I must have skipped the chapter in my “how to parent” instruction manual where it talked about weddings. Not my wedding, of course, but all the weddings of my kids, the friends of my kids and the kids of my friends.
For me, the year 2024 is turning into a banner year for nuptials, including the wedding of one of my sons. Yet we have been invited to at least five other weddings this year as well. We are swamped by the logistics of attending. We get save-the-date cards with a photo, then the actual wedding invitations. We negotiate wedding websites to R.S.V.P. and send gifts. In case you didn’t know, department store gift registries are now as old fashioned as department stores. It is far busier for some of our children, who have even more weddings to attend, bridesmaid dresses to buy, bachelor parties to throw, and travel and hotel expenses to cover.
I can’t complain, however. My wife and I are cheered by this nuptial rush, for the statistics about young people getting married have been falling for years. Marriage has been in something approaching freefall since the 1960s. Catholic marriage rates have been dropping precipitously as well.
Some of this freefall is due to a rampant distrust of institutions that harkens back to Mae West (“Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution yet”). Some of it reflects a distrust of the church itself. Some of it is cautiousness about commitment in an era of divorce. And some of it is the result of a crisis in dating.
We are hearing far too many stories of young men and young women (and some not-so-young men and women) who want marriage but are not finding suitable partners. Even worse are the stories of young men and women who don’t know how, or are afraid, to ask someone out on a date. Colleges are even offering dating instruction courses, for which there appears to be a real need. Young men tell me they are afraid that any expression of interest may be interpreted as harassment, and young women tell me of men who seem to be mired in perpetual adolescence.
And for parents who worry about their single children, it is usually made absolutely clear to them that they are not allowed to play matchmaker. Meanwhile, their (quite wonderful) children wait and wait for lightning to strike. But I digress.
What I want to tell all the couples that are getting married this year is that they should not focus on the wedding day. It is just one day, after all. It is not worth going into debt for or causing all your friends to go into debt for. The destination, the trappings, the dress – these are all irrelevant when compared to what this day signifies the start of: a shared life together.
After 41 years of marriage, I can testify that (a) marriage is great, (b) marriage does take work (on oneself), and (c) all the effort is worth it.
For Catholics, the challenge and the joy of “becoming one flesh” is that the couple is committing to helping each other become more like Jesus, that is to grow in life-giving and generous love. That is why we get married, why we hope to have children, why we make a lifelong commitment. Marriage is an ongoing seminar in selflessness. It’s not always easy. We even fail at times. But after 41 years of marriage, I can testify that the rewards are greater than anything those young couples can imagine right now.
(Greg Erlandson is an award-winning Catholic publisher, editor and journalist whose column appears monthly at OSV News.)
Prayer is most needed just when it seems most useless. Michael J. Buckley, one of the major spiritual mentors in my life, wrote those words. What does he mean by them?
In the face of so many problems we can get the feeling that praying about them is useless. For example, in the face of the discouragement and helplessness we feel before some of the mega problems in our world, it is easy to feel that praying about them is useless. What will my prayer do vis-à-vis the wars raging in different parts of the world? What’s the value of my prayer in the face of injustice, famine, racism and sexism? What will my prayer do vis-à-vis the divisions and hatred now dividing our communities? It is easy to feel that praying about these situations is useless.
Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
The same holds true about how we often feel about the value of prayer when serious illnesses beset us. Will prayer bring about a cure for someone with terminal cancer? Do we really expect a miraculous cure? Mostly, we don’t, but we continue to pray despite the feeling that our prayer won’t in fact change the situation. Why?
Why pray when it seems useless to do so? Theologians and spiritual writers have given us various perspectives on this which are helpful, though not adequate. Prayer, they say, is not meant to change the mind of God, but to change the mind of the person who is praying. We don’t pray to put God on our side; we pray to put ourselves on God’s side. As well, we have been taught that the reason it might seem that God doesn’t answer our prayers is that God, like a loving parent, knows what is good for us and answers our prayers by giving us what we really need rather than what we naively want. C.S. Lewis once said that we will spend a lot of time in eternity thanking God for those prayers that God didn’t answer.
All of this is true and important. God’s ways are not our ways. Faith asks us to give God the space and time to be God, without having to conform to our very limited expectations and habitual impatience. We can indeed be grateful that God doesn’t answer many of our prayers according to our expectations.
But still, still … when Jesus invited us to pray, he didn’t do so with a caveat: but you need to ask for the right things if you expect me to answer your prayer. No, he simply said: Ask and you will receive. He also said that some demons are only cast out by prayer and fasting.
So, how might the demons of violence, division, hatred, war, hunger, global warming, famine, racism, sexism, cancer, heart disease and the like be cast out by prayer? How is prayer useful in any practical way in the face of these issues?
In brief, prayer doesn’t just change the person who is praying, it also changes the situation. When you pray you are in fact part of the situation about which you are praying. Sincere prayer helps you become the change you are praying to bring about. For example, praying for peace helps you to calm your own heart and bring a more peaceful heart into the world.
While this is true, there is also a deeper reality at play. More deeply, when we pray there is something happening that goes beyond how we normally imagine the simple interplay between cause and effect. By changing ourselves we are changing the situation; yes, but in a deeper way than we normally imagine.
As Christians, we believe that we are part of a body, the Body of Christ, and that our union there with each other is more than some idealized corporate community. Rather, we are part of a living organism in which every part affects every other part, just as in a physical body. Because of this, for us, there is no such a thing as a private act – good or bad. I hesitate to suggest that this is analogous to the immune system inside the human body because this is more than an analogy. It’s real, organic. Just as in a human body there is an immune system which protects the health of the overall body by killing off cells and viruses that are endangering its health, so too inside the Body of Christ. At all times, we are either healthy cells bringing strength to the immune system inside the Body of Christ or we are a virus or cancerous cell threatening its health. Praying about an issue makes a difference because it helps strengthen the immune system inside the Body of Christ – precisely as it is dealing with the issue about which we are praying.
While on the surface prayer can sometimes feel useless, it is doing something vital underneath – something most needed precisely when we feel that our prayer is useless.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
By Justin McLellan VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Heaven is not a secure vault protected from outsiders but a “hidden treasure” that is reached by cultivating virtues, Pope Francis said.
Before praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29, the pope reflected on Jesus giving St. Peter, the first pope, the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
“The mission that Jesus entrusts to Peter is not that of barring the doors to the house, permitting entry only to a few select guests, but of helping everyone to find the way to enter, in faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus,” Pope Francis said after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Heaven, he added, is “for everyone. Everyone, everyone, everyone can enter.”
The pope said that St. Peter “received the keys to the kingdom not because he was perfect, no, he is a sinner, but because he was humble, honest and the Father had given him sincere faith.”
Pope Francis greets visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus at the Vatican June 29, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Even after many trials and setbacks, the Apostle Peter was the first to experience for himself “the joy and freedom that come from meeting the Lord,” and the first “to understand that authority is a service in order to open the door to Jesus.”
The following day, Pope Francis again appeared in the window of the Apostolic Palace to keep his usual Sunday appointment of praying the Angelus with the faithful. He focused on the Gospel theme of inclusivity by reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark in which a woman is healed after touching Jesus’ cloak and a girl is resurrected after Jesus took her by the hand.
Highlighting the importance of physical contact in both healings, the pope asked, “Why is this physical contact important?”
“It is because these two women are considered impure and cannot, therefore, be physically touched – one because she suffers from bleeding and the other because she is dead,” he said. “Yet, Jesus allows Himself to be touched and is not afraid to touch.”
By carrying out the physical healing, Jesus “challenges the false religious belief that God separates the pure, placing them on one side, from the impure on another,” the pope said. “Instead, God does not make this kind of separation because we are all his children.”
He added that impurity “does not come from food, illness, or even death; impurity comes from an impure heart.”
Pope Francis urged Christians to take to heart the lesson from the day’s Gospel reading, that “in the face of bodily and spiritual sufferings, of the wounds our souls bear, of the situations that crush us, and even in the face of sin, God does not keep us at a distance.”
“God is not ashamed of us; God does not judge us,” he said. “On the contrary, He draws near to let Himself be touched and to touch us, and He always raises us from death.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Any Catholic who participates in the celebration July 28 of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly can receive a plenary indulgence, the Vatican announced.
“Grandparents, the elderly and all the faithful who, motivated by a true spirit of penance and charity,” attend Mass or other prayer services as part of the day’s celebration can receive the indulgence, which “may also be applied as a suffrage to the souls in purgatory,” said the announcement published July 18 by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican court charged with granting indulgences.
The Vatican said the indulgence also can apply to those who “devote adequate time to actually or virtually visiting their elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty,” such as those who are sick, lonely or disabled.
To receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one’s sins, a person must show detachment from sin, go to confession, receive the Eucharist and pray for the intentions of the pope. The announcement also urged priests “to make themselves available, in a ready and generous spirit,” to hear confessions.
The indulgence also is available to “the elderly sick and all those who, unable to leave their homes for a serious reason,” spiritually join the celebrations, which will be broadcast through various media, and offer “to the merciful God their prayers, pains or sufferings,” the Vatican said.
Pope Francis celebrated the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021 and decreed that it be observed each year on the Sunday closest to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents.
Pope Francis waves to visitors in St. Peter’s Square alongside a young person and his grandmother after praying the Angelus July 23, 2023. On World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, the pope stressed the need for young people and the elderly to interact with each other. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
In his message for this year’s celebration, Pope Francis focused on the problem of intergenerational conflict, calling it “a fallacy and the poisoned fruit of conflict.”
Dedicated to the theme “Do not cast me off in my old age” from the Book of Psalms, the pope’s message said the elderly must not be accused of saddling younger generations with their medical expenses and pensions — a notion which foments intergenerational conflict and drives older people into isolation.
“The loneliness and abandonment of the elderly is not by chance or inevitable, but the fruit of decisions — political, economic, social and personal decisions — that fail to acknowledge the infinite dignity of each person,” the pope had written.
The pope encouraged all people to express gratitude to those who, often at great sacrifice, “care for an older person or simply demonstrate daily closeness to relatives or acquaintances who no longer have anyone else.”
(OSV News) — Catholic and civic leaders called for peace and unity in the hours after former President Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet and a spectator was killed July 13 in an assassination attempt during the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Holy See expressed “concern about last night’s episode of violence, which wounds people and democracy, causing suffering and death” in a July 14 statement in Italian. The Holy See is “united in the prayer of the U.S. bishops for America, for the victims, and for peace in the country, so that the motives of the violent may never prevail,” according to Catholic News Service.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump reacts during a campaign rally after shots were reportedly fired at the Butler Farm Show in Pennsylvania July 13, 2024. A local prosecutor says the suspected gunman and at least one attendee are dead. (OSV News photo/Brendan McDermid, Reuters)
On July 14, Trump thanked “everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” on his social media platform Truth Social.
“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness. Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed,” he continued. “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win. I truly love our County, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to take place July 15-18 in Milwaukee.
President Joe Biden condemned the attack, calling it “sick” in Saturday evening remarks shortly after the incident. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee returned to the White House from his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and addressed the American public again July 14.
“Jill and I are keeping him (Trump) and his family in our prayers,” said Biden, a Catholic. “We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed. He was a father. He was protecting his family from the bullets that were being fired, and he lost his life. God love him.”
That victim has been identified as Corey Comperatore, a firefighter from Pennsylvania who was among the thousands attending Saturday’s rally.
Biden said he is also praying for the full recovery of those who were injured and are grateful for the response of the Secret Service agents, other law enforcement and individuals who risked their lives.
“As I said last night, there is no place in America for this kind of violence, or any violence for that matter,” he said. “The assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. Everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not American, and we cannot allow this to happen.”
“Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now,” he said.
He said the FBI is leading the investigation, which is in its early stages. Biden encouraged the American public not to make assumptions about the motive or affiliations of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who was named as the gunman killed by the Secret Service at the rally.
Biden also emphasized that Trump has had and will continue to have “a heightened level” of security protection, that he’s asked the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures for the Republican National Convention, and he has ordered an independent review of the July 13 incident and will share its results with the public.
Biden plans to speak more about the situation the evening of July 14 in an Oval Office address. “We must unite as one nation,” Biden said, repeating the phrase, “to demonstrate who we are.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro described Comperatore as a husband and father with two daughters “who died a hero.”
“Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family,” Shapiro said July 14 during a press conference.
On Facebook July 13, Father Kevin Fazio, pastor All Saints Parish in Butler — a Catholic parish with five churches, one of which is located across from where the rally took place — wrote to parishioners that “We are shocked and saddened by the tragic shooting and act of violence that occurred at the Farm Show grounds on Saturday, July 13.”
“There are feelings of fear, hurt, anger, and sorrow in our community right now,” he wrote. “As Christians, we need to remember that during times of darkness, we are called to reflect the light of Christ. May we continue to pray for peace in our world, in our country, and right here at home. Our prayers to God today for everyone involved in, and all of the victims of this violent act, their families, and friends. God our Father, watch over us. Jesus our Savior, heal us. Holy Spirit, guide us.”
The assassination attempt occurred the weekend before the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, a five-day gathering of Catholics across the country in Indianapolis that begins July 17. In a July 14 statement, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, the congress’s board chairman, offered prayers for Trump and those killed or injured in the July 13 violence. He also assured congress attendees that they can expect a secure event.
“We feel privileged to gather in prayer at a time with Our Eucharistic Lord when our country and our world need this peace which comes only from him,” he said. “We will pray for healing of all divisions in our land and an end to violence.”
Other bishops, including Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, archbishop of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, which includes Butler, issued statements July 13 calling for prayers and peace.
“We are grateful for the swift actions of the Secret Service and our local first responders,” Bishop Zubik said. “Let us join together in prayer for the health and safety of all, for healing and peace, and for an end to this climate of violence in our world. May God guide and protect us all.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, posted July 13, “I would like to offer prayers for President Trump and all those who were injured at the rally in Pennsylvania. We must turn from the path of violence. May the Lord bless our troubled nation.”
The same day, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston lamented that “our nation has once again witnessed another deadly and tragic shooting today” and joined in prayer for the families of those killed and the recovery of Trump and the injure
“As a nation, we must come to grips with the incessant violence that has too often become the norm. It must stop,” he continued in his social media post. “We must find peaceful ways to resolve our differences & avoid all political violence.”
Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia also prayed for consolation for “those mourning the loss of a loved one” and for a swift recovery for Trump and those injured.
“Americans must join in solidarity to condemn today’s act of political violence and violence in all forms,” he said in a multipart message on X. “Working together, we can resolve our differences through peaceful dialogue and conquer the sin of hatred.”
Other bishops who offered prayers for those affected included Bishop Michael T. Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina; Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona; and Bishop Larry J. Kulick of Greenburg, Pennsylvania.
In addition to prayers, Bishop Martin also called the violent incident “a call of conscience to all people of goodwill” and a time for self-reflection to bring an end to all violence
“Let us not simply condemn today’s attack but root out the anger in our own hearts that can affect our words and our actions,” he said in a statement shared by diocesan media.
“Scripture reminds us we are all made in the image and likeness of God. That means something, especially in our great democracy. It means we must treat other people — all people — with the sacredness that is due to all of God’s children. We must respectfully listen to each other, care about others’ welfare, and seek the common good — even and especially when we disagree on how that may be best achieved.”
In the USCCB statement, Archbishop Broglio said that the bishops “condemn political violence, and we offer our prayers for President Trump, and those who were killed or injured. We also pray for our country and for an end to political violence, which is never a solution to political disagreements. We ask all people of goodwill to join us in praying for peace in our country. Mary, Mother of God and Patroness of the Americas, pray for us.”
The USCCB statement also noted a statement the bishops released this summer about political violence that urged “all Christians and people of good will to abstain from political violence, and instead, ‘pursue what leads to peace and building up one another’ through dialogue, seeking justice.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican expressed its concern about the violence waged at a political rally in the United States and it offered its prayers for the nation, the victims and peace.
In response to queries about the shootings at a rally involving former U.S. President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, the Vatican press office released a statement July 14 expressing its “concern about last night’s episode of violence, which wounds people and democracy, causing suffering and death.”
The Holy See is “united in the prayer of the U.S. bishops for America, for the victims, and for peace in the country, so that the motives of the violent may never prevail,” the statement said in Italian.
Gunshots were fired at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, injuring Trump who said on social media that a bullet “pierced” his right ear. One person attending the rally was killed and two others were critically injured, The Associated Press reported July 14.
The U.S. Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter who had attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue.
Law enforcement was investigating the shooting as an attempted assassination of the former president and presumptive Republican presidential candidate, AP reported.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a written statement July 13, “Together with my brother bishops, we condemn political violence, and we offer our prayers for President Trump, and those who were killed or injured.”
“We also pray for our country and for an end to political violence, which is never a solution to political disagreements. We ask all people of goodwill to join us in praying for peace in our country. Mary, Mother of God and Patroness of the Americas, pray for us,” the archbishop said.
LAFAYETTE, La. (OSV News) – Gov. Jeff Landry, R-La., vetoed $1 million in state funds for an emergency homeless shelter run by Catholic Charities of Acadiana over the organization’s work with migrants, he acknowledged in press statements. Landry, a Catholic, said that he vetoed the funds for the largest homeless shelter in Lafayette on the basis of his allegation that the shelter’s operator, Catholic Charities of Acadiana, facilitates illegal immigration, a charge the Catholic Church’s charitable arm denied. The move comes as some elected officials have grown increasingly hostile toward nongovernmental organizations, including Catholic ones, that provide resources such as food and shelter to migrants, including those at the U.S.-Mexico border. In July, a state judge denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to shut down Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, a Catholic nonprofit serving migrants, finding his office “failed to establish probable grounds for the proceedings” and violated the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In February, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, issued a statement expressing solidarity with faith-driven ministries to migrants, saying it was the “strong tradition of religious liberty” that allows Catholics “to live out our faith in full.”
A mosaic by Father Marko Rupnik illustrating the Holy Family is pictured in a file photo at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington. The Knights of Columbus announced July 11, 2024, it will cover mosaics by ex-Jesuit Father Mark Rupnik at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington and the Holy Family Chapel at the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Conn. (OSV News photo/Julie Asher)
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (OSV News) – The Knights of Columbus announced July 11 the organization will cover mosaics by ex-Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington and the Holy Family Chapel at the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut. In a statement, the Knights said the decision came at “the conclusion of a careful and thorough process.” The mosaics will be obscured by fabric “which will remain in place at least until the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) issues its decision on the pending sexual abuse cases against artist Father Marko Rupnik.” After that “a permanent plaster covering may be in order.” Father Rupnik, whose distinctive mosaics are known for their oversized black, almond-shaped eyes, was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 2023 after refusing to obey their measures imposed in response to credible accusations that he spiritually, psychologically or sexually abused some two dozen women and at least one man. He remains a priest living and working in Rome as the director of art and dean of theology at Centro Aletti, the religious art community he founded in 1991. Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly said in the statement that the Knights had to prioritize the needs of abuse victims, especially as “the allegations are current, unresolved and horrific.” He noted the Knights’ commitment to proclaim Jesus Christ’s Good News and said, “Shrines are places of healing, prayer and reconciliation. They should not cause victims further suffering.”
EXTON, Pa. (OSV News) – “The Bible in 10 Minutes,” a new viral video offering by Father Mike Schmitz and Ascension, earned 358,000 views in just 24 hours, according to a July 10 news release from Exton-based Ascension, a multimedia Catholic network and a leader in Catholic faith formation and digital content. The audience response makes this Father Schmitz’s most “viral video ever, more than doubling his previous one-day record of 160,000 views set with his 2022 review of ‘The Sound of Freedom,'” the release said. Father Schmitz, a priest of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, has gained a national following for, among other things, his popular “The Bible in a Year” and “The Catechism in a Year” podcasts from Ascension. He will be a featured keynote speaker during the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21 in Indianapolis. Father Schmitz and Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, founder and servant mother of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth in the Archdiocese of Boston, are scheduled to address the congress’s July 18 evening revival session 7-9:30 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium. “The Bible in 10 Minutes” can be found on the “Ascension Presents” YouTube channel.
VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The working document for the October assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality called for responses to how all the baptized can better serve the Catholic Church and help heal humanity’s “deepest wounds.” The document said the synod should spur the church to become a “refuge” and “shelter” for those in need or distress and encourage Catholics to “allow themselves to be led by the Spirit of the Lord to horizons that they had not previously glimpsed” as brothers and sisters in Christ. “This is the ongoing conversion of the way of being the Church that the synodal process invites us to undertake,” the document said. The 30-page document, called an “instrumentum laboris,” was released at the Vatican July 9. It will serve as a discussion guideline for the synod’s second session Oct. 2-27, which reflects on the theme: “How to be a missionary synodal Church.” The reflections are the next step in the synod’s overarching theme: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.” Synodal practice “calls us to mutual care, interdependence and co-responsibility for the common good,” it said, and it is willing to listen to everyone, in contrast to methods “in which the concentration of power shuts out the voices of the poorest, the marginalized and minorities.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis prayed in thanksgiving for the release of two Ukrainian Catholic priests who were held in Russian captivity for more than 19 months, calling on Christians to pray for the release of all prisoners of war. “I give thanks to God for the freeing of the two Greek Catholic priests,” he said after praying the Angelus June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. “May all the prisoners of this war soon return home.” The pope expressed his sorrow for all people suffering because of war around the world, asking Christians to “pray for all populations wounded and threatened by fighting, that God may free them and support them in the struggle for peace.” The two priests, Redemptorist Fathers Ivan Levytsky and Bohdan Geleta, were arrested in the occupied city of Berdyansk Nov. 16, 2022, according to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which said that after military items were placed in a church in the town the two priests were arrested for the “illegal possession of weapons.” Fathers Levystky and Geleta were among 10 prisoners who were released to Ukrainian authorities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a June 28 post on X. “I would also like to recognize the Holy See’s efforts to bring these people home,” the president said in his post.
WORLD
PARIS (OSV News) – The capital of France’s Normandy region held its breath on July 11 as reports and social media pictures spread that the Rouen Cathedral’s spire was on fire, causing the building to be evacuated. Around 70 firefighters brought the blaze under control in less than two hours, much to everyone’s relief. “In the end, there was more fear than harm,” Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen told OSV News on July 12. “Today, the cathedral is reopened,” he said. Rouen Cathedral is the tallest church in France. It was in Rouen that St. Joan of Arc was burned alive in 1431, during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. As in Paris, the Seine River flows through the city. “The fire started inside the spire, right at the edge,” Archbishop Lebrun said. “But in the end it only burned a large plastic casing from the restoration work currently underway. The rest was untouched.” The origin of the fire, thought to be accidental, is not yet known. “I am very grateful to the entire rescue chain, including the sacristans, firefighters, contractors, police and civil authorities, who acted with great professionalism,” Archbishop Lebrun told OSV News. The spire of the cathedral, unlike Notre Dame’s in Paris, is made of cast iron, so the fire did not spread, but four construction site workers were injured by smoke inhalation and were psychologically shocked.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (OSV News) – The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a strong condemnation after the Israeli military targeted a Catholic school in Gaza that killed four people, including a senior Hamas official. In a statement published July 7, the patriarchate said it was monitoring reports of a strike on Holy Family School, which “has, since the beginning of the war, been a place of refuge for hundreds of civilians.” “The Latin Patriarchate condemns, in the strongest terms, the targeting of civilians or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene,” the statement read. The patriarchate called for a cease-fire agreement “that would put an immediate end to the horrifying bloodbath and humanitarian catastrophe in the region.” According to multiple news reports, including by The Associated Press, Israeli airstrikes took place overnight July 6-7 in Gaza, killing 13 Palestinians. The strike against Holy Family School, which was operating as a shelter, claimed the lives of four people, including Ihab al-Ghussein, Hamas’ undersecretary of labor. In a statement, Hamas mourned the death of al-Ghussein, whose wife and daughter were killed in strikes in the early days of the war, AP reported. Israeli military officials justified the attack on the school, arguing that the bombing struck a Hamas military building and a weapons-making facility “in the area of a school building.”
Women hold patients outside Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv , Ukraine’s capital, July 8, 2024, after it was severely damaged during Russian missile strikes amid Russia’s war on Ukraine. At least 31 were killed and over 135 injured as Russian bombers pummeled Kyiv and numerous other cities throughout the nation that day with more than 40 missiles and guided aerial bombs, with one striking the large children’s hospital, where emergency crews searched the rubble for victims. (OSV News photo/Gleb Garanich, Reuters)
KYIV, Ukraine (OSV News) – A July 8 attack by Russia on a children’s hospital and other civilian targets throughout Ukraine is “a sin that cries out to heaven for revenge,” said the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. At least 42 have been killed and over 190 injured as Russian bombers pummeled Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and numerous cities throughout the nation with more than 40 missiles and guided aerial bombs. Among the sites struck was the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, where two adults died and about 50 were injured, including seven children. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, father and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, released a July 8 statement denouncing the strike. “In the name of God, with all determination, we condemn this crime against humanity. … This is a sin that cries out to heaven for revenge,” he said. He noted that doctors, medical workers and volunteers bloodied in the strike were digging through the hospital’s wreckage “to save even those children whose hearts are beating there under the rubble.” “Today we cry with all the victims. Today we want to pray for all the dead … (and) wrap our Christian love around all the wounded,” said Major Archbishop Shevchuk. He concluded his statement with a prayer “for the protection and victory of the lives of our children and women.
GULFPORT – Father George R. Kitchin, age 81, of Gulfport, passed away peacefully on July 5, 2024. He was preceded in death by his parents, Deacon Leon Kitchin and Effie Smith Kitchin; and two sisters, Leona Pollard Webb and Helene Kitchin Cohen.
Father Kitchin is survived by his siblings, Robert Kitchin (Ann) of Bolivar, Missouri, John Kitchin (Susan) of Gautier, Mississippi, and Peggy Kitchin of Ridgeland, Mississippi; his nieces and nephews, Trey Pollard (Guyanne), Justin Cohen (Eliany), Andrew Cohen, Paul Kitchin (Sarah), David Kitchin, Joseph Kitchin, Clare Kitchin, and Jonathan Kitchin (Renae); and his brother priests from the Diocese of Biloxi and the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson.
GULFPORT – Father George R. Kitchin passed away on July 5, 2024 at 81 years of age. He was ordained for the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson in 1970 by Bishop Joseph Brunini at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Greenwood. (Photo courtesy of Diocese of Biloxi))
He was born in Durham, North Carolina and was raised in Greenwood, Mississippi. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 13, 1970 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Greenwood by Bishop Joseph Brunini. After his ordination, he was assigned to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and remained in the Diocese of Biloxi until his passing.
Father Kitchin served as associate pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church, Bay St. Louis, Sacred Heart Parish in Pascagoula, and Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Biloxi. In 1982, he was appointed as the founding pastor of St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church in White Cypress.
Other assignments included: 1988 to 2002, pastor of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Ocean Springs; 2002-2014, pastor of St. James Catholic Church in Gulfport; and 2014 until his retirement, pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Gautier. He was the longtime director of the Diocese of Biloxi Charismatic Renewal Program. Father Kitchin was a profound homilist and engaging conversationalist and enjoyed all aspects of American History, especially the American Revolution, and the history of the Catholic Church. He had a special devotion to the Blessed Mother, and enjoyed specific ministries within the church, especially the XLT Movement where he encouraged other to spend an hour of adoration with praise and worship along with offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Father Kitchin also had a deep connection to catholic education giving support to families in need ensuring that their children could receive a catholic education. The people of the Diocese of Biloxi are grateful for the 54 years of ministry he gave to the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
To continue to work helping families with tuition assistance, the family would prefer memorials be made to the Guardian Angel Program, c/o Office of Finance, Catholic Diocese of Biloxi, 1790 Popps Ferry Road, Biloxi, MS 39532.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated by Bishop Louis Kihneman with his brother priests serving as concelebrants at St. James Catholic Church in Gulfport on July 15, 2024. Interment will be private in St. James Cemetery.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let Your perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
By Michael O’Loughlin MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Thirty-five School Sisters of St. Francis of the United States Province celebrated milestone anniversaries of service as women religious on June 15, 2024. A Jubilee Mass was celebrated in St. Joseph Chapel at the sisters’ motherhouse in Milwaukee.
In addition, six lay women in Associate Relationship with the community celebrated their 25, 40, and 50-year jubilees.
Five sisters who are each celebrating 60, 70, 80, and 85 years of consecrated life have significant service in the Diocese of Jackson.
Five School Sisters of St. Francis are celebrating milestone jubilees in 2024. Pictured (l-r): Sister Bernadette Engelhaupt, SSSF celebrating 60 years; Sister Kathleen McNulty, SSSF celebrating 60 years; Sister Ramona Ann Schmidtknecht, SSSF celebrating 70 years; Sister Michele Doyle, SSSF celebrating 80 years; and Sister Arlene Welding, SSSF celebrating 85 years. Each served in the Diocese of Jackson. (Photos courtesy of School Sisters of St. Francis and Laura Grisham)
60 Years – Sister Bernadette Engelhaupt (St. Mary, Iuka) and Sister Kathleen McNulty (St. Francis School, Yazoo City and CADET School, Holly Springs) Sister Bernadette Engelhaupt was born in Spencer, Nebraska. She has a bachelor’s degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a master’s degree from Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois. In the Diocese of Jackson, she served as the parish minister at St. Mary Parish in Iuka (2002–2009).
Sister Kathleen McNulty was born in Blue Island, Illinois. She has a bachelor’s degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a master’s degree from Colorado State University in Fort Collins. In the Diocese of Jackson, she taught at St. Francis School in Yazoo City (1968–1969) and CADET School in Holly Springs (1969–1975 and 1976–1978).
70 Years – Sister Ramona Ann Schmidtknecht (St. Mary School, CADET School, Child Care Center, Holy Family School, Holly Springs and Sacred Heart Southern Missions, Walls) Sister Ramona Ann Schmidtknecht was born in Galesville, Wisconsin. She has a bachelor’s degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a master’s degree from St. Louis University in Missouri. In the Diocese of Jackson, she has served in Holly Springs as a teacher at St. Mary School (1963–1969); teacher at CADET School (1969–1973 and 1975-1995); director of Child Care Center (1973–1975); and food service manager at Christopher Care Center (1999–2001). At Holy Family School in Holly Springs, Sister has ministered as a teacher (1995-1999 and 2004-2016) food service manager of the early childhood center (2001-2004), volunteer and substitute teacher (2016-2024). Since 2016, Sister has also volunteered at the Sacred Heart Southern Missions Garden Café.
80 Years – Sister Michele Doyle (St. Francis High School, Yazoo City; State College, Jackson; Director of Religious Education and Lay Ministry Program, Diocese of Jackson; Director of Education at St. Francis Early Learning Center, Madison) Sister Michele Doyle was born in Forest Park, Illinois. She has a bachelor’s degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and master’s degrees from Loyola University in Chicago and the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. In the Diocese of Jackson, she taught at St. Francis High School in Yazoo City (1949–1969 and 1973-1975) and State College in Jackson (1969–1975). She served the Diocese of Jackson as director of adult religious education (1975–1983) and in the diocese’s lay ministry program (2006-2021). She also served as director of education for St. Francis Assisi Parish in Madison (1991-2006).
85 Years – Sister Arlene Welding (St. Francis School, Yazoo City) Sister Arlene Welding was born in Oakdale, Nebraska. She has a bachelor’s degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco. In the Diocese of Jackson, she taught at St. Francis School in Yazoo City (1953-1962).
Cards and donations in honor of sisters’ years of service may be mailed to each sister’s attention, c/o Jubilee Committee, School Sisters of St. Francis, 1545 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53215.
DUBUQUE, Iowa – Sister Dorothy Heiderscheit, OSF, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, of Dubuque, Iowa, celebrated her Diamond Jubilee (60 years) on Sunday, June 23, at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque.
Sister Dorothy was born in Iowa. She received a bachelor’s degree from Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, Iowa, and Marycrest College in Davenport, Iowa; and a master’s degree from Tulane University, New Orleans.
Sister served at Region V Community Mental Health Center, Greenville, Mississippi, and was Director of Family Ministry at Catholic Charities from 1987-2000. She now resides at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque and serves as a facilitator and consultant for religious congregations.
“Community and ministry have been a blessing in my life. The gift of experiencing God in everyone I encounter and share life with is truly the Gospel coming alive. The joy of this Jubilee is deeply embedded in my gratitude for family, community and the People of God around the world who have touched my life,” she said of her Jubilee.
Cards may be sent to Sister Dorothy at 3390 Windsor Ave., Dubuque, IA 52001.
By Peter Jesserer Smith LOUISVILLE, Ky. (OSV News) – Gathered in Louisville for their spring plenary assembly, the U.S. bishops’ June 12-14 meeting saw a mix of important matters discussed – with some unexpected twists and moments of robust discussion – starting with how the bishops would continue to address the scourge of poverty in the U.S. and ending with a view to the future for the National Eucharistic Revival.
The first day of the bishops’ public session was June 13. Behind closed doors, the bishops discussed the future of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, their domestic anti-poverty initiative, which has suffered in recent years from declining donations and questions about grant-making decisions that had depleted its funding reserves.
In a June 13 press conference, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services USA, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told reporters that no decisions had been made yet. But he emphasized the bishops remain committed “to the vital work of fighting poverty in this country.”
In a shift from previous assemblies, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal ambassador to the U.S., did not focus his address to the bishops on the process of becoming a synodal church but instead focused on the National Eucharistic Revival, affirming the central importance of the bishops’ endeavor. He urged them to experience this revival as bishops, and emphasized Pope Francis’ insight that Eucharistic devotion is connected with the church’s mission of “washing the feet of wounded humanity.”
The U.S. bishops voted to send a message to Pope Francis, joining him in praying for peace in the world, calling for diplomatic solutions that affirm human fraternity, and thanking him for sending Cardinal Luis A. Tagle as his delegate to the National Eucharistic Congress in July.
Over the course of both days, the bishops also heard about the ongoing progress of the Synod on Synodality, and that its second session this October will zero in on what a synodal church should look like. The bishops heard that becoming a synodal church was about creating a place of encounter in the church, where tensions could be fruitfully transformed for the sake of the church’s health and holiness. Bishop Daniel E. Flores, who served last year as a president delegate of the synod assembly and a member of the synod’s preparatory commission, emphasized it would help bishops “to think together with our people about how to be about what we should be about, which is the concerns of Christ the Lord.”
The bishops of the Latin Church also voted to approve all their agenda items related to English translation texts for the Liturgy of the Hours and the Roman Missal – a process which the bishops’ chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, Bishop Steven J. Lopes of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, said finally completed the work on the new English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours that the bishops began in 2012.
The U.S. bishops overwhelmingly voted June 14 to approve a pastoral framework for Indigenous Catholic ministry, which also included an apology for the church’s failures over the course of its history in North America “to nurture, strengthen, honor, recognize and appreciate those entrusted to our pastoral care.” However, the bishops’ pastoral framework for youth and young adult ministry hit a snag that stunned the bishops and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota – chair of the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth – who had presented on it just the day before as a “watershed moment” in forming youth and young adults for “missionary discipleship” and “Christlike leadership in society.”
Initially falling short of the two-thirds threshold needed to pass by two votes at bishops’ assembly, the USCCB in Washington announced June 18 the framework passed with 188 votes in favor, four against, and four abstentions, following a canvass of bishops eligible to vote.
The aspect of the bishops’ meeting that most resembled a real debate was a vigorous discussion June 14 over creating a national directory of instituted ministries. The bishops had a lively exchange regarding lay ministries and whether they should together consider the ministries of acolyte, lector and catechist – the former two which Pope Francis expanded to include women and the latter which he formally instituted – or start work on guidelines for the catechist, an ancient office in the church and now an instituted lay ministry. They also expressed concern about proper formation, but also about a kind of “professionalization” that would exclude faithful people from living this ministry – particularly those who had valuable experience from Latin American contexts.
Bishop Lopes suggested the bishops should continue by considering all three together, and work on clarifying their complementary roles in carrying out the local church’s mission, saying Pope Francis seemed to be inviting them to understand these ministries as not simply serving a liturgical function but encompassing a “larger reality” of lived discipleship.
Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes, archbishop emeritus of New Orleans, however, advocated an amendment to start some preliminary work on the ministry of catechist – making adjustments at a later date with respect to the ministry of acolyte and lector – that the bishops could examine at their meeting in November.
Speaking on behalf of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, he cited the urgency of catechesis given the high rates of Catholic adults disaffiliating from the church. The committee’s amendment ultimately carried the day, and the bishops approved the national directory proposal. The bishops had another robust discussion the day before, June 13, following the update on their mental health campaign, which included presentations on how Catholic Charities can help the bishops form a “trauma-aware church,” and the vital importance of parish engagement and accompaniment in this effort to save lives.
The bishops’ exchange affirmed their view that ending the stigma surrounding mental health was not only good for the faithful, but also for clergy, allowing them to open up about their own mental health needs. The bishops also voiced their unanimous approval for the plans of Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, to open a cause for the canonization of Adele Brise, a Belgian-born immigrant from the 19th-century, whose visions of the Virgin Mary Bishop Ricken had declared worthy of belief in 2010. The bishop suggested Brise provided a model for their evangelization and catechesis efforts.
Although the bishops’ public sessions had opened with matters that seemed routine, the June 14 session included presentations inviting the bishops to authorize groundbreaking efforts on combatting abuse and an urgent call to engage with lawmakers on immigration policy affecting religious workers from foreign countries.
Suzanne Healy, chair of the bishops’ National Review Board, introduced proposals toward combating sexual abuse, including the issuance of guidelines that would address the sexual or spiritual abuse of adults, a new John Jay College to study abuse allegations since 2011, and a 2027 national day of prayer as an act of restorative justice.
Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Migration, reported to the bishops that a foreign-born priest who applies for a green card has a 15-year wait – and current rules on the federal Temporary Religious Worker Visa Immigration program mean that priest would have to go back to another country every five years.
Bishops on the floor likewise expressed their concern about how confusing the rules were for religious workers to navigate. Bishop Seitz said a “partial fix” from the federal administration might shorten that time, but without Congress intervening, the situation is ultimately “simply not sustainable for our ministries.”
The bishops’ final agenda item June 14 was the matter of the National Eucharistic Congress. Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chair of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., told the bishops that they expect a sold-out stadium of 50,000 people for the weekend of July 17-21 at the National Eucharistic Congress.
But he emphasized that their eye was already toward the future, from initiatives to invite Catholics to “consider walking one person back to the faith,” along with forming “Eucharistic missionaries,” and planning future national Eucharistic congresses, similar to what takes place in other countries.
Peter Jesserer Smith is national news and features editor for OSV News. Follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) @peterjesserersmith.
