Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Various award-winning members of the EWTN News team are shown here in Phoenix, including National Catholic Register Editor-in-Chief Shannon Mullen, EWTN News Special Initiatives Director Jeanette DeMelo, EWTN News Director of Digital Strategy and Social Media Úrsula Murúa, Register Managing Editor Tom Wehner, CNA reporter Kate Quiñones, and CNA Editor-in-Chief Ken Oliver-Méndez. / Credit: CNA

Phoenix, Ariz., Jul 1, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA).

EWTN News properties received 27 awards at the recent 2025 Catholic Media Association (CMA) awards in Phoenix for journalistic excellence across Catholic News Agency, the National Catholic Register, and ChurchPop. 

For the second year in a row, EWTN Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board Michael Warsaw led the way, winning in the “Best Regular Column — General Commentary” category for his regular column “A Note From the Publisher.” A CMA judge hailed Warsaw’s columns for their “exceptional, frank, and forthright candor.” 

Meanwhile, the Register won coveted top honors as best Catholic newspaper of the year. “There’s something for every reader in this fine publication,” one CMA judge said of the paper, which has received this honor multiple times in recent years.

For its incisive coverage of in vitro fertilization, CNA also took first place in the category of “Best Analysis/Background/Round-Up News Writing — National Newspaper or Wire Service.” A CMA judge commented that the articles on the topic by reporters Tyler Arnold and Peter Pinedo gave “a detailed explanation of the science behind in vitro fertilization and how it can be viewed through a Catholic lens.” 

CNA’s editor-in-chief, Ken Oliver-Méndez, also took first place in the category “Best News Writing One Shot — National Event” for his coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention titled “Spiritual tone at RNC heightened in wake of Trump assassination attempt.” A CMA judge heaped praise on this “standout” piece for its “good insights and smart writing.”

Judges also recognized the agency’s top-notch global coverage, with CNA’s Marinella Bandini receiving first place for what one judge described as a “gripping, firsthand account” of a Catholic woman who survived the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in the category “Best News Writing One Shot — International Event.”

The Register also took first place in the “Best Coverage — Disaster or Crisis” category for articles on the Middle East by Solène Tadié, Alberto Fernández, and Michele Chabin.

The Register also led in the category of “Best Coverage — Religious Liberty Issues” with its articles by Alberto Fernández, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, and Jonathan Liedl on “Religious Liberty in the Crosshairs.” The coverage, one CMA judge said, provided “diverse perspectives and present differences evenhandedly.” 

CNA also won top honors for “Best Use of Video on Social Media — Ongoing Series — Radio, Television Stations, and Film Companies” for Francesca Pollio Fenton’s coverage of the new season of “The Chosen.” Pollio Fenton’s reporting of the press junket was described as “highly engaging.”

In the “Best Feature Writing — National Newspaper or Wire Service” category, the Register won first place for Matthew McDonald’s article “Surrounded by Halloween Witchery, Catholics in Salem Wage a Battle for Souls,” which a judge said was “grounded in history and well-known cultural themes.”

In addition, CNA, the Register, and sister EWTN News outlet ChurchPop amassed runner-up awards in 18 additional categories for coverage of ecumenical and interfaith issues and religious freedom as well as other events and topics ranging from 2024 papal travel to the National Eucharistic Revival to the issue of smartphones in the confessional. 

Celebrating the bevy of awards, EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado commented that “it’s humbling for all of the EWTN News team to be recognized among our peers, who understand what it takes to deliver news faithful to our shared mission and unmatched in quality, journalism that informs rather than inflames.”

Likewise, Register Editor-in-Chief Shannon Mullen emphasized that “it means a great deal to us to be recognized by our peers in the Catholic media.” 

“These honors are a testament to the hard work our journalists do every day to deliver the excellent journalism that our Church deserves and our readers have come to expect from the Register,” Mullen added.

In a similar vein, CNA editor-in-chief Oliver-Méndez called the awards a “testament to both the quality and value of the agency’s coverage of important events and issues of interest to Catholics in the United States and around the world.” 

“Receiving such recognition serves to stimulate our entire team as we strive to achieve excellence across the entire scope of our news coverage,” he concluded.

Carmen Sánchez Maíllo is academic secretary of the CEU Institute of Family Studies. / Credit: San Pablo CEU

Madrid, Spain, Jul 1, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Analyzing the consequences of the law that equated same-sex unions with marriage in Spain 20 years ago, Carmen Sánchez Maíllo, academic secretary of the CEU (Center of University Studies, by its Spanish acronym) Institute of Family Studies, considers the statute to be difficult to overturn but “not impossible.”

On July 1, 2005, Spain’s lower house passed the law that then-President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced a year earlier that his government would introduce. Article 44 of the Civil Code was reworded as follows: “Marriage shall have the same requirements and effects when both parties are of the same or different sexes.”

Spain thus became the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to equate marriage with same-sex unions, which also allowed same-sex couples to apply to adopt children in the latter two.

A few days before the final vote, a huge demonstration took place in Madrid featuring the theme “The Family Does matter, for a Father and a Mother.” Numerous civic groups participated in the event, which had the explicit support of the country’s Catholic Church.

As many as 20 Spanish bishops could be seen marching in the streets of Spain’s capital city, including the then-president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela.

On Sept. 30, 2005, the People’s Party (PP) filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court arguing that the law “denaturalizes the institution of marriage” and violates numerous constitutional articles. The court never ruled on the appeal until seven years later, in 2012, when it rejected it.

Despite its initial opposition, the PP has now wholeheartedly supported the so-called LGBTI pride celebrations for years, as evidenced on its social media.

In the six months remaining in 2005 after the law came into effect, 1,269 same-sex unions were entered into, mostly between men, a trend that continued until 2018, when those between women became more numerous.

In comparison with all marriages, same-sex unions have gone from representing 1% of the total population to 4% in two decades.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Sánchez said that “turning these issues around is difficult [but] not impossible” and that achieving it requires “great determination” on the part of a parliamentary majority.

As precedents in the field of family law, she cited the cases of Slovenia and Hungary, by referendum and legislation respectively, and with regard to the right to life, the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade that returned the issue to state legislatures.

‘Gender ideology has swept through Spanish legislation’

As Sánchez sees it, the law equating marriage with same-sex unions “affects the very concept of marriage, its purposes, and its social function in such a way that it is denaturalized,” but that is not its only effect.

With such unions, “a breach was opened on many issues, a spearhead through which an ideology enters in and fully affects politics and legislation,” she added.

“Gender ideology has swept through Spanish legislation,” Sánchez noted, with important “social, cultural, and demographic implications.”

Focusing exclusively on the law equating same-sex unions with marriage, Sánchez emphasized the special impact on minors: “In this type of union, one of the two role models, paternal or maternal, is absent,” which is detrimental to minors “who need both figures” in their lives.

In the case of boys, the paternal figure offers “a model of virility, of masculinity, which today are politically incorrect words,” as are “chivalry” or “nobility,” she pointed out.

In the case of girls, the father figure “is extremely important for their self-esteem, identity, and security. They will compare any relationship they have with their father figure.”

For her part, the mother figure “provides that tenderness, that affection, and is also necessary for sons and daughters.”

For Sánchez, this type of law also carries the danger that “children can be exploited in ideological debates,” which goes against the best interests of the child.

In this regard, she pointed out that what is “healthiest and most balanced” is to have both parents, male and female, and that “the best interest of the child is a marriage” with both role models.

On the other hand, the natural infertility of same-sex relations has other effects. In the case of two men, these types of laws become “a lever” to resort to surrogacy, which “commodifies the female body” and which, Sánchez noted, “has been prohibited in Spain since 2006.”

In the case of lesbian couples, naturally infertile sexual activity leads some to resort to assisted reproduction techniques. In the researcher’s opinion, beyond how these procedures affect the dignity of human life, “this is a huge problem, because these are children born without a known, identified father figure.” 

The importance of nurturing marriage

Faced with this situation, Sánchez proposed highlighting the witness of “strong, stable, united marriages,” including large families, that offer “an image that society needs,” of families living life with joy.

Furthermore, she said she believes it is necessary to “speak well of the fact that a strong, united marriage is possible” and for families to help each other, because “a marriage always needs support,” whether from other spouses, experts, or counselors.

“There is a desire inscribed in the human heart to love and be loved, and it must be nurtured at all stages of life,” explained Sanchez, who went on to emphasize that marriage is “a very well-designed” institution. It is God’s plan for the person. It is a natural vocation.”

“We are called to this communion of persons, to a very deep union between husband and wife, for the family, and children need their parents to love each other and they need those two role models who form the way they see the world,” she explained.

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

A student workshop at The College of St. Joseph the Worker. / Credit: College of St. Joseph the Worker

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A lawsuit that seeks to block West Virginia from offering a Catholic trade college a $5 million grant will move forward after a judge rejected the college’s motion for a dismissal last week.

The lawsuit, filed by the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the American Humanist Association (AHA), is asking a Kanawha County Circuit Court judge to block the grant awarded to St. Joseph the Worker College.

The College of St. Joseph the Worker, based in Steubenville, Ohio, teaches trades related to construction — carpentry, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing — combined with a bachelor’s degree in Catholic studies. The school intends to use the grant money to create a nonprofit construction company in West Virginia and expand its job training and education programs into the state.

The West Virginia ACLU contends in its lawsuit that taxpayer money should not be spent to support a grant to a religiously affiliated college. The lawsuit was filed against the West Virginia Water Development Authority (WVDA), which is the government body that approved the grant for economic development purposes. The college is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

“Our case challenging a $5 million grant in water development funds to a ‘radically Catholic’ school in Ohio can move forward,” the West Virginia ACLU announced in a statement posted on Bluesky.

“Thousands in West Virginia lack clean water,” the statement read. “Forcing them to fund this school’s religious mission with money meant for infrastructure is wholly inappropriate.”

Both the nonprofit construction company and the additional training programs the college wants to establish would be located in Weirton, West Virginia, once a booming steel town. The city sits in the northern tip of the state and borders Ohio, where the college is primarily based.

The proposed construction company would employ students and focus on revitalization projects for sites of historical or cultural significance that for-profit companies would likely pass on.

As part of the grant funding agreement, St. Joseph the Worker would recruit students from West Virginia and develop partnerships with West Virginia-based tradesmen and contractors to help place students in jobs located in the state after graduation.

A spokesperson for St. Joseph the Worker did not respond to a request for comment. 

In January, when the ACLU first filed its lawsuit, a spokesperson for the WVDA told CNA it “will not comment to the media” about the lawsuit but that all comments “will be made in public court filings.”

null / Credit: Puwadon Sang/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 30, 2025 / 16:18 pm (CNA).

New polling from the Associated Press (AP) NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has found that U.S. adults hold “nuanced views about the role of religion in public schools.”

While the majority of adults, about 58%, say they support religious chaplains providing services in public schools, only 40% say they believe teachers should be allowed to lead a class in prayer, according to data from the survey conducted June 5–9.

The survey contained polling of 1,158 U.S. adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“More people oppose than support policies that would allow religious schools to become tax-funded public charter schools, but there is about equal support and opposition for a policy that would allow school vouchers to be used at private or religious schools,” the survey found.

Results for the AP-NORC polling come after Pew Research Center found that 52% of U.S. adults support allowing Chrisian prayer in public schools as debates about the issue continue across the country.

Though the majority supports designated religious chaplains serving in public schools, 55% of U.S. adults in the AP survey said they did not believe teachers should be allowed to lead a public school class in prayer. 

Sixty percent said public schools should not be allowed to hold mandatory private prayer and religious reading. 

The survey found that regardless of partisan alignment, “attitudes about the role of religion in school are often shared across religious groups, especially white evangelical Christians and non-white Protestants.” 

“White evangelical Christians, non-white Protestants, and Catholics are all more likely than those who are not affiliated with a religion to approve of religious chaplains providing support services, teachers leading prayer in class, and mandatory periods for private prayer and religious reading at public schools,” the report stated, noting that mainline Protestants responded similarly to those without religious affiliation about prayer periods and religious chaplains in public schools. 

Overall, the survey said that “roughly a quarter to a third of the public lack firm opinions” about additional issues regarding religion and public education, including taxpayer-funded vouchers and vaccines.

While polling was less conclusive on these matters because nearly one-third of polled Americans had no opinion, of those who expressed opinions, more respondents said they oppose religious exemptions for childhood vaccines required for public schools. More respondents also said they oppose allowing religious schools to become taxpayer-funded charter schools. 

“People are roughly split on their support or opposition to tax-funded vouchers that help parents pay for tuition for their children to attend private or religious schools instead of public schools,” the report said, noting that Catholics are among the religious groups that were more likely to support taxpayer-funded vouchers, religious exemptions, and religious charter schools.

null / Credit: anonymous/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 30, 2025 / 15:47 pm (CNA).

A coalition of 20 American Catholic bishops and religious leaders from other faiths has signed on to a letter urging lawmakers to vote against a proposed budget bill because of provisions to increase funding for immigration enforcement.

“From our various faith perspectives, the moral test of a nation is how it treats those most in need of support,” the letter read. “In our view, this legislation will harm the poor and vulnerable in our nation, to the detriment of the common good.”

The letter’s signatories included Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Phoenix Bishop John Dolan, Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne, St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, and Sacramento, California, Bishop Jaime Soto were also among those who signed.

In addition to the bishops, other signatories to the letter included the leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Some Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders also signed the letter.

“Our faith organizations have long favored the creation of legal avenues for migration and a legalization program for immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years and contributed their hard work to our economy,” the letter stated. “We believe the adoption of these policies, instead of the implementation of a mass deportation campaign, would not only benefit immigrant workers and their families but be in the best interest of our nation.”

The budget reconciliation bill, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” includes a funding hike for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection. The proposal includes money earmarked for deportations, hiring more ICE and border patrol agents, the construction of a border wall, and various other immigration enforcement measures.

An earlier version of the bill would have penalized states for offering Medicaid benefits to immigrants who are in the country illegally, but this was removed from the current Senate version under consideration. Other proposed Medicaid changes, including work requirements for able-bodied recipients, remain in the proposal.

“We believe that the changes made by the U.S. Senate to the legislation are insufficient and do not significantly mitigate its adverse effects,” the letter read.

The letter criticized funding for “a mass deportation campaign,” which they said “will separate U.S. families, harm U.S.-citizen and immigrant children, and sow chaos in local communities.” It warned of “immigration raids across the nation,” which authors said would harm “hardworking immigrant families essential to our economy.”

According to the letter, the funding boost could also harm faith communities. The authors noted that the government “has removed places of worship from its sensitive locations list, allowing ICE agents to enter them for enforcement purposes.”

“We have already witnessed a reduction in attendance at many of our religious services in our denominations, as the threat of enforcement has deterred many families from practicing their faith,” the letter attested.

Additionally, the letter expressed concerns about the proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico, which the authors wrote “will drive migrants into the most remote regions of the border and lead to an increase in migrant deaths. It also would hurt the local environment along the border and force desperate asylum-seekers seeking safety to increasingly rely on human smugglers.”

The authors of the letter also criticized proposed reforms to Medicaid and food assistance programs, saying they would harm “low-income citizens and legal residents, including asylum-seekers and refugees, driving them deeper into poverty.”

Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and current fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), criticized the interfaith letter in an interview with CNA. He said the letter supports “amnesty” for immigrants who are in the country illegally.

CIS labels itself as a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” think tank. The group is aligned with many of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

“They don’t want any immigration enforcement because they want to legalize the status of everyone in the country illegally,” Arthur, who is Catholic, told CNA.

Arthur also balked at the suggestion of immigration raids at places of worship, saying: “They never actually reference any real enforcement actions taking place in any Catholic churches.” He said it’s possible that a dangerous criminal could be targeted for enforcement at a church but that “it’s not like they’re going to sweep through Sunday Mass looking for people.”

On the subject of the border wall, Arthur said a barrier would “deter people from coming into the United States illegally.” He noted the high rates of migrants who already hire smugglers, saying they “put their lives and safety in the hands of criminals” and that a border wall makes it “less likely that people are going to come” illegally with this method or any other method.

Chad Pecknold, a professor of theology at The Catholic University of America, expressed dissatisfaction with the letter as well, noting that it does not mention the teaching in the catechism that a country has a right to regulate its borders.

“Broad, religiously ecumenical statements which oppose the policies of a democratically elected government are curious things,” Pecknold said. “The authors are clearly aligned with one political party and not another. They make spurious claims about how the bill will separate families, and they seem to disregard entirely that nations have a right [to] defend their borders and a duty to uphold their laws.”

Faithful pray before a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during Croatia’s consecration ceremony on June 27, 2025, as the nation dedicated itself anew to Christ’s divine love following the tradition established by their ancestors at the Church of Our Miraculous Lady of Sinj. / Credit: Petar Malbaša/Laudato TV

CNA Newsroom, Jun 30, 2025 / 10:46 am (CNA).

Croatian bishops led their nation in a solemn consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday, marking the 125th anniversary of an extraordinary 1900 ceremony that saw 160,000 young Croatians make a similar sacred pledge.

The consecration began June 27 at 7 p.m. local time across churches and chapels throughout Croatia, initiated by church bells ringing for five minutes before solemn Eucharistic celebrations commenced.

Following the Prayer after Communion, clergy proclaimed the formal Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In Zagreb, the faithful gathered at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus while EWTN affiliate Laudato TV broadcast live from the Church of Our Miraculous Lady of Sinj in the small town of Sinj. 

The decision to renew this historic devotion was made by the Croatian Bishops’ Conference at their 69th Plenary Assembly in November 2024, coinciding with the Jubilee Year 2025 proclaimed by Pope Francis.

“We, Croatian believers, trusting in your goodness, come to you to open for us once again your Most Sacred Heart,” the consecration prayer begins, addressing Christ as “Wisdom, Love, and the Word of the Father.”

The Sacred Heart consecration was followed Saturday, June 28, by Croatia’s first-ever solemn consecration of youth to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the Church of Croatian Martyrs in Udbina.

Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, apostolic nuncio to Croatia, presided over the 3 p.m. ceremony, which was broadcast live by Laudato TV. The initiative was launched by priests of the Marian Priestly Movement in Croatia.

The comprehensive prayer consecrated Croatian families, clergy, religious communities, parishes, married couples, children and young people, the sick and elderly, and workers across various fields to the Sacred Heart.

Ksenjia Abramovic contributed to this report.

Bethany and Daniel Meola, a married couple with a special heart for adult children of divorce, created the Life-Giving Wounds apostolate, currently celebrating its five-year anniversary in 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Life-Giving Wounds

Miami, Fla., Jun 30, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Kendra Beigel was 14 years old when her family life took a turn for the worse. In her small-town Minnesota home, she was used to her parents arguing, but her family situation further disintegrated when her mother intervened in her father’s alcohol issues and her parents went to court.

“It was like the whole town decided to take a side and get involved in our family business,” recalled Beigel, who was raised Catholic. “I had to grow up quickly… Each stage of the initial separation and how it comes out of the blue, then the divorce and everything that it brings, and then the subsequent annulment; each brought its own hurts and difficulties and it never was easier.”

Now an adult, Beigel remembers thinking back then, “How can you just be a kid anymore?” Navigating child custody routines, “you [the child] have to be the one to pack the suitcase and to move and uproot your life.”

“I threw myself into academics and extracurriculars,” she said. “No one on the outside could tell how much I was hurting because I was excelling externally… You start to really put a lot of blame and guilt on yourself when you have no one to talk to, no one thinks to bring it up with you, and you’re really just trying to run away.”

When ingrained fears caused her to struggle with family dynamics, friendships, and dating in college, Beigel knew the past had left its mark. In October 2022, she joined a Life-Giving Wounds retreat for adult children of divorce (ACODs) near her home in Denver.

Celebrating its five-year milestone in 2025, Life-Giving Wounds — back then just a two-year-old apostolate — was already making a big impact. 

The beginnings 

The ministry was created in 2020 by Daniel and Bethany Meola, a married couple with a special heart for adult children of divorce. Beginning with online retreats during the COVID-19 pandemic, Life-Giving Wounds now hosts events both online and in-person, with a presence in almost 40 dioceses throughout the United States in addition to the Archdiocese of Toronto, Canada.

Himself an ACOD, Daniel Meola explained: “The more I dug into it in college and post-college, I realized there are lot of ministries for divorcees but not as much for adult children of divorce.”

Since a high school retreat had turned his life around after his parents’ divorce, he recognized that “there needs to be an intentional ministry and community for others like me. Jesus’ heart desires this.”

In addition to retreats, Life-Giving Wounds offers a blog with topics ranging from “Book and Media Reviews” to “Relationship Advice”; a book published in 2023; and even a summer 2025 Online Reading Group and support group using Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” as a springboard.

The retreat helped Beigel break through the bubble she had found herself in after her parents’ divorce.

“Going in, you’re just thinking, none of my friends have gone through divorce. This is something that feels like such an isolating cross,” she said. “But as soon as I walked in, I saw everyone at my parish who I had no idea was in ‘the secret club that no one wants to be a part of,’ as they joked.”

The retreat was transformative. “I really appreciated that they had a whole retreat manual to follow,” she noted. “It really invited you to take a leap of faith and invite the Divine Physician into these ugly areas of your heart.”

Unbeknownst to her, a young man who had participated in a Maryland retreat earlier that year in August 2022 was Beigel’s future husband, Joe Beigel. The fact that they were both Life-Giving Wounds alumni would bring them together. Joe said the friend who introduced them “got my attention” by commenting that Kendra had attended Life-Giving Wounds and had been featured on the podcast “Restored.”

Chuckling, Kendra recounted Joe’s approach: “[He said,] ‘You can go ahead and delete that Catholic Match profile — you won’t need it now that you met me!’ And it worked!”

Joe and Kendra Beigel were married on Jan. 18, 2025.

To other ACODs, Joe’s message is: “You’re not doomed to repeat your parents’ mistakes and to not get married or to settle for less in a marriage, because God wants so much more for you.”

Kendra agreed. “The thing that shifted with marriage, it’s not that you are done working on the wounds from your parents’ divorce, you just have someone you are working on it with, because that’s what marriage is. You’re working together first and foremost, helping each other along.”

Craig Soto II and Sidney Soto, another Life-Giving Wounds alumni couple from Kansas, are preparing to welcome a baby into the world. Craig Soto said of Life-Giving Wounds’ anniversary: “Truly, what five years means to me is hope.” 

“When we did the full-body scan to make sure the baby was healthy, I remember the sonogram technician said everything was normal,” Soto said. The simple phrase hit him hard. 

“That’s a beautiful gift for me, for somebody who’s lived a very abnormal life. I got so used to it that ‘the normal’ actually became confusing and strange to me,” said Soto, a retreat leader. “To hear that our child is ‘normal’... To me, a normal life is all I’ve ever really wanted. That’s why I say that there’s hope, because I have hope for a normal life.”

Those called to the vocation of marriage aren’t the only ones who have benefited from Life-Giving Wounds. In fact, retreat alumnus Father Ryan Martiré of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, helped bring Life-Giving Wounds to seminarians.

Martiré participated in one of the first online retreats as a seminarian, later joining an in-person retreat while studying at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis. 

The seminary’s rector “saw a tremendous need in the seminary and asked if I would introduce this ministry to more people in the seminary,” said Martiré, who was ordained on June 11, 2024. “Not only healing for themselves, but to be fathers who can provide this healing for others.”

Kenrick-Glennon Seminary held its first retreat in spring 2022 and has the honor of being Life-Giving Wounds’ first seminary chapter.

“The wound of divorce can be very attached to a father wound,” Martiré explained. “When a seminarian receives healing there, it can have a serious spiritual impact, that he receives confidence to be a father.”

“One of the things that struck me when I was studying wounds of divorce is that so many children with parents who have divorced did not experience a word of accompaniment from their pastor or priest: ‘I’m so sorry that happened,’” he added. “A child who’s starting to self-protect and live hyper-independently because of their parents’ divorce needs a spiritual father or a spiritual mother to comfort them and to acknowledge that they’re hurting in their perfectionism, or in whatever way they’re coping.”

Brady Hershberger, a young adult Life-Giving Wounds alumnus from Ohio, said: “I think Life-Giving Wounds is making the ACOD population feel seen, and like we don’t have to keep sweeping this wound under the rug as if it weren’t seriously a wound… It gives me a sense of hope that people like me will be seen and loved and heard.”

Indeed, Martiré said he believes Life-Giving Wounds has a special connection to the 2025 Jubilee, with its theme of hope.

“What struck me my first time at the retreat was seeing really stable, healed, holy people giving the presentations. People who are coming from a dark path with very divided families, and you see that they’re not living defined by their wounds,” he said. “That’s very hopeful that, as Christians, we don’t need to live in the past. We can become transformed by Christ if we let him into our suffering, our dark and imprisoned places.”

Life-Giving Wounds co-founder Bethany Meola said she is excited for what’s to come. The ministry has projects focused on engaged and married couples in the works, and they also look to increase outreach to college students, Hispanic ministry, seminaries and religious, and more.

“This anniversary is an opportunity to look back and see where God has taken us so far,” she said. “Obviously we have objective numbers to see how the ministry has grown from local to all around the country, from just a few retreats to more and more every year, which has been so beautiful. But more than the numbers, we’re reflecting on the people we’ve been privileged to encounter — more and more people all the time whom Life-Giving Wounds can hopefully lend some support to.”

The British Parliament building in London. / Credit: Marinesea/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jun 29, 2025 / 19:05 pm (CNA).

A British politician has publicly criticized his parish priest for refusing to give him holy Communion after he voted in favor of the United Kingdom’s assisted dying bill.

Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament Chris Coghlan took to social media on Sunday and reportedly complained to Bishop Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton, describing his treatment as “outrageous.”

Father Ian Vane, parish priest at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dorking, Surrey, had warned Coghlan before the June 20 vote that supporting the controversial bill would constitute “obstinately persevering” in sin. He then reportedly named Coghlan, who represents Dorking and Horley in Surrey, from the pulpit two days later.

Coghlan described the priest’s actions as “completely inappropriate” and claimed it “undermines the legitimacy of religious institutions.”

The politician posted on social media that the incident raised “grave public interest” about pressure that religious members of Parliament (MPs) faced during the vote, calling it “utterly disrespectful to my family, my constituents including the congregation, and the democratic process.”

The MP’s public criticism sparked significant backlash on social media platforms, with many defending Vane and criticizing Coghlan’s comportment.

Several commentators reminded the politician of the Vatican’s doctrinal note about participation in public life, “that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.”

“Those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them,” the Doctrinal note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life states.

The Diocese of Arundel and Brighton also reportedly reminded the media of the Church’s position while acknowledging the complexity of the vote.

“The Catholic Church believes in the sanctity of life and the dignity of every person,” the diocese stated, adding that Moth spoke to Coghlan “earlier this week and has offered to meet him in person to discuss the issues and concerns raised.”

Church leaders warn of grave consequences

The controversy comes as Catholic bishops and others have repeatedly raised serious concerns about the U.K.’s assisted dying legislation.

Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool, the lead bishop for life issues for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said he was “shocked and disappointed” by the bill’s passage.

“Allowing the medical profession to help patients end their lives will change the culture of health care and cause legitimate fears amongst those with disabilities or who are especially vulnerable in other ways,” Sherrington stated.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, and Sherrington had previously warned that Catholic hospices and care homes may have no choice but to shut down if the bill becomes law, since they “may be required to cooperate with assisted suicide.”

To become law, the bill still needs to pass in the second chamber of Parliament, the unelected House of Lords. The Lords can amend legislation, but because the bill has the support of the Commons, it is likely to pass.

Catholic speaker and author Kim Zember (left) and Zember on the set of her new podcast on EWTN, “Here I AM Stories,” with guest Angel Colon. / Credit: Photos courtesy of Kim Zember

CNA Staff, Jun 29, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

During her senior year of high school, Catholic speaker and author Kim Zember realized she had a sexual attraction to women. She went on to live a hidden life for years — dating men publicly but dating women secretly. Eventually, she ended up solely in relationships with women.

A decade later she found herself increasingly unhappy and one day she threw up her hands and asked God to enter her life. Now, 11 years after experiencing transformation, she’s sharing her conversations with other people who have dealt with sexual identity and gender confusion in a new podcast on EWTN called “Here I AM Stories.”

“In the tenderness of God, I just felt like he said, ‘I want you to share other people’s stories. You’re not the only one,’” Zember told CNA.

According to EWTN, the podcast “highlights raw voices, radical lives, and real stories of those who left LGBT identities for a greater eternal purpose.” It airs weekly on Mondays during the month of June and then beginning in July, two episodes will be aired every month. 

“These are people who have been walking it out,” Zember said. “This is not stories of perfection.”

Four episodes of the podcast have already been released. One particularly powerful episode was a conversation with Jessica Rose, who identified as a male for seven years, battled depression, and attempted suicide until she gave her life to Christ. 

Another episode features the story of Angel Colon, who survived the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting where 49 lives were lost. Despite being shot multiple times, he survived and credits the miracle to God, changing his way of life.

Zember’s own story follows a similar pattern as the guests she speaks with in her podcast. She grew up in what she says was a “normal” Catholic household with two older brothers and parents who were high school sweethearts. She received all her sacraments but admitted that she grew up without having a relationship with Jesus.

She shared that she saw God like a “cop that kind of just kept tally of all the things I was doing, good or bad, and was kind of calculating everything. So that was kind of challenging because I heard all the time like, ‘God loves you,’ ‘God’s for you,’ but I didn’t experience that.”

Despite having a decent childhood, Zember said she did not have a “good, tender father” and did not trust men. As a senior in high school, she longed for a relationship and acted upon her attraction to women.

“My senior year in high school I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t feel safe with men, but I feel safe with women and I’m attracted and I don’t know what that means, but I’m going to take a step,’” she recalled. “And [in] my senior year in high school I acted on these desires towards women with one of my best friends and that changed everything for me.”

From there she began dating women in private. Believing that what she was doing was wrong, she sought a Catholic counselor at age 18 and was affirmed in her homosexual identity. From there, she came out publicly and no longer hid the fact that she was dating women. It wasn’t until Oct. 17, 2014 — after a decade of living a gay lifestyle — that she “cried out to the Lord and said, ‘I can’t do this.’”

She recalled telling God: “‘I’ve heard about you my whole life. I’ve read about you my whole life but I need to experience you now. And so I need you to show up.’ And it might sound horrible but I was like, ‘I need you to show up and I need you to show up now because if you don’t show up and show me that you’re good, I will go to someone or something else, like I have my entire life. So, I’m giving you your one shot, God.’” 

“And I’m telling you, he showed up. He showed up that evening in a way that I will never forget,” Zember shared. “Oct. 17 feels sometimes like my birthday — though I was born on Dec. 22 — that encounter I had with God marked me in a way … that I’ve never been the same.”

In that moment Zember said she experienced the “tangible love of God” and “he has been faithful every day since then.”

“Also in revealing his character and nature, he has shown me that he’s the one my heart has been searching for. He has shown me that he is the one, that God himself, that made man in Jesus Christ, that he is the love of my life that I’ve desired.”

Zember now lives in freedom from her struggle with same-sex attraction and helps others who face similar battles to find their true identity in Christ. 

When asked what the Church can do to better minister to those struggling with gender and sexual identity issues, she said: “I think as a Church, we need to recognize again our own unworthiness; no matter what Jesus has already saved us from, we still need him.”

“If we’d recognize our own brokenness and our own need for Jesus, I think we’d be able to receive other people in their need for him, too. We’d stop trying to fix people, and we’d actually try to walk with one another,” she added. “We’d try to walk with one another in our brokenness to Christ, the only one who can heal, deliver, make whole, and set free.”

As for her hopes for the new podcast, she said she hopes it would show people “that we have a good Father” and “that people would give Jesus a try — a real one.”

“My hope is that people will say, ‘Wait a minute, if Jesus was that good in their life, maybe he wants to be that good in mine too’ — in whatever it is. It doesn’t have to be homosexuality or identity confusion. It could be you holding on too tightly to something. It could be you needing a career and if you don’t get it, you don’t know who you are. It’s all the longings of our heart to be seen, known, loved, chosen, and desired, and how we try to go to the things of this world to fill those when it’s actually the very one who created us that wants to fill those.”

One unique feature of the monastery at Subiaco is that it was built into the mountain. In any room, at least one wall is bare rock. During construction, the connection with the mountain was always preserved. Even above the main altar of the upper church, the rock juts out and looms overhead, enveloping the worship space like a vast cloak. / Credit: D. Ermacora

Paris, France, Jun 29, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Nestled among the majestic cliffs of the Simbruini mountains in Subiaco, a town about an hour from Rome in the heart of the Aniene River valley, stands the Monastery of St. Benedict, also known as the “Sacro Speco” (“Sacred Cave”). It is from this place that the famous rule of religious life was born and would spread through the centuries, still followed by thousands of monks and nuns around the world today.

In the sixth century, the young Benedict of Nursia withdrew into solitude, fleeing a corrupt and noisy world in search of an inner state that would bring him closer to God through reflection and the listening of silence. Among the rocks and trees, he found a cave — the “speco” — which sheltered him in hermitage for about three years. Thanks to the charity of a local monk and nearby shepherds, to whom he offered knowledge in exchange for food, he survived hunger and hardship.

From that cave began a spiritual journey of prayer and asceticism that led St. Benedict to formulate the rule that countless religious follow today. He devoted great attention to contemplation and prayer, considering silence an essential condition for receiving the word of God and the inspiration for a life of prayer, work, and brotherhood — according to the motto “Ora et Labora” (“Pray and Work”). 

The cave later became a pilgrimage site and source of spiritual inspiration. Over the centuries, a magnificent monastic complex was built around the Sacred Cave, nestled in greenery like a jewel, welcoming faithful and visitors from all over the world. The monastery was constructed on multiple levels and adapted to the shape of the mountain. 

Wrapped in the rocks of the mountain

One unique feature of the place is that in any room, at least one wall is bare rock. During construction, the connection with the mountain was always preserved. Even above the main altar of the upper church, the rock juts out and looms overhead, enveloping the worship space like a vast cloak.

To link the various parts — upper and lower churches, chapels, and the cave itself — an intricate network of staircases was built, making the pilgrim’s path even more fascinating. On the walls of the many chapels and corridors are frescoes painted in various artistic styles from different centuries.

The holy image of St. Francis of Assisi

One of the most important frescoes, found in the Chapel of St. Gregory, is the image of St. Francis of Assisi — considered the oldest portrait of the saint. It was painted by an anonymous friar, likely living in the same convent as Francis between 1220 and 1224. This date suggests that the face depicted in the fresco is one of the most faithful representations of the saint’s actual appearance — almost like a “photograph” of the time.

The absence of the stigmata (which appeared in 1224) and the halo further support the belief that this fresco is an extraordinary testimony to the real face of Francis while he was still alive.

The frescoes that adorn the chapels and corridors were painted in different eras by various artists and mostly depict the life of St. Benedict, especially in the lower church. There, in a style with Roman and Byzantine traits from the 13th century, scenes include “The Miracle of the Poisoned Bread,” with a crow carrying away the poisoned bread meant for Benedict by enemies; “The Miracle of the Goth,” where Benedict blesses a broken jar that miraculously reforms; and “Young Benedict in Subiaco,” illustrating his hermitic life in the cave.

Other frescoes in the lower church narrate Benedict’s arrival in Subiaco and his hermit life, showing his struggles against temptation and the strength with which he persevered; the first disciples and birth of the communities, the beginning of his mission; and his first miracles, bearing witness to the divine power manifesting through Benedict’s actions.

To this day, Benedictine monks still live in the monastery, faithfully upholding the rule.