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(Left to right) Bishop Dennis Walsh of Davenport, Iowa; St. Ambrose University President Amy Novak; Mount Mercy University President Todd Olson; and Conference for Mercy Higher Education Executive Director Julia Cavallo at the June 27, 2025, Milestone Celebration. / Credit: Zyon Velázquez/St. Ambrose University

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Two Midwest Catholic universities are merging in the hopes of making Catholic education more accessible — a “proactive” step amid decreasing enrollment numbers across the nation.

The small, historic institutions — St. Ambrose University in Davenport and Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids — have both had a presence in eastern Iowa for more than a century.

In what St. Ambrose University President Amy Novak called a “defining moment,” St. Ambrose has become the parent organization of Mount Mercy, according to a recent press release.

The plan, Mount Mercy media representative Taryn DeBoard explained, is a “proactive” one — not a reaction to financial challenges.

“Both institutions are currently in good financial standing and bring strong offerings to the partnership,” DeBoard told CNA, citing the universities’ “strong endowments, minimal debt, and wonderful community connections.”

Mount Mercy University President Todd Olson said this first step ensures the universities can “begin investing in a future that empowers our students, faculty, staff, and alumni communities across both universities.”

“Together, we are stronger, and together, we will be able to serve our missions in even more transformative ways,” Olson said in a June 27 statement. 

“By joining together, we are honoring the founding missions of both institutions while also building something more adaptive, more sustainable, and more student-centered,” Novak added.

The change takes place amid a national trend of decreasing enrollment, which has affected colleges of all sizes across the country — though some Catholic colleges have continued to grow in spite of the trend, as previously reported by CNA.

When the two presidents met to discuss challenges facing Catholic higher education in the region, they decided to address them through “collaboration rather than competition,” according to DeBoard.

“It was critical that this combination started from a point of strength and not from a point of desperation,” DeBoard said.

With this recent development, the universities look ahead to becoming fully integrated by mid-2026.

To preserve the character of the original institutions, not everything will be merged. For instance, the two universities will merge library systems but won’t combine sports teams. 

A big priority lies in preserving the unique Catholic identities of the two colleges. 

Leaders considered “Catholic roots” to be “extremely important” as the two colleges considered merging, DeBoard said.

“This combination is about specifically preserving Catholic higher education,” DeBoard noted. 

St. Ambrose — named for the Church father St. Ambrose of Milan — is a diocesan university, while Mount Mercy was “founded on the philosophies and teachings of the Sisters of Mercy,” DeBoard explained.  

“While we both have different foundations, we have found that we are much more alike than we are different, driven by similar missions, visions, and values,” she said. 

Throughout the merger, DeBoard said it is critical that the colleges “keep the foundation and values of each respective school at the forefront.”

Catholic leaders tied to the universities commended the decision, which was first announced in 2024.

The Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids encouraged the colleges “to continue to preserve the nearly 100-year-old legacy of the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids,” while the archbishop of Dubuque also expressed his support for the “innovative spirit of cooperation.” 

DeBoard noted that the “new shared mission” will incorporate “aspects of both the diocesan and Mercy charisms.” 

Both the Diocese of Davenport and the Sisters of Mercy will be represented on the board of trustees, DeBoard said. 

“Our shared Catholic identity will remain the foundation, but the opportunities to collaborate, innovate, and serve even more students, especially those historically underrepresented in higher education, are what excite me most,” Novak said.

DeBoard said he hopes they will be a “model” for other Catholic colleges.

“We hope other institutions will look at this model and consider exploring similar partnerships as a way to sustain Catholic higher education for many years to come,” DeBoard said.

Austin Baron at the “American Ninja Warrior”course filming for Season 17 of the show. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Austin Baron

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

At just 19 years old, Austin Baron is taking college classes, competing on sports reality television, making handmade dog toys, and raising tens of thousands of dollars to feed the hungry. How does he do it all? According to him, it’s all thanks to “the gifts God’s given” him.

Baron is a rising sophomore at the University of Notre Dame and the founder of Knot Perfect, a nonprofit that has provided more than 100,000 meals to children and families across the globe. He is now using his participation on NBC’s reality television show “American Ninja Warrior” to help expand his outreach.

Discovering his mission

Baron was first moved to feed the hungry when he was 12 years old and volunteered at his parish, St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn, Virginia, to pack meals for Cross Catholic Outreach’s food distribution ministry You(th) vs. Hunger. 

“I learned that a billion people go to bed hungry each night,” Baron told CNA. “The meals I was packing with my own hands would be the only food for someone else to eat.”

“That really inspired me to want to do something to help them. Billion is a big number, and I decided that I wanted to start collecting donations because that would be a way that we could pack more meals and feed more people.”

Baron began collecting donations and gave them to a number of organizations that help provide meals but primarily to You(th) vs. Hunger. In order to “excite people and to encourage them to donate,” he said, he decided to turn it into a fun experience by giving those who donated a handmade dog toy.

“I love animals — especially dogs,” Baron said. “And around the same time that I wanted to start feeding the hungry, I started making dog toys. I watched videos to learn how to make them.” Since then, Baron has made more than 1,500 knotted dog toys.

Around the time of the pandemic, it became more challenging for Baron to collect cash donations, so at 16 years old, with the help of his parents and brothers, Baron turned his project into a nonprofit that could collect online donations. He named the organization Knot Perfect to represent both the knotted toys and the imperfect world where hunger is an issue across the globe.

Using ‘American Ninja Warrior’ to feed the hungry 

After starting Knot Perfect, Baron had an inspiring rock-climbing experience that sparked his next big move.

“I went rock climbing on a cliff over the Atlantic Ocean, and I really had a wonderful experience doing that. And then ... around the same time I was doing that, I started watching ‘[American] Ninja Warrior.’” 

“American Ninja Warrior” is a sports-competition reality show that features athletes from around the country who compete on “the most difficult obstacle courses.” Participants compete for the fastest time and race to get a “button push” — pressing the buzzer at the end of the course indicating they completed the obstacle without falling off. 

After watching the series, Baron “went to a ‘Ninja Warrior’ gym to train and to try the obstacles that were on the show, and [I] just really fell in love with the sport, and especially the ninja community.”

“Everyone was super supportive, even though we’re all competing against each other on the course. Everyone helps each other and shares their tips and encourages them on all the obstacles … then a friend suggested that I apply for the show.”

“I didn’t know if I was going to get in,” Baron said. “[But] I feel like God really blessed me with the opportunity to be on the show and to use it to advocate for an end to world hunger and to encourage other people to do good in the world.”

Baron heard back that he was accepted for Season 15 of the show. In 2023, he participated and made it to the semifinal round. (Approximately 40,000 of the meals provided by Knot Perfect were a direct result of Baron’s appearance on “American Ninja Warrior.”)

Baron was invited to rejoin the show for Season 17, which is taking place in Las Vegas this summer. So far he has been a fierce competitor, hitting his first buzzer on the June 2 episode, which advanced him to the upcoming July 14 semifinals.

Wearing a shirt that says “Ninja Fighting Hunger” on the episode, Baron said he is “dedicating [his] summer to being the hands and feet of Christ for the 1 billion people around the world who go to bed hungry each night.” 

Knot Perfect’s next steps

As much as Baron enjoys the course and community of “American Ninja Warrior,” he said, “The whole reason I go on the show is to advocate for world hunger … As a result of being on the season this year, we’re trying to pack our 1-millionth meal as a community in northern Virginia. It’s our 10-year anniversary of packing meals, and we have a big goal of hitting that million-meal mark.”

The anniversary marks a milestone for You(th) vs. Hunger, and Baron said he hopes “American Ninja Warrior” can help the Catholic community reach its goal, as a donation of just $10 allows the organization to feed 30 people.

“My mission of feeding the hungry, starting a nonprofit, and then going to the University of Notre Dame and competing on [‘American Ninja Warrior’], I just felt that God has really blessed me with this opportunity,” Baron said. “I felt his hands, him walking me, and helping me throughout it.”

As he heads into his sophomore year, Baron will continue to study business analytics to continue his nonprofit and its mission after he graduates. He recently received two grants totaling $1,650 to help him reach his donation goals. 

He was also selected as the Virginia Young Man of the Year by the Knights of Columbus in 2024 for his work. But he gives all the credit to God. 

“I’m so grateful to God for the gifts he’s given me and to use it to do something good for other people. I couldn’t have done any of this without him,” Baron said. “It’s him, not me. I’m so grateful to him for that.”

Mourners gather in the Church of the Holy Cross in Qassaa, Damascus, for the funeral of many who lost their lives in a terrorist attack at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria’s capital on Sunday, June 22, 2025. / Credit: Mohammad Al-Rifai/ACI MENA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 7, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).

Allies of the new Syrian government and other non-state actors have continued violence and discrimination against Christians, Druze, and Shia Muslims, according to a new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Syrian rebels, many of whom were affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024. The report notes that HTS members, many of whom were foreign fighters, engaged in mass killings and other forms of persecution against religious minorities during the overthrow of Assad and have continued violations after taking control of the government.

Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, commanded HTS during the revolution. He was also previously a member of al-Qaeda. In addition to HTS, the report also noted that members of Turkish-backed political opposition and militias (TSOs) and other organizations that engaged in mass killings and religious liberty violations have been welcomed into high-ranking positions in the new Syrian government.

Despite these developments, the new Syrian government has vowed to protect religious liberty as it sets up its new government. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to work with the new leadership and has lifted sanctions and removed HTS’ designation as a terrorist organization.

The USCIRF is encouraging the Trump administration to impose conditions on sanction removals that require improvements in religious liberty. The report also encourages the U.S. government to impose targeted sanctions on people and organizations that continue violations of religious liberty. 

USCIRF Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi told CNA that the commission’s primary concern for Syria’s Christians and other religious minorities is “that the transitional authorities’ actual policies and actions match their claims of supporting a religiously inclusive future for the country.”

“The U.S. administration must condition its lifting of sanctions with clear measures so that the emerging government fully abandons its extremist past, extends equal protection to all religious minorities, and enshrines comprehensive religious freedom into Syria’s laws and institutions,” Elsanousi said.

Religious persecution and killings

The most egregious violence after the new government took control was waged against Alawite Muslims — a Shia sect to which Assad and many of his allies belonged — and against Druze — an Abrahamic religion that is separate from Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

According to the report, unidentified rebels burned the homes of civilian Alawites in Latakia and waged an arson attack against an Alawite shrine in Aleppo last December. It also notes that men who may have been affiliated with the new government executed Alawites and members of the Twelver Shia sect in the Hama province.

The report notes in January and February, HTS loyalists conducted “door-to-door interrogations and select executions” of Alawite Muslims around the Mediterranean coast. In March, the report adds, “the murders escalated to full-blown sectarian massacres” of Alawites in Latakia and Tartus based on allegations of “pro-Assad remnants.”

“Tallies put the confirmed death toll at between 1,700 and 2,246, with the caveat that the actual numbers might be much higher,” the report states.

The report references additional reports of civilian massacres of Alawites “with no known links to the Assad regime” during that time frame. It states that persecutions against Alawites seem to have decreased since March but that as recently as May, there were reports of fighters who may have been affiliated with the government kidnapping Alawites.

Additionally, “a new wave of killings” against Druze began in April, according to the report. This includes “militant Islamist” supporters of the new government killing 134 people in a suburb of Damascus that month.

In March, Syriac Orthodox Christians who lived near the anti-Alawite violence reported that the Christian death toll was “three people,” but other persecutions against Christians took place.

“Islamist militia members regularly intimidated and taunted Christians at checkpoints and looted the homes of Christians with no known links to the Assad regime,” the report states.

The report notes that the new government has retained many HTS fighters, including “the most militant violators of religious freedom during the Syrian civil war,” within the military. People who are associated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) hold high positions in the government as well.

For example, intelligence chief Anas Khattab is a former al-Qaeda commander. Abu Hatem Shaqra, who was given a high-level military position, personally participated in executions and other forms of religious persecution “such as recruitment of ISIS members and trafficking of Yazidi women and girls into sexual and domestic slavery,” according to the report.

The future of Syria

In spite of these religious liberty violations, the report notes that the new government has stated its intent to be “inclusive of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.”

The new government has taken credit for thwarting a planned ISIS attack against a Shia shrine and denounced an ISIS attack that killed 25 worshippers at Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus. It also held a one-day conference to speak with representatives of minority religions.

Alternatively, the new government intends to maintain HTS control for a transitional five-year period. It also notes that after the conference with the minority religions, the government expressed its intent to enshrine Islamic jurisprudence as “the major source of legislation.” After the conference, it notes that the government only expressed its intent to safeguard Christians, Muslims, and Jews, but not other religions.

“The recent bombing of the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus and massacres earlier this year targeting Alawis in Syria’s coastal areas serve as tragic reminders that these communities remain under serious threat of violence,” Elsanousi said.

Jeff King, the president of International Christian Concern, told CNA the report “exposes the failure of Syria’s transitional government … to protect its Christian minority.”

“This illegitimate regime, composed of rebranded al-Qaeda and ISIS operatives, has done little to curb radical Islam’s campaign to eradicate Christianity in Syria,” he said. King called the bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus, which killed 25 Christians, “a stark example” of “ongoing persecution enabled by the government’s inaction or complicity.”

“The Catholic community worldwide must advocate for Syria’s dwindling Christian population, which is now a fraction of its prewar size, and press the international community to reject the legitimacy of this jihadist-led government and demand robust protections for religious minorities,” King emphasized.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller speaks to the press after the memorial Mass for the Guadalupe River flood victims on July 6, 2025. / Credit: Sophie Abuzeid

Houston, Texas, Jul 7, 2025 / 17:17 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders and government officials on Monday continued to issue statements of solidarity and support to victims of the catastrophic flash flooding in the Texas Hill Country over the weekend. 

The death toll rose to 94 Monday afternoon, according to county officials, with Camp Mystic, the girls’ Christian camp devastated on July 4, confirming that 27 girls have perished, while 10 girls and a counselor from the camp are still unaccounted for.

Notre Dame Catholic Church in Kerrville held a memorial Mass for the flood victims on Sunday. Afterward, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller told CNA the Church is “listening to the cry of all those who suffer, and their cry is not falling on deaf ears.”

He said that “pain and sorrow and death do not have the last word”; rather, “goodness, truth, love, and care [do], and hope never dies.” 

The Mass had already been scheduled as the installation Mass for the parish’s new pastor, Father Scott Janysek.

In his first homily as pastor at Notre Dame, Janysek said in a time of crisis, “there is only one community. Whether we’re Catholic or Protestant … at this time, boundaries do not exist. We are one community, and we are all hurting.”

“We are one Church,” Janysek continued. He asked the congregation: “What does Catholic mean?”

“Universal!” they responded eagerly.

“Yes, it means universal. It’s a description of what we are. We are the universal Church. We are one community.”

Janysek spoke of the two young girls who attended St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas who drowned and were found with their hands clasped together 15 miles from where they had been staying, saying: “We are connected to the Church in Dallas… We are connected to all the churches across our state. We hurt with them.”

Archbishop Joe S. Vasquez of Galveston-Houston released a statement on July 5 saying the archdiocese joined the Archdiocese of San Antonio in “praying for those affected by the recent severe flooding” and asking for God’s protection over and comfort for the victims, their families, and first responders.

He continued: “We entrust the souls of those who passed to the mercy of our heavenly Father, and we seek the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, imploring her assistance in the rescue of those still missing.”

Father Norm Ermis, pastor at St. Peter Catholic Church in Boerne, a town about 40 miles from Kerrville, said at the Mass on Sunday that the parish would be informed of how it could help flood victims in the coming week.

Ermis said he spends a lot of time on the Guadalupe River and was grieving with all who had lost loved ones.

San Antonio resident Bridie Chaudoir told CNA that she had almost sent her daughter to Camp Mystic in July, but she decided in the end to send her in August. Had she attended in July, she would have been in the Bubble Inn cabin, which was washed away by the swiftly moving floodwaters and whose occupants are all believed to have perished.

Chaudoir’s sons and nephews were rescued from Camp La Junta, also located in Hunt. Her son, Henry, 12, told CNA he prayed a decade of the rosary, the guardian angel prayer, and the St. Michael prayer the night before the flood.

She told CNA the Camp Mystic community’s response to its grieving members has been “overwhelmingly beautiful.” 

Gov. Greg Abbott declared Sunday, July 6, as a day of prayer for the victims. President Donald Trump declared Kerr County a federal disaster area on July 6, and the White House Faith Office issued a statement that evening, saying on social media: “May God wrap his loving arms around all of those in Texas. Psalm 34:18: ‘The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.’”

The Guadalupe River, already spilling over its banks on July 4, 2025, (left), rose to a record breaking 47.4 feet on July 5 (right). / Credit: Sophie Abuzeid

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 7, 2025 / 15:04 pm (CNA).

Two sisters who attended St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas were among the victims of the Texas Hill Country flash floods that have devastated parts of the state, the school confirmed in a statement on Saturday.

Blair Harber, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11, were vacationing with their parents and grandparents on the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas. The flash flood raised the river more than 22 feet in half an hour in the early morning hours of July 4, dislodging and carrying away their cabin, in which they were staying with their grandparents.

They were discovered in Kerrville, 15 miles from their cabin community, with their hands clasped together, according to reports.

Their grandparents, Charlene and Mike Harber, have yet to be found.

According to a message shared by their aunt, Jennifer, on a GoFundMe page started for the Harber family, the girls’ parents, who were staying five cabins away from their children, awoke at around 3:30 a.m. on Friday to the sound of the storm and were forced to break a window in their cabin to escape. The girls’ father, RJ, had attempted to kayak to the girls’ cabin, but the water was too high and he was forced to turn around.

The family reported receiving text messages from the girls sent as their cabin filled with water.

“Brooke texted my brother [her father], her grandmother and grandfather on Annie’s side, saying ‘I love you’ at 3:30 a.m.,” the girls’ aunt wrote. “Blair and I had a conversation about God and heaven two weeks earlier. They had their rosaries with them.” 

The two girls will have a joint funeral at St. Rita’s at a date that will be determined after their grandparents have also been found, according to the aunt’s message.

“We are beyond devastated and so heartbroken,” she concluded. “Prayers are much appreciated and what we needed at this time.”

‘Young women of deep faith’ 

“Blair and Brooke were young women of deep faith, and religion was one of their favorite subjects. On the night they died, they went to the loft of their cabin with their rosaries,” the school said in its statement. “Even in their last moments, they held tightly to each other, a powerful symbol of their lasting bond and their trust in God.”

The school remembered Blair as having “the kindest heart” and for being an “an outstanding student,” who was both “enrolled in advanced classes and actively involved in school activities.”

Blair played several sports, including volleyball, basketball, lacrosse, and cheerleading. She was also a student ambassador, a member of the yearbook committee, and was involved in the school’s speech and drama program. 

“Brooke was an excellent student who brought joy and energy wherever she went,” the school said of the younger of the two sisters. Like her sister, Brooke was also actively involved in sports, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, and lacrosse, and was “known for her spirit and determination.” Brooke also loved speech and drama, “and had a particular gift for improv that brought smiles and laughter to those around her,” the school said.

“In this time of deep sorrow, we stay grounded in our faith and united in love. We will stand with the Harber family in the days to come, surrounding them with our prayers, compassion, and unwavering support,” the school said, adding: “As a community of faith, we hold onto the hope and promise that Christ has defeated death, and that eternal life is waiting for those who love him.” 

Background

Flash flooding in the Texas Hill Country began in the early hours of July 4. Heavy rainfall filled the creeks that emptied into the several rivers that wind through the normally arid hills known as the Texas Hill Country, located north and west of San Antonio and Austin.

The Guadalupe River near where the girls had been staying rose so quickly that the National Weather Service’s evacuation orders were not issued in time to evacuate. The river swelled over 22 feet in half an hour around 4 a.m. on July 4, according to local officials, devastating parts of the towns of Hunt, Kerrville, and Comfort.

A girls’ Christian summer camp in the area, Camp Mystic, has confirmed the deaths of 27 campers and counselors that had been missing, including an entire cabin of 8- and 9- year-old girls, according to local reports, bringing the overall death toll to at least 89 people. At least 850 people have been rescued. Ten campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic remain unaccounted for, according to CNN.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio said a memorial Mass for the victims on July 6 at Notre Dame Catholic Church in Kerrville.

President Donald Trump declared Kerr County a disaster area on July 6.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a disaster for 15 counties on July 4, deploying more than 500 first responders, 14 helicopters, boats, high water vehicles, and drones. Abbott pledged at a press conference in Kerrville on Friday that rescuers “will stop at nothing” to find every victim of the catastrophic flooding.

Rivers continued to rise through the holiday weekend. In the early hours of Saturday, July 5, the Guadalupe River rose to a record 47.4 feet in Bergheim, Texas, about 50 miles from Kerrville.

Catholic homesteader Jason Craig is featured in “On Good Soil” on EWTN. / Credit: EWTN

National Catholic Register, Jul 7, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

With a title like “On Good Soil,” you might expect EWTN’s new series on homesteading to feature a lot of talk about living off the land and learning to farm. What you probably wouldn’t expect is a deep dive into how people in our modern society connect — or don’t connect — and how the teachings of the Catholic Church, including those of St. Thomas Aquinas, can help all of us rethink how we live, even in a big city.

The five-part series airs at 5:30 p.m. ET on Monday, July 7, through Friday, July 11, with an encore at 2:30 a.m. ET the following morning.

Each 30-minute episode explores such questions as: What is the difference between a suburban home and an intentional homestead that may or may not be in a rural setting? Why do many families today feel so disintegrated from society? Most importantly, why do so many of us, who live in a world that encourages us to be constantly on the move, find ourselves longing for community and rootedness?

Episode 5 challenges preconceptions about small-town living. Host Jason Craig says one of the benefits of living off the land is that people don’t just “like” to be around others, they actually “need” one another. Members of the community help each other out, and that creates a connectedness and a rootedness that isn’t often found in modern culture, where people tend to group themselves according to similar interests or social and financial status.

In another episode of this series, a family recounts how they spend more time together on their homestead.

Viewers will also meet Brian and Johanna Burke, whose former military family grew tired of moving every three years, so they relocated to a Catholic community in the country. 

“[W]e knew that if we were going to do this, we needed community, and we knew that if we were going to be successful in the long term, not burn out, our kids needed friends who had the same lifestyle as them, and that’s really where the Catholic farm group came in,” Johanna Burke says. 

The Burke family says they met a couple at their parish who became their mentors, and they intentionally began to create community by gathering people for monthly get-togethers on neighboring farms. Brian Burke says it’s now common for people to say: “Hey, I’m working on this thing. Does anybody know about this or have experience with this?” Other members may even teach a class on a given subject.

“When you’re really intentional about developing community, you’re also just naturally going to broaden outside of your group,” Johanna explains, adding: “Now we’re looking at connecting the farmers to those in town who are looking to source this food. We’re trying to educate [them] about the superiority of this food. … We can promote interdependence on each other and not worry about supply-chain issues. We have a small, independent grocer downtown. … Local farms provide everything.” 

Craig notes that people today talk about plugging into a community, explaining that “a power cord just plugs in to get what it needs. It’s very different from being rooted in a community. Roots penetrate the soil and actually intertwine with other creatures, and they begin to need one another. … The reason Catholics very often want to return to the homestead, therefore, is because they want to … build community. … [H]omesteading can teach you to love a place.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

A photo shows a view of the National Assembly in Paris on June 10, 2024, a day after the European Parliament elections. / Credit: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jul 6, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

A French parliamentary report released on July 2 has shed light on disturbing cases of abuse in schools while also reigniting a long-standing national debate over the balance between state oversight and freedom of education.

The report, resulting from a five-month inquiry into violence within the school system, proposes a series of measures aimed at better protecting minors. However, its heavy focus on Catholic private institutions under state contract has raised concerns about potential political bias and the future of educational pluralism in France.

The inquiry was led by parliamentarians Violette Spillebout, from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party Renaissance, and Paul Vannier, from the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI).

While the report formally addresses all types of schools, much of its attention is directed toward Catholic private institutions under state contract, especially those with boarding programs.

‘Structural dysfunction’

The commission of inquiry was established following revelations of abuse at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (southwestern France). The case, spanning several decades, served as a catalyst for national reflection. Prime Minister François Bayrou, a former education minister who had sent his children to the school, was called to testify.

The Bétharram school is cited in the report as a key case study, where priests, teachers, and staff are accused of having committed serious physical and sexual abuse between 1957 and 2004.

Victims described acts of “unprecedented severity, of absolute sadism.” Lawmakers called the school a “textbook example” of the state’s structural dysfunction and failure to prevent abuse, warning that similar flaws remain in place today.

More broadly, the report denounces ongoing violence in both public and private schools and cites decades of insufficient protective measures. Commission president Fatiha Keloua Hachi described the investigation as a “deep dive into the unthinkable,” revealing systemic silence and institutional failure. It documents over 270 affected schools and at least 80 victim collectives across the country.

The report also pointed to cultural and religious factors that may have contributed to institutional silence in some schools, including rigid hierarchical structures and a reluctance to question authority.

The commission found that sanctioned teachers could sometimes be quietly reassigned. It also highlighted the absence of national data on abuse cases and discrepancies in reporting: One national survey estimated 7,000 cases of sexual violence in a year, yet only 280 were officially recorded in 2023–2024.

Ultimately, the report concludes that the Ministry of Education still lacks effective tools to identify and address abuse and calls for comprehensive structural reforms.

Among the report’s most prominent recommendations is the lengthening of the statute of limitations for reporting abuse, reinforcing whistleblower protections, and establishing a new independent reporting body called “Signal Éduc.” It also calls for the creation of a national compensation fund for victims.

Other proposed measures include increasing the frequency of inspections, particularly for boarding schools (annually in primary schools and at least every three years in middle and high schools), and lifting professional secrecy in cases involving abuse of minors under 15, even in the context of religious confession.

This last proposal, already included in the 2021 Ciase report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, is raising concern among the Church hierarchy, which has consistently reaffirmed the inviolability of the seal of confession.

The report further recommends that private institutions under state contract be brought more directly under the oversight of the Ministry of Education’s General Directorate and proposes reevaluating the role of the Catholic Education Secretariat (SGEC), which oversees over 7,200 schools.

Catholic education’s response

Philippe Delorme, secretary-general of the SGEC, which came under intense scrutiny from co-rapporteur Vannier — who repeatedly questioned its legitimacy and accused it of obstructing oversight — responded cautiously to the report.

He acknowledged its usefulness in surfacing abuses and encouraging vigilance while voicing concern about what he views as attempts to erode the distinctive mission of Catholic education.

“School life in our establishments is not intended to be exactly the same as in public schools as we enjoy a certain freedom of organization,” he stated during an April 7 audition with the Commission for Cultural Affairs and Education.

During a June 19 press conference, he claimed that the SGEC had already committed to verifying the criminal background of all non-teaching staff — some 80,000 individuals — well in advance of the report’s release.

Furthermore, the SGEC recently launched, in May, the “Stop Violences” campaign, aiming to raise awareness, enhance prevention strategies, and reinforce the commitment of Catholic educational institutions to student safety.

The report’s emphasis on Catholic schools has sparked debate, as critics acknowledge the seriousness of the documented abuses but also question whether the focus risks suggesting a systemic failure unique to Catholic education, despite similar issues existing across the broader educational landscape.

In a related analysis published in Le Figaro, education journalist Caroline Beyer wrote that the report marks “a political sequence above all,” with Catholic education squarely in the firing line, and questioned whether the recommendations would result in meaningful change or serve ideological motives.

Her observation echoed broader concerns that, while the report raises vital questions, it risks becoming a tool for polarizing debates around the role of faith-based schools in French society.

Such doubts about the impartiality of the document have been reinforced by the fact that Vannier was already the author, in 2024, of a highly critical report on the funding of Catholic schools.

Former Minister of Higher Education Patrick Hetzel also accused the parliamentarian of using the inquiry to pursue an ideological agenda aimed at undermining the 1959 Debré Law, which ensures state support for private schools under contract. “With him, LFI wants to revive the school war,” Hetzel told Le Figaro, referencing historic tensions between secular and faith-based education in France.

Although Spillebout has insisted that their work was not guided by dogma but by the testimony of victims and a desire to ensure that no child, in any type of school, is left unprotected, the perception of disproportionate attention on Catholic institutions remains a point of contention.

The report comes amid broader efforts by the French government to extend control over education. In 2021, Macron’s administration drew criticism for proposing a ban on home schooling, ostensibly to combat Islamic radicalization. Though softened before passage, the bill reflected a shift toward greater state control over education.

The report’s publication also coincided with renewed focus on Paris’ Stanislas School, a prestigious Catholic institution under investigation for alleged noncompliance with the national sex education curriculum as well as “homophobic and sexist drift” and for its new Christian culture courses.

While a 2023 inspection did not confirm systemic discrimination, the Ministry of Education has signaled closer monitoring.

Trees emerge from flood waters along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas with multiple fatalities reported. / Credit: Eric Vryn/Getty Images

San Antonio, Texas, Jul 5, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Catholics are responding with prayers and aid after record-breaking flash floods in central Texas devastated communities along the area’s rivers and killed at least 27 people. 

The flash flooding began in the early hours of July 4. Heavy rainfall filled the creeks that emptied into the several rivers that wind through the normally arid hills known as the Texas Hill Country, located north and west of San Antonio and Austin.

“At this time it is unknown how many have been affected by rising water levels along rivers and creeks,” the Archdiocese of San Antonio said in a Friday statement.  

“It is our prayer that those impacted by the floods will find the strength to rebuild. We pledge to be with the people in these challenging circumstances. Let us answer Christ’s call to love one another.”

On July 4, the Catholic Charities Mobile Relief Unit turned Notre Dame Church in Kerrville into a shelter where evacuees can find food and water as well as clothing and other supplies, the archdiocese said.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller and Auxiliary Bishop Michael Boulette traveled to Kerrville on July 4 as well to minister to victims of the flooding.

‘Totally destroyed’

The Guadalupe River near Kerrville, Texas, rose so quickly that the National Weather Service’s evacuation orders were not issued in time to evacuate. The river swelled over 22 feet in half an hour around 4 a.m. on July 4, according to local officials, devastating parts of the towns of Hunt, Kerrville, and Comfort. 

The river washed away RV parks, cars, homes, and entire cabins at summer camps located along its banks. The total number of missing people is still unknown because of the large number of visitors to area rivers due to the Fourth of July weekend. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a disaster for 15 counties on July 4, deploying more than 500 first responders, 14 helicopters, boats, high water vehicles, and drones. Over 850 people have been rescued as of the afternoon of July 5.

Abbott pledged at a press conference in Kerrville on Friday that rescuers “will stop at nothing” to find every victim of the catastrophic flooding. 

A girls’ Christian summer camp in the area, Camp Mystic, reported more than 23 people missing, including an entire cabin of 8- and 9- year-old girls, who are feared to have perished.

Social media was filled with images of the missing young girls on July 4. By the evening, reports began to come in of the recovery of several bodies, including some of the young girls. Rescue efforts continued throughout the night and into the morning of July 5.

Camp Mystic director Dick Eastland is also reported to have perished after attempting to rescue some of the campers, according to a parent of a camper who wished to remain anonymous. 

One camper said she was “heartbroken” but thankful to be alive, describing the camp as “totally destroyed” after her safe return to her home in Houston in the early hours of July 5.

Henry Chaudoir, 12, who was rescued from Camp La Junta, a boys’ camp in Hunt, told CNA he had prayed a decade of the rosary and the St. Michael prayer the night before the flood. He and his fellow campers felt “terrified” when flashes of lightning revealed “an ocean of water” covering the camp, he said, but he was “grateful to God to be alive.”

Chaudoir’s cousin, Jackson Adams, 18, a counselor at Camp La Junta, told CNA that he and all the other counselors decided to stay in their cabins as the water rose because of the strong current outside. 

Adams, whose 13-year-old brother Harris was also rescued from the camp, said the water “only went up to our waists in our cabin” before starting to recede. He told CNA, however, that it rose to the ceiling in another cabin filled with 7- to 9-year-old boys. The counselors lifted the boys onto the rafters, rescuing several who fell off after a wall collapsed.

Adams said the swiftly moving river carried away the Casita, a cabin that housed Camp La Junta staff. After the Casita collided with the cabin in which the boys were sitting in the rafters, it made a hole, which enabled the staff from the Casita to rescue the boys. All of them survived.

“Praise the Lord the Casita hit the cabin!” Chaudoir said.

One of the counselors from the cabin with the boys in the rafters tried to go for help but was swept off his feet by the current, Adams told CNA. The counselor caught onto a nearby tree and was rescued after several of the older counselors formed a “monkey chain” and dragged him to safety.

Adams said a young girl from Camp Mystic was carried by the river onto Camp La Junta and was rescued by the camp’s maintenance and stables director, Katie Cain. The girl said the water sucked her and “two or three” other campers out of their cabin after a counselor opened a window.

Cain also rescued most of the camp’s horses by breaking a fence, allowing them to run to safety as the waters rose.

Adams said he plans to return to Camp La Junta to assist with rescue and cleanup efforts.

One man in the town of Center Point heard a 22-year-old woman crying for help in the early hours of July 4 and called rescue workers, who plucked her from a tree she had clung to after reportedly floating more than 20 miles on the raging Guadalupe River from Hunt.

The flooding is the result of a slow-moving storm system that dumped 10-15 inches of rain on the Texas Hill Country, with some areas seeing up to 20 inches. 

The rivers continued to rise through the holiday weekend. In the early hours of Saturday, July 5, the Guadalupe River rose to a record 47.4 feet in Bergheim, Texas, about 50 miles from Kerrville.

The Llano and San Saba rivers have also risen, leading to road closures and evacuations of towns along their banks.

Tina and Luke Gunter, who live near the San Saba River about two hours north of Kerrville, had to evacuate their home after quickly rising waters dislodged part of their home and carried it away.

Neighbors allowed the Gunters, who have three young children, to stay in their guesthouse overnight, and other friends began to bring the family meals and offered other supplies.

The Gunters plan to repair their home, which they built themselves, as soon as possible.

“We will have a lot of work to do,” Tina Gunter told CNA. 

“But we are grateful we are all OK. It’s just a house. Better to lose a house than a child,” she said.

A choir poses before an image of Pier Giorgio Frassati during a celebration of the centenary of his death, Turin, Italy, Friday, July 4, 2025. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Turin, Italy, Jul 5, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

On the 100th anniversary of Pier Giorgio Frassati’s death this week, crowds packed into the Turin Cathedral to pray at the tomb of the charismatic young man who is set to be canonized as a saint in September.

The three-day celebration of the centenary, dubbed “Frassati Days,” drew pilgrims from the United States, Poland, and Switzerland to Piedmont, the northern Italian region where Frassati lived and left a lasting legacy of faith and charity.

 “These 100 years made Frassati a popular young man. Not only in Turin, not only in Piedmont, not only in Italy, but all over the world,” Cardinal Archbishop Roberto Repole said during the centenary Mass on July 4.

He described Frassati as “an authentic witness to Christ and the eternal God” and remembered him as “a natural leader” who loved the mountains and inspired those around him. 

Eucharistic adoration followed the evening Mass, with the cathedral remaining open late into the night as young people knelt in silence at the tomb of the man whom John Paul II called “the Man of the Beatitudes.” 

Born in Turin in 1901 into a prominent family — his father was the founder of the La Stampa newspaper and a diplomat — Frassati balanced a deep life of faith with active engagement in politics and service to the poor. He joined the Dominican Third Order, climbed Alpine peaks, and distributed food and medicine to the needy in the poorest parts of Turin. He died on July 4, 1925, from polio at the age of 24, believed to have contracted the disease from one of the people he served.

In the cathedral’s front pew for the solemn Mass was Frassati’s niece, 93-year-old Giovanna Gilardini.

“He’s my uncle,” she told CNA. “My mother [Luciana] used to talk to us about Pier Giorgio.”

She recalled a moment in 1981 when Frassati’s coffin was opened during the beatification process. “I saw him,” she said. “He was intact, perfectly intact.”

Frassati’s body was found to be incorrupt, or preserved from the natural process of decay after death. According to Catholic tradition, incorruptible saints give witness to the truth of the resurrection of the body and the life that is to come. That moment, Gilardini explained, solidified her belief in his sanctity.

“Pier Giorgio helps me a lot [from heaven] all the time,” she said.

Just behind her sat her grandson, 14-year-old Pier Giorgio Gilardini, named after the soon-to-be saint. “To live up to his name, I feel like I have to be good,” the teenager said. “He inspires me.”

The Archdiocese of Turin and the neighboring Diocese of Biella shared responsibility for the commemorations, just as Frassati had split his own time between the city and the mountains. While he lived most of the year in Turin, his summers were spent with his grandparents in the mountain town of Pollone, where he hiked and prayed in the Alps.

On Thursday evening, a vigil Mass was celebrated under the shadow of those Alps on the grounds of Villa Ametis, the Frassati family home in Pollone, by Bishop Roberto Farinella of Biella, who described the centenary as a celebration of Frassati’s “birth into heaven.”

The Mass took place beneath a towering sequoia tree planted by Frassati’s grandfather — a tree that the young Pier Giorgio used to climb as a boy. 

“Here everything speaks to us about Pier Giorgio,” said Father Luca Bertarelli, the local parish priest in Pollone. “The house, the yard, the sequoia which he used to climb, his pickax, these candelabras that were in his room for his last Communion, the viaticum before his death.”

 “But what speaks to us most are the pilgrims,” he added. “I have met in these years thousands of pilgrims, especially young people… and I have also seen some tears that flowed from their eyes because of the holy life of Pier Giorgio.”

“Pier Giorgio really is the saint for today,” Bertarelli said.

Eucharistic adoration under the stars followed the Pollone Mass, with candles illuminating the façade of the Frassati home. Passages from Frassati’s letters were read aloud until late into the night.

Among the attendees were Cedric Ebiner and his brother Vincent, who drove from Switzerland to be there. The Ebiner brothers began the day with a climb up Mount Mucrone, following the Poggio Frassati trail Pier Giorgio once hiked himself. 

“I have a big devotion to Pier Giorgio,” said Cedric, a Swiss native who now teaches French and Latin at Loyola High School in Los Angeles.

 “Saints are just like other people — the more you know about them, the closer you can get to them, and so just visiting the place where they lived gets you closer to them. … being there just adds to it,” he said.  

Growing up, he added, “we did a lot of hiking, mountain climbing… so that aspect of him being an outdoors kind of guy is really appealing. … He’s a real man.” 

In Turin, young people took part in the “Frassatour,” visiting key sites in Frassati’s spiritual life, from the Church of St. Dominic, where he discovered his vocation as a lay Dominican, to the Sanctuary of the Consolata, a Marian shrine he frequented. 

Paolo Reineri, who helped lead the tour and wrote a children’s book on Frassati, said he wanted kids to know that Frassati “is a friend who can be with them and inspire them.” He added: “He is an inspiration because he found time to do a lot of good — and he always found time for God.” 

Frassati’s canonization, alongside Blessed Carlo Acutis, will take place Sept. 7, making them the first new saints declared by Pope Leo XIV. 

Germana Moro, president of the Pier Giorgio Frassati Association in Turin, credited much of the progress in his sainthood cause to Frassati’s sister Luciana. “It was thanks to Luciana’s immense amount of work… that her brother’s beatification process was reopened,” she said, noting that Luciana had gathered more than 900 testimonies about her brother’s life. 

“Pier Giorgio teaches us that without constant deep union with the Blessed Sacrament… we will not survive,” Moro said. “Celebrations are not enough if they do not help us follow the path of faith that he walked before us and whose footprints he left clearly visible.” 

Christine Wohar, president of Frassati USA, a Nashville-based nonprofit apostolate dedicated to spreading awareness of his life, reflected on the timing of the upcoming canonization.  

“We cannot improve on God’s plans. This is certainly the case with the centenary of Pier Giorgio’s death, the diocesan Year of Frassati that is concluding in Turin on his feast day, and the fact that he will soon be canonized,” she said.  

“What is more significant is that it is happening in a jubilee year because it was also a jubilee year [when Frassati died] in 1925. And how appropriate that it is a year dedicated to hope — as devotees of Frassati have hoped and prayed for so long to be able to put ‘saint’ in front of his name.”

null / Credit: A and I Kruk/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 5, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

As more Catholic parishes and notable Catholic figures become the targets of scammers, a new initiative has been launched to help Catholics spot a scam and avoid becoming victims.

Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions and former White House chief information officer, is spearheading the initiative, called “Protecting the Faithful.” The campaign is being actively rolled out in parishes across the country through bulletin announcements and the distribution of infographics, videos, and guides highlighting the red flags of a scam.

Many of these scams come in the form of emails sent to parishioners that look to be from their pastor asking them to donate to parish charities or ministries. Scammers are also targeting the fans of notable Catholic figures.

For instance, there have been several incidents where scammers impersonated Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie. The scammers have messaged Roumie’s followers on social media, pretending they are Roumie and promising a visit to the set of “The Chosen” or being the president of his fan club if they send a certain amount of money.

The Protecting the Faithful initiative is also being distributed on social media through official fan accounts of notable Catholic names in order to warn other fans as well as through podcasts and other Catholic news media outlets.

Payton told CNA that she was inspired to do something about the problem because of “how the faithful are being taken advantage of by criminals and fraudsters.”

“I’ve had victims on the other end of the phone, ashamed that they were a victim, crying, sending their hard-earned money to bad people, and I just had such a broken heart over this that I was like, something must be done,” she said.

“I’ve spent a whole career profiling criminals, and what people need to know is they play to our heart, they play to our human nature,” she added. “They know how to get us to act fast, they know how to get to our sympathies, to the best things about us, and they exploit the best things about us.”

Payton pointed out that with the recent technological advancements, specifically artificial intelligence, it is even easier for scammers to create voice clones, fake videos, and fake images, such as fake driver’s licenses and passports, which can be created “at speed and at scale.”

There are several red flags Payton warns individuals to be aware of in order to be able to spot a scammer, specifically when it comes to impersonators on social media. 

The first is receiving a message from an impersonator saying that the account the person is messaging from is his or her personal or backup account, not the person’s official account. Second is if the person asks to move the conversation over to WhatsApp or Telegram, which are encrypted apps used for communicating. The third red flag is when a scammer invites the individual to become the president of a fan club for a certain amount of money. Lastly, any kind of link that is sent should never be clicked on. 

Payton emphasized that those who’ve been a victim of a scam need to know that “you’ve done nothing wrong, you’re not dumb, you are a good person and because you’re a good person, somebody took advantage of you and you should not feel ashamed of that.”

She also urged individuals to report scams to their local police and IC3.gov, which is monitored by the FBI, and when a large trend is seen, an investigation is conducted and a public service announcement is released warning people nationwide of the scam that is taking place.

Another resource Payton mentioned for those who’ve been a victim is the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that offers free resources and guidance to help individuals take the proper steps to recover their identities and other information that may have been stolen.

Returning to the goal of the campaign, Payton said it is to “make sure that everybody around me in the Catholic faith, and even outside the Catholic faith, is as safe and secure as possible.”

She added: “I love being Catholic, and part of what we’re called to do is to take the talents God gave us and invest those in a way that is pleasing to him.”

“If my team and I can do something to avoid another victim, then every moment we spend on this initiative and on this campaign is worth it,” she said.