By Gina Christian (OSV News) – Several U.S. bishops recently traveled on pilgrimage to key sites commemorating the nation’s Civil Rights Movement and the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination – with two bishops telling OSV News the journey showed the need to face the past, before seeking to change the future. “It’s important to learn about the past, as odious as this is, as evil as the sin of racism and slavery is,” said Bishop William A. Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida. “We have to admit it, that it was part of our history, part of our nation, really a part of our culture. … It’s hard to move on if we have not confronted it together.”
A sculpture in the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Plaza in Montgomery, Ala., represents the foot soldiers who marched during the Civil Rights Movement. A visit to the plaza and the Legacy Museum came on the first day of a “Lenten Experience in Montgomery and Selma” for U.S. Catholic bishops March 18-20, 2026. (OSV News photo/courtesy USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotions of Racial Justice and Reconciliation)
Bishop Wack was among six prelates who traveled to Alabama for a March 18-20 “Lenten Experience in Montgomery and Selma.”
Joining Bishop Wack were Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California; Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville, Tennessee; Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of Jackson, Mississippi; Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala of Washington; and Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Pulido of San Diego.
The second such event coordinated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation and the Catholic Mobilizing Network, the trip saw the bishops – along with USCCB and network staff, and USCCB subcommittee consultant Gloria Purvis – visit multiple locations in just two and a half days.
During the pilgrimage, the bishops celebrated Mass at local parishes, and met with civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, as well as Dianne Thelma Harris, a foot soldier in the peaceful 1965 Voting Rights March.
The itinerary featured stops at Montgomery’s three Legacy Sites: the Legacy Museum, which surveys the nation’s 400-year span of enslavement, racial terrorism, codified segregationism and mass incarceration; the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which memorializes more than 4,400 Black people lynched between 1877 and 1950; and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, which provides an immersive view into the lives of enslaved persons.
Other Montgomery sites in the tour were City of St. Jude, which was the final stop for Civil Rights marchers from Selma before their arrival at the state capitol on March 24, 1965, and the Dexter Parsonage Museum, where Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his family lived during his 1954-1960 tenure as pastor of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.
Bishop Wack told OSV News the parsonage – which had been bombed several times during Rev. King’s pastorate – left a deep impression, as he recalled a pivotal moment when Rev. King, sitting at his kitchen table after an attack, prayerfully discerned a call to persist in the Civil Rights Movement.
“He became a real person to me sitting right here – there’s the sink, here’s where he made the coffee. And then he sat down and he had this moment of deep, intense prayer with God,” Bishop Wack recalled. “As a bishop, I’ve had moments like that: ‘God, what do you want me to do? Where should I go?’”
In Selma, the group crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where in 1965 some 600 Civil Rights marchers for voting rights were brutally attacked by law enforcement, with the violence filmed by local television and later broadcast. While in Selma, the pilgrims dined at the Edmundite Missions, a Catholic social services agency through which the Society of St. Edmund has offered support for 90 years.
Bishop Kopacz told OSV News that the pilgrimage revealed “incredible truth and reconciliation opportunities.”
Bishop William A. Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., prays the Stations of the Cross in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the second day of a “Lenten Experience in Montgomery and Selma” for bishops March 18-20, 2026. The pilgrimage was coordinated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation and the Catholic Mobilizing Network. (OSV News photo/courtesy USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotions of Racial Justice and Reconciliation)
He pointed to the need to document the historical sweep of slavery, racism and injustice in the nation’s history, and to see its ongoing effects.
“What Alabama has done is really brought forward the history that goes back to the onset, to the the transatlantic passage and the beginnings of slavery,” he said. The slave trade saw some 12 million to 20 million Africans enslaved in various Western nations, including the U.S., over a period of four centuries. The United Nations recently condemned the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity,” and passed a resolution also calling for reparations by member states to affected nations.
Recalling his visit, Bishop Kopacz traced how the legacy of slavery continued through “the years of Jim Crow,” the codified racial caste system that prevailed in southern and border states from 1877 to the mid-1960s; racial lynchings; and through capital punishment, which Stevenson and others argue disproportionately impacts people of color.
Bishop Kopacz said that capital punishment – which the Catholic Church condemns – is “dragging forward this chapter of our life here in America” marked by the violent history of slavery and racism.
Slavery “wasn’t just ended with the Emancipation Proclamation,” said Bishop Wack, referencing the 1863 presidential decree that declared slaves in some U.S. states free.
Rather, said Bishop Wack, slavery “perhaps took different forms,” as “there was a lot of discrimination that continued.”
Both Bishop Kopacz and Bishop Wack told OSV News they planned to bring their pilgrimage experiences back to their respective flocks, encouraging prayer, reflection and – as Bishop Wack said – “courageous conversations” to help counter the sin of racism.
“In order to have reconciliation and change toward greater justice, we need that deepening awareness,” said Bishop Kopacz.
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of Jackson, Miss., gives a homily during Mass at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala., on the first day of a “Lenten Experience in Montgomery and Selma” for bishops March 18-20, 2026. The pilgrimage was coordinated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation and the Catholic Mobilizing Network. (OSV News photo/courtesy USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotions of Racial Justice and Reconciliation)
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News.)
Another priestly ordination is upon us. I remember Will Foggo coming to my office at St. Richard in the spring of 2020 with his seminary application in hand. He was one of the first men that I helped through the application process as vocation director.
Will encountered many “new” experiences along the way. He worked with a new vocation director, with new ideas about seminary preparation. He entered seminary during the pandemic and experienced formation during the restrictive “bubble” year at St. Ben’s. He was also among the first group of our seminarians to study in Mexico as a part of formation; and the first seminarian ordained to the diaconate in winter rather than spring.
Through it all, Will faced every challenge with his good-natured patience and hard work. From the start, he has been dedicated to serving the Lord, and I’m excited to see him ordained a diocesan priest.
Will’s ordination will be on Saturday, May 16 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle; followed by his first Mass of thanksgiving Sunday, May 17 at 10:30 a.m. at his home parish, St. Paul in Flowood. If you have never attended a priestly ordination or a first Mass, I highly recommend doing so when you have the opportunity .
During ordination, Will will lay prostrate on the cathedral floor as a sign of surrender to divine providence and service to the Church. He will promise to serve the People of God through prayer, preaching, teaching, administering the sacraments and obedience to the bishop. His hands will be anointed with chrism as his very soul is conformed to Christ the priest, and entrusted with the gift and responsibility of providing the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. At his first Mass – which technically is not his first Mass, since that is the ordination Mass – Father Foggo will be joined by friends and family filling both the sanctuary and the pews. His home parish will rejoice in celebrating with the fruit of their own field, in the place where he worshipped for so many years.
His parents, John and Shelia, along with the rest of the family, will be in the front pew and experience the unique blessing of receiving Communion from a spiritual father who is also their son.
I am grateful to John and Shelia for the many ways that they have blessed both me and our diocese through their support of Will and their service to the Department of Vocations over the years.
Will’s longtime pastor, Father Gerry Hurley, will also be concelebrating the Mass as he approaches his 50th anniversary of priestly ministry. I am grateful for his care for Will and his support of his discernment through the years. What a gift to celebrate both a new priest and a golden-jubilarian at the same Mass. Father Hurley continues to be a joyful witness to our seminarians and diocese.
So yes, I am very much looking forward to another ordination. We pray to God that many more days like this are ahead for our diocese. For now, we simply rejoice that a good man has generously offered his life to the Church and is about to become a good priest. Thanks be to God.
Will with his parents Shelia and John on move-in day to St. Joseph Seminary College (St. Ben’s) August 8, 2020
(Father Nick Adam is Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Jackson. He can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)
By Courtney Mares ROME (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his prayer intention for the month of May to one of humanity’s most persistent challenges: hunger.
In a video message released on April 30 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the pope called on Catholics worldwide to confront the problem of food insecurity with both prayer and concrete action. “Today we recognize with sorrow that millions of brothers and sisters continue to suffer from hunger, while so many goods are wasted at our tables,” the pope said in the video, recorded inside the Church of San Pellegrino in Vatican City.
Pope Leo XIV prays in front of a fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel at the shrine named after the image in Genazzano, Italy, southeast of Rome, May 10, 2025. In a video message released April 30, 2026, by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the pope called on Catholics worldwide to confront the problem of food insecurity with both prayer and concrete action. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
At least 318 million people are expected to face food crisis conditions or worse this year, according to the World Food Program’s 2026 Global Outlook. The ongoing war in the Middle East could push an additional 45 million people into severe hunger before mid-year. In 2025, two famines were recorded in parts of Gaza and Sudan.
At the same time, the U.N. Environment Program reports that more than 1 billion tons of food are wasted globally every year, a contrast the pope addressed directly in his message.
Pope Leo called for a shift away from what he described as “the logic of selfish consumption” and toward “a culture of solidarity,” urging Catholic communities to take up practical measures including food banks, awareness campaigns and simpler, more responsible lifestyles.
“May our communities promote concrete gestures,” the pope said, adding that believers should approach every meal with gratitude, consume simply and “share with joy” in the knowledge that the fruits of the earth are “destined for all, not just a few.”
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, also known as the Apostleship of Prayer, releases a prayer intention from the pope each month as part of its mission to unite Catholics in prayer for the Church’s global concerns.
Father Cristóbal Fones, director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, said the intention is a deeply personal concern for the pope.
“This intention comes from the pope’s heart. It pains him deeply that so many people in the world cannot access something as essential and human as food,” Father Fones said. “This is why he is asking everyone not to remain indifferent but to take decisive action, first with prayer, then with concrete gestures of solidarity.”
(Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.)
IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI One of the saints who speaks to me is Therese of Lisieux, commonly known as the Little Flower. This wasn’t love at first sight. For years I was put off and left cold and uninterested by how her person and her image have become encrusted in an overly saccharine piety. She was too sweet, too pious. Not a saint for me! That changed, thanks to a friend who told me, “Don’t read books about her – read her!” I read her and found in her a soul friend.
Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Who is Therese of Lisieux? She was a Carmelite nun who died from tuberculous in 1897. She was only twenty-four years old when she died, and as a Carmelite nun hidden away in a convent in rural France, she died in anonymity, probably known by fewer than a hundred people. However, during the last two years of her life, as she lay dying from tuberculous, she kept several diaries. After her death, her Carmelite sisters sent her unpublished diaries to a few other convents, intending to let a small circle of religious women know of her death and a little about her life.
The rest is history. The manuscripts were leaked to a wider public and in less than ten years, printing presses were literally having trouble meeting the demand for her autobiography. Her little convent in Lisieux was receiving more than five hundred letters a day, and people from all over the world were beginning to come to Lisieux on pilgrimage. A hundred and thirty years later, little has changed. She remains extraordinarily popular.
Why? Why this perennial intrigue about Therese? Because there is something about her that touches the soul in a particularly empathic way. How so?
Therese had an anomalous background that produced an extraordinary character. Her life as a child was in many ways tragic. Her mother got sick at the time of Therese’s birth and was unable to care for her during the crucial first year of her life. She was cared for by a nurse and an aunt. As a one-year-old she was returned to her mother, but her mother was already terminally ill and when Therese was four, her mother died. Therese then chose her older sister, Pauline, to be her new mother. Five years later, Pauline entered the convent and as a nine-year-old Therese again lost a mother.
Shortly after this she took ill and almost died. This was triggered by a visit to Pauline who was then a Carmelite nun. Together with her three other sisters and her father, she had gone to visit Pauline in her convent. After Pauline had spent some time focused on her little sister, she naturally became preoccupied in adult conversation. Left out, in sheer frustration, little Therese stood right in front of her big sister and, shaking her dress, began to cry.
“What’s the matter?” asked Pauline. “You didn’t notice!” cried Therese, “I’m wearing the dress you made me!”
She then became disconsolate and on returning home took to bed and for some weeks; despite the best efforts of various doctors and every kind of cajoling by her family, hovered between life and death. Eventually she recovered. Such was the tragedy and oversensitivity of her childhood.
Yet, and this is the great anomaly, as a child, Therese was doted on and loved in a way that few children ever are. Her father, her sisters and her extended family considered her their little queen and she was cherished and made to feel extraordinarily precious and unique. Her sister Celine photographed her every move. Few children ever grow up as nurtured in love and affirmation as did Therese.
And her personality bore out the effects of both the tragedy and the love. On the one side, she could be heavy, dark, withdrawn, and otherworldly. She made easy friends with mortality, was a mystic of darkness, the austere adult, the little girl-woman, who, wounded early, grew up fast. But, on the other side, she always remained the magical child, Cinderella, who, because she was so loved and graced, developed a very robust self-esteem, a confidence and a capacity to love as few others ever have.
So loved as child, a part of her remained ever the little girl, the puella, the incarnation of childlikeness, innocence, and gaiety. Only a Therese of Lisieux could end all her letters with the phrase: I kiss you with my whole heart!
In a soul so formed lies her mystique, that is, her unique combination of depth, insight, and other worldliness, even as she desperately clings to the tiniest gifts from her family and every small token of earthly affection. Only a soul so formed could, at age twenty-two, have the complexity and wisdom to write a mystical and theological treatise that rivals that of great theological doctors, and only a soul so formed could be both a study in hyper-sensitivity and human resilience.
A saint so pathologically complex can be a soul friend to our own complex souls.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a professor of spirituality at Oblate School of Theology and award-winning author.)
GUEST COLUMN By Father Anthony D. Andreassi In this continuing series on the origins of Catholicism in the 50 states, the story now turns to the lower South and the states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. What began as a fragile missionary presence with the Spanish and French would only gradually develop into a more established Church. Catholic roots in Georgia reach back well before the English colonies, to the era of Spanish mission activity along the southeastern coast.
A file photo shows the historic chapel of the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche at Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine, Fla., with the statue of the nursing and watchful mother of Jesus. (OSV News photo/St. Augustine Catholic)
Nearly two decades before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Franciscan missionaries left Spain to evangelize and minister to the Indigenous peoples of the region. Living among the Guale along the Georgia coast, they preached the Gospel and celebrated the sacraments, while insisting on Christian norms of marriage in contrast to the practice of polygamy.
Their faithfulness brought them into conflict with local leaders, and in September 1597, five friars were killed, in part for upholding Church teaching against polygamy. Recognized now as the Georgia Martyrs, these brave missionaries are set for beatification on October 31 of this year, and their witness stands as the earliest chapter in the Catholic story of Georgia.
The creation of the Diocese of Charleston in 1820, encompassing the Carolinas and Georgia, underscored how limited Catholic life remained in the region. In Georgia, the first parish, Most Holy Trinity in Augusta, had been founded only a decade earlier.
Moving down the coast to Florida, the Catholic story begins earlier than anywhere else in what would become the United States. Spanish expeditions in the first half of the sixteenth century sought to establish colonies, but a lasting presence only came in 1565 with the founding of St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States.
There, the mission of Nombre de Dios was established with a secular priest as its first pastor. The missionary impulse quickly expanded, leading to the founding of the first Catholic hospital in 1598 and a Franciscan seminary in 1605. In 1606, Bishop Juan de las Cabezas de Altamirano of Cuba became the first bishop to set foot in territory that would one day be part of the United States.
As was true in most other places in the Americas, missionary life was often difficult in what would become the state of Florida. At times, Mass could not be celebrated for months due to the lack of bread or wine. Yet the work continued. A Franciscan missionary who arrived in 1595 labored among the coastal Timucua and produced a grammar and dictionary of their language, aiding the spread of the faith.
Over the centuries, as colonial control shifted, the Church in Florida was administered in various ways, often under bishops in Cuba and elsewhere, until 1870, when the Diocese of St. Augustine was established to encompass the entire state. Today, with its rapid growth in the twentieth century, Florida is home to seven dioceses serving a diverse Catholic population of over 1.9 million.
Moving west along the Gulf Coast, the Catholic story in Alabama began to take shape in the early eighteenth century, when much of the Mississippi Valley, including present-day Alabama, formed part of the French Empire.
The first parish was established in Mobile in 1703, with Father Henri Roulleaux de La Vente, a priest from the Diocese of Bayeux in France, serving as its first pastor after arriving by way of Canada.
In these early years, Mass and other sacraments were celebrated in the chapel of Fort Louis until a parish church was built outside the fortifications in 1708.
For much of the next century and a half, Catholic life remained largely confined to the Gulf Coast, with limited expansion inland. A more stable institutional footing came in 1829 with the establishment of the Diocese (today Archdiocese) of Mobile.
For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Alabama remained overwhelmingly Protestant, and Catholic growth was slow. Parishes gradually spread inland, with foundations in Tuscaloosa in 1844 and Birmingham in 1872 marking that expansion. In recent decades, however, the rise of the Sun Belt and immigration from outside the United States have strengthened the Church’s presence, and today about 6.8 percent of Alabamians are Catholic.
Just to the west, Mississippi presents a closely related but distinct chapter in the Catholic story of the Gulf South. Catholic beginnings in Mississippi date to 1682, when French explorers descended the river to its mouth and claimed the region for France, accompanied by Father Zenobius Membré, an Augustinian Recollect, who celebrated what is likely the first recorded Mass in what would become the nation’s twentieth state.
FORT ADAMS – On Easter Sunday 1682, the first recorded Mass on Mississippi soil took place in Wilkinson county. St. Patrick’s Church was built in 1900 on Fort Adams town square. (Photo by Mary Woodward)
French settlement followed in 1699 at Old Biloxi, where priests ministered to the first European colonists. Missionary work quickly extended to Native peoples, where a chapel was built among the Houma, and Father Jacques Gravier performed what is likely the first recorded baptism in Mississippi.
In 1779, control of the region passed to Spain, and in 1788, a church dedicated to the Holy Savior was built in Natchez, on the site where St. Mary Basilica stands today. Despite this early foundation, Catholic life remained fragile. By the time Pope Gregory XVI established the Diocese of Natchez (today Jackson) in 1837, encompassing the entire state, there was not a single Catholic church or resident priest, and the first bishop named to the see declined the appointment.
Stability came only in 1841, when John Joseph Chanche of Baltimore accepted the role, becoming the first bishop to establish a lasting Catholic presence in Mississippi. Like neighboring Alabama, Mississippi has seen significant Catholic growth in recent decades, and today about 110,000 Catholics are served by the Dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi.
The Catholic story of the lower South reflects a long journey from mission to a mature presence. Early efforts by Spanish and French missionaries laid foundations that would only slowly develop into a stable Church. Today’s growing Catholic communities stand as a testament to that enduring, if often overlooked, history.
(Father Anthony D. Andreassi, a priest of the Brooklyn Oratory of St. Philip Neri, holds a doctorate in history from Georgetown University. His research and writing have focused on the American Catholic community. He is on the staff of the Oratory parishes of Assumption and St. Boniface in Brooklyn, New York.)
FROM THE HERMITAGE By sister alies therese At breakneck speed, Kenyan runner Sabastian Sawe completed the London Marathon in 1:59:30, becoming the first person to finish the 26-mile trek in under two hours. Closely behind was Ethiopian runner Kejelcha, just 11 seconds later. That is traveling one mile in 4:33, 26 times! Seriously moving, those fellas put a new stamp on the word – traveling.
Birds travel, butterflies travel, glaciers travel and indeed people travel. I have a friend, soon to be 80, who wants us to do Route 66! Why not, you ask? Well, she lives far away and would have to travel a considerable distance before we could even begin. Anyway, Route 66, being a famous road with sites and motels, food and people, has welcomed travelers for years. A secular sort of pilgrimage. A good icon for that might be the original drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh (on sale for $12,000) tracking the Woozles all over the place. (He will be 95 this year. Oh my.)
There are lots of variations in travel, as you well know. For example, being caught in traffic – moving and not moving, i.e., stranded – long lines at the airport or even being stuck in a grocery line behind people with long questions or a new checker.
How many times have you been stuck? Your inner life feels empty, your home life is boring and you are going nowhere. Or, on the other hand, with some excitement, consider graduation, the NFL draft or entering a monastery! All these cause us to go from one place, one kind of life, into another that is only vaguely familiar. We learn the rules of the road – a Green Book of sorts – and begin to be transformed by our new way of life, at least if we stay long enough … or maybe we move on. Perhaps we will travel the road to St. James?
Historically, we know of those who traveled under duress – on the Trail of Tears or the long trek of slavery. People ripped from their former lives and forced into another, miles from home. Think too of the troubles of travel – bandits, wrecks and weather. Our journeys are not all that easy, even when we don’t seem in harm’s way.
When we read, we travel. When we pray, we travel. When we write, create art or music or when we imagine, we travel. What takes you from one place to another? Well, a truck, a cart, a horse or a car moves us forward, but many in our world today are traveling away from war and violence in tiny boats or struggling to walk on foot. If you have ever been near the border, say south of Tucson, you might have noticed something thrown away, hidden in bushes and trees – traveling clothes discarded, especially shoes, often those of small children. One must realize that the only way people are moving toward safety and some sort of economic or social improvement away from violence is by traveling on foot. I can’t even walk to the DG to get a bottle of milk. How far, you ask? Well, maybe 10 blocks or so … ugh.
Traveling is also a favorite advertisement for most new cars and uses the beauty of America on wide-open roads, or a flight to Paris, or that moon shot and back to entice us to move from the comfortable zones where we consider ourselves safe and in place, to explore the universe God has so generously created. In the Hebrew Bible we discover the long trek of the Israelites – 40 years of wandering in the desert, looking for a promised land. A journey that could have been traveled on foot in about 11 days took 40 years. There are plenty of Scriptural references to traveling, but my favorites are the flight into Egypt with the tiny Child, the walk to Emmaus and the care of the Good Shepherd who walks with us, leads us and brings us to safety.
There are also other kinds of traveling – disease, for example. We go one day from being quite well to having broken bones, a tumor or the flu. Indeed, one of the most pernicious diseases that causes us to travel from well-being into uncertainty is dementia. It is even called a disease of progression and is, no doubt, a difficult trip not only for the traveler, but for friends and family close by.
Finally, a woman named Melissa Lucio has been on death row – a horrid place to travel to – in Texas for 17 years and four years ago was to be executed. However, she received a stay after the trial judge recommended overturning her conviction and death sentence. There is a long travel from cell to death chamber … and indeed from guilty to innocent! However, here is the question: Why is she still there? She is in the hands of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and they will decide whether to accept the judge’s recommendation and overturn her wrongful conviction and death sentence. Why has it taken them four years, to date, to reach a favorable decision? Their traveling seems ever so slow …
As you plan your vacation, travel sports event or visit to Granny in Maine, remember our lives are one long walk to Emmaus, one pilgrim adventure after another toward our final place of welcome. We need to pay attention, however, to what St. Gregory the Great had to say about travelers: “Don’t be a foolish traveler, distracted by the pleasant meadows you are passing and forgetting where you are going.”
I had a novice mistress once who frequently said, “Be a constant and joyful companion on the journey.” Here is our opportunity, as we travel together with Jesus, to comfort and console, to be a source of cheer and joy and to be attentive to our odometer as it clocks up the miles.
Happy trails … blessings.
(sister alies therese is a canonical hermit who prays and writes.)
ORDINARY TIMES By Lucia A. Silecchia As April exploded into the exuberance of a long-awaited spring, many welcomed her arrival with great joy.
Truly, the glory of Easter, buds bursting from their hiding places, ever brighter evenings and the return of birds and butterflies are all great signs of good things to come. After what was, for much of the country, an extra-cold winter, the coming of spring seems particularly appreciated. April also heralds the arrival of a new baseball season.
This occasion is neither a liturgical event nor a wonder of nature. It is fanatically observed by some, unnoticed by others, and a mystery to others. With post-season games lengthening the baseball season long into the fall, Opening Day seems to have arrived very quickly for some, while others lament that it has taken so long to arrive.
Yet, when a new season begins – for baseball or, indeed, for any other sport – there is a feeling like no other that also has something to teach about life.
There is a wonderful sense that anything is possible in the months ahead. As the season begins, no team has yet fallen behind. No players have yet been injured. The hope of being a World Series champion seems possible in a way that it does not after the season moves on and standings start to settle.
More importantly, the past does not seem to matter. The errors, missed chances and wasted opportunities of last season are left behind and injuries have had several months to heal. As someone who roots loyally for a team that consistently pulls defeat from the jaws of victory, the ability to put last season behind is a refreshing reset.
Perhaps there is something to be learned about life from America’s favorite pastime.
The willingness to start anew and to let go of the past is a challenge and a blessing that God gives us each day, indeed, each moment of our lives.
Like a baseball team rebounding from a bad year, we all have the chance to look forward to the future and not only to the past. Certainly, there is always much to learn from past mistakes and bad judgement. Certainly, there is much we can do to make tomorrow better than yesterday. But in the constant care of a loving God, we can, like the teams we root for, start anew – not merely once a year, but anytime.
Crowds of fans may not cheer when we succeed. Headlines will not proclaim our victories. Championship rings and celebratory parades will not be ours. Indeed, for many of us, the pasts we leave behind and the new beginnings we forge for the future may be known only to ourselves and to God.
And that is good. For we have a far better hope in a God who promises that “whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor. 5:17) What better time than this Easter season to celebrate that all is new, that what is old has passed away and that the new has come!
To my favorite team, good luck!
To my sisters and brothers, may you be blessed with many new beginnings every day of your ordinary times.
(Lucia A. Silecchia is Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Email her at silecchia@cua.edu.)
By OSV News Pope Leo XIV concluded his first trip to Africa April 23, capping a four-country visit marked by urgent calls for peace, direct engagement with conflict zones and a backdrop of international political tension.
Traveling April 13–23 through Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, the pope met civil and religious leaders, celebrated public Masses and encouraged Catholics to remain steadfast witnesses to the Gospel.
His visit brought him into regions scarred by violence, including Cameroon’s separatist conflict, while also addressing inequality and corruption in Angola, promoting interreligious dialogue in Algeria and a just society in Equatorial Guinea.
PLeo XIV looks on as dancers perform as he attends a meeting with young people and families at Bata Stadium in Equatorial Guinea April 22, 2026. (OSV News photo/Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters)
– Algeria – Pope Leo’s 11-day trip began with an unexpected controversy after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized him in a late-night April 12 post on Truth Social.
Trump called the pope “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy,” accusing him of believing “it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” The remarks followed the pope’s criticism of the Iran war and his repeated calls for peace.
Journalists aboard the papal flight quickly pressed for a response.
“I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do,” Pope Leo said.
“We are not politicians,” he added. “We are not looking to make foreign policy … but I do believe in the message of the Gospel: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ is the message that the world needs to hear today.”
The remarks sparked backlash from religious and political leaders, but the pope declined to escalate tensions.
“I don’t want to get into a debate,” he said, emphasizing that his mission is to proclaim peace.
“I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing.”
Despite the dispute, Pope Leo struck a positive tone before landing, saying he was “very happy to visit the land of St. Augustine again.”
In Algiers, he visited the Great Mosque, calling the encounter a sign “that we can learn to respect one another, live in harmony and build a world of peace.”
Later, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa overlooking the Mediterranean, he honored Algeria’s Christian martyrs and highlighted interreligious dialogue in the Muslim-majority nation.
The basilica, he said, is a “sign of our desire for peace and unity,” symbolizing “a Church of living stones, where communion between Christians and Muslims takes shape.”
On April 14, the pope traveled to Annaba, near the ruins of ancient Hippo Regius, where St. Augustine spent his final years. The visit held personal significance; Pope Leo has often described himself as “a son of Augustine.”
Celebrating Mass at the Basilica of St. Augustine, he urged Christians to follow the saint’s example, “fervently seeking the truth and serving Christ with ardent faith.”
“Be heirs to this tradition, bearing witness through fraternal charity … as a hope of salvation for the world,” he said.
Addressing Algeria’s small Christian community, he praised their quiet witness.
“Your presence in this country is like incense,” he said. “A glowing grain that spreads fragrance because it gives glory to the Lord and joy and comfort to so many.”
– Cameroon – During his flight to Cameroon, Pope Leo reflected on Algeria as “a special blessing,” noting that St. Augustine’s life offers a vision of unity and respect across differences.
That message carried into Cameroon, a country scarred by separatist violence. Addressing authorities in Yaoundé, the pope acknowledged the suffering caused by conflict in the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions.
Since 2017, fighting between separatist militias and government forces has killed more than 6,500 people and displaced over 500,000.
“Lives have been lost, families displaced, children deprived of schooling and young people no longer see a future,” he said. “Behind the numbers are the faces, stories and shattered hopes of real people.”
Days before his arrival, separatist groups declared a three-day ceasefire to allow safe travel during the visit.
The highlight of the April 15–18 stop was the pope’s visit to Bamenda, in the heart of the conflict zone. Addressing Catholics at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, the pope was met with enthusiasm after declaring, “I am here to proclaim peace.”
After hearing testimony from local residents – including a chief imam who described a deadly attack on a mosque – the pope strongly condemned violence carried out in God’s name.
“But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain,” he said, warning against dragging what is sacred “into darkness and filth.”
Celebrating Mass for 20,000 people at Bamenda’s airport, he urged hope rooted in faith.
“This is the moment to change, to transform the story of this country,” he said. “The time has come, today and not tomorrow.”
He called on Cameroonians to “restore the mosaic of unity” by embracing the country’s diversity.
On April 17, he celebrated Mass in Douala for an estimated 120,000 faithful, urging Africans to share God’s love by feeding the hungry and offering spiritual nourishment.
Though the visit brought hope, media coverage continued to frame the trip through the lens of tensions with Trump – something the pope later addressed directly.
– Angola – While the pope’s warning to those who use God to justify violence resonated with suffering Cameroonians in Bamenda, several media outlets ran headlines insinuating that Pope Leo was making an indirect dig at Trump.
En route to Angola, Pope Leo clarified that his remarks in Cameroon had been prepared weeks earlier and were not directed at the U.S. president.
“My speeches were written well before the president ever commented,” he said. “It is not in my interest to debate,” adding “there has been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all its aspects.”
Arriving in Luanda, he shifted focus to Angola’s challenges and the Church’s role in offering hope. Home to more than 20 million Catholics, Angola has deep Christian roots but continues to struggle with inequality, corruption and the legacy of a civil war that claimed up to 800,000 lives.
Addressing government leaders, the pope urged them to prioritize the common good.
“Place the common good before every particular interest,” he said. “Never confuse your own part with the whole.”
He warned that the people have suffered when power is abused.
“They bear the scars not only of material exploitation, but also of the presumption of imposing an idea upon others,” he said.
On April 19, Pope Leo celebrated Mass for about 100,000 faithful in Kilamba. Reflecting on the Gospel story of the road to Emmaus, he cautioned against despair in societies marked by prolonged suffering.
“When one is long immersed in a history characterized by pain, one can risk losing hope and remaining paralyzed by discouragement,” he said.
Afterward, he traveled to the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, southern Africa’s most visited Catholic shrine, where tens of thousands had gathered – many camping for days in intense heat.
Calling the shrine a place where “the heart of the Church” is alive, he noted its enduring role in Angola’s spiritual life.
“For centuries, many have prayed here in joy and sorrow,” he said. “Mama Muxima has quietly kept the heart of the Church alive and beating.”
On April 20, the pope flew east to Saurimo, near Angola’s largest diamond mine. There, he visited a nursing home housing 74 elderly residents, many rejected by their families due to superstitious beliefs.
“The care of the weakest is a sign of the quality of a nation’s social life,” he said. “The elderly must not only be assisted, but listened to, because they preserve the wisdom of a people.”
Celebrating Mass for tens of thousands, he also addressed exploitation linked to the diamond industry.
“How often the hope of many is frustrated by violence, exploited by the overbearing and defrauded by the rich,” he said.
“We were not born to become slaves,” he added. “Every form of oppression, violence and dishonesty negates the resurrection of Christ, the supreme gift of our freedom.”
– Equatorial Guinea – The final leg of Pope Leo’s 11-day journey took him to Equatorial Guinea. Upon landing on the island of Malabo, the pope was welcomed by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled the oil-rich Central African nation since seizing power in a 1979 coup and is widely regarded as one of the world’s most authoritarian leaders.
Pope Leo XIV prays in front of a statue of Mary and the Christ Child as he celebrates the final Mass of his apostolic journey to Africa at Malabo Stadium in Equatorial Guinea April 23, 2026. (OSV News photo/Matteo Pernaselci, Vatican Media)
Nevertheless, in his address to the country’s civil authorities, the pope appealed for justice and ethical governance in a country long criticized for corruption and human rights abuses.
Drawing from St. Augustine’s classic work “The City of God,” Pope Leo noted that the “city of God” is characterized by love, especially for the poor, while the “earthly city … is centered upon the proud love of self, on the lust for power and worldly glory that leads to destruction.”
“Every human being can benefit from the ancient realization of living on earth as a pilgrim,” he said. “It is essential to discern the difference between that which lasts and that which passes, remaining free from the pursuit of unjust wealth and the illusion of dominion.”
Celebrating Mass April 22 at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in the eastern city of Mongomo, the second-largest Catholic Church in Africa, the pope renewed his call to the country’s leaders and citizens to prioritize the common good.
“May the Lord help you to become a society in which everyone, each according to their respective responsibilities, works ever more fully to serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged,” he said.
In his final Mass in Malabo Stadium April 23, Pope Leo offered a word of hope to the country’s Catholics, urging them to seek strength, justice and hope from the Gospel and the sacraments.
Encouraging the faithful to “joyfully proclaim” that “Christ is everything for us,” Pope Leo reminded Christians that in Jesus, “we find the fullness of life and meaning.”
“Our problems do not disappear in the Lord’s presence, but they are illuminated,” he said. “Just as every cross finds redemption in Jesus, so too the story of our lives finds its meaning in the Gospel.”
As the Mass concluded, the pope bid farewell to the African continent, saying that his visit was “an invaluable treasure of faith, hope, and charity.”
Highlighting the continent’s significance, the pope said that “today, Africa is called to contribute significantly to the holiness and missionary character of the Christian people.”
“I entrust this intention to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, to whom I commend myself wholeheartedly, as well as your families, your communities, your nation, and all the peoples of Africa,” the pope said.
Pope Leo XIV greets people as he arrives at the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii near Naples, Italy, before celebrating Mass in the piazza outside May 8, 2026, on the first anniversary of his election as the first American pontiff. He visited 400 sick and disabled people inside the shrine. (OSV News photo/Mario Tomassetti, Vatican Media)
NATION WASHINGTON (OSV News) – President Donald Trump on May 5 continued his series of social media and verbal attacks on Pope Leo XIV, accusing him in a radio interview of “endangering” Catholics through his opposition to the Iran war. Trump claimed in an interview that aired May 5 with Hugh Hewitt, a conservative talk radio host, that “the pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S.-born Pope Leo supports Iran having nuclear weapons; however, the pontiff never made any such statement and has consistently called for the rejection of nuclear weapons. The president accused the pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people” by opposing the war with Iran. Pope Leo has been a staunch critic of war generally, including those initiated by the U.S. and Israel against Iran on Feb. 28. In comments May 5 to journalists in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Pope Leo said that ever since his election, “I said, ‘Peace be with you,’ and the Church’s mission is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace.” He said, “If anyone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so with the truth. The Church has spoken out for years against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt about this, and I simply hope to be heard for the sake of the Word of God.”
CHICAGO (OSV News) – A lighthearted story about a customer service call from Pope Leo XIV is drawing widespread attention and offering many Catholics a glimpse of the pope’s ordinary side. Augustinian Father Tom McCarthy, the incoming provincial superior of the Midwest Augustinians, said he has been surprised by the reaction since sharing the anecdote at an April 29 gathering for fathers and sons at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Naperville, outside Chicago. According to Father McCarthy, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost – now Pope Leo XIV – called his Chicago bank several months after his election to update his phone number and account information. After answering multiple security questions, the pope was reportedly told the changes could not be made unless he appeared at the bank in person. Father McCarthy said Pope Leo explained that would be difficult because he was “out of town.” When he finally added, “Would it matter if I tell you I’m Pope Leo?” the customer service representative hung up on him. The issue was later resolved after a fellow Augustinian contacted the bank president, who agreed to make the change rather than risk losing “the account of the pope.”
VATICAN POMPEII, Italy (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV marked the first anniversary of his election May 8 with a pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii, entrusting his pontificate to the Virgin Mary. Celebrating Mass before an estimated 20,000 people, the pope recalled that his election in 2025 coincided with the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. “I therefore had to come here to place my ministry under the protection of the Blessed Virgin,” he said. The Augustinian pope’s first year included international trips, canonizations and Jubilee events. In his homily, Pope Leo spoke at length about the importance of the rosary and urged Catholics to place their hope in Christ. “Brothers and sisters, no earthly power will save the world, but only the divine power of love,” he said. Pope Leo also honored St. Bartolo Longo, the former Satanist turned saint who founded the Marian shrine and its charitable works for orphans and prisoners’ children. The pope closed with a renewed appeal for peace amid ongoing global conflicts. He was scheduled to continue his pastoral visit with a trip to the nearby city of Naples before returning to Rome by helicopter in the evening.
The site of Marian apparitions in 1877 in Gietrzwald, Poland, is seen in a 2022 photo. Two young visionaries reported the Virgin Mary appeared to them some 160 times over the course of two months. The Marian sanctuary in the Polish village of Gietrzwald is the only Vatican-recognized apparition site in the country. (OSV News photo/Paulina Guzik)
WORLD WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – A Marian sanctuary in Gietrzwald – often called the “Polish Lourdes” – could soon draw global attention, as Pope Leo XIV has been invited to visit the site where the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared about 160 times. As the Church enters May, the Marian month, preparations are underway for the 150th anniversary of the 1877 apparitions. Polish bishops and President Karol Nawrocki have extended the papal invitation, raising hopes of a major pilgrimage moment. The apparitions, experienced by two young girls, are among the most intense in Church history – and Poland’s only Vatican-recognized Marian apparition site. Unlike Lourdes or Fatima, they included extended conversations with Mary. “That’s a unique aspect,” filmmaker Jan Sobierajski said. The message from Mary centered on prayer and conversion: “Pray the rosary every day,” Sister Anna Wojciechowska said, adding Mary’s assurance: “Do not be afraid, for I will always be with you.” The story of Gietrzwald is inseparable from the two young visionaries at its center: Barbara Samulowska and Justyna Szafrynska. Both were children – Samulowska was just 12 years old – when they reported seeing the Virgin Mary. In March, the Church recognized the heroic virtues of Sister Barbara, granting her the title venerable and advancing her sainthood cause.
DEBEL, Lebanon (OSV News) – A photo showing an Israeli soldier appearing to desecrate a statue of the Virgin Mary in Lebanon has sparked renewed outrage over anti-Christian incidents tied to the ongoing regional conflict. The image, shared online May 6, appears to show an Israel Defense Forces soldier holding a cigarette to the mouth of a Marian statue. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani condemned the act, saying the soldier’s behavior “completely deviates from the values expected” of military personnel. He said the incident, reportedly photographed weeks earlier in the Lebanese village of Debel, is under investigation. The controversy follows another recent incident in the same area in which a soldier was photographed striking a statue of Jesus with the blunt side of an axe. Poland’s foreign ministry sharply criticized the latest episode, saying such actions offend Christians’ religious sentiments and undermine peace efforts in the Middle East. The incident also comes days after an Israeli settler was charged in the assault of a French nun near the Cenacle in Jerusalem, traditionally revered as the site of the Last Supper.
By Staff Reports JACKSON – As Catholics across the country observe Leave a Legacy Month in May, the Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of Jackson is encouraging families to take an important step in planning for the future while also considering how their faith can continue to make an impact for generations.
Most Catholics intend to create a will, but many delay the process, according to Rebecca Harris, executive director of the Catholic Foundation.
“Creating a will is one of the simplest and most important ways to care for your loved ones,” Harris said. “It ensures that your wishes are clearly known and provides peace of mind for your family.”
The Catholic Foundation has partnered MyCatholicWill.com to provide Catholics in the Diocese of Jackson with access to a free online platform that allows users to create a simple and legally valid will in about 20 minutes.
Harris said the process is not only about financial planning, but also about faith and stewardship. “Planned giving is not only about finances. It is about faith,” Harris said. “It is a way to continue living out the Gospel values of generosity and stewardship for generations to come.”
The Foundation is also encouraging Catholics to consider including charitable giving in their estate plans. Through a will, individuals can establish a perpetual trust or named endowment through the Catholic Foundation to support a parish, school or diocesan ministry long into the future.
“These funds are invested and a portion is distributed each year, providing ongoing support for the ministries that matter most to you,” Harris said.
The Foundation noted that gifts of any size can help sustain ministries such as Catholic education, vocations, youth ministry and parish outreach efforts.
In addition to the free will resource, the Foundation has released a short video about the importance of leaving a legacy of faith. The video can be viewed on the Diocese of Jackson’s YouTube channel or by scanning the QR code provided.
“Your family deserves clarity. Your faith can leave a lasting mark,” Harris said. “This May, consider making your will and your legacy a reflection of both.”
