By Nicole Olea / Catholic Standard , OSV News

HOLLYWOOD, Md. (OSV News) – Teenagers and young adults serving at St. John’s Summer Program at St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood told the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan news outlet, what draws young people to the Church and gives them a reason to stay.

They talked about friends who invited them, Catholics they admired, communities where they felt at home and moments that helped the faith become their own.

For many, those experiences helped them come to know Christ personally.

Start with an invitation

Several of the young people at St. John’s, a Catholic day camp for ages 4 to 14, said they found their way into Catholic community because someone invited them or encouraged them to come.

Betsy Pieniadz, 19, came from New Mexico after hearing about the program through people connected to St. John’s. Ethan Lansing, 18, learned about it from a friend at Ave Maria University in Florida.

Carmen Davidson, 21, arrived from Baylor University in Texas after a friend urged her to apply, while Caroline Grifone, 21, came from Pennsylvania through people already connected to the program.

Authentic relationships matter

Grifone said young people need to meet Catholics whose faith is part of their everyday lives.

“I met people who were involved in their faith but were also athletic, fun and outgoing,” she said. “That drew me in.”

Pieniadz said negative experiences with Catholics had caused her to drift away from the Church.

“Then I came here and met people who really lived their faith,” she said.

Addie Lyons, 19, said relationships can make young people more open to the faith. Rather than beginning with a theology talk, she said, counselors build friendships, have fun with the children and let questions about faith come naturally.

Build a place where they belong

Rachel Mroz, 22, became more involved in her faith through the Catholic Student Center at the University of Maryland and returned to St. John’s looking for that same kind of community during the summer.

She said young Catholics need people around them who encourage them in the faith, “other people who want to run to heaven with us.”

Rollins Don-Simmons, 19, said the community at St. John’s gave him confidence to seek out Catholic life at the University of Maryland.

For Summer Phan, 16, and Maria Northrup, 17, older staff members offered an example to follow. Both saw teenagers and college students return year after year, showing them what staying active in the faith could look like as they grew older.

Teach the faith so they can understand it

Don-Simmons said parishes hoping to reach young people should think carefully about how they communicate the faith.

“I think we can best engage young people in the faith by explaining the faith in a way that they can understand,” he told the Catholic Standard.

Carlton Costanzo, 17, made a similar point.

“Stay rooted in our tradition while also presenting it in a way that’s accessible to younger generations,” he said.

Christopher Damron, 19, said young people respond when the faith is explained clearly and in a way they can understand.

Keep Christ at the center

Many pointed to the Eucharist as central to Catholic life.

Lansing said helping young people understand what happens at Mass can change the way they see the Church.

“If more people really understood what is happening at Mass and believed it with their whole hearts, I think it would completely change the way they look at the Catholic faith,” he said.

Hannah Lawrence, 29, said friendships first brought her to St. John’s, but daily Mass and Eucharistic adoration helped transform her faith.

Help them ask what God wants for their lives

Several also spoke about faith in terms of vocation and discernment.

Pieniadz said she initially did not want to come to St. John’s, but eventually believed God was asking her to go.

“God called me to,” she said. “God told me to.” she said.

Lansing had spent months asking St. Joseph the Worker to help him find a summer job before his friend told him about St. John’s.

“This was the opportunity that opened up,” he said. “I took it as God showing me where he wanted me to be.” he said.

Costanzo is considering college, military service, the trades and priesthood as he discerns his future.

“I think every Catholic man should be open to the possibility of seminary until he’s called to marriage,” he said.

For the young people at St. John’s, faith has grown through friendships, invitations and the example of people who took their relationship with Christ seriously.

And many of them are now doing the same for someone else.

(Nicole Olea is a reporter at Catholic Standard, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Washington. This story was originally published by the Catholic Standard and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.)

By Simone Orendain , OSV News

(OSV News) – Joseph Connor had his back turned to the large window of his 36th floor office when he “suddenly more felt than heard” the massive impact of a commercial jet slamming into the north tower of the World Trade Center a third of a mile away on Sept. 11, 2001.

As Connor watched pages and pages of office paper slowly rain down from the burning skyscraper against the clear sunny sky, the realization hit that his cousin Steven Schlag, a bond trader at the brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald, worked high up in one of the towers.

The banker suspected the number of lives lost was quickly rising as he frantically tried to call his cousin, a very close relative. Then, the middle of the second tower burst into a fiery ball, struck by a second jet. For Connor, this confirmed a terrorist attack.

“How could this happen again?” he remembers asking himself. “(Steven) had a wife – a foreign-born wife, like my mom was – and three kids. My mom had two. But why, God? What? How did you let this happen?”

He knew well the anguish of a young widow left with young children. It was the story of his mother on the day she lost her husband to a terrorist bombing 26 years earlier, at a historic tavern near his Wall Street office.

Connor, 60, recently described to OSV News the devastation that unfolded before his eyes in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, as the United States prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The al-Qaida-led attacks in New York and Washington, with a thwarted attempt failing in Pennsylvania, left close to 3,000 people dead.

Connor said he questioned God after seeing “specks jumping” from the blazing towers to their deaths on 9/11.

“How are people left to make a choice: whether to burn or drop 1,000 feet?” Connor asked. “So, that’s something I had struggled with. But I think over time, my faith has gotten much stronger, and certainly in the last decade or so, I think it has even gotten more so.”

Connor, a regular Massgoer, credits his stronger faith after the losses in part to his son, an Augustinian friar studying for the priesthood. He said his son’s faith has helped him to “become more introspective … and understand what it means to be Catholic … to really embrace God and embrace Jesus.”

Now a New Jersey-based anti-terrorism advocate, Connor lost his father days after his ninth birthday. On Jan. 24, 1975, 33-year-old Frank Connor was at lunch at Fraunces Tavern in the heart of Manhattan’s financial district when he and three other men were killed, and nearly 60 were injured in a bombing. The Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), a Puerto Rican separatist group, claimed responsibility.

Connor said he has had no inclination to walk away from God, unlike some others he knew who lost loved ones on 9/11. The experience, he said, of losing his father and being raised by a mother and grandmother who were devout, Irish women kept him grounded and better able to handle the loss of his close cousin, whom he described as tough and funny.

“We went to church and all those things, but Grandma Connor always instilled in us never to be raised with hate,” said Connor.

His cousin Jean Schlag Nebbia of Naples, Florida, also clung to her faith shortly after her older brother Steven, who was 41, died in the attack.

“I never blamed God for 9/11. I felt that you’re given the gift of life, and then you’re given the gift of choice. And sometimes there’s bad people and they make bad choices, and other people are hurt through bad choices,” Nebbia, a former special needs teacher’s aide, told OSV News.

Three months after the attacks, she came to a realization.

Nebbia, 63, described watching news footage of the burning towers obsessively, trying to find her brother among those jumping out of the buildings. On the third month of non-stop viewing, her husband gave her some advice a Christian coworker had given him: “to say ‘I’m going to put this in God’s hands.'”

“The moment he said that to me is the moment I started to live … giving up my worries and giving up the unknown,” Nebbia told OSV News. “You know, ‘God, I need a good night’s sleep. I’m going to put this in your hands.’ That, to me, was a turning point. And I don’t know if I could have done that if I didn’t have my Catholic base.”

Nebbia said her 12 years of Catholic education and growing up as a regular Massgoer gave her a solid grounding in faith in God’s providence. She said she goes to God in prayer for almost every aspect of her life because “he has my back” just like her older brother, whom she was very close to, “always did.”

Vera Murphy Trayner also leaned heavily on her faith after losing her husband, Patrick Murphy.

On the morning of the attack, Trayner prayed the rosary fervently as she rushed home from her son’s nursery school while pushing him in his stroller. Murphy, 36 and the vice president for technology at the resource and management consulting firm Marsh McLennan, was on the 97th floor of the first tower that was hit three floors below. His department had moved there just months prior.

Trayner’s go-to devotion “always” came through for her with prayers answered.

“I prayed and prayed and prayed that Patrick would find a way out. He was so smart … and athletic and young … and it was the first prayer that I made that was not answered,” Trayner told OSV News.

She said she “was disappointed” but also held firm to the belief that her husband’s death “happened for a reason” and she “had to accept it.”

“Well, it’s free will. The terrorists, obviously they’re guided by evil and they were able to do such an evil act,” Trayner said. “I don’t want to feel sorry for myself because all through history, there have been traumas, wars. There’s death. There’s fires.”

Now 60, Trayner said her studies at Jesuit-run Boston College opened her up further to the faith during difficulties.

“I was able to ask questions and being a woman in the Catholic faith, being a widow in the Catholic faith, being a mother, I read quite a bit of different books … answering my own questions and talking with people,” she said.

Trayner, a Tampa-based college counselor who remarried in 2006, has relied on the Holy Spirit “to give me the right words,” the Blessed Mother to intercede in raising her children, and the saints, especially Joan of Arc, to guide her through every major challenge.

Still, she said, as she described breaking into a sweat while speaking to OSV News, she remains haunted by the thought of how her first husband must have suffered as the north tower became engulfed in an inferno and collapsed.

Nebbia admitted that as a Catholic, in recent weeks she has begun to struggle with forgiving the terrorists.

“I just feel like I don’t need to forgive them. That’s not my job. So now I’m questioning myself, like, ‘Alright, how do I go about forgiving these people, how?’ That was their goal. They achieved their goal. Now, I question that part of me,” she said.

Connor said he has come to accept his family’s tragic losses.

“Maybe I didn’t understand the reason, and maybe I don’t understand the reason why Steve was killed and the other 3,000 people, but I do feel that God does have a reason for it,” he said.

(Simone Orendain is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Chicago.)

By James Ramos

HOUSTON (OSV News) – The death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo following an encounter with federal immigration agents has shaken one of Houston’s most deeply rooted immigrant communities.

Since his death on July 7, family members, community advocates and Church leaders have questioned the circumstances surrounding his death and called for accountability and a full investigation.

The place where it happened sits in the heart of Magnolia Park, a neighborhood built by generations of Mexican American and immigrant families.

Along Canal Street, taquerias, refresquerías and meat markets share blocks with modest homes, aging storefronts and family-owned businesses that have anchored the East End for decades.

Just a block away, Canal Street intersects South Sgt. Macario García Drive, named for the Mexican immigrant and World War II hero who became the first Mexican-born recipient of the Medal of Honor. History doesn’t feel distant in Magnolia Park. It’s woven into the street signs.

On July 25, more than 300 Catholics, clergy, relatives and community supporters gathered in Magnolia Park for a vigil Mass to honor Salgado Araujo, with hundreds more joining the 1.5-mile prayer procession and a candlelight vigil.

Just before dusk settled over Canal Street, where the procession ended, and hundreds of vigil candles began to glow against the East End’s fading light, Ronaldo Salgado Araujo slipped away from the crowd.

He didn’t say anything. He simply walked to a patch of pavement on the 6800 block of Canal Street, bent down and touched the ground where his father died 18 days earlier.

The moment lasted mere seconds, reflecting the somber tone of a day marked by prayer and calls for answers.

The afternoon began at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, a cornerstone of Magnolia Park, where worshippers filled the pews as Archbishop Joe S. Vásquez of Galveston-Houston celebrated Mass and called for both compassion and reform.

“Human dignity and national security are not in conflict,” Archbishop Vásquez told the congregation in Spanish. “Both are possible when people of goodwill work together.”

At the Mass, Archbishop Vásquez acknowledged the pain surrounding Salgado Araujo’s death while placing it within a broader moral framework.

“As Catholics who believe that all people are created in the image and likeness of God, we mourn every situation in which human life comes to an unnatural end,” he said.

But Archbishop Vásquez also used the occasion to revisit a larger issue.

Archbishop Vásquez echoed what he said July 15 after Salgado Araujo’s death, calling for meaningful immigration reform and an end to indiscriminate deportations.

“The U.S. Catholic bishops have repeatedly called for enforcement efforts that are targeted, proportional and humane,” Archbishop Vásquez said, adding that lasting reform requires “peaceful dialogue, mutual respect and a commitment to charity.”

“Only with Christ’s help and by working together will we have a nation under God with liberty and justice for all,” he said.

Among Salgado Araujo’s family members attending the Mass was his 29-year-old son, Ronaldo, who with his girlfriend carried forward the gifts during the offertory procession.

After Mass, the congregation stepped into the thick Houston heat and gathered outside the church.

Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro of Galveston-Houston, who concelebrated the Mass with several other local priests, offered a blessing before the walk began.

Soon, the procession stretched across several blocks before it ended at the place where Salgado Araujo died.

Clergy walked alongside parishioners. Religious sisters moved through the crowd carrying candles, signs and rosaries. Faith leaders from multiple traditions joined the procession, which was organized by an interfaith coalition with support from the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

As they walked, participants prayed the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet in English and Spanish. Hymns floated between prayers. Responses echoed off warehouses, storefronts and passing traffic.

Drivers honked in support. Some waved from open windows. Others raised fists.

For most of the journey, Ronaldo Salgado Araujo carried a large wooden cross adorned with roses that towered over the procession, often casting a long shadow down Navigation Boulevard as the clouds dodged the setting sun.

At times he pressed it tightly against his face. At other times he leaned on it as prayers and chants continued around him.

Lázaro Contreras, director of Hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, said the Church’s presence was intended to show accompaniment for both the family and the broader community.

“The Church is always with us in every dimension of our lives, and this is one of them,” Contreras said. “The presence of our bishops, our shepherds, attending their flock is very important for the family and for the community.”

Contreras said Salgado Araujo’s story resonates because it feels familiar. He described him as a hardworking father who spent years building a life and helping his children succeed.

“In different ways, many of us feel that he represents our fathers and our families,” Contreras said.

Concerns about immigration enforcement continue to surface throughout the archdiocese, he said.

“Some people called me and said, ‘This has happened in our community. Some of our members have been detained and taken,'” Contreras said. “It’s something that is active and happening.”

Many Catholics, he said, are searching for guidance amid uncertainty.

“They are looking for guidance and for refuge,” Contreras said. “In these moments, they want to know the Church is standing with them and defending their dignity.”

Once the faithful arrived at Canal Street, Ronaldo Salgado Araujo carried the cross to a house near where his father died and set it down.

He addressed the vigil, thanking those “who are supporting us and calling for justice for my father.”

But he urged attendees not to focus solely on his family’s loss and referenced Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian immigrant and father who was fatally shot during a July 13 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine. Federal officials later said Durán Guerrero was not the intended target.

“Please do not forget that justice is still needed for Johan,” Ronaldo Salgado Araujo said. “Justice is needed for everyone, for all who have been victims.”

He then invoked the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words from the 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” saying: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

(James Ramos is content editor for the Texas Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. This story was originally published by the Texas Catholic Herald and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.)