‘Revival of prayer and action’ needed to end abortion,says US bishops’ pro-life chair

By Gina Christian
(OSV News) – Ahead of Respect Life Month, the pro-life committee chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging “a revival of prayer and action” to end abortion and uphold the sanctity of human life.

A statement for the October observance, written by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, was released by the USCCB Sept. 19 and posted to the website of the USCCB’s Respect Life Month initiative. The effort traces its origins to 1972, just prior to the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the two 1973 decisions that broadly legalized abortion.

In his message, Bishop Burbidge stressed that “Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, gives us the fullness of life,” and “calls each of us to respect that gift of life in every human person.”

The bishop pointed to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, held during July in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, the U.S. bishops’ three-year effort to rekindle devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The congress and the Eucharistic processions leading up to it “involved hundreds of thousands of Catholics who will never be the same,” he said. “The revival continues, and is so needed, especially in our efforts to defend human life.”

He quoted a 2013 address by Pope Francis to Catholic medical professionals, in which the pope said that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection.”

However, “the law and millions of our brothers and sisters have yet to recognize this reality,” said Bishop Burbidge.

Despite the Supreme Court’s June 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, enabling elected officials “to reduce or end abortion … fifty years of virtually unlimited abortion has tragically created a national mindset where many Americans have become comfortable with some amount of abortion,” said Bishop Burbidge. “This allows the abortion industry to continue to provide any amount of abortion.”
Abortion rates actually rose or stayed at pre-Roe levels in the U.S. following the Dobbs decision, which overturned the Roe and Doe rulings.

Globally, there are a total of some 73.3 million abortions each year, according to the Guttmacher Institute – a number about 4 million greater than United Kingdom’s current population, and almost 15 million more than the United Nation’s 2019 crude death rate, or total number of deaths worldwide in a given year.

“Given this challenge, the U.S. bishops have affirmed that, while it is important to address all the ways in which human life is threatened, ‘abortion remains our pre-eminent priority as it directly attacks our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, destroying more than a million lives each year in our country alone,’” said Bishop Burbidge, quoting a 2024 document by the U.S. Bishops on conscience formation and political responsibility for Catholics.

With the U.S. presidential election just weeks away, Bishop Burbidge asked Catholics in the U.S. to “renew our commitment to work for the legal protection of every human life, from conception to natural death, and to vote for candidates who will defend the life and dignity of the human person.”

In addition, he said, “we must call for policies that assist women and their children in need, while also continuing to help mothers in our own communities through local pregnancy help centers and our nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need.”

Faithful must “likewise continue to extend the hand of compassion to all who are suffering from participation in abortion,” highlighting the church’s abortion healing ministries, such as Project Rachel.
“Most importantly, we must rededicate ourselves to fervent prayer on behalf of life,” said Bishop Burbidge, who invited Catholics “to join me in a concerted effort of prayer between now and our national elections, by daily praying our Respect Life Month, ‘Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.’”
The text of the prayer, along with several resources for Respect Life Month, is available on the initiative’s website at https://www.respectlife.org/respect-life-month.

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina.)

Briefs

A priest raises the monstrance as pilgrims gather for the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Sept. 28, 2024. Thousands of pilgrims from across the country gathered at the shrine to honor Mary, the Mother of God, and her gift of the rosary. (OSV News photo/Jeffrey Bruno)

NATION
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Thousands of pilgrims from across the country gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Sept. 28 to honor Mary, the Mother of God, and her gift of the rosary. “I am entirely yours, Mary, I am entirely yours,” the crowd sang in Latin as the second annual Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage opened with a procession of a statue of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary. “All that I have, Mother of Christ, all that I have is yours.” More than 3,000 people registered for the free, daylong pilgrimage celebrating the rosary hosted by the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph and their local charters of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, a spiritual association dedicated to the rosary. Dominican friars and sisters dotted a diverse crowd of men and women, young and old, individuals and families of different cultures and backgrounds. The event at the basilica, the largest Roman Catholic church in North America, included preaching, adoration, confession, book signings, a recitation of the rosary, enrollment in the confraternity, Mass and an evening concert with the Hillbilly Thomists, a bluegrass band of Dominican friars. Founded in 1216 by St. Dominic de Guzmán, the Dominican Order, also known as the Order of Preachers, has a special relationship with the rosary: According to tradition, Mary appeared to St. Dominic, entrusting the rosary’s promotion to him.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Three years after being approved by the U.S. Catholic bishops, updates to the ritual texts for distribution of holy Communion outside of Mass and for Eucharistic adoration will take effect. The revised version of “Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery outside Mass” will be implemented on the First Sunday of Advent, Dec. 1, 2024. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had signed off on the fresh texts in 2021, with the revisions reviewed by the USCCB’s Secretariat for Divine Worship and confirmed by the Vatican in March 2023. Father David R. Price, associate director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Divine Worship, told OSV News that “the main thing to keep in mind” regarding the revisions is that “this is a new translation of the ritual book that was given in Latin in the 1970s – so it’s a new translation, it’s not a new ritual book per se.” He emphasized that “the discipline of distribution of holy Communion outside Mass that is in place now is not changing.” The new translation “should hopefully be a way for people to continue to grow and deepen in their faith and to have a sense of unity with the universal church, in that we are praying with words in English that are similar, that are the same in meaning, as words that people are praying these same prayers in other languages – and that the translations are consistent in their meaning between these different languages,” said Father Price. “And that shows the universality of the church.”

VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Following an investigation into an influential Peru-based Catholic movement that has expanded across Latin America and the United States, Pope Francis has expelled 10 members from its ranks for physical and spiritual abuse. The group, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which operates in seven Latin American countries and has communities in the archdioceses of Denver and Philadelphia, was subject to a Vatican investigation in 2023 for alleged abuses. In a letter from the apostolic nunciature in Peru posted on the Peruvian bishops’ conference website Sept. 25, the Vatican announced the expulsion of the 10 members, including the former superior general, a retired archbishop and three other priests. The 68-year-old Peruvian Archbishop José Antonio Eguren of Piura, the highest-ranking expelled member, resigned from leading his archdiocese in April, eight years shy of the mandatory retirement age for bishops, amid an investigation into Sodalitium. The forms of abuse listed in the Vatican letter include: physical abuse “including sadism and violence,” deploying tactics to “break the will of subordinates,” spiritual abuse, abuse of authority including the cover-up of crimes and abuse in the administration of church goods. “Abuse in the exercise of the apostolate of journalism” was also cited as a form of abuse committed; the list of those expelled included Peruvian journalist Alejandro Bermudez, founder and former executive director of Catholic News Agency, which is now owned by EWTN.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Calling St. John Paul II “one of the men who most shaped the last century,” Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to get to know him better, especially through what he did and wrote before being elected pope Oct. 16, 1978. “Saint John Paul II, despite the time that has passed since his pontificate, continues to be a source of inspiration and draws people to Christ through his way of life, the depth of his teachings, and his ability to connect with the lives of people,” Pope Francis wrote in the introduction to a book titled, “The Goal is Happiness.” Published in Italian, the book offers 366 short passages from St. John Paul’s writings, “most of them unpublished outside of Poland, and some even unpublished within Poland,” Pope Francis noted in the introduction, which was translated into English and posted on Vatican News Sept. 26.

WORLD
MEXICO CITY (OSV News) – Six migrants were killed after soldiers shot at a vehicle evading a military checkpoint in Mexico’s southern Chiapas state – a tragedy condemned by Mexico’s bishops as “the disproportionate use of lethal force on the part of agents of the state.” The Mexican bishops’ conference’s migrant ministry expressed solidarity with the victims and called for a “serious, impartial and investigation” of the shooting. A green truck carrying 33 migrants failed to stop at a checkpoint roughly 50 miles from the Guatemala border, at 8:50 p.m. on Oct. 1, drawing fire from two soldiers, according to an army statement the following day. Six migrants were killed in the incident while 10 were injured and 17 escaped unharmed. The migrants hailed from Nepal, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Cuba. The army said two soldiers opened fire on the vehicle, which was traveling at high-speed and taking evasive actions. It added that two other trucks, “similar to those used by criminal groups in the region,” were following behind. “Military personnel reported hearing shots, so two (soldiers) fired their weapons, stopping one of the flatbed trucks,” the statement said. A collective of human rights and migration organizations sponsored by the Jesuit-run Iberoamerican University condemned the army’s actions, along with the Mexican government’s militarized response to migration enforcement. The stepped-up enforcement ahead of the November U.S. election has coincided with the Biden administration placing restrictions on asylum-seekers.

Boston College launches millionaire project to empower Hispanic Catholic organizations

By Omar Cabrera

(OSV News) In response to the pastoral needs of the growing number of Latinos in the U.S., a new initiative from Boston College’s Clough School of Theology and Ministry seeks to strengthen Catholic organizations that work with Hispanic ministry.

With 45% of Catholics in the United States identifying as Latino and 60% of Catholics under the age of 18 years in this country being Latino, these Catholics “are transforming Catholicism in the United States,” said Hosffman Ospino, a professor of theology and religious education at Boston College who researches the dialogue between faith and culture as well as Hispanic Catholics. “We find ourselves in a church that is becoming Hispanicized at a fast pace.”

This reality, he added, opens the opportunity to be better disciples and respond appropriately to the challenges that come with it. To do this, Boston College launched “Nuevo Momento: Leadership and Capacity Building for Ministerial Organizations Serving Hispanic Catholics” at the end of August.

Los principales líderes de la organización y los socios que forman parte de Nuevo Momento, un proyecto de Boston College para fortalecer a organizaciones católicas que trabajan con el ministerio hispano, se reúnen en persona por primera vez en el Connors Center de Dover, Massachusetts. (OSV News photo/cortesía del programa Nuevo Momento, Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College)

This five-year project, supported by a $15 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc., seeks to empower organizations through four building blocks: strong organizational capacity, a path toward economic or financial sustainability, leadership training and renewal, and a grant to strengthen its internal capacity.

The 15 organizations participating in Nuevo Momento are among “the most influential and representative of the work that is being done in the Catholic Church in the United States to accompany the Hispanic community,” said Ospino, who directs Nuevo Momento.

These include associations of Latino priests and sisters, organizations focused on catechesis and formation, organizations that work with youth and young adults, associations of leaders and ministries, regional institutes and offices, as well as an organization that focuses on migrant ministry.

“We are very excited to be part of something like Nuevo Momento,” said Lisset Mendoza, treasurer of the National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors for Hispanic Ministry.

Mendoza added that her organization has the possibility of assigning three people to pursue a cohort-based Master of Arts in Ministerial Leadership, which the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College has designed specifically for Nuevo Momento.

The master’s degree will follow a hybrid format, with face-to-face sessions in the summer and winter, in addition to online classes, Ospino explained. The curriculum is designed for students to complete in 18 months. All expenses, including tuition, travel and lodging will be covered by Nuevo Momento, at no cost to students or their organizations, he added.

It is expected that between 35 and 45 people will graduate from the new master’s degree through the Nuevo Momento program. Each participating institution may designate people under 40 years of age to benefit from the degree.

Elisabeth Román, president of the National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry, said that her organization currently operates without employees, with people donating their time to the ministry. Therefore, they hope that New Moment will help the 33-year-old ministry discern ways to “go towards the creation of a staff” to usher in the next 33 years.

Ospino explained that several participating organizations also work with volunteers instead of paid staff. Yet, the organizations need to hire employees to expand their impact, reflecting on Nuevo Momento’s pillar to improve the economic capacity of participating institutions.

“That financial stability has to do with how they manage their finances, how they manage their economy, how they manage their projects and, at the same time, how they carry out campaigns and develop fund-raising mechanisms to help them financially,” Ospino explained.

In addition to the master’s degree, the new project will include training modules for the leaders of the institutions, whether they are called presidents, executive directors, or other leadership positions. These modules will cover topics such as strategic planning, how to do fundraising, how to organize and operate boards of directors, among others. Most of the work for these modules will be online.

To deliver the training modules to its participants, Nuevo Momento has established partnerships with the Leadership Roundtable, Corresponsables de Dios (an organization that specializes in the areas of stewardship and planned giving), the fundraising company For Impact, and the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, according to the initiative’s website.

In addition, the program will have the participation of consultants specialized in leadership, administration, theology and ministry.

The 15 organizations that have been selected to participate in Nuevo Momento “have a very clear and defined mission,” Ospino said. “They know what they’re doing, they know it very well, they have both organizational and community wisdom, they understand the concerns of the Latino community and its hopes.”

But the great work that these organizations do is done “in a limited way,” the theologian added. Nuevo Momento seeks to support them to scale up their impact.

Román stressed that improving the way Latino Catholics are served must be a key priority within the church. “We are almost half of the church. We must invest so that our children, so that our families continue to be an important part of it,” she said.

She thinks that some Hispanic organizations are only able to do ministry on a smaller scale because of a tendency not to see the richness Latinos can offer to the church. There might also be a perception of being a community that wants to change the church.

“I think sometimes we are not understood,” Román said. “Possibly, they do not understand that the culture and faith — at least for Latin Americans, Caribbeans, for us who come from the south — are tied. We cannot separate them,” she said.

Yet, se is confident that the New Moment initiative will help foster understanding and improve this situation.

Ospino stressed that Nuevo Momento points to “what theologically we would call a ‘Kairos’ (the time perfect that God has so that everything happens when He wills it).”

“It is a moment in history where we recognize, on the one hand, the way in which the church is being updated in response to the current realities,” he said. “And on the other hand, when we see that God becomes present within that history giving us the opportunity to be better disciples.”

The theologian added that “our African American brothers” also need a project like Nuevo Momento, and it would be great to craft such an initiative.

Ospino said to be hopeful that this project will be a catalyst for big changes.

“Jesus started with 12 people. These 12 people didn’t have to be the smartest, nor the richest, nor the most powerful, but they were people who showed a new way of living their faith, a new way to understand reality,” he said. “And those people went on to inspire many, many others.”

Ospino added that he trusts God will accompany them and usher a stronger response to the transformation that is already underway within the church in the United States.

(Omar Cabrera writes for OSV News from Ohio.)

Briefs

James Earl Jones, poses for photographers as he stands next to Darth Vader at the premiere of the film “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” at the TriBeCa Film Festival in New York City May 12, 2002. The late actor, a Catholic with a storied career that included voicing the character Darth Vader, died the morning of Sept. 9, 2024. (OSV News photo/Chip East, Reuters)

NATION
DUTCHESS COUNTY, N.Y. (OSV News) – James Earl Jones, a distinguished actor known for his resonant voice and a Black Catholic, died Sept. 9 in Dutchess County at age 93. His numerous and versatile roles over an illustrious 70-year career included the voice of Darth Vader in “Star Wars,” beginning in 1977, and Mufasa in “The Lion King” (1994); a reclusive author in “Field of Dreams” (1989); and Admiral James Greer in “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), as well as Broadway and Shakespearan plays. He was also the dramatic voice behind CNN’s tagline “This is CNN.” A convert to the Catholic faith as a young man while serving in the U.S. Army, Jones wrote in 1993, “Perhaps my greatest honor came when I was asked to read the New Testament on tape,” pointing to an unabridged recording of the King James Version of the New Testament he made in the 1980s that was remastered for CD in 2002. His talent earned him the elusive “EGOT,” having garnered Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. The Oscar was an honorary Academy Award granted in 2011. Jones’ passing coincided with the feast of St. Peter Claver, a patron saint of Black Catholics.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, repeated – without evidence – claims about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio. But Vance’s fellow Ohio Republican officials have said such claims are false, and Catholic leaders have called for respect for migrants. At a Sept. 10 debate, former President Donald Trump also repeated the viral, unverified claims – refuted by local authorities – about Haitian migrants, a largely Catholic population, living in the city of Springfield, Ohio, that accuses them of abducting pets and eating them. In a Sept. 15 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Vance was confronted by anchor Dana Bash about that claim, which he has also repeated. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast,” Vance said. Vance’s fellow Ohio Republicans including the state’s governor and Springfield’s mayor, called the claims that Haitian migrants are kidnapping and eating pets false. “We have a big-hearted community, and we’re being smeared in a way we don’t deserve,” said Mayor Rob Rue, also a Republican. Credible estimates vary, but a few thousand immigrants from Haiti have settled in Springfield, Ohio, city officials said, and most have legal status. Most came as a result of a local Chamber of Commerce effort to revive Springfield as a manufacturing hub.

VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, set to bring 368 bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to the Vatican, will begin by asking forgiveness for various sins on behalf of all the baptized. As synod members did before last year’s session, they will spend two days on retreat before beginning work; that period of reflection will conclude Oct. 1 with a penitential liturgy presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced. The liturgy will include time to listen to the testimonies of three people: one who suffered from the sin of abuse, one from the sin of war and third from the sin of indifference to the plight of migrants, according to a Vatican statement announcing the liturgy. Afterward, “the confession of a number of sins will take place,” said the statement, released Sept. 16. “The aim is not to denounce the sin of others, but to acknowledge oneself as a member of those who, by omission or action, become the cause of suffering and responsible for the evil inflicted on the innocent and defenseless.” The liturgy is open to all but is specifically geared toward young people, as it “directs the church’s inner gaze to the faces of new generations,” the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Maybe it is a sign of aging, Pope Francis said, but he is increasingly concerned about what kind of world he and his peers will leave for younger generations – and the prognosis is not good. “This isn’t pessimism,” the pope told about two dozen representatives of popular movements and grassroots organizations meeting Sept. 20 at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Pope Francis said he feared adults are leaving behind “a world discouraged, inferior, violent, marked by the plundering of nature, alienated by dehumanized modes of communication,” and “without the political, social and economic paradigms to lead the way, with few dreams and enormous threats.” But, he said, if people join forces, especially with those who are most often the victims, things can change.

WORLD
HANOI, Vietnam (OSV News) – More than 100 people, including a Catholic religious sister, are still listed as missing after Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit Asia this year, left at least 233 dead in northern Vietnam. Sister Maria Nguyen Thi Bich Hang from the Lovers of the Holy Cross congregation is believed by her family to have been killed in the storm. On Sept. 9, heavy rain collapsed the Phong Chau Bridge over the Red River in Phu Tho province and eight people, including 35-year-old Sister Maria Nguyen, were washed away. With winds of up to 92 mph, Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful typhoon to hit Asia in 2024, wreaked havoc in northern Vietnam Sept. 7-11. Besides the death toll, the subsequent landslides and floods also left 807 people injured and 103 missing, according to government figures. In a Sept. 12 telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, the pope said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the destruction wrought by Typhoon Yagi, offering his “spiritual solidarity to the injured and to all those suffering the continuing effects of this disaster.” The church and the government agencies have provided aid to victims of the storm that hit 20 out of Vietnam’s 25 northern provinces. In the Hung Hoa Diocese in Phu Tho province, Caritas workers were distributing instant noodles, milk, rice and clean water to flood victims.

KRAKOW, Poland (OSV News) – Poland’s government is preparing a decree of a state of natural disaster as the southwestern part of the country was severely flooded by torrential rains caused by Storm Boris. Throughout the weekend of Sept. 14-15, the storm continued to wreak havoc across Central and Eastern Europe. In Austria, Poland and Czech Republic, 11 people were confirmed dead in the regions affected. “I want to express our sympathy to those who have experienced this great drama, but at the same time assure them that they are not left alone,” Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, said in a Sept. 16 statement as thousands of people were evacuated from the flood-affected region of the country. “Water, after heavy rains, flooded many houses, schools, kindergartens, and hospitals. Many homes and public buildings have been destroyed, and the entire road infrastructure in that area has been badly damaged,” the archbishop said. A 17th-century Franciscan monastery in Klodzko was dramatically affected by the flood. “The whole main church was flooded,” said Father Ignacy Szczytowski, guardian of the monastery. “We’re located right at the curve of the Nysa Klodzka River. There were no chances that with this amount of water we would manage to stop it from coming,” he said, estimating the monastery’s losses at $3.5 million.

‘Revival of prayer and action’ needed to end abortion, says US bishops’ pro-life chair

By Gina Christian (OSV News) — Ahead of Respect Life Month, the pro-life committee chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging “a revival of prayer and action” to end abortion and uphold the sanctity of human life.

A statement for the October observance, written by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, was released by the USCCB Sept. 19 and posted to the website of the USCCB’s Respect Life Month initiative. The effort traces its origins to 1972, just prior to the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the two 1973 decisions that broadly legalized abortion.

In his message, Bishop Burbidge stressed that “Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, gives us the fullness of life,” and “calls each of us to respect that gift of life in every human person.”

The bishop pointed to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, held during July in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, the U.S. bishops’ three-year effort to rekindle devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Va., chair of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, delivers the homily during the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 19, 2023, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. In a statement issued Sept. 19, 2024, for October as Respect Life Month, Bishop Burbidge called for “a revival of prayer and action” to end abortion and uphold the sanctity of human life. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)

The congress and the Eucharistic processions leading up to it “involved hundreds of thousands of Catholics who will never be the same,” he said. “The revival continues, and is so needed, especially in our efforts to defend human life.”

He quoted a 2013 address by Pope Francis to Catholic medical professionals, in which the pope said that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection.”

However, “the law and millions of our brothers and sisters have yet to recognize this reality,” said Bishop Burbidge.

Despite the Supreme Court’s June 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, enabling elected officials “to reduce or end abortion … fifty years of virtually unlimited abortion has tragically created a national mindset where many Americans have become comfortable with some amount of abortion,” said Bishop Burbidge. “This allows the abortion industry to continue to provide any amount of abortion.”

Abortion rates actually rose or stayed at pre-Roe levels in the U.S. following the Dobbs decision, which overturned the Roe and Doe rulings.

Globally, there are a total of some 73.3 million abortions each year, according to the Guttmacher Institute — a number about 4 million greater than United Kingdom’s current population, and almost 15 million more than the United Nation’s 2019 crude death rate, or total number of deaths worldwide in a given year.

“Given this challenge, the U.S. bishops have affirmed that, while it is important to address all the ways in which human life is threatened, ‘abortion remains our pre-eminent priority as it directly attacks our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, destroying more than a million lives each year in our country alone,'” said Bishop Burbidge, quoting a 2024 document by the U.S. Bishops on conscience formation and political responsibility for Catholics.

With the U.S. presidential election just weeks away, Bishop Burbidge asked Catholics in the U.S. to “renew our commitment to work for the legal protection of every human life, from conception to natural death, and to vote for candidates who will defend the life and dignity of the human person.”

In addition, he said, “we must call for policies that assist women and their children in need, while also continuing to help mothers in our own communities through local pregnancy help centers and our nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need.”

Faithful must “likewise continue to extend the hand of compassion to all who are suffering from participation in abortion,” highlighting the church’s abortion healing ministries, such as Project Rachel.

“Most importantly, we must rededicate ourselves to fervent prayer on behalf of life,” said Bishop Burbidge, who invited Catholics “to join me in a concerted effort of prayer between now and our national elections, by daily praying our Respect Life Month, ‘Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.'”

The text of the prayer, along with several resources for Respect Life Month, is available on the initiative’s website at https://www.respectlife.org/respect-life-month.

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina.)

‘Jeopardy!’ fans laud Catholic priest-contestant aiming to give ‘positive impression’ of church

By Gina Christian (OSV News) — A Catholic priest who had gameshow fans “swooning,” according to one entertainment reporter, told OSV News he hoped his recent television appearance helps give “a positive impression of the church” and clergy in general.

Holy Cross Father Steven Jakubowski, a parochial vicar at St. Ignatius Martyr in Austin, Texas, was a contestant on “Jeopardy!” — the long-running quiz show now produced by Sony Pictures — in an episode that aired Sept. 19.

The Grand Rapids, Michigan, native, who was ordained in April, notched third place with $2,000 in winnings — which the 29-year-old said will “go to the (Holy Cross) community” in keeping with the order’s vow of poverty.

Holy Cross Father Steve Jakubowski, parochial vicar St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic Church in Austin, Texas, is pictured on the set of the “Jeopardy!” game show in Los Angeles May 31, 2024. Father Jakubowski appeared on the popular game show Sept. 19, taking third place with $2,000 in winnings. (OSV News photo/courtesy Jeopardy Productions Inc.)

The sight of the young, bearded priest on the iconic “Jeopardy!” set had at least a few viewers taking to social media to comment. “Omg father Steve is so enjoyable to watch he’s so happy to be there,” exclaimed X (formerly Twitter) user @HellOnHeelsGirl in a Sept. 19 post.

But for Father Jakubowski, the opportunity to participate in the show was a surprise, since he had applied to be a contestant “just for fun.”

“A couple of years ago, I applied (through) a sort of online quiz that you have to take,” he explained. “I didn’t expect to hear much from it.”

In the interim, he took a second online quiz and advanced to a “Zoom version of the game.”

“I was in my clerical garb for that, so they knew I was a priest,” Father Jakubowski said. “That was kind of an interesting novelty for them, I’m sure.”

In April, the show’s producers “called me up out of the blue and asked if I wanted to come to Los Angeles to be on the show for an episode,” he said.

After ensuring his schedule would allow him to “make it happen” — and encountering “a little bit of surprise” from parishioners, who encouraged him to “go for it” — Father Jakubowski headed out to compete in an episode, which was filmed in April. He remained mum about the outcome until the air date, due to a standard nondisclosure agreement with the producers.

The former math major said he watched “Jeopardy!” while growing up, and enjoys trivia since it highlights how “little facts can be part of something bigger.”

“Part of it is that it is just fun to know an obscure fact,” he admitted. “But I think (also) it’s sort of the way those obscure facts are maybe part of something more interesting or coherent.”

His best subject for trivia is geography — as well as Scripture, he said.

“I was hoping for a lot of Bible questions,” said Father Jakubowski. “You know, I think I would do reasonably well.”

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina.)

Novena for mental health seeks healing, awareness, action on issue

By Gina Christian (OSV News) — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops invites the faithful to join in a novena for mental health as part of the second year of the USCCB’s ongoing National Catholic Mental Health Campaign.

The nine days of prayer will commence on Oct. 10, which marks the international observance of World Mental Health Day, and conclude on Oct. 18, the feast of St. Luke, the evangelist and a patron of health care, who in the Letter to the Colossians is referenced as “the beloved physician” (Col 4:14).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has invited the faithful to participate in an Oct. 10-18, 2024, novena for mental health, as part of the second year of its National Catholic Mental Health Campaign. (OSV News photo/courtesy USCCB)

Each day of the novena, which opened the USCCB campaign in October 2023, focuses on a particular aspect of mental health, addressing stigma, social relationships, and the impact of factors such as racism and poverty. Saints and others invoked during the novena include St. Dymphna, patron of those with mental illness; St. Martin de Porres, who experienced racial discrimination throughout his life; and Dorothy Day, a servant of God who twice attempted suicide as a young woman.

The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time — which this year falls on Oct. 13, on the fourth day of the novena — has been designated as “Mental Health Sunday” by the USCCB, during which parishes can highlight the campaign by integrating mental health into the homily, offering prayers or special blessings for those experiencing anguish or distress, and including a petition for mental health during the prayer of the faithful at the liturgy.

Novena materials can be found online at https://www.usccb.org/mental-health-novena.

The novena — which encourages participants to pray, learn about and take action about mental health issues — “is offered in solidarity with those suffering from mental health challenges as well as health care professionals, family, and friends who are caring for people in need,” said the USCCB on its webpage introduction to the novena. “We hope that this modest novena will move all people to discern how God is calling them to offer greater assistance to those with mental health needs.”

The USCCB is encouraging Catholic dioceses to share novena information with their parishes with a special emphasis on Mental Health Sunday, Oct. 13, as it falls in the midst of the nine-day renewal effort and is an opportunity to promote and support the efforts of local mental health programs.

The “simple message” of the campaign is that “everyone who needs help should receive help,” said the USCCB in a Sept. 23 press release, quoting October 2023 remarks by two bishops spearheading the initiative, Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina)

NOTES: Novena materials can be found online at https://www.usccb.org/mental-health-novena.

Eucharistic procession on Mississippi River set to ‘go deeper’ for Christ

By Gina Christian
(OSV News) – An annual Eucharistic procession on a Louisiana bayou moved to the mighty Mississippi River this year as part of the National Eucharistic Revival – and graces are set to overflow, the lead organizer told OSV News.

Some 15 boats accompanied the Blessed Sacrament an estimated 130 miles along the Mississippi River Aug. 14-15 for the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi.

The procession launched in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following a morning Mass celebrated by that diocese’s Bishop Michael G. Duca at St. Joseph Cathedral.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans concluded the event Aug. 15 at that city’s Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis with Benediction and a Mass marking the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Rallies, spiritual talks, adoration, confession and recitations of the rosary took place at various ports of call along the route, with speakers and prayer presiders including author Father Josh Johnson of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Dominican Father Aquinas Guilbeau of The Catholic University of America and Father Dustin Dought, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship.

Father Michael Champagne of the Community of Jesus Crucified, climbs a ladder to remove the host from a 14-foot monstrance on the second day of Fête-Dieu du Mississippi in New Orleans Aug. 15, 2024, the feast of the Assumption of Mary. (OSV News photo/Jaymie Stuart Wolfe)

Father Michael Champagne of the Community of Jesus Crucified founded the procession a decade ago as the Fête-Dieu du Teche, the bayou where he’d grown up.
The Bayou Teche, an ancient channel of the Mississippi where French Catholics known as Acadians settled in the 18th century, was a natural inspiration for the procession, Father Champagne told OSV News.

And fittingly, the first discussions about the Fête-Dieu took place on the banks of the bayou, said the priest, whose religious community of men and women serve as “missionary contemplatives,” blending monastic prayer and active evangelization.
“I had the nuns with me in the truck, and we were driving on the Bayou Teche and saying, ‘We’ve got this anniversary coming up for the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the Acadians … and we need a Eucharistic procession on the bayou,’” said Father Champagne. “When the Acadians came, they came with their priest, they came with their flag of the Blessed Mother and they brought their faith. So I said, ‘Why don’t we reenact their arrival, and instead of doing that in boats dressed up like Acadians, let’s do a Eucharistic procession, and just move it onto the water?’”

Soon the 40-mile procession swelled to include “as many as 80 or 90 boats on the bayou,” he said.
But this year, the Fête-Dieu was put out into the deep – literally, said Father Champagne.

While the 125-mile Bayou Teche has an average depth of 5 feet, the 2,350-mile Mississippi River – despite reaching some critically low water levels in recent years – plunges to 200 feet at Algiers Point near New Orleans.

The shift in location has made for “a complicated endeavor,” admitted Father Champagne, noting that planning for this year’s procession, which required detailed logistics and permission from multiple officials, began over two years ago.

“We’re involved with the pilots’ association, the port authorities, nine sheriffs’ departments and the Coast Guard, which is supervising the procession,” he said.

Only commercial vessels operated by licensed river pilots, carrying “a handful of civilians” including the priests safeguarding the Blessed Sacrament, will be out on the water, with the average speed of the craft about 10 knots (approximately 11.5 miles) per hour, said Father Champagne.

But those on the banks were nonetheless able to participate in a rich “spiritual tailgating” experience as they witnessed the historic procession and honored the Blessed Sacrament in the port of call gatherings, he said.

Even the most casual observer had no trouble seeing the host, which was displayed in a 14-foot-tall monstrance crafted by Father Champagne’s cousin by marriage, Lyndon Stromberg of the Texas-based Stromberg Architectural.

Stromberg told OSV News that Father Champagne had provided him with a “an old antique monstrance … and said, ‘Can you make me something like this?’”

The “genius entrepreneur,” as Father Champagne described him, set to work modeling and refining a design, creating a mold for casting the monstrance in fiberglass over a metal frame, and finishing the surface in gold leaf.

A team of “about a dozen” staff worked on the project for a year, said Stromberg, noting that he and his team donated time and material for the 220-pound monstrance.

“A lot of them are Catholic, so we had people bringing their spouses and kids to show what mom and dad were working on,” Stromberg said.

The procession has also become an ecumenical encounter, said Father Champagne.

“I’ve been meeting with tugboat companies and pilots and industry guys that worked on the river their whole life,” he said. “One guy told me, ‘Look I’m Baptist, I’m not Catholic. I’ve been on the river 50 years, and it’s never been blessed. We got to bless the river, man. I’m all in.’ And another guy who’s not Catholic completely renovated one of his boats, with lots of money invested, just because he’s going to carry a statue and bells.”

As the procession looked to “bless the state of Louisiana and the Mississippi River … by bringing Jesus down a good swath of it,” Father Champagne hopes that participants were swept from the shallows of faith into a current of desire for Christ.

“I couldn’t imagine life without being in the presence of the Lord,” he said. “And I’ve got to go deeper, I’ve got to be more and more preoccupied with the Lord, and bring people to the Eucharist.”

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @GinaJesseReina.)

US bishops’ diocesan survey sets new baseline for Hispanic ministry in parishes nationwide

By Marietha Góngora
(OSV News) – The U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs conducted a survey of dioceses and archdioceses in the country’s 14 episcopal regions and released its results Aug. 21. The survey shows how Hispanic ministry has taken off across the country and that in most dioceses, there is a parish-based pastoral response to Hispanic Catholics.

Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, assistant director of Hispanic Affairs under the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, explained that the subcommittee sought to determine a baseline about the state of Hispanic ministry at the parish level.

He told OSV News that it was important to observe the implementation of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry, a 10-year plan that was approved by the U.S. bishops in June 2023, and “to see how that parish ministry will develop in the years ahead.”

The survey, which was conducted from last April through mid-August, included questions on the number of parishes in each diocese, the number of parishes offering Mass in Spanish, and the number of parishes with a Hispanic/Latino presence or ministry without a Mass celebrated in Spanish.

“It was very important to know what the starting point is, what is the number of parishes that already have a Sunday Mass in Spanish, which is the quintessential sign that we see that the Hispanic community has been welcomed as a community in a parish,” said Aguilera-Titus. “In communities where the Spanish Mass is already established, many other ministries emerge as well.”

He said the committee was pleased to find that almost 30% of the parishes in the country have a Sunday Mass in Spanish established.

An Aug. 21 press release from USCCB indicated that 175 surveys were completed, representing 100% of the Latin Catholic archdioceses and dioceses in the U.S. It showed that 4,479 out of 16,279 U.S. parishes offered Sunday Mass in Spanish.

The survey also found that about 2,760 parishes have a Hispanic/Latino presence or ministry but do not currently offer Mass in Spanish and that “99% of the dioceses surveyed have several parishes that offer Mass in Spanish,” according to the release.

“We are talking about the fact that there is a Hispanic presence throughout the country, in the 175 dioceses (of the Latin Church) in the country” and that in most of those dioceses, “there is a significant response or parish ministry,” said Aguilera-Titus.

This survey focused on examining parishes serving Hispanics/Latinos in U.S. dioceses, but it also clarified that “several dioceses reported having missions or ministries serving Hispanics/Latinos extraordinary ministries or locations that are not identified as parishes” and that the survey did not intend to diminish those efforts.

Aguilera-Titus explained that in 2016-2017, a survey that was part of the V Encuentro process showed that about 4,485 parishes had some type of Hispanic ministry, although it did not specify data on Sunday Mass in Spanish, but rather Masses during the week or monthly Masses. This new survey indicates that 4,479 parishes have Sunday Mass in Spanish and that, in addition, almost 3,000 parishes have some type of Hispanic ministry or presence but do not have a Sunday Mass in Spanish.

“We are talking about the significant growth in the response that the church is giving at the parish level,” Aguilera-Titus said.

Over 42% of U.S. Catholics self-identified as Hispanic and it has been reported that this is the case for more than half of all U.S. Catholics under 30. But even though Latino Catholics have accounted for much of the growth of the U.S. church for decades, the data shows these Catholics are also leaving the church at high rates and becoming religiously unaffiliated, according to a 2023 report by the Pew Research Center.

“Much progress has been made in the awareness of the Hispanic presence in the country and in the response at the parish level,” Aguilera-Titus said, but the subcommittee’s survey also shows “that there are still thousands of parishes where that Hispanic presence needs to be more accurately recognized, and an adequate pastoral response needs to be given to that presence.”

Aguilera-Titus anticipated that, in the context of the new pastoral plan for Hispanic ministry and its implementation, the number of parishes with Sunday Mass in Spanish and “with developed and well-organized ministries” will grow over the years.

Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California, chair of the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs, welcomed the results and said these types of surveys are vital to the church’s response to Hispanic/Latino communities.
“There are common obstacles that dioceses face when engaging in Hispanic/Latino ministry, such as bilingual priests or limited resources,” the bishop said, according to the USCCB press release. “This survey helps to measure our work and determine how we can continue serving this thriving part of our church and the importance of ongoing ministry to the needs of our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters.”

Aguilera-Titus echoed the crucial need to promote more vocations to the priesthood and religious life among Hispanic Catholics. He added that it was important that, regardless of culture and origin, seminarians and priests, “especially pastors, who are not yet interculturally capable, acquire that intercultural capacity,” knowledge, attitudes and skills “that will allow them to effectively and joyfully pastor with that Hispanic/Latino people that continues to grow in practically every corner of the country.”

He also told OSV News that despite the financial challenges facing the church in the U.S., particularly dioceses, Hispanic ministry at the diocesan level continues to be very strong. “It’s really good news that 57 of the dioceses that responded (to the survey) have their Hispanic pastoral office and director,” he said.

The survey indicated that close to 47% of respondents were directors or coordinators of Hispanic/Latino ministry. Meanwhile, “while another 35% of respondents held positions in offices dedicated to cultural diversity, faith formation, and catechesis, signaling that there are other diocesan offices engaged in, or overseeing Hispanic/Latino ministry,” the press release stated. According to the subcommittee, this point shows the correlation of a robust diocesan structure and a vibrant ministry at the parish level.

Aguilera-Titus also commented on places where there was a need for further growth. “We also have about 20% of the dioceses where we see that the diocesan structure could be further strengthened to support Hispanic ministry. That was also included in the pastoral plan,” he said.

Aguilera-Titus explained that three characteristics determine a successful diocesan ministry of Hispanic ministry (also known as “pastoral hispana”): the person who coordinates it has direct contact with the diocesan bishop, a budget that allows for the development of specific programs to support and promote and develop Hispanic ministry, and collaboration with other diocesan offices.

“We are deeply grateful for the high participation from the dioceses starting with the people who coordinate and direct Hispanic ministry, but also in some cases with people who were learning more about the Hispanic presence in their dioceses,” Aguilera-Titus said.

The USCCB press release stated the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and the Eastern Catholic archeparchies and eparchies in the U.S. were also not included in this survey.

(Marietha Góngora V. writes for OSV News from Washington.)

NOTES: The USCCB Hispanic Affairs Subcommittee’s survey can be found at:
Diocesan Survey (English Edition) https://bit.ly/4edfYQL
Diocesan Survey (Spanish Edition) https://bit.ly/3TfoJ52

Briefs

NATION
DENVER (OSV News) – The organization that coordinates efforts related to the National Eucharistic Revival announced Sept. 3 the launch of the Society of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus to boost revival efforts. In an email to supporters, Jason Shanks, CEO of National Eucharistic Congress Inc., described the society as a way people “can help and remain closely connected to the many ongoing efforts of charity and evangelization, of pilgrimage and procession – of mission – to bring Christ to every corner of our nation.” Joining the society requires a minimum $10 monthly donation to National Eucharistic Congress Inc. Members will receive a copy of “For the Life of the World: Invited to Eucharistic Mission” by Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who serves as board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., and Tim Glemkowski, the founding CEO of National Eucharistic Congress Inc., who served in that role until Aug. 1. Society members also receive access to the National Eucharistic Congress digital platform, which includes all of the talks from the July 17-21 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, as well as additional Eucharist-related content. Information on joining the society can be found at www.eucharisticcongress.org/donate.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Ahead of Hispanic Heritage Month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church has released a resource kit “to help illustrate the profound impact of the Hispanic/Latino community within the Catholic Church in the United States,” according to a Sept. 4 press release. This resource kit includes statistical information on the Catholic population in the United States, categorized by race/ethnicity, a statistical profile of Hispanic/Latino ministry, the percentage of Hispanic/Latino Catholics by diocese and the percentage growth of Hispanic/Latino Catholics in the Millennial and Gen Z generations. It also reports on the growth of the Hispanic/Latino population in the church’s 14 episcopal regions and the estimated Hispanic/Latino population in the U.S. in 2022 by country of origin, as well as a timeline of Hispanic/Latino ministry events and milestones spanning from 1945 to 2024. Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, assistant director of Hispanic Affairs under the USCCB’s cultural diversity secretariat, said that through the information in this resource, they hope to “help show the vibrant faith and the richness of the Hispanic and Latino communities within our Church and society.” The resource kit – published in English and Spanish – is available on the USCCB website: usccb.org/committees/hispaniclatino-affairs.

VATICAN
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNS) – Even members of the most remote, smallest and poorest Christian communities are called to share the Gospel and to do so, first, by the way they live, Pope Francis told the Catholics of Indonesia. With tens of thousands of people gathered in Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Stadium Sept. 5 – and thousands more watching on screens from Madya Stadium, a smaller venue nearby – Pope Francis presided over his only public Mass in Indonesia. He was scheduled to fly to Papua New Guinea the next morning. Seated together wearing the bright green, yellow, white, blue, red or black t-shirts designating the parish, diocese or Catholic organization they belong to, the crowd made the main stadium look like it was built with Lego bricks. The people arrived at the stadium hours early, visiting with each other, singing hymns and lively modern Christian songs and praying the rosary. In his homily, Pope Francis urged Indonesian Catholics “to sow seeds of love, confidently tread the path of dialogue, continue to show your goodness and kindness with your characteristic smile and be builders of unity and peace.” Pope Francis asked the crowd not to forget that “the first task of the disciple is not to clothe ourselves with an outwardly perfect religiosity, do extraordinary things or engage in grandiose undertakings. The first step, instead, is to know how to listen to the only word that saves, the word of Jesus.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Earth is ailing, and it needs the prayers of Catholics as well as their personal commitment to caring for creation, Pope Francis said. “Let us pray that each of us listen with our hearts to the cry of the Earth and of the victims of environmental disasters and climate change, making a personal commitment to care for the world we inhabit,” the pope said in a video message released Aug. 30 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. The network posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention each month, and members of the network pray for that intention each day. Pope Francis’ intention for September is: “For the cry of the Earth,” which coincides with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation Sept. 1 and its inauguration of the monthlong “Season of Creation.”

Pope Francis receives wine from women in traditional Indonesian dress during the presentation of gifts as he celebrates Mass in Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, Mass Sept. 5, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

WORLD
KATSINA, Nigeria (OSV News) – Back to school will be especially tough in Nigeria this year as a new report shows that Fulani herders, or ethnic militia, are killing Nigerian civilians unopposed. Mass killings, abductions and the torture of whole families go largely unchallenged as government forces pursue targets hundreds of miles away, according to the research findings. As the security situation in Nigeria worsens, an increasing number of schools, especially in the northern part of the country, face forced shutdown on the verge of a new academic year. This has led to a significant decline in student enrollment, with many citizens relocating within the country or going abroad. A new report published Aug. 29 by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa – a four-year data project on religious persecution in Nigeria – showed that the most populous African country was an extremely violent and insecure place to live in the reporting period from October 2019 to September 2023, at least in parts of the country. In total, 55,910 people were killed in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 people were abducted in 2,705 attacks, the report said. “Many civilians lived in high levels of insecurity and fear of the unexpected,” the report said. The data shows that more Nigerian Christians were victims of violence than Nigerians with other religious affiliations.

JERUSALEM (OSV News) – The Holy Land’s sacred sites overflow with tourists in normal times, but with war in Gaza, most airlines have canceled flights to the region. The streets of the Old City of Jerusalem are deserted with merchant’s stalls shuttered. Yet for two Catholic peace activists from the United States, it was the perfect time to visit. Invited by Palestinian Christian groups, they joined with 10 other U.S. Christians and flew to neighboring Jordan. From there they journeyed overland to Palestine and Israel. “Church leaders here asked people from the United States to come and stand in solidarity with their brothers and sisters. That concept of solidarity is central to my faith, to the way that I think about the cross,” said Kelly Johnson, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton, Ohio. The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 40,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Scott Wright, a 74-year-old Pax Christi member from Washington who worked for years with refugees in Central America, said he wanted to come precisely because it was a difficult time. The U.S. Catholic delegation’s schedule included interviews with church leaders, clerics, nonviolent activists, Palestinian farmers and urban residents whose lands have been appropriated by army-backed settlers, and families whose homes have been demolished in East Jerusalem. In Rahat, Israel, the group helped local residents pack food boxes for distribution inside Gaza.