Polish, Ukrainian cardinals call for reconciliation amid historical tensions between nations #Catholic –

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) — Four years after Poles welcomed millions of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion, Catholic leaders from both countries are urging their peoples not to let historical disputes undo that solidarity as disputes over World War II history inflamed relations between Poland and Ukraine.

Cardinals from both countries, attending the June consistory with Pope Leo XIV, warned in a joint statement that the greatest danger may not be disagreement itself, but the language used to express it.

Ukrainian Cardinal Mykola Bychok and Polish prelates Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz and Cardinal Grzegorz Rys, together with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk — head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — issued a joint appeal urging both peoples not to allow old wounds to become new divisions.

In a June 29 statement, they called for a “disarmament of language on both sides” and encouraged both nations to continue the path of reconciliation begun under St. John Paul II. They said they spoke up during the consistory, feeling “invited to take special responsibility for the community of the Church and to support the ministry of the Successor of St. Peter.”

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The appeal comes amid fresh political friction between Warsaw and Kyiv. In June, Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked the Order of the White Eagle previously awarded to Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian president approved naming a Ukrainian military unit in honor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA.

Polish-Ukrainian relations remain deeply marked by the violence that engulfed Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II. The Volhynia Slaughter remains the deepest historical conflict between Poles and Ukrainians. Between 1943 and 1945, in Volhynia and parts of Eastern Galicia, UPA carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the region’s Polish population.

Historians estimate that about 100,000 Polish civilians were killed, many in brutal attacks on villages. About 10,000 Ukrainians also died in retaliatory violence carried out by Polish underground formations and civilians, although on a significantly smaller scale. The memory of those events continues to influence politics and public opinion in both countries, even as modern Poland became one of Ukraine’s strongest allies after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, welcoming millions of refugees.

Against that backdrop, Church leaders argue that remembering history and preserving neighborly relations should not become opposing goals.

“Building the common good requires evangelical language: clear, but not humiliating; courageous, but not aggressive; true, but not closing the path to forgiveness,” the prelates said.

Saying they are “saddened” to see the “growing tensions and resurgent hostility between Poles and Ukrainians,” the cardinals and Major Archbishop Shevchuk said, “It is even more painful that this is happening at a time when Ukraine continues to experience the horrors of war, and Poland has shown great solidarity with millions of Ukrainian brothers and sisters in recent years.”

They also noted that “all this is happening as Ukrainian Catholics celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Polish Pope’s historic visit to Ukraine.”

“In the tumult of the Second World War when the need for solidarity and reciprocal help would have been particularly urgent, the dark action of evil poisoned hearts, and weapons caused innocent blood to flow,” St. John Paul said in July 2003, two years after his historic visit to Ukraine. He urged that “Ukrainians and Poles rid themselves of their sorrowful memories and, seeing past events in a new perspective, look at one another with reconciled eyes, striving to build a better future for one and all.”

The renewed appeal of the prelates, experts say, seeks to protect both historical truth and the trust built over decades.

“The consistory meant that the cardinals who signed the appeal met in Rome, most likely held consultations with the pope and Major Archbishop Shevchuk, and these circumstances made this the moment when the common message appeared,” Father Stefan Batruch, pastor of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish in Lublin, told OSV News.

“The content of the appeal reminds us not to forget or omit, in our discussions, the earlier and very important statements of the popes concerning Polish-Ukrainian relations,” Father Batruch told OSV News.

The appeal also recalls decades of dialogue between the Catholic Church in Poland and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, including joint pastoral letters, declarations and humanitarian cooperation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bishop Arkadiusz Trochanowski of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of Olsztyn-Gdansk welcomed the declaration, saying it demonstrates that “responsibility for the future of our nations begins with personal conversion, mutual respect and readiness to forgive.”

He also emphasized that “reconciliation does not mean turning away from history, but means the courage to look at it in the light of the Gospel and not allow the pain of the past to become the source of new hatred.”

Historian Igor Halagida, a scholar of Polish-Ukrainian relations at the University of Gdansk, Poland, believes the current debate has lost sight of its central concern. “In today’s discussion, people forget what is most important — the victims, all the victims,” he told OSV News.

Halagida also noted that dialogue between the Church in Poland and Ukraine “has continued uninterrupted since 1987,” long before the current political disputes and even before Ukraine regained its independence.

For Father Jaroslaw Moskalyk, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest and professor of theology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, the new statement represents another step in a much longer process rather than reaction to a political moment.

“The Church, which is not engaged in politics, offers a broader perspective on relations between the two peoples — certainly not through the prism of short-term or one-sided political gains,” he told OSV News.

“The growing wave of mutually unfriendly gestures introduced into public debate can only intensify negative emotions and awaken antagonistic tendencies,” he said. “In consequence, it may lead to a serious regression in relations and squander years of reconciliation efforts, including those undertaken by the Churches.”

The Church, he stressed, does not seek to settle historical disputes. “The role of the Church is not to resolve contested historical questions between two nations, especially those involving complex and often tragic circumstances,” Father Moskalyk said. “Its mission is to serve the truth, including the truth about painful experiences of the past.”

Asked whether it is still possible to speak honestly about the Volhynia massacres while building reconciliation, Father Batruch answered without hesitation.

“It is absolutely possible to speak honestly about difficult historical issues, provided that an interdisciplinary, nonpartisan joint commission is established to examine all disputed questions and issue an appropriate statement,” he told OSV News. “The challenge is a clear political will among the leaders of all major political groups for such a body to be created,” one that “could conduct reliable research.”

“In political discussions, even on the most difficult issues in our mutual relations, radical and categorical public statements should be avoided,” he said. “Such language is closely connected with emotions, and emotions expressed without moderation deeply wound and destroy the dignity of the other side.”

The signatories of the joint declaration argue that Christians must pursue historical truth together with mercy and reject a culture that turns memory into a weapon.

Katarzyna Szalajko writes for OSV News from Warsaw, Poland.

– WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) — Four years after Poles welcomed millions of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion, Catholic leaders from both countries are urging their peoples not to let historical disputes undo that solidarity as disputes over World War II history inflamed relations between Poland and Ukraine. Cardinals from both countries, attending the June consistory with Pope Leo XIV, warned in a joint statement that the greatest danger may not be disagreement itself, but the language used to express it. Ukrainian Cardinal Mykola Bychok and Polish prelates Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz and Cardinal Grzegorz Rys, together with Major

‘Alone’: Lessons from the wilderness #Catholic –

“Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her” (Hosea 2:14).

My dad and I have very different tastes in television. When he suggested I might like “Alone” on the History Channel, I was skeptical. However, once I checked out the seasons available on streaming platforms, I was hooked.

“Alone” sends 10 trained survivalists into the wilderness to live off the land. Armed with strict limits on their gear, the individual who lasts the longest wins a $500,000 prize. Unlike other reality shows, the participants do their own camera work.

The newest season, dubbed the “World Championship” because contestants hail from across the globe, premiered June 17.

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What impresses me most about “Alone” is not the display of survival skills, as amazing as they are. Instead, the spiritual journey the participants undergo in the wilderness truly moves me. They might not use that vocabulary, but the description fits. Just like the biblical wilderness, the environment strips participants of almost everything, laying their souls bare. This wilderness experience holds three profound lessons for us all.

— Lesson one: Back to basics —

Modern life generally grants us easy access to our necessities. In North American culture, sufficient food, water and shelter are fairly easy to come by. On “Alone,” each participant must secure food and build shelter in a harsh environment.

In contemporary culture, instead of working directly for food and water, we work for money to buy what we need — and often what we don’t. By stripping away modern conveniences, “Alone” forces participants to experience the raw reality of survival. Watching the show offers a powerful opportunity to assess our own abundance and consider how we might share the bounty the Lord has given us with those who have less.

— Lesson two: Sitting with silence —

Because the survivalists constantly narrate their experiences for the camera, the deep silence they encounter is easy to overlook. Left with only their thoughts for company, they have ample time to evaluate their lives.

Participants display varying levels of comfort with this silence. An early “tap-out” — the show’s term for quitting the competition — often indicates extreme discomfort with the stark silence. Conversely, those who use the silence for self-reflection often tap out simply because the prize money loses its motivating power.

Rich storytelling happens on the screen. Some participants process grief or share challenges from their careers or family lives. Many speak of their children and their desire to pass on their love for the land. While few reference God directly, they allow the silence of the wilderness to help them make sense of their lives and express profound gratitude.

In Catholic life, we find our own “wilderness experience” by going on a retreat. A retreat provides time to step away from the daily pulse of life to connect with God and discern how he might be inviting us to re-assess our priorities. While most retreats are not as physically stark as “Alone,” the time to sit in silence and evaluate our hearts remains a cherished gift.

— Lesson three: What really matters —

Each participant enters the competition intending to win the $500,000. Yet, when the living gets rough, when foraging efforts fail, or when the family photo causes deep homesickness, the survivalists contemplate what truly matters. In the seasons I have watched, stripping away everything grants them a fresh perspective on their highest priority: the people they love.

I find it deeply edifying when a participant decides to tap out not out of weakness, but because they realize no amount of money can replace the time they are losing with family. They show the courage to “fail” in front of a national television audience to put their relationships first. We should all strive for that same courage, prioritizing life-giving relationships over the accumulation of wealth or goods.

— Bonus lessons: Humility and gratitude —

As I watch “Alone,” I think of the millions of other viewers and pray that they feel inspired to cultivate the virtues of humility and gratitude. Seeing how the wilderness strips a person to their very core, leaving them humbled before the power of nature, reminds me that I could use a little more humility myself. Humble people pay more attention to the needs of others rather than their own.

Gratitude also shines through the screen. Witnessing the pure joy of a participant who catches a fish after four days of starvation helps me appreciate the food and blessings in my own life.

“Alone” sends its contestants on an unforgettable journey. As viewers, we enter into their experience, feeling their struggle to survive in some of the harshest conditions on Earth. What they learn about themselves along the way can inspire us to value silence, realign our priorities and come away with a deeper appreciation for the gifts God gives as we humbly thank him for providing all we need.

Sister Hosea Rupprecht, a Daughter of St. Paul, is the associate director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies.

– “Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her” (Hosea 2:14). My dad and I have very different tastes in television. When he suggested I might like “Alone” on the History Channel, I was skeptical. However, once I checked out the seasons available on streaming platforms, I was hooked. “Alone” sends 10 trained survivalists into the wilderness to live off the land. Armed with strict limits on their gear, the individual who lasts the longest wins a $500,000 prize. Unlike other reality shows, the participants do their own camera work. The newest

Pope Leo overhauls Vatican finance watchdog, revises Rome vicariate reforms in busy day of decrees #Catholic –

ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV spent what is traditionally his weekly day off on Tuesday issuing a flurry of legislation and appointments June 30, overhauling the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency, revising the governing structure of the Vicariate of Rome and making several appointments in the Roman Curia.

While the pope’s letter to SSPX garnered (and merited) the headlines, the less reported decrees released by the Holy See Press Office show a pope who is reforming quietly and methodically, fine tuning the reforms made by his predecessor Pope Francis, rather than dramatically shaking up the Roman Curia.

Here is a breakdown of what changes he made this week and why it matters.

Financial watchdog restructured

Pope Leo signed a new 12-article statute for the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority, known as ASIF, the Vatican’s financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering agency. The statute eliminates the agency’s president and board and replaces them with a director and deputy director, both appointed by the pope for five-year terms.

Under the new rules, ASIF retains authority over supervision of money laundering, terrorist financing and financing of weapons proliferation, as well as financial intelligence gathering and prudential supervision of entities conducting financial activity in Vatican territory. The agency’s annual and financial reports will now go to the Vatican’s Council for the Economy for approval.

The statute also expands ASIF’s authority to arbitrate disputes between users and the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Vatican bank, extending that jurisdiction beyond payment systems to cover the full range of the bank’s financial services.

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“Transparency, integrity, and accountability in economic and financial activities constitute indispensable elements of good governance and service to the common good, which must characterize the Institutions of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State,” Pope Leo wrote in his introduction to the new statute.

The pope added that in light of the reforms already enacted by Pope Francis and the continual evolution of the relevant international standards, it appeared appropriate to update the ASIF’s statutes so that it may continue to carry out the functions entrusted to it with “the utmost effectiveness and contribute, with renewed vigor, to the transparency, integrity, stability, and security of the economic and financial system of the Holy See and the Vatican City State.”

A reform of the reform of the Vicariate of Rome

Pope Leo also issued a motu proprio adjusting “In Ecclesiarum Communione,” the 2023 constitution Pope Francis used to reorganize the Vicariate of Rome. Pope Leo’s new law reaffirms the cardinal vicar’s governing powers, while also giving day-to-day coordination of the offices and the administrative structure to a “moderator curiae,” appointed by the pope for a five-year term. The new reform legislation, called “Confirma Fratres Tuos,” or “Confirm your brothers,” also streamlines the distribution of responsibilities within the vicariate.

These changes build off of other administrative changes Pope Leo made in the vicariate last fall that reestablished certain administrative aspects Pope Francis had abolished in the prior reforms.

The Vatican said the changes followed a review process by a working group Pope Leo ordered in February, after a few years of experience operating under the 2023 reform, smoothing out administrative kinks that needed updating. It shows Pope Leo is willing to revise and reverse aspects of Pope Francis’ administrative reforms without completely overturning them.

Peter’s Pence runs a deficit

Separately, the Vatican released its 2025 financial report for Peter’s Pence, the collection that funds the pope’s charitable and administrative activities. The fund took in 57.6 million euros and spent 59.8 million euros, leaving a roughly 2.2 million euros deficit despite the significant reduction in expenses from the previous year. The total amount of individual donations dropped from 2024 to 2025, while the United States remained the largest source of donations. Of the money spent, 41.2 million euros supported the Holy See’s operations, while 13.3 million euros funded 252 direct-assistance projects in 74 countries, with Africa receiving the largest share.

Promoting current officials in the Roman Curia

Pope Leo made several appointments across Vatican offices, largely promoting officials who already served in the Roman Curia under Pope Francis rather than bringing in outsiders. Bishop Marco Mellino will be moved up from adjunct secretary to secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, and Msgr. Lucio Adrián Ruiz will be shuffled from the Dicastery for Communication to the Dicastery for the Service of Charity starting in September. Massimo Ralli, an official at the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, was also named undersecretary of the dicastery.

In the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Pope Leo confirmed and promoted the leadership appointed by Pope Francis, naming the dicastery’s secretary as the dicastery’s prefect, the cardinal who served as undersecretary of the dicastery’s migrants section was appointed as pro-prefect, and the undersecretary became the secretary. More notable about this particular set of appointments is the pairing of a woman religious with a cardinal as the top officials in the dicastery, a replication of a governance novelty first introduced by Pope Francis introduced in 2025. Sister Alessandra Smerilli will serve as the dicastery’s prefect with Cardinal Fabio Baggio serving as pro-prefect. The appointment is a continuation of Pope Francis’ legacy of placing women in senior Vatican leadership roles while at the same time confirming the personnel selected for leadership positions by Pope Francis.

A consultative governing style

From emphasizing financial transparency to fine tuning reform legislation, Pope Leo, a trained canon lawyer and former math major, is adjusting the machinery of Vatican governance in his careful style. The pope’s appointments and legislation were announced following a two-day extraordinary consistory of cardinals — the second such meeting he has called this year — during which Pope Leo told the cardinals he had assembled from across the globe that his ministry “cannot be carried out alone” and asked for their “strong, explicit, and public” support. While the motu proprio and financial transparency statutes were signed before the consistory began, meaning they weren’t the product of the cardinals’ input, taken all together the week’s announcements signal Pope Leo’s preference for consultation and incremental change over the headline-grabbing reforms of his predecessor.

Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.

– ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV spent what is traditionally his weekly day off on Tuesday issuing a flurry of legislation and appointments June 30, overhauling the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency, revising the governing structure of the Vicariate of Rome and making several appointments in the Roman Curia. While the pope’s letter to SSPX garnered (and merited) the headlines, the less reported decrees released by the Holy See Press Office show a pope who is reforming quietly and methodically, fine tuning the reforms made by his predecessor Pope Francis, rather than dramatically shaking up the Roman Curia. Here is

Supreme Court finds Trump executive order on birthright citizenship unconstitutional #Catholic –

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship on June 30, finding the order violated the 14th Amendment.

A cornerstone of his efforts to restrict immigration, the ruling comes as a loss for Trump, who even attended oral arguments in the case, Trump v. Barbara, in person, marking the first time a sitting president has done so, according to records from the high court and the nonprofit Supreme Court Historical Society.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community.”

Citing comments made by Sen. Lyman Trumbull, a proponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which led to the 14th Amendment, Roberts wrote, “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”

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The case concerned an executive order signed by Trump within hours of returning to the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2025, that sought to change the longstanding legal interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Trump’s order, part of his administration’s broader efforts to restrict immigration, sought to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who either lack permanent legal status or are temporary visa holders. The order said that after 30 days from the executive order’s date, only children born to at least one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident parent would automatically acquire citizenship. It was promptly challenged in court.

Previously, the Supreme Court limited the ability of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions against the order while litigation over it proceeded, but did not directly address the merits of the order itself.

The Trump administration previously argued in defense of the order that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” makes the president’s order lawful, despite longstanding legal interpretation that children born in the U.S. are granted citizenship with only narrow exceptions.

But Roberts wrote, “The word ‘jurisdiction’ was hardly unknown to the drafters and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment. Congress chose to use an established legal term and the Clause must be interpreted in that light.”

Roberts was joined in his opinion by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Brett Kavanaugh filed an opinion that concurred in the judgment but dissented in part. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

In his own opinion, Kavanaugh wrote that he disagrees with the court’s finding that the order violates the 14th Amendment, instead arguing that it is unlawful because it ran afoul of a federal statute governing birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, which specifies particular circumstances under which citizenship is granted at birth in accordance with that amendment.

“Congress could — consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment — amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,” he said. “But Congress has not yet done so.”

Writing for the minority, Thomas argued the majority’s ruling “adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.”

Trump, in a post on his social media website Truth Social, argued, “The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process.”

“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!” he argued.

However, it was not immediately clear what the path forward for such legislation would be in Congress, as such a proposal would need to gain enough support to meet the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold in order to reach Trump’s desk.

Ashley Feasley, the legal expert in residence at the Immigration Law and Policy Initiative at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, told OSV News, “Today’s opinion is a victory for immigrant children born in the United States.”

Roberts’ opinion, she said, “while focused on Constitutional analysis and history and tradition, aligns with the bishops, who noted in their amicus brief on the case, the alignment of birthright citizenship with Church teaching as it treats ‘birth within a community as a sufficient and objective basis for political belonging.’”

J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy and communications at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and the former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News, “This decision shows that, when push comes to shove, the Constitution retains its authority and still guides our 250-year-old republic. It also sends a message to the administration that to change the Constitution you must go through a constitutional amendment process, not just use a pen.”

“The executive order that was struck down would have returned us to a two-tiered society, with one group being stateless and having no rights in our democracy,” he said. “The justices rightly did not take the nation back to that era.”

Catholic social teaching on immigration involves three interrelated principles: the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, also known as CLINIC, said in a statement, “We are relieved and grateful that the Supreme Court has upheld this right that is so important for our identity as a nation and for safeguarding justice and human dignity.”

“In our amicus brief, we explained how the values of Catholic social teaching, the particular realities of undocumented immigration in the United States, and our nation’s legal history make upholding the tradition of birthright citizenship the most just outcome of this case,” she said. “We are glad to receive a decision that will bring relief to immigrant families and our network. This is a win for immigrants, and a win for justice.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and CLINIC previously submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, arguing that ending the practice of birthright citizenship would weaken families and risk leaving children stateless, thereby making them targets for violence, trafficking and exploitation.

“The principle of citizenship by birth is firmly rooted in Western legal tradition, enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment, and reaffirmed by this Court’s precedent,” it said. “It is equally grounded in Church teachings, which affirms the inherent dignity of every human person, especially the innocent child.”

Appleby told OSV News, “I think the Church’s voice made a difference here.”

“This is a victory for human dignity and for human life,” he said, adding the ruling is one that could be celebrated by “Catholics of all political views.”

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon. NOTES: The Trump v. Barbara decision can be found here.

– WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship on June 30, finding the order violated the 14th Amendment. A cornerstone of his efforts to restrict immigration, the ruling comes as a loss for Trump, who even attended oral arguments in the case, Trump v. Barbara, in person, marking the first time a sitting president has done so, according to records from the high court and the nonprofit Supreme Court Historical Society. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights

East Hanover Knights present scholarships, accept state award #Catholic –

The Knights of Columbus East Hanover Council 6504 presented college scholarship awards to several local students at the council’s awards night held at St. Rose of Lima Church in East Hanover, N.J., on June 22. The council, with the support from an anonymous donor, awarded one-time college scholarships of $3,000 each to seven students: Sophia Duarte, Villanova University; Alicia Cosentino, Sacred Heart University; Lucas Lorent, University of Tennessee; Ryan Carrell, University of Miami; Anthony Cosentino, Rutgers University; Ava Patanella, Rider University; and Emma Patanella, University of Delaware. The students were congratulated by the council along with their family and friends who attended. Pictured with the students is Council 6504 Grand Knight Michael Trocchia.

At the same event, the East Hanover council was presented with the Drive for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Appreciation Award which had been given to the council on May 16 at the Knights of Columbus annual N.J. State Council Convention in appreciation for the council’s outstanding work with their Intellectual Disabilities Drive. Pictured above: Michael Spiecker, district deputy, who presented the award to the council; Michael Trocchia, Council 6504 Grand Knight; and Robert Cosentino, Council 6504’s Intellectual Disabilities Drive chairman.

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– The Knights of Columbus East Hanover Council 6504 presented college scholarship awards to several local students at the council’s awards night held at St. Rose of Lima Church in East Hanover, N.J., on June 22. The council, with the support from an anonymous donor, awarded one-time college scholarships of $3,000 each to seven students: Sophia Duarte, Villanova University; Alicia Cosentino, Sacred Heart University; Lucas Lorent, University of Tennessee; Ryan Carrell, University of Miami; Anthony Cosentino, Rutgers University; Ava Patanella, Rider University; and Emma Patanella, University of Delaware. The students were congratulated by the council along with their family and friends

All Saints Academy celebrates 8th grade graduates #Catholic –

All Saints Academy in Parsippany, N.J. celebrated this year’s eight-grade graduates on June 5. The day began with a family breakfast followed by the annual clap-out and concluded with a graduation Mass and award ceremony.

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– All Saints Academy in Parsippany, N.J. celebrated this year’s eight-grade graduates on June 5. The day began with a family breakfast followed by the annual clap-out and concluded with a graduation Mass and award ceremony. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

The most prominent Catholics of the United States in our first 250 years: Msgr. Kupke’s ‘Top Ten’ #Catholic –

Dear Readers,

It is my pleasure to share with you an article written by Msgr. Raymond Kupke, Diocesan Archivist, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anthony of Padua, Hawthorne, Professor of Church History at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, Seton Hall University, author of the book “Living Stones,” and co-host of the “Coffee with Kupke” podcast.

As you will read in the article, as we look towards the 250th Anniversary of our nation’s Independence, I had asked Msgr. Kupke to consider the most prominent or influential Catholics in the first 250 years of the United States – a daunting and challenging task, but, unsurprisingly, Msgr. Kupke was more than “up to the challenge.” As you read Msgr. Kupke’s thoughts, reflections, and historical perspective, I hope you will have an experience similar to my own, a feeling of being inspired by and of deep gratitude for the women and men whose Catholic Faith, Identity, and Leadership helped to build our country, allowing us to truly be “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Let us continue to pray that God will continue to Bless and watch over our nation, “God Bless America.”

Soon, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. In conjunction with that, Bishop Kevin Sweeney asked me to come up with a list of the 10 most prominent Catholics in America’s 250-year history. It has been a daunting task! I found myself starting out by eliminating whole groups of faithful Catholics. I decided not to include any statesmen/politicians (Al Smith, Joe Biden, Antonin Scalia), or Athletes (Vince Lombardi, Yogi Berra, Katie Ledecky), or entertainment figures (Helen Hayes, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne). I also came to the conclusion that there were two “elephants in the room,” namely the first Catholic President, John F. Kennedy, and the first American Pope, Leo XIV. I eliminated them because their impact is just too far-reaching.

So that left me with a list of four bishops, three priests, two nuns, and one laywoman, three of them converts to Catholicism. In my humble opinion, their impact on American Catholicism stands out.

First, three bishops: Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore (1735-1815), Archbishop John Hughes of New York (1797-1864), and Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore (1834-1921).

Carroll was a native Marylander (his cousin, Charles, is the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence), and in his time he founded both America’s first Catholic college (Georgetown) and its first seminary (Saint Mary’s). He is perhaps the only native son to be the founder of a national hierarchy. (When his diocese was divided in 1808, all four of the new bishops were foreign missionaries). His keen understanding of the American psyche gave him an ability to mediate between Roman expectations and American realities in structuring the Church in our country.

Archbishop Hughes, the first Archbishop of New York, known as “Dagger John,” led and defended his flock during the turbulent years of the Trusteeism issue and the nativist “Know-Nothing” era. His struggles to allow the younger members of his flock the opportunity to study their own faith and not non-Catholic tenets led him to embrace and establish the concept of “parochial” schools that has marked American Catholicism. His understanding of where America was headed led him to select a rural site, then miles beyond the actual city, for the current Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.

Cardinal Gibbons’ life is a list of superlatives. When he was named Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina in 1868, he was the youngest Catholic bishop in the world. Two years later, he was the youngest “father” at Vatican I, and, at his death, was the last surviving father of that ecumenical council. After being made cardinal in 1886, he was, for much of the next 35 years, the only cardinal in the Western Hemisphere. In 1903, he became the first American to vote in a papal conclave. During his time, the Baltimore Archdiocese included Washington, D.C., so he became the unofficial liaison between the bishops and the federal government. He provided moderate effective leadership for the American hierarchy during its most stormy period, the “Americanism” crisis of the 1890s. He skillfully used his own Golden Jubilee as a bishop in 1918 to push his fellow bishops into forming a national bishops’ conference.

Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890) was a Connecticut pastor during the Golden Era of American Fraternalism, when many national fraternal groups flourished. For a variety of reasons, Catholics were excluded from many of these groups, and Catholic men, in particular, experienced career and economic disadvantages from their exclusion. McGivney saw the need for an alternative for Catholic men, and so, in 1882, he founded the Knights of Columbus. It is a tribute to McGivney’s foresight that what started as a fraternal insurance group has successfully reinvented itself to meet the needs of the Church and Catholic men in every era. In particular, the Knights’ rising to the fore on behalf of American Catholicism in World War I, when there was no other national Catholic organization to respond, is to their everlasting credit.  

The two religious women on the list, Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) and Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), both can claim to be the “first.” When Pope Pius XII canonized Cabrini in 1946, it marked the first time an American citizen had been raised to the honors of the altar. When Pope Paul VI canonized Seton in 1975, it marked the first time a native of the United States had been so honored. She was celebrated on the cover of The New York Times magazine that Sunday as “Saint Elizabeth of New York.” Both were very strong women who could effectively “handle” any man who chose to try to rein them in. As foundresses of religious communities, they worked at opposite ends of the nineteenth century – Seton on behalf of Catholic education and Cabrini as the advocate for the immigrants to the New World. Their canonizations – less than 30 years apart – say something about their impact.

I do not think that the soon-to-be-beatified Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), the Trappist contemplative Thomas Merton (1915-1968) and the social activist Dorothy Day (1897-1980) ever thought of themselves as a “team.” But as I look back on American Catholicism in the 20th century, I think they were a very powerful and successful triad. After World War II, the story of American Catholicism changed. The anti-Catholicism present in much of the country was softened by the effects of war. When Jews and Catholics and Protestants were thrown together to fight in the trenches of Europe, there was not much room left over for bigotry. The war and the G.I. Bill changed the futures of many American veterans – Catholic and otherwise.

And onto that brand new stage – with its new medium, television – marched Msgr. Fulton Sheen. He was brilliant, witty, telegenic, and engaging. He had a natural talent for apologetics – and for television. He was the first great “star” produced by the new medium, and each week millions of Americans — Catholic and otherwise — listened in to his program, Life is Worth Living.  His intelligible presentation of Catholic teaching had a profound impact on his audience and helped produce many converts. But in case you thought that Catholicism was all doctrine and ceremony, there suddenly appeared these other two converts, Merton and Day, almost flanking Sheen and backing him up. One provided an entrée to the depth and power of Catholic spirituality, especially contemplative spirituality. The other, with her newspaper and organization both named The Catholic Worker, reminded several generations of Catholics that their faith had a practical, lived dimension. When you finished watching Sheen on Life is Worth Living, then you sat down and started reading the two autobiographies, The Seven Storey Mountain (Merton) and A Long Loneliness (Day) for context and depth and reflection.

The three of them helped reshape American Catholicism in the second half of the twentieth century. I do not think it is too far a stretch to see them as a remote preparation for the elections of the two elephants, President John F. Kennedy and Pope Leo XIV. 

My final top 10 choice is the Jesuit Priest and Theologian John Courtney Murray (1904-1967). Although his writings, especially on Church and State, were originally highly suspect in Roman circles, New York Cardinal Francis J. Spellman brought him to Vatican II as his “peritus.” Murray is generally regarded as the ghostwriter of the conciliar “Declaration on Religious Liberty.” He took two centuries of American ecumenical and interfaith experience and put a theological framework around it, making a unique American contribution to the Council and to the Church.

So, after too much thought and hand wringing, those are my top 10. I do not really expect many people to accept them outright. But I hope they will at least provide a starting point for discussion.

I apologize to all the many men and women whose contributions to our faith in our country did not make it on my list. Perhaps it will calm the waters if I mention that one of my own fantasies is to host a small dinner party around the topic “American Catholic Identity,” and invite just six of my favorite “practicing Catholics:” Kobe Bryant, Taylor Caldwell, Stephen Colbert, Nancy Pelosi, Mark Wahlberg, and Andy Warhol.  

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– Dear Readers, It is my pleasure to share with you an article written by Msgr. Raymond Kupke, Diocesan Archivist, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anthony of Padua, Hawthorne, Professor of Church History at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, Seton Hall University, author of the book “Living Stones,” and co-host of the “Coffee with Kupke” podcast. As you will read in the article, as we look towards the 250th Anniversary of our nation’s Independence, I had asked Msgr. Kupke to consider the most prominent or influential Catholics in the first 250 years of the United States – a daunting and challenging