The Sky This Week from September 18 to 25: Autumn begins

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Friday, September 18First Quarter Moon occurs at 4:44 P.M. EDT. The Moon then reaches apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, at 11 P.M. EDT. At that time, our satellite will be 251,171 miles (404,221 kilometers) away.  Venus reaches greatest brilliancy at 9 P.M. EDT, shining at magnitude –4.8. It’s bright and easyContinue reading “The Sky This Week from September 18 to 25: Autumn begins”

The post The Sky This Week from September 18 to 25: Autumn begins appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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Oregon officials back off ‘gender ideology mandate’ for mom seeking to adopt #Catholic Oregon officials have agreed they will not “categorically disqualify” a Christian woman from adopting or fostering children based on her religious beliefs about gender and human sexuality, which settles a three-and-a-half-year legal battle.The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) agreed to a legal settlement with Jessica Bates, who was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). It affirms the department will not consider her religious beliefs when evaluating her application for a certification to adopt children and will not attempt to regulate her speech about gender and sexuality.“Every child deserves a loving home, and children suffer when the government excludes people of faith from foster care because of the state’s own ideological crusade,” ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said in a statement following the Sept. 9 settlement.“Oregon officials turned Jessica away just because of her common-sense belief that parents should help children become comfortable with who they are instead of pushing them down a path of confusion and medicalization,” he said. “We believe this settlement is a win-win that protects constitutional rights and puts children’s interests first.”In September 2022, the ODHS denied Bates’ application because she would not comply with a state policy that requires applicants to agree they will “respect, accept and support the … sexual orientation, gender identity [and] gender expression … of a child or young adult” who is placed in the home, which ADF has characterized as a “gender ideology mandate.”Bates sued ODHS in March 2023, arguing that the policy violated her First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. The lawsuit stated she told the certification officer she would love any child as her own but would not facilitate a child’s gender transition through hormone therapy, use pronouns inconsistent with a child’s biological sex, or encourage gender expression inconsistent with the child’s biological sex or same-sex attraction.A federal district court initially ruled in favor of ODHS in December 2023, but an appellate panel of judges ruled in July 2025 that ODHS likely violated her constitutional rights and blocked the department from enforcing the rules against her while the lawsuit continued.Legal settlementPer the legal agreement, ODHS will allow Bates to apply for a certification and will not consider her religious views in any way.It states ODHS will not deny the application “because of her religious beliefs that sexual activity should occur only within the confines of a marriage between one man and one woman, and a person should identify and seek to live consistent with his or her biological sex.”The settlement adds that this extends to her “desire to respectfully speak about, live out, parent, and make day-to-day caregiving decisions consistent with these sincerely held religious beliefs.”Under the agreement, ODHS also cannot require her to “agree to use prescribed words or language, including chosen pronouns, to express views about sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression inconsistent with her religious beliefs described above as a condition of certification.”“[The] ODHS may not enforce any per se standard, rule, or policy that precludes Bates from being considered for any particular placement, based in whole or in part based on her religious belief,” the settlement agreement states.It further prohibits ODHS from disqualifying Bates from consideration for any particular child placement based on her religious beliefs.Yet, the settlement does not prevent ODHS from “deciding a child’s placement based on its individualized consideration of the child’s needs and of a foster parent’s concerns or limitations (including where religiously motivated) on their ability or willingness to meet the child’s specific needs, including with regard to their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”The Oregon attorney general’s office referred EWTN News to the Oregon Department of Human Services for comment. The department did not respond to a request for comment.
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Oregon officials back off ‘gender ideology mandate’ for mom seeking to adopt #Catholic Oregon officials have agreed they will not “categorically disqualify” a Christian woman from adopting or fostering children based on her religious beliefs about gender and human sexuality, which settles a three-and-a-half-year legal battle.The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) agreed to a legal settlement with Jessica Bates, who was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). It affirms the department will not consider her religious beliefs when evaluating her application for a certification to adopt children and will not attempt to regulate her speech about gender and sexuality.“Every child deserves a loving home, and children suffer when the government excludes people of faith from foster care because of the state’s own ideological crusade,” ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said in a statement following the Sept. 9 settlement.“Oregon officials turned Jessica away just because of her common-sense belief that parents should help children become comfortable with who they are instead of pushing them down a path of confusion and medicalization,” he said. “We believe this settlement is a win-win that protects constitutional rights and puts children’s interests first.”In September 2022, the ODHS denied Bates’ application because she would not comply with a state policy that requires applicants to agree they will “respect, accept and support the … sexual orientation, gender identity [and] gender expression … of a child or young adult” who is placed in the home, which ADF has characterized as a “gender ideology mandate.”Bates sued ODHS in March 2023, arguing that the policy violated her First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. The lawsuit stated she told the certification officer she would love any child as her own but would not facilitate a child’s gender transition through hormone therapy, use pronouns inconsistent with a child’s biological sex, or encourage gender expression inconsistent with the child’s biological sex or same-sex attraction.A federal district court initially ruled in favor of ODHS in December 2023, but an appellate panel of judges ruled in July 2025 that ODHS likely violated her constitutional rights and blocked the department from enforcing the rules against her while the lawsuit continued.Legal settlementPer the legal agreement, ODHS will allow Bates to apply for a certification and will not consider her religious views in any way.It states ODHS will not deny the application “because of her religious beliefs that sexual activity should occur only within the confines of a marriage between one man and one woman, and a person should identify and seek to live consistent with his or her biological sex.”The settlement adds that this extends to her “desire to respectfully speak about, live out, parent, and make day-to-day caregiving decisions consistent with these sincerely held religious beliefs.”Under the agreement, ODHS also cannot require her to “agree to use prescribed words or language, including chosen pronouns, to express views about sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression inconsistent with her religious beliefs described above as a condition of certification.”“[The] ODHS may not enforce any per se standard, rule, or policy that precludes Bates from being considered for any particular placement, based in whole or in part based on her religious belief,” the settlement agreement states.It further prohibits ODHS from disqualifying Bates from consideration for any particular child placement based on her religious beliefs.Yet, the settlement does not prevent ODHS from “deciding a child’s placement based on its individualized consideration of the child’s needs and of a foster parent’s concerns or limitations (including where religiously motivated) on their ability or willingness to meet the child’s specific needs, including with regard to their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”The Oregon attorney general’s office referred EWTN News to the Oregon Department of Human Services for comment. The department did not respond to a request for comment.

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The legal settlement ensures that Jessica Bates’ religious views will not be a factor in determining whether she can adopt children.

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Mexican bishops demand ‘thorough investigation’ of priest’s murder #Catholic Mexico’s bishops are demanding that authorities conduct “a thorough investigation” to clarify the circumstances surrounding the murder of Father Román de la Cruz Hernández, pastor of Santa Cruz in Huejutla, Hidalgo state.In a Sept. 16 statement, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) expressed its indignation and sadness over the crime as well as its solidarity with the Diocese of Huejutla, Hidalgo, to which De la Cruz belongedAccording to the bishops' conference, the priest’s murder took place on Sept. 15. The newspaper El Universal reported that the body of De la Cruz was found with gunshot wounds along a stretch of the Tolago-Tetlapaya highway in the Lolotla district of Hidalgo.“We stand in fraternal solidarity with José Hiraís Acosta Beltrán, bishop of Huejutla, his priests, consecrated religious, and the entire people of God of this local Church,” the CEM stated while “calling upon the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to clarify the facts and ensure that justice is served swiftly.”The Mexican bishops also prayed “for the eternal rest of Father Román,” asking God “to grant strength and comfort to his family, friends, parishioners, and all those who shared in his ministry and his life.”The CEM statement joins that of Acosta, who urged against speculating about the crime “to allow the relevant authorities to conduct the investigation and report on the tragedy.”At the same time, the bishop of Huejutla denounced “the alarming situation of violence going on in our country.”The prelate asked the faithful to work to build “a culture of peace and reconciliation, seeking the eradication of violence, and not to lose respect for the life of any person.”“Let us allow God, in his infinite goodness, to help us root out from the human heart every destructive sentiment of resentment, vengeance, and hatred that threatens the most precious gift he has bestowed upon us: life,” he emphasized.According to the Catholic Multimedia Center, 28 incidents of violence against Church members, including the murders of four priests, have been recorded during Claudia Sheinbaum’s term as president of Mexico so far.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Mexican bishops demand ‘thorough investigation’ of priest’s murder #Catholic Mexico’s bishops are demanding that authorities conduct “a thorough investigation” to clarify the circumstances surrounding the murder of Father Román de la Cruz Hernández, pastor of Santa Cruz in Huejutla, Hidalgo state.In a Sept. 16 statement, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) expressed its indignation and sadness over the crime as well as its solidarity with the Diocese of Huejutla, Hidalgo, to which De la Cruz belongedAccording to the bishops' conference, the priest’s murder took place on Sept. 15. The newspaper El Universal reported that the body of De la Cruz was found with gunshot wounds along a stretch of the Tolago-Tetlapaya highway in the Lolotla district of Hidalgo.“We stand in fraternal solidarity with José Hiraís Acosta Beltrán, bishop of Huejutla, his priests, consecrated religious, and the entire people of God of this local Church,” the CEM stated while “calling upon the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to clarify the facts and ensure that justice is served swiftly.”The Mexican bishops also prayed “for the eternal rest of Father Román,” asking God “to grant strength and comfort to his family, friends, parishioners, and all those who shared in his ministry and his life.”The CEM statement joins that of Acosta, who urged against speculating about the crime “to allow the relevant authorities to conduct the investigation and report on the tragedy.”At the same time, the bishop of Huejutla denounced “the alarming situation of violence going on in our country.”The prelate asked the faithful to work to build “a culture of peace and reconciliation, seeking the eradication of violence, and not to lose respect for the life of any person.”“Let us allow God, in his infinite goodness, to help us root out from the human heart every destructive sentiment of resentment, vengeance, and hatred that threatens the most precious gift he has bestowed upon us: life,” he emphasized.According to the Catholic Multimedia Center, 28 incidents of violence against Church members, including the murders of four priests, have been recorded during Claudia Sheinbaum’s term as president of Mexico so far.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The priest was found dead with gunshot wounds along a stretch of highway. The local bishop urged people not to speculate about the crime and denounced the ongoing violence in the country.

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Beyond The Beacon podcast 118 – A life devoted to prayer: Inside a Carmelite monastery #Catholic – What does it mean to step away from the world and embrace a life of prayer, silence, and community? In this episode, we explore the quiet world of cloistered Carmelite life and the women who choose to dedicate themselves to God within the walls of a monastery. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson leads the thoughtful conversation about vocation, sacrifice, contemplation, and a way of life that remains largely unseen—but deeply spiritual. The episode is recorded with the Discalced Carmelites of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel at their monastery in Morristown, N.J. Joining Bishop Sweeney for interviews are Mother Therese Katulski, prioress of the Morristown and Malta monasteries; Sister Theresa Lee, F.M.A., chancellor and delegate for religious; Marcy Funk, a monastery volunteer; and Father Brendan Murray, who celebrates Masses with the sisters at their monastery in Morristown. Listen to the episode here, or on any major podcast platform, or watch it on Bishop Sweeney’s YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  
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Beyond The Beacon podcast 118 – A life devoted to prayer: Inside a Carmelite monastery #Catholic – What does it mean to step away from the world and embrace a life of prayer, silence, and community? In this episode, we explore the quiet world of cloistered Carmelite life and the women who choose to dedicate themselves to God within the walls of a monastery. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson leads the thoughtful conversation about vocation, sacrifice, contemplation, and a way of life that remains largely unseen—but deeply spiritual. The episode is recorded with the Discalced Carmelites of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel at their monastery in Morristown, N.J. Joining Bishop Sweeney for interviews are Mother Therese Katulski, prioress of the Morristown and Malta monasteries; Sister Theresa Lee, F.M.A., chancellor and delegate for religious; Marcy Funk, a monastery volunteer; and Father Brendan Murray, who celebrates Masses with the sisters at their monastery in Morristown. Listen to the episode here, or on any major podcast platform, or watch it on Bishop Sweeney’s YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  

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Beyond The Beacon podcast 118 – A life devoted to prayer: Inside a Carmelite monastery #Catholic –

What does it mean to step away from the world and embrace a life of prayer, silence, and community? In this episode, we explore the quiet world of cloistered Carmelite life and the women who choose to dedicate themselves to God within the walls of a monastery.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson leads the thoughtful conversation about vocation, sacrifice, contemplation, and a way of life that remains largely unseen—but deeply spiritual.

The episode is recorded with the Discalced Carmelites of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel at their monastery in Morristown, N.J.

Joining Bishop Sweeney for interviews are Mother Therese Katulski, prioress of the Morristown and Malta monasteries; Sister Theresa Lee, F.M.A., chancellor and delegate for religious; Marcy Funk, a monastery volunteer; and Father Brendan Murray, who celebrates Masses with the sisters at their monastery in Morristown.

Listen to the episode here, or on any major podcast platform, or watch it on Bishop Sweeney’s YouTube channel.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

 

– What does it mean to step away from the world and embrace a life of prayer, silence, and community? In this episode, we explore the quiet world of cloistered Carmelite life and the women who choose to dedicate themselves to God within the walls of a monastery. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson leads the thoughtful conversation about vocation, sacrifice, contemplation, and a way of life that remains largely unseen—but deeply spiritual. The episode is recorded with the Discalced Carmelites of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel at their monastery in Morristown, N.J. Joining Bishop

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Seminaristas hispanos comparten su historia vocacional #Catholic – La Diócesis de Paterson celebró recientemente su primer Seminarian Media Day, una jornada en la que los seminaristas se pusieron frente a las cámaras para compartir un poco de sus vidas, su formación y su vocación. La iniciativa nació de la Oficina de Vocaciones como una nueva manera de acercarse a los jóvenes que pueden estar preguntándose si Dios los llama al sacerdocio. Al explicar la importancia de utilizar también los medios digitales para acompañar el discernimiento vocacional, el Padre Charles Lana, director de Vocaciones, señaló que “muchos jóvenes que están explorando una vocación primero buscan en línea información e inspiración”. Después, añadió, lo que encuentran puede llevarlos a conversar con sacerdotes, seminaristas y otras personas de la Iglesia. Por eso, durante el Media Day fueron los propios seminaristas quienes ayudaron a crear contenido para promover las vocaciones. Para el Padre Lana, sus historias tienen un valor especial porque ellos mismos son testigos de lo que significa responder al llamado de Dios. Estas son tres de esas historias. Para suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico semanal, haga click aquí. Diácono Carlos: un llamado desde la infancia Dcn.Carlos Vargas nació en Barranquilla, Colombia, y su historia vocacional comenzó mucho antes de entrar al seminario. Creció en una familia de fe. Recuerda especialmente a su abuela paterna, con quien iba a Misa todos los domingos y rezaba el rosario. Desde los siete años comenzó a sentir el deseo de ser sacerdote y sirvió en su parroquia como monaguillo. Inició su formación en Colombia, donde estuvo un año en el seminario. Después continuó su camino en Estados Unidos. Primero estudió inglés y en 2022 se graduó de St. Andrew’s College Seminary. Actualmente estudia Teología en Immaculate Conception Seminary, en Seton Hall. Una de sus clases favoritas es Cristología porque, dice, le permite conocer más profundamente la identidad de Jesús. Ciertamente su formación no ocurre solamente en las aulas. Carlos disfruta especialmente el trabajo pastoral en hospitales y parroquias, donde puede encontrarse directamente con las personas. Cuando habla de por qué quiere ser sacerdote, su respuesta es sencilla: quiere servir. David: la pregunta después de la secundaria La historia de David Marín Urquía es diferente. Nació en Estados Unidos y durante años estuvo vinculado a la Iglesia de Santa Margarita de Escocia, Morristown, donde creció en la fe. Al graduarse de la secundaria (High School) en 2023 comenzó a preguntarse más seriamente por su vocación. Un profesor de Teología lo ayudó a encontrar un director espiritual, y esas conversaciones le permitieron hablar sobre su vida espiritual y, sobre todo, llevar la pregunta por su vocación a la oración. La Virgen María también ha estado presente en ese camino. Desde pequeño, David rezaba el rosario con su familia y le pedía a María que lo ayudara a descubrir su vocación. Buscando dar otros pasos, preguntó al entonces director de Vocaciones, el Padre Edward Rama, si había algún evento en el que pudiera participar. Así llegó a una peregrinación al santuario de los Mártires Norteamericanos, en Nueva York. Después vinieron los retiros, la Misa diaria, la Adoración Eucarística, la lectura de las Sagradas Escrituras y de las vidas de los santos. También fueron importantes su servicio como monaguillo y lector, y el acompañamiento que recibió del Padre Sebastián Muñoz y del grupo Ágape de St. Margaret. En medio de ese proceso fue descubriendo con mayor claridad su deseo de ser sacerdote. David siente una atracción especial hacia los sacramentos y considera un privilegio poder algún día celebrarlos y llevarlos a las personas. Jairo: paz ante el Santísimo Jairo Andrés Jaramillo Bernal también nació en Colombia, en San Alberto, departamento del Cesar. En su historia vocacional, dos experiencias han sido especialmente importantes: la fe que recibió de su abuela y el tiempo que pasó ante el Santísimo Sacramento. Fue su abuela quien le enseñó a rezar el rosario y lo ayudó a conocer mejor la fe católica y el significado de la Eucaristía. Aunque el llamado al sacerdocio estuvo presente desde su infancia, comenzó a hacerse más claro durante su servicio militar en la Armada Nacional de Colombia. Jairo recuerda que en aquel tiempo sentía un vacío interior. Comenzó entonces a pasar tiempo ante el Santísimo Sacramento y allí encontraba paz y tranquilidad. Poco a poco nació en él un deseo más profundo de conocer a Jesús y servirlo. Después del servicio militar conoció al Padre Wilfrey Arenas y comenzó a conversar con él sobre su vocación. En 2017 ingresó al Seminario Nacional Cristo Sacerdote, en Colombia, y al año siguiente llegó a Estados Unidos para continuar su formación. Este otoño comienza su segundo año de Teología. El servicio también ha sido importante para entender su vocación. Las misiones humanitarias, la ayuda a familias necesitadas, la evangelización y el trabajo en las comunidades le fueron mostrando que encontraba alegría cuando servía a los demás. Sus dos tíos sacerdotes también lo han acompañado y aconsejado durante su camino. De ellos admira especialmente la confianza que ofrecen a las personas y su disposición para estar presentes cuando alguien los necesita. Para Jairo, allí está también la razón por la que quiere ser sacerdote: ha descubierto que su verdadera alegría y el sentido de su vida están en servir a los demás y acercarse más a Jesucristo. Caminos distintos, un mismo llamado Las historias de Carlos, David y Jairo muestran caminos distintos. Carlos comenzó a sentir el llamado siendo apenas un niño en Colombia. David empezó a discernirlo con mayor intensidad después de terminar la secundaria en Estados Unidos. Para Jairo, un momento decisivo llegó durante su servicio militar, cuando comenzó a pasar más tiempo ante el Santísimo. En los tres aparecen elementos muy sencillos: la familia, la oración, el servicio, buenos sacerdotes y otras personas que los ayudaron a discernir. El Seminarian Media Day busca precisamente que historias como estas lleguen a otros jóvenes. Al hablar sobre la formación de los seminaristas para la evangelización en el mundo actual, el Padre Lana explicó que “los futuros sacerdotes necesitan ser capaces de comunicar las verdades de la fe no solamente desde el púlpito, sino también a través de los medios modernos de comunicación que las personas utilizan todos los días”. Este mes de septiembre, la Oficina de Vocaciones lanza una cuenta de Instagram dedicada a las vocaciones. El Padre Lana invitó a los fieles a seguirla, compartir su contenido y, especialmente, rezar por los seminaristas. Quizá alguno de esos jóvenes llegue a hacerse la misma pregunta que Dcn.Carlos, David y Jairo se hicieron alguna vez: ¿Dios me estará llamando a mí?  
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Seminaristas hispanos comparten su historia vocacional #Catholic – La Diócesis de Paterson celebró recientemente su primer Seminarian Media Day, una jornada en la que los seminaristas se pusieron frente a las cámaras para compartir un poco de sus vidas, su formación y su vocación. La iniciativa nació de la Oficina de Vocaciones como una nueva manera de acercarse a los jóvenes que pueden estar preguntándose si Dios los llama al sacerdocio. Al explicar la importancia de utilizar también los medios digitales para acompañar el discernimiento vocacional, el Padre Charles Lana, director de Vocaciones, señaló que “muchos jóvenes que están explorando una vocación primero buscan en línea información e inspiración”. Después, añadió, lo que encuentran puede llevarlos a conversar con sacerdotes, seminaristas y otras personas de la Iglesia. Por eso, durante el Media Day fueron los propios seminaristas quienes ayudaron a crear contenido para promover las vocaciones. Para el Padre Lana, sus historias tienen un valor especial porque ellos mismos son testigos de lo que significa responder al llamado de Dios. Estas son tres de esas historias. Para suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico semanal, haga click aquí. Diácono Carlos: un llamado desde la infancia Dcn.Carlos Vargas nació en Barranquilla, Colombia, y su historia vocacional comenzó mucho antes de entrar al seminario. Creció en una familia de fe. Recuerda especialmente a su abuela paterna, con quien iba a Misa todos los domingos y rezaba el rosario. Desde los siete años comenzó a sentir el deseo de ser sacerdote y sirvió en su parroquia como monaguillo. Inició su formación en Colombia, donde estuvo un año en el seminario. Después continuó su camino en Estados Unidos. Primero estudió inglés y en 2022 se graduó de St. Andrew’s College Seminary. Actualmente estudia Teología en Immaculate Conception Seminary, en Seton Hall. Una de sus clases favoritas es Cristología porque, dice, le permite conocer más profundamente la identidad de Jesús. Ciertamente su formación no ocurre solamente en las aulas. Carlos disfruta especialmente el trabajo pastoral en hospitales y parroquias, donde puede encontrarse directamente con las personas. Cuando habla de por qué quiere ser sacerdote, su respuesta es sencilla: quiere servir. David: la pregunta después de la secundaria La historia de David Marín Urquía es diferente. Nació en Estados Unidos y durante años estuvo vinculado a la Iglesia de Santa Margarita de Escocia, Morristown, donde creció en la fe. Al graduarse de la secundaria (High School) en 2023 comenzó a preguntarse más seriamente por su vocación. Un profesor de Teología lo ayudó a encontrar un director espiritual, y esas conversaciones le permitieron hablar sobre su vida espiritual y, sobre todo, llevar la pregunta por su vocación a la oración. La Virgen María también ha estado presente en ese camino. Desde pequeño, David rezaba el rosario con su familia y le pedía a María que lo ayudara a descubrir su vocación. Buscando dar otros pasos, preguntó al entonces director de Vocaciones, el Padre Edward Rama, si había algún evento en el que pudiera participar. Así llegó a una peregrinación al santuario de los Mártires Norteamericanos, en Nueva York. Después vinieron los retiros, la Misa diaria, la Adoración Eucarística, la lectura de las Sagradas Escrituras y de las vidas de los santos. También fueron importantes su servicio como monaguillo y lector, y el acompañamiento que recibió del Padre Sebastián Muñoz y del grupo Ágape de St. Margaret. En medio de ese proceso fue descubriendo con mayor claridad su deseo de ser sacerdote. David siente una atracción especial hacia los sacramentos y considera un privilegio poder algún día celebrarlos y llevarlos a las personas. Jairo: paz ante el Santísimo Jairo Andrés Jaramillo Bernal también nació en Colombia, en San Alberto, departamento del Cesar. En su historia vocacional, dos experiencias han sido especialmente importantes: la fe que recibió de su abuela y el tiempo que pasó ante el Santísimo Sacramento. Fue su abuela quien le enseñó a rezar el rosario y lo ayudó a conocer mejor la fe católica y el significado de la Eucaristía. Aunque el llamado al sacerdocio estuvo presente desde su infancia, comenzó a hacerse más claro durante su servicio militar en la Armada Nacional de Colombia. Jairo recuerda que en aquel tiempo sentía un vacío interior. Comenzó entonces a pasar tiempo ante el Santísimo Sacramento y allí encontraba paz y tranquilidad. Poco a poco nació en él un deseo más profundo de conocer a Jesús y servirlo. Después del servicio militar conoció al Padre Wilfrey Arenas y comenzó a conversar con él sobre su vocación. En 2017 ingresó al Seminario Nacional Cristo Sacerdote, en Colombia, y al año siguiente llegó a Estados Unidos para continuar su formación. Este otoño comienza su segundo año de Teología. El servicio también ha sido importante para entender su vocación. Las misiones humanitarias, la ayuda a familias necesitadas, la evangelización y el trabajo en las comunidades le fueron mostrando que encontraba alegría cuando servía a los demás. Sus dos tíos sacerdotes también lo han acompañado y aconsejado durante su camino. De ellos admira especialmente la confianza que ofrecen a las personas y su disposición para estar presentes cuando alguien los necesita. Para Jairo, allí está también la razón por la que quiere ser sacerdote: ha descubierto que su verdadera alegría y el sentido de su vida están en servir a los demás y acercarse más a Jesucristo. Caminos distintos, un mismo llamado Las historias de Carlos, David y Jairo muestran caminos distintos. Carlos comenzó a sentir el llamado siendo apenas un niño en Colombia. David empezó a discernirlo con mayor intensidad después de terminar la secundaria en Estados Unidos. Para Jairo, un momento decisivo llegó durante su servicio militar, cuando comenzó a pasar más tiempo ante el Santísimo. En los tres aparecen elementos muy sencillos: la familia, la oración, el servicio, buenos sacerdotes y otras personas que los ayudaron a discernir. El Seminarian Media Day busca precisamente que historias como estas lleguen a otros jóvenes. Al hablar sobre la formación de los seminaristas para la evangelización en el mundo actual, el Padre Lana explicó que “los futuros sacerdotes necesitan ser capaces de comunicar las verdades de la fe no solamente desde el púlpito, sino también a través de los medios modernos de comunicación que las personas utilizan todos los días”. Este mes de septiembre, la Oficina de Vocaciones lanza una cuenta de Instagram dedicada a las vocaciones. El Padre Lana invitó a los fieles a seguirla, compartir su contenido y, especialmente, rezar por los seminaristas. Quizá alguno de esos jóvenes llegue a hacerse la misma pregunta que Dcn.Carlos, David y Jairo se hicieron alguna vez: ¿Dios me estará llamando a mí?  

unitedyam

Seminaristas hispanos comparten su historia vocacional #Catholic –

La Diócesis de Paterson celebró recientemente su primer Seminarian Media Day, una jornada en la que los seminaristas se pusieron frente a las cámaras para compartir un poco de sus vidas, su formación y su vocación.

La iniciativa nació de la Oficina de Vocaciones como una nueva manera de acercarse a los jóvenes que pueden estar preguntándose si Dios los llama al sacerdocio.

Al explicar la importancia de utilizar también los medios digitales para acompañar el discernimiento vocacional, el Padre Charles Lana, director de Vocaciones, señaló que “muchos jóvenes que están explorando una vocación primero buscan en línea información e inspiración”. Después, añadió, lo que encuentran puede llevarlos a conversar con sacerdotes, seminaristas y otras personas de la Iglesia.

Por eso, durante el Media Day fueron los propios seminaristas quienes ayudaron a crear contenido para promover las vocaciones. Para el Padre Lana, sus historias tienen un valor especial porque ellos mismos son testigos de lo que significa responder al llamado de Dios. Estas son tres de esas historias.

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Diácono Carlos: un llamado desde la infancia

Dcn.Carlos Vargas nació en Barranquilla, Colombia, y su historia vocacional comenzó mucho antes de entrar al seminario.

Creció en una familia de fe. Recuerda especialmente a su abuela paterna, con quien iba a Misa todos los domingos y rezaba el rosario. Desde los siete años comenzó a sentir el deseo de ser sacerdote y sirvió en su parroquia como monaguillo.

Inició su formación en Colombia, donde estuvo un año en el seminario. Después continuó su camino en Estados Unidos. Primero estudió inglés y en 2022 se graduó de St. Andrew’s College Seminary. Actualmente estudia Teología en Immaculate Conception Seminary, en Seton Hall.

Una de sus clases favoritas es Cristología porque, dice, le permite conocer más profundamente la identidad de Jesús. Ciertamente su formación no ocurre solamente en las aulas. Carlos disfruta especialmente el trabajo pastoral en hospitales y parroquias, donde puede encontrarse directamente con las personas. Cuando habla de por qué quiere ser sacerdote, su respuesta es sencilla: quiere servir.

David: la pregunta después de la secundaria

La historia de David Marín Urquía es diferente. Nació en Estados Unidos y durante años estuvo vinculado a la Iglesia de Santa Margarita de Escocia, Morristown, donde creció en la fe.

Al graduarse de la secundaria (High School) en 2023 comenzó a preguntarse más seriamente por su vocación. Un profesor de Teología lo ayudó a encontrar un director espiritual, y esas conversaciones le permitieron hablar sobre su vida espiritual y, sobre todo, llevar la pregunta por su vocación a la oración.

La Virgen María también ha estado presente en ese camino. Desde pequeño, David rezaba el rosario con su familia y le pedía a María que lo ayudara a descubrir su vocación.

Buscando dar otros pasos, preguntó al entonces director de Vocaciones, el Padre Edward Rama, si había algún evento en el que pudiera participar. Así llegó a una peregrinación al santuario de los Mártires Norteamericanos, en Nueva York.

Después vinieron los retiros, la Misa diaria, la Adoración Eucarística, la lectura de las Sagradas Escrituras y de las vidas de los santos. También fueron importantes su servicio como monaguillo y lector, y el acompañamiento que recibió del Padre Sebastián Muñoz y del grupo Ágape de St. Margaret.

En medio de ese proceso fue descubriendo con mayor claridad su deseo de ser sacerdote. David siente una atracción especial hacia los sacramentos y considera un privilegio poder algún día celebrarlos y llevarlos a las personas.

Jairo: paz ante el Santísimo

Jairo Andrés Jaramillo Bernal también nació en Colombia, en San Alberto, departamento del Cesar. En su historia vocacional, dos experiencias han sido especialmente importantes: la fe que recibió de su abuela y el tiempo que pasó ante el Santísimo Sacramento.

Fue su abuela quien le enseñó a rezar el rosario y lo ayudó a conocer mejor la fe católica y el significado de la Eucaristía. Aunque el llamado al sacerdocio estuvo presente desde su infancia, comenzó a hacerse más claro durante su servicio militar en la Armada Nacional de Colombia.

Jairo recuerda que en aquel tiempo sentía un vacío interior. Comenzó entonces a pasar tiempo ante el Santísimo Sacramento y allí encontraba paz y tranquilidad. Poco a poco nació en él un deseo más profundo de conocer a Jesús y servirlo.

Después del servicio militar conoció al Padre Wilfrey Arenas y comenzó a conversar con él sobre su vocación. En 2017 ingresó al Seminario Nacional Cristo Sacerdote, en Colombia, y al año siguiente llegó a Estados Unidos para continuar su formación. Este otoño comienza su segundo año de Teología.

El servicio también ha sido importante para entender su vocación. Las misiones humanitarias, la ayuda a familias necesitadas, la evangelización y el trabajo en las comunidades le fueron mostrando que encontraba alegría cuando servía a los demás. Sus dos tíos sacerdotes también lo han acompañado y aconsejado durante su camino. De ellos admira especialmente la confianza que ofrecen a las personas y su disposición para estar presentes cuando alguien los necesita.

Para Jairo, allí está también la razón por la que quiere ser sacerdote: ha descubierto que su verdadera alegría y el sentido de su vida están en servir a los demás y acercarse más a Jesucristo.

Caminos distintos, un mismo llamado

Las historias de Carlos, David y Jairo muestran caminos distintos. Carlos comenzó a sentir el llamado siendo apenas un niño en Colombia. David empezó a discernirlo con mayor intensidad después de terminar la secundaria en Estados Unidos. Para Jairo, un momento decisivo llegó durante su servicio militar, cuando comenzó a pasar más tiempo ante el Santísimo. En los tres aparecen elementos muy sencillos: la familia, la oración, el servicio, buenos sacerdotes y otras personas que los ayudaron a discernir.

El Seminarian Media Day busca precisamente que historias como estas lleguen a otros jóvenes.

Al hablar sobre la formación de los seminaristas para la evangelización en el mundo actual, el Padre Lana explicó que “los futuros sacerdotes necesitan ser capaces de comunicar las verdades de la fe no solamente desde el púlpito, sino también a través de los medios modernos de comunicación que las personas utilizan todos los días”.

Este mes de septiembre, la Oficina de Vocaciones lanza una cuenta de Instagram dedicada a las vocaciones. El Padre Lana invitó a los fieles a seguirla, compartir su contenido y, especialmente, rezar por los seminaristas.

Quizá alguno de esos jóvenes llegue a hacerse la misma pregunta que Dcn.Carlos, David y Jairo se hicieron alguna vez: ¿Dios me estará llamando a mí?

 

– La Diócesis de Paterson celebró recientemente su primer Seminarian Media Day, una jornada en la que los seminaristas se pusieron frente a las cámaras para compartir un poco de sus vidas, su formación y su vocación. La iniciativa nació de la Oficina de Vocaciones como una nueva manera de acercarse a los jóvenes que pueden estar preguntándose si Dios los llama al sacerdocio. Al explicar la importancia de utilizar también los medios digitales para acompañar el discernimiento vocacional, el Padre Charles Lana, director de Vocaciones, señaló que “muchos jóvenes que están explorando una vocación primero buscan en línea información e

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Paterson priest honored with national addiction counselors’ award #Catholic – The National Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors (NAADAC) on Aug. 28 presented Father Ed Reading, a priest of the Paterson Diocese who serves outside the diocese, with the Addiction Educator of the Year Award during the EMPOWER 2026 NAADAC Annual Conference, held last month in Kansas City, Mo. Father Reading is a N.J.-licensed drug and alcohol counselor and an educator and scholar in the addiction field. Also known as Dr. Reading, he has been in the addiction field since 1969 — long before there was an organized profession of addiction studies. He lives in Ortley Beach, N.J. Father Reading has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels at more than six colleges and universities in New Jersey, as well as providing professional training and education to medical professionals, law enforcement professionals, and professional clergy. For more than 50 years, he has been a nationally recognized leader in the field of addictions, authoring professional publications and presenting professional lectures throughout the United States and four provinces of Canada. In addition, Father Reading has served on the N.J. State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners, where he has chaired the Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee for more than 30 years. The committee certifies and licenses addiction counselors. The priest has been a driving force in state licensure regulation. His New Jersey license number is “1.” He is the longest-serving state licensing board member in the country. Also, Father Reading has served elected terms as president of the International Coalition for Addiction Studies Education and is the current president of the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission. He is currently employed at Ocean County College in New Jersey, where, for more than a decade, he has taught and mentored students in the Addiction Studies Program. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Ordained a Catholic priest of the diocese in 1972, Father Reading worked as a healthcare professional at Straight and Narrow in Paterson, the drug- and alcohol-treatment program of diocesan Catholic Charities, from 1969 to 1980, when he began ministering outside the diocese. Father Reading has also served as a board member of diocesan Catholic Charities and as a weekend assistant at Good Shepherd Parish in Andover, N.J. He earned a doctorate in pastoral counseling from LaSalle University in Mandeville, La. in 2002. Ted McCadden, program director of human services, counseling, and social work and president-elect of the International Coalition for Addiction Studies Education and a commissioner of the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission, was one of several professionals who enthusiastically submitted letters of recommendation for Father Reading’s award. McCadden wrote, “It is difficult to imagine the Addiction Education field without Dr. Reading’s influence; he was a trailblazer in this field of study as it moved from the fringes and into the academic mainstream. Dr. Reading’s teaching career spans nearly 50 years, during which he has trained innumerable addiction professionals.” “More than that, Dr. Reading’s contributions to the field of addiction education include establishing addiction counseling training programs at several institutions, mentoring programs to meet national standards for addiction studies education, and serving as a consultant to several state, national, and international institutions and agencies,” McCadden wrote. McCadden also wrote that Father Reading’s vocation as a priest has allowed him to build a ministry of “healing the healers,” providing pastoral counseling services and focusing his vocation on addictions, treatment, prevention, education, and research for over 45 years. “Through this ministry, he provides ‘boots on the ground’ _training for those who may encounter substance use in their own ministries—a truly unique application of his talents as an addiction educator,” McCadden wrote about Father Reading.  
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Paterson priest honored with national addiction counselors’ award #Catholic – The National Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors (NAADAC) on Aug. 28 presented Father Ed Reading, a priest of the Paterson Diocese who serves outside the diocese, with the Addiction Educator of the Year Award during the EMPOWER 2026 NAADAC Annual Conference, held last month in Kansas City, Mo. Father Reading is a N.J.-licensed drug and alcohol counselor and an educator and scholar in the addiction field. Also known as Dr. Reading, he has been in the addiction field since 1969 — long before there was an organized profession of addiction studies. He lives in Ortley Beach, N.J. Father Reading has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels at more than six colleges and universities in New Jersey, as well as providing professional training and education to medical professionals, law enforcement professionals, and professional clergy. For more than 50 years, he has been a nationally recognized leader in the field of addictions, authoring professional publications and presenting professional lectures throughout the United States and four provinces of Canada. In addition, Father Reading has served on the N.J. State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners, where he has chaired the Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee for more than 30 years. The committee certifies and licenses addiction counselors. The priest has been a driving force in state licensure regulation. His New Jersey license number is “1.” He is the longest-serving state licensing board member in the country. Also, Father Reading has served elected terms as president of the International Coalition for Addiction Studies Education and is the current president of the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission. He is currently employed at Ocean County College in New Jersey, where, for more than a decade, he has taught and mentored students in the Addiction Studies Program. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Ordained a Catholic priest of the diocese in 1972, Father Reading worked as a healthcare professional at Straight and Narrow in Paterson, the drug- and alcohol-treatment program of diocesan Catholic Charities, from 1969 to 1980, when he began ministering outside the diocese. Father Reading has also served as a board member of diocesan Catholic Charities and as a weekend assistant at Good Shepherd Parish in Andover, N.J. He earned a doctorate in pastoral counseling from LaSalle University in Mandeville, La. in 2002. Ted McCadden, program director of human services, counseling, and social work and president-elect of the International Coalition for Addiction Studies Education and a commissioner of the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission, was one of several professionals who enthusiastically submitted letters of recommendation for Father Reading’s award. McCadden wrote, “It is difficult to imagine the Addiction Education field without Dr. Reading’s influence; he was a trailblazer in this field of study as it moved from the fringes and into the academic mainstream. Dr. Reading’s teaching career spans nearly 50 years, during which he has trained innumerable addiction professionals.” “More than that, Dr. Reading’s contributions to the field of addiction education include establishing addiction counseling training programs at several institutions, mentoring programs to meet national standards for addiction studies education, and serving as a consultant to several state, national, and international institutions and agencies,” McCadden wrote. McCadden also wrote that Father Reading’s vocation as a priest has allowed him to build a ministry of “healing the healers,” providing pastoral counseling services and focusing his vocation on addictions, treatment, prevention, education, and research for over 45 years. “Through this ministry, he provides ‘boots on the ground’ _training for those who may encounter substance use in their own ministries—a truly unique application of his talents as an addiction educator,” McCadden wrote about Father Reading.  

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Paterson priest honored with national addiction counselors’ award #Catholic –

The National Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors (NAADAC) on Aug. 28 presented Father Ed Reading, a priest of the Paterson Diocese who serves outside the diocese, with the Addiction Educator of the Year Award during the EMPOWER 2026 NAADAC Annual Conference, held last month in Kansas City, Mo.

Father Reading is a N.J.-licensed drug and alcohol counselor and an educator and scholar in the addiction field. Also known as Dr. Reading, he has been in the addiction field since 1969 — long before there was an organized profession of addiction studies. He lives in Ortley Beach, N.J.

Father Reading has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels at more than six colleges and universities in New Jersey, as well as providing professional training and education to medical professionals, law enforcement professionals, and professional clergy. For more than 50 years, he has been a nationally recognized leader in the field of addictions, authoring professional publications and presenting professional lectures throughout the United States and four provinces of Canada.

In addition, Father Reading has served on the N.J. State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners, where he has chaired the Alcohol and Drug Counselor Committee for more than 30 years. The committee certifies and licenses addiction counselors. The priest has been a driving force in state licensure regulation. His New Jersey license number is “1.” He is the longest-serving state licensing board member in the country.

Also, Father Reading has served elected terms as president of
the International Coalition for Addiction Studies Education and is the current president of the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission. He is currently employed at Ocean County College in New Jersey, where, for more than a decade, he has taught and mentored students in the Addiction Studies Program.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Ordained a Catholic priest of the diocese in 1972, Father Reading worked as a healthcare professional at Straight and Narrow in Paterson, the drug- and alcohol-treatment program of diocesan Catholic Charities, from 1969 to 1980, when he began ministering outside the diocese.

Father Reading has also served as a board member of diocesan Catholic Charities and as a weekend assistant at Good Shepherd Parish in Andover, N.J. He earned a doctorate in pastoral counseling from LaSalle University in Mandeville, La. in 2002.

Ted McCadden, program director of human services, counseling, and social work and president-elect of the International Coalition for Addiction Studies Education and a commissioner of the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission, was one of several professionals who enthusiastically submitted letters of recommendation for Father Reading’s award.

McCadden wrote, “It is difficult to imagine the Addiction Education field without Dr. Reading’s influence; he was a trailblazer in this field of study as it moved from the fringes and into the academic mainstream. Dr. Reading’s teaching career spans nearly 50 years, during which he has trained innumerable addiction professionals.”

“More than that, Dr. Reading’s contributions to the field of addiction education include establishing addiction counseling training programs at several institutions, mentoring programs to meet national standards for addiction studies education, and serving as a consultant to several state, national, and international institutions and agencies,” McCadden wrote.

McCadden also wrote that Father Reading’s vocation as a priest has allowed him to build a ministry of “healing the healers,” providing pastoral counseling services and focusing his vocation on addictions, treatment, prevention, education, and research for over 45 years.

“Through this ministry, he provides ‘boots on the ground’ _training for those who may encounter substance use in their own ministries—a truly unique application of his talents as an addiction educator,” McCadden wrote about Father Reading.

 

– The National Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors (NAADAC) on Aug. 28 presented Father Ed Reading, a priest of the Paterson Diocese who serves outside the diocese, with the Addiction Educator of the Year Award during the EMPOWER 2026 NAADAC Annual Conference, held last month in Kansas City, Mo. Father Reading is a N.J.-licensed drug and alcohol counselor and an educator and scholar in the addiction field. Also known as Dr. Reading, he has been in the addiction field since 1969 — long before there was an organized profession of addiction studies. He lives in Ortley Beach, N.J. Father Reading

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Bishop’s video for Tri-County award taped at Paterson school #Catholic – St. Gerard Majella School in Paterson, N.J., warmly welcomed Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and staff from the Tri-County Scholarship Fund on Sept. 9 during their visit that morning. The visit included the taping of video that will be shown on Monday, Nov. 2, at Tri-County’s 45th Annual Awards Dinner, during which Bishop Sweeney will be honored. During the gala, to be held at the Legacy Castle in Pompton Plains, N.J., Bishop Sweeney and two other distinguished honorees will be recognized for their commitment to providing educational opportunity to financially disadvantaged New Jersey children and for their many other contributions to the community. Those present for the Sept. 9 taping at St. Gerard’s included Prudence Pigott, Tri-County’s president; Msgr. George Hundt, pastor of St. Gerard Majella Parish; and Filippini Sister Jo-Ann Pompa, principal of St. Gerard School, along with students. Founded in 1981, Tri-County has supported St. Gerard’s with student scholarships over the years. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Bishop Sweeney will receive Tri-County’s Making a Difference Award for his dedicated ministry to the community and vocational leadership throughout the New York and New Jersey area. Also at the gala, Tri-County will honor Lindsay Hans, president and co-head of Merrill Wealth Management and a member of Bank of America Corporation’s executive management team, and Deidre Meehan, worldwide vice president and general counsel, Innovative Medicine at Johnson & Johnson. Founded in 1981, Tri-County Scholarship Fund addresses educational inequities by providing partial scholarships to financially disadvantaged K-12 students in New Jersey. The organization partners with accredited, independent elementary and secondary schools to offer students safe, values-based educational opportunities that foster academic and personal growth. Tri-County’s scholarships help deserving students reach their full potential. The Annual Awards Dinner is the largest fundraiser for the New Jersey nonprofit, which has provided over million in scholarships to more than 40,000 students since its inception in 1981. To learn more about Tri-County Scholarship Fund, visit tcsfund.org. To purchase a sponsorship, table, or ticket, please visit tcsfund.org/2026gala. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]  
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Bishop’s video for Tri-County award taped at Paterson school #Catholic – St. Gerard Majella School in Paterson, N.J., warmly welcomed Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and staff from the Tri-County Scholarship Fund on Sept. 9 during their visit that morning. The visit included the taping of video that will be shown on Monday, Nov. 2, at Tri-County’s 45th Annual Awards Dinner, during which Bishop Sweeney will be honored. During the gala, to be held at the Legacy Castle in Pompton Plains, N.J., Bishop Sweeney and two other distinguished honorees will be recognized for their commitment to providing educational opportunity to financially disadvantaged New Jersey children and for their many other contributions to the community. Those present for the Sept. 9 taping at St. Gerard’s included Prudence Pigott, Tri-County’s president; Msgr. George Hundt, pastor of St. Gerard Majella Parish; and Filippini Sister Jo-Ann Pompa, principal of St. Gerard School, along with students. Founded in 1981, Tri-County has supported St. Gerard’s with student scholarships over the years. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Bishop Sweeney will receive Tri-County’s Making a Difference Award for his dedicated ministry to the community and vocational leadership throughout the New York and New Jersey area. Also at the gala, Tri-County will honor Lindsay Hans, president and co-head of Merrill Wealth Management and a member of Bank of America Corporation’s executive management team, and Deidre Meehan, worldwide vice president and general counsel, Innovative Medicine at Johnson & Johnson. Founded in 1981, Tri-County Scholarship Fund addresses educational inequities by providing partial scholarships to financially disadvantaged K-12 students in New Jersey. The organization partners with accredited, independent elementary and secondary schools to offer students safe, values-based educational opportunities that foster academic and personal growth. Tri-County’s scholarships help deserving students reach their full potential. The Annual Awards Dinner is the largest fundraiser for the New Jersey nonprofit, which has provided over $44 million in scholarships to more than 40,000 students since its inception in 1981. To learn more about Tri-County Scholarship Fund, visit tcsfund.org. To purchase a sponsorship, table, or ticket, please visit tcsfund.org/2026gala. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]  

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Bishop’s video for Tri-County award taped at Paterson school #Catholic –

St. Gerard Majella School in Paterson, N.J., warmly welcomed Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and staff from the Tri-County Scholarship Fund on Sept. 9 during their visit that morning. The visit included the taping of video that will be shown on Monday, Nov. 2, at Tri-County’s 45th Annual Awards Dinner, during which Bishop Sweeney will be honored.

During the gala, to be held at the Legacy Castle in Pompton Plains, N.J., Bishop Sweeney and two other distinguished honorees will be recognized for their commitment to providing educational opportunity to financially disadvantaged New Jersey children and for their many other contributions to the community.

Those present for the Sept. 9 taping at St. Gerard’s included Prudence Pigott, Tri-County’s president; Msgr. George Hundt, pastor of St. Gerard Majella Parish; and Filippini Sister Jo-Ann Pompa, principal of St. Gerard School, along with students. Founded in 1981, Tri-County has supported St. Gerard’s with student scholarships over the years.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Bishop Sweeney will receive Tri-County’s Making a Difference Award for his dedicated ministry to the community and vocational leadership throughout the New York and New Jersey area.

Also at the gala, Tri-County will honor Lindsay Hans, president and co-head of Merrill Wealth Management and a member of Bank of America Corporation’s executive management team, and Deidre Meehan, worldwide vice president and general counsel, Innovative Medicine at Johnson & Johnson.

Founded in 1981, Tri-County Scholarship Fund addresses educational inequities by providing partial scholarships to financially disadvantaged K-12 students in New Jersey. The organization partners with accredited, independent elementary and secondary schools to offer students safe, values-based educational opportunities that foster academic and personal growth. Tri-County’s scholarships help deserving students reach their full potential.

The Annual Awards Dinner is the largest fundraiser for the New Jersey nonprofit, which has provided over $44 million in scholarships to more than 40,000 students since its inception in 1981. To learn more about Tri-County Scholarship Fund, visit tcsfund.org.

To purchase a sponsorship, table, or ticket, please visit tcsfund.org/2026gala.

BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI

– St. Gerard Majella School in Paterson, N.J., warmly welcomed Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and staff from the Tri-County Scholarship Fund on Sept. 9 during their visit that morning. The visit included the taping of video that will be shown on Monday, Nov. 2, at Tri-County’s 45th Annual Awards Dinner, during which Bishop Sweeney will be honored. During the gala, to be held at the Legacy Castle in Pompton Plains, N.J., Bishop Sweeney and two other distinguished honorees will be recognized for their commitment to providing educational opportunity to financially disadvantaged New Jersey children and for their many other contributions to

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 17 September 2026 – A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians 15:1-11 I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the Apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the Apostles, not fit to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed. From the Gospel according to Luke 7:36-50 A certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”Jesus was used to accepting invitations to eat, and not only from “publicans”, but also from the “pharisees”, who were His bitterest adversaries. For example, we read in Luke: “One of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him, and He went into the Pharisee’s house, and took His place at table” (Lk 7:36). (…) During this meal, an event took place that sheds yet more light on Jesus’ behaviour towards poor humanity, made up of so many “sinners” whom the so-called “righteous” despise and condemn. Now, a woman known in the city as a sinner was among those present; weeping, she kissed Jesus’ feet and anointed them with perfumed oil. A conversation then ensued between Jesus and the host, during which Jesus established an essential link between the forgiveness of sins and the love inspired by faith: “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much”. Then He says to her: “Your sins are forgiven … Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. (…) Jesus acted in the spirit of a great love for humanity, based on the profound solidarity He felt for those whom God had created in His own image and likeness. What does this solidarity consist of? It is the manifestation of the love that has its source in God Himself. The Son of God came into the world to reveal this love. (John Paul II, Catechesis of 10 February 1988)

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A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians
15:1-11

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the Gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once,
most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the Apostles.
Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.
For I am the least of the Apostles,
not fit to be called an Apostle,
because I persecuted the Church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me has not been ineffective.
Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.
Therefore, whether it be I or they,
so we preach and so you believed. 

From the Gospel according to Luke
7:36-50

A certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him,
and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.
Now there was a sinful woman in the city
who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee.
Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,
she stood behind him at his feet weeping
and began to bathe his feet with her tears.
Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself,
“If this man were a prophet,
he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him,
that she is a sinner.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“Simon, I have something to say to you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor;
one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty.
Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both.
Which of them will love him more?”
Simon said in reply,
“The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.”
He said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon,
“Do you see this woman?
When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet,
but she has bathed them with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss,
but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.
You did not anoint my head with oil,
but she anointed my feet with ointment.
So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven;
hence, she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The others at table said to themselves,
“Who is this who even forgives sins?”
But he said to the woman,
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus was used to accepting invitations to eat, and not only from “publicans”, but also from the “pharisees”, who were His bitterest adversaries. For example, we read in Luke: “One of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him, and He went into the Pharisee’s house, and took His place at table” (Lk 7:36). (…) During this meal, an event took place that sheds yet more light on Jesus’ behaviour towards poor humanity, made up of so many “sinners” whom the so-called “righteous” despise and condemn. Now, a woman known in the city as a sinner was among those present; weeping, she kissed Jesus’ feet and anointed them with perfumed oil. A conversation then ensued between Jesus and the host, during which Jesus established an essential link between the forgiveness of sins and the love inspired by faith: “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much”. Then He says to her: “Your sins are forgiven … Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. (…) Jesus acted in the spirit of a great love for humanity, based on the profound solidarity He felt for those whom God had created in His own image and likeness. What does this solidarity consist of? It is the manifestation of the love that has its source in God Himself. The Son of God came into the world to reveal this love. (John Paul II, Catechesis of 10 February 1988)

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Jimmy Lai’s family, advocates press for his release before Xi-Trump meeting #Catholic Family members and advocates of imprisoned Catholic pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai offered urgent pleas for his release ahead of President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump.In anticipation of Xiʼs visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, met with leaders to advocate for his father. He joined a Sept. 16 congressional hearing led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.“Jimmy Lai is not being imprisoned because he committed any act of violence whatsoever,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said. “His son has emphasized that his father has never, never advocated violence. Rather, Jimmy Lai used his voice, his newspaper, and his public platform to support freedom and democracy,” he said. Smith said he introduced legislation Sept. 16 that would require the State Department to quickly assess any death in custody of a Hong Kong political prisoner and impose sanctions on officials found responsible. He titled the bill the “Jimmy Lai Hong Kong Political Prisoner Accountability Act of 2026.”At the hearing, Sebastien Lai offered testimony along with Steve Yates, a research fellow on China and national security policy, and Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.“I want to thank America, President Trump, who has been a true champion of my fatherʼs, his administration, and the senators and members of both parties whose support has never wavered and only gotten stronger. That is moral courage, and my family does not take it for granted,” Sebastien Lai said.“By the end of this year my father will have spent six years in a maximum-security prison in solitary. At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong. With a 20-year sentence looming over him, if he’s not freed soon, he will most likely die in prison,” he said. “My sister Claire was to testify beside me today. A few weeks ago, she was diagnosed with cancer,” he said. “I was with her in London last week as she began chemotherapy. My father learned of his own daughterʼs diagnosis from a maximum-security prison. He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight,“ he said. Claire Lai, daughter of imprisoned pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, discusses her father’s sentencing on “EWTN News Nightly” on Feb. 9, 2026. | Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot “We hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her, and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough,” he said.“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,“ he said.The appeal to Xi “is simple," Sebastien Lai said. “My father poses no threat. His imprisonment makes him a symbol of injustice; his death in prison would be a disgrace. Let Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment.” America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late.” Sebastien LaiSon of imprisoned Hong Kong media publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai Clifford, of the Washington‑based advocacy group promoting human rights in Hong Kong, spoke on behalf of his friend Jimmy Lai and to remind “people that Jimmy is just one of hundreds of political prisoners being held in often appalling conditions.”“Iʼd like to emphasize the release of Jimmy Lai would be something President Trump, Republicans and Democrats, indeed, freedom-loving people around the world would applaud,” Clifford said. “It would be a unifying event at the time when the world really needs it.”Yates said Jimmy Lai’s case is “a test of character, of Xi Jinping’s leadership, of the president’s relationship with his counterpart, and of whether there remains any credible basis for the assumptions on which American policy toward Hong Kong was long constructed.”The case is “a litmus test of whether there remains any reason to believe there is a future in Xi Jinping’s China for the kind of man Jimmy Lai is: a child of God, a lover of the real China, and, it may fairly be said, one of China’s greatest entrepreneurs,” Yates said. Lai’s health ‘is going to get worse’At a subsequent event, Sebastien Lai spoke at a press conference at Georgetown University about his father.Trump has previously met with Xi about Jimmy Lai’s case, which did not end with his release, but Sebastian Lai said he does not believe “it is a lost cause.” He said he hopes Trump raises his father’s case “again and again.”Sebastian Lai detailed his father’s health, which “hasnʼt gotten any better” while in solitary confinement.“He now has heart issues. His nails fall off. His teeth are rotting. During the summer, he bleeds all over his body because [of] his rashes,” he said.His health was especially worrisome recently because “Hong Kong just had a record summer,” Sebastien Lai said. “The heat traps in there and essentially bakes in itself. So weʼre very, very worried.”Caoilfhionn Gallagher, human rights lawyer and leader of the international legal team representing Jimmy Lai, further laid out the urgency of the case.“It’s very clear that if someone is detained in solitary confinement for an extended period of time, there is a direct ramification for their mortality,” she said.“The risk to prisoners detained in solitary confinement is particularly heightened if they’re elderly or diabetic, and Jimmy Lai is both. So this couldn’t be a more urgent and timely discussion,” she said. Gallagher also noted the broader human rights issues and lack of democracy in Hong Kong.Hong Kong “has become a place where you can be thrown in prison for singing the wrong song, or not singing the right song, or wearing the wrong T-shirt, printing the wrong newspaper. And I think Jimmy Laiʼs case is hugely important in itself because of who he is,” Gallagher said.“Heʼs probably the worldʼs most famous political prisoner at the moment. His case is hugely important, but we think part of why theyʼve gone for Jimmy Lai is because by getting the biggest fish of all, it sends the message to the small fry across Hong Kong,” Gallagher said. "It makes very clear that their message is keep silent or youʼll be next,” Gallagher said. Xi’s visit to the U.S. offers “a particular opportunity to shine a light on this issue,” she said.
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Jimmy Lai’s family, advocates press for his release before Xi-Trump meeting #Catholic Family members and advocates of imprisoned Catholic pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai offered urgent pleas for his release ahead of President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump.In anticipation of Xiʼs visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, met with leaders to advocate for his father. He joined a Sept. 16 congressional hearing led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.“Jimmy Lai is not being imprisoned because he committed any act of violence whatsoever,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said. “His son has emphasized that his father has never, never advocated violence. Rather, Jimmy Lai used his voice, his newspaper, and his public platform to support freedom and democracy,” he said. Smith said he introduced legislation Sept. 16 that would require the State Department to quickly assess any death in custody of a Hong Kong political prisoner and impose sanctions on officials found responsible. He titled the bill the “Jimmy Lai Hong Kong Political Prisoner Accountability Act of 2026.”At the hearing, Sebastien Lai offered testimony along with Steve Yates, a research fellow on China and national security policy, and Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.“I want to thank America, President Trump, who has been a true champion of my fatherʼs, his administration, and the senators and members of both parties whose support has never wavered and only gotten stronger. That is moral courage, and my family does not take it for granted,” Sebastien Lai said.“By the end of this year my father will have spent six years in a maximum-security prison in solitary. At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong. With a 20-year sentence looming over him, if he’s not freed soon, he will most likely die in prison,” he said. “My sister Claire was to testify beside me today. A few weeks ago, she was diagnosed with cancer,” he said. “I was with her in London last week as she began chemotherapy. My father learned of his own daughterʼs diagnosis from a maximum-security prison. He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight,“ he said. Claire Lai, daughter of imprisoned pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, discusses her father’s sentencing on “EWTN News Nightly” on Feb. 9, 2026. | Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot “We hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her, and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough,” he said.“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,“ he said.The appeal to Xi “is simple," Sebastien Lai said. “My father poses no threat. His imprisonment makes him a symbol of injustice; his death in prison would be a disgrace. Let Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment.” America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late.” Sebastien LaiSon of imprisoned Hong Kong media publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai Clifford, of the Washington‑based advocacy group promoting human rights in Hong Kong, spoke on behalf of his friend Jimmy Lai and to remind “people that Jimmy is just one of hundreds of political prisoners being held in often appalling conditions.”“Iʼd like to emphasize the release of Jimmy Lai would be something President Trump, Republicans and Democrats, indeed, freedom-loving people around the world would applaud,” Clifford said. “It would be a unifying event at the time when the world really needs it.”Yates said Jimmy Lai’s case is “a test of character, of Xi Jinping’s leadership, of the president’s relationship with his counterpart, and of whether there remains any credible basis for the assumptions on which American policy toward Hong Kong was long constructed.”The case is “a litmus test of whether there remains any reason to believe there is a future in Xi Jinping’s China for the kind of man Jimmy Lai is: a child of God, a lover of the real China, and, it may fairly be said, one of China’s greatest entrepreneurs,” Yates said. Lai’s health ‘is going to get worse’At a subsequent event, Sebastien Lai spoke at a press conference at Georgetown University about his father.Trump has previously met with Xi about Jimmy Lai’s case, which did not end with his release, but Sebastian Lai said he does not believe “it is a lost cause.” He said he hopes Trump raises his father’s case “again and again.”Sebastian Lai detailed his father’s health, which “hasnʼt gotten any better” while in solitary confinement.“He now has heart issues. His nails fall off. His teeth are rotting. During the summer, he bleeds all over his body because [of] his rashes,” he said.His health was especially worrisome recently because “Hong Kong just had a record summer,” Sebastien Lai said. “The heat traps in there and essentially bakes in itself. So weʼre very, very worried.”Caoilfhionn Gallagher, human rights lawyer and leader of the international legal team representing Jimmy Lai, further laid out the urgency of the case.“It’s very clear that if someone is detained in solitary confinement for an extended period of time, there is a direct ramification for their mortality,” she said.“The risk to prisoners detained in solitary confinement is particularly heightened if they’re elderly or diabetic, and Jimmy Lai is both. So this couldn’t be a more urgent and timely discussion,” she said. Gallagher also noted the broader human rights issues and lack of democracy in Hong Kong.Hong Kong “has become a place where you can be thrown in prison for singing the wrong song, or not singing the right song, or wearing the wrong T-shirt, printing the wrong newspaper. And I think Jimmy Laiʼs case is hugely important in itself because of who he is,” Gallagher said.“Heʼs probably the worldʼs most famous political prisoner at the moment. His case is hugely important, but we think part of why theyʼve gone for Jimmy Lai is because by getting the biggest fish of all, it sends the message to the small fry across Hong Kong,” Gallagher said. "It makes very clear that their message is keep silent or youʼll be next,” Gallagher said. Xi’s visit to the U.S. offers “a particular opportunity to shine a light on this issue,” she said.

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“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,” Sebastien Lai said.

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Venezuela: Talks with opposition, oil deal, Delcy Rodríguez in New York, and the Church’s stance #Catholic Sept. 15 marked the start of the second round of negotiations between a Venezuelan opposition delegation and the country’s ruling socialist regime, a process promoted and driven by the U.S. government with an eye toward potential presidential elections in the South American nation.Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation, arrived in Venezuela on Sept. 13 and before national and international media explained that once this weekʼs discussions conclude, the country could expect an announcement regarding the agreements reached.Meanwhile, Jorge Millán, who is also part of the opposition delegation, stated that they would continue “pursuing a Supreme Court of Justice with honorable, independent, and impartial judges capable of providing Venezuela with an upstanding judicial system after so many years. At the end of the cycle [of talks], we will present clear and verifiable objectives.”He also stated that this round of negotiations would also address the status of political parties, political guarantees, and “the dismantling of the repressive apparatus” established by Chavismo (the socialist government established by President Hugo Chávez and continued by President Nicolás Maduro) for over two decades. The state of freedom of expression in Venezuela will also be one of the items on the agenda.“The foundation for achieving a full democracy requires creating the conditions for elections to be held in Venezuela as soon as possible, as quickly as possible. We are laying the groundwork to reach those important areas that will enable all Venezuelans to elect our leaders very soon, with the speed we desire but also allowing for the time this will take,” Millán added.Concerns and proposals from the Catholic ChurchLast week, Cardinals Baltazar Porras and Diego Padrón, together with Bishop Emeritus Ramón Ovidio Pérez Morales, once again spoke out regarding the political and social situation in Venezuela. The prelates had previously raised their voices at the start of negotiations, offering to serve as guarantors of the process.On this occasion, they addressed the state of “indeterminacy, confusion, and uncertainty” prevailing in the country, offering “certain opinions, judgments, and proposals” that seek to “open the way” to help overcome the current crisis and achieve solid institutional stability and the national common good.Following the capture and extradition of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. forces on Jan. 3, the prelates noted that “changes have occurred, yet neither the desired and expected change nor a shift toward the structuring and functioning of the country in line with the preamble and fundamental principles of the 1999 Constitution is perceptible.”The cardinals and the bishop cite as examples of this lack of change that there are still political prisoners and a climate of repression as well as a state monopoly on the media and the continued centralization of power. Although these issues have been placed on the negotiating tableʼs agenda, the prelates maintain that these talks “operate within a framework of limited scope and authority.”In this regard, they pointed out that the state is operating on “shaky and legally undefined ground,” while the executive branch is “illegitimate regarding both its origins and its exercise of power.” Consequently, they emphasized the urgent need to call for elections soon.Oil deals with few detailsA few weeks ago, the Trump administration and the Chavista regime signed a massive energy deal granting the United States effective control over approximately one-third of Venezuelan oil, some 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.Beyond the economic aspects, the agreement has sparked particular controversy by including Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López as an intermediary. He has been the subject of several investigations regarding alleged corruption, inflated prices in electricity contracts, and money laundering linked to the oil sector.Within Venezuela, Betancourt is singled out as one of the key figures responsible for the serious deterioration of the electrical grid, which has led to daily, hourslong blackouts across the country for years, severely impacting the populationʼs daily lives and even resulting in loss of life due to various causes.While acknowledging they are not experts in the field, Porras, Padrón, and Pérez Morales call for greater transparency in the negotiations and recommend “prudence and a gradual approach regarding commitments.” This, they state, reflects the prevailing sentiment among the Venezuelan people, who are concerned about the fate and use of the “vast sums of money” the state is set to receive.Greater emphasis on the need to call electionsIn light of the foregoing, the cardinals and the bishop underscored the priority of allowing the sovereign people of Venezuela to have a “a defined and clear mandate” regarding the nation’s future, a step that would also offer a sure path toward “encounter, social reconciliation, and peace.”“God has given us this country as a setting in which to build a ‘new society,’ the ideal of the civilization of love. We Venezuelans, through our own efforts and by invoking divine assistance, must keep hope alive and continue working on this compelling task, striving to reap its fruits of peace, freedom, justice, and fraternity,” the prelates stated.Delcy Rodríguez in New York?According to a Sept. 14 Bloomberg report, Venezuelaʼs interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, is considering a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place next week.If the trip goes ahead, Rodríguez would be in the same city where Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody. When asked about a possible meeting with the Chavista leader, President Donald Trump simply replied: “Maybe, maybe.”Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that an in-person meeting “probably will happen” if the presence of the interim regimeʼs president is confirmed.Rodríguezʼs presence on U.S. soil would mark a milestone in relations between Washington and Caracas, following more than two decades of tension and discord. Within Venezuela, the growing rapprochement between the U.S. government and the remnants of Chavismo is fueling concern and uncertainty regarding the possibility of real political change.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Venezuela: Talks with opposition, oil deal, Delcy Rodríguez in New York, and the Church’s stance #Catholic Sept. 15 marked the start of the second round of negotiations between a Venezuelan opposition delegation and the country’s ruling socialist regime, a process promoted and driven by the U.S. government with an eye toward potential presidential elections in the South American nation.Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation, arrived in Venezuela on Sept. 13 and before national and international media explained that once this weekʼs discussions conclude, the country could expect an announcement regarding the agreements reached.Meanwhile, Jorge Millán, who is also part of the opposition delegation, stated that they would continue “pursuing a Supreme Court of Justice with honorable, independent, and impartial judges capable of providing Venezuela with an upstanding judicial system after so many years. At the end of the cycle [of talks], we will present clear and verifiable objectives.”He also stated that this round of negotiations would also address the status of political parties, political guarantees, and “the dismantling of the repressive apparatus” established by Chavismo (the socialist government established by President Hugo Chávez and continued by President Nicolás Maduro) for over two decades. The state of freedom of expression in Venezuela will also be one of the items on the agenda.“The foundation for achieving a full democracy requires creating the conditions for elections to be held in Venezuela as soon as possible, as quickly as possible. We are laying the groundwork to reach those important areas that will enable all Venezuelans to elect our leaders very soon, with the speed we desire but also allowing for the time this will take,” Millán added.Concerns and proposals from the Catholic ChurchLast week, Cardinals Baltazar Porras and Diego Padrón, together with Bishop Emeritus Ramón Ovidio Pérez Morales, once again spoke out regarding the political and social situation in Venezuela. The prelates had previously raised their voices at the start of negotiations, offering to serve as guarantors of the process.On this occasion, they addressed the state of “indeterminacy, confusion, and uncertainty” prevailing in the country, offering “certain opinions, judgments, and proposals” that seek to “open the way” to help overcome the current crisis and achieve solid institutional stability and the national common good.Following the capture and extradition of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. forces on Jan. 3, the prelates noted that “changes have occurred, yet neither the desired and expected change nor a shift toward the structuring and functioning of the country in line with the preamble and fundamental principles of the 1999 Constitution is perceptible.”The cardinals and the bishop cite as examples of this lack of change that there are still political prisoners and a climate of repression as well as a state monopoly on the media and the continued centralization of power. Although these issues have been placed on the negotiating tableʼs agenda, the prelates maintain that these talks “operate within a framework of limited scope and authority.”In this regard, they pointed out that the state is operating on “shaky and legally undefined ground,” while the executive branch is “illegitimate regarding both its origins and its exercise of power.” Consequently, they emphasized the urgent need to call for elections soon.Oil deals with few detailsA few weeks ago, the Trump administration and the Chavista regime signed a massive energy deal granting the United States effective control over approximately one-third of Venezuelan oil, some 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.Beyond the economic aspects, the agreement has sparked particular controversy by including Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López as an intermediary. He has been the subject of several investigations regarding alleged corruption, inflated prices in electricity contracts, and money laundering linked to the oil sector.Within Venezuela, Betancourt is singled out as one of the key figures responsible for the serious deterioration of the electrical grid, which has led to daily, hourslong blackouts across the country for years, severely impacting the populationʼs daily lives and even resulting in loss of life due to various causes.While acknowledging they are not experts in the field, Porras, Padrón, and Pérez Morales call for greater transparency in the negotiations and recommend “prudence and a gradual approach regarding commitments.” This, they state, reflects the prevailing sentiment among the Venezuelan people, who are concerned about the fate and use of the “vast sums of money” the state is set to receive.Greater emphasis on the need to call electionsIn light of the foregoing, the cardinals and the bishop underscored the priority of allowing the sovereign people of Venezuela to have a “a defined and clear mandate” regarding the nation’s future, a step that would also offer a sure path toward “encounter, social reconciliation, and peace.”“God has given us this country as a setting in which to build a ‘new society,’ the ideal of the civilization of love. We Venezuelans, through our own efforts and by invoking divine assistance, must keep hope alive and continue working on this compelling task, striving to reap its fruits of peace, freedom, justice, and fraternity,” the prelates stated.Delcy Rodríguez in New York?According to a Sept. 14 Bloomberg report, Venezuelaʼs interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, is considering a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place next week.If the trip goes ahead, Rodríguez would be in the same city where Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody. When asked about a possible meeting with the Chavista leader, President Donald Trump simply replied: “Maybe, maybe.”Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that an in-person meeting “probably will happen” if the presence of the interim regimeʼs president is confirmed.Rodríguezʼs presence on U.S. soil would mark a milestone in relations between Washington and Caracas, following more than two decades of tension and discord. Within Venezuela, the growing rapprochement between the U.S. government and the remnants of Chavismo is fueling concern and uncertainty regarding the possibility of real political change.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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Ongoing talks between the socialist regime and the opposition in Venezuela are making some progress while the Church is trying to contribute to the transition to democracy and freedom.

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Autumn observing targets for large telescopes

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Today I’ll be telling you about 10 of my favorite autumn deep-sky objects, with suggestions for viewing them. I hope you’ll enjoy this list, and I’ll share some other deep-sky favorites of mine from time to time in the future. What’s a large telescope? The notion of what’s big changes from observer to observer, butContinue reading “Autumn observing targets for large telescopes”

The post Autumn observing targets for large telescopes appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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Bishop Robert Barron named to serve on U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom – #Catholic – Bishop Robert Barron this week was named to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the commission announced on Sept. 16.Barron, who already serves as a member of the domestically focused Religious Liberty Commission, was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump. The Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, bishop was selected for the post alongside former U.S. Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan and former missionary Andrew Brunson.In a statement to EWTN News on Sept. 16, Barron said he was “honored” to accept Trump’s invitation to serve on the commission. The bishop noted that the commission itself is “strictly bi-partisan” with its members “chosen by leaders of both major political parties.” He highlighted the numerous Catholics who have served on the commission over the years, including Princeton Professor Robert George, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, Archbishop Charles Chaput, and Bishop William Murphy.“I feel privileged to join their company,” Barron said.An independent agency in the legislative branch, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom monitors global religious liberty issues and recommends policy to the U.S. government to advance religious liberty around the world.It regularly publishes briefs on countries it identifies as consistent violators of religious liberty. It also advocates for those suffering from religious persecution, such as this week when it urged Trump to push for the release of religious prisoners in China and for the end of religious persecution by the Chinese government.The appointments on Sept. 16 came shortly after Trump asked Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famed late Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, to serve as the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
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Bishop Robert Barron named to serve on U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom – #Catholic – Bishop Robert Barron this week was named to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the commission announced on Sept. 16.Barron, who already serves as a member of the domestically focused Religious Liberty Commission, was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump. The Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, bishop was selected for the post alongside former U.S. Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan and former missionary Andrew Brunson.In a statement to EWTN News on Sept. 16, Barron said he was “honored” to accept Trump’s invitation to serve on the commission. The bishop noted that the commission itself is “strictly bi-partisan” with its members “chosen by leaders of both major political parties.” He highlighted the numerous Catholics who have served on the commission over the years, including Princeton Professor Robert George, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, Archbishop Charles Chaput, and Bishop William Murphy.“I feel privileged to join their company,” Barron said.An independent agency in the legislative branch, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom monitors global religious liberty issues and recommends policy to the U.S. government to advance religious liberty around the world.It regularly publishes briefs on countries it identifies as consistent violators of religious liberty. It also advocates for those suffering from religious persecution, such as this week when it urged Trump to push for the release of religious prisoners in China and for the end of religious persecution by the Chinese government.The appointments on Sept. 16 came shortly after Trump asked Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famed late Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, to serve as the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

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Barron, who already serves as a member of the domestically focused Religious Liberty Commission, was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump.

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U.S. bishops launch task force to promote human dignity amid rise of artificial intelligence – #Catholic – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a task force to ensure human dignity is protected as artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly develops, and more than a dozen bishops went to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to adopt meaningful safety guardrails for the technology.The bishops said in a Sept. 16 announcement that the conference’s administrative committee also met with “representatives from a variety of tech firms and specialists” who work with AI. Bishops’ spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said the meeting “focused on ways to keep any system of Artificial Intelligence at the service of humanity” as well as “the urgent need to address the real and present dangers such technology presents.”The meeting came amid warnings from numerous AI leaders of the risks posed by AI systems, which are undergoing rapid advancement and which critics say could one day threaten humanity with extinction if they become advanced enough.In an apparent reference to those warnings, Noguchi in the press release referred to “recent events” she said “have only emphasized the great need for action by everyone involved.”The bishops aimed to use the conversations to “help to identify ways the Church can contribute to the moral foundation of AI models and steps the companies can take to protect against misuse of their inventions and to guarantee human oversight of the technology.”Following the meetings, the bishops’ administrative committee launched a task force aimed at “preserving human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.” San Jose, California, Bishop Oscar Cantù will serve as task force chair, the bishops said. “Over a dozen” bishops traveled to Capitol Hill after the meetings to press Congress for strong safety standards on artificial intelligence and to “support legislation to protect children online.” Noguchi said the bishops and AI leaders also discussed “how the Church and industry can work together toward the goal of ensuring that technology is used in ways that keep it human-centered” while respecting human dignity and benefiting both the rich and the poor. Church leaders have repeatedly called for meaningful AI oversight as the technology has progressed from a computer-based novelty to an embedded part of the global economy and of modern life.Pope Leo XIV in May published his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the Holy Father warned that AI “tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise, and access to data.”“In practice … technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise it, finance it, regulate it, and use it,” the pope wrote. In August, meanwhile, the pope warned that decisions affecting human life are increasingly being entrusted to machines and called for safeguards governing artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.Earlier this month the U.S. bishops acknowledged the “widespread concern” that AI will lead to “higher unemployment and to fewer jobs that can support a family.” The technology must be “carefully developed” to serve the common good, they said. Also earlier this month Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, noted the “perception that we need a moral voice” on the topic of AI.“Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice,” the archbishop said.
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U.S. bishops launch task force to promote human dignity amid rise of artificial intelligence – #Catholic – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a task force to ensure human dignity is protected as artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly develops, and more than a dozen bishops went to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to adopt meaningful safety guardrails for the technology.The bishops said in a Sept. 16 announcement that the conference’s administrative committee also met with “representatives from a variety of tech firms and specialists” who work with AI. Bishops’ spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said the meeting “focused on ways to keep any system of Artificial Intelligence at the service of humanity” as well as “the urgent need to address the real and present dangers such technology presents.”The meeting came amid warnings from numerous AI leaders of the risks posed by AI systems, which are undergoing rapid advancement and which critics say could one day threaten humanity with extinction if they become advanced enough.In an apparent reference to those warnings, Noguchi in the press release referred to “recent events” she said “have only emphasized the great need for action by everyone involved.”The bishops aimed to use the conversations to “help to identify ways the Church can contribute to the moral foundation of AI models and steps the companies can take to protect against misuse of their inventions and to guarantee human oversight of the technology.”Following the meetings, the bishops’ administrative committee launched a task force aimed at “preserving human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.” San Jose, California, Bishop Oscar Cantù will serve as task force chair, the bishops said. “Over a dozen” bishops traveled to Capitol Hill after the meetings to press Congress for strong safety standards on artificial intelligence and to “support legislation to protect children online.” Noguchi said the bishops and AI leaders also discussed “how the Church and industry can work together toward the goal of ensuring that technology is used in ways that keep it human-centered” while respecting human dignity and benefiting both the rich and the poor. Church leaders have repeatedly called for meaningful AI oversight as the technology has progressed from a computer-based novelty to an embedded part of the global economy and of modern life.Pope Leo XIV in May published his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the Holy Father warned that AI “tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise, and access to data.”“In practice … technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise it, finance it, regulate it, and use it,” the pope wrote. In August, meanwhile, the pope warned that decisions affecting human life are increasingly being entrusted to machines and called for safeguards governing artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.Earlier this month the U.S. bishops acknowledged the “widespread concern” that AI will lead to “higher unemployment and to fewer jobs that can support a family.” The technology must be “carefully developed” to serve the common good, they said. Also earlier this month Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, noted the “perception that we need a moral voice” on the topic of AI.“Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice,” the archbishop said.

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The bishops said they are hoping to contribute to the “moral foundation” of rapidly developing AI models.

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Renowned exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth’s 7 lessons on actions of the devil – #Catholic – Father Gabriele Amorth, a renowned Italian exorcist who passed away 10 years ago on Sept. 16, 2016, left behind a valuable legacy of lessons about the devil, drawn from Amorth’s many years of ministry. Here are seven lessons he shared throughout his life:1. “Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning.”In a June 2004 interview with Italian Vatican expert Sandro Magister, Amorth discussed the state of Satanism and the devil’s influence on contemporary culture. “In general terms, Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning. He does everything he can to make man sin, and whenever evil is committed, he is behind it — though it remains clear that man freely chooses his own actions. But there is also an extraordinary form of action by the evil one: diabolical possession,” he said at the time.2. “The world is under the power of the devil.”In the book “The Last Exorcist,” co-authored with Vatican expert Paolo Rodari, Amorth stated that “the world is under the power of the devil. And alongside Satan are many of his prophets — people whom the Bible calls false prophets. False because they lead to lies rather than the truth.”“These people exist both outside and within the Church. They are easily recognizable: They claim to speak on behalf of the Church, yet they speak on behalf of the world. They demand that the Church assume the roles of the world, and in doing so, they confuse the faithful and steer the Church into waters that are not its own. They are the waters of the evil one,” he added.3. “Satan attacks the pope above all.”In his book “The Last Exorcist,” Amorth also noted that “Satan attacks the pope above all. His hatred for the successor of Peter is fierce. I have experienced this in my exorcisms.”“After the pope, Satan attacks cardinals, bishops, and all priests and religious. It is only natural for this to be the case. No one should be scandalized by it. Priests and religious are called to a fierce spiritual battle.”4. Invoking St. John Paul II is effective against the devil.In May 2011, Amorth told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that St. John Paul II had become, in recent years, “a powerful intercessor in the fight against the devil.”“I have asked the devil more than once: ‘Why are you so afraid of John Paul II?’ And I received two different answers, both interesting. The first was: ‘Because he dismantled my plans.’ And I believe that refers to the fall of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe — the collapse of communism.”“Another answer the devil gave me was: ‘Because he snatched many young people from my hands.’ There are many young people who converted thanks to John Paul II. Perhaps some were already Christians but not practicing, and then, through John Paul II, they returned to the practice of the faith,” he explained.5. The devil “wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints.”Amorth addressed the smear campaign against then-Pope Benedict XVI, whom some accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, when in reality it was he who established the zero-tolerance policy. The exorcist denounced at the time that the devil “uses” priests to cast blame on the entire Church.“The devil has it in for the Church; he wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints. He fights the Church through men of the Church, but he cannot prevail against the Church itself,” he noted.The experienced exorcist also stated that “the devil tempts men of the Church, so it should not surprise us if even priests — who possess every divine aid, such as prayer and the sacraments — fall into temptation. They, too, live in the world and can fall just like men of the world.”6. The most effective intercessor of all is the Virgin Mary.In May 2002, when asked about the most effective intercessor of all, Amorth told ACI Prensa that “of course, the Virgin is the most effective. And especially when you invoke her as Mary!”“I once asked Satan: ‘But why are you more afraid when I invoke Our Lady than when I invoke Jesus Christ?’ He answered: ‘Because it humiliates me more to be defeated by a human creature than to be defeated by him.’”7. The devil is in “everything that denies God.”Speaking to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, Amorth recounted an occasion when a cardinal told him: “Be honest, the devil doesn’t exist.” The priest replied: “You ought to read a book that will be very useful to you: the Gospel.”Furthermore, the exorcist described the devil as being present in “everything that denies God,” such as “abortion, divorce, homosexuality, satanic rock music, or programs featuring violence and sex on television.”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Renowned exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth’s 7 lessons on actions of the devil – #Catholic – Father Gabriele Amorth, a renowned Italian exorcist who passed away 10 years ago on Sept. 16, 2016, left behind a valuable legacy of lessons about the devil, drawn from Amorth’s many years of ministry. Here are seven lessons he shared throughout his life:1. “Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning.”In a June 2004 interview with Italian Vatican expert Sandro Magister, Amorth discussed the state of Satanism and the devil’s influence on contemporary culture. “In general terms, Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning. He does everything he can to make man sin, and whenever evil is committed, he is behind it — though it remains clear that man freely chooses his own actions. But there is also an extraordinary form of action by the evil one: diabolical possession,” he said at the time.2. “The world is under the power of the devil.”In the book “The Last Exorcist,” co-authored with Vatican expert Paolo Rodari, Amorth stated that “the world is under the power of the devil. And alongside Satan are many of his prophets — people whom the Bible calls false prophets. False because they lead to lies rather than the truth.”“These people exist both outside and within the Church. They are easily recognizable: They claim to speak on behalf of the Church, yet they speak on behalf of the world. They demand that the Church assume the roles of the world, and in doing so, they confuse the faithful and steer the Church into waters that are not its own. They are the waters of the evil one,” he added.3. “Satan attacks the pope above all.”In his book “The Last Exorcist,” Amorth also noted that “Satan attacks the pope above all. His hatred for the successor of Peter is fierce. I have experienced this in my exorcisms.”“After the pope, Satan attacks cardinals, bishops, and all priests and religious. It is only natural for this to be the case. No one should be scandalized by it. Priests and religious are called to a fierce spiritual battle.”4. Invoking St. John Paul II is effective against the devil.In May 2011, Amorth told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that St. John Paul II had become, in recent years, “a powerful intercessor in the fight against the devil.”“I have asked the devil more than once: ‘Why are you so afraid of John Paul II?’ And I received two different answers, both interesting. The first was: ‘Because he dismantled my plans.’ And I believe that refers to the fall of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe — the collapse of communism.”“Another answer the devil gave me was: ‘Because he snatched many young people from my hands.’ There are many young people who converted thanks to John Paul II. Perhaps some were already Christians but not practicing, and then, through John Paul II, they returned to the practice of the faith,” he explained.5. The devil “wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints.”Amorth addressed the smear campaign against then-Pope Benedict XVI, whom some accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, when in reality it was he who established the zero-tolerance policy. The exorcist denounced at the time that the devil “uses” priests to cast blame on the entire Church.“The devil has it in for the Church; he wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints. He fights the Church through men of the Church, but he cannot prevail against the Church itself,” he noted.The experienced exorcist also stated that “the devil tempts men of the Church, so it should not surprise us if even priests — who possess every divine aid, such as prayer and the sacraments — fall into temptation. They, too, live in the world and can fall just like men of the world.”6. The most effective intercessor of all is the Virgin Mary.In May 2002, when asked about the most effective intercessor of all, Amorth told ACI Prensa that “of course, the Virgin is the most effective. And especially when you invoke her as Mary!”“I once asked Satan: ‘But why are you more afraid when I invoke Our Lady than when I invoke Jesus Christ?’ He answered: ‘Because it humiliates me more to be defeated by a human creature than to be defeated by him.’”7. The devil is in “everything that denies God.”Speaking to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, Amorth recounted an occasion when a cardinal told him: “Be honest, the devil doesn’t exist.” The priest replied: “You ought to read a book that will be very useful to you: the Gospel.”Furthermore, the exorcist described the devil as being present in “everything that denies God,” such as “abortion, divorce, homosexuality, satanic rock music, or programs featuring violence and sex on television.”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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On the 10th anniversary of his death, a recollection of the renowned Italian exorcist’s lessons about the devil.

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Artemis III Crew Visits NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building – NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik (left) and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano view progress on the solid rocket booster integration in High Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026.

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NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik (left) and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano view progress on the solid rocket booster integration in High Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026.

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Iran-Backed Houthis Attempt Strike on Mecca in Saudi Arabia – Islam’s Holiest City! – The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launched an attack on Mecca in Saudi Arabia early Wednesday! The post Iran-Backed Houthis Attempt Strike on Mecca in Saudi Arabia – Islam’s Holiest City! appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Iran-Backed Houthis Attempt Strike on Mecca in Saudi Arabia – Islam’s Holiest City! – The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launched an attack on Mecca in Saudi Arabia early Wednesday! The post Iran-Backed Houthis Attempt Strike on Mecca in Saudi Arabia – Islam’s Holiest City! appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launched an attack on Mecca in Saudi Arabia early Wednesday!

The post Iran-Backed Houthis Attempt Strike on Mecca in Saudi Arabia – Islam’s Holiest City! appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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BREAKING: Horrifying Moment Los Angeles News Chopper Crashes In Giant Fireball During Live Shot – 3 DEAD (VIDEO) – At least three people are dead after a Los Angeles news chopper crashed during a live shot on Tuesday evening. The post BREAKING: Horrifying Moment Los Angeles News Chopper Crashes In Giant Fireball During Live Shot – 3 DEAD (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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BREAKING: Horrifying Moment Los Angeles News Chopper Crashes In Giant Fireball During Live Shot – 3 DEAD (VIDEO) – At least three people are dead after a Los Angeles news chopper crashed during a live shot on Tuesday evening. The post BREAKING: Horrifying Moment Los Angeles News Chopper Crashes In Giant Fireball During Live Shot – 3 DEAD (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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At least three people are dead after a Los Angeles news chopper crashed during a live shot on Tuesday evening.

The post BREAKING: Horrifying Moment Los Angeles News Chopper Crashes In Giant Fireball During Live Shot – 3 DEAD (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Rep. Brandon Gill Has Perfect Response to Reporter From Far Left Outlet Who’s Trying to Grill Him: ‘You Guys Can Get Lost’ (VIDEO) – Republican Rep. The post Rep. Brandon Gill Has Perfect Response to Reporter From Far Left Outlet Who’s Trying to Grill Him: ‘You Guys Can Get Lost’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Rep. Brandon Gill Has Perfect Response to Reporter From Far Left Outlet Who’s Trying to Grill Him: ‘You Guys Can Get Lost’ (VIDEO) – Republican Rep. The post Rep. Brandon Gill Has Perfect Response to Reporter From Far Left Outlet Who’s Trying to Grill Him: ‘You Guys Can Get Lost’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Man in a suit speaking at a microphone during a formal event, displaying a focused expression and styled hair.

Man in a suit speaking at a microphone during a formal event, displaying a focused expression and styled hair.

Republican Rep.

The post Rep. Brandon Gill Has Perfect Response to Reporter From Far Left Outlet Who’s Trying to Grill Him: ‘You Guys Can Get Lost’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Pope Leo XIV names Bishop Michael Saporito to lead Diocese of Metuchen #Catholic – VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Michael A. Saporito of Newark, New Jersey, as the new bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, the Vatican announced Sept. 15. Bishop Saporito, 64, succeeds Metuchen’s former Bishop James F. Checchio, whom Pope Leo named archbishop of New Orleans earlier this year. The Diocese of Metuchen has been without a bishop since November 2025, when Archbishop Checchio was installed as coadjutor of the New Orleans Archdiocese. “I am deeply grateful and humbled that Pope Leo XIV has called me to serve as the Bishop of Metuchen,” Bishop Saporito said in a statement following the announcement. “While it is not easy to leave the people and places that have formed and sustained me, I welcome this new mission with trust in the Holy Spirit.” Born in Newark in 1962, Bishop Saporito has served as an auxiliary bishop in his home archdiocese since 2020, assisting Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin in overseeing the archdiocese, which is home to 1.3 million Catholics. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Throughout his ministry, Bishop Saporito has had a focus on the new evangelization, serving on the Archdiocese of Newark’s Evangelization Commission and as a board member of Christlife, an evangelization apostolate based in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In Newark, he led the pastoral initiative “We Are His Witnesses” and served on the archdiocesan synod team. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers University Newark and worked as an accountant for three years before entering the archdiocesan seminary in 1987. He was ordained a priest in 1992 by then-Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick. As the sixth bishop of Metuchen, Bishop Saporito will lead a diocese of about 1.5 million people, of whom more than 670,000 are Catholic. The New Jersey diocese encompasses Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties, and is served by 192 priests, 196 deacons, and 193 men and women religious. “I look forward to meeting the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese, walking with them as we seek to follow Jesus Christ and bear witness to the hope of the Gospel,” Bishop Saporito said. The Vatican also announced the resignation of Bishop Francis I. Malone of Shreveport, Louisiana. Bishop Malone, 76, submitted his resignation to the pope last year at the age of 75, as required by canon law. Bishop Robert W. Marshall of Alexandria, Louisiana, will serve as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Shreveport until the appointment and installation of a new bishop. Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.  
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Pope Leo XIV names Bishop Michael Saporito to lead Diocese of Metuchen #Catholic – VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Michael A. Saporito of Newark, New Jersey, as the new bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, the Vatican announced Sept. 15. Bishop Saporito, 64, succeeds Metuchen’s former Bishop James F. Checchio, whom Pope Leo named archbishop of New Orleans earlier this year. The Diocese of Metuchen has been without a bishop since November 2025, when Archbishop Checchio was installed as coadjutor of the New Orleans Archdiocese. “I am deeply grateful and humbled that Pope Leo XIV has called me to serve as the Bishop of Metuchen,” Bishop Saporito said in a statement following the announcement. “While it is not easy to leave the people and places that have formed and sustained me, I welcome this new mission with trust in the Holy Spirit.” Born in Newark in 1962, Bishop Saporito has served as an auxiliary bishop in his home archdiocese since 2020, assisting Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin in overseeing the archdiocese, which is home to 1.3 million Catholics. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Throughout his ministry, Bishop Saporito has had a focus on the new evangelization, serving on the Archdiocese of Newark’s Evangelization Commission and as a board member of Christlife, an evangelization apostolate based in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In Newark, he led the pastoral initiative “We Are His Witnesses” and served on the archdiocesan synod team. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers University Newark and worked as an accountant for three years before entering the archdiocesan seminary in 1987. He was ordained a priest in 1992 by then-Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick. As the sixth bishop of Metuchen, Bishop Saporito will lead a diocese of about 1.5 million people, of whom more than 670,000 are Catholic. The New Jersey diocese encompasses Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties, and is served by 192 priests, 196 deacons, and 193 men and women religious. “I look forward to meeting the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese, walking with them as we seek to follow Jesus Christ and bear witness to the hope of the Gospel,” Bishop Saporito said. The Vatican also announced the resignation of Bishop Francis I. Malone of Shreveport, Louisiana. Bishop Malone, 76, submitted his resignation to the pope last year at the age of 75, as required by canon law. Bishop Robert W. Marshall of Alexandria, Louisiana, will serve as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Shreveport until the appointment and installation of a new bishop. Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.  

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Pope Leo XIV names Bishop Michael Saporito to lead Diocese of Metuchen #Catholic –

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Michael A. Saporito of Newark, New Jersey, as the new bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, the Vatican announced Sept. 15.

Bishop Saporito, 64, succeeds Metuchen’s former Bishop James F. Checchio, whom Pope Leo named archbishop of New Orleans earlier this year. The Diocese of Metuchen has been without a bishop since November 2025, when Archbishop Checchio was installed as coadjutor of the New Orleans Archdiocese.

“I am deeply grateful and humbled that Pope Leo XIV has called me to serve as the Bishop of Metuchen,” Bishop Saporito said in a statement following the announcement. “While it is not easy to leave the people and places that have formed and sustained me, I welcome this new mission with trust in the Holy Spirit.”

Born in Newark in 1962, Bishop Saporito has served as an auxiliary bishop in his home archdiocese since 2020, assisting Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin in overseeing the archdiocese, which is home to 1.3 million Catholics.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Throughout his ministry, Bishop Saporito has had a focus on the new evangelization, serving on the Archdiocese of Newark’s Evangelization Commission and as a board member of Christlife, an evangelization apostolate based in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In Newark, he led the pastoral initiative “We Are His Witnesses” and served on the archdiocesan synod team.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers University Newark and worked as an accountant for three years before entering the archdiocesan seminary in 1987. He was ordained a priest in 1992 by then-Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick.

As the sixth bishop of Metuchen, Bishop Saporito will lead a diocese of about 1.5 million people, of whom more than 670,000 are Catholic. The New Jersey diocese encompasses Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties, and is served by 192 priests, 196 deacons, and 193 men and women religious.

“I look forward to meeting the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese, walking with them as we seek to follow Jesus Christ and bear witness to the hope of the Gospel,” Bishop Saporito said.

The Vatican also announced the resignation of Bishop Francis I. Malone of Shreveport, Louisiana. Bishop Malone, 76, submitted his resignation to the pope last year at the age of 75, as required by canon law. Bishop Robert W. Marshall of Alexandria, Louisiana, will serve as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Shreveport until the appointment and installation of a new bishop.

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

 

– VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Michael A. Saporito of Newark, New Jersey, as the new bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, the Vatican announced Sept. 15. Bishop Saporito, 64, succeeds Metuchen’s former Bishop James F. Checchio, whom Pope Leo named archbishop of New Orleans earlier this year. The Diocese of Metuchen has been without a bishop since November 2025, when Archbishop Checchio was installed as coadjutor of the New Orleans Archdiocese. “I am deeply grateful and humbled that Pope Leo XIV has called me to serve as the Bishop of Metuchen,” Bishop Saporito said

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 16 September 2026 – A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians 12:31-13:13 Brothers and sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.From the Gospel according to Luke 7:31-35 Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”It is indeed the ruling class that closes the door on the way in which God wishes to save us. And so we can understand Jesus’s heated exchanges with the ruling class of his time: they argue with Him, put Him to the test, set traps for Him to see if He will fall, because they are resisting being saved. Jesus says to them: “But I don’t understand you! You are like those children: we played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang a dirge for you and you did not weep. But what do you want?”; ‘We want things our way: we want to achieve salvation in our own way!”. There is always this refusal to accept God’s way. (…) They do not believe in mercy and forgiveness; they believe in sacrifices. “I want mercy, not sacrifices”. They believe in having everything in its place, neatly arranged, everything clear. This is the tragedy of resistance to salvation. We too, each one of us has this tragedy within. But it will do us good to ask ourselves: (…) “Do I believe that Jesus is the master who teaches us salvation, or do I go about hiring gurus to teach me something else? A safer path, or do I take refuge under the roof of rules and the many commandments made by men? And so, I feel safe, and with this – it is rather harsh to say this – sense of security, do I buy my salvation, which Jesus gives freely through God’s generosity?” It would do us good today to ask ourselves these questions. And the last one: “Am I resisting Jesus’ salvation?” (Pope Francis, Homily of 3 October 2014)

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A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians
12:31-13:13

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

From the Gospel according to Luke
7:31-35

Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,

‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’

For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

It is indeed the ruling class that closes the door on the way in which God wishes to save us. And so we can understand Jesus’s heated exchanges with the ruling class of his time: they argue with Him, put Him to the test, set traps for Him to see if He will fall, because they are resisting being saved. Jesus says to them: “But I don’t understand you! You are like those children: we played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang a dirge for you and you did not weep. But what do you want?”; ‘We want things our way: we want to achieve salvation in our own way!”. There is always this refusal to accept God’s way. (…) They do not believe in mercy and forgiveness; they believe in sacrifices. “I want mercy, not sacrifices”. They believe in having everything in its place, neatly arranged, everything clear. This is the tragedy of resistance to salvation. We too, each one of us has this tragedy within. But it will do us good to ask ourselves: (…) “Do I believe that Jesus is the master who teaches us salvation, or do I go about hiring gurus to teach me something else? A safer path, or do I take refuge under the roof of rules and the many commandments made by men? And so, I feel safe, and with this – it is rather harsh to say this – sense of security, do I buy my salvation, which Jesus gives freely through God’s generosity?” It would do us good today to ask ourselves these questions. And the last one: “Am I resisting Jesus’ salvation?” (Pope Francis, Homily of 3 October 2014)

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U.S. confirms it has weapons in orbit

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In a groundbreaking announcement, the U.S. Space Force stated publicly on Monday, Sept. 14, that it currently has on-orbit weapons in space. Department of the Air Force Secretary Troy Meink’s keynote address at the 2026 Air and Space Cyber Conference focused on plans to modernize the Air Force against AI-powered weapons and capabilities wielded byContinue reading “U.S. confirms it has weapons in orbit”

The post U.S. confirms it has weapons in orbit appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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U.S. religious freedom commission urges Trump to press for release of religious prisoners #Catholic The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged President Donald Trump to push for the release of religious prisoners in China and for the end of religious persecution by the Chinese government.The commission called on Trump to continue his efforts for the release of the prisoners ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to the U.S. on Sept. 24.USCIRF called for the release of Catholic pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, numerous Christian leaders, and others in prison for practicing their religious beliefs.“President Trump boldly demonstrated to President Xi during their meeting in Beijing earlier this year that the United States stands for religious freedom by calling for the release of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) prisoners,” said Asif Mahmood, chair of USCIRF.“Speaking up again sends a clear and consistent signal that religious freedom for all is a priority for the United States and that it expects the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to respect its population rather than persecute millions for practicing their faith,” he said.The commission highlighted that after a direct appeal by Trump, Chinese authorities previously freed former prisoner Pastor Ezra Jin of the Zion Church in July. He was permitted to relocate to the United States and reunite with his family.While Jin was released, eight other Zion Church leaders who were arrested alongside him remain detained.“In releasing Pastor Jin, President Xi showed that he has the power to release FoRB prisoners if he so desires—and indeed he has an obligation to do so under international law,” said Cece Heil, vice chair of USCIRF.USCIRF detailed the other leaders whose release the commission is urging and is asking Trump “to seize the opportunity during his upcoming summit with President Xi,” Heil said.They called on Trump to discuss religious leaders including “Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, Jimmy Lai, the Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family,” Heil said. The commission also asked Trump “to urge the Chinese government to provide a passport to U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident, Pastor John Cao and allow him to reunite with his family and seek urgent medical treatment in the United States,” Heil said.The appeal also precedes a planned hearing on Sept. 16 held by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, to discuss the release of Lai. Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, will offer testimony regarding his father’s immediate release and to examine the broader implications of his continued imprisonment.In its 2026 annual report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State redesignate China as a country of particular concern (CPC) for engaging “in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,” according to the commission.USCIRF urges special watchlist designation for Kyrgyz RepublicIn a September report, USCIRF also reaffirmed its call for the Kyrgyz Republic to be placed on the U.S. Department of State’s special watchlist.The brief was released to highlight “legal restrictions as well as recent violations that Kyrgyz officials have committed against independent Muslims and Christians from unregistered communities,” USCIRF reported. “The Kyrgyz government regularly violates freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) as laid out in its constitution as well as in international documents such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which it is a signatory,” the report said.USCIRF detailed that Kyrgyz officials apply a “vague label of extremism” to justify matters such as regularly raiding places of worship, issuing fines, seizing religious materials, imposing prison sentences, forcing individuals to renounce their beliefs, and engaging in physical abuse.In early 2025, the nation’s president, Sadyr Japarov, amended a restrictive  religion law and approved other acts, which significantly tightened state control over religious groups. “Enforcement of these laws—which often occurs in conjunction with broadly framed anti-extremism statues under the Criminal Code—often involves targeting religious groups that the government considers ‘nontraditional,’ particularly independent Muslims and members of unregistered Christian groups,” the report said.The commissionʼs report noted that targeted Christian groups often face persecution “from harassment and fines to prison sentences and physical abuse,” according to the report.
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U.S. religious freedom commission urges Trump to press for release of religious prisoners #Catholic The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged President Donald Trump to push for the release of religious prisoners in China and for the end of religious persecution by the Chinese government.The commission called on Trump to continue his efforts for the release of the prisoners ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to the U.S. on Sept. 24.USCIRF called for the release of Catholic pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, numerous Christian leaders, and others in prison for practicing their religious beliefs.“President Trump boldly demonstrated to President Xi during their meeting in Beijing earlier this year that the United States stands for religious freedom by calling for the release of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) prisoners,” said Asif Mahmood, chair of USCIRF.“Speaking up again sends a clear and consistent signal that religious freedom for all is a priority for the United States and that it expects the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to respect its population rather than persecute millions for practicing their faith,” he said.The commission highlighted that after a direct appeal by Trump, Chinese authorities previously freed former prisoner Pastor Ezra Jin of the Zion Church in July. He was permitted to relocate to the United States and reunite with his family.While Jin was released, eight other Zion Church leaders who were arrested alongside him remain detained.“In releasing Pastor Jin, President Xi showed that he has the power to release FoRB prisoners if he so desires—and indeed he has an obligation to do so under international law,” said Cece Heil, vice chair of USCIRF.USCIRF detailed the other leaders whose release the commission is urging and is asking Trump “to seize the opportunity during his upcoming summit with President Xi,” Heil said.They called on Trump to discuss religious leaders including “Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, Jimmy Lai, the Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family,” Heil said. The commission also asked Trump “to urge the Chinese government to provide a passport to U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident, Pastor John Cao and allow him to reunite with his family and seek urgent medical treatment in the United States,” Heil said.The appeal also precedes a planned hearing on Sept. 16 held by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, to discuss the release of Lai. Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, will offer testimony regarding his father’s immediate release and to examine the broader implications of his continued imprisonment.In its 2026 annual report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State redesignate China as a country of particular concern (CPC) for engaging “in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,” according to the commission.USCIRF urges special watchlist designation for Kyrgyz RepublicIn a September report, USCIRF also reaffirmed its call for the Kyrgyz Republic to be placed on the U.S. Department of State’s special watchlist.The brief was released to highlight “legal restrictions as well as recent violations that Kyrgyz officials have committed against independent Muslims and Christians from unregistered communities,” USCIRF reported. “The Kyrgyz government regularly violates freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) as laid out in its constitution as well as in international documents such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which it is a signatory,” the report said.USCIRF detailed that Kyrgyz officials apply a “vague label of extremism” to justify matters such as regularly raiding places of worship, issuing fines, seizing religious materials, imposing prison sentences, forcing individuals to renounce their beliefs, and engaging in physical abuse.In early 2025, the nation’s president, Sadyr Japarov, amended a restrictive  religion law and approved other acts, which significantly tightened state control over religious groups. “Enforcement of these laws—which often occurs in conjunction with broadly framed anti-extremism statues under the Criminal Code—often involves targeting religious groups that the government considers ‘nontraditional,’ particularly independent Muslims and members of unregistered Christian groups,” the report said.The commissionʼs report noted that targeted Christian groups often face persecution “from harassment and fines to prison sentences and physical abuse,” according to the report.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom made the plea ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Sept. 24 trip to Washington, D.C.

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Cardinal Pizzaballa calls Christians in the Holy Land to make the cross a way of life #Catholic Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said the cross is not a sign of defeat or death but an expression of God’s love and the victory of life, urging Christians in the Holy Land to make it a way of life rooted in love and self-giving. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa presides over Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, West Bank, Sept. 13, 2026. | Credit: Emad Diab/ACI MENA Pizzaballa made the remarks while presiding over a Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, a predominantly Christian town in the West Bank.Bishop William Shomali, patriarchal vicar; Father Davide Meli; and Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest, concelebrated the Mass.“The cross is our victory, and it is the victory of love,” Pizzaballa said. He added that Christ “chose to enter into the suffering of the cross out of love for us.” The patriarch stressed that Christians are “people of the cross” and that the sign defining their identity should be reflected in the way they live and in their relationships within their families, parishes, and wider communities.“We are called to live according to the logic of the cross,” he said.Pizzaballa noted that Christians do not need to seek out suffering, because they are already surrounded by suffering in many forms. Yet, he said, such experiences can become an opening for God’s presence in their lives.Fawadleh welcomed Pizzaballa to the celebration, telling him: “Your presence today is more than simply taking part in our feast; it is a sign of communion, consolation, and hope.” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa lights the flame at the historic St. George Church, locally known as Al-Khader, Sept. 13, 2026, at Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, West Bank. | Credit: Emad Diab/ACI MENA The celebration took place as Taybeh continues to face the repercussions of attacks by Israeli settlers, restrictions on movement and access to essential services (Palestinians living in the West Bank require Israeli permits to enter Jerusalem), declining employment opportunities, and continued emigration — all pressures that have placed additional strain on the town’s residents.Following the Mass, the faithful joined a candlelight procession through the streets of Taybeh to the historic St. George Church, known locally as Al-Khader. There, prayers were offered and pomegranates were blessed and distributed to participants before the traditional feast day flame was lit.This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Cardinal Pizzaballa calls Christians in the Holy Land to make the cross a way of life #Catholic Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said the cross is not a sign of defeat or death but an expression of God’s love and the victory of life, urging Christians in the Holy Land to make it a way of life rooted in love and self-giving. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa presides over Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, West Bank, Sept. 13, 2026. | Credit: Emad Diab/ACI MENA Pizzaballa made the remarks while presiding over a Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, a predominantly Christian town in the West Bank.Bishop William Shomali, patriarchal vicar; Father Davide Meli; and Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest, concelebrated the Mass.“The cross is our victory, and it is the victory of love,” Pizzaballa said. He added that Christ “chose to enter into the suffering of the cross out of love for us.” The patriarch stressed that Christians are “people of the cross” and that the sign defining their identity should be reflected in the way they live and in their relationships within their families, parishes, and wider communities.“We are called to live according to the logic of the cross,” he said.Pizzaballa noted that Christians do not need to seek out suffering, because they are already surrounded by suffering in many forms. Yet, he said, such experiences can become an opening for God’s presence in their lives.Fawadleh welcomed Pizzaballa to the celebration, telling him: “Your presence today is more than simply taking part in our feast; it is a sign of communion, consolation, and hope.” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa lights the flame at the historic St. George Church, locally known as Al-Khader, Sept. 13, 2026, at Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, West Bank. | Credit: Emad Diab/ACI MENA The celebration took place as Taybeh continues to face the repercussions of attacks by Israeli settlers, restrictions on movement and access to essential services (Palestinians living in the West Bank require Israeli permits to enter Jerusalem), declining employment opportunities, and continued emigration — all pressures that have placed additional strain on the town’s residents.Following the Mass, the faithful joined a candlelight procession through the streets of Taybeh to the historic St. George Church, known locally as Al-Khader. There, prayers were offered and pomegranates were blessed and distributed to participants before the traditional feast day flame was lit.This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The Latin patrarch presided over Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Taybeh, calling on Christians to live the “logic of the cross” through love and self-giving.

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New religious to diocese build bonds at annual gathering #Catholic – On Sept. 4, 75 religious newly assigned to the Paterson Diocese, N.J., priests, seminarians and discerners gathered for an evening of prayer, fraternity, recreation, and relaxation during the annual gathering at Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon, N.J. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney commenced the event with adoration and vespers in St. Joseph’s Chapel of Mary Help, run by the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco. He gave a moving reflection. Together, they ate a meal, prepared by the Knights of Columbus, in the school cafeteria. Members of the various participating religious communities mingled at the tables to get to know one another. All the new religious men and women serving the diocese also had the opportunity to introduce themselves. The religious also had the opportunity to meet Bishop Sweeney and build relationships with attending seminarians — future priests of the diocese. That sense of fraternity continued as many of the participants headed to the school gym to play competitive volleyball. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]   Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
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New religious to diocese build bonds at annual gathering #Catholic – On Sept. 4, 75 religious newly assigned to the Paterson Diocese, N.J., priests, seminarians and discerners gathered for an evening of prayer, fraternity, recreation, and relaxation during the annual gathering at Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon, N.J. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney commenced the event with adoration and vespers in St. Joseph’s Chapel of Mary Help, run by the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco. He gave a moving reflection. Together, they ate a meal, prepared by the Knights of Columbus, in the school cafeteria. Members of the various participating religious communities mingled at the tables to get to know one another. All the new religious men and women serving the diocese also had the opportunity to introduce themselves. The religious also had the opportunity to meet Bishop Sweeney and build relationships with attending seminarians — future priests of the diocese. That sense of fraternity continued as many of the participants headed to the school gym to play competitive volleyball. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]   Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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New religious to diocese build bonds at annual gathering #Catholic –

On Sept. 4, 75 religious newly assigned to the Paterson Diocese, N.J., priests, seminarians and discerners gathered for an evening of prayer, fraternity, recreation, and relaxation during the annual gathering at Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon, N.J.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney commenced the event with adoration and vespers in St. Joseph’s Chapel of Mary Help, run by the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco. He gave a moving reflection.

Together, they ate a meal, prepared by the Knights of Columbus, in the school cafeteria. Members of the various participating religious communities mingled at the tables to get to know one another. All the new religious men and women serving the diocese also had the opportunity to introduce themselves. The religious also had the opportunity to meet Bishop Sweeney and build relationships with attending seminarians — future priests of the diocese.

That sense of fraternity continued as many of the participants headed to the school gym to play competitive volleyball.

BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

– On Sept. 4, 75 religious newly assigned to the Paterson Diocese, N.J., priests, seminarians and discerners gathered for an evening of prayer, fraternity, recreation, and relaxation during the annual gathering at Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon, N.J. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney commenced the event with adoration and vespers in St. Joseph’s Chapel of Mary Help, run by the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco. He gave a moving reflection. Together, they ate a meal, prepared by the Knights of Columbus, in the school cafeteria. Members of the various participating religious communities mingled at the tables to get

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Trump asks Cissie Lynch, granddaughter of Billy Graham, to be religious freedom ambassador – #Catholic – Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famed late Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, said this week that President Donald Trump asked her to take up a key religious freedom position in his administration. Lynch, whose father, Franklin Graham, leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, revealed the news on X on Sept. 15, saying Trump had asked her to serve as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.The role helps lead the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Lynch on X said it would be “a great honor and privilege” to serve in the role. “If confirmed by the Senate, please pray that I would serve with excellence and make the most of every opportunity to protect our most precious and fundamental right—and one that far too many people around the world still live without—freedom of religion,” she wrote. TweetLynch has remained active in the religious advocacy and aid networks started by her grandfather and continue to be run by her family. She has served as an adviser to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and at Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian aid organization also led by Franklin Graham. On Sept. 15 Franklin Graham said his daughter is “uniquely” qualified for the role, the duties of which include promoting religious freedom abroad and advising the U.S. government when that right is violated internationally. The government says the religious freedom ambassador serves as “a principal adviser to the president and the principal adviser to the secretary of state regarding matters affecting religious freedom abroad.” The ambassador‑at‑large also has served as a nonvoting member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has three vacancies yet to be appointed by the president.Franklin Graham said his daughter has “traveled the world and been a student of this issue for many years” and has “a broad worldview and knowledge of the issues facing religious freedom today.”“I couldn’t be more proud of her, and I ask you to pray that God would give her wisdom and strength,” Graham wrote.
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Trump asks Cissie Lynch, granddaughter of Billy Graham, to be religious freedom ambassador – #Catholic – Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famed late Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, said this week that President Donald Trump asked her to take up a key religious freedom position in his administration. Lynch, whose father, Franklin Graham, leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, revealed the news on X on Sept. 15, saying Trump had asked her to serve as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.The role helps lead the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Lynch on X said it would be “a great honor and privilege” to serve in the role. “If confirmed by the Senate, please pray that I would serve with excellence and make the most of every opportunity to protect our most precious and fundamental right—and one that far too many people around the world still live without—freedom of religion,” she wrote. TweetLynch has remained active in the religious advocacy and aid networks started by her grandfather and continue to be run by her family. She has served as an adviser to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and at Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian aid organization also led by Franklin Graham. On Sept. 15 Franklin Graham said his daughter is “uniquely” qualified for the role, the duties of which include promoting religious freedom abroad and advising the U.S. government when that right is violated internationally. The government says the religious freedom ambassador serves as “a principal adviser to the president and the principal adviser to the secretary of state regarding matters affecting religious freedom abroad.” The ambassador‑at‑large also has served as a nonvoting member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has three vacancies yet to be appointed by the president.Franklin Graham said his daughter has “traveled the world and been a student of this issue for many years” and has “a broad worldview and knowledge of the issues facing religious freedom today.”“I couldn’t be more proud of her, and I ask you to pray that God would give her wisdom and strength,” Graham wrote.

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The author and radio host said it would be a “great honor and privilege” to serve if she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

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Catholic doctors say both Eastern and Western spirituality are required to heal the whole person – #Catholic – PHOENIX — For the first time in its nearly 100-year history, the Catholic Medical Association is focusing on how the Eastern Catholic Church’s emphasis on mystery, united with the Western Church’s emphasis on reason, can give a more comprehensive view of human identity and help Western medicine promote human flourishing.The group’s 95th annual educational conference, held in Phoenix Sept. 10–12, emphasized the early Church Fathers, whose influence was strongest in the East, in order to “promote a more comprehensive view and more respect for the mysteries of human health and disease,” said conference chair Dr. Mary Keen-Kirchoff.“We’re embodied spirits, not just physical bodies,” she said at the opening. Healing, she added, “is a return to humanity’s original creation in the image and likeness of God.”The conference theme was “Mysteries and Miracles: Restoring the Practice of Medicine to Heal the Whole Person.” Setting the tone, Father Andriy Chirovsky, a theologian and priest of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with Rome, and psychiatrist Dr. Donna C. Dobrowolsky shared the first plenary.They moved between theology and clinical practice, saying they hoped to help medical professionals recover a holistic understanding of “the whole person, because thatʼs who all of us care about.” Theology without clinical reality stays abstract, they said; clinical work without a complete Christian anthropology becomes fragmented.“If the human person is misunderstood, then healing will also be misunderstood and therefore less effective,” Chirovsky said. “Healing requires a true anthropology.”He quoted Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the pontiff wrote: “We Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is ‘only the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.’”Why the East, and why now?Chirovsky cited St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One), in which the pope, referring to the Eastern and Western Catholic churches, wrote that “the Church must breathe with her two lungs!”Dobrowolsky noted that what the West calls sacraments, the East calls mysteries: rites “not fully comprehensible by human reason, but revealed by God.”Chirovsky said Eastern spirituality and practice “preserve certain habits of thought that are especially needed at this moment in history.”He was not arguing against the West, he said. Any strength can become distorted when it loses its complement. The East offers “a needed medicine for some of the pathologies of modern culture,” especially the idea that a person is the center of the universe, “self-defining,” and “the ground of truth.”“We require revelation to understand our own selves,” he said.“If the person is not self-explaining,” Dobrowolsky said, medicine has to be careful because lab values and symptom clusters aren’t enough to explain a person. They’re important, but they don’t tell us everything about who a human person is.”The Catholic Church needs both the East and the West in the same way a healthy person must think with both hemispheres of the brain, the priest said, quoting neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist’s book “The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.”In his book, McGilchrist notes that the left side of the brain is analytical and narrow, while the right side focuses more on the big picture, and pathology results when the two sides don’t work together and one side dominates.Chirovsky compared modern medicine’s laser focus on the analytical and quantifiable, using hyperspecialization in the medical field as an example, to a pathology with too much dependence on the left brain.“The analytic mode is powerful, but when it dominates unchecked, the person becomes legible as data but less visible as mystery and as a person,” he said.“Any practice of medicine that loses sight of the whole person as revealed in the incarnate Son of God is going to run into lots of trouble,” he added. “Modern medicine is doing exactly that.”Dobrowolsky agreed, adding that “in medicine, that imbalance isn’t theoretical, we see it every day.”Seeing the human being as mystery does not mean the person is unintelligible, she said. “We’re saying this human person is not exhausted by reductionist accounts. And that the deepest truth of the human person is disclosed in relation to Christ.”“If a person is reduced to a collection of functions, risks, and measurable outputs, their care becomes reduced as well,” she continued, saying that while practitioners may “retain technical brilliance … the patient may begin to disappear beneath the technique.”Indeed, the conference’s breakout sessions touched upon the necessity for a Christian anthropology informed by a Church “breathing with both lungs," with talks titled “Healing Is Not the Same as Curing: Patristic Anthropology and the Limits of Modern Medicine,” “The Neglected Soul: Ancient Monastic Teachings on Depression in the Modern World,” and “Psychedelics, AI, Spirituality, and More: Ancient Wisdom for Reenchanting Medicine.”“My prayer before the conference was that all attendees receive abundant graces of understanding and hope for the future,” Keen-Kirchoff told EWTN News. “I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit was so present … and trust that attendees are more in tune with who we are in Christ and who we are to become in Christ.” Bishop James Conley, center, receives the 2026 Evangelium Vitae award. He stands with Mario Dickerson, CMA executive director, left, and Dr. Mary Keen-Kirchoff, CMA conference chair, on Sept. 10, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Catholic Medical Association Bishop James D. Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, won the CMA’s annual Evangelium Vitae award for his pastoral efforts surrounding mental health. In May 2024, Conley published a pastoral letter titled “A Future with Hope,” concerning the Catholic response to mental health struggles. The honor sits close to the conference’s theme: care that views the person as a whole, in the mystery of body and spirit.
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Catholic doctors say both Eastern and Western spirituality are required to heal the whole person – #Catholic – PHOENIX — For the first time in its nearly 100-year history, the Catholic Medical Association is focusing on how the Eastern Catholic Church’s emphasis on mystery, united with the Western Church’s emphasis on reason, can give a more comprehensive view of human identity and help Western medicine promote human flourishing.The group’s 95th annual educational conference, held in Phoenix Sept. 10–12, emphasized the early Church Fathers, whose influence was strongest in the East, in order to “promote a more comprehensive view and more respect for the mysteries of human health and disease,” said conference chair Dr. Mary Keen-Kirchoff.“We’re embodied spirits, not just physical bodies,” she said at the opening. Healing, she added, “is a return to humanity’s original creation in the image and likeness of God.”The conference theme was “Mysteries and Miracles: Restoring the Practice of Medicine to Heal the Whole Person.” Setting the tone, Father Andriy Chirovsky, a theologian and priest of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with Rome, and psychiatrist Dr. Donna C. Dobrowolsky shared the first plenary.They moved between theology and clinical practice, saying they hoped to help medical professionals recover a holistic understanding of “the whole person, because thatʼs who all of us care about.” Theology without clinical reality stays abstract, they said; clinical work without a complete Christian anthropology becomes fragmented.“If the human person is misunderstood, then healing will also be misunderstood and therefore less effective,” Chirovsky said. “Healing requires a true anthropology.”He quoted Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the pontiff wrote: “We Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is ‘only the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.’”Why the East, and why now?Chirovsky cited St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One), in which the pope, referring to the Eastern and Western Catholic churches, wrote that “the Church must breathe with her two lungs!”Dobrowolsky noted that what the West calls sacraments, the East calls mysteries: rites “not fully comprehensible by human reason, but revealed by God.”Chirovsky said Eastern spirituality and practice “preserve certain habits of thought that are especially needed at this moment in history.”He was not arguing against the West, he said. Any strength can become distorted when it loses its complement. The East offers “a needed medicine for some of the pathologies of modern culture,” especially the idea that a person is the center of the universe, “self-defining,” and “the ground of truth.”“We require revelation to understand our own selves,” he said.“If the person is not self-explaining,” Dobrowolsky said, medicine has to be careful because lab values and symptom clusters aren’t enough to explain a person. They’re important, but they don’t tell us everything about who a human person is.”The Catholic Church needs both the East and the West in the same way a healthy person must think with both hemispheres of the brain, the priest said, quoting neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist’s book “The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.”In his book, McGilchrist notes that the left side of the brain is analytical and narrow, while the right side focuses more on the big picture, and pathology results when the two sides don’t work together and one side dominates.Chirovsky compared modern medicine’s laser focus on the analytical and quantifiable, using hyperspecialization in the medical field as an example, to a pathology with too much dependence on the left brain.“The analytic mode is powerful, but when it dominates unchecked, the person becomes legible as data but less visible as mystery and as a person,” he said.“Any practice of medicine that loses sight of the whole person as revealed in the incarnate Son of God is going to run into lots of trouble,” he added. “Modern medicine is doing exactly that.”Dobrowolsky agreed, adding that “in medicine, that imbalance isn’t theoretical, we see it every day.”Seeing the human being as mystery does not mean the person is unintelligible, she said. “We’re saying this human person is not exhausted by reductionist accounts. And that the deepest truth of the human person is disclosed in relation to Christ.”“If a person is reduced to a collection of functions, risks, and measurable outputs, their care becomes reduced as well,” she continued, saying that while practitioners may “retain technical brilliance … the patient may begin to disappear beneath the technique.”Indeed, the conference’s breakout sessions touched upon the necessity for a Christian anthropology informed by a Church “breathing with both lungs," with talks titled “Healing Is Not the Same as Curing: Patristic Anthropology and the Limits of Modern Medicine,” “The Neglected Soul: Ancient Monastic Teachings on Depression in the Modern World,” and “Psychedelics, AI, Spirituality, and More: Ancient Wisdom for Reenchanting Medicine.”“My prayer before the conference was that all attendees receive abundant graces of understanding and hope for the future,” Keen-Kirchoff told EWTN News. “I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit was so present … and trust that attendees are more in tune with who we are in Christ and who we are to become in Christ.” Bishop James Conley, center, receives the 2026 Evangelium Vitae award. He stands with Mario Dickerson, CMA executive director, left, and Dr. Mary Keen-Kirchoff, CMA conference chair, on Sept. 10, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Catholic Medical Association Bishop James D. Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, won the CMA’s annual Evangelium Vitae award for his pastoral efforts surrounding mental health. In May 2024, Conley published a pastoral letter titled “A Future with Hope,” concerning the Catholic response to mental health struggles. The honor sits close to the conference’s theme: care that views the person as a whole, in the mystery of body and spirit.

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The Catholic Medical Association at its 95th annual educational conference held in Phoenix Sept. 10–12 focused on how the Eastern Catholic Church can help Western medicine promote human flourishing.

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Pope Leo XIV names Newark auxiliary bishop to lead Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV has appointed Newark, New Jersey, auxiliary bishop Michael Saporito as the new bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.The Vatican announced his appointment on Sept. 15, ending a nearly one-year wait for a new bishop of the diocese. The diocese was previously led by then-Bishop James Checchio from 2016 to 2025, after he served as rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Checchio became the archbishop of New Orleans in 2026 after a brief period as its coadjutor archbishop.The pope has also accepted the resignation of Bishop Francis Malone of Shreveport, Louisiana. Malone, 76, has led the diocese since 2019. Bishops are required to submit their resignations to the pope at the age of 75.According to the Vatican announcement, Saporito was born in Newark on May 3, 1962. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 30, 1992.He also earned an accounting degree from Rutgers University and studied at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology in South Orange, New Jersey, for several years before his ordination.After his ordination, Saporito served as a parish priest at several parish churches throughout the archdiocese: St. Peter the Apostle in River Edge (1994–1999), Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus (1999–2001), St. Elizabeth in Wyckoff (2001–2004), St. Joseph in Maplewood (2004–2011), and St. Helen in Westfield (2011–2020).In February 2020, Pope Francis appointed Saporito as an auxiliary bishop of Newark. He received his episcopal consecration on June 30 of the same year from Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSsR, who has served as archbishop of Newark since 2016.
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Pope Leo XIV names Newark auxiliary bishop to lead Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV has appointed Newark, New Jersey, auxiliary bishop Michael Saporito as the new bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.The Vatican announced his appointment on Sept. 15, ending a nearly one-year wait for a new bishop of the diocese. The diocese was previously led by then-Bishop James Checchio from 2016 to 2025, after he served as rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Checchio became the archbishop of New Orleans in 2026 after a brief period as its coadjutor archbishop.The pope has also accepted the resignation of Bishop Francis Malone of Shreveport, Louisiana. Malone, 76, has led the diocese since 2019. Bishops are required to submit their resignations to the pope at the age of 75.According to the Vatican announcement, Saporito was born in Newark on May 3, 1962. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 30, 1992.He also earned an accounting degree from Rutgers University and studied at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology in South Orange, New Jersey, for several years before his ordination.After his ordination, Saporito served as a parish priest at several parish churches throughout the archdiocese: St. Peter the Apostle in River Edge (1994–1999), Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus (1999–2001), St. Elizabeth in Wyckoff (2001–2004), St. Joseph in Maplewood (2004–2011), and St. Helen in Westfield (2011–2020).In February 2020, Pope Francis appointed Saporito as an auxiliary bishop of Newark. He received his episcopal consecration on June 30 of the same year from Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSsR, who has served as archbishop of Newark since 2016.

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The pontiff also accepted the resignation of Bishop Francis Malone, 76, of Shreveport, Louisiana.

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NASA Kicks Off Inspiration Tour with Steelers vs. Falcons Game – Fans pose for a photo with an astronaut in the NASA Experience Zone at an NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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NASA Kicks Off Inspiration Tour with Steelers vs. Falcons Game – Fans pose for a photo with an astronaut in the NASA Experience Zone at an NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Fans pose for a photo with an astronaut in the NASA Experience Zone at an NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Study: Doctors don’t screen for abortion coercion — and it hurts women #Catholic A recent study found that women who are pressured to undergo unwanted abortions are at highest risk of negative outcomes and harm from abortion.The study, published in the Journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (JAHM), found that physicians rarely screen for coercion and pressure to abort, even though it is the highest predictive risk factor for negative outcomes.The authors, David C. Reardon, Dr. Martha W. Shuping, and Dr. Patricia K. Giebink, called the failure to screen for this “medical negligence.”“Women considering abortions should be evaluated for risk factors predictive of negative outcomes,” the study read. “The failure to screen for these risk factors is medical negligence. Screening and informing women of their personal risk factors as required by ethical and legal standards may lead to consideration of alternatives to abortion by women who consider the risks unacceptable.”Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life group that does abortion-related research, said it was a “methodologically strong study,” noting that 1,000 women were surveyed, 226 of whom had an abortion in the past.“Pro-lifers and the medical community should learn several important lessons from this study,” New told EWTN News. “First, coerced abortions are not uncommon. Secondly, … this study adds to a body of research that finds that a substantial percentage of abortions are unwanted or are inconsistent with the values of the woman seeking the abortion.”“Third, even though supporters of legal abortion claim that women obtaining abortions report low levels of mental health problems, they should acknowledge that mental health risks are substantially higher among the subset of women who are emotionally conflicted or who would prefer not to have the abortion,” he continued.Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, urged physicians “to provide full disclosure of the risks and side effects to their patients.”“The long list of bad mental, emotional, and health effects that regularly arise in the wake of an induced abortion should give pause to anyone seeking, or counseling, abortion, especially when it comes to medical professionals who themselves need to be fully informed regarding the seriousness of these risks,” Pacholczyk told EWTN News.“I think it’s fair to say that a key duty of the physician or healthcare professional, in seeking to ‘do no harm,’ would be to try to dissuade their patients from acting on any desire to procure a direct abortion,” he continued. “And a candid discussion about the broad range of potential bad outcomes from the procedure provides an excellent starting point for dialoguing with their patients in a moment of crisis.”Pacholczyk urged medical professionals to have references for pre-abortion counseling for women considering abortion.“While medical professionals may not be able themselves to provide all the support a young woman requires when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy, they should be able to recommend or refer the woman to obtain additional helpful pre-abortion counseling so she can ponder, and bring to the surface, her own motives and fears, and by doing so, hopefully strengthen her to steer clear of the pseudo-remedy of abortion and instead address her situation with a heightened awareness of the care, accompaniment, and support coming from those around her,” Pacholczyk said. Though difficult to enforce, legislation to require medical professionals to screen for coercion may enable victims of coercion to sue abortion clinics, if put into effect, according to New.“It is unsurprising that physicians performing abortions rarely screen for coercion,” New said. “Many abortion are done in high-volume clinics where abortion doctors spend very little time with women seeking abortions.”Kelsey Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the abortion industry doesn’t prioritize women.“The abortion industry prioritizes profit — not women’s well-being, informed consent, or health, the overwhelming evidence shows,” Pritchard said.“Previous peer-reviewed research by Charlotte Lozier Institute scholars indicates most women who’ve had abortions would have preferred not to if they had more support, with nearly a quarter describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced,” Pritchard continued.She voiced concerns about the ease of abortion coercion due to mail-order abortion.“Since Democrats made it as easy as ordering an Amazon package for anyone anywhere to buy and ship dangerous abortion drugs, even to states with pro-life laws, this hidden epidemic has gone from bad to worse, with alarming cases of women assaulted and poisoned across the country,” Pritchard said.“Women pressured, coerced, or forced to abort go on to report higher levels of mental health and quality-of-life difficulties, which they all too often endure silently as they can face significant hurdles to coming forward,” Pritchard said.“The loudest pro-abortion voices refuse to acknowledge the truth behind their narrative of ‘freedom’ and ‘choice,’” Pritchard said.
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Study: Doctors don’t screen for abortion coercion — and it hurts women #Catholic A recent study found that women who are pressured to undergo unwanted abortions are at highest risk of negative outcomes and harm from abortion.The study, published in the Journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (JAHM), found that physicians rarely screen for coercion and pressure to abort, even though it is the highest predictive risk factor for negative outcomes.The authors, David C. Reardon, Dr. Martha W. Shuping, and Dr. Patricia K. Giebink, called the failure to screen for this “medical negligence.”“Women considering abortions should be evaluated for risk factors predictive of negative outcomes,” the study read. “The failure to screen for these risk factors is medical negligence. Screening and informing women of their personal risk factors as required by ethical and legal standards may lead to consideration of alternatives to abortion by women who consider the risks unacceptable.”Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life group that does abortion-related research, said it was a “methodologically strong study,” noting that 1,000 women were surveyed, 226 of whom had an abortion in the past.“Pro-lifers and the medical community should learn several important lessons from this study,” New told EWTN News. “First, coerced abortions are not uncommon. Secondly, … this study adds to a body of research that finds that a substantial percentage of abortions are unwanted or are inconsistent with the values of the woman seeking the abortion.”“Third, even though supporters of legal abortion claim that women obtaining abortions report low levels of mental health problems, they should acknowledge that mental health risks are substantially higher among the subset of women who are emotionally conflicted or who would prefer not to have the abortion,” he continued.Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, urged physicians “to provide full disclosure of the risks and side effects to their patients.”“The long list of bad mental, emotional, and health effects that regularly arise in the wake of an induced abortion should give pause to anyone seeking, or counseling, abortion, especially when it comes to medical professionals who themselves need to be fully informed regarding the seriousness of these risks,” Pacholczyk told EWTN News.“I think it’s fair to say that a key duty of the physician or healthcare professional, in seeking to ‘do no harm,’ would be to try to dissuade their patients from acting on any desire to procure a direct abortion,” he continued. “And a candid discussion about the broad range of potential bad outcomes from the procedure provides an excellent starting point for dialoguing with their patients in a moment of crisis.”Pacholczyk urged medical professionals to have references for pre-abortion counseling for women considering abortion.“While medical professionals may not be able themselves to provide all the support a young woman requires when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy, they should be able to recommend or refer the woman to obtain additional helpful pre-abortion counseling so she can ponder, and bring to the surface, her own motives and fears, and by doing so, hopefully strengthen her to steer clear of the pseudo-remedy of abortion and instead address her situation with a heightened awareness of the care, accompaniment, and support coming from those around her,” Pacholczyk said. Though difficult to enforce, legislation to require medical professionals to screen for coercion may enable victims of coercion to sue abortion clinics, if put into effect, according to New.“It is unsurprising that physicians performing abortions rarely screen for coercion,” New said. “Many abortion are done in high-volume clinics where abortion doctors spend very little time with women seeking abortions.”Kelsey Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the abortion industry doesn’t prioritize women.“The abortion industry prioritizes profit — not women’s well-being, informed consent, or health, the overwhelming evidence shows,” Pritchard said.“Previous peer-reviewed research by Charlotte Lozier Institute scholars indicates most women who’ve had abortions would have preferred not to if they had more support, with nearly a quarter describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced,” Pritchard continued.She voiced concerns about the ease of abortion coercion due to mail-order abortion.“Since Democrats made it as easy as ordering an Amazon package for anyone anywhere to buy and ship dangerous abortion drugs, even to states with pro-life laws, this hidden epidemic has gone from bad to worse, with alarming cases of women assaulted and poisoned across the country,” Pritchard said.“Women pressured, coerced, or forced to abort go on to report higher levels of mental health and quality-of-life difficulties, which they all too often endure silently as they can face significant hurdles to coming forward,” Pritchard said.“The loudest pro-abortion voices refuse to acknowledge the truth behind their narrative of ‘freedom’ and ‘choice,’” Pritchard said.

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A recent study highlights that when women are coerced or pressured into abortion, they are at high risk for negative outcomes — but abortion prviidess rarely screen for abortion coercion.

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Sainthood cause for Virginia farmer who saved his son moves forward #Catholic The sainthood cause of Tom Vander Woude is moving forward, according to his home diocese of Arlington, Virginia. Vander Woude, a father of seven sons, died saving the life of his youngest son, Joseph, who has Down syndrome.The diocese will begin gathering information — a key initial stage in the Catholic Church’s process of determining sainthood.When Joseph, a teenager at the time, fell into a septic tank, Tom climbed into the tank with him, pushing him up toward the surface, away from the toxic fumes, saving his son’s life. Tom, 66, died on Sept. 8, 2008, in the accident, leaving behind his wife and seven sons. His legacy didn’t end there, however. Because of his self-sacrificial act, a group of Catholics, formally called the Tom Vander Woude Guild, began to advocate for his cause.“His final act of self-sacrificial love was widely regarded as the culmination of a Christian life marked by faith, charity, humility, fortitude, and generous service to others,” read Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge’s edict, also signed by Monsignor Paul deLadurantaye, the chancellor of the diocese.After receiving a formal petition from the cause’s postulator, Waldery Hilgeman, the diocese is asking for all information that could affect the cause to be brought forward. The bishop is also collecting any writings by Vander Woude and any documents about him.“We see in the life and death of Thomas Vander Woude a sincere response to the Christian call to sainthood,” Burbidge said. “As heroic as were the circumstances of Thomas Vander Woude’s death, this husband and father showed in a profound way that sanctity is to be sought first and foremost through personal faithfulness in daily life and to a consistent and sincere yes to God in the circumstances of one’s vocation and responsibilities.”Burbidge spoke about the cause in a podcast on Sept. 10, describing Vander Woude as “a holy, faithful, selfless, sacrificial man who serves as an inspiration for us.”“That’s what saints do,” he continued. “They show us that we, who are ordinary and flawed, can live heroic and holy lives."“When you move forward in this cause, itʼs not just because of that one heroic event, but also the day-to-day faithfulness as a husband, as a father, as a citizen, as a man of God,” Burbidge said. Tom Vander Woude with two of his grandchildren, Michael and Bobby Vander Woude (from left to right). The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is investigating Tom Vander Woude’s cause for sainthood almost two decades after he died saving his son. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild Chris Vander Woude, a son of Tom Vander Woude who is advocating for his cause, expressed his excitement at the progress.“I am grateful to the Diocese of Arlington and Bishop Burbidge for taking this step in the investigative process; it is truly exciting and incredibly humbling at the same time,” Chris Vander Woude told EWTN News.“Not a day goes by without missing Dad, but witnessing how his story continues to inspire so many is a consolation,” he said. “I think his commitment to his daily vocation as a husband and father, culminating in his sacrifice for my brother, resonates with all sorts of people — especially parents. We continue to pray that Godʼs will be done in this process.”
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Sainthood cause for Virginia farmer who saved his son moves forward #Catholic The sainthood cause of Tom Vander Woude is moving forward, according to his home diocese of Arlington, Virginia. Vander Woude, a father of seven sons, died saving the life of his youngest son, Joseph, who has Down syndrome.The diocese will begin gathering information — a key initial stage in the Catholic Church’s process of determining sainthood.When Joseph, a teenager at the time, fell into a septic tank, Tom climbed into the tank with him, pushing him up toward the surface, away from the toxic fumes, saving his son’s life. Tom, 66, died on Sept. 8, 2008, in the accident, leaving behind his wife and seven sons. His legacy didn’t end there, however. Because of his self-sacrificial act, a group of Catholics, formally called the Tom Vander Woude Guild, began to advocate for his cause.“His final act of self-sacrificial love was widely regarded as the culmination of a Christian life marked by faith, charity, humility, fortitude, and generous service to others,” read Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge’s edict, also signed by Monsignor Paul deLadurantaye, the chancellor of the diocese.After receiving a formal petition from the cause’s postulator, Waldery Hilgeman, the diocese is asking for all information that could affect the cause to be brought forward. The bishop is also collecting any writings by Vander Woude and any documents about him.“We see in the life and death of Thomas Vander Woude a sincere response to the Christian call to sainthood,” Burbidge said. “As heroic as were the circumstances of Thomas Vander Woude’s death, this husband and father showed in a profound way that sanctity is to be sought first and foremost through personal faithfulness in daily life and to a consistent and sincere yes to God in the circumstances of one’s vocation and responsibilities.”Burbidge spoke about the cause in a podcast on Sept. 10, describing Vander Woude as “a holy, faithful, selfless, sacrificial man who serves as an inspiration for us.”“That’s what saints do,” he continued. “They show us that we, who are ordinary and flawed, can live heroic and holy lives."“When you move forward in this cause, itʼs not just because of that one heroic event, but also the day-to-day faithfulness as a husband, as a father, as a citizen, as a man of God,” Burbidge said. Tom Vander Woude with two of his grandchildren, Michael and Bobby Vander Woude (from left to right). The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is investigating Tom Vander Woude’s cause for sainthood almost two decades after he died saving his son. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild Chris Vander Woude, a son of Tom Vander Woude who is advocating for his cause, expressed his excitement at the progress.“I am grateful to the Diocese of Arlington and Bishop Burbidge for taking this step in the investigative process; it is truly exciting and incredibly humbling at the same time,” Chris Vander Woude told EWTN News.“Not a day goes by without missing Dad, but witnessing how his story continues to inspire so many is a consolation,” he said. “I think his commitment to his daily vocation as a husband and father, culminating in his sacrifice for my brother, resonates with all sorts of people — especially parents. We continue to pray that Godʼs will be done in this process.”

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The sainthood cause for Tom Vander Woude, a Catholic father of seven who died saving his youngest son, moves to the information gathering stage.

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 15 September 2026 – A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31a Brothers and sisters: As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. Now you are Christ’s Body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the Church to be, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. Are all Apostles?  Are all prophets?  Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds?  Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?  Do all interpret? Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.From the Gospel according to John 19:25-27 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.John, the only one of the Twelve present at Calvary, saw and testified that beneath the cross stood Jesus’ mother together with the other women (cf. Jn 19:25). And he heard with his own ears the last words of the Master, among which were these: “Woman, here is your son!” and then, turning to him, “Here is your mother!” (Jn 19:26-27). Mary’s motherhood through the mystery of the Cross took an unimaginable leap: the mother of Jesus became the new Eve, the source of new and eternal life for every person who comes into the world. (…) The fruitfulness of the Church is the same fruitfulness as Mary’s; it is realized in the lives of her members to the extent that they relive, “in miniature,” what the Mother lived, namely, they love according to the love of Jesus. All the fruitfulness of the Church and of the Holy See depends on the Cross of Christ. Otherwise, it is only appearance, if not worse. A great contemporary theologian wrote: “If the Church is the tree that grew from the tiny mustard seed of the cross, this tree is destined to produce mustard seeds in turn, and therefore fruits that repeat the shape of the cross, because it is precisely to the cross that they owe their existence” (H.U. von Balthasar, Cordula ovverosia il caso serio, Brescia 1969, 45-46). (Pope Leo XIV, Homily, 9 June 2025)

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A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians
12:12-14, 27-31a

Brothers and sisters:
As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Now the body is not a single part, but many.

Now you are Christ’s Body, and individually parts of it.
Some people God has designated in the Church
to be, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers;
then, mighty deeds;
then gifts of healing, assistance, administration,
and varieties of tongues.
Are all Apostles?  Are all prophets?  Are all teachers?
Do all work mighty deeds?  Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak in tongues?  Do all interpret?
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

From the Gospel according to John
19:25-27

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

John, the only one of the Twelve present at Calvary, saw and testified that beneath the cross stood Jesus’ mother together with the other women (cf. Jn 19:25). And he heard with his own ears the last words of the Master, among which were these: “Woman, here is your son!” and then, turning to him, “Here is your mother!” (Jn 19:26-27). Mary’s motherhood through the mystery of the Cross took an unimaginable leap: the mother of Jesus became the new Eve, the source of new and eternal life for every person who comes into the world. (…) The fruitfulness of the Church is the same fruitfulness as Mary’s; it is realized in the lives of her members to the extent that they relive, “in miniature,” what the Mother lived, namely, they love according to the love of Jesus. All the fruitfulness of the Church and of the Holy See depends on the Cross of Christ. Otherwise, it is only appearance, if not worse. A great contemporary theologian wrote: “If the Church is the tree that grew from the tiny mustard seed of the cross, this tree is destined to produce mustard seeds in turn, and therefore fruits that repeat the shape of the cross, because it is precisely to the cross that they owe their existence” (H.U. von Balthasar, Cordula ovverosia il caso serio, Brescia 1969, 45-46). (Pope Leo XIV, Homily, 9 June 2025)

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Report flags weak funding and low completion in natural family planning programs – #Catholic – A report by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) found diocesan natural family planning (NFP) programs across the country are experiencing continued low course completion among couples.In January 2025, 196 dioceses were invited to take part in the annual Diocesan Natural Family Planning Ministry National 2025 Profile Report by the USCCB. Of the dioceses, 61 completed the questionnaire.Similarly to past years, there is a wide gap between the numbers of couples who enroll in an introductory NFP education program and those who follow up with a full course.The report found that a total of 18,211 individuals received some information or instruction on NFP across dioceses in 2025. In comparison, there were only 7,518 individuals who attended a full course in NFP.The report noted that further research must be done among dioceses to understand the disparities and adjust NFP efforts to combat them.It is important to strengthen NFP programs for many reasons but especially for the overall health of women, according to Dr. Annevay Conlee, vice president of the Women’s Health Service Line at OSF HealthCare, an integrated health system founded by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.“When looking at the overall health of the couple, but also the woman in particular, fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are better than artificial contraceptive methods when looking at the wellness aspect and monitoring health, recognizing abnormalities, and being able to help in a restorative way sustain and support health,” Conlee told EWTN News.“It does not cause the side effects and long-term potential consequences that contraception does,” she said.To best ensure that couples continue the NFP learning process, Conlee suggested dioceses and other NFP providers ensure that they offer different types of options to “fit the needs and time commitment of the couple,” she said. Also, they should be “making sure that there is awareness of not only the ability to achieve and avoid pregnancy with this but also monitor health and wellness,” she said.Report reveals few employees and low budgetThe 2025 report also found that employment for NFP programs differs among dioceses.Of the 2025 respondents, 30% reported they rely on paid part-time staff and volunteers, and 16% have a full-time paid NFP coordinator. Most instructors are volunteers (58%) who do not receive any stipend, while some are volunteers who do receive a stipend (16%) to cover expenses.Steve Mattern, senior vice president of mission services at OSF HealthCare, noted high levels of volunteers may contribute to some of the low numbers.“It seems like volunteers staff much of the demands of this work and while some … pre-marriage work does involve expectation of education and training, many dioceses do not expect this nor have the ability to serve it if they did expect it,” Mattern said.“Still, there are some wonderful things happening where the next generations of Catholics are stepping up to give witness talks, to help give orientation, and to support education,” he said.Along with employees, the survey also found that limited funding continues to be a significant issue for NFP programs. Of dioceses surveyed, 68% budgeted less than ,000 for NFP programs.Most diocesan NFP programs rely on indirect funding from other sources including donations from parishes, grants from local Knights of Columbus councils, a fee for course instruction, and follow-up fees, according to the report.Next steps for the Church“We hear anecdotally in healthcare that fewer couples are coming to seek marriage in the Catholic Church,” Mattern said.As “more people are living together and may be seeking marriage outside the Church when they do marry,” there is more of a question around what “needs to be in the required marriage prep pathway,” he said.“Should the couple go through a course of their choosing within a range of offered methodologies for NFP, and should the diocese offer a coupon or resource for them to do this?”“This has been tried and it does work; many do go on to take a course offering,” he said. “However, other dioceses may seek to do a very basic course … and may not really get to NFP or may make only a brief mention of it.”“It seems like a strong and effective communication approach and partnership across both the diocese and the Catholic healthcare ministry, and its professionals can bring a stronger approach for life and for the good of these couples and their family life,” Mattern said.Overall, “people still need basic awareness of what the fertility awareness-based methodologies offer and provide and so this work is ongoing and invites our creativity, hope, and imagination,” he said. While discussion around NFP is usually in regard to pregnancy, “it is so much more important to start forming our minds and hearts when we are young and in the context of our families,” Sister M. Mikela Meidl, FSGM, president of OSF HealthCare, said.“Learning about modesty, purity, and the beauty of our bodies as we grow and develop helps create an openness to understand ourselves long before we marry,” she said.“Supporting and helping parents to hold these conversations without embarrassment and full of confidence and attentive listening will go a long way in making people desire what is true and good,” she said.
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Report flags weak funding and low completion in natural family planning programs – #Catholic – A report by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) found diocesan natural family planning (NFP) programs across the country are experiencing continued low course completion among couples.In January 2025, 196 dioceses were invited to take part in the annual Diocesan Natural Family Planning Ministry National 2025 Profile Report by the USCCB. Of the dioceses, 61 completed the questionnaire.Similarly to past years, there is a wide gap between the numbers of couples who enroll in an introductory NFP education program and those who follow up with a full course.The report found that a total of 18,211 individuals received some information or instruction on NFP across dioceses in 2025. In comparison, there were only 7,518 individuals who attended a full course in NFP.The report noted that further research must be done among dioceses to understand the disparities and adjust NFP efforts to combat them.It is important to strengthen NFP programs for many reasons but especially for the overall health of women, according to Dr. Annevay Conlee, vice president of the Women’s Health Service Line at OSF HealthCare, an integrated health system founded by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.“When looking at the overall health of the couple, but also the woman in particular, fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are better than artificial contraceptive methods when looking at the wellness aspect and monitoring health, recognizing abnormalities, and being able to help in a restorative way sustain and support health,” Conlee told EWTN News.“It does not cause the side effects and long-term potential consequences that contraception does,” she said.To best ensure that couples continue the NFP learning process, Conlee suggested dioceses and other NFP providers ensure that they offer different types of options to “fit the needs and time commitment of the couple,” she said. Also, they should be “making sure that there is awareness of not only the ability to achieve and avoid pregnancy with this but also monitor health and wellness,” she said.Report reveals few employees and low budgetThe 2025 report also found that employment for NFP programs differs among dioceses.Of the 2025 respondents, 30% reported they rely on paid part-time staff and volunteers, and 16% have a full-time paid NFP coordinator. Most instructors are volunteers (58%) who do not receive any stipend, while some are volunteers who do receive a stipend (16%) to cover expenses.Steve Mattern, senior vice president of mission services at OSF HealthCare, noted high levels of volunteers may contribute to some of the low numbers.“It seems like volunteers staff much of the demands of this work and while some … pre-marriage work does involve expectation of education and training, many dioceses do not expect this nor have the ability to serve it if they did expect it,” Mattern said.“Still, there are some wonderful things happening where the next generations of Catholics are stepping up to give witness talks, to help give orientation, and to support education,” he said.Along with employees, the survey also found that limited funding continues to be a significant issue for NFP programs. Of dioceses surveyed, 68% budgeted less than $5,000 for NFP programs.Most diocesan NFP programs rely on indirect funding from other sources including donations from parishes, grants from local Knights of Columbus councils, a fee for course instruction, and follow-up fees, according to the report.Next steps for the Church“We hear anecdotally in healthcare that fewer couples are coming to seek marriage in the Catholic Church,” Mattern said.As “more people are living together and may be seeking marriage outside the Church when they do marry,” there is more of a question around what “needs to be in the required marriage prep pathway,” he said.“Should the couple go through a course of their choosing within a range of offered methodologies for NFP, and should the diocese offer a coupon or resource for them to do this?”“This has been tried and it does work; many do go on to take a course offering,” he said. “However, other dioceses may seek to do a very basic course … and may not really get to NFP or may make only a brief mention of it.”“It seems like a strong and effective communication approach and partnership across both the diocese and the Catholic healthcare ministry, and its professionals can bring a stronger approach for life and for the good of these couples and their family life,” Mattern said.Overall, “people still need basic awareness of what the fertility awareness-based methodologies offer and provide and so this work is ongoing and invites our creativity, hope, and imagination,” he said. While discussion around NFP is usually in regard to pregnancy, “it is so much more important to start forming our minds and hearts when we are young and in the context of our families,” Sister M. Mikela Meidl, FSGM, president of OSF HealthCare, said.“Learning about modesty, purity, and the beauty of our bodies as we grow and develop helps create an openness to understand ourselves long before we marry,” she said.“Supporting and helping parents to hold these conversations without embarrassment and full of confidence and attentive listening will go a long way in making people desire what is true and good,” she said.

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The report found that a total of 18,211 individuals received some instruction on natural family planning across dioceses in 2025, but there were only 7,518 individuals who attended a full course.

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Europe launches two Earth-observation satellites amidst a busy week for China

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Rocket launches this week On Monday, Sept. 14 at 9:21 p.m. EST, Avio — a publicly traded Italian aerospace company headquartered near Rome — is set to launch a Vega C rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, carrying two Earth-observation satellites for the European Space Agency (ESA). The first, Sentinel-3C, is theContinue reading “Europe launches two Earth-observation satellites amidst a busy week for China”

The post Europe launches two Earth-observation satellites amidst a busy week for China appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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Looking forward to the Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen #Catholic – “It is also providential that this year, on 24 September, in Saint Louis Missouri, a renowned National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States of America, the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, will be beatified. Archbishop Sheen was a light of faith, hope, and love that shone through the radio and television media for decades. I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up. His broadcasts touched millions with the hope of the Gospel and his initiatives and efforts resulted in enormous spiritual and material aid to the Churches in areas of first evangelization. May our new Blessed be an example for all of the National and Diocesan Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies throughout the world.” – Address of Pope Leo XIV to Participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies I hope that you have already heard about the upcoming (on Thursday, Sept. 24) beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I had been planning to write about this important moment for our Church and especially for the Church in the United States. It is exciting to know that that a bishop who preached and visited our Diocese of Paterson more than several times will soon be beatified. Then, on this past Friday, I received a notification from the USCCB that Bishop John O. Barres, the bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre had just published (on Sept. 8) a Pastoral Letter on The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and the Mission of the Catholic Church in the 21st Century. In the Introduction Bishop Barres writes the following: “… the beatification is a moment of grace that invites each of us to contemplate anew the life and sanctity of Archbishop Sheen. It also serves as a providential summons to rediscover enduring truths that his teaching so powerfully illuminated, especially the missionary nature of the Church and the beauty of the Catholic priesthood.” The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY I will share a few thoughts, personal reflections and recommendations, but my strongest recommendation is that you read Bishop Barres’ beautifully written and inspiring Pastoral Letter. Bishop Barres insightfully summarizes the life, teaching, and contributions of Archbishop Sheen. He also invites the reader to reflect on the current relevancy of Archbishop Sheen’s promotion of “the missionary nature of the Church” and the opportunity for a “Renewal of 21st Century Contemplative Catholic Missiology.” Finally, Bishop Barres offers a wonderful reminder of Archbishop Sheen’s teaching on the meaning of a vocation to Priesthood and his love for and dedication to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I had heard about Archbishop Sheen as I was growing up, but he was “before my time.” In an excellent biography, available on the website of the Catholic University of America, where Archbishop (then Msgr.) Sheen was a faculty member from 1927-1950, we learn: By the time Monsignor Sheen left Catholic University in 1950 to become the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, he was already one of the most well-known Catholics of his time. The next chapter of his mission would catapult him to unprecedented fame and influence. He was consecrated a bishop on June 11, 1951. In the Fall of that year, he began his famous television series, Life is Worth Living. It was a tremendous success, eventually reaching an estimated 30 million viewers each week, which would make it the most widely viewed religious series in the history of television. He won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, and became one of the most influential Catholics of the 20th century. Biography of Fulton J. Sheen Archbishop Sheen once wrote, “Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.” The “book” of his life has inspired many evangelists. In our own diocese, I know that Bishop Sheen was an inspiration to the young Arthur Serratelli, our Bishop Emeritus. Bishop Serratelli, having watched Bishop Sheen’s Life is Worth Living television program as a boy growing up in Newark, would go on to be a gifted professor of Sacred Scripture and untiring herald of the gospel through his inspired homilies, talks, and numerous books. I would say that I was “introduced” to Archbishop Sheen by Bishop Robert Barron through his Word on Fire apostolate and hearing him personally recounting how he had been “introduced” to Archbishop Sheen by the seminarians he taught and formed during his years as a faculty member and the Rector of Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. You can hear Bishop Barron recount this experience and articulate the reasons he calls Archbishop Sheen the “patron saint of evangelizing through the media” on a recent interview he did with EWTN.  Father Mike Schmitz is another popular and very effective “media evangelist” of our time. I am a “fan” of Father Mike’s The Bible in a Year podcast and his Sunday homilies (available on the Hallow app). He has a (12 minute) reflection, available on YouTube, with the title “Fulton Sheen Changed my Life.” One of the experiences Father Mike describes is listening (on cassette tapes) to a retreat given to priests (in Ireland) by Archbishop Sheen. I had a similar experience in the Spring of 2020, during my first visits to Paterson, after I was named a bishop, but before being ordained and installed. Someone had given me a set of CDs with recordings of a priests’ retreat given by Archbishop Sheen. It was a blessing and, I believe, providential to be able to listen to Archbishop Sheen’s talks and reflections on numerous trips between Brooklyn and the Diocese of Paterson as part of my “transition.” There is one talk given by Archbishop Sheen that I have listened to (and recommended) on many occasions. It is his (45 minute) talk on the “Holy Hour of (Eucharistic) Adoration,” which is available on YouTube. I first recall recommending that talk when our diocese had a “Year of the Eucharist” and the USCCB introduced a Three-Year “Eucharistic Revival,” announced in 2021 and beginning in 2022. Bishop Barres, Bishop Barron, Father Mike Schmitz, and almost anyone who is familiar with and has listened to Archbishop Sheen know of his commitment to a daily Eucharistic Holy Hour. Whether or not you have previously listened to Archbishop Sheen speak about the importance of Eucharistic Adoration, I hope you will take the time to listen (again). I will conclude by, again, encouraging you to read Bishop Barres’ Pastoral Letter, which concludes with a prayerful request: “Through Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, may our priests be renewed in holiness, our seminarians strengthened in fidelity, and many generous hearts opened to the call of Christ. Finally, may the soon-to-be Blessed Fulton J. Sheen intercede for a new and creative Pentecost in Catholic missionary communications and for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the entire Church. May his witness help us proclaim the ancient Faith with renewed confidence, imagination, clarity, and love. Above all, may he teach us again that holiness and mission are inseparable.” The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  
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Looking forward to the Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen #Catholic – “It is also providential that this year, on 24 September, in Saint Louis Missouri, a renowned National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States of America, the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, will be beatified. Archbishop Sheen was a light of faith, hope, and love that shone through the radio and television media for decades. I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up. His broadcasts touched millions with the hope of the Gospel and his initiatives and efforts resulted in enormous spiritual and material aid to the Churches in areas of first evangelization. May our new Blessed be an example for all of the National and Diocesan Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies throughout the world.” – Address of Pope Leo XIV to Participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies I hope that you have already heard about the upcoming (on Thursday, Sept. 24) beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I had been planning to write about this important moment for our Church and especially for the Church in the United States. It is exciting to know that that a bishop who preached and visited our Diocese of Paterson more than several times will soon be beatified. Then, on this past Friday, I received a notification from the USCCB that Bishop John O. Barres, the bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre had just published (on Sept. 8) a Pastoral Letter on The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and the Mission of the Catholic Church in the 21st Century. In the Introduction Bishop Barres writes the following: “… the beatification is a moment of grace that invites each of us to contemplate anew the life and sanctity of Archbishop Sheen. It also serves as a providential summons to rediscover enduring truths that his teaching so powerfully illuminated, especially the missionary nature of the Church and the beauty of the Catholic priesthood.” The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY I will share a few thoughts, personal reflections and recommendations, but my strongest recommendation is that you read Bishop Barres’ beautifully written and inspiring Pastoral Letter. Bishop Barres insightfully summarizes the life, teaching, and contributions of Archbishop Sheen. He also invites the reader to reflect on the current relevancy of Archbishop Sheen’s promotion of “the missionary nature of the Church” and the opportunity for a “Renewal of 21st Century Contemplative Catholic Missiology.” Finally, Bishop Barres offers a wonderful reminder of Archbishop Sheen’s teaching on the meaning of a vocation to Priesthood and his love for and dedication to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I had heard about Archbishop Sheen as I was growing up, but he was “before my time.” In an excellent biography, available on the website of the Catholic University of America, where Archbishop (then Msgr.) Sheen was a faculty member from 1927-1950, we learn: By the time Monsignor Sheen left Catholic University in 1950 to become the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, he was already one of the most well-known Catholics of his time. The next chapter of his mission would catapult him to unprecedented fame and influence. He was consecrated a bishop on June 11, 1951. In the Fall of that year, he began his famous television series, Life is Worth Living. It was a tremendous success, eventually reaching an estimated 30 million viewers each week, which would make it the most widely viewed religious series in the history of television. He won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, and became one of the most influential Catholics of the 20th century. Biography of Fulton J. Sheen Archbishop Sheen once wrote, “Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.” The “book” of his life has inspired many evangelists. In our own diocese, I know that Bishop Sheen was an inspiration to the young Arthur Serratelli, our Bishop Emeritus. Bishop Serratelli, having watched Bishop Sheen’s Life is Worth Living television program as a boy growing up in Newark, would go on to be a gifted professor of Sacred Scripture and untiring herald of the gospel through his inspired homilies, talks, and numerous books. I would say that I was “introduced” to Archbishop Sheen by Bishop Robert Barron through his Word on Fire apostolate and hearing him personally recounting how he had been “introduced” to Archbishop Sheen by the seminarians he taught and formed during his years as a faculty member and the Rector of Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. You can hear Bishop Barron recount this experience and articulate the reasons he calls Archbishop Sheen the “patron saint of evangelizing through the media” on a recent interview he did with EWTN.  Father Mike Schmitz is another popular and very effective “media evangelist” of our time. I am a “fan” of Father Mike’s The Bible in a Year podcast and his Sunday homilies (available on the Hallow app). He has a (12 minute) reflection, available on YouTube, with the title “Fulton Sheen Changed my Life.” One of the experiences Father Mike describes is listening (on cassette tapes) to a retreat given to priests (in Ireland) by Archbishop Sheen. I had a similar experience in the Spring of 2020, during my first visits to Paterson, after I was named a bishop, but before being ordained and installed. Someone had given me a set of CDs with recordings of a priests’ retreat given by Archbishop Sheen. It was a blessing and, I believe, providential to be able to listen to Archbishop Sheen’s talks and reflections on numerous trips between Brooklyn and the Diocese of Paterson as part of my “transition.” There is one talk given by Archbishop Sheen that I have listened to (and recommended) on many occasions. It is his (45 minute) talk on the “Holy Hour of (Eucharistic) Adoration,” which is available on YouTube. I first recall recommending that talk when our diocese had a “Year of the Eucharist” and the USCCB introduced a Three-Year “Eucharistic Revival,” announced in 2021 and beginning in 2022. Bishop Barres, Bishop Barron, Father Mike Schmitz, and almost anyone who is familiar with and has listened to Archbishop Sheen know of his commitment to a daily Eucharistic Holy Hour. Whether or not you have previously listened to Archbishop Sheen speak about the importance of Eucharistic Adoration, I hope you will take the time to listen (again). I will conclude by, again, encouraging you to read Bishop Barres’ Pastoral Letter, which concludes with a prayerful request: “Through Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, may our priests be renewed in holiness, our seminarians strengthened in fidelity, and many generous hearts opened to the call of Christ. Finally, may the soon-to-be Blessed Fulton J. Sheen intercede for a new and creative Pentecost in Catholic missionary communications and for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the entire Church. May his witness help us proclaim the ancient Faith with renewed confidence, imagination, clarity, and love. Above all, may he teach us again that holiness and mission are inseparable.” The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  

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Looking forward to the Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen #Catholic –

“It is also providential that this year, on 24 September, in Saint Louis Missouri, a renowned National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States of America, the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, will be beatified. Archbishop Sheen was a light of faith, hope, and love that shone through the radio and television media for decades. I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up. His broadcasts touched millions with the hope of the Gospel and his initiatives and efforts resulted in enormous spiritual and material aid to the Churches in areas of first evangelization. May our new Blessed be an example for all of the National and Diocesan Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies throughout the world.”

– Address of Pope Leo XIV to Participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies

I hope that you have already heard about the upcoming (on Thursday, Sept. 24) beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I had been planning to write about this important moment for our Church and especially for the Church in the United States. It is exciting to know that that a bishop who preached and visited our Diocese of Paterson more than several times will soon be beatified. Then, on this past Friday, I received a notification from the USCCB that Bishop John O. Barres, the bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre had just published (on Sept. 8) a Pastoral Letter on The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and the Mission of the Catholic Church in the 21st Century. In the Introduction Bishop Barres writes the following:

“… the beatification is a moment of grace that invites each of us to contemplate anew the life and sanctity of Archbishop Sheen. It also serves as a providential summons to rediscover enduring truths that his teaching so powerfully illuminated, especially the missionary nature of the Church and the beauty of the Catholic priesthood.” The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

I will share a few thoughts, personal reflections and recommendations, but my strongest recommendation is that you read Bishop Barres’ beautifully written and inspiring Pastoral Letter. Bishop Barres insightfully summarizes the life, teaching, and contributions of Archbishop Sheen. He also invites the reader to reflect on the current relevancy of Archbishop Sheen’s promotion of “the missionary nature of the Church” and the opportunity for a “Renewal of 21st Century Contemplative Catholic Missiology.” Finally, Bishop Barres offers a wonderful reminder of Archbishop Sheen’s teaching on the meaning of a vocation to Priesthood and his love for and dedication to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

I had heard about Archbishop Sheen as I was growing up, but he was “before my time.” In an excellent biography, available on the website of the Catholic University of America, where Archbishop (then Msgr.) Sheen was a faculty member from 1927-1950, we learn:

By the time Monsignor Sheen left Catholic University in 1950 to become the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, he was already one of the most well-known Catholics of his time. The next chapter of his mission would catapult him to unprecedented fame and influence.

He was consecrated a bishop on June 11, 1951. In the Fall of that year, he began his famous television series, Life is Worth Living. It was a tremendous success, eventually reaching an estimated 30 million viewers each week, which would make it the most widely viewed religious series in the history of television. He won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, and became one of the most influential Catholics of the 20th century. Biography of Fulton J. Sheen

Archbishop Sheen once wrote, “Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.” The “book” of his life has inspired many evangelists. In our own diocese, I know that Bishop Sheen was an inspiration to the young Arthur Serratelli, our Bishop Emeritus. Bishop Serratelli, having watched Bishop Sheen’s Life is Worth Living television program as a boy growing up in Newark, would go on to be a gifted professor of Sacred Scripture and untiring herald of the gospel through his inspired homilies, talks, and numerous books.

I would say that I was “introduced” to Archbishop Sheen by Bishop Robert Barron through his Word on Fire apostolate and hearing him personally recounting how he had been “introduced” to Archbishop Sheen by the seminarians he taught and formed during his years as a faculty member and the Rector of Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. You can hear Bishop Barron recount this experience and articulate the reasons he calls Archbishop Sheen the “patron saint of evangelizing through the media” on a recent interview he did with EWTN. 

Father Mike Schmitz is another popular and very effective “media evangelist” of our time. I am a “fan” of Father Mike’s The Bible in a Year podcast and his Sunday homilies (available on the Hallow app). He has a (12 minute) reflection, available on YouTube, with the title “Fulton Sheen Changed my Life.”

One of the experiences Father Mike describes is listening (on cassette tapes) to a retreat given to priests (in Ireland) by Archbishop Sheen. I had a similar experience in the Spring of 2020, during my first visits to Paterson, after I was named a bishop, but before being ordained and installed. Someone had given me a set of CDs with recordings of a priests’ retreat given by Archbishop Sheen. It was a blessing and, I believe, providential to be able to listen to Archbishop Sheen’s talks and reflections on numerous trips between Brooklyn and the Diocese of Paterson as part of my “transition.”

There is one talk given by Archbishop Sheen that I have listened to (and recommended) on many occasions. It is his (45 minute) talk on the “Holy Hour of (Eucharistic) Adoration,” which is available on YouTube.

I first recall recommending that talk when our diocese had a “Year of the Eucharist” and the USCCB introduced a Three-Year “Eucharistic Revival,” announced in 2021 and beginning in 2022. Bishop Barres, Bishop Barron, Father Mike Schmitz, and almost anyone who is familiar with and has listened to Archbishop Sheen know of his commitment to a daily Eucharistic Holy Hour. Whether or not you have previously listened to Archbishop Sheen speak about the importance of Eucharistic Adoration, I hope you will take the time to listen (again).

I will conclude by, again, encouraging you to read Bishop Barres’ Pastoral Letter, which concludes with a prayerful request:

“Through Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, may our priests be renewed in holiness, our seminarians strengthened in fidelity, and many generous hearts opened to the call of Christ. Finally, may the soon-to-be Blessed Fulton J. Sheen intercede for a new and creative Pentecost in Catholic missionary communications and for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the entire Church. May his witness help us proclaim the ancient Faith with renewed confidence, imagination, clarity, and love. Above all, may he teach us again that holiness and mission are inseparable.” The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

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– “It is also providential that this year, on 24 September, in Saint Louis Missouri, a renowned National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States of America, the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, will be beatified. Archbishop Sheen was a light of faith, hope, and love that shone through the radio and television media for decades. I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up. His broadcasts touched millions with the hope of the Gospel and his initiatives and efforts resulted in enormous spiritual and material aid to the Churches in areas of first evangelization. May our

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Nearly 700 young Christians gather in Iraq for Baghdeda Youth Festival – #Catholic – The sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival concluded Saturday, Sept. 12, with a large faith procession that brought together nearly 700 young men and women, led by Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies, along with former diocesan bishops Yohanna Boutros Moshe and Georges al-Qass Moussa, priests, religious men and women, and thousands of faithful.The procession, which organizers called the “Hosanna Procession,” began at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Baghdeda, also widely known as Qaraqosh — a predominantly Christian town on Iraq’s Nineveh Plains. Participants followed the traditional Palm Sunday procession route toward St. John Church. The sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival concluded Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, with a large faith procession that brought together nearly 700 young men and women, led by Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies, along with former diocesan bishops Yohanna Boutros Moshe and Georges al-Qass Moussa, priests, religious men and women, and thousands of faithful. | Credit: Ragheed Nenwaya/ACI MENA Along the way, young people and other faithful prayed, sang hymns, and chanted while carrying olive branches as a symbol of peace. The procession concluded with the “Service of the Cross — Teshmeshta,” a prayer service from the Syriac tradition, followed by the lighting of the festival torch.Before setting out from the cathedral, participants attended a spiritual conference titled “St. Francis: A Living Model for Our Young People in Living Hope,” presented by Dominican Father Nuwairan Nasser. He encouraged the young people to follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi, seeking to embody his spiritual values in their daily lives and to live more deeply the meaning of the festival’s theme.‘In the footsteps of St. Francis’The festival began Thursday under the theme “In the Footsteps of St. Francis.” The opening program included a spiritual reflection by Hanno titled “Leave Everything That Makes You Lose Yourself.”The bishop stressed the importance of understanding Christian freedom as a free response of obedience to God rather than as freedom without accountability or responsibility. His reflection drew on the festival’s theme and the life of St. Francis.Participants then divided into groups for pilgrimages and prayer at several churches in Baghdeda, including St. Ephrem the Syriac Church, Sts. Behnam and Sarah Church, St. James the Mutilated Church, St. John the Baptist Church, and St. Joseph Church. Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies hosted and led the sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival in northern Iraq on Sept. 12, 2026. | Credit: Ragheed Nenwaya/ACI MENA Mosul welcomes Baghdeda’s young ChristiansThe festival’s second day included visits to restored churches belonging to the diocese in Mosul, a city where the Christian community suffered severe persecution and displacement during the occupation of the Islamic State group.The young people began at St. Thomas Church and continued to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, both in Mosul’s Old City, before concluding at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church on the city’s eastern side. The sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival concluded Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, with a large faith procession that brought together nearly 700 young men and women, led by Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies, along with former diocesan bishops Yohanna Boutros Moshe and Georges al-Qass Moussa, priests, religious men and women, and thousands of faithful. | Credit: Ragheed Nenwaya/ACI MENA Residents greeted the crowds of young Christians and welcomed what organizers described as “the renewed Christian presence in the community’s historic homeland.”The day also featured a spiritual conference titled “Forgive So That You May Be Free,” presented by Chorbishop Emmanuel Kallo, the bishop’s special vicar and official responsible for the Syriac Catholic churches in Mosul.Kallo reflected on the Christian understanding of forgiveness and explained how forgiving others can help free a person from the burden and pain caused by wrongdoing.The young people also participated in Eucharistic adoration at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church.This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Nearly 700 young Christians gather in Iraq for Baghdeda Youth Festival – #Catholic – The sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival concluded Saturday, Sept. 12, with a large faith procession that brought together nearly 700 young men and women, led by Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies, along with former diocesan bishops Yohanna Boutros Moshe and Georges al-Qass Moussa, priests, religious men and women, and thousands of faithful.The procession, which organizers called the “Hosanna Procession,” began at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Baghdeda, also widely known as Qaraqosh — a predominantly Christian town on Iraq’s Nineveh Plains. Participants followed the traditional Palm Sunday procession route toward St. John Church. The sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival concluded Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, with a large faith procession that brought together nearly 700 young men and women, led by Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies, along with former diocesan bishops Yohanna Boutros Moshe and Georges al-Qass Moussa, priests, religious men and women, and thousands of faithful. | Credit: Ragheed Nenwaya/ACI MENA Along the way, young people and other faithful prayed, sang hymns, and chanted while carrying olive branches as a symbol of peace. The procession concluded with the “Service of the Cross — Teshmeshta,” a prayer service from the Syriac tradition, followed by the lighting of the festival torch.Before setting out from the cathedral, participants attended a spiritual conference titled “St. Francis: A Living Model for Our Young People in Living Hope,” presented by Dominican Father Nuwairan Nasser. He encouraged the young people to follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi, seeking to embody his spiritual values in their daily lives and to live more deeply the meaning of the festival’s theme.‘In the footsteps of St. Francis’The festival began Thursday under the theme “In the Footsteps of St. Francis.” The opening program included a spiritual reflection by Hanno titled “Leave Everything That Makes You Lose Yourself.”The bishop stressed the importance of understanding Christian freedom as a free response of obedience to God rather than as freedom without accountability or responsibility. His reflection drew on the festival’s theme and the life of St. Francis.Participants then divided into groups for pilgrimages and prayer at several churches in Baghdeda, including St. Ephrem the Syriac Church, Sts. Behnam and Sarah Church, St. James the Mutilated Church, St. John the Baptist Church, and St. Joseph Church. Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies hosted and led the sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival in northern Iraq on Sept. 12, 2026. | Credit: Ragheed Nenwaya/ACI MENA Mosul welcomes Baghdeda’s young ChristiansThe festival’s second day included visits to restored churches belonging to the diocese in Mosul, a city where the Christian community suffered severe persecution and displacement during the occupation of the Islamic State group.The young people began at St. Thomas Church and continued to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, both in Mosul’s Old City, before concluding at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church on the city’s eastern side. The sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival concluded Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, with a large faith procession that brought together nearly 700 young men and women, led by Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies, along with former diocesan bishops Yohanna Boutros Moshe and Georges al-Qass Moussa, priests, religious men and women, and thousands of faithful. | Credit: Ragheed Nenwaya/ACI MENA Residents greeted the crowds of young Christians and welcomed what organizers described as “the renewed Christian presence in the community’s historic homeland.”The day also featured a spiritual conference titled “Forgive So That You May Be Free,” presented by Chorbishop Emmanuel Kallo, the bishop’s special vicar and official responsible for the Syriac Catholic churches in Mosul.Kallo reflected on the Christian understanding of forgiveness and explained how forgiving others can help free a person from the burden and pain caused by wrongdoing.The young people also participated in Eucharistic adoration at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church.This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The young people came together to pray and hear talks under the theme “In the Footsteps of St. Francis.”

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UN asked to recognize surrogate motherhood as a new form of slavery – #Catholic – The Casablanca group of experts and the French nongovernmental organization Juristes Pour l’Enfance (Legal Professionals for Children) have asked the United Nations to officially recognize surrogacy as “a new form of slavery involving women and children.”The request was submitted to the U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and human trafficking, Katarina Schwarz, to mark the centennial of the 1926 Slavery Convention and the upcoming Human Rights Council session dedicated to the occasion, “the agenda of which includes, among other issues, new forms of slavery.”The request is based on the argument that surrogacy reduces the child in utero to an object of disposal, which corresponds to the definition of slavery set forth in the 1926 Geneva Convention, namely, the exercise of the attributes of the right of ownership.In the case of the woman carrying the baby, her body is subjected to the will of third parties, which includes control over her diet and medical care as well as, potentially, embryo reduction or abortion, the statement explains.The Casablanca Declaration experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance point out that "at the international level, several United Nations bodies have already characterized surrogacy as the sale of children, including the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children in 2018 and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019."Furthermore, in her July 2025 report, the special rapporteur on violence against women and girls called for the eradication of all forms of surrogacy and the adoption of a binding international instrument to abolish this practice. Finally, a June 22 joint statement by states calls for a moratorium with a view to the universal abolition of surrogacy.In their statement, the Casablanca Group of Experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance also called on Schwarz to urge states to put an end to this practice within their territories and to commit to its universal abolition.The Catholic Church also condemns the practice of surrogacy.In his 2024 address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis described the practice of so-called surrogacy as "deplorable," noting that it is "a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”The Holy Father urged the international community “to prohibit this practice universally,” as “human life must be preserved and defended” at every stage of its existence.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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UN asked to recognize surrogate motherhood as a new form of slavery – #Catholic – The Casablanca group of experts and the French nongovernmental organization Juristes Pour l’Enfance (Legal Professionals for Children) have asked the United Nations to officially recognize surrogacy as “a new form of slavery involving women and children.”The request was submitted to the U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and human trafficking, Katarina Schwarz, to mark the centennial of the 1926 Slavery Convention and the upcoming Human Rights Council session dedicated to the occasion, “the agenda of which includes, among other issues, new forms of slavery.”The request is based on the argument that surrogacy reduces the child in utero to an object of disposal, which corresponds to the definition of slavery set forth in the 1926 Geneva Convention, namely, the exercise of the attributes of the right of ownership.In the case of the woman carrying the baby, her body is subjected to the will of third parties, which includes control over her diet and medical care as well as, potentially, embryo reduction or abortion, the statement explains.The Casablanca Declaration experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance point out that "at the international level, several United Nations bodies have already characterized surrogacy as the sale of children, including the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children in 2018 and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019."Furthermore, in her July 2025 report, the special rapporteur on violence against women and girls called for the eradication of all forms of surrogacy and the adoption of a binding international instrument to abolish this practice. Finally, a June 22 joint statement by states calls for a moratorium with a view to the universal abolition of surrogacy.In their statement, the Casablanca Group of Experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance also called on Schwarz to urge states to put an end to this practice within their territories and to commit to its universal abolition.The Catholic Church also condemns the practice of surrogacy.In his 2024 address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis described the practice of so-called surrogacy as "deplorable," noting that it is "a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”The Holy Father urged the international community “to prohibit this practice universally,” as “human life must be preserved and defended” at every stage of its existence.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The request makes the case that surrogacy fits the definition laid out in the 1926 Slavery Convention that the practice entails the rights of ownership of a person.

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Sept. 13, 1994: Ulysses at the Sun’s south pole

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A joint NASA-ESA mission, the Ulysses solar probe launched Oct. 6, 1990, from the Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission was tasked with studying the solar wind, mapping the heliosphere, and becoming the first craft to study and chart the solar poles in detail. Equipped with a magnetometer, ion composition gauge, and instruments to measure radioContinue reading “Sept. 13, 1994: Ulysses at the Sun’s south pole”

The post Sept. 13, 1994: Ulysses at the Sun’s south pole appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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Practice of ember days bearing fruit for missionary religious community – #Catholic – The General Chapter of the Clerical Branch of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) is embracing the traditional practice of ember days as a spiritual means of fostering and growing vocations.Ember days — the Christian periods of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving — take place for three days over the four seasons each year. The next ember days will be Sept. 16, 18, and 19.“The Church, although it doesnʼt require it, still encourages it,” Father Dave Brokke, SOLT priest and vocations director, told EWTN News.“Even in terms of the [United States Conference of Catholic Bishops] document on fasting,” he explained. “It encourages people to do the ember days, and you can find different canons about it still today.”The document clarifies that “Vigils and Ember Days, as most now know, no longer oblige to fast and abstinence.” “However, the liturgical renewal and the deeper appreciation of the joy of the holy days of the Christian year will, we hope, result in a renewed appreciation as to why our forefathers spoke of ‘a fast before a feast,’” the bishops wrote.While the prayer is not required, the SOLT chapter voted on the addition of ember days to create a more intentional way of asking God for vocations. It passed in 2023 and over the past three years, the community has seen almost as many men enter into formation as it had in the previous 10 years.Ember daysThe phrase “ember days” is an alteration of the Latin phrase “quatuor tempora,” meaning “four seasons.” Ember days are documented as being celebrated as early as the fifth century and are among the oldest traditions of the Church’s liturgical calendar.Their original purpose was to thank God for the gifts of nature, notably the crops used to make bread and wine for the Eucharist.“Jesus said: ‘Ask the master of the harvest to send laborers into the vineyard.’”“With the master of the harvest, thereʼs this understanding that we have the need to ask Our Lord for help in providing the grain and the wheat and the grapes,” Brokke said.In total, there are 12 ember days throughout the liturgical year.“From an early time in the Church,” it was established that the ember days “would be a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.”The “penitential days” were “Wednesday, because that was the day that Judas betrayed Jesus, Friday because of the Passion, and then Saturday because Our Lord was in the tomb.”“The way that I remember it is ‘Lenty, Penty, Crucy, and Lucy,’” Brokke said.“Lenty” is to indicate the full Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of ember days that follow Ash Wednesday in the springtime, and “Penty” is the ember days after Pentecost in summer. The “Crucy” ember days then follow the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in fall, and “Lucy” is for the days after the memorial of St. Lucy in winter.“They correspond to the time of both the sowing of the seeds and the reaping of the harvest of the wheat and the grape. So even then it is connected to the elements that is used for the Eucharist,” he said. The Church would “fast and pray not only for a good harvest but also for vocations, for laborers in the vineyard to the priesthood, and they would often ordain men on the Saturdays of ember days,” Brokke said. SOLT witnesses ‘lots of good fruit’Brokke and the General Chapter of the Clerical Branch of the SOLT began looking into embers days as a way of “community fasting and praying for vocations,” Brokke said.“We do have a prayer that we say every day for vocations,” which “started from the very foundation of our community,” Brokke said.SOLT is “a community of priests, brothers, sisters, and members who work together to show the relationship of Our Lady with the most Holy Trinity,” Brokke said. The community reflects how “the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct, but not separate. Theyʼre united.”“Similarly, the vocations are distinct, but theyʼre not separate. So we strive to live with a united will of charity and our service to areas of deep need,” Brokke said.“We go where a bishop has identified his deepest need and serve as missionaries in the world, trying to bring that communion of the Most Holy Trinity in imitation of Our Lady, who leads us into those relationships because she was mother of the Son and daughter of the Father, spouse of the spirit.”For more vocations, SOLT wanted to add another act “specifically geared towards vocations,” in addition to its daily prayer.“I mentioned the ember days,” which would “dedicate at least 12 days a year to fasting and praying and to be more intentional with it,” he said. “When we started discussing it, we didnʼt focus so much on the agricultural aspect but the vocational aspect.” When the idea of incorporating the days of prayer was under discussion, Brokke looked up some of the prayers for ember days.“We discovered that the prayer that we have prayed every day from our foundation of the community is actually one of the ember day prayers for vocations,” he said.Shortly after the community began the traditional prayer, vocation numbers began to rise. A group of novices with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Dave Brokke/Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity “The first September doing ember days … one guy showed up from a mission in Honduras at our mission in Belize and expressed his interest in the community. He is now a novice with our community.”“On the Saturday of that first ember days, we had 27 men from Franciscan University show up for the priestly discernment program to learn more about our community. The man who led that is now an aspirant with our community.” “The year that we started, we had seven men in formation. And in three years, we now have 18 men in formation,” Brokke said. Before, “we were maybe averaging one or two to enter a year. In that very first year we had nine men.”“Weʼve seen lots of good fruit,” he said. “I know thereʼs a mystical body of Christ and weʼre all connected. The Lord is going to use it, like heʼll use everything, and nothing goes to waste.” A group of aspirants with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Dave Brokke/Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity
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Practice of ember days bearing fruit for missionary religious community – #Catholic – The General Chapter of the Clerical Branch of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) is embracing the traditional practice of ember days as a spiritual means of fostering and growing vocations.Ember days — the Christian periods of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving — take place for three days over the four seasons each year. The next ember days will be Sept. 16, 18, and 19.“The Church, although it doesnʼt require it, still encourages it,” Father Dave Brokke, SOLT priest and vocations director, told EWTN News.“Even in terms of the [United States Conference of Catholic Bishops] document on fasting,” he explained. “It encourages people to do the ember days, and you can find different canons about it still today.”The document clarifies that “Vigils and Ember Days, as most now know, no longer oblige to fast and abstinence.” “However, the liturgical renewal and the deeper appreciation of the joy of the holy days of the Christian year will, we hope, result in a renewed appreciation as to why our forefathers spoke of ‘a fast before a feast,’” the bishops wrote.While the prayer is not required, the SOLT chapter voted on the addition of ember days to create a more intentional way of asking God for vocations. It passed in 2023 and over the past three years, the community has seen almost as many men enter into formation as it had in the previous 10 years.Ember daysThe phrase “ember days” is an alteration of the Latin phrase “quatuor tempora,” meaning “four seasons.” Ember days are documented as being celebrated as early as the fifth century and are among the oldest traditions of the Church’s liturgical calendar.Their original purpose was to thank God for the gifts of nature, notably the crops used to make bread and wine for the Eucharist.“Jesus said: ‘Ask the master of the harvest to send laborers into the vineyard.’”“With the master of the harvest, thereʼs this understanding that we have the need to ask Our Lord for help in providing the grain and the wheat and the grapes,” Brokke said.In total, there are 12 ember days throughout the liturgical year.“From an early time in the Church,” it was established that the ember days “would be a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.”The “penitential days” were “Wednesday, because that was the day that Judas betrayed Jesus, Friday because of the Passion, and then Saturday because Our Lord was in the tomb.”“The way that I remember it is ‘Lenty, Penty, Crucy, and Lucy,’” Brokke said.“Lenty” is to indicate the full Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of ember days that follow Ash Wednesday in the springtime, and “Penty” is the ember days after Pentecost in summer. The “Crucy” ember days then follow the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in fall, and “Lucy” is for the days after the memorial of St. Lucy in winter.“They correspond to the time of both the sowing of the seeds and the reaping of the harvest of the wheat and the grape. So even then it is connected to the elements that is used for the Eucharist,” he said. The Church would “fast and pray not only for a good harvest but also for vocations, for laborers in the vineyard to the priesthood, and they would often ordain men on the Saturdays of ember days,” Brokke said. SOLT witnesses ‘lots of good fruit’Brokke and the General Chapter of the Clerical Branch of the SOLT began looking into embers days as a way of “community fasting and praying for vocations,” Brokke said.“We do have a prayer that we say every day for vocations,” which “started from the very foundation of our community,” Brokke said.SOLT is “a community of priests, brothers, sisters, and members who work together to show the relationship of Our Lady with the most Holy Trinity,” Brokke said. The community reflects how “the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct, but not separate. Theyʼre united.”“Similarly, the vocations are distinct, but theyʼre not separate. So we strive to live with a united will of charity and our service to areas of deep need,” Brokke said.“We go where a bishop has identified his deepest need and serve as missionaries in the world, trying to bring that communion of the Most Holy Trinity in imitation of Our Lady, who leads us into those relationships because she was mother of the Son and daughter of the Father, spouse of the spirit.”For more vocations, SOLT wanted to add another act “specifically geared towards vocations,” in addition to its daily prayer.“I mentioned the ember days,” which would “dedicate at least 12 days a year to fasting and praying and to be more intentional with it,” he said. “When we started discussing it, we didnʼt focus so much on the agricultural aspect but the vocational aspect.” When the idea of incorporating the days of prayer was under discussion, Brokke looked up some of the prayers for ember days.“We discovered that the prayer that we have prayed every day from our foundation of the community is actually one of the ember day prayers for vocations,” he said.Shortly after the community began the traditional prayer, vocation numbers began to rise. A group of novices with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Dave Brokke/Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity “The first September doing ember days … one guy showed up from a mission in Honduras at our mission in Belize and expressed his interest in the community. He is now a novice with our community.”“On the Saturday of that first ember days, we had 27 men from Franciscan University show up for the priestly discernment program to learn more about our community. The man who led that is now an aspirant with our community.” “The year that we started, we had seven men in formation. And in three years, we now have 18 men in formation,” Brokke said. Before, “we were maybe averaging one or two to enter a year. In that very first year we had nine men.”“Weʼve seen lots of good fruit,” he said. “I know thereʼs a mystical body of Christ and weʼre all connected. The Lord is going to use it, like heʼll use everything, and nothing goes to waste.” A group of aspirants with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Dave Brokke/Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity

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Father Dave Brokke, with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), says embracing the traditional practice of ember days has become a way of fostering vocations.

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Pope Leo XIV remembers 9/11 victims, calls for peace and forgiveness – #Catholic – VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV remembered the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Sunday and renewed his appeal for peace amid conflicts and violence around the world.Speaking in English after praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 13, the pope recalled the 25th anniversary of the attacks, which was observed two days earlier.“Two days ago marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in the United States of America. I renew my prayers for those who lost their lives and for those who continue to bear the wounds of that tragic day. At a time when conflict and violence afflict so many of our brothers and sisters, I invite everyone to pray that the Lord will bestow his gift of peace upon the world,” he said.Continuing in Italian, Leo said the memory of the tragedy should prompt a renewed commitment to peace, above all through prayer entrusted to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.The pope then greeted the Romans and pilgrims gathered in the square, including groups from Brazil and other countries, pilgrims who had traveled from Assisi along the Way of St. Francis, and motorcyclists gathered in support of peace and life.Earlier, in his reflection before the Angelus, Leo focused on the Sunday Gospel and the Christian meaning of forgiveness, recalling that Christ taught forgiveness and bore witness to it even on the cross, when he prayed to the Father for his persecutors.Reflecting on Peter’s question to Jesus about how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him, the pope noted that Peter’s suggestion of seven times already indicated abundance, since the number seven symbolizes fullness in Scripture. Jesus, however, went further, telling him to forgive “70 times seven” — without limit or measure.Leo then recalled the parable of the servant whose enormous debt was forgiven by his master but who refused to show the same mercy to a fellow servant who owed him far less.“All things are given to us by God out of pure love, and none of us can claim to be perfect in responding to such goodness. For this reason, gratuitousness — which is the source of our existence — is also the best rule for our life together,” the pope said.“We experience this every day. Forgiveness is indispensable, and without it, we cannot live in peace.”Without forgiveness, Leo warned, conflicts, accusations, grudges and acts of vengeance eventually arise, destroying relationships, dividing families and unleashing wars.“Only forgiveness sets us free and restores the light, even where human material and moral poverty has darkened the horizon and made the path uncertain. Forgiveness, like a gentle breeze, sweeps away even the thickest clouds until the sun shines once more,” he said.The pope also pointed to St. Peter’s own experience of forgiveness after denying and abandoning Jesus during the Passion. When Peter encountered the risen Christ on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked him only whether he loved him and once again called him to follow.Leo said that forgiving and healing love confirmed Peter in his mission as the first of the apostles.Concluding his reflection, the pope asked the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, to help Christians forgive even when taking the first step is difficult, and to spread the healing light of a love that overcomes hatred and disarms resentment.This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Pope Leo XIV remembers 9/11 victims, calls for peace and forgiveness – #Catholic – VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV remembered the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Sunday and renewed his appeal for peace amid conflicts and violence around the world.Speaking in English after praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 13, the pope recalled the 25th anniversary of the attacks, which was observed two days earlier.“Two days ago marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in the United States of America. I renew my prayers for those who lost their lives and for those who continue to bear the wounds of that tragic day. At a time when conflict and violence afflict so many of our brothers and sisters, I invite everyone to pray that the Lord will bestow his gift of peace upon the world,” he said.Continuing in Italian, Leo said the memory of the tragedy should prompt a renewed commitment to peace, above all through prayer entrusted to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.The pope then greeted the Romans and pilgrims gathered in the square, including groups from Brazil and other countries, pilgrims who had traveled from Assisi along the Way of St. Francis, and motorcyclists gathered in support of peace and life.Earlier, in his reflection before the Angelus, Leo focused on the Sunday Gospel and the Christian meaning of forgiveness, recalling that Christ taught forgiveness and bore witness to it even on the cross, when he prayed to the Father for his persecutors.Reflecting on Peter’s question to Jesus about how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him, the pope noted that Peter’s suggestion of seven times already indicated abundance, since the number seven symbolizes fullness in Scripture. Jesus, however, went further, telling him to forgive “70 times seven” — without limit or measure.Leo then recalled the parable of the servant whose enormous debt was forgiven by his master but who refused to show the same mercy to a fellow servant who owed him far less.“All things are given to us by God out of pure love, and none of us can claim to be perfect in responding to such goodness. For this reason, gratuitousness — which is the source of our existence — is also the best rule for our life together,” the pope said.“We experience this every day. Forgiveness is indispensable, and without it, we cannot live in peace.”Without forgiveness, Leo warned, conflicts, accusations, grudges and acts of vengeance eventually arise, destroying relationships, dividing families and unleashing wars.“Only forgiveness sets us free and restores the light, even where human material and moral poverty has darkened the horizon and made the path uncertain. Forgiveness, like a gentle breeze, sweeps away even the thickest clouds until the sun shines once more,” he said.The pope also pointed to St. Peter’s own experience of forgiveness after denying and abandoning Jesus during the Passion. When Peter encountered the risen Christ on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked him only whether he loved him and once again called him to follow.Leo said that forgiving and healing love confirmed Peter in his mission as the first of the apostles.Concluding his reflection, the pope asked the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, to help Christians forgive even when taking the first step is difficult, and to spread the healing light of a love that overcomes hatred and disarms resentment.This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The pontiff marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with prayers for the dead and those still bearing its wounds, while his Angelus reflection stressed that forgiveness is indispensable for peace.

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