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 USCCB press release.
A part of the implementation of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry approved by the U.S. bishops in the Spring of 2023, the document “underscores the ongoing commitment of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs to recognizing and celebrating the rich cultural heritage and contributions of Hispanic/Latino Catholics,” said the Sept. 4 release.
This resource kit includes statistical information on the Catholic population in the U.S., 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 in 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.”
“It is especially important as we prepare to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month to show the dynamic growth of our community and the contributions made by Hispanics and Latinos as we continue in our work to foster deeper connections and understanding,” said Aguilera-Titus.
The 16-page document highlights important findings, including that Episcopal Region XI, which includes California and Hawaii, had the largest Hispanic population by 2022 with 15,892,963 Hispanics/Latinos and that the U.S. Hispanic population — estimated to be over 63 million people as of April 1, 2023 — is the second largest in the world, surpassed only by Mexico, which was about 128.3 million in 2023.
Likewise, a graph with information from the U.S. Census Bureau that estimates the U.S. Hispanic/Latino population in 2022 by origin indicated that 58.8% of this population is of Mexican origin, followed by a wide margin by the Puerto Rican community, which represents 9.4% of the population.
The document compiles the names of active, retired, and deceased bishops and auxiliary bishops of Hispanic/Latino origin who have served the Catholic Church in the U.S. since 1970. It also states that by 2023, there were 34,092 priests in the United States, and 3,200 of them were estimated to be Hispanic. It also shows that a total of 4,479 parishes in the U.S. have Masses in Spanish and 2,760 U.S. parishes with Hispanic/Latino presence or ministry but no Mass in Spanish, according to data collected in 2024.
Sources cited by this resource kit include the U.S. Census Bureau, Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, V Encuentro reports, and findings from previous studies conducted by the USCCB and its Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church, such as the recently-released Diocesan Survey on Parishes and Hispanic/Latino Ministry.
A statue of Mary, Our Lady of Grace, is seen on the altar as Pope Francis celebrates Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 5, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
NACIÓN WASHINGTON (OSV News) – El Secretariado de Diversidad Cultural en la Iglesia de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos (USCCB) anunció que desarrolló un kit de recursos que ayudará “a ilustrar el profundo impacto de la comunidad hispana/latina dentro de la Iglesia Católica en los Estados Unidos”. Este recurso – publicado en inglés y en español – incluye información estadística sobre la población católica en los Estados Unidos, categorizada por raza/etnia, un perfil estadístico del ministerio hispano/latino, el porcentaje de católicos hispanos/latinos por diócesis y el crecimiento porcentual de los católicos hispanos/latinos en las generaciones Millennial y Gen Z. Así mismo, informa sobre el crecimiento de la población hispana/latina en las 14 regiones episcopales y sobre la población hispana/latina estimada en Estados Unidos en 2022 por país de origen; además de los eventos y logros del ministerio hispano/latino en una cronología que abarca desde 1945 hasta el 2024. Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, subdirector de Asuntos Hispanos del Secretariado de Diversidad Cultural en la Iglesia, dijo en este comunicado de prensa que gracias a la información contenida en este recurso esperan “ayudar a mostrar la fe vibrante y la riqueza de las comunidades hispanas y latinas dentro de nuestra Iglesia y la sociedad”. Para acceder a este kit de recursos y conocer en detalle la información, visite https://www.usccb.org/committees/hispaniclatino-affairs y descargue el PDF.
VATICANO JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNS) – Incluso los miembros de las comunidades cristianas más remotas, pequeñas y pobres están llamados a compartir el Evangelio y a hacerlo, en primer lugar, con su forma de vivir, dijo el Papa Francisco a los católicos de Indonesia. Con decenas de miles de personas reunidas en el estadio Gelora Bung Karno de Yakarta el 5 de septiembre – y miles más viéndolo en pantallas desde el estadio Madya, un lugar más pequeño cercano-, el Papa Francisco presidió su única misa pública en I –donesia. Tenía previsto volar a Papúa Nueva Guinea a la mañana siguiente. La multitud, sentada y vestida con las brillantes camisetas verdes, amarillas, blancas, azules, rojas o negras que designan la parroquia, diócesis u organización católica a la que pertenecen, hizo que el estadio principal pareciera construido con ladrillos de Lego. La gente llegó al estadio horas antes, visitándose unos a otros, cantando himnos y animadas canciones cristianas modernas y rezando el rosario. En su homilía, el Papa Francisco instó a los católicos indonesios a «sembrar semillas de amor, recorrer con confianza el camino del diálogo, seguir mostrando vuestra bondad y amabilidad con vuestra característica sonrisa y ser constructores de unidad y paz.» El Papa Francisco pidió a la multitud que no olvidara que «la primera tarea del discípulo no es revestirse de una religiosidad exteriormente perfecta, hacer cosas extraordinarias o comprometerse en empresas grandiosas. El primer paso, en cambio, es saber escuchar la única palabra que salva, la palabra de Jesús.» CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) – Mientras la Iglesia Católica y los cristianos en general experimentan una intensa persecución en Nicaragua, el Papa Francisco expresó su aliento y apoyo a las personas que viven bajo el régimen autoritario del país. “Al amado pueblo de Nicaragua: les animo a renovar su esperanza en Jesús”, dijo después de rezar el Ángelus el 25 de agosto. “Recordad que el Espíritu Santo guía siempre la historia hacia proyectos más altos”. La semana anterior, el gobierno nicaragüense revocó el estatus legal de 1.500 organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro que operaban en el país, muchas de ellas iglesias cristianas, así como organizaciones caritativas católicas y congregaciones religiosas. La Asamblea Nacional de Nicaragua también aprobó el 20 de agosto nuevas medidas fiscales que requerirían a iglesias y organizaciones religiosas de todas las confesiones a pagar impuestos. Además, durante las tres primeras semanas de agosto, nueve sacerdotes católicos fueron detenidos en Nicaragua y exiliados a Roma. “Que la Virgen Inmaculada los proteja en los momentos de prueba y los ayude a sentir su ternura materna; que Nuestra Señora acompañe al amado pueblo de Nicaragua”, rezó el Papa con los visitantes en la Plaza de San Pedro.
MUNDO CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (OSV News) – El cardenal Álvaro Ramazzini de Huehuetenango, Guatemala, ha advertido que los cárteles de la droga controlan la frontera entre México y Guatemala, provocando espasmos de violencia que han hecho huir a cientos de mexicanos a su diócesis. En declaraciones a la prensa en Panamá tras la X Reunión de Obispos y Agentes de Pastoral Migratoria de América del Norte, Centroamérica y el Caribe, el cardenal Ramazzini cuestionó la inacción del gobierno mexicano mientras cárteles de la droga rivales se disputan territorios en el sureño estado de Chiapas. “Estamos en un área donde los cárteles de la droga tienen el poder total”, dijo el cardenal el 22 de agosto. “No logro entender verdaderamente qué es lo que el gobierno mexicano ha dejado de hacer para haber llegado a este punto de perder el control total de ese de ese lado de la frontera nuestra,” dijo el cardenal el 22 de agosto. Sus comentarios siguieron a una declaración conjunta del 21 de agosto de las Diócesis de Huehuetenango y San Marcos, Guatemala, y San Cristóbal de las Casas, México, en la que describían siete comunidades de Chiapas, convertidas “en un campo de batalla por la disputa del territorio entre grupos criminales que obligan a los hombres (de la zona) a ir al frente, a cuidar las plumas, a cerrar caminos, ellos y sus familias enfrentar un terror que nunca imaginaron. … que ningún nivel de gobierno ha querido escuchar y atender en sus raíces”. La declaración está firmada por el cardenal Ramazzini, el obispo de San Marcos, Bernabé Sagastume, y el obispo de San Cristóbal de las Casas, Rodrigo Aguiar Martínez. El obispo José Guadalupe Torres Campos, obispo de Ciudad Juárez y director de la Pastoral de Movilidad Humana del Episcopado Mexicano.
By Peter Jesserer Smith INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) – As five days of the National Eucharistic Congress concluded with one final revival and a beautiful solemn Mass in Lucas Oil Stadium – Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., stood in Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I have a question for you,” he told the crowd. “This is the 10th National Eucharistic Congress – do you think we should do an 11th one?”
Some 60,000 congress participants – representing 50 U.S. states, 17 countries, and various Eastern and Western churches, and speaking over 40 languages – cheered wildly in the stadium.
They also again rose to their feet to give the U.S. Catholic bishops an enthusiastic standing ovation for making possible the five-day congress with its impact sessions, breakout sessions, special events, revival nights with Eucharistic adoration and Benediction and beautifully celebrated reverent Masses.
The event reflected the diversity of a church all united in the same Eucharistic Lord and eager to use their gifts for a new Pentecost in the church.
Prelates and clergymen process following morning Mass at Lucas Oil Stadium July 18, 2024, during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
The first day of the July 17-21 congress began with an evening revival as the 30 perpetual pilgrims, who had walked the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes, took their final official steps of their eight-week journey into the stadium carrying icons of each route’s respective patron saints – St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, St. Junipero Serra, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the Blessed Virgin Mary – that were put around the altar where the Blessed Sacrament was placed.
“How will we know that we are experiencing Eucharistic revival?” Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the U.S., asked in his keynote speech July 17, encouraging everyone to surrender their hearts to the Lord over the next few days. “When we are truly revived by the Eucharist,” he said, “then our encounter with Christ’s real presence in the sacrament opens us to an encounter with him in the rest of our life” and then “spills over in our daily life, a life of relating to others, our way of seeing others.”
Every day of the congress began with most congress-goers joining in beautifully and reverently celebrated Eucharistic liturgies in the stadium – including a July 20 Holy Qurbana, the Syro-Malabar form of the Eucharistic liturgy, prayed in English. Additional morning and evening Masses at nearby sites in different languages, such as Spanish or Vietnamese, or in different forms, such as the Byzantine rite or the older usage of the Roman rite.
Three days of the congress, July 18-20, were split between seven morning impact sessions and nearly 20 afternoon breakout sessions on a variety of topics meant to form, equip and inspire people, including clergy, to live more deeply their faith in light of Jesus making himself truly present in the Eucharist – and how to practically bring what they have learned into their parishes, ministries, groups and families.
The exhibit halls in the Indiana Convention Center were packed during the congress, as long lines formed for exhibits such as the Shroud of Turin or Eucharistic miracles. The convention center was also a place where the spontaneity of joy could be seen and felt. Young people marched through chanting their love for Jesus, while further on, a group of Catholic women, dressed in traditional apparel from Cameroon, sang and danced their love for Jesus and Mary to the delight of those gathered around them.
Congress-goers had the opportunity to attend off-site events such as The Catholic Project’s panel discussion July 19 that explored the challenges of navigating the dating landscape as Catholics.
Tens of thousands of congress-goers at the revivals – and the liturgies as well – eagerly joined their voices in singing the beautiful hymns and chants, both traditional and contemporary, in English, Spanish, Latin and other languages. The congress saw the musicianship of Dave and Lauren Moore, Sarah Kroger and Matt Maher, as well as the talents of the men’s ensemble Floriani and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
“The reverence was just awe-inspiring, and that’s something I would like to take back to our parish,” Deacon Robb Caputo of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, told OSV News.
The nightly revival sessions created a sensory experience of awe around the Eucharistic Lord, as tens of thousands prayed in silent contemplation before the Eucharist on the altar – illuminated in the dark stadium by spotlights. Adoring Jesus in the stadium, concluding with Benediction, was the pinnacle movement of each evening.
Keynote speakers and testimonies helped keep people’s eyes fixed on Jesus’ personal love for them and his desire to be close to them.
One such nightly revival, focused on healing, indicated the problem with Catholic belief in the Eucharist – was more about the heart than the head, and needed Catholics to repent of their indifference to Jesus. “Knowledge can make us great, but only love can make a saint,” said Father Mike Schmitz, the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, priest known for chart-topping podcasts “The Bible in a Year” and “The Catechism in a Year.” Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, who survived four wars in the Middle East, recounted how in the midst of her own personal suffering she heard Jesus say in her heart: “That even on the cross and through the cross, we can still choose to love.”
Jonathan Roumie, the actor famous for his portrayal of Jesus in the hit miniseries “The Chosen,” told the audience at the final revival night July 20 after reading Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse from John 6, “The Eucharist for me is healing. The Eucharist for me is peace, the Eucharist for me is my grounding. The Eucharist for me is his heart within me.”
Murielle and Dominic Blanchard of Gallup, New Mexico, navigated the congress with six children aged 8 and under, including 20-month twins, and a baby on the way. They said the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium was key for them, because it provided both formation for their older children and had space for the twins to play.
Throughout the congress, the historic and stately St. John’s Catholic Church across from the Indiana Convention Center’s main entrance fulfilled its role as a spiritual hub. A steady flow of pilgrims came and went from the main church during 24-hour adoration throughout the congress. It had times for silence as well as times geared toward families, where children were invited to get close to the Eucharist, put a flower in a vase near the monstrance, and just adore as beautiful, simple melodies lifted up the packed church in prayer.
More than 1,200 religious sisters and brothers, 1,170 priests, 630 deacons, 610 seminarians and 200 bishops participated in the congress, according to congress organizers. At a press conference July 19, Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez said he had never seen anything like the congress, as a non-papal event, in his 35 years of priesthood.
“You can sense the energy of what’s happening here, which is touching hearts,” he said, adding the experience was making him think about how to respond to the need for the church’s sacraments to be more accessible.
The highlight came July 20 as tens of thousands of Catholics followed behind the truck-pulled, flower-rimmed float carrying the Blessed Sacrament accompanied by Bishop Cozzens and Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson. They walked 10 blocks from the convention center through downtown Indianapolis to the Indiana War Memorial Plaza for what Bishop Cozzens said “might be the largest Eucharistic procession in the country in decades.”
Nancy Leuhrmann of Cincinnati told OSV News the experience, which culminated in Eucharistic adoration and Benediction at the plaza, was “really wonderful, seeing all the people just quiet, reverent and joyful.” Leuhrmann said the security presence didn’t have much to do and she noted the officers thanked the crowd for making their jobs easy.
At the sending-forth Mass July 21, Pope Francis’ special envoy to the congress, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, delivered a homily with warmth, joy and humor that made participants both laugh and feel inspired as he told them, “A Eucharistic people is a missionary and evangelizing people.”
“We should not keep Jesus to ourselves,” he said, exhorting them not to use their time in church to escape others, but to “share Jesus’ tender love” with “the weary, the hungry and suffering … the lost, confused and weak.”
“Go and share Jesus’ gift of reconciliation and peace to those who are divided,” he said, emphasizing, “Let us proclaim Jesus joyfully and zealously for the life of the world!”
Bishop Cozzens revealed there would be another National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in 2025 from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, and possibly an earlier National Eucharistic Congress than 2033.
But he invited people to take this experience of the congress and – echoing Cardinal Tagle’s call for Eucharistic “missionary conversion” – join the congress’s “Walk with One” initiative.
“Commit yourself to walking with one person,” he said. “Commit yourself to becoming a Eucharistic missionary, someone who lives deeply a Eucharistic life, and having received that gift, allows themselves to be given as a gift.”
(Peter Jesserer Smith is national news editor for OSV News. Staff from OSV News, The Criterion and Simone Orendain contributed to this report.)
By OSV News (OSV News) – Among American Olympians achieving a spot on the podium in Paris are Catholics who have expressed their dependence on faith over the years as they’ve pursued excellence in their athletic pursuits.
Swimmer Katie Ledecky is outspoken about how her Catholic faith guides her life.
On Aug. 3, Ledecky became the most decorated American female gold medalist in any sport as well as one of only two women from any nation, in any sport, to win nine gold medals. It was her fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 800 freestyle. She has 14 medals total. Just two days earlier she won her 13th Olympic medal – in itself historic. She took silver in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
After the 2021 Olympic games in Tokyo, the Catholic school graduate told the Catholic Standard, the Archdiocese of Washington’s newspaper, that she prayed the Hail Mary before each race to calm her nerves, just as she had during the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
U.S. women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay silver medal winners Erin Gemmell, Katie Ledecky, Paige Madden and Claire Weinstein, celebrate on the podium after winning Aug. 1, 2024, during the Olympic Games at Paris La Defense Arena. Gemmell and Ledecky are graduates of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland. (OSV News photo/Evgenia Novozhenina, Reuters)
“My faith remains very important in my life, especially the last two years,” Ledecky told the Catholic Standard in 2021. She noted that watching livestreamed Mass, celebrated by her godfather Jesuit Father Jim Shea at a parish in Charlotte, North Carolina, helped her through the pandemic.
“My faith is strong, and I realized more how important that is,” she said.
Ledecky, 27, has nine gold, four silver and one bronze Olympic medals. In Paris, she is teammates with two fellow alumnae of her all-girls high school, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland: Phoebe Bacon and Erin Gemmell. Gemmell medaled alongside Ledecky with the 4×200 meter relay.
Ledecky and Bacon also attended the elementary Little Flower School in Bethesda, where both families are members of the parish.
They are among a host of U.S. Olympians who are Catholic, were raised in the faith, or attended Catholic schools or colleges and are now competing in Paris. Several have spoken in the past about the role their faith has played in their training and shaped their self-perception.
U.S. Olympic gymnast and Paris gold medalist Simone Biles, who was raised Catholic and in years past spoke about the role of faith in her life, has said she credits God for her success.
The high-flying 27-year-old, who trains in Spring, Texas, at her World Champions Centre gym, said in the past that when she travels, she sometimes takes with her a statue of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes, and she also carries a rosary her mother gave her. Her parents have told media that they often pray the rosary for Simone. Biles and her family have also been known to attend St. James Catholic Church in Spring.
Biles, who won gold in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition in Paris Aug. 1 and helped lead the U.S. women to a team gold July 30, made those comments to Us Weekly in 2016.
“I never thought I’d be who I am,” she told Vanity Fair in a story published in January, “but look at God’s blessings.”
Simone Biles of United States in action on the Floor Exercise Artistic Gymnastics Women’s All-Around Final during the 2024 Paris Olympics at Bercy Arena Aug. 1, 2024. She won the gold medal. (OSV News photo/Mike Blake, Reuters)
In recent years, Biles has been more private about her faith journey. In 2021, she diverged from church teaching on abortion access, saying on Twitter (now X) that she was “very pro-choice” arguing “you should not control someone elses body/decision.”
However, Biles has also been outspoken about addressing and prioritizing mental health, an issue the U.S. bishops have sought to raise with the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign. Following the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, Biles (a survivor of sexual abuse perpetrated by Larry Nassar, a USA Gymnastics’ national-team doctor) publicly admitted that she struggled with her mental health and athletics. At the time, she had stepped out of the Olympic competition after experiencing the “twisties,” a sense of disorientation when in motion that could lead to serious injury.
In Paris, however, Biles has exuded confidence – publicly thanking her therapist for routine care – and her dedication to her sport has paid off, with many calling her the “greatest of all time.” She is now the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast in history, with nine Olympic medals.
Ryan Murphy, a Catholic swimmer who grew up in Florida, is taking home a bronze medal in the men’s 100-meter backstroke. In a 2016 interview with the National Catholic Register, he described the importance of having an active prayer life and living out his faith. He said, “I’m a firm believer in God. My faith is important to me. There are, however, times when I rely on him more than others. Overall, I am private in my spirituality.”
Murphy, 29, drew the spotlight in Paris not only for his race, but for the sign his wife, Bridget, held up as he was walking to the podium: “Ryan it’s a girl!” The couple, who married in September, are reportedly expecting their first child in January.
A former altar boy, Murphy described his family to the Register as ardent supporters of Catholic education. The story described him as having “a great devotion to St. Christopher, the patron saint of swimmers.”
He garnered attention during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – where he won three gold medals – after genuflecting following a swim.
“I believe God has given me a great talent, for which I’m eternally grateful,” he told the Register at the time. “My faith gives me comfort despite the outcome of a race. I ultimately believe – I know – God has a larger plan for me.”
(Staff of the Texas Catholic Herald also contributed to this story.)
NATION WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Celebrating an Aug. 3 Mass for the Outreach 2024 LGBTQ Catholic Ministry Conference at Georgetown University, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington stressed the need for sincere dialogue in seeking unity in the Catholic Church. “In many respects, you are engaging in an act of synodality – the vision and invitation proposed by Pope Francis that sincerely and openly speaking and listening to one another under the light and guidance of the Holy Spirit is the way that the church grows in perfection,” Cardinal Gregory said in his homily at the Mass, which was celebrated at the university’s Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart. The annual Outreach conference – held Aug. 2-4 this year – brings together Catholics who identify as LGBTQ and supporters of that community. According to the conference’s website, the gathering is held to “build community, share best practices and worship together.” The cardinal praised the Outreach conference attendees for their willingness to engage in discussions at a challenging time for the Catholic Church and the United States. Concluding his homily, the cardinal said, “The presence and the pastoral needs of our LGBTQ sisters and brothers may often be viewed as a volatile topic, but they must be faced with sincerity and genuine compassion. I pray that this conference advance that goal and make us a stronger, holier, and more welcoming church and nation.”
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Catholic Benefits Association filed a motion July 24 in federal court for preliminary injunction against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over two regulations it says violates Catholics’ religious beliefs. The group objects to two regulations issued earlier this year. One is the final regulation issued for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, granting workers protections for time off and other job accommodations for pregnancy-related medical conditions such as miscarriage, stillbirth and lactation – but also for abortion, which was opposed by many of the bill’s supporters, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The other was a provision of the EEOC’s “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment,” which CBA CEO Doug Wilson argued in a statement means that “if an employer declines to use an employee’s preferred pronouns or refuses to grant him or her access to bathrooms or locker rooms for the opposite sex, such decisions would constitute actionable sexual harassment.” Both regulations, Wilson said, “imposed mandates unacceptable for Catholic employers and never intended by Congress.” Martin Nussbaum, CBA’s general counsel at the Colorado Springs-Colorado-based First and Fourteenth law firm, explained to OSV News the Supreme Court’s recent overturning of its Chevron doctrine eliminates the courts’ deference to regulatory agencies’ interpretation of law that would have put a heavier burden on the CBA’s legal challenge. The CBA’s membership comprises Catholic dioceses, hospitals, school systems, religious orders and other entities that offer their employees insurance and benefit programs that adhere to Catholic teaching.
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis said he dreams of visiting China one day and, especially, praying at the Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan near Shanghai. In an interview with Jesuit Father Pedro Chia, director of communications for the Jesuit’s Chinese Province, the pope said he also would want to meet with the country’s bishops and with all Chinese Catholics, who “are indeed a faithful people who have gone through so much and remained faithful.” Vatican-Chinese relations have been difficult for decades with the country’s communist authorities being suspicious of Catholicism as a “foreign” influence on their people. The interview, conducted in Spanish, was filmed in the library of the Apostolic Palace May 24, the feast of Our Lady of Sheshan, also known as Our Lady Help of Christians. The Jesuit’s Chinese Province released the video on YouTube Aug. 9.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – More than a week after the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, the Vatican joined people who complained that a segment of the show featuring drag performers offended Christians. “The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes in the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris and can only join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offense caused to many Christians and believers of other religions,” said the statement published by the Vatican press office late Aug. 3. The Vatican statement did not specifically identify the July 26 performance, which featured drag performers, including one wearing a crown, seated at a table in a scene that reminded many people of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper. “In a prestigious event where the whole world gathers around common values, there should be no allusions that ridicule the religious convictions of many people,” the Vatican statement said.
WORLD MANAGUA, Nicaragua (OSV News) – At least 11 churchmen have been detained by police and paramilitaries over a weeklong assault in northern Nicaragua, depleting the already demoralized Diocese of Matagalpa – whose leader, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, lives in exile. Nine priests and a deacon were detained Aug. 1 and 2 – with some taken from parishes and parish residences – according to independent Nicaragua media. An octogenarian priest was also detained July 27 in the Diocese of Estelí, where Bishop Álvarez is apostolic administrator. “The Diocese of Matagalpa practically no longer has any clergy. We’ve been expelled, pressured and forced to flee. Parishes are on their own,” an exiled priest, familiar with the diocese, told OSV News. “(The church) has been attacked from all sides. They’ve removed clergy, they’ve frozen its accounts. The church has survived,” he added. But he said of the ruling Sandinista regime, “Their ultimate goal is is to exterminate the diocesan church where Monsignor Rolando (Álvarez) is still bishop.” The arrests reflected the deepening repression of the Catholic Church in the Central American country, which has careened toward totalitarianism. President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosarillo Murillo, continue to crack down on dissent, close spaces for civil society and infringe on freedom worship – with priests being spied upon and forced to watch their words during Mass.
SÃO PAULO (OSV News) – The Aug. 9 passenger plane crash in the city of Vinhedo, Brazil, killed all 62 on board, greatly touching different Catholic communities in the country. Pope Francis prayed for the victims of the crash during his Aug. 11 Angelus prayer in the Vatican: “Let us … pray for the victims of the tragic air crash in Brazil,” he said. A twin-engine turboprop plane, traveling from Cascavel, in Paraná state, to Guarulhos airport, in the São Paulo metropolitan area, crashed close to residential buildings, dropping 17,000 feet in just one minute, only 45 miles away from its destination. Many of Voepass Brazilian airline passengers lived in the region of the Archdiocese of Cascavel, which released a letter of condolences a few hours after the incident and informed that all Masses celebrated over the following three days would be dedicated to the victims. “Our Archbishop, José Mário Scalon Angonese, expresses his deepest solidarity to the families affected by this tragedy. He joins the community in prayer and offers his spiritual support, wishing that divine comfort can alleviate the sorrow and pain of everyone who is suffering,” the note, posted on the archdiocese’s Facebook page, read. The parish church of St. Peter the Apostle in Guaratinguetá, in São Paulo state, was also affected by the tragedy. Local churchgoers Maria Auxiliadora Vaz de Arruda and her husband José Cloves Arruda were among the victims. Father Aloísio dos Santos Mota released a statement in order to express his special sorrow for the loss of the couple. The wife, called Dona Dôra in her church community, was known all across the region. “I’ve been her parish priest for five years, since I arrived in Guaratinguetá. She had an iconic presence in our church, a protagonism that everybody could notice,” Father Mota told OSV News.
(OSV News) — Retired FBI official James Bogner was recently named chair of the National Review Board, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ consultative safe environment body established in 2002 under the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” also known as the Dallas Charter.
James Bogner, (OSV News photo/courtesy James Bogner)
A former high-level FBI special agent with more than 35 years of law enforcement experience, Bogner succeeds outgoing chair Suzanne Healy, who recently completed her four-year term, having led the board since 2020.
Days after the Aug. 1 announcement by USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, OSV News spoke with Bogner about his vision for the board as it works with the U.S. bishops in strengthening protections against sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
OSV News: How do you hope to bring your extensive and high-level law enforcement experience to leading the National Review Board? What particular skills and strategies do you hope to apply to this new role?Bogner: Well, I think there are several things. Number one, being a senior executive in law enforcement, I am able to see a countrywide picture of trends and of situations. And the first mission of law enforcement is to protect the public, to ensure that people are safe, so I bring that skil
Some of the background that I’ve had in law enforcement has been in audits as an inspector. So looking at situations here (with the National Review Board), the USCCB is authorized to conduct annual audits of various dioceses here, so I am able to look at those audits, see if any improvement needs to be made … and look at the results to see how (issues) need to be addressed.
The other area of my law enforcement experience was in what you would commonly refer to as internal affairs. So I am able to look at the integrity of the institution and ensure that it is protected here, that there’s justice for the employee or the offender, and there’s also justice for the institution.
I also look at the dynamics of strategic planning, reviewing what you’ve done and where you’re going to go.
I’m very much interested in research and trends, and have been throughout my career, asking, “What changes are we seeing?” In the last few years, we’ve had tremendous changes in the technological environment. So how are we adjusting to that and improving what we’re doing, advising the bishops? What are we seeing that would help them and fully give them an idea of what is happening?
We have an incredibly talented group of National Review Board members, (with) … very diverse backgrounds and skill sets. It’s not all law enforcement — it’s victim assistance coordinators, people that have had to deal with abuse issues; we have a victim survivor on the board to hear that perspective; we have canon lawyers. … So we have a lot of different perspectives, and we’re trying to chart a direction and a strategic planning course in a very collaborative manner.
OSV News: Broadly speaking, where is the Catholic Church in the U.S. at in terms of eradicating sexual abuse? What has been accomplished, and what remains to be done?
Bogner: From my perspective, I think there are kind of two phases to this issue. One is, what are we doing and how have we progressed as far as addressing the needs of victims, of survivors — looking back to those that have been abused and asking, “How are we improving in what we’re doing?”
So one of the more recent approaches is dealing with victims or survivors in a trauma-informed manner, so that we understand better what they’re going through. If you’ve been the victim of abuse, that is not something that is over right away. It’s perhaps a lifelong issue that they’re dealing with, and we need to be sensitive to that.
The other part of it is the situations of abuse. What are we doing to reduce the number of abuses? A little over 20 years ago, the bishops developed the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which we know as the Dallas Charter, and it has very specific elements in it as to what we need to do to improve our safeguarding capabilities here in the church, what actions to take, along with accountability for acting appropriately for victims and for the church.
Now, have we been somewhat successful in reducing the number of clerical abuse cases? Yes, absolutely over the years. If you look at the annual reports that we and the USCCB publishes annually, this year it was down to 17 cases. Historically, it was many more than that, but substantial efforts have been made to address those abuses.
Is it down to zero? No, it isn’t. And so we can’t be satisfied with what we have done in the past or up to date here. We need to continue to address these issues.
We also need to continue to do that at the local level in particular. There are changes in not only clerical personnel, but in volunteers, teachers, lay staff. We can’t just say, “Oh, well, we’ve trained those in the past and that’s good enough.” No, we need to continue that training. We need to continue that focus in the future.
With the internet and cellphones, the exposure of people to harmful content is so much greater than what we’ve had before. So you’ve got to combat that. When we look at safe environment programs, we need to stress that aspect more these days.
OSV News: Your career in law enforcement and in many ways this board appointment have required you to deal with the dark side of humanity. How has your faith helped you in this regard?
Bogner: A few years ago, I saw a speech by Bishop Robert Barron (Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota), and he said he was once asked, “With some of the bad things happening in the Catholic Church, why shouldn’t I just abandon it?”
And his answer was that when you have a problem in any organization and it needs to be addressed, you have two choices: You either leave, or you stay to address the issue and work on the solution.
And I along with the members of the National Review Board are staying, and we’re addressing it.
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina)
LOS ANGELES (OSV News) — Jesus Christ may have been the main protagonist at the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21, but the golden, unusually large monstrance used to carry him each night before thousands at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium caught people’s attention, too.
Where did they get such a big, beautiful monstrance from? And as one reporter jokingly asked, had Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., been lifting weights to be able to carry it through the stadium?
The monstrance, Bishop Cozzens told journalists at the congress, was actually the same model that organizers had seen images of Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez use in a Eucharistic procession through the streets of San Gabriel in March 2023.
Pope Francis blesses a 4-foot-tall monstrance, a chalice and a paten during an audience with members of the organizing committees of the U.S. National Eucharistic Congress and Eucharistic Revival in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican June 19, 2023. The monstrance, which was made in Mexico, held the Eucharist during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July 17-21, 2024, and the chalice and paten were used during the closing Mass. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Almost immediately after the event, congress organizers at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Archbishop Gomez’s office, “Where can we get one of those?”
The inquiry led them to Father Miguel Angel Ruiz, a 31-year-old Los Angeles priest ordained in 2019 with roots in Guadalajara, Mexico. Father Ruiz was known for having the same monstrance, and often lending it to other priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese for special events. It was his monstrance, in fact, that the late LA Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell borrowed when he famously blessed Los Angeles in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
Father Ruiz told the officials that the monstrance was made by a liturgical store in Guadalajara, Articulos Religiosos San Jose. They ordered an exact replica of the monstrance — one of the store’s most popular ones — in a hurry, since Pope Francis had agreed to bless it in a private audience in Rome a few weeks later.
Four feet tall and weighing more than 20 pounds, the new monstrance — together with hosts specially sized for it — was shipped from Guadalajara to Tijuana, where Father Ruiz drove to pick it up. From across the border in San Diego, he had it shipped to USCCB headquarters in Washington, just in time for the congress delegation led by Bishop Cozzens to bring it to Rome for the pope’s blessing. “It’s big. It’s beautiful,” the pope said with a smile to members of the congress planning team at the June 19, 2023, meeting.
Father Ruiz, now administrator at Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa Church in East LA, told Angelus, the archdiocesan news outlet, that his personal connection with the monstrance actually began at a convent in Guadalajara he used to visit as a seminarian.
While praying before the Blessed Sacrament in the convent’s adoration room, “I would think to myself, ‘When I become a priest, I want one like that one,'” he recalled.
A few years later, the sisters at the convent purchased the monstrance as a gift for Father Ruiz’s ordination to the priesthood. The rest, as he says, “is history.”
(Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of Angelus, the online news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.)
(OSV News) — On the first morning of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki made his way through the wall-to-wall crowd at the Indianapolis Convention Center, one of the venues of the July 17-21 congress, and saw something remarkable: “Everyone was happy.”
“There was a feeling of kindness toward one another,” he wrote in a July 23 letter to the faithful posted on the archdiocesan website.
“I had the impression that this is the way heaven will be like. The crowd of humanity will be filled with a joyful spirit, people being kind to one another, and all there because of Jesus,” he said. “At His invitation, they would be patiently awaiting directions to the section where they will celebrate life everlasting.”
Bishops process during the National Eucharistic Congress procession in Indianapolis July 20, 2024. (OSV News photo/Gretchen R. Crowe)
“Joy” and “joyful,” “kindness,” “respect,” “reverence,” “unity,” “awe” and “wonder” are among the words bishops used in columns, social media posts, podcasts and other commentary after the congress to describe how it unfolded. They spoke of the presence of the Holy Spirit felt throughout the event and the overall atmosphere of the gathering that included lay faithful — including many families — men and women religious, and clergy altogether numbering about 60,000 by the time it ended.
“Throughout the five days of the congress, this joy was palpable — the joy that flows from our faith, from our gratitude for the love of Christ that we experience in our encounter with Him in the sacrament of His love, the Most Holy Eucharist,” Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, said in a July 23 column in Today’s Catholic, the diocesan news outlet.
“It was truly edifying and uplifting to participate with our brothers and sisters in Christ, bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated religious, families, young and old, faithful of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, all united in our love of Jesus and His presence with us in the Blessed Sacrament,” Bishop Rhoades said.
He prayed that the congress and the two-month National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that led up to it “will bear much good spiritual fruit for the Church in our diocese and across our nation.”
In this third and final year of the National Eucharistic Revival, the Year of Mission, “we are called to be Eucharistic missionaries in the world,” Bishop Rhoades said. “We are called to live Eucharistic lives — lives transformed by the Eucharistic love of Jesus.”
In one of several video messages from the congress, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York gave positive marks on the long lines of congress-goers for confession and Eucharistic adoration and for Communion during the Masses.
“People are hungry for the Lord,” he said, adding, “They believe that only he can satisfy the hunger of the heart. That’s what holy Communion is about. That’s what this Eucharistic Congress is about.”
“The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage & Congress were generational events,” said Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, in an Aug. 1 post on X, formerly Twitter. “But as we were reminded in Indianapolis, we must renew ourselves by receiving the Eucharistic Lord at Mass, joyfully following Christ in our daily lives & courageously becoming the saints we’re called to be.”
In a July 29 interview with WXXV-TV, Bishop Louis F. Kihneman III of Biloxi, Mississippi, called the congress a “powerful chance to be in love with Jesus Christ as Roman Catholics and Christians and to share that love with one another. And given all the stuff that’s happening in the United States and the world, it was an opportunity for us to pray for unity and pray for peace in the world especially.”
The bishop shared that his brother bishops “actually came together in prayer the day before we started in Indianapolis and prayed through the success of it” in addition to talking about evangelization “and how to continue to spread the word about Jesus Christ.”
But he also noted that seeing the pilgrims from the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes converge in Lucas Oil Stadium, where about 50,000 faithful were gathered, was “beautiful, striking and deeply moving.”
Encountering “the body of Christ in that capacity, you’re in awe of what he can do and what he does,” Bishop Kihneman said.
“The National Eucharistic Congress was an amazing experience, five days of wonder and awe and adoration,” Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles wrote in his July 31 “New World of Faith” column in Angelus, his archdiocese’s news outlet.
“The National Eucharistic Revival, launched three years ago by the U.S. bishops, has truly been a work of the Holy Spirit in our times,” he said. “Already we are seeing the revival’s fruits — people coming home to God and coming home to the Church. … There is a great movement of the Spirit going on in our times, a new thirst for holiness and truth, for a love that is pure and beautiful and everlasting.”
He added that the revival has helped people see the Eucharist more clearly as “the secret of God’s plan of love for every soul.” He called on Catholics to help their neighbors “to see that the Love they are looking for is true and real, that this Love is already here, on our altars and in our tabernacles, and that this Love has a name, Jesus Christ!
“Imagine the difference in the world, in our homes, if every Catholic in this country brought just one person back to Mass,” he added.
Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, said the congress was “one of the most moving and hopeful experiences” in his 39 years as a Catholic priest. “Time will tell, but I think it will be a moment of extraordinary grace for the Church here in the United States,” he wrote in his July 26 column for the Southern Nebraska Register, Lincoln’s diocesan newspaper.
“Everything seems just a little bit different” after the congress, he said. “The Church, the mystical body of Christ, is on the move here in the United States.”
“The heart of the NEC was, as it should be, the liturgy, which is the source and summit of our faith,” Bishop Conley said, noting the various liturgies at the National Eucharistic Congress “were offered so beautifully.”
But he also pointed out the “fruits of this liturgical source: the talks, praise and worship sessions, works of charity expressed in many forms — including the beautiful accompaniment of the homeless and their needs.”
“Ultimately, everything about the Congress was a reminder that the Blessed Sacrament is a sacrament of charity,” he added. “It is the sacrament that draws us into the life of Christ, who animates our lives so that we may love as He loves.”
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, said in the July 24 episode of his “Walk Humbly” podcast that a “massive highlight” of the congress was the July 20 Eucharistic procession through downtown Indianapolis.
“We shut down the city of Indianapolis … and as the Blessed Sacrament is being brought forth, the streets are lined with people every step of the way,” Bishop Burbidge said. At the Indiana War Memorial, the Eucharist was placed atop the steps. The bishops sat on the level below, and below them were tens of thousands of Catholics, who were “quiet, reverent, joyful” as they adored the Eucharist, the Virginia prelate said, adding, “Only the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament could bring us to that silence.”
“The graces we have received” from such “a wonderful, wonderful event” must be shared back home, he emphasized, “or this was all in vain.”
Like Bishop Conley, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said the congress was “one of the greatest moments” in his priesthood of 38 years. It “was splendid beyond words,” he said, noting also “the presence of so many religious and priests in habits and clerical garb” among people there.
The congress was successful, he explained, because “it was predicated upon the supernatural. It exuded the spirit of the supernatural. It ordered us toward the infinitely fascinating world that we cannot see, the world of the angels and saints and the Creator God.”
He said, “At the heart of the entire event was the unnerving mystery of the Eucharist, that Jesus — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity — is really present under the forms of bread and wine.”
In a July 23 post on his diocese’s Facebook page, Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, said, “The National Eucharistic Congress reminded me of World Youth Day in Denver” in 1993, which he called “a watershed moment in the life of the Church in the U.S.”
“Many conversions, vocations, and personal apostolates will emerge from the Congress,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what the Holy Spirit is going to do!”
INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) — Absolute silence filled Lucas Oil Stadium as tens of thousands of people dropped to their knees to adore Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as the long-anticipated National Eucharistic Congress officially got underway on the evening of July 17 in Indianapolis. More than 100 spotlights trained on a large, golden monstrance on an altar in the center of the stadium as a powerful holy hour — which took place before any talks, music or greeting by the evening’s three emcees — began the congress’s first revival night filled with prayer, powerful speakers and praise-and-worship music.
Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minn., chairman of the board of the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc., kneels in prayer before the monstrance during Eucharistic adoration at the opening revival night July 17, 2024, of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
Just before Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota — the driving episcopal force behind the congress — walked onto the floor carrying the monstrance, the 30 perpetual pilgrims who had walked the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes entered the stadium. Carrying icons of each route’s respective patron saints — St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, St. Junipero Serra, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the Blessed Virgin Mary — the pilgrims took the final steps that officially completed their eight-week journey from points north, south, east and west across the U.S. to the July 17-21 congress in Indiana’s capital city.
After a time of silent prayer and praise and worship, Bishop Cozzens knelt for a second time in front of the monstrance.
“Lord, we wanted to give you the first words of our National Eucharistic Congress,” he said. Kneeling before Jesus in the Eucharist, Bishop Cozzens recounted how the National Eucharistic Revival — launched in 2022 — has led Catholics to gather to study, teach and pray with the Eucharist, spending countless hours in adoration and small groups, and in parish and diocesan initiatives.
“Lord, we made a National Eucharistic Pilgrimage for you,” he prayed. “For the last 65 days we brought your living presence across this land, across the East, West, North and South. We visited large churches and small churches. We had large processions in cities and small processions in prisons. We visited nursing homes and homeless shelters. Lord, we tried to share with everyone we met along the way your unspeakable love.”
He said the pilgrimage prayed for the country and the church and brought those prayers to the congress. He thanked Jesus for the miracles the pilgrims saw along the way: conversion, people return to the faith, physical and spiritual healings.
“We hope to see more,” he said.
He told Jesus that the tens of thousands of Catholics in the stadium had gathered there to give him thanks and praise and to be changed into “missionary disciples, people filled with the joy of the Gospel, people so grateful for the salvation you purchased for us.”
He prayed for deeper conversion for individuals, peace in wartorn countries, those affected by abuse, and unity in both the country and the church. Bishop Cozzens invited attendees to share in silence their own desires with Jesus, and then asked them to pray that the Lord would also reveal his desires for them.
“Jesus, I trust in you,” he prayed, and the stadium resounded as people echoed his prayer.
“Lord, we have come here because we want a revival, a Eucharistic revival, and we want every Catholic to realize that you are alive in the Eucharist, and to encounter your love,” he said. “And Lord, we know that this revival, it has to begin with us.”
After the holy hour concluded and Bishop Cozzens processed out with the Eucharist, the revival’s emcees then took the stage: Father Joshua Johnson, vocations director for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Montse Alvarado, president of EWTN News — who greeted the attendees in Spanish and English — and Sister Miriam James Heidland, a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. The three talked about their own personal experiences with the Eucharist and what the congress meant to them before introducing the other speakers that evening.
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the U.S., was the night’s keynote speaker. He opened with the reflection that “perhaps our main prayer for this Eucharistic congress should be this: that we as a church may grow in our unity so that we become more fruitful in our mission.”
Perpetual pilgrim MacKenzie Warrens with the Juan Diego Route processes in with other members of the group during the opening revival night of the National Eucharistic Congress at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis July 17, 2024. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
He invited those present to reflect on the basic question of “what is Eucharistic revival?” and “how will we know that we are experiencing Eucharistic revival?”
Revival is “always accompanied by sacramental devotion,” he said, but it “must extend beyond devotional practices as well.”
“When we are truly revived by the Eucharist,” he said, “then our encounter with Christ’s real presence in the sacrament opens us to an encounter with him in the rest of our life. This means seeing him everywhere we go.”
He reminded those gathered that Christ “is also present in our encounters with people from whom we would otherwise consider ourselves divided” including “people from a different economic class or race, people who challenge our way of thinking.”
Living “a truly Eucharistic life,” he emphasized, means that adoration “spills over in our daily life, a life of relating to others, our way of seeing others.”
He encouraged those gathered to use their time in adoration over the week of the Eucharistic Congress to ask the Lord to reveal the places where they are resistant to surrendering to his will.
“He is the only one who can lead us to new life,” he concluded, “by following him, we can become true apostles of his Kingdom.”
Sister Bethany Madonna, local superior of the new Phoenix mission of the Sisters of Life, talked about how Jesus, crucified and risen, “wants to reveal himself” and bring his grace because of his love for each person.
“God knows you. God loves you. And chooses you … He has entrusted you with a mission that he has entrusted to no one else,” she said.
She said that Jesus “knows that we are hungry for love, and he chooses to give himself to us as food and drink.”
“We have this unquenchable thirst to be loved that no one and nothing can ever satisfy” but God, she explained.
Sister Bethany Madonna reminded people that when fear or failure can prevent them from drawing close to God’s love, “Jesus redeems everything.”
She shared the testimony of a woman who was terrified to go to confession because of two abortions she had when she was younger. She lived in shame and silence for 29 years, and when she made the appointment for the sacrament of reconciliation and drove to see the priest, she heard a whisper saying, “You don’t have to do it,” and, “This is too difficult … turn back.”
Praying Hail Marys all the way, she got to confession in tears; and after listening to her, the priest made the motion of picking up a lamb and said, “All of heaven rejoices … welcome home.”
Sister Bethany Madonna said that when the woman received Communion the next day, she said that “my life would be a ‘yes’ to God.”
The opening revival night of the National Eucharistic Congress already had a profound effect on participants who spoke with OSV News.
Belen Munoz, 18, of Rosa Park, New Jersey, said it was “encouraging” to see so many Catholics gathered for the congress.
Pilgrims pray during the opening revival night July 17, 2024, of the National Eucharistic Congress at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
“Growing up in a secular community, it’s a totally different experience,” she said. “Getting just a taste of what we’re encountering here is amazing, and I can’t wait for the rest of the week.”
“Tonight just showed me that Jesus is just so alive in the Eucharist and that it’s just so obvious that he’s working through so many people,” said Molly Quinn, 18, from Naperville, Illinois. She added the experience “just made me realize that we’re not alone in this world and there are so many people who are searching for Christ like I am.”
“I’ve been having a rough patch in my life and so coming here to this and seeing how God can work through everyone is truly inspiring and powerful and makes me feel revived personally,” added 18-year-old Michelle Jurec, also from Naperville. “I can’t wait for the rest of the days.”
Lotty Cantrelle, 63, a nurse from Lockport, Louisiana, stood and sang to a praise and worship song near the end of the evening. She said her pastor “volun-told” her to come to the congress — but after experiencing the opening revival session, “I know that my priest knew I needed this,” she said.
“A person’s heart would have to be made of stone not to be changed by that,” she said, noting Sister Bethany Madonna’s words about trusting Jesus.
“That gave me a lot of comfort,” she said. “I think this is a journey to my healing and to becoming my former self, who used to be more joyful. So I am ready.”
(OSV News Editor-in-Chief Gretchen R. Crowe, National News Editor Peter Jesserer Smith, Senior Writer Maria Wiering, Culture Editor Lauretta Brown and Spanish Editor Maria Pia Negro Chin contributed to this report.)
By Kate Scanlon WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Prior to the second anniversary of a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its prior abortion precedent, pro-life activists said much of their work remains to be done.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, told OSV News in a June 10 interview “we realized quickly we have a challenge on our hands,” pointing to losses at the ballot box after the Dobbs ruling, with more such contests on the horizon.
“So after two years, there is still reason to celebrate because we know God’s grace is more powerful than all this, but also, we have to embrace the challenge that faces us,” he said.
The Supreme Court issued its historic decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization June 24, 2022, a little over a month after Politico published a leaked draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in the case. The leak caused a public firestorm before the court issued its official ruling and is seen as the most significant breach of the court’s confidentiality in its history.
Pro-life demonstrators in Washington celebrate outside the Supreme Court June 24, 2022, as the court overruled the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision. (OSV News photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters)
The Dobbs case involved a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, in which the state directly challenged the high court’s previous abortion-related precedents in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). The Supreme Court ultimately overturned its own prior rulings, undoing nearly a half-century of its own precedent on the issue and returning it to legislatures.
While Roe and its ensuing precedents were in place, states were generally barred from restricting abortion prior to viability, or the point at which a child could survive outside the womb. When Roe was issued in 1973, fetal viability was considered to be 28 weeks gestation, but current estimates are generally considered to be 23-24 weeks, with some estimates as low as 22 weeks as medical technology continues to improve. After the Dobbs ruling, states across the country quickly moved to either restrict or expand access to abortion.
While supporters often described Roe as settled law, opponents argued the court in 1973 improperly legalized abortion nationwide, a matter opponents said should have been left to Congress or state governments. Many, including the Catholic Church, opposed the ruling on moral grounds that the practice takes the life of an unborn child. Opponents of the ruling challenged it for decades, both in courts and in the public square, such as the national March for Life held annually in Washington.
Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life organization, told OSV News that after Dobbs, there was “so much confusion about what that means and anger and frustration from people who are confused about the inherent dignity of the unborn child and how abortion impacts women. So, I think that we’re still very much in the middle of that reverberation.”
When discussing abortion policy, Mancini said, pro-life advocates should strive “to get very clear” on the specific state, law or situations involved “because there’s a lot of misinformation out there right now.” In the years following Dobbs, some women in states that restricted abortion said they were denied timely care for miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies or experienced other adverse pregnancy outcomes as a result of medical professionals’ hesitation due to unclear abortion legislation. But pro-life activists said laws restricting abortion contained exceptions for such circumstances. Their opponents claimed bill texts insufficiently addressed those circumstances or lacked clarity on exceptions.
Public support for legal abortion also increased after Roe was overturned, according to multiple polls conducted in the years following the Dobbs ruling. In multiple elections since the ruling, ballot measures on abortion have so far proven elusive for the pro-life movement. In elections in both 2022 and 2023, voters in Ohio, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont and Kansas either rejected new limitations on abortion or expanded legal protections for it.
Kelsey Pritchard, state public affairs director for SBA Pro-Life America, told OSV News in an interview that since the Dobbs decision, “we’ve gained major ground in the fight for life.”
“And you look at the states, and today we have 24 states that have laws defending life at 15 weeks or sooner, and 20 of those states have a law that protects babies with a heartbeat,” she said.
Pritchard said pro-life advocates must respond to “fear-mongering” about state abortion restrictions, including arguing that “there is a life of the mother exception in every single state” with restrictions. Asked about how pro-life advocates should approach ballot initiatives on abortion, Bishop Burbidge said that efforts have been made, and should continue to be made, “to win minds by proclaiming the truth and proclaiming the Gospel of Life.”
“We have to speak to the hearts of people who love women and love children. So do we. So do we, and we want to be there for every woman and every child,” he added.
Bishop Burbidge said that those seeking to aid the pro-life cause should offer their prayers, and they can sign up for alerts and resources on the committee’s work by visiting respectlife.org.
“I think beyond our role in advocacy too, the Catholic Church has long offered hope, healing, and material support to vulnerable mothers and children,” he said, noting that Walking with Moms in Need and Project Rachel are a means of such support.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington.
