Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Bishop Gregory Kelly. / Credit: Scott Wagner Photo LLC, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop to lead the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, more than a year after the Holy See removed its Bishop Joseph Strickland amid questions over management of the diocese. 

Dallas Auxiliary Bishop J. Gregory Kelly will lead the Tyler Diocese, apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre said on Friday. 

He will take over diocesan leadership from Austin Bishop Joe Vásquez, who has served as apostolic administrator in Tyler since last year. 

Pope Francis relieved Strickland from the Tyler bishopric last November after an apostolic visitation concluded it was “not feasible” for Strickland to remain in that position. Strickland had days earlier refused to submit his resignation voluntarily.

Strickland, 65, had served as bishop of Tyler since 2012. The widely popular though polarizing Texas bishop had faced criticism for his firebrand social media posts, including a tweet last year that suggested Pope Francis was “undermining the deposit of faith.” 

‘I am grateful for this new responsibility’

The Texas Catholic, the newspaper for the Diocese of Dallas, said on Friday that Kelly will be installed in Tyler on Feb. 24, 2025. 

“I am grateful for this new responsibility and will do my best to serve the priests, deacons, religious, and faithful of the Diocese of Tyler,” the paper quoted Kelly as saying. 

The bishop-elect was born on Feb. 15, 1956, in Le Mars, Iowa. He received a degree in philosophy from the University of Dallas while in priestly formation at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas. He later received a master of divinity from the university. 

He was ordained in the Dallas Diocese on May 15, 1982, by Bishop Thomas Tschoepe. He served in numerous roles throughout the diocese, including as pastor at multiple churches and as the chaplain at the University of Dallas. From 2008 to 2016 he served as the vicar of clergy for the Dallas Diocese.

In 2016 he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of the diocese, where he has served since. He also serves as the vicar general and moderator of the curia. 

His other responsibilities have included serving as the diocesan vocations director and as a member of the diocesan review board. He also served as apostolic administrator there from 2016–2017. 

Dallas Bishop Edward Burns said on Friday that the pope “has chosen a loyal and committed bishop to serve in the Diocese of Tyler,“ though he said that “our beloved brother will be missed here in the Diocese of Dallas.”

“We acknowledge that Pope Francis has chosen a man who possesses the heart of the Good Shepherd and will serve the people of God in the Diocese of Tyler well,” Burns said. 

null / Credit: pim pic/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Many women who undergo chemical abortions experience more pain than they were prepared for and more than 40% go through “severe” pain, according to a peer-reviewed study of British women conducted by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS).

The study, published in the BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health online journal, notes that women who seek out chemical abortions are often advised that the pain from chemical abortions will be similar to “period pain,” but the researchers note that the pain experienced can vary widely and be much more severe.

“Many felt unprepared for the level of pain they experienced,” the study notes, adding that in many cases, there is “a lack of detailed, realistic anticipatory pain counseling.”

The survey found that 48.5% of respondents experienced more pain than they expected. About 92% of the women who underwent chemical abortions rated their pain level at least “4” on a scale of 1 to 10, with 41.5% rating their pain as “8” or higher, which designates “severe” pain.

According to the study, some women told researchers that the pain described in consultations or information leaflets was “washed over,” “downplayed,” or “sugarcoated.” 

“The pain was intense and constant, in my lower back,” one of the women explained. “It hurt so much that it made me throw up several times. I felt shaky and faint at points.”

“Pain was so much stronger than period pain,” another woman described. “It was like having contractions in labor. I’ve given birth three times and the pain really wasn’t too much different from that pain, the cramping contraction pain.”

Another woman surveyed told researchers “the pain was really a lot worse than I expected, perhaps because it was compared to bad period pain and my periods have always been fairly pain-free.”

“Pain was so severe, and yet everything I read or heard, and what little there was about the pain on the internet was [that] it was slight cramping, like a bad period … [which] couldn’t be further from the truth,” she continued. 

“… The amount of pain you could go through is completely played down. … I understand they probably don’t want to scare many women, but I’d rather know how bad the pain can get.”

The researchers wrote in the study that “setting realistic expectations” about pain levels is needed for women to support “informed” decisions.

“Benchmarking against period pain has long been used as a way to describe the pain associated with medical abortion, despite the wide variability of period pain experienced,” Hannah McCulloch, the lead author of the study, said in a statement.

“For many respondents, using period pain as a reference point for what to expect was not helpful for managing expectations, or in line with their experiences,” she added.

Nearly 1,600 women who underwent chemical abortions in England and Wales responded to the survey. Chemical abortions are prescribed for British women up to 10 weeks’ gestation, which is the same standard approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

At 10 weeks’ gestation, an unborn child has a fetal heartbeat, early brain activity, and partially developed eyes, lips, and nostrils. The abortion pill mifepristone kills the child by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the supply of oxygen and nutrients. A second pill, misoprostol, expels the child’s body from the mother, essentially inducing labor.

Pro-life pregnancy resource centers often offer abortion pill reversal (APR) medicine, which is meant to reverse the effects of mifepristone by increasing progesterone levels.

Pope Francis meets with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday, June 14, 2024, after a session at the G7 summit, which is being held June 13–15 in the southern Italian region of Puglia. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 19:45 pm (CNA).

U.S. President Joe Biden accepted an invitation to visit Pope Francis next month and discuss efforts to advance peace, the White House announced on Thursday. 

Biden, the country’s second Catholic president, is set to travel to Rome from Jan. 9–12 at Pope Francis’ invitation. His audience with Pope Francis is set for Jan. 10 and will focus on efforts to advance peace around the world.

The trip announcement came following a Thursday telephone conversation between Pope Francis and Biden, during which the two leaders discussed “efforts to advance peace around the world during the holiday season,” according to a Dec. 19 statement from the White House. 

“The president thanked the pope for his continued advocacy to alleviate global suffering, including his work to advance human rights and protect religious freedoms,” the statement read. “President Biden also graciously accepted His Holiness Pope Francis’ invitation to visit the Vatican next month.”

Biden is also set to meet with Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, and Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni during his visit. The White House noted that Biden will thank Meloni for her leadership of the G7 over the past year. The G7 Summit is an annual meeting of government leaders from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Italy.

Overseas visits this late in a U.S. presidency are rare. The most recent overseas visit in the last month of a president’s term was more than 30 years ago, when outgoing president George H.W. Bush visited Moscow to sign a nuclear treaty and Paris for talks with the French president about the Bosnian war. 

Biden last met with Pope Francis in June of this year where the two discussed foreign policy in Israel, Gaza, and the Ukraine as well as climate change. During a private audience at the G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy, the two leaders “emphasized the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and a hostage deal” in Gaza and the need to “address the critical humanitarian crisis,” according to the White House. 

At the time, Biden also thanked Pope Francis for the Vatican’s work to address the humanitarian concerns in Ukraine and for his efforts to address climate change.

The two have consistently discussed the Israel-Hamas war since October 2023, when they spoke over the phone about preventing escalation and working toward peace in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in which Hamas killed more than 1,200 men, women, and children. 

Biden previously met with Pope Francis in October 2021 for about 75 minutes to discuss poverty, climate change, and other issues. That was Biden’s first in-person meeting with the pontiff as president, but the two leaders also spoke on the phone shortly after the presidential election. Biden had met Pope Francis three times before becoming president. 

Pope Francis has criticized Biden in the past for his promotion of legal abortion as a Catholic, calling it an “incoherence” in a 2022 interview. Pope Francis said: “Let [Biden] talk to his pastor about that incoherence.” 

The Holy Father also recently called for an end to production and use of anti-personnel explosives in November, just a week after Biden approved Ukraine’s use of American land mines in the Russia-Ukraine war. 

During the past four years of Biden’s administration, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been consistently at odds with the Biden administration over issues related to abortion and gender ideology.

An FBI agent stands outside the Houck residence in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 23, 2022. Mark Houck was arrested that day and charged with assaulting a Planned Parenthood escort outside an Philadelphia abortion clinic on Oct. 13, 2021. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Houck family

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2024 / 17:35 pm (CNA).

House Republican lawmakers discussed repealing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act on Wednesday after hearing testimony alleging the law has been weaponized against pro-life protesters.

The FACE Act, which has been federal law for 30 years, imposes harsher prison sentences for people who obstruct access to abortion clinics or pro-life pregnancy resource centers. However, under President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), the law has almost exclusively been used to convict pro-life demonstrators.

Rep. Chip Roy introduced legislation to repeal the FACE Act in 2023, but the bill failed to make it out of the Judiciary Committee. If a repeal effort were to pass the House, it would need to overcome the filibuster in the Senate by garnering support from seven Democrats in the upcoming session. The effort has not gotten support from any Democratic lawmakers.

On Wednesday, Dec. 18, lawmakers heard testimony about the alleged targeting of pro-life activists in a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government hearing.

Unequal enforcement against pro-life advocates

Roy, who chairs the subcommittee, noted during the hearing that the Biden DOJ brought 25 FACE Act cases against more than 50 offenders.

Only two of those cases were against pro-abortion activists who vandalized pro-life pregnancy resource centers despite the numerous attacks following the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade. The remainder have been invoked against pro-life demonstrators. 

More than a dozen pro-life activists, several of whom are elderly and in poor health, are either in prison or awaiting sentencing for FACE Act violations. 

Lauren Handy, 31, who was given the longest sentence, is serving four years and nine months in prison. Other activists serving at least two years include 75-year-old Paulette Harlow and 74-year-old Jean Marshall. The oldest activist convicted under Biden’s tenure is 89-year-old Eva Edl, who is a survivor of a communist concentration camp in the former Yugoslavia and is currently awaiting sentencing.  

“Unequal application of the law is not truly law,” Roy said. “It is tyranny imposed on those who didn’t have the power by those who do have it. That’s contrary to everything we believe as Americans.”

Paul Vaughn, who was convicted of violating the FACE Act for his role in a March 2021 protest at an abortion clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, testified at the hearing that he peacefully prayed but never personally blocked anyone from entering the clinic. Others at the demonstration engaged in a nonviolent sit-in in front of the clinic doors and were also convicted. 

“I did nothing that was outside my constitutionally protected free speech and religious freedom,” Vaughn said. “I did nothing that day that I’ve not done many times since [the FACE Act] was passed in 1994. I did not sit in, I broke no laws, federal or local, and I was not arrested the day of the event.” 

Although local police did not arrest him, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided his home in October 2022 to arrest him under FACE Act charges, nearly a year and a half later. 

“My house was assaulted, my wife and children were terrorized, and I was kidnapped at gunpoint by four armed men,” he said. “I had just sent three of my children to the car so I could take them to school when the house began to shake from a loud banging near the front door. I heard men shouting on my porch, ‘Open up, FBI!’”

“I opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, staring down the barrels of both a pistol and an automatic weapon pointed at my head,” he added.

Vaughn did not get prison time but was given three years of supervised release. He testified that for him, “all this process is [still] a punishment.” 

“There are those who are in jail today while we are discussing this abuse, some of them for over a year at this point,” Vaughn said. 

Republicans and Democrats disagree

During the hearing, Roy reiterated his call to repeal the FACE Act and urged President-elect Donald Trump to pardon or commute the sentences of pro-life activists convicted under the law — something that Trump has said he intends to do. 

Rep. Dan Bishop, one of the Republican members of the committee, said during the hearing that “it just seems to me troubling.” 

“You got guns drawn and pointed at a man’s head and [you have] his children … stopped at the side,” Bishop said, adding that “we’re in an environment where we’re always talking about [how] police officers should deescalate [situations].” 

Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman said the “abuse of the FACE Act is an attempt to criminalize the free thought and the ability for people to … peacefully protest.”

“It’s a sad day in America when someone who is praying … [to] be arrested years later for that behavior,” she added.

Republican Rep. Tom McClintock added that the FACE Act is “being administered by people with political biases” and questioned whether there was a way to prevent weaponization without repealing the entirety of the law. 

Democrats, however, disagreed that the law has been weaponized and stressed that lawmakers should keep the FACE Act rules in place. 

“[Republicans] are really just giving themselves another opportunity to signal their support to the extremists plotting to criminalize or block access to abortion across the country,” Democratic Rep. Mary Scanlon said.

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler said: “Republicans have found no — zero — credible or direct evidence that supports their specious claims regarding what they alleged is the Department of Justice’s uneven enforcement of the FACE Act.”

“Anti-abortion extremists continue to use violence, threats, and disruption to curb access to abortion,” Nadler said. “So Republicans want to repeal the law that explicitly protects patients, providers, and facilities that provide reproductive health services from these ongoing threats.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland have denied that the FBI or DOJ have been targeting pro-life activists with FACE Act prosecutions.

null / Credit: RasyidArt/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2024 / 15:55 pm (CNA).

A school district in Ohio must pay a teacher a $450,000 settlement after it forced her to resign for refusing to participate in the “social transition” of minor students.

Attorneys representing Ohio teacher Vivian Geraghty at the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced news of the substantial settlement in a Dec. 18 press release, stating that the Jackson Local School District would pay damages and attorney fees for violating Geraghty’s freedom of speech. 

ADF had filed suit against the district in December 2022 over the dispute. 

“No school official can force a teacher to set her religious beliefs aside in order to keep her job,” stated ADF Legal Counsel Logan Spena in the release following news of the settlement.

“The school tried to force Vivian to accept and repeat the school’s viewpoint on issues that go to the foundation of morality and human identity, like what makes us male or female, by ordering her to personally participate in the social transition of her students,” Spena said.

“The First Amendment prohibits that abuse of power, and Jackson Local School District officials have learned that comes at a steep cost,” she added. “Vivian resisted this unconstitutional demand and explained that her Christian faith made her unable to participate in her students’ social transition, and she has received just vindication for taking this stand.”

Geraghty was working as an English teacher at Jackson Memorial Middle School in the northeast Ohio city of Massillon when two students approached her asking that she use pronouns and names that were inconsistent with their biological sex in order to facilitate “social transition.” 

Because of her firmly held Christian beliefs, Geraghty attempted to reach a solution with the school’s administration. However, the principal and the district’s curriculum director told her “she would be required to put her beliefs aside as a public servant” and that her refusal would “not work in a district like Jackson.”  

When she refused to affirm the students’ “gender identity,” the district curriculum director “handed Geraghty a laptop and ordered her to draft her letter of resignation in the adjoining room for immediate submission,” according to ADF.

ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, also condemned the district’s violation of Geraghty’s religious beliefs in an ADF press release at the time of the filing.

Geraghty wished to “avoid using her voice to validate ideas that violate her faith and jeopardize her students’ well-being,” Langhofer said at the time. 

“Increasing evidence suggests that this approach may lead adolescents to unnecessarily pursue dangerous medical interventions like puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or life-altering surgeries,” he pointed out. 

“Vivian treated every student with equality and respect, and it was unlawful for school officials to terminate her employment.” 

The payout comes several months after a similar ADF victory in which a school board in Virginia agreed to pay a teacher more than half a million dollars after he was fired for refusing to use a student’s transgender pronouns.

The faithful adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament at Adoration Sodality Day at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

National Catholic Register, Dec 19, 2024 / 14:55 pm (CNA).

On Dec. 19, 1999, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, was officially opened and consecrated. The opening Mass was celebrated by the Diocese of Birmingham’s bishop at the time, Bishop David Foley. Opening at the same time was Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. Then came the next awe-inspiring moment. 

“One vivid memory that I have is of the moment when the shield in front of the monstrance came down for the first time,” recalled Franciscan Father Joseph Mary Wolfe, chaplain and chapel dean for EWTN. “The monstrance presented for the first time the newly consecrated Sacred Host from the dedication Mass for adoration. The choir and orchestra that Mother Angelica had arranged for began to sing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and adoration began — forever changing the atmosphere of the temple, the monastery, and the surrounding area, because of the profound presence of the Eucharistic Lord who is loved and adored there.”

Father Joseph Mary was present from the start. He shared how various potential locations weren’t “quite right.” 

But then Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation saw the countryside acreage about 50 miles north of EWTN’s headquarters in Irondale. 

“I got out of the car and I knew. I felt the Lord’s presence so strongly. I knew this is where he wanted us,” the foundress of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration detailed in her biography.

“When Mother saw the property in Hanceville, she knew this was the place,” Father Joseph Mary said. “One of the things that confirmed the location was the fact that the land was purchased for the very first time by the first owner of the land on Aug. 2, which is the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, which is the name of the monastery. When they first began excavations of the land, they discovered white clay in the area where the temple now is.” Since clay in Alabama is red, “they saw this as another confirmation.”

Then came a direction straight from the Lord himself, Father Joseph Mary explained.

“Her experience with the child Jesus at the Shrine of Divino Niño in Bogotá, Colombia, gave her the impetus from the child Jesus himself: ‘Build me a temple, and I will help those who help you.’ The genuineness of Mother Angelica’s experience is confirmed by the fact that the shrine exists and the benefactors’ businesses all prospered, as they later related to Mother Angelica.”

Brother Bernard Mary of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, who was also present at the beginning of the shrine, told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, that the shrine “has fulfilled Mother Angelica’s vision by becoming a place of pilgrimage for the laity, priests, and religious with a special emphasis on rekindling Eucharistic devotion.” He added that “another aspect that may be overlooked is how it has transformed the lives of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration. When they were in Irondale, they eventually became surrounded by EWTN facilities.”

“It was impossible for them not to be affected by the noise and busyness of the network,” he said. “In Hanceville, they are able to return to their contemplative vocation in the midst of an idyllic pastoral setting. That was certainly one of Mother Angelica’s intentions when she moved the community.”

The shrine materializes

The monastery-farm project, breaking ground in 1996, blossomed into “a monumental complex of European-style architecture in rural Alabama.”

Brother Bernard explained that five anonymous families financed everything because they “wanted to give the best of the best to Our Lord. No expense was spared.”

The design of both the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery is Romanesque-Gothic architecture inspired by great 13th-century Franciscan churches and monasteries, especially in Assisi and Umbria.

Inside the shrine, the altar, sanctuary floor, and intricately designed temple floor are of exquisite marbles from Italy, Macedonia, Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Finland, and Turkey.

The beautifully designed and colorful stained-glass windows were made by famed glassmakers in Munich, Germany. The 55-feet-high, gold-leafed, hand-carved reredos of cedar from Paraguay becomes the throne for the nearly-eight-foot monstrance where Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament is worshipped in perpetual adoration and solemn exposition.

The statue of El Divino Niño in the shrine replicates the one Mother saw in Colombia. In the huge piazza, the centerpiece is another statue of the divine child Jesus.

Commenting on the completed shrine, Mother Angelica said at the time: “I never in my wildest dreams thought it would be so beautiful. At every turn he would change it. It got bigger and bigger, and more and more beautiful. In every possible way he intercepted our ideas and we could see what he wanted. He designed it; he built it; he paid for it.”

Countless blessings

Seeds for vocations were planted at the shrine, too, such as for Father Patrick Mary of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word. In 2000, home after his first semester away at college, he drove with his parents and seven siblings from Florida to northern Alabama. The family decided to attend the Christmas midnight Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

“I was an unsuspecting pilgrim walking across the piazza toward the shrine for Mass that night,” Father Patrick Mary recalled to the Register. “I had no idea that I was about to have a religious experience that would change the direction of my life. Although I had been going to Mass regularly on Sundays, I was quite lukewarm and mediocre interiorly, and the priesthood was not something on my mind.”

“A number of things struck me at the Mass — the beauty of the church, the reverence that I witnessed, and the use of Latin and of incense,” he vividly recalled. “The Gregorian chant and polyphony sung by the nuns was also very edifying and inspiring and was quite a contrast to the heavy-metal music which I had immersed myself in the previous few years. It was in the midst of all this at the Mass, that a clear and peaceful desire to be a priest was put on my heart. And it never went away. This led to my discernment of the priesthood and the religious life and to entering the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word.”

Looking back on the shrine’s silver jubilee, Father Patrick Mary said: “I’m grateful to God for the many graces given me at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and for the graces that continue to be poured out on pilgrims who come from all over, seeking a place of prayer, of peace, and of spiritual refreshment. For 25 years our God has been adored there in the Blessed Sacrament, day in and day out, by the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration and by pilgrims from all over. It is a most fitting place to give thanks to the Lord, whose goodness and love endure forever.”

In these past 25 years, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament has likely brought about countless conversions.

Brother Leo Mary easily recalls how many people came into the Church 25 years ago. 

“About 80 people came into the Church just at the beginning, when that shrine was being built,” he told the Register. “Bishops said they had a lot coming into the Catholic Church just because of them going to see the shrine. They would ask what drew these people to the faith, and a lot of it was EWTN and also the shrine, so that’s powerful.”

The visitors never stopped. Then, like today, “it was all about the Eucharist,” Brother Leo Mary said. Since he gives tours of the shrine and works with the pilgrims, he finds that so many “come to the shrine when they see signs for it on well-traveled roads. We get a lot of people come through that are non-Catholics, all of the denominations, and God loves them. … They stop by, and it’s beautiful to see how God is working on all these beautiful people.”

“Everything is about the Eucharist,” he underscored. “When you go into the main church, everything is pointing to the monstrance, everything points to Jesus in the Eucharist, and it’s very powerful in that sense. They learn about the faith and see the beauty.”

“Mother Angelica always wanted people to come to know Jesus,” Brother Leo Mary added. The Blessed Sacrament Shrine is “all about pointing you to Jesus and how much he loves you. That’s what she wanted.”

The shrine grows

Along the way, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery dedicated another addition on Dec. 8, 2013 — the new John Paul II Eucharistic Center. Cardinal Raymond Burke celebrated the dedication Mass. At that time, he told the Register: “Mother Angelica, in her profoundly rich and courageous love of the Catholic faith and in her desire to bring the Catholic faith to all, rightly founded a shrine dedicated the mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist.

He added that “all of us in the Church should have a particular appreciation for the inspiration of Mother Angelica in establishing a shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.”

How does Father Joseph Mary see Mother’s vision has worked out for the shrine over these 25 years? 

“This is just the beginning,” he said. “It has benefitted so many souls already and sparked vocations, including our own Father Patrick’s vocation. I believe greater things are yet to come.” 

A Prayer for the Silver Jubilee 

This prayer was composed for this silver anniversary by Poor Clare Sister Mary Michael, one of the original sisters of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration to come from Ohio to Alabama with Mother Angelica:

“Dearest Jesus, at this time when our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for the infinite love you show us in your incarnation, we’re also thankful for this beautiful shrine and monastery that you inspired Mother Angelica to build; a temple where you would always be loved and adored in the Most Blessed Sacrament. This beautiful chapel is a place where everyone can spend quiet time with you, the God of love, in adoration and intimate conversation.

“Our hearts have always been filled with love and gratitude for all our friends and benefactors who made this shrine possible and help keep it going. They are daily remembered in our prayers. Bless each one of them, Jesus; keep them safe and reward them with the greatest gift you can give to anyone — the gift of yourself.”

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

The U.S. bishops designated the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., as a special pilgrimage site for the 2025 Jubilee Year on Dec. 17, 2024.  / Credit: Victoria Lipov/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

The U.S. bishops on Tuesday designated the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., as a special pilgrimage site for the 2025 Jubilee Year. 

A jubilee is a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage that happens at least once every 25 years. The pope can call for extraordinary jubilee years, such as the 2016 Year of Mercy, more often. During the jubilee, Catholics are encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Rome. For pilgrims who can’t travel to Rome, the bishops are expected to designate important local shrines and pilgrimage sites as special sites for the jubilee, according to the USCCB. 

“Visiting the basilica is a powerful way to take advantage of the grace of the jubilee and to be filled with the hope that flows from the embrace of our Mother,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the USCCB, said in a statement shared with CNA. 

One grace that “pilgrims of hope” on the jubilee may obtain is the “jubilee indulgence.” This grace is granted by the Holy Father to anyone who travels to any sacred jubilee site, whether in Rome, the Holy Land, or a locally designated sacred site.  

Monsignor Walter Rossi, rector of the National Shrine, shared his gratitude “for the privilege of designating Mary’s shrine as a special place of pilgrimage for the holy year.”

“This honor will provide a moment of grace for all ‘pilgrims of hope’ during the jubilee year and will be especially beneficial to those who are unable to travel to Rome to pass through the Holy Doors and obtain the jubilee indulgence,” Rossi said in a statement shared with CNA. 

The National Shrine is the largest Roman Catholic church in North America and is dedicated to the patroness of the United States — the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Immaculate Conception. 

A spokesperson for the U.S. bishops told CNA that the National Shrine is the only special place of pilgrimage designated by the U.S. bishops — but diocesan bishops may designate their own cathedrals and basilicas.   

“While the USCCB hasn’t given this distinction to other sites in the United States, you will see in the guidance published by the Holy See that various sacred places such as diocesan cathedrals and minor basilicas may be given the special designation by the local bishop to allow the faithful to obtain the jubilee indulgence,” Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs for the USCCB, told CNA. 

Bishops around the U.S. are beginning to designate special places of pilgrimage within their dioceses. 

In Michigan, for instance, the archbishop of Detroit designated 12 local pilgrimage sites. Archbishop Allen Vigneron noted that certain pilgrimage sites would be available for the faithful to receive graces. These 12 pilgrimage sites include the Basilica of Sainte Anne de Detroit, the Blessed Solanus Casey Center, and the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica. 

In the Archdiocese of Miami, Archbishop Thomas Wenski designated five churches as jubilee pilgrimage sites, including the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity and St. Mary Star of the Sea Basilica. 

In the Archdiocese of Denver, Archbishop Samuel Aquila established nine jubilee pilgrimage sites including the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden and the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

In Pennsylvania, Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia designated 10 sites, including the National Shrine of St. John Neumann as well as the Blessed Carlo Acutis Shrine and Center for Eucharistic Encounter.

A mom and her baby whom the St. Raymond’s Society helped. / Credit: Courtesy of St Raymond’s Society

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 13:55 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of recent pro-life, pro-family, and abortion-related updates.  

Missouri’s maternity home program saves money

A pro-family tax credit program in Missouri saves taxpayers nearly $600,000 a year while supporting mothers, a report found. The St. Raymond’s Society maternity home report found that the program, which offers tax credits for donations to pro-life maternity homes, saved hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars by limiting public spending on other programs, such as homelessness.

“Pregnant women and new mothers are highly vulnerable to the financial impacts of these precarious circumstances,” the report noted. “Early intervention to address poverty is important as studies show the longer one is in poverty, the less likely they are to exit poverty.”

Maternity homes do more than just house women — they often provide coaching and mentoring services as well as financial and emotional support. The program’s long-term impact means that women are less likely to fall into poverty and more likely to receive higher levels of education. This decreases their need for future public resources in the long term, the report found. 

In addition, these services help the child long-term by providing essential prenatal services that help prevent health issues. The report found that by supporting women during pregnancy, Missouri saves about $28,700 per person seeking maternity services, totaling almost $600,000 in savings. Missouri’s policy also gives donors to maternity homes a 70% return to use on their taxes.  

Housing for pregnant women and mothers

A prominent research institute released a report on Dec. 12 encouraging the U.S. government to do more to support pregnant and parenting women facing housing challenges. The Charlotte Lozier Institute urged the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — which currently allocates $70 billion to housing programs — to extend support to pregnant and parenting women in need of housing aid. 

The report highlighted the housing crisis and its effect on expecting mothers. Housing instability increases risks for a mother and her unborn child — including poverty, health complications, and even adverse birth outcomes, the report noted. In addition, housing instability and poverty are key reasons that women cite for having abortions. 

The Lozier Institute encouraged HUD to amend definitions in its programs to include pregnant and parenting women in need — and to place them at the front of the line. These changes, the report noted, would allow expecting mothers priority access to housing assistance programs. Current policy generally focuses on youth pregnancy, but the report noted that programs should be expanded to include better support for pregnant and parenting mothers of varying ages.

Canadian city to restrict pro-life flyers with abortion images

A city in British Columbia, Canada, is set to restrict flyers containing graphic images of aborted fetuses. The New Westminster council on Monday unanimously supported the bylaw, which applies to graphic images of aborted fetuses but not to graphic images in general. The bylaw will require mailed materials with graphic images of victims of abortion to be delivered in an opaque envelope with a content warning as well as the name and address of the sender. Advocates of the bylaw argued that the flyers could be harmful to receivers’ mental health. 

If approved, the bylaw would make New Westminster the first city in British Columbia to restrict abortion images, though other cities in Canada have made similar bylaws restricting pro-life materials with graphic images of what abortion does to a fetus. Abortion is legal in Canada and publicly funded through all nine months of pregnancy. The government of British Columbia’s website states that in the province, every person has a medical right to abortion. 

Kansas abortions skyrocket in 2023

A Kansas report found that abortions spiked 58% in 2023, with nonresidents representing three-quarters of Kansas abortions. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reported an increase from 12,319 abortions in 2022 to 19,467 in 2023. The number of nonresidents having abortions in Kansas nearly doubled from 8,475 in 2022 to 15,111 in 2023. Kansas became an “abortion destination” following abortion restrictions in neighboring states, with abortions in Kansas rising since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Before the overturn, there were 7,849 abortions reported by the KDHE in 2021.

While the Kansas Supreme Court in 2019 ruled that the state’s Bill of Rights contained a right to self-determination, which included a state right to have abortions, several states surrounding Kansas limit abortion, including Missouri and Oklahoma. Missouri’s current pro-life law, which allows abortions only in medical emergencies, is being challenged in court after the state voted to enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution. 

Father Lawrence Hecker pleaded guilty this week to kidnapping and raping a teenage boy in the 1970s, heading off a long-delayed trial that launched with an indictment last year.  / Credit: New Orleans Police Department

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 11:25 am (CNA).

A Louisiana priest who pleaded guilty to raping a teenage boy decades ago will spend the rest of his life in prison, a criminal court ruled this week. 

Lawrence Hecker was handed the life sentence in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court on Wednesday. The sentence was given by Judge Nandi Campbell “without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension.” Campbell was reportedly weeping for Hecker’s victim as she ordered the life sentence. 

“He admitted to some very horrible crimes,” Hecker’s lawyer Bobby Hjortsberg told media after the sentencing. 

“He took responsibility for that and I believe that sparing the victims from having to go through the anguish of a trial should give them some closure and allow them to walk away from this knowing they got justice,” Hjortsberg added.

Hecker had pleaded guilty earlier this month to the kidnapping and raping of his teenage victim in the 1970s. The last-minute plea headed off a long-delayed trial that launched with an indictment last year. 

In September of last year, the 93-year-old priest was indicted on charges of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, an aggravated crime against nature, and theft. The sex abuse crimes are alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1, 1975, and Dec. 31, 1976.

The trial was repeatedly delayed this year amid Hecker’s ill health and uncertainty over his mental competency to stand trial. Orleans Parish First Assistant District Attorney Ned McGowan had promised to “roll him in on a gurney” to try him.

District Attorney Jason Williams told media on Wednesday that he would request Hecker serve his sentence at Louisiana State Penitentiary, known popularly as Angola. Hjortsberg, meanwhile, said the convicted rapist will likely serve his sentence at a medical facility.

In a statement provided to CNA, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond said: “Today, it is our hope and prayer that the survivors of abuse perpetrated by Lawrence Hecker have some closure and some sense of peace in his sentencing.”

“On behalf of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, we offer our sincere and heartfelt apologies to the survivors for the pain Hecker has caused them to endure for decades,” the archbishop said, telling survivors the archdiocese “commend[s] your bravery” for coming forward.

“Our prayers are with all survivors,” the prelate said, adding that when the archdiocese has concluded its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, he will “meet with those survivors who wish to do so.”

The Archdiocese of New Orleans lists Hecker as among the priests who “are alive and have been accused of sexually abusing a minor, which led to their removal from ministry.”

The archdiocesan website says it received allegations against Hecker in 1996 and removed him from ministry in 2002. 

The archdiocese says the “time frame” of Hecker’s abuse spans the late 1960s and the early 1970s. The priest had in 1999 reportedly confessed to abusing multiple teenage boys during those years.

“Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age” is a new documentary film exploring the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis and the lessons he offers young people regarding the challenges of the digital world that will be coming to theaters in the spring of 2025. / Credit: Castletown Media

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 10:55 am (CNA).

An online presentation Tuesday sponsored by the National Eucharistic Revival explored the question of how Catholics can use technology for good, inspired by the life of soon-to-be-saint Carlo Acutis. 

Acutis, a young Italian who died in 2006, is due to be canonized during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. He is known for his skillful use of technology to spread his Catholic faith, particularly his creation of a still-extant website cataloging Eucharistic miracles.

Born in 1991, Carlo’s mother remembers the young whiz kid proudly describing himself as a “computer scientist” well before he got his first computer as a gift around the year 2000. He is often described as the Catholic Church’s first “tech-savvy” saint.

Tim Moriarty, director of the new film “Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age” and co-host of the Dec. 17 webinar, highlighted statistics that suggest the average teen spends half of his or her waking hours looking at screens, and the troubling evidence of mental health issues and suicidal ideation linked to excessive digital engagement. 

He described Acutis as a “digital missionary” who masterfully used the internet as a tool in his pursuit of holiness while the Eucharist kept him anchored to reality — unlike so many of his peers who, Moriarty argued, fell into the distractions, vices, and prideful pursuits that the burgeoning internet had to offer.

In the face of such challenges posed by imprudent use of technology, “in a world losing itself to screens,” Moriarty called Acutis “absolutely a saint for our times ... the saint we need.”

Acutis’ deep devotion to Christ in the Eucharist, which informed his prudent use of technology, is an example for people today, he said.

“[Acutis was] online to get people offline,” Moriarty said, explaining that Acutis sought to encourage people to have a tangible encounter with God in the sacraments, as Acutis himself so often did in Eucharistic adoration and at Mass.

Brett Robinson, associate professor of practice at Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute and the co-host of the webinar, called for a critical examination of Catholics’ relationship with technology, urging them to try to use technology intentionally and focus on cultivating meaningful relationships outside of the digital sphere.

He asserted that Catholics would do well to take an approach to technology more like the Amish — a group that contrary to popular belief does not reject technology, he added — and ask in the face of technological advancements not “What can this do for me?” but rather “What will this do for my community?”

Because society has become so dependent on technology, many people believe there is no choice but to accept the “collateral damage” of a teen mental health crisis driven largely by social media, the scourge of pornography, and a decay of public discourse online, Robinson argued. 

An “atomized” approach to life and a lack of “formation” in virtue has led to the misuse of technology and many of the problems of modern society, he asserted.

Robinson similarly presented Acutis as a model for navigating this digital landscape, emphasizing a balance between embracing technology’s benefits and maintaining a grounded spirituality — particularly within devotion to the Eucharist — as well as human connection.

Robinson closed by offering several pieces of advice for a better relationship with technology that he compiled from his students at Notre Dame; slow down and take moments of rest, reflection, and silence; go outside and spend time in nature to escape digital noise and find peace; be present and prioritize human connection, rituals, and habits; set boundaries and use technology intentionally; and seek meaning, defining yourself by your values and passions rather than your achievements.

Above all, he said, Christians are called to “contextualize” the world, helping those they encounter to understand the bigger picture.

“Something is being revealed in all this [technological] change; something’s being revealed about what it means to be human. And that’s actually a really good thing for the Church, but it’s up for us to discern,” Robinson said.