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.
Father Burke Masters speaks to Veronica Dudo on "EWTN News Nightly" on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025 / Credit: EWTN News
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Father Burke Masters’ first dream was to be a major league baseball player, but after feeling a call from God to the priesthood he now uses the sport “to speak about Jesus and the Church.”
“I played college baseball at Mississippi State University, and then played briefly in the minor leagues,” Masters said. “That was my dream to be a major league baseball player, but that didn’t work out.”
“God eventually called me to be a priest,” Masters said in an Oct. 24 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.” He added: “It really wasn’t what I wanted, but it was this persistent and gentle call from the Lord.”
“I went to seminary fully thinking I would go … not like it, and then go back to my plans,” Masters said. “Yet when I got to seminary I just felt this overwhelming peace, and that’s one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.”
Masters was ordained in 2002, serving as priest in Illinois. Eventually though, baseball did become a part of his career when he was named the chaplain of the Chicago Cubs in 2013.
“God brought baseball back into my life in a way that I never expected,” Masters said. “Since then, people have called me the ‘baseball priest,’ because I love to connect faith with sports.”
While Masters’ “full-time job” was as a pastor in the Diocese of Joliet, he attended all the Cubs’ home games. As the “baseball priest,” Masters was chaplain when they won the World Series in 2016.
“One of my big messages to the players then and to the players now would be: ‘Just remember your identity, you’re beloved sons of God. Your identity is not in the sport of baseball.’ And what I find that helps players … relax to say: ‘Yes, this is a big game. Millions of people are watching, but in the end, it’s still just a game. And life goes on,’” he said.
Connecting faith and sports
In 2023, Masters published a book, “A Grand Slam for God: A Journey from Baseball Star to Catholic Priest.” He wrote about his childhood outside of Chicago, his success in baseball, his conversion to Catholicism, and his acceptance of his vocation.
His story discusses his doubts and personal loss, and how he learned to embrace his identity not as an athlete but as a son of God and spiritual leader.
“Baseball taught me a lot of things, among them, discipline, hard work, and how to work with people of a lot of different backgrounds,” Masters said. “I find that to be so helpful in my life as a priest, as a vocation director, as a pastor, that I try to invest a lot of time in my spiritual life.”
“Also, baseball has given me a way to … reach people who are not close to God at the moment by bringing stories about baseball and my sports background,” Masters said. “It gives me an opening to speak about Jesus and the Church. It’s just been a great gift.”
In homilies, Masters said he will “bring up the sport of baseball.” He added: “I can see some of the people who love the sport perk up and then can bring the Gospel message to them more easily.”
Ahead of the 2025 World Series on Oct. 24, Masters shared with EWTN his predictions for the outcome. He said: “If I go off my head, the Dodgers will win, but I love pulling for the underdog. So my heart is going with the Toronto Blue Jays.”
Residents at a senior care home in the Archdiocese of Denver join together to pray the rosary thanks to the ministry of The Rosary Team. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Teresa Rodriguez
Denver, Colorado, Oct 11, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
After finishing the rosary with her fellow residents and volunteers from The Rosary Team, Martha “Marty” Todd smiled with peaceful joy. Over her lifetime, she has witnessed miracles through prayer — healings in her family, conversions of loved ones, and graces that could only have come from God.
Now, in her later years, she treasures the weekly visits from The Rosary Team, whose volunteers gather to pray with elderly residents in care facilities across the archdiocese. Their presence brings comfort, companionship, and a reminder that no one is ever forgotten in God’s love.
“We all love our mother,” Todd said, her eyes brightening as she spoke of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Sometimes, when I get uptight about things or worried, praying the rosary brings comfort and kind of eases my whirling mind.”
Martha “Marty” Todd, an independent resident in Denver. Credit: Teresa Rodriguez
A life marked by grace
Todd’s journey to her nursing facility began unexpectedly after a seizure during a family Christmas visit made her realize that she “wasn’t infallible.” What could have been a frightening transition became a blessing, bringing her closer to her children, grandchildren, and extended family.
Her voice caught with emotion as she recalled a miracle that transformed her entire family. One of her closest relatives was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
“We just prayed our heads off,” Todd said.
After surgery and biopsy, the surgeon returned with impossible news: There was no cancer.
“We just know she had a healing,” she continued.
That miracle rippled through her family, drawing more relatives into the Catholic Church as they recognized “the value of Catholic prayer.” Her grandson Andrew, once a quiet and thoughtful boy, began attending daily Mass in high school. Today, he is Brother Francis, serving as assistant to the abbot at Conception Abbey.
“He was always kind of a quiet, pondering kid,” Todd reflected. “We realized he had a call.”
Teresa Rodriguez with her mother, Marian Buchheit. Credit: Paul Buchheit
A husband’s final grace
Perhaps the most unexpected conversion came from Todd’s husband, Richard, who was not Catholic. During a visit to their son Rob in Missouri, Richard was diagnosed with cancer. Their son gently asked him: “Don’t you think it’s time you were baptized?” Richard simply replied: “I guess so.”
A priest baptized him in the hospital, giving him what Marty Todd calls “a direct line to heaven” before he passed away four months later.
These profound experiences of grace and conversion have shaped Todd’s deep appreciation for the spiritual care she now receives at Morningstar, her nursing facility. Having witnessed how powerfully God works in the final moments of life, she knows the vital importance of bringing faith to those approaching their final years.
The Rosary Team’s presence
When volunteers from The Rosary Team arrive, something special happens. Their visits bring “more connection with people,” Todd explained. “They are doing something nice for us.”
The presence of volunteers transforms the experience from routine prayer into relationship. They become bridges to the wider community, especially for those in assisted living or memory care who have limited mobility.
“It’s quite a wake-up call when you move into a facility like this,” Todd said.
Since arriving, she has seen about 20 to 25 people pass away in a single year — some who “seemed really vital and just didn’t wake up one morning.”
That reality shapes how residents think about faith.
“We all realize we’re getting closer to the end of life,” she noted. “I think we ponder a little more about what it will be.”
Among her neighbors are “fallen-away Catholics” she prays for.
“It’s never too late as long as you’re still breathing,” she said.
A legacy of faith
The Rosary Team’s ministry is more than weekly visits. It is a lifeline that shows seniors they are cared for and remembered. Volunteers bring statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lead familiar prayers and embody Christ’s love for those society too often forgets.
Todd sees the fruit of such faith passed down through her family. Her granddaughter, Alex Martinez, daughter of Rich and Joanie Todd, recently graduated as a pediatric nurse practitioner. Todd attended her graduation in Nashville — a joy she credits to being closer to family since moving to Morningstar.
In Alex’s healing work, like Brother Francis’ monastic vocation, Todd sees how prayer echoes through generations, bearing fruit in both religious and professional service.
Resident Dan Cummings prays the rosary. Credit: Cris Fanelli
Expanding a vital mission
Todd’s story highlights why The Rosary Team’s mission is so crucial. Across the country, nursing facilities house thousands of elderly residents, many of whom suffer spiritual isolation. While activities may include exercise and entertainment, few offer the kind of deep spiritual care needed as residents face mortality.
Requests for The Rosary Team’s presence continue to grow nationwide. The ministry runs entirely on the generosity of donors who believe in supporting the spiritual welfare of the elderly — fulfilling both corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Their gifts make possible the training, coordination, and expansion of this mission of prayer.
Boys swing on a rope during recess at Western Academy in Houston, Texas. / Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
Houston, Texas, Oct 4, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
After years of boys (and their parents) repeatedly ignoring the rules, a private boys school in Houston is taking a novel approach to its smartphone and digital device policy: Bring it to school, and “we will destroy it.”
In the past, if a boy was caught with a phone or other device at the school or a school-sponsored event, faculty would confiscate the device, which would be returned to the parents only after they had met with headmaster Jason Hebert. He would explain the harms to boys caused by smartphone use and why parents “should not put the phone back into your son’s hands.”
Boys look for toads in a pond during recess. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
Under the new policy, which Hebert laid out in a four-page letter to parents last month, after the device is discovered and destroyed, the boy will be suspended. If it happens again, the boy will be automatically expelled.
Along with its singular smartphone policy, the school, which has 230 students in third through eighth grade, takes a unique approach to education. The boys are free to play throughout the park-like, rambling grounds, where they climb and swing from trees, build forts, shoot Nerf guns, and care for (or chase) chickens before and after school and multiple times throughout the school day.
The all-male faculty expects respect and responsibility from the boys at a young age, according to Hebert. The teachers have the boys rise when an adult visits a classroom and encourage parents to let their sons learn to endure hardship and experience natural consequences when they forget their homework or their lunch at home.
Jason Hebert, headmaster at Western Academy in Houston. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
A Catholic priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei serves as chaplain to the school, which was founded in 2010, and oversees the religious education program.
The model is popular: Even with middle-school tuition close to $28,000 a year, every grade has extensive waitlists, and the school may start wait-listing boys beginning as early as kindergarten.
At the beginning of each school year, the boys are sorted into one of four houses that compete throughout the year in games such as capture the flag and “The Hero’s Race,” where the boys in each house choose one boy to race across campus, climbing over obstacles and crawling through mud. There is also a poetry recitation competition known as “The Bard.” One mother, Stephanie Creech, told CNA her sons are so happy at the school they “beg to get to school early and to stay afterward to play.”
Hebert sat down with CNA and discussed what brought about the change in the smartphone policy, saying he chose the words in his letter very carefully.
Hebert speaks to the boys on the first day of school as the faculty looks on. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
Witnessing the damage
“Smartphones are causing significant, unimagined damage to the students who have them,” Hebert wrote in his letter to parents, “as well as to the sons of those parents who have chosen not to give phones to their sons.”
“The damage these phones have caused to our children,” he told CNA in the interview, “it literally has never been imagined.”
“It’s not just pornography,” Hebert continued. “YouTube actors and other characters just trying to get clicks perform the most shameless actions on video. They just have zero respect for the dignity of their bodies and for life, zero. And these boys want to emulate these people.”
Hebert said the last straw came after a mother called him complaining her son saw a graphic, violent video on a smartphone at a school event.
After that, Hebert said he and the other administrators agreed: “That’s it. We’re done.”
Asked why the school did not just consider automatic expulsion after the first offense rather than the destruction of the devices, Hebert said with a laugh: “To be perfectly candid, I want to destroy the phone. I want to give the boys an opportunity to have life without it.”
He ordered a metal grinder for the purpose.
“Look, I am not an alarmist. I am not reactionary. But the bottom line is this: These devices are not neutral. The research is definitive: They are bad for our kids. I have dealt with hundreds and hundreds of boys over two decades in education and I have yet to see an exception to this,” he said.
Hebert said that over the years, he has noticed a degradation in the quality of the boys’ conversation. “You can’t imagine the level of shamelessness” among some of the boys,” many of whom are generally considered “good kids.”
“This type of behavior is unprecedented in my tenure as an educator, and even as a professional athlete,” he said.
Boys cheer their teammates on as the houses compete in a game of “Thud,” in which two boys throw a medicine ball at one another as hard as they can until one of them drops it or gives up. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
In the early 2000s, before beginning his teaching career, which included teaching at The Heights School in Maryland, he spent one year as a professional football player on practice squads for three NFL teams: the Chargers, the Titans, and the Raiders.
“I never played in a regular-season game. This is what I tell people: I made it to the NFL. I did not make it in the NFL,” he said, laughing.
“Let me make it clear: I was an athlete around some of the most earthy human beings on the planet,” he said. “These men were not ashamed to say anything in the locker room. Yet these same men would have blushed if they heard some of the things these boys talk about! This is so unimaginable. Yet it is becoming more common now, thanks to these devices.”
Parents on board
Asked if he was worried parents would leave over the school’s new policy, Hebert said if parents are not on board with the school’s values, it might be better if they left and one of the many others on the waitlist could take their spot.
In his letter to parents, Hebert wrote that the “school is a true partnership with parents. We say this not for poetic effect, but because it must be so for the authentic growth of your sons to become a reality.”
He told CNA parents should ask themselves: “How valuable is the phone to you? Are you willing to leave this place for it? This place where your son is so abundantly happy? Is your phone worth that? And if it is, well, it’s a mismatch of vision.”
Since the change in policy, however, Hebert said parental response has been “100% positive.”
After hearing about the school’s new policy, a mother whose son graduated from the school several years ago dropped off a financial donation at the front desk recently “for the phone grinder.”
“Everybody just knows it’s right. Parents might be frustrated because saying no to their sons makes their lives harder, but they know it’s right,” he said.
Hebert, a father of seven, said he and his wife do not allow their children to have smartphones or social media. “My children may not know a lot of the lingo or some of the jokes or about all the parties. They’re on the outside, to a degree.”
“And even though that’s a big deal,” he continued, “the alternative overrides that. It’s a bigger deal.”
“The alternative is not worth it,” he said.
“We all want the truth,” he said, “and the truth is these devices are severely hurting kids. I’m not a doomsday guy, but some day these kids will be in charge of society. Think about that.”
The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as the Little Flower, on Oct. 1.
Born to Zelie and Louis Martin in 1873 — both canonized saints — Thérèse was the youngest of five siblings. Devout from a young age, she experienced a miraculous healing at around the age of 9 from an unknown illness for which doctors could not find a treatment. After turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her intercession, young Thérèse was healed and felt called to religious life.
In 1888, at the age of 15, she entered a Carmelite monastery in Lisieux, France. Her ability to live her ordinary life in an extraordinary way became known as the “Little Way” — a journey toward Christ made up of small acts of love in everyday life.
In 1896, Thérèse was diagnosed with tuberculosis and passed away at the age of 24 the following year. Pope Pius XI canonized her in 1925, making her the youngest canonized saint at the time. In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the Church for her significant spiritual contribution to the universal Church.
Over the years, the St. Thérèse Novena has become popular for those seeking to live a life of love and simplicity. While many pray it leading up to her feast day, the nine-day novena can be prayed any time of the year. Here’s how to pray it:
— Begin by making the sign of the cross.
— Recite the Holy Spirit prayer:
Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of divine love.
— Recite the following prayer:
Dearest St. Thérèse of Lisieux, you said that you would spend your time in heaven doing good on earth.
Your trust in God was complete. Pray that he may increase my trust in his goodness and mercy as I ask for the following petitions: [state your intentions]
Pray for me that I, like you, may have great and innocent confidence in the loving promises of our God. Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me and one day see the face of God, whom you loved so deeply.
St. Thérèse, you were faithful to God even unto the moment of your death. Pray for me that I may be faithful to our loving God. May my life bring peace and love to the world through faithful endurance in love for God our savior.
Loving God, you blessed St. Thérèse with a capacity for a great love. Help me to believe in your unconditional love for each of your children, especially for me.
I love you, Lord. Help me to love you more!
— Recite the “Glory Be” prayer:
Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
A stained-glass window in St. Sulpice Church in Fougeres, France, depicts (from left to right) the archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. / Credit: Tiberiu Stan/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Sep 29, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Many Catholics can, at the drop of a hat, recite the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel — the famous petition to that venerable saint to “defend us in battle” and “cast into hell Satan.”
In the culture of the Church, Michael is often accompanied by his two fellow archangels — Sts. Gabriel and Raphael — with the three forming a phalanx of protection, healing, and petition for those who ask for their intercession. The Church celebrates the three archangels with a joint feast day on Sept. 29.
St. Michael the Archangel
St. Michael the Archangel is hailed in the Book of Daniel as “the great prince who has charge of [God’s] people.”
Michael Aquilina, the executive vice president and trustee of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology in Steubenville, Ohio, described Michael among angels as “the one most often named — and most often invoked — and most often seen in history-changing apparitions.”
Devotion to Michael, Aquilina told CNA, “has been with the Church from the beginning. And Michael has been with God’s people since before the beginning of the Church.”
Michael’s history in the Bible is depicted through Daniel, in Jude (in which he battles Satan for possession of Moses’ body), and in Revelation as he “wag[es] war with the dragon” alongside his fellow angels.
Michael, Aquilina said, was “a supremely important character who was there from the beginning of the story.” Rabbinic tradition holds that Michael was at the center of many of the great biblical dramas even if not explicitly mentioned.
He was an early subject of veneration in the Church, though Aquilina noted that the Reformation led to a steep decline in devotion to the angels — until the end of the 19th century, when Michael began an “amazing comeback journey” in the life of the Church.
Following a vision of Satan “running riot” on the planet, “Pope Leo composed three prayers to St. Michael, ranging from short to long,” Aquilina said. “The brief one, he commanded, should be prayed at the end of every Mass.”
This was a regular feature of the Mass until the Vatican II era, after which it came to an end — though Pope John Paul II in 1994 urged Catholics to make the prayer a regular part of their lives.
“St. Michael is there for us in the day of battle, which is every day,” Aquilina said.
The St. Michael Prayer: St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil / May God rebuke him, we humbly pray / And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the divine power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
St. Gabriel the Archangel
Gabriel appears regularly in Scripture as a messenger of God’s word, both in the Old and New Testaments. Daniel identifies Gabriel as a “man” who came “to give [him] insight and understanding,” relaying prophetic answers to Daniel’s entreaties to God.
In the New Testament, Luke relays Gabriel’s appearances to both Zechariah and the Virgin Mary. At the former, he informs the priest that his wife, Elizabeth, will soon conceive a child; at the latter he informs Mary herself that she will do the same. The two children in question, of course, were respectively John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.
Christian tradition further associates Gabriel with the apostle Paul’s reference in his First Letter to the Thessalonians to the “archangel’s call” and “the sound of the trumpet of God.”
“Judgment will begin with the archangel’s call and the sound of the horn,” Aquilina told CNA. “Thus we hear often of Gabriel’s trumpet.”
Media workers in particular have “good professional reasons to go to Gabriel,” Aquilina said.
“Since he is the Bible’s great communicator — the great teller of good news — he is the natural patron of broadcasters and all those who work in electronic media,” he said.
“For the same reason, he’s the patron saint of preachers … but also of postal workers, diplomats, and messengers.”
The St. Gabriel Prayer: O Blessed Archangel Gabriel, we beseech thee, do thou intercede for us at the throne of divine mercy in our present necessities, that as thou didst announce to Mary the mystery of the Incarnation, so through thy prayers and patronage in heaven we may obtain the benefits of the same, and sing the praise of God forever in the land of the living. Amen.
St. Raphael the Archangel
Lesser-known among the three great archangels, Raphael’s mission from God “is not obvious to the casual reader” of the Bible, Aquilina said. Yet his story, depicted in the Book of Tobit, is “something unique in the whole Bible.” In other depictions of angels, they come to Earth only briefly, to deliver a message or to help God’s favored people in some way.
“Raphael is different,” Aquilina said. “He stays around for the whole story, and by the end he’s become something more than an angel … he’s become a friend.”
In Tobit, Raphael accompanies Tobias, the son of the book’s namesake, as he travels to retrieve money left by his father in another town, helping him along the way and arranging for his marriage to Sarah.
The biblical account “has in every generation provided insight and consolation to the devout,” Aquilina said.
Notably, Raphael deftly uses the natural world to work God’s miracles: “What we would ordinarily call catastrophes — blindness, multiple widowhood, destitution, estrangement — all these become providential channels of grace by the time the threads of the story are all wound up in the end.”
“Raphael is patron of many kinds of people,” Aquilina said. “Of course, he’s the patron of singles in search of a mate — and those in search of a friend. He is the patron of pharmacists because he provided the salve of healing. He is a patron for anyone in search of a cure.”
He is also the patron saint of blind people, travelers, sick people, and youth.
“Raphael’s story,” Aquilina said, “remains a model for those who would enjoy the friendship of the angels.”
Prayer to St. Raphael: St. Raphael, of the glorious seven who stand before the throne of him who lives and reigns, angel of health, the Lord has filled your hand with balm from heaven to soothe or cure our pains. Heal or cure the victim of disease. And guide our steps when doubtful of our ways. Amen.
This story was first published on Sept. 29, 2023, and has been updated.
Police gather at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, 2025, following a mass shooting that killed two children and injured 17 others, 14 of them children. / Credit: Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Sep 22, 2025 / 17:17 pm (CNA).
At a town hall meeting in Plymouth, Minnesota, over the weekend, three mothers whose children survived the school shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in August advocated for stricter gun laws.
Two children were killed and 21 people were injured after Robin Westman, 23, a man who identified as a woman, shot through the stained-glass windows of the church during a school Mass on Aug. 27.
Carla Maldonado, who has two children at Annunciation Catholic School, said “taking action” by tightening gun laws would honor the deaths of the two children and “all lives taken by gun violence.”
“We cannot accept a world where civilians have access to weapons designed for battlefields,” she said, referring to assault weapons and calling for their prohibition.
Another mother, Malia Kimbrell, who also supports an assault weapons ban, asked: “If the next mass shooting happens at your child’s school, what type of weapon are you comfortable with the shooter being armed with?”
Kimbrell, whose daughter Vivian, 9, is recovering after she was shot multiple times, advocated for “more mental health resources and safer gun storage and better background checks and detecting potential threats online and improved security measures.”
Stephanie Moscetti said her son “was an honorary pallbearer at his friend’s [Merkel’s] funeral; how is this our reality?”
“Our kids deserve safe schools, they deserve safe childhoods where they can play and learn,” she said.
Rep. Kelly Morrison, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, organized the town hall meeting, which focused on the prevention of gun violence.
Several of the mothers at the town hall also testified last week before a working group of state lawmakers who deliberated over proposed reforms dealing with gun violence.
At the hearing, Rob Doar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, asked lawmakers to strengthen the law surrounding mental health resources access, pointing out that none of the proposals put forward would have prevented the shooting because Westman legally purchased the weapons.
Westman used three firearms during the August attack: a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, all of which were purchased legally under existing state law. The rifle was likely an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, which is considered an assault weapon.
Laws limiting those with mental health disorders from gun possession
Though Westman struggled with his gender identity, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed “gender identity disorder” from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and replaced it with “gender dysphoria” in the revised version, known as the DSM-5, published in 2013.
This change marked a significant shift in how struggles with a person’s sexual identity are classified, with health care professionals no longer calling it a mental illness.
The new classification of gender dysphoria, though it is still in the APA’s manual of mental disorders, addresses the symptoms, or the distress, associated with gender incongruence and not the incongruence itself.
Minnesota, along with 29 other states, bars people with mental health issues who have been involuntarily committed or found to be a danger to self or others from possessing a gun.
This law did not come into play in the August shooting, however.
Gov. Tim Walz in early September called for a special session, which has yet to take place, that will focus on gun safety. He proposed banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips as well as more safety regulations concerning storage and a stronger red flag law.
Minnesota’s current red flag law allows family or local and state officials to ask for an extreme risk protection order, or ERPO, which allows them to petition the court to have an at-risk person’s guns removed or to temporarily prohibit that person from buying a gun.
“We passed a red flag law. It was passed in 2023 and it was supposed to deal with a situation like this,” Minnesota House Republican leader Harry Niska said in early September after Walz proposed the special session. “So I hope everyone is asking serious questions about why — why did this incident not trigger either a background check flag or a red flag?”
Republicans also want to allow doctors more discretion concerning transgender medical procedures, more funds for mental health facilities, and harsher penalties for certain gun crimes.
Ten states ban assault weapons, but the proposal in Minnesota failed to come up for a vote in 2023. Just over half of rural residents opposed an assault weapons ban in a 2022 MinnPost poll, while 69% of urban dwellers supported it. Overall, the poll found that nearly 54% supported it.
The state requires universal background checks for all firearm sales, including private transfers, and domestic violence protections prohibit access for those under restraining orders or with misdemeanor convictions, among many other regulations.
Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 12:02 pm (CNA).
Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was reportedly strongly considering becoming Catholic just prior to his assassination, according to a bishop who spoke to him shortly before his killing.
Robert Brennan, a Los Angeles-based writer and the brother of Fresno, California, Bishop Joseph Brennan, said in a Sept. 18 column in the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper Angelus that Kirk had a “personal exchange” with the California prelate about a week before Kirk’s murder at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
The writer Brennan, who said Bishop Brennan gave him permission to share the story, wrote that Kirk had spoken to the prelate at a prayer breakfast in Visalia. The conservative activist “told the bishop about his Catholic wife and children and how he attended Mass with them.”
Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno in California. Credit: Thank You (22 Millions+) views from Los Angeles, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kirk acknowledged “speculation” about his possible interest in becoming Catholic, Brennan wrote in Angelus; he subsequently told Bishop Brennan: “I’m this close” to converting.
In his Angelus column Brennan pointed to a recent video Kirk made in which he acknowledged some “big disagreements” with Catholicism but claimed that Protestants “under-value” the Blessed Mother.
“We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough,” Kirk said, arguing that Mary is “the solution” to “toxic feminism” in the U.S.
“[H]ow fitting one of Charlie Kirk’s last videos was about the preeminent mediatrix of all time and space,” Robert Brennan wrote in Angelus. “In his own way he was reaching out to her, and now, I am convinced, she is returning the favor.”
Kirk was fatally shot while taking questions from audience members during a stop at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” He is survived by his wife, Erika Frantzve, and their 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.
Prominent Catholics around the world have joined in the chorus of voices mourning Kirk’s death in the days since he was killed. German Catholic Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller referred to Kirk this week as “a martyr for Jesus Christ” and condemned the “satanic celebration” of his death by some of his detractors.
Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action and a close friend of Kirk’s, said on Sept. 13 that the activist’s death “will be a turning point” for the country.
And Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Kirk’s activism “restored optimism about the American future for millions of Americans.”
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