Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Reconstruction of the face of St. Teresa of Ávila as she would have appeared at approximately age 50. / Credit: Courtesy of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Iberian Province

Madrid, Spain, Apr 2, 2025 / 12:23 pm (CNA).

A scientific reconstruction of what would have been the face of St. Teresa of Ávila when she was 50 years old was presented recently in Alba de Tormes, the town in Salamanca province in Spain where the Carmelite nun died and where she is buried. 

The reconstruction was based on an anthropomorphic and forensic study, historical evidence, and contemporary descriptions. The work was directed by Professor Ruggero D’Anastasio of D’Annunzio University in Chieti-Pescara, Italy, and carried out by Professor Jennifer Mann, a specialist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine at Monash University in Australia.

The presentation of the scientifically reconstructed head is the result of the canonical recognition of the tomb of the reformer of the Carmelite order, authorized last August by the Vatican.

Mann explained in a statement released by the Iberian Province of the Discalced Carmelites that, in addition to scientific data, her work was based on other important sources such as “a portrait by Friar Juan de la Miseria and a detailed description of St. Teresa written by Mother Mary of St. Joseph, who lived with the saint.”

To obtain the final result, the skull was first reconstructed with clay, “correctly positioning the jaw,” reconstructing missing teeth, and using “a combination of forensic facial approximation methodologies used in the United States and the United Kingdom.”

The main muscles were molded with soft, oil-based clay, and the soft tissues (eyes, nose, lips) were estimated using formulas based on head measurements and studying the X-rays.

Other formulas allowed for the calculation of the length, width, and angle of the nose as well as a proportional orientation for the placement of the eyes in the sockets of the skull.

“With the consent of the father postulator general of the Discalced Carmelites, I sculpted St. Teresa of Jesus at around the age of 50, reflecting her plump appearance, as described by Mother Mary of St. Joseph,” the specialist explained.

Furthermore, “the veil, headdress, and habit of St. Teresa of Jesus were inspired by specific paintings, following the advice of Father Miguel Ángel González.”

“This sculpture may be the most accurate representation of what St. Teresa of Jesus really looked like during her lifetime,” Mann said.

At the time of the first reformed convent 

St. Teresa turned 50 on March 28, 1565, and the reconstruction work represents her at that age. It was around that time that St. Joseph convent in Ávila was founded, the first of those reformed by the Spanish mystic. She lived there between August 1562 and 1567.

The saint noted in the “Book of My Life,” known as the “Autograph of El Escorial,” that she lived there “the happiest and most restful years of my life, whose peace and quiet my soul often misses sorely.”

In a text by González, Carmelite prior of Alba de Tormes, it is noted that during these times, St. Teresa lived “under high spiritual tension. These were years of ecstatic tension in her mystical life. She was crossing her sixth mansion, with great impetus and a great surge of love, with forebodings of imminent arrival at the port of the other life.”

“Mansions” refers to the stages of spiritual growth detailed in her book “The Interior Castle.” 

During those years, she wrote her well-known “The Way of Perfection” and the constitutions for her new way of understanding of cloistered life, a reform that she quickly extended. On Aug. 13, 1567, she left the monastery of Ávila for Medina del Campo, where she began the second of her 17 foundations throughout Spain, geographically distributed from north to south, from Burgos to Seville.

Mummified remains in an ‘extraordinary state of preservation’

The medical and scientific team that made possible the reconstruction of the saint’s face also submitted a 53-page document to the Order of Discalced Carmelites offering a comprehensive summary of the research conducted by anthropologist Luigi Capasso.

The summary of the report details that all of the saint’s remains examined (distributed between Spain and Italy) have been naturally mummified and are in an “extraordinary state of preservation.”

The report notes that on her face, “the scalp is preserved, with many traces of brown hair, the left auricle, the right eye, which still retains its eyelids, the dark iris, the three-dimensionality of the eyeball, all the soft tissues of the nasal pyramid, including the nostrils and the apex of the nasal cartilages.”

The “relaxed facial muscles still convey the sense of serenity with which the saint shows she faced the moment of her death.”

Anthropometric calculations determine that the probable height of St. Teresa was 156.8 centimeters (a little over 5 feet), and an examination of her bones suggests that she suffered from osteoporosis. 

She also had an anterior curvature of the neck and trunk, which gave her “a forward-leaning appearance, with her head tilted downward, which also made her take a forced and uncomfortable supine position, with her head unable to rest on the pillow when lying down.”

The saint also suffered from bilateral knee osteoarthritis, “very severe on the left and milder on the right,” and a bone condition below both heels associated with pain, according to the study.

Regarding her mouth, of which only three teeth remain, it is deduced that she suffered, among other ailments, from “severe dental caries [advanced tooth decay], severe tooth wear, and obvious tartar deposits.”

On her right arm, an injury can be seen that could be a result of her writing habits.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The Basilica of the Holy Trinity at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal. / Credit: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rome Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 10:52 am (CNA).

While a Catholic shrine in Lourdes, France, announced on Monday it is covering mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik on the doors to one of its basilicas, another of the world’s most popular sites of Marian devotion said it is not considering removing its own Rupnik artwork.

A spokesperson for the Fátima shrine in Portugal told the Portuguese news outlet 7Margens via email this week that the international shrine is not taking down the mosaic installation but has stopped using its image in any distributed materials.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, which receives over 6 million visitors a year, is located on the site of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions to three shepherd children in 1917.

The back wall of the shrine’s largest and most modern worship space, the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, is covered in an enormous, floor-to-ceiling work by Rupnik and several of his artist collaborators.

The approximately 33-by-164-foot gold mosaic was installed in 2007 and features the paschal lamb at the center flanked by saints and angels.

“We are not considering removing it. However, since we became aware of the accusations against Father [Marko Ivan] Rupnik, we have suspended the use of the image, the entire work, and its details in our dissemination of materials,” the shrine’s communications department told 7Margens.

Echoing a similar statement made to OSV News in July 2024, the shrine said it “strongly repudiates the acts committed by Father [Marko Ivan] Rupnik,” and it “has already expressed its solidarity with the victims.”

Rupnik, a native of Slovenia, was expelled from the Jesuits in June 2023 for disobedience following the public revelation that he was accused of the sexual and psychological abuse of dozens of women under his spiritual care in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The priest is currently under canonical investigation by the Vatican.

The abuse accusations sparked an enormous debate about whether to remove the hundreds of religious artworks created by Rupnik and his collaborators through his Rome-based art and theology center, the Centro Aletti.

At least 230 religious sites around the world feature Rupnik’s distinctive mosaics, from some of the biggest international shrines to smaller chapels and churches, including the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican.

Victims of sexual abuse and organizations that support them have called for the works to be removed or covered, especially since some of the accusations against Rupnik allege he committed abuse in the context of the creation of his art.

In July 2024, the bishop who oversees the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France said he had received opposition to the idea of removing the Rupnik mosaics on the facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary but that, as a first step, they would no longer be lit up at night.

On March 31, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes announced a further step — the covering of the main entrances to the basilica, which also feature mosaics by Rupnik.

In the United States, the Knights of Columbus announced July 10, 2024, that it would cover the Rupnik mosaics located in the two chapels of the National Shrine of St. John Paul II in Washington, D.C., and in the chapel in the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.

The documentation of Mary’s case was submitted to the Solanus Casey Center. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Diocese of Lansing

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Many Catholics credit prayers of intercession to Blessed Solanus Casey for curing and helping people who suffer from illnesses. Mary Bartold of DeWitt, Michigan, is now among the many who do so after her two tumors vanished with no medical intervention but after continuous prayers to Casey, whose ministry was built upon healing and compassion.

Mary’s unexpected health issues began almost a year ago in late April 2024, the Detroit Free Press reported. Mary was a sophomore at Lansing Catholic High School in Michigan when she began to experience severe abdominal pain while at school. Mary and her family could not pinpoint what the problem was.

Mary’s parents, Susan and Rick Bartold, took her for a CT scan and ultrasound of her abdomen. The images revealed two masses on each of her ovaries: one was 7.3 centimeters large and the other was 1.5 centimeters. At just 16 years old, Mary began to worry about losing the potential to have children and all the implications the tumors could have on her health.

The Bartolds subsequently took their daughter to University of Michigan Health to work with Catholic physicians and determine a course of treatment. Susan said they chose Catholic practitioners specifically to ensure that they “understood what was happening” and “were making moral decisions that weren’t led by secular belief.”

The doctors determined the masses were tumors, both teratomas that needed to be surgically removed. The doctors scheduled the surgery for Aug. 2.

As the date approached, Susan and Rick decided to go on a pilgrimage to Blessed Solanus Casey’s tomb in Detroit to pray for their daughter. Susan even put together a novena, a nine-day period of prayers, in Blessed Solanus Casey’s name that her family, friends, and church community participated in.

Susan said she had longed prayed to Casey. She felt a sense of familiarity with him since he also resided in Michigan, where he became a Capuchin friar and worked as a porter at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit.

He also helped start the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit to help those in need. Susan and Rick shared that they often wonder if Casey ever directly helped their own fathers who lived just down the street from the kitchen during a time they were both facing poverty. 

Susan told the Diocese of Lansing that Casey’s life “is an inspiration” to her, which led her to also ask others to pray to him for her daughter’s healing. 

After weeks of prayer and anticipation, Mary went to the doctor on July 30 for a pre-surgery MRI scan to get updated images. The date coincidentally happened to be Casey’s feast day. 

On the drive there, Susan prayed: “Solanus, this is your feast day. I am doing this for you. I know you have big news.”

The day after the scan, Mary and her parents received a call from her doctors that the surgery could be canceled. It was determined there was no sign of the tumors after multiple radiologists and doctors looked over the images. They were completely gone.

Mary said her first thought was that “it was a mistake,” but six months later, follow-up scans continued to reveal no evidence of any masses or tumors. 

“We forget about the power of prayer,” Susan said, “and this is just a testimony to the power of prayer.”

On the day Mary’s surgery was supposed to take place, she and her parents traveled back to Casey’s tomb, this time to give thanks for their answered prayers. 

While the family was there, they submitted documentation of Mary’s case to the Solanus Casey Center so it can be considered as a miracle to help further Casey’s path to sainthood.

Pope Francis acknowledged a previous miracle by Casey in 2017. A woman with a genetic skin condition prayed at Casey’s tomb in Detroit and was miraculously healed. If another miracle is recognized by the Vatican, it would further propel Casey to canonization. 

Mary’s family strongly advocates that he receives that standing. Mary told the Diocese of Lansing that she would be “honored” if her story was what led Casey to become a saint. “He deserves to be canonized,” she said.

Livia Tossici-Bolt is awaiting a verdict in her case in which she was charged with violating a “buffer zone” that restricts pro-life speech near abortion clinics. / Credit: Photo courtesy of ADF International

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 17:56 pm (CNA).

A bureau of the United States Department of State announced it is “monitoring” an arrest of a pro-life advocate in the United Kingdom who was charged with violating a “buffer zone” that restricts pro-life speech near abortion clinics.

In a post on X, the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor confirmed that Senior Adviser Sam Samson met with Livia Tossici-Bolt, a pro-life advocate charged with breaching a buffer zone by standing near an abortion clinic and holding a sign that read, “Here to talk, if you want.”

The verdict for Tossici-Bolt, who was charged with breaching a public spaces protection order, is expected to be handed down on Friday by District Judge Orla Austin — the same judge who delivered a guilty verdict to pro-life advocate Adam Smith-Connor for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in October 2024.

“We are monitoring her case,” the bureau’s post on X read. “It is important that the U.K. respect and protect freedom of expression.”

The post referenced comments made by U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Munich earlier this year in which he chastised the deterioration of free speech and religious freedom within Europe. Vance specifically criticized the British enforcement of “buffer zone” laws and the conviction of Smith-Connor.

“U.S.-U.K. relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the post read. “However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.”

Tossici-Bolt said in a statement that she is “grateful” the State Department is interested in her case, adding that “Great Britain is supposed to be a free country, yet I’ve been dragged through court merely for offering consensual conversation.”

Her statement was sent out by Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is representing her in court.

“Peaceful expression is a fundamental right — no one should be criminalized for harmless offers to converse,” she added. “It is tragic to see that the increase of censorship in this country has made the U.S. feel it has to remind us of our shared values and basic civil liberties.”

Tossici-Bolt expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump’s administration “for prioritizing the preservation and promotion of freedom of expression and for engaging in robust diplomacy to that end.”

“It deeply saddens me that the U.K. is seen as an international embarrassment when it comes to free speech,” she continued. “My case, involving only a mere invitation to speak, is but one example of the extreme and undeniable state of censorship in Great Britain today. It is important that the government actually does respect freedom of expression, as it claims to.”

“Today we run the risk that our organizations, so dependent on the welfare state ... could be easily confused with a very bureaucratic NGO [nongovernmental organization],” said Archbishop Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference. / Credit: Spanish Bishops’ Conference

Madrid, Spain, Apr 1, 2025 / 17:24 pm (CNA).

The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE, by its Spanish acronym), Archbishop Luis Argüello, opened the conference’s 127th plenary assembly this week with a deep analysis of Spain’s growing secularization, noting that the time has ended when one could say “I am Catholic because I was born in Spain.”

“The time has passed, settled for centuries, when we said: I’m Catholic because I was born in Spain,” Argüello said, noting that the Church can no longer take for granted that people are converted or initiated in the Catholic faith in today’s society.

During his talk, the archbishop of Valladolid noted the worrying situation that while there are 23,000 baptismal fonts distributed over the country’s 22,921 parishes, many of them “have no water” due to lack of Christian community that can “help the Holy Spirit engender new Christians” and in more populated areas there is “a very weak awareness of the responsibility entailed in having a baptismal font.”

This panorama represents a “large, quantitative and qualitative challenge” that requires discernment, especially considering that in numerous rural parishes it is no longer possible to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist, while in large cities there is a remarkable contrast of schedules and celebrations according to the neighborhoods.

The difficulty of ‘transforming emotion into virtue’

Given the situation, the archbishop of Valladolid added that “it has never been possible to be a Christian alone” and therefore the task of promoting communities “where living the integral formation of the heart” becomes especially important.

In this regard, he emphasized the role of various retreat movements and apostolates such as Emmaus, Ephphatha, Bartimaeus, the Conjugal Love Project, Life in the Spirit, Hakuna, etc. that “make an impact along with the invitation to continue” in the Christian life but that are faced with the difficulty of “transforming an emotional experience into virtue, of finding specific ways to grow that go beyond recreating the the initial impact.” 

Regarding the social and charitable work of Catholic organizations, Argüello warned that “today we run the risk that our organizations, so dependent on the welfare state, its rules, and subsidies for the third sector [nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and nonprofits], might offer in a weak way the novelty of Christian love and could be easily confused with a very bureaucratic NGO.”

“The same thing could happen to us in our educational or communications endeavors,” he added.

A farewell to the apostolic nuncio

At the beginning of his address, Argüello offered words of recognition to Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the outgoing nuncio, thanking him for “the work he has done during these five years in Spain,” emphasizing that “many of us here have received, through his mediation, the episcopal commission that the Holy Father has bestowed upon us.”

These words, along with the expression of best wishes in his new role as nuncio to the European Union, drew the only applause during Argüello’s talk.

Auza expressed his gratitude for the farewell remarks and said during his address that he has shared “the joys and sorrows of Spanish society and the Church” and that, over the course of five and a half years, “with the desire to always know and serve you, in the name of the Holy Father, I have strived to do my best wherever I have been called.” 

Regarding his time in the various Spanish dioceses, “from Covadonga to Granada,” he emphasized that the brotherhoods and confraternities remind him “how Andalusian the Church in the Philippines is, especially during Holy Week.”

Protest over the resignification of the Valley of the Fallen

During Monday’s assembly, a group of about 50 people gathered outside CEE headquarters in Madrid, protesting that the conference is collaborating with plans to “resignify” the Valley of the Fallen, a monumental war memorial built as a final resting place for combatants from both sides of the Spanish Civil War.

The memorial was commissioned by Francisco Franco, Spain’s longtime head of state and leader of the winning Nationalist side in the bloody conflict with leftist Republican forces.

The leftist governing coalition in Spain considers the memorial a monument to Franco and his dictatorship.

The controversy over the monument is colored by the fact that Franco supported the Catholic Church, which was caught in the middle and was severely persecuted by elements of the Republican side.

Some of those present outside CEE headquarters carried banners with the slogan “Cobo Judas,” referring to the archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo, who is involved in the resignification process.

Near CEE headquarters, a wall was tagged with graffiti with slogans such as “CEE traitors,” “The valley is not to be touched,” “Bishops, you sell Christ for 30 [pieces of silver],” and “Betrayal of the martyrs.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance waves to the crowd at the 2025 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. / Credit: EWTN News/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 16:49 pm (CNA).

U.S. Vice President JD Vance intends to visit Rome during Easter weekend, although the planned trip has not yet been finalized, according to Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the vice president plans to arrive in Rome on Good Friday, April 18, and depart from the city on Easter Sunday, April 20. The news outlet stated that it had viewed correspondence confirming the intended visit but that an official informed them the plans could change.

According to the article, diplomats for the United States sought to coordinate a meeting between Vance and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but no meeting had been scheduled by the time of publication.

It’s unclear whether the potential visit is intended to correspond with Easter weekend or whether that is coincidental. It’s also not known whether Vance, who is a convert to Catholicism, plans to visit the Holy See or other holy sites in the area if the three-day trip takes place.

Vance last traveled to Europe in mid-February to address the Munich Security Conference in Germany. 

During his previous visit to the region, the vice president chastised leaders of the continent’s countries for policies that permit mass migration waves as well as laws that restrict free speech and religious freedom.

Vance was critical of arrests in the United Kingdom for silent prayer near abortion clinics and the Scottish “safe access zones” law that bans religious preaching within 200 meters (about 650 feet) of an abortion clinic.

The vice president subsequently faced public criticism from numerous European politicians but received a more favorable response from Meloni, who last week told the Financial Times that the criticism was directed at Europe’s “ruling class” and not its people.

“I have to say I agree [with Vance],” Meloni said, according to the article. “I’ve been saying this for years ... Europe has a bit lost itself.”

Vance’s prospective visit to Europe would come shortly after President Donald Trump’s new tariffs will go into effect against the European Union, of which Italy is a member. Trump imposed tariffs on products from Europe and other parts of the world in March, but more tariffs are set to go into effect on April 2.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said this week that she has a “strong plan to retaliate” against the U.S. tariffs if it becomes necessary.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks to attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. / Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:34 pm (CNA).

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt this week signed an executive order instructing state officials to ensure Oklahoma’s laws are “the most robust” in the nation at protecting religious freedom, with the governor also criticizing the state attorney general for attempting to block a proposed Catholic charter school there.

The order, announced on Monday, initiates a review of various state laws and policies to ensure they comply with religious freedom protections enshrined in both the U.S. Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.

The directive explicitly targets several state laws, including one requiring charter schools to be “nonsectarian” in their operations.

The order comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court began considering a proposed Oklahoma school that could be the nation’s first publicly-funded religious charter school. 

Oklahoma’s St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was approved by the state charter school board to open in 2023, but state Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the charter school board, arguing the charter school’s existence would constitute state support of a religion.

The ongoing litigation has since reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the landmark decision could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S.

Drummond criticized the governor’s religious freedom order this week, citing concerns that taxpayers could be forced to support other religious institutions. 

“Gov. Stitt has been clear that he supports our tax dollars funding radical Muslim schools teaching sharia law, and I couldn’t disagree with him more,” Drummond said in a March 31 statement. 

“If a taxpayer-funded religious charter school is allowed to open in Oklahoma, it will only be a matter of time before taxpayers are funding schools dedicated to sharia law, Wicca indoctrination, scientology instruction — even the Church of Satan,” he alleged. 

“As a devoted Christian and a strong supporter of religious liberty, I can tell you that the only way to protect religious liberty is for the state not to sponsor any religion at all — just like our Founding Fathers intended,” Drummond continued.

Stitt in his executive order explicitly criticized what he calls Drummond’s “apparent hostility to religious liberty.”

“By filing lawsuits seeking to prevent the nation’s first religious charter school [from] opening its doors, Oklahoma’s attorney general has fought against Oklahomans’ religious liberty with a zeal and aggressiveness that suggests animosity towards religion and religious liberty,” Stitt wrote.

Stitt’s executive order further requires that state officials not restrict access to public programs on the basis of a person’s or entity’s religious nature.

The executive order instructs “that no individual or entity shall be excluded from participation in, or denied access to, any public benefit, program, or funding solely on the basis of their religious character or affiliation or intended religious use of such benefits.”

“Religious freedom is foundational to our way of life in Oklahoma,” Stitt said this week. “It’s not a privilege handed out by the government — it’s a God-given right that the government must protect.”

“We will not stand by while faith-based organizations — including faith-based schools — are pushed to the sidelines by activist bureaucrats or hostile politicians,” he said.

An EF2 tornado in the early hours of March 31, 2025, in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, tore off the roof of the St. Peter Parish catechism building. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Debbie LaFleur

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:01 pm (CNA).

A Louisiana parish suffered major damage to its property after a tornado passed through during the early hours of Monday morning.

Debbie LaFleur, secretary of St. Peter Catholic Church in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, told CNA the roof of the parish catechism building was torn off and that several fallen tree limbs fell onto the rectory, causing the above-ground structure to shift on its pillars. The rectory and catechism building were built in 1950 and 1970, respectively. 

The catwalk between the rectory and the church, a carport, and the awning over a handicap ramp will all need to be replaced, LaFleur said. She also noted that several of the parish’s “very old” oak trees had been damaged or fallen down and that several headstones in its cemetery had been knocked down as well.

The only building that did not suffer any damage on account of the category EF2 tornado was the church itself. 

“The church was not touched,” LaFleur stated. “Father Jude [Halphen] says that our saints, our relics, helped protect us.” 

St. Peter’s church houses numerous relics, including those of Blessed Carlos Acutis, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Acutis is set to be canonized at the end of this month. 

Originally built in 1950, the church was renovated last year. Among repairs, the parish brought in a new altar from Belgium. The parish is also currently working to put up altar rails, which LaFleur said came from a now-shuttered church in Harlem. 

“Pray for us that we can rebuild and get through this with little stress,” LaFleur said.

“Our parishioners are great parishioners,” she added. “They came out and they cleaned up the mess, so that by 4 o’clock [Monday] afternoon, it was clean.” 

The parish is currently waiting on structural engineers to assess the full damage to the property and the potential cost for needed repairs.

null / Credit: ElenaR/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 11:35 am (CNA).

A former bookkeeper at two New Jersey Catholic parishes has been accused of stealing nearly $300,000 from the two churches over the course of several years. 

Morris County, New Jersey, Prosecutor Robert Carroll’s office said in a Friday press release that Melissa Rivera had been charged with “theft in connection to her former role as bookkeeper” in the parishes of Our Lady of the Mountain and Our Lady of Good Counsel, both located in Morris County. 

Rivera was accused of stealing $292,728 from both parishes, the prosecutor’s office said. She was allegedly creating fake checks at both parishes and then depositing them to her bank accounts. 

The alleged thefts occurred between May 2018 and May 2024, the press release said. Rivera was charged with multiple counts of theft and forgery. 

After being charged she was “released pending future court proceedings,” according to the press release. The county financial crimes unit contributed to the case, the prosecutor said. 

Several Catholic officials have faced prosecution and jail time in recent years over thefts from their respective parishes. 

A bookkeeper at a Florida Catholic parish was sentenced in November 2024 to more than two years of federal prison after stealing nearly $900,000 from the church at which she managed financial records. 

In July 2024, meanwhile, a priest in Missouri pleaded guilty to stealing $300,000 from a church at which he was pastor for nearly a decade.

That same month, a former Catholic parish employee in Alabama pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her church in order to send money to TikTok content creators. 

And in May 2024 a former employee at a Tampa, Florida, Catholic church pleaded guilty to stealing more than three-quarters of a million dollars from the parish while employed there.

On April 2, 2025, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its “Based on a True Saint” series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, “The Boy from Milan,” focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis. / Credit: The Augustine Institute

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On April 2, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its “Based on a True Saint” series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, “The Boy from Milan,” focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis.

The film aims to help viewers get to know the Church’s first millennial saint better and show how an ordinary teenager with a deep love for God and other people can became a saint. 

The documentary includes interviews with three individuals who knew Acutis personally: his mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis; his high school religion teacher at Leone XIII Institute in Milan, Fabrizio Zaggia; and Dr. Mercedes Arguello, Acutis’ pediatric oncologist at San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.

Emily Mentock, executive producer of “The Boy from Milan” and co-founder of Digital Continent — the production company that worked in partnership with the Augustine Institute — spoke to CNA about the inspiration behind the film and why she believes Acutis is resonating with so many people around the world.

She explained that Acutis was the inspiration behind the “Based on a True Saint” series in the first place. The first documentary in the series was about Blessed Solanus Casey. In each film in the series, the goal is to answer the question “Is holiness possible today?”

“I was thinking of Carlo and the way he is presented to the world when we came up with the idea for the series as a whole because I just kept hearing how I should care about the saint because he’s a millennial like me and played video games, but that doesn’t tell me anything about the path to holiness,” Mentock shared. “So, I was really just grateful for the opportunity to dive deeper into his story and hear from people who really knew him, not just about him, what he was really like on a daily basis.”

Mentock said she believes Acutis’ popularity stems from the fact that “he’s relevant, he lived in our time,” and this gives people “hope for believing that we can also maybe achieve holiness.”

“Sometimes you look around at our world today and wonder, is this [holiness] really possible? And Carlo shows us that it is, absolutely,” she added.

While filming and getting to know Acutis better, Mentock came to admire his love for life and how “he looked at life as his field to put into practice the teachings of Jesus.”

She also pointed out how all of the individuals shown in the film were greatly impacted by knowing Acutis personally, especially Arguello, his pediatric oncologist, who found strength in Acutis’ testimony when she herself received a cancer diagnosis. 

“It never ceases to amaze me that it was so evident how they were living differently and in a different relationship with God because of how Carlo had helped them turn toward God,” she said.

Mentock said she hopes the film will leave viewers inspired by Acutis’ “daily holiness.”

“I think that Carlo can inspire anyone, but I do think that he especially is a gift for young, young people today to look around and say, it doesn’t matter if you’re 10 years old, 12 years old, 14 years old — you can go out and make a difference, live your life boldly for the Lord, and Carlo’s a great example for that,” she said.

EWTN has also released a documentary on Acutis titled “I Am With You,” which can be seen on EWTN On Demand.