin resumes abortions
After a temporary pause this month, Wisconsin Planned Parenthood resumed providing abortions in the state by giving up its designation as an “essential community provider” under the Affordable Care Act.
Planned Parenthood Wisconsin stopped offering abortions on Oct. 1, after President Donald Trump cut federal Medicaid funding for abortion providers. The yearlong pause is designed to prevent federal tax dollars from subsidizing organizations that provide abortions.
Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, said, “Planned Parenthood’s abortion-first business model underscores why taxpayer funding should never support organizations that make abortion a priority.”
“Women in difficult circumstances deserve compassionate, life-affirming care — the kind of support the pro-life movement is committed to offering,” she said in an Oct. 27 statement.
Ohio cuts medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood
Ohio has terminated Medicaid provider contracts with Planned Parenthood, preventing state funds from going to the abortion giant there.
The Ohio Department of Medicaid cited Trump’s recent yearlong pause on Medicaid reimbursements to abortion providers as the reason for termination. Planned Parenthood has since requested a hearing with the department to oppose the termination. Whether the state’s decision to end the agreement will extend longer than the federal pause is unclear.
Finish line of the A-Cross America Relay, hosted by Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2025 / 05:55 am (CNA).
A pro-life relay with more than 10,000 participants came to a joyful conclusion in Kansas last Saturday after runners made the shape of a cross as they ran across the U.S.
The 5,124 mile “A-Cross America Relay,” organized by pro-life group LIFE Runners, kicked off in September in four cities around the country and ended at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas on Oct. 25.
The starting points were San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; Austin, Texas; and Fargo, North Dakota, but participants around the world also joined to witness to life in their own nations.
The San Francisco kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay began at Star of the Sea Church with students from Stella Maris Academy. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
With more than 25,000 “teammates” in nearly 4,000 cities across 50 countries, LIFE Runners aim to raise awareness for unborn children during their annual relay.
Patrick Castle, president and founder of LIFE Runners, spoke with CNA about what inspires participants to run for the unborn.
CNA: What inspires the mission of LIFE Runners?
Castle: LIFE Runners is inspired by the obvious responsibility of Christians to reach the youth, pregnant mothers, fathers, and influencers with God’s love and the truth that abortion isn’t a solution to anything, it is the greatest problem, the greatest evil by definition, by the numbers.
Abortion claims more American lives in one year than all combat casualties in the history of America. With the 250th anniversary of our country next year, may we reflect on who we are as Americans and as Christians.
We are people who stand for God and His gifts of life and liberty. Amen!
How does the relay help raise awareness for the unborn?
Castle: The LIFE Runners A-Cross America Relay helps raise awareness for the unborn through our public witness [of] wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts.
Eighty-two percent of post-abortion mothers said if they had encountered one supportive person or encouraging message, they would have chosen life.
For example, two mothers saw our “REMEMBER The Unborn” witness outside of the Omaha Planned Parenthood, asked for help, and chose life.
New York City kickoff for the A-Cross America Relay. Participants prayed and then walked with the big “REMEMBER The Unborn” banner to the Father Francis Duffy statue in Times Square. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
Thousands of people witnessed thousands of LIFE Runners wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts across America and around the world during the 5,124 mile relay that made a cross over America.
With access to abortion in the mail and across state lines, LIFE Runners wear life-saving messages everywhere to inspire a culture of life at work, school, walking, running, grocery store; everywhere!
What stood out to you from the finish line relay at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas?
Castle: I am so encouraged by the authentic, Catholic, pro-life identity of Benedictine College … While running up the hill, students invited other students to join us, like a scene out of the “Rocky” movie when the local community joined him on a training run.
The last mile ended on the main campus drive with President [Stephen] Minnis leading a large crowd with cheering. The finish was immediately followed by a beautiful prayer from Archbishop [Joseph]Naumann.
What is the significance of having a national relay across the United States?
Castle: The significance of having a relay that makes a cross over America is unity. [The relay] connects everyone in a pro-God way, allowing faith and light to overcome the darkness to end abortion — all in Christ for pro-life!
Teammates in other countries adopt segments, knowing that America can and should lead the way in ending abortion around the world.
The relay is an inspiring light for the world. The cross is the greatest symbol of love, bringing hope that life will prevail!
The North arm kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU Newman Center students helped launch the north arm with a 2.7 mile prayerful witness walk. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
Authorities say the killer of 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty, raped and murdered in a Pennsylvania Catholic church 63 years ago, was identified in October 2025 as William Schrader, who died in 2002. / Credit: Courtesy of Buck's County District Attorney's Office
CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 15:48 pm (CNA).
Authorities announced this week that the killer of 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty, raped and murdered in a Pennsylvania Catholic church 63 years ago, has finally been identified as William Schrader, who died in 2002.
The Bucks County Investigation Grand Jury found that Schrader is “definitively linked” to the murder “through the combination of decades-old evidence” and a recent breakthrough in the case, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
The breakthrough came last year when Pennsylvania State Police interviewed Schrader’s stepson, Robert Leblanc, in November 2024, who said Schrader “confessed to him on two separate occasions that he murdered a little girl in a Pennsylvania church.”
Schrader allegedly told his stepson he lured Carol Ann inside the church, raped her and “had to kill the girl in Bristol to keep her from talking.”
“We believe it may be the only rape and murder of a little girl in a church in the United States,” Bucks County D.A. Jennifer Schorn said at a news conference on Oct 29.
In 1962, a witness reported seeing Schrader — who lived a block and a half from the church — outside the church around the time of the murder, and police initially questioned him, the D.A.’s office said.
Schrader failed a polygraph test and lied to investigators about his alibi, saying he had been at work at the time of the murder. He also provided a pubic hair sample, authorities said.
Knowing he was under investigation, Schrader fled Pennsylvania and moved to Florida and then Texas, eventually settling in Louisiana.
The pubic hair was tested in 1993, and it showed “significant similarities” to hair found in Carol Ann’s hand, according to the DA. Of samples collected from 176 men over the years, 141 pubic hair samples were tested during the decadeslong investigation, and “all other individuals were eliminated,” officials said.
The grand jury’s findings, detailed in a 53-page report approved this week by Judge Raymond McHugh, identified Schrader as an “absolute predator” whose criminal history included assaults with deadly weapons in multiple states.
According to the prosecutor, “Schrader’s life was marked by a pattern of violence and sexual violence, particularly against young, pre-pubescent, and adolescent females.”
The grand jury found that Schrader also “sexually abused nearly every female child he lived with or had access to, including his own biological daughter and granddaughters.”
He was convicted in 1985 in Louisiana for the death of 12-year-old Catherine Smith after he intentionally set fire to his own house, knowing she and her family were still inside.
On Oct. 22, 1962, Carol Ann, an avid reader excited to check out the next book in a mystery series she was reading, was riding her bike to the Bristol Borough Free Library to meet her friends, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s office.
On her way, she had stopped to buy a soda and candy and was last seen alive outside of the doors to St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church in Bristol, where she was raped and strangled to death.
Authorities examine a bicycle after the murder of Carol Ann Dougherty in 1962. Credit: Courtesy of Buck’s County District Attorney’s Office.
Her parents began to look for her when she did not return home for dinner. Her father found her body inside the church.
Carol Ann’s sister, Kay Dougherty, speaking at Wednesday’s news conference, expressed her gratitude to Vincent Faragali, the Bristol police chief at the time of her sister’s murder, who kept a framed photograph of Carol Ann on his desk throughout his career to remind him of “a promise he made to seek justice for her.”
She also thanked Faragali’s nephew, Mike Misanelli, a journalist who in 2024 produced a podcast that brought attention to the case.
Doughterty said :“My parents both passed away without knowing on this earth who murdered their daughter. … After so many decades of unknowing, this finding finally brings closure and a truth to a wound that never healed.”
“Our family lived without answers,” Dougherty said, crying, “and the uncertainty surrounding Carol’s death became a part of who we were, a shadow that touched every day of our lives.”
“Though I know nothing can bring Carol back,” Dougherty said, “we can finally let her rest in peace knowing that her story has been told, her truth revealed, and her memory honored.”
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 31, 2025 / 14:53 pm (CNA).
The Illinois State Senate passed a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state.
The legislation (SB 1950), known as the “End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act,” would authorize medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults in Illinois if signed into law by Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
The House passed the bill in May 2025, and it stalled in the Senate during the regular session. It was taken up during the Fall veto session, and senators passed it early in the morning of Oct. 31. Pritzker will have 60 days to decide whether to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law.
The bill would allow individuals to request and self-administer medication to end their lives. According to the bill, anyone requesting medically assisted suicide must be at least 18 years old, a resident of Illinois, and have a terminal disease with a prognosis of six months or less to live.
The bill also requires two verbal requests for the medication from the patient, with a five-day waiting period between the first and second request. The death certificates of individuals using physican-assisted suicide in the state would list the terminal disease as the cause of death, not suicide.
“Please continue to pray for vulnerable populations and for those who feel hopeless and are near end-of-life,” the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in the state, wrote in a post to the social media platform X.
“It is quite fitting that the forces of the culture of death in the Illinois General Assembly passed physician-assisted suicide on October 31—a day that, culturally, has become synonymous with glorifying death and evil,” said Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in a statement. “It’s also ironic that these pro-death legislators did it under the cloud of darkness at 2:54 a.m.”
“Doctors take an oath to do no harm. Now, they can prescribe death. There are documented cases of patients being denied treatment and instead offered life-ending drugs,” Paprocki said. “Individuals could also be coerced into taking the lethal drug.”
The bishop called for prayers for Pritzker to reject the legislation as “physician assisted suicide undermines the value of each person, especially the vulnerable, the poor, and those with disabilities.”
“We encourage lawmakers to instead prioritize expanding access to mental health services, hospice care, and palliative support,” the advocacy group said in a statement. “Every patient deserves compassionate care and a full spectrum of options to live with dignity. The passage of SB 1950 introducing the use of lethal drugs in Illinois compromises that fundamental right. “
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, strongly criticized the bill in May after it passed the House.
“I speak to this topic not only as a religious leader but also as one who has seen a parent die from a debilitating illness,” Cupich said, recalling his father’s death. Cupich urged Illinois to promote “compassionate care,” not assisted suicide.
“There is a way to both honor the dignity of human life and provide compassionate care to those experiencing life-ending illness,” Cupich said. “Surely the Illinois Legislature should explore those options before making suicide one of the avenues available to the ill and distressed.”
The Catholic Conference of Illinois also asked the governor to veto the bill and improve palliative care programs “that offer expert assessment and management of pain and other symptoms.”
“The Illinois General Assembly has put our state on a slippery path that jeopardizes the well-being of the poor and marginalized, especially those in the disability community and have foreseeable tragic consequences,” the conference said in a statement.
The St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square are seen at sunset near the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans on April 10, 2010. / Credit: Graythen/Getty Images
CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).
The Archdiocese of New Orleans secured nearly unanimous approval for a $230 million bankruptcy settlement on Thursday, paving the way for payouts to over 650 victims after five years of contentious litigation in the nation’s second-oldest Catholic archdiocese.
The vote, which closed at midnight on Oct. 30, saw 99.63% of creditors — including hundreds of abuse survivors — endorse the plan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana, according to The Guardian.
Only the bondholder class, owed $30 million, opposed it, voting against the plan by a vote of 59 to 14, according to court documents. In 2017, bondholders lent the Church $40 million to help refinance parish debt and have been repaid only 25% of the outstanding balance. They have alleged fraud against the Church after it withheld promised interest payments. Legal experts say their “no” vote will not derail confirmation of the settlement, however.
“Your honor, there is overwhelming support for this plan,” archdiocese attorney Mark Mintz said in court on Thursday. The plan required that two-thirds of voters approve it.
Final tallies of the votes will be filed next week, and a hearing before Judge Meredith Grabill is set for mid-November, potentially ending the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 case filed in May 2020 amid a flood of abuse claims.
In a statement to CNA, the archdiocese said: “Today we have the voting results of our proposed settlement and reorganization plan, which has been overwhelmingly approved by survivors and other creditors. We are grateful to the survivors who have voted in favor of moving forward with this plan and continue to pray that both the monetary settlement and the nonmonetary provisions provide each of them some path towards their healing and reconciliation.”
Archbishop Gregory Aymond originally told the Vatican in a letter that he thought he could settle abuse claims for around $7 million. The archdiocese has spent close to $50 million so far on legal fees alone.
The settlement going to abuse victims breaks down to $130 million in immediate cash from the archdiocese and affiliates, $20 million in promissory notes, $30 million from insurers, and up to $50 million more from property sales, including the Christopher Homes facilities, a property that has provided affordable housing and assisted living to low-income and senior citizens in the Gulf Coast area for the last 50 years.
Payout amounts to individual claimants will be determined by a point system negotiated by a committee of victims and administered by a trustee and an independent claims administrator appointed by the court.
The point system is based on the type and nature of the alleged abuse. Additional points can be awarded for factors like participation in criminal prosecutions, pre-bankruptcy lawsuits, or leadership in victim efforts, while points may be reduced if the claimant was over 18 and consented to the contact. The impact of the alleged abuse on the victim’s behavior, academic achievement, mental health, faith, and family relationships can also adjust the score.
Abuse victim Richard Coon cast his vote on Monday. “I voted ‘yes’ to get Aymond out of town. I just think he’s been a horrible leader,” Coon said.
In September, Pope Leo XIV named Bishop James Checchio as coadjutor archbishop of New Orleans. Checchio has been working alongside Aymond and will replace him when he retires, which Aymond has said he plans to do when the bankruptcy case is resolved.
The $230 million deal is significantly higher than the initial $180 million proposal in May, which drew fire from attorneys like Richard Trahant, who criticized it for being “lowball.”
The initial settlement was “dead on arrival,” according to Trahant, who, along with other attorneys, urged his clients in May to hold out for a better offer, saying they deserved closer to $300 million, a figure similar to the $323 million paid out to about 600 claimants by the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York in 2024.
“There is no amount of money that could ever make these survivors whole,” Trahant said in a statement Thursday.
In the Diocese of Rockville Centre bankruptcy settlement, attorneys reportedly collected about 30% of the $323 million, or approximately $96.9 million. Similarly, the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s $660 million settlement in 2007 saw attorneys receiving an estimated $165-$217.8 million, or 25%-33% of the payout.
The bankruptcy stemmed from explosive revelations in 2018, when the Archdiocese of New Orleans listed over 50 credibly accused priests. In 2021, the Louisiana Legislature eliminated the statute of limitations for civil actions related to the sexual abuse of minors.
The new law allows victims to pursue civil damages indefinitely for abuse occurring on or after June 14, 1992, or where the victim was a minor as of June 14, 2021, with a three-year filing window (which ended June 14, 2024) for older cases.
The Diocese of Lafayette, along with the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Diocese of Baton Rouge, the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Catholic Charities, the Diocese of Lake Charles, and several other entities challenged the law’s constitutionality, arguing it violated due process, but the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld it in June 2024 in a 4-3 decision.
Critics argued the retroactive nature of the law risks unfairness to defendants unable to defend against decades-old abuse claims due to lost evidence and highlighted the potentially devastating financial impact.
A baby girl at Mary’s Comfort maternity home in Springfield, Virginia. / Credit: Courtesy of Mary’s Comfort
CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
After a homily inspired a group of parishioners to live out their pro-life beliefs and start a maternity home in Springfield, Virginia, for mothers with crisis pregnancies, one woman shared her experience working there.
Kathleen Moyer, president of the Mary’s Comfort Board of Directors and a dedicated volunteer, shared about what it is like to volunteer with the maternity home in an interview with CNA.
CNA: What inspired you to volunteer at the maternity home? How does your faith play a role in your volunteer work?
Moyer: My faith is at the core of my volunteerism and specifically my involvement in Mary’s Comfort. Let me explain: The call to serve others is one I take seriously as a Christian and Catholic. As for Mary’s Comfort, the initial inspiration for a small group of volunteers to take on the challenge of creating it came from my pastor at St. Bernadette, Father Don Rooney, who challenged the congregation to live out our pro-life beliefs.
He noted that pregnant women in crisis — whether financial, physical, or otherwise — don’t really have a viable option to bring new life into this world. They need to know there is support out there. They need to be given a reason to hope. So, that’s how it all started.
That was three years ago. I’m sometimes amazed by how far we’ve come. I want to be clear, though, that we welcome women of all backgrounds and creeds. We are fortunate to have donors and supporters from several faiths, as well as secular groups. Our volunteers are diverse, too. Many of us are Catholic, but certainly not all. I think it speaks volumes that it is an interfaith effort.
What would you say to a woman facing an unexpected pregnancy? What would you say to someone considering volunteering at a maternity clinic?
Here’s what I would like to say to women facing unexpected pregnancies: We’re here for you. There is reason to hope. There are people who care. Mary’s Comfort is a safe haven where you can take a deep breath, regroup, reassess, and contemplate the future with a clear mind. Of course, there are other shelters for pregnant moms waiting to welcome you, too. You are not alone.
To those considering volunteering at a home for pregnant moms, I would say take the leap — you’ll never regret it. You might miss a rerun of your favorite TV show, have a little less time to read, or slow your ascent to becoming a pickleball pro, but I would ask you to stack any of those sacrifices against the joy of knowing you helped bring hope to someone desperately in need of it.
Even more special, you may get the chance to play a role in welcoming a new life into this world. There are no words to describe the emotions that flooded over me the first time I held one of the babies born to a Mary’s Comfort mom. It’s powerful.
What is it like to be with these women as they choose life? Is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
There isn’t just one single moment that stands out to me because there are so many important moments between the time our guests arrive and when we get to welcome new life into this world. For example, one of our guests walked into Mary’s Comfort for the first time and just cried. They were tears of joy. She said she never expected it to be so nice and welcoming.
Another guest kept asking, “Why would you do this for me?” Their utter disbelief that strangers would care so deeply about them was striking.
We helped another guest attend a class to achieve a higher level of certification and get a better job. When she passed the test, a collective cheer rang out among the volunteers. It was a small but critical milestone on the road to independence and self-sufficiency.
Of course, the crowning moment was when I met the first baby born to a Mary’s Comfort mom. As I said before, there are no words to describe the emotions that flooded over me. It’s powerful stuff.
A baby girl at Mary’s Comfort maternity home in Springfield, Virginia. Credit: Photo courtesy of Mary’s Comfort
What is it like to volunteer at a maternity home? What is a day or week in your life like? How do you balance volunteering with your other responsibilities?
Volunteering at a home for pregnant moms is incredibly rewarding and also full of surprises — no two months have been the same. The needs and challenges each guest faces have been different, so we must be nimble and creative to provide the level of support needed to give them hope and confidence.
Similarly, there is no typical week for me. I work a full-time job in addition to being president of the Mary’s Comfort board of directors and an active volunteer who jumps in when needed.
If I had a message for those who might be thinking about volunteering but worry it would be too much with a full-time job, I’d say go for it! Many of our volunteers work full time and still find ways to contribute in very meaningful ways. As an all-volunteer-run charity, we are very flexible and, frankly, wouldn’t succeed without volunteers of many different backgrounds and stages in life — working and retired.
Kathleen Moyer has been volunteering at Mary’s Comfort maternity home in Springfield, Virginia, for several years. Credit: Photo courtesy of Mary’s Comfort
You asked how I balance volunteering and other parts of life. I guess my mindset is that volunteering is an important part of life if I’m living the life I believe I was called to live. But volunteering is not just about checking the box on a moral obligation, it’s about doing something that brings joy to others, and in this case, has played some small role in new life being welcomed into this world.
It has brought new perspective and new joy to the rest of my life, so finding balance isn’t so hard.
If you could put your experience at Mary’s Comfort into one word, what would that word be and why?
Grateful. Why? Because this experience has taught me to be grateful on so many levels: grateful for all the blessings in my life; grateful to work alongside such committed volunteers who just don’t give up no matter what challenges lie before us; grateful for the opportunity to serve others in this consequential way.
![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.”](https://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.](https://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)
![How pregnancy centers help women: Centers provide $450 million in value, report finds #Catholic
Jessica Williams and her 3-year-old daughter were helped by First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 16:11 pm (CNA).
When Jessica Williams became pregnant with another man’s child while she and her husband were separated, her husband pressured her to abort the child.As soon as she took the first abortion pill, mifepristone, she regretted it. “As a nurse, the reality of what I had done had hit me hard,” said Williams, who was nine weeks pregnant at the time. “Here I was working to save lives and about to take one of my own child’s lives.” But as a nurse, Williams knew that in spite of the pill cutting off the progesterone supply to her child, the baby might still be alive. She hadn’t yet taken the second pill, misoprostol, which would expel the child from her body. When she found a pregnancy center, First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas, staff immediately brought her in for an ultrasound.“They provided a free ultrasound, and that moment changed everything,” she said. Her baby was still alive.First Choice helped her through the abortion pill reversal process, a practice to reverse the effects of mifepristone soon after the woman takes the first abortion pill. Now, her daughter is a “healthy” and “thriving” 3-year-old, Williams said when she shared her story at a Nov. 17 online press conference.Williams is one of many women who have received help from pregnancy resource centers. Pregnancy centers across the U.S. “provided over $452 million in total medical care, support and education services, and material goods in 2024,” according to a Nov. 17 report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Pregnancy centers saw a total of 1 million new patients last year, “which is the equivalent of each center serving a new client every day in 2024,” Karen Czarnecki, the head of Charlotte Lozier Institute, said during the press conference. During the press conference, Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called pregnancy centers the “beating heart” of pro-life movement. Pregnancy centers, Dannenfelser said, “are going to the roots of the problem” by providing support for mothers across the board, whether they are struggling with addiction, domestic abuse, homelessness, completing school, or any other challenge. Report debunks false claims about pregnancy centers Dannenfelser noted there are some claims “often unchecked in the media” that call pregnancy centers “fake clinics” or say they “don’t have licensed medical staff.”“This is flat-out false,” Dannenfelser said. “Eight in 10 centers are providing free or low-cost medical services, staffed by over 10,000 medical professionals.” More than 80% of these centers provide ultrasound services, according to the report. Many of the centers also provide STD and STI testing and treatment, as well as abortion pill reversal, like in Williams’ experience. The report also found a 98% satisfaction rate among their clients — something Williams attested to.“They greeted me gently and were nonjudgmental,” Williams said of the staff and volunteers at the pregnancy clinic she went to. “They provided a safe, calm space for me, emotionally, spiritually.”“They gave me information and education without pushing me in any direction,” she continued. “They simply supported me in whatever path I chose.”More than three years later, Williams still keeps up with the women at the clinic.“I’m meeting with these ladies every month still,” Williams said. “They’re just a phone call, a text away, anything I need. I mean, we’re just almost becoming a family now.” Pregnancy centers also provide material, educational, and emotional support. For instance, 92% of centers offer material items to women in need. On average, each pregnancy center distributed six-packs of diapers and five baby outfits every day, according to the report. First Choice “provided diapers, material support, emotional and spiritual support groups, parenting resources, community connections, and just so much practical help in general,” Williams said. “It was a level of compassion that carried me through my entire pregnancy.” Offering material support is a growing effort in the pro-life movement. At pregnancy centers, material support has grown by more than 300% from 2019 to 2024.Many pregnancy centers also offer a variety of other resources, including childbirth classes, breastfeeding consultations, and outreach to victims of human trafficking. “Even right now, they’re doing a monthly get-together — we get to network with other mamas,” Williams said. “We’re [able] to access any resources.” The majority of pregnancy centers also help support women who are recovering from abortions.Williams said the women at the clinic “understood the pressure and fear” she was under to abort. Even after the reversal, her husband drove her to an abortion clinic when she was 16 weeks pregnant “to finish the job,” she said. “The clinic was on the same exact street [where] I saved my baby,” she said. “I couldn’t do it and demanded he take me home. I now know that the strategic location has also saved many other babies.” “They created a safe place for me to heal and feel supported,” she said of the clinic.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/how-pregnancy-centers-help-women-centers-provide-450-million-in-value-report-finds-catholic-jessica-williams-and-her-3-year-old-daughter-were-helped-by-first-choice-pregnancy-services-in-las-v.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.](https://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)
![CNA explains: Why does the Catholic Church prohibit ‘gay marriage’? #Catholic
null / Credit: Daniel Jedzura/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Slightly over 10 years after it redefined marriage to include same-sex couples, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 declined to revisit that controversial decision, upholding at least for now its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that made “gay marriage” the law of the land.A decade after that ruling, nearly a million same-sex couples in the U.S. are participating in what the law now defines as marriage. Yet the Catholic Church has continued to affirm the definition of marriage as being exclusively a union between a man and a woman. That has been the prevailing definition of marriage around the world for at least about 5,000 years of human history, though many societies have allowed polygamy, or multiple spouses, in various forms. The same-sex variant of marriage, meanwhile, only became accepted in recent decades. The Church has held since its beginning that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman. The Catechism of the Catholic Church directs that marriage occurs when “a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life.” It is “by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.”Church Fathers and theologians from the earliest days of Catholicism have consistently upheld that marriage is meant to be a lifelong, permanent union between one man and one woman, with St. Augustine explicitly naming “offspring” as one of the blessings of marriage, along with “fidelity” and “the sacramental bond.”Gay marriage a ‘misnomer’ by Church teachingJohn Grabowski, a professor of moral theology at The Catholic University of America, told CNA that marriage in the Catholic Church’s teaching is based on “unity, indissolubility, and [is ordered] toward life,” or the begetting of children.“Those criteria can only be met in a union between a man and a woman,” he said. “They cannot be met in a union between two men and two women. ‘Gay marriage’ is thus a misnomer in the Church’s understanding.”The Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage, Grabowski argued, was an act of “judicial fiat” rather than a recognition of what marriage actually is. He said the high court was functioning more as a “cultural barometer” reflecting an erroneous shift in perception on what marriage is.“It would be similar to if the court passed a rule saying we could call a square a circle,” he said. “It’s just not based on the reality of the natural world.”The Obergefell ruling came after years of LGBT activist efforts to redefine marriage both within individual states and at the federal level. Advocates had argued that there was no meaningful reason to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples and that to do so constituted discrimination. Many critics have claimed that the Church’s broader teaching on marriage actually left the door open for same-sex couples to marry — for instance, they argued, by allowing opposite-sex couples to marry even if one or both of the spouses are infertile, the Church implicitly divorces biological childbearing from marriage itself. Grabowski acknowledged that the Church does allow infertile couples to get married (and to stay married if infertility occurs at a later date). But he pointed out that the Church does in fact prohibit marriage for those who are impotent, or constitutionally incapable of intercourse. The key point for the Church, he said, is what St. John Paul II called the “spousal meaning of the body.” The late pope argued that men and women “exist in the relationship of the reciprocal gift of self,” ordered to the communion of “one flesh” of which the Bible speaks in Genesis. The Church’s teaching, Grabowski said, “is based on the natural law. It tells us that the way God designed us is for the good of our flourishing, both as individuals and as the good of society.”Though marriage advocates have continued to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision over the past decade, others have at times suggested a pivot away from directly challenging it at the legal level. In 2017, for instance, Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron affirmed his opposition to gay marriage but questioned “the prudence and wisdom” of attempting to legislatively outlaw it at that time. The bishop suggested instead that “personal witness and education” were better tools for the current political climate.Grabowski acknowledged that one “could say, realistically, the ship has sailed and the political question is dead.”“But that’s a political judgment,” he said. Catholics should not lose sight of the goal to reestablish correct laws on marriage, he argued.“In terms of something to hope for, pray for, and to the degree that we’re able to, work for it — that’s something Catholics should aspire to.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cna-explains-why-does-the-catholic-church-prohibit-gay-marriage-catholic-null-credit-daniel-jedzura-shutterstockcna-staff-nov-17-2025-0600-am-cna-slightly-over-10.webp)
![Arizona man sentenced to prison after hoax bomb threats at Christian churches #Catholic
null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA).
An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.From September to November 2023 Salah “traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado” with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he “planted” the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack,” the department said. FBI investigators said they seized “component parts of an improvised explosive device” from a storage unit being rented by Salah.Salah also had been actively searching for “extremist propaganda online,” the government said, including searches for videos such as “infidels dying.”The jury that convicted Salah in 2025 found that he “targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.”U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins levied a $10,000 fine against Salah, telling him he “failed to take responsibility for [his] actions.”U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Salah’s ultimate goal appeared to be “many deaths and injuries.”“Thanks to the action of church security, local law enforcement, and the FBI, this defendant was stopped before he had a chance to carry out the crimes he sought to commit,” he said.Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, meanwhile, said in the press release that criminals “who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”“The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them,” she said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/arizona-man-sentenced-to-prison-after-hoax-bomb-threats-at-christian-churches-catholic-null-credit-chodyra-mike-1-shutterstockcna-staff-nov-11-2025-1140-am-cna-an-arizona-man-will-se.webp)
![Religious sisters announce historic land return to Wisconsin Native American tribe #Catholic
LaCrosse, Wisconsin. / Credit: JTTucker/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 7, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A Wisconsin religious community says it has completed the first known instance of a Catholic group returning land to a Native American tribe, hailing it as a move made in the “spirit of relationship and healing.”The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration announced the transfer in an Oct. 31 news release on its website. The community is located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, near the state’s border with Minnesota.The sisters had purchased the land from the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa tribe in 1966 and used the property for its Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center.The sisters said they sold the property to the tribe for $30,000, the exact amount for which they paid for the land six decades ago. The modern sale price represented “just over 1% of [the land’s] current market value,” the sisters said.The bargain sale represents “the first known return of Catholic-owned land to a tribal nation as an act of repair for colonization and residential boarding schools,” the sisters said.“Today, the tribe’s reservation represents only a fraction of [its] traditional territories,” the news release said. “Rebuilding and protecting tribal land bases is vital to sustaining sovereignty — it restores the ability for self-determination, cultural preservation, and community development.” “A strong land base supports essential services, creates employment opportunities, and provides a foundation for long-term economic and social resilience,” the sisters said. Tribal President John Johnson hailed the sale as “an example of what true healing and partnership can look like.” “We are proud to welcome Marywood home, to ensure it continues to serve future generations of the Lac du Flambeau people,” Johnson said. The sisters said the retreat center was “facing challenges to its viability,” leading the community to “discern a future for the land” in line with its institutional priorities. In their press release, the sisters said they have also been in “a process of reckoning” with the history of St. Mary’s Catholic Indian Boarding School. The sisters administered the school in Odanah, Wisconsin, from 1883 to 1969.Critics in recent years have claimed that such boarding schools participated in the erasure of Native American culture. Others have alleged that significant clergy sex abuse took place at such institutions.The sisters on Oct. 31 said such schools were guilty of “separating children from their families, suppressing Native identity, and paving the way for the large-scale seizure of Native homelands.”“It was painful to address our complicity, but we knew it had to be done,” former community president Sister Eileen McKenzie said in the press release.Diocese of Superior Bishop James Powers, meanwhile, praised the transfer, describing it as “a tangible act of justice and reconciliation that flows directly from the heart of our Catholic faith.”The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration traces its roots to a group of Bavarian immigrants who traveled to Milwaukee in 1849 “intent upon founding a religious community to spread the Gospel among German immigrants.”The community has run hospitals and schools in Wisconsin and has also sponsored medical clinics and mission schools abroad.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/religious-sisters-announce-historic-land-return-to-wisconsin-native-american-tribe-catholic-lacrosse-wisconsin-credit-jttucker-shutterstockcna-staff-nov-7-2025-0600-am-cna-a-wiscon.webp)
![A beloved Iowa priest and immigrant advocate dies at 39 #Catholic
Father Guillermo Treviño Jr.’s national profile stemmed from his immigrant rights work with Escucha Mi Voz Iowa (“Hear My Voice Iowa”), a group aiding Latino workers, including immigrants. He is shown here during a meeting earlier this year with U.S. Sen.Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Escucha Mi Voz Iowa
CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2025 / 17:33 pm (CNA).
Father Guillermo Treviño Jr., a 39-year-old priest who advocated for the rights of immigrants in the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, passed away suddenly on Oct. 31, just hours after returning from a trip to the Vatican. His death from sepsis after a fatal stomach perforation was a complication of undiagnosed diabetes, according to his sister, Mariela Treviño-Luna, who had traveled with him to Italy.Due to a shortage of priests in Iowa, Treviño served as a pastor of St. Joseph Church in Columbus Junction as well as St. Joseph Church in West Liberty, southeast of Iowa City.Treviño’s national profile stemmed from his immigrant rights work as a founder, board president, and chaplain of Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, a group aiding Latino workers, including immigrants. Treviño had just returned from Rome, where he represented the group at Pope Leo XIV’s World Meeting of Popular Movements.He fought deportations, notably for his godson, 18-year-old Pascual Pedro, a West Liberty High School soccer star U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported this summer despite his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. In a statement issued on the day of his death by the Diocese of Davenport, Bishop Dennis Walsh said: “Father Guillermo’s heart was consistently with those in need. Throughout the current migrant crises, he showed great compassion for the many migrants who find themselves on edge due to aggressive immigration enforcement action.” As pastor of both St. Joseph churches, Treviño nurtured the meatpacking and farming communities there with “remarkable authenticity,” Walsh said. “His voice was becoming a beacon of hope and advocacy on this vital issue, gaining national prominence,” Walsh continued in the statement. “He was recently invited to be part of a panel discussion at Georgetown University and had the distinct honor of traveling to the Vatican as part of the World Gathering of Popular Movements. His leadership and commitment to justice will be deeply missed by the Church and the wider community he so faithfully served.” Archbishop Thomas Zinkula of Dubuque recalled Treviño’s “playful and serious sides,” telling the Des Moines Register this week that “Father Guillermo loved movies, Star Wars, and professional wrestling. But he also was passionate about serving and advocating for immigrants. I was inspired by his total commitment to seeking justice and mercy for people on that particular margin of society.”Born on March 7, 1986, in San Antonio, Texas, to Maria Luna and Guillermo Treviño Sr., Treviño and his family moved to Moline, Illinois, when he was 3. He earned an associate’s degree from Black Hawk College before entering seminary at Conception Seminary College and Mundelein Seminary. Despite an initial rejection, he said at the time that his faith — rekindled after his father’s early death — drove him forward. Ordained on June 6, 2015, he quickly became a force in rural Hispanic parishes.According to the diocese’s statement, Treviño “received the National 2022 Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award. The award recognizes a ‘young faith-filled Catholic who has demonstrated leadership against poverty and injustice in the United States,’ according to the USCCB [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops].”“It recognizes the leadership, energy, and diverse skills that young people bring to the anti-poverty work of low-income projects and Catholic parishes. It highlights the gifts of young leaders and their Gospel commitment to the poor,” the statement said.Treviño’s funeral Mass is set for Nov. 7 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport and will be livestreamed on YouTube. He is survived by his mother, sisters, and extended family.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/a-beloved-iowa-priest-and-immigrant-advocate-dies-at-39-catholic-father-guillermo-trevino-jr-s-national-profile-stemmed-from-his-immigrant-rights-work-with-escucha-mi-voz-iowa.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.”](https://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)
![10,000 pro-lifers join LIFE Runners annual relay across the U.S. #Catholic
Finish line of the A-Cross America Relay, hosted by Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.
CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2025 / 05:55 am (CNA).
A pro-life relay with more than 10,000 participants came to a joyful conclusion in Kansas last Saturday after runners made the shape of a cross as they ran across the U.S.The 5,124 mile “A-Cross America Relay,” organized by pro-life group LIFE Runners, kicked off in September in four cities around the country and ended at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas on Oct. 25.The starting points were San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; Austin, Texas; and Fargo, North Dakota, but participants around the world also joined to witness to life in their own nations. The San Francisco kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay began at Star of the Sea Church with students from Stella Maris Academy. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.With more than 25,000 “teammates” in nearly 4,000 cities across 50 countries, LIFE Runners aim to raise awareness for unborn children during their annual relay. Patrick Castle, president and founder of LIFE Runners, spoke with CNA about what inspires participants to run for the unborn. CNA: What inspires the mission of LIFE Runners? Castle: LIFE Runners is inspired by the obvious responsibility of Christians to reach the youth, pregnant mothers, fathers, and influencers with God's love and the truth that abortion isn't a solution to anything, it is the greatest problem, the greatest evil by definition, by the numbers. Abortion claims more American lives in one year than all combat casualties in the history of America. With the 250th anniversary of our country next year, may we reflect on who we are as Americans and as Christians. We are people who stand for God and His gifts of life and liberty. Amen!How does the relay help raise awareness for the unborn?Castle: The LIFE Runners A-Cross America Relay helps raise awareness for the unborn through our public witness [of] wearing “REMEMBER The Unborn” shirts. Eighty-two percent of post-abortion mothers said if they had encountered one supportive person or encouraging message, they would have chosen life. For example, two mothers saw our “REMEMBER The Unborn” witness outside of the Omaha Planned Parenthood, asked for help, and chose life. New York City kickoff for the A-Cross America Relay. Participants prayed and then walked with the big “REMEMBER The Unborn” banner to the Father Francis Duffy statue in Times Square. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.Thousands of people witnessed thousands of LIFE Runners wearing "REMEMBER The Unborn" shirts across America and around the world during the 5,124 mile relay that made a cross over America. With access to abortion in the mail and across state lines, LIFE Runners wear life-saving messages everywhere to inspire a culture of life at work, school, walking, running, grocery store; everywhere! What stood out to you from the finish line relay at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas? Castle: I am so encouraged by the authentic, Catholic, pro-life identity of Benedictine College … While running up the hill, students invited other students to join us, like a scene out of the "Rocky" movie when the local community joined him on a training run. The last mile ended on the main campus drive with President [Stephen] Minnis leading a large crowd with cheering. The finish was immediately followed by a beautiful prayer from Archbishop [Joseph]Naumann.What is the significance of having a national relay across the United States? Castle: The significance of having a relay that makes a cross over America is unity. [The relay] connects everyone in a pro-God way, allowing faith and light to overcome the darkness to end abortion — all in Christ for pro-life! Teammates in other countries adopt segments, knowing that America can and should lead the way in ending abortion around the world. The relay is an inspiring light for the world. The cross is the greatest symbol of love, bringing hope that life will prevail!The North arm kickoff of the A-Cross America Relay in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU Newman Center students helped launch the north arm with a 2.7 mile prayerful witness walk. Credit: Photo courtesy of LIFE Runners.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/10000-pro-lifers-join-life-runners-annual-relay-across-the-u-s-catholic-finish-line-of-the-a-cross-america-relay-hosted-by-benedictine-college-in-atchison-kansas-credit-photo-courtesy-of.webp)
