ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, SLATERSVILLE RI

Bishop Scott McCaig of the Roman Catholic Military Ordinariate of Canada celebrates Divine Liturgy as part of the spiritual retreat for military chaplains in Lviv, Ukraine. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Bishop Scott McCaig

Ottawa, Canada, Jul 13, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Bishop Scott McCaig of the Roman Catholic Military Ordinariate of Canada returned home recently after leading a spiritual retreat for military chaplains in Ukraine, saying that the weight of what he witnessed during his week in Lviv still looms large in his mind. 

“ I’m still processing it, to be honest,” McCaig told Canada’s Catholic Register. “On the Eastern equivalent of  All Souls’ Day, I visited the graves of thousands upon thousands of fallen soldiers and prayed with their families, little children, people all grieving their fathers, children, brothers and sisters. The grief and senselessness of it all were heart-wrenching and made vivid how the destruction is so unnecessary. It was a trip that truly left its mark.”

He added: “ These are people who just want to live in peace but have been illegally invaded by a foreign nation, regardless of the complexities of the history and the politics of the situation. Their houses are being bombed, and they are losing their children to a war they don’t want to fight.”

During a unique spiritual retreat from June 13–20, McCaig and Father Terry Cherwick, lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Canadian Division, walked alongside Ukrainian chaplains who have endured over three years of frontline service since Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, offering them spiritual tools to navigate the “unseen warfare” of faith, hope, and charity while serving a nation under siege.

Supported by Bishop Wiesław Lechowicz, the military bishop of Poland, the weeklong mission saw the two meet with roughly 40 military chaplains, many of whom have been dealing with constant frontline service and funerals.

Due to the reality many of them are facing, McCaig addressed the chaplains’ exposure to the horrible reality of war, offering a multitude of spiritual tools to combat growing despair while maintaining resiliency. 

“I spoke to them about this battle of faith in dealing with all of the death and how they can recognize the Lord Jesus as the one who triumphs over death. The Book of Revelation, which we took as a theme, talks about Jesus as dead, but now alive, as the Alpha and the Omega, the living one, and him holding the keys of death and Hades,” McCaig said. 

“We wanted them to truly grasp that there is something bigger going on here and to keep their eyes focused on the Lord, who is ultimately the one who has the last word. It is never death that has the last word, but Our Lord Jesus. That reminder alone was felt deeply.”

Through  a mixture of preaching at conferences, Divine Liturgy, times of personal reflection and plenty of table sharing, McCaig and Cherwick  explored the difference between optimism and theological hope, citing God working even amid a broken, fallen world that is all too full of sin, suffering, and death. 

McCaig also emphasized the importance of forgiveness and overcoming evil through good, with the bishop alluding to St. Augustine’s notion — “A Catholic soldier fights to secure a just and lasting peace.” 

“The goal is always peace and charity, and so even when the temptation to hate is so strong, we have to continue to remind ourselves of this. One can justly defend the country while at the same time forgiving our enemies,” he clarified during the trip.

“ Author G.K. Chesterton put it very succinctly when he said that a Christian soldier does not fight because they hate what is in front of them, they fight because they love what is behind them.”

While there wasn’t a lot of spare time to reflect himself, having been woken up on multiple occasions by air raid sirens signaling drone and missile attacks, McCaig said the journey reinforced the critical importance of Catholic chaplains and their resilience. He spoke to the importance of a strong, faith-rooted approach, drawing from the Catholic tradition’s emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, something he feels is far too valuable to be discredited or forgotten. 

“Chaplains are trained to provide a sort of generic role of assistance and counseling, but the conviction was very strong that while that is good and important, it’s simply not enough. What these chaplains were telling us was that they want and need to reach into the deepest places of meaning and purpose in their lives, and that is something that can only come from a relationship with the living God,” he said.

“Encouraging words and optimism are great, but they’re not enough in those sorts of situations. The risen Christ, who is alive, has power over death and the ultimate last word on everything; that’s what we need to receive — that’s how we get the spiritual resiliency that is necessary in those situations.”

Now back in Canada, he also shared his hopes that his insight on the military chaplain situation in Ukraine can serve as a reminder to Catholics on home soil. As there hasn’t been a wartime situation for Canada since the end of the country’s involvement in Afghanistan, McCaig fears Canadians have forgotten the critical importance of spiritual resilience in the military chaplaincy. That is the specific liturgical faith, hope, and charity that come from the depth of the Catholic faith.

And while most are unable to stand in the trenches, both proverbial and literal, with soldiers around the world as military chaplains do, they can support them through the vital act of prayer.

“ Pope Francis and now Pope Leo XIV are calling the country the martyred Ukraine. They truly do need our prayers. There’s a lot of pressure for them to just surrender themselves to Russian political and cultural domination, which is a reality they’re facing. [They are] begging for prayers not to forget them, and we can  remember them as we pray the rosary,” McCaig said.

This story was first published by the The Catholic Register in Canada and has been reprinted here with permission.

A high school camper venerates the Eucharist at Wednesday night adoration in 2024 at the Damascus main campus, Centerburg, Ohio. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Damascus Media Staff

CNA Staff, Jul 13, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When St. Paul encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, his life was changed. A Catholic summer camp ministry based in Ohio — but expanding around the country — hopes to give young adults the opportunity to have a similar, life-altering encounter with Christ, but with the help of paintball, zip-lining, and Eucharistic adoration.

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Damascus summer camps has grown from 63 campers in a parish-based effort to 7,000 campers across multiple locations — with a new location in Maryland opening soon. 

At the summer camps, youth spend six days away from their ordinary lives getting to know Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith better. For the organizers of Damascus summer camps, anything can be a vehicle for teaching about Christ — even rock climbing. 

But it’s not just one week, according to organizers. The “adventure” continues on long after the kids grow up. 

Dan DeMatte, co-founder and executive director of Damascus summer camps, told CNA that “high-adventure activities will lead to a high-adventure faith.” 

“We believe our faith is meant to be deep, contagious, and joy-filled,” DeMatte said. “Jesus Christ calls us to live a great adventure through the life of the Holy Spirit!”

From 60 to 7,000 

The idea for Damascus summer camps came about when many local kids in central Ohio would attend a nondenominational camp where they would have “a personal encounter with Jesus,” DeMatte said.

“As a result, many of them would come home wanting to leave the Catholic Church because that other church was ‘better,’” DeMatte said.

Damascus founders wanted to create something centered on the Catholic Church “where young people could have an encounter with Jesus through the very life of the Church, through the holy Eucharist, confession, lectio divina, and Mass,” DeMatte explained. 

“We wanted them to experience the fullness of the Catholic faith rooted in an encounter with the living God,” he said. “And it worked!”

“We created a high-adventure camp where young people had a true encounter with Jesus, and their lives were forever changed,” DeMatte said.

That was 25 years ago. Since its beginnings with about 60 campers, demand has grown rapidly. With an annual waitlist of more than 2,000 youth, Damascus struggles to keep up. This summer, it hosted nearly 7,000 campers total. 

Damascus also offers year-round retreats, conferences, off-site preaching, missionary opportunities, and worship events, enabling them to serve more than 30,000 youth, young adults, and families. Damascus has more than 250 missionaries who serve year-round in ministries for parishes, schools, families, and dioceses across the country.

“When parents saw how their children’s lives were changed, they too wanted an encounter, and that’s when we started offering adult retreats,” DeMatte said.

Damascus has locations in Ohio and Michigan, with a new location opening in Emmitsburg, Maryland — but DeMatte hopes to continue to expand. 

“We would like to see a high-adventure Catholic camp planted within an eight-hour driving distance of every Catholic young person in the nation,” he said. 

‘No one is alone’ 

Damascus doesn’t just offer an experience. It teaches young people to pray, fostering what DeMatte called “a hunger to attend Mass and Eucharistic adoration.” 

The goal is to “awaken a heart for adventure and foster courage and self-confidence as foundations for an abundant Christian life,” he noted. 

Damascus also emphasizes the Holy Spirit, encouraging young people to “start to recognize the promptings and convictions of the Holy Spirit in their everyday lives,” DeMatte said. 

“Our campers don’t just learn about the Holy Spirit, they become intimate friends with the Holy Spirit,” he said. “They know who he is and how he is our advocate.” 

What makes Damascus unique is the model of accompaniment.

“Our team models a spirit-filled life of joy, reflecting God’s individual love for each person through personal attention and accompaniment,” DeMatte said. “No one is alone.”

The adventure continues: A lingering effect 

When asked about the effect of the camp on youth, DeMatte quipped: “In these 25 years, what haven’t I seen?!”

“They not only hear the voice of God speak to them about their identities, but they are also filled with the Holy Spirit and sent forth on a mission, just like St. Paul,” he said.

Attendees often bring home with them a “missionary zeal,” DeMatte said. They start worship and adoration nights, host Bible studies, or get involved in social charities, “igniting a fire of greater conversion within their homes, their parishes, and their schools,” DeMatte said.

The fire continues into their adult lives, according to DeMatte.

“I’ve seen countless young faithful Catholics go into lay ministry, study theology, work full time as pro-life advocates, join ministries that serve the poor, the suffering, the sick, and those neglected by others,” he continued.

More than 51% of attendees say they are open to discerning a vocation after attending, DeMatte noted.

“I’ve seen young sixth graders hear the voice of God while sitting before Jesus in adoration on the sands of our beach, and now they are serving him at the altar as a holy priest,” he said. “I’ve seen young women fall in love with Jesus and grow up to become religious sisters.” 

“I’ve witnessed many vibrant happy Catholic marriages, coming forth from missionaries who met each other and fell in love while on mission,” he added.

The data support this.

More than 98% of campers last year said they believed in the Real Presence, compared with the national average of about 27%, DeMatte noted.

Daily prayer also becomes a bigger priority for campers.

“Before camp, 27% of campers incorporated daily prayer into their lives,” DeMatte said. “After camp, 82% of campers said they are extremely likely to incorporate daily prayer into their lives.”

In addition to the central Ohio and Michigan locations, Damascus Summit Lake is set to open for campers in the summer of 2026 in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

null / Credit: Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jul 12, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

“The only males allowed in our meetings will be very young ones,” said Ruth Lewis, one of the founders of MoMa Breastfeeding, a newly launched support group for breastfeeding mothers. 

The group was founded by former trustees of La Leche League Great Britain, who say they were ousted from the group for their belief that only women can breastfeed. 

“As experienced breastfeeding counselors, we saw skills and knowledge being lost through changes in language and the abandonment of mother-centered practice,” says the website of MoMa Breastfeeding. 

“Support for mothers and children that protects the mother-baby dyad is needed more than ever.” 

Group has Catholic roots

Founded in 1956 by seven Catholic women in Illinois who named the group after the nursing Madonna and in response to a rise in formula feeding, La Leche League (“La leche” means milk in Spanish) originally supported natural family planning and other Catholic moral teachings.

It changed over the years, however, dropping its Catholic identity as it grew. And in recent years, the group in the U.S. and elsewhere has embraced gender ideology and so-called “inclusive” language, using terms like “chestfeeding” and allowing men who say they are women to participate in meetings. 

This pivot clashed with the convictions of many of the group’s leaders, including Marian Thompson, 95, one of the original founders who resigned from the board of La Leche League International in 2024 in protest.

The breaking point in Britain came in early 2024 when six trustees with the British group, including Lewis, a 17-year veteran La Leche League leader, were suspended after raising their concerns about the inclusion of males in women-only spaces and the confusing new language with the U.S.-based international board, on which sit members from all over the world.

The international group had issued an order in early 2024 for all affiliates in Great Britain to offer breastfeeding support to all nursing parents, regardless of their "gender identity" or sex.

The suspended trustees complained to the British Charity Commission, which they argued protects single-sex organizations. 

Lewis said the trustees then published their full correspondence with all the La Leche League leaders in Great Britain, and it was not long before the press got wind of the dispute. 

A spokesperson for the trustees said in 2024 that they had “exhausted every process available to us to defend sex-based services.”

“[La Leche League] International and a small number of fellow trustees at [the British chapter] have undermined our efforts and left us with no choice but to alert the Charity Commission … We would like to reassure group leaders and the mothers who benefit from LLLGB’s services that we are confident the law is on our side, as ‘mother’ is a sex-based term in UK law.”

The Supreme Court in the United Kingdom ruled in April that sex is determined by biology, a decision welcomed by both MoMa’s founders and advocates for biological reality worldwide.

“La Leche League International called us hateful bigots, but we were just trying to protect the mother-baby relationship,” Lewis told CNA. 

MoMa’s mission is to provide free, voluntary, mother-to-mother support from pregnancy through weaning, Lewis said, and the group insists on clarity. 

“The gender-neutral language is damaging,” Lewis said. “When you say ‘parent’ instead of ‘mother,’ it detracts from the relationship. It makes information harder to access, especially for mothers with dyslexia or whose first language isn’t English.”

Justine Lattimer is a lawyer specializing in child protection who is helping MoMa get off the ground and is the sister of one of the group’s founders.

“The baby’s needs have been overlooked in all this talk of ‘chestfeeding’ and ‘parent’,” Lattimer said in an interview with CNA. “It’s all about what the parent wants. None of it is about the baby’s needs.” 

“A baby is born expecting to breastfeed — it’s a biological imperative,” Lattimer said. “The mother is the complete answer to all the baby’s questions in those first moments.” 

Lattimer argues that breastfeeding is more than nutrition — it’s about comfort, bonding, and the tactile, emotional connection between a mother and her child. 

“Breastfeeding is part of mothering,” she said. “It’s part of a mother’s natural learning of being responsive in parenting.”

“A lot of things have happened over the course of the twentieth century that have broken that relationship a little bit,” Lattimer continued. “Mothers have been disenfranchised.”

Lattimer says she hopes MoMa can help restore some of that brokenness by providing a place for mothers to talk about their common experiences.

“It’s also empowering for women” to have such a place, she said. “Women have been led to believe everything is technical and requires an expert,” she added. “We’re here to say, ‘You’re enough. You were made for this. You can do this.’"

Cynthia Dulworth agrees. The former La Leche League leader and Catholic mother of three told CNA that the “Catholic theology that my body could do this – to grow the baby in my womb, to give birth, and to breastfeed – completely changed my lifestyle and helped me connect with my children.”

“I truly believe that breastfeeding is not merely for nutrition but more importantly a relationship between a mother and a baby which is irreplaceable,” said Dulworth, who resigned as a leader because she disagreed with the changes in language. 

“I didn’t want to confuse my daughters, who were often with me in meetings or when I took phone calls,” she said.

“Breastfeeding is a sex-based reality. It’s not about gender — it’s about mothers and their babies,” Paula Clay, a lactation consultant and long-time La Leche League leader in the U.S. who supports MoMa’s mission, told CNA.

For Clay, a Catholic who wears a crucifix and miraculous medal at her breastfeeding support groups, MoMa represents a return to “true north” — a focus on mothers and babies.

MoMa’s launch in May garnered immediate attention on social media, amplified by a “substantial” donation from famed author J.K. Rowling, an outspoken critic of men who call themselves women “invading” women’s spaces, who re-posted the group’s announcement to her millions of followers. 

“We couldn’t have bought publicity like that,” Lewis told CNA, noting the donation covered critical startup costs like registering the company and setting up a website. The group has since received dozens of small donations, averaging £20, often accompanied by heartfelt messages. 

The positive response has been overwhelming, Lewis said. 

“People write, ‘Sorry it’s not more,’ but we’re grateful for every bit,” she said. 

As MoMa grows, it aims to remain “small and perfectly formed,” Lattimer said. 

“We’re not here to police language or fight culture wars. We just want to help mothers breastfeed their babies. The world won’t end if we call mothers ‘mothers’ and say no to men occasionally,” she said.

French Catholic priest Abbe Pierre takes part in a demonstration on May 6, 1994. / Credit: JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jul 12, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The Bishops' Conference of France this week said a dozen new accusers have come forth with allegations of abuse against deceased Capuchin priest Abbé Pierre.

The famed French priest has already been accused by several dozen people of inflicting abuse over the course of several decades. Pierre founded the Emmaus movement, an international charity effort, after World War II.

In a July 10 press release the French bishops said they were "shocked to receive the testimony of 12 new victims of Abbé Pierre, including 7 minors at the time of the events."

The bishops "assure these people of their support," the prelates said in the release.

Allegations of abuse against Pierre, who for decades was hailed for his charity work in France, shocked the Catholic world last year. Emmaus International revealed the abuse claims in July of 2024, with new allegations surfacing in September of last year.

The Abbé Pierre Foundation announced it would change its name due to the revelations. The French bishops also said they would release archive files on Pierre nearly six decades ahead of schedule amid the abuse claims.

French prosecutors said earlier this year they would not mount an investigation into the priest due to his having died in 2007.

This week, meanwhile, the French bishops said that they were "committed to helping victims rebuild their lives after what they have been through."

The bishops and Emmaus "are working together with determination on a process of reparation," they said.

Friar Clodovis Boff belongs to the Order of the Servants of Mary. / Credit: Lennoazevedo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jul 12, 2025 / 08:40 am (CNA).

Friar Clodovis Boff has written an open letter to the bishops of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops’ Council (CELAM, by its Spanish acronym), who recently met in assembly, asking: “What good news did I read there? Forgive my frankness: None. You, bishops of CELAM, always repeat the same old story: social issues, social issues, and social issues. And this has been going on for more than fifty years.”

“Dear older brothers, don’t you see that this music is getting old?” asked the priest who belongs to the Order of the Servants of Mary (Servites), in reaction to the final document of the 40th Ordinary General Assembly of CELAM, held at the end of May in the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

"When will you give us good news about God, Christ, and his Spirit? About grace and salvation? About conversion of heart and meditating on the Word? About prayer and adoration, devotion to the Mother of the Lord, and other such themes? In short, when will you send us a truly religious, spiritual message?"

Clodovis Boff, along with his brother Leonardo Boff, was one of the most important philosophers of liberation theology. However, in 2007, he published the article "Liberation Theology and Return to the Fundamentals" in the 68th issue of the Brazilian Ecclesiastical Review. 

There, he stated that "the error of liberation theology…was to have put the poor in the place of Christ, making them a fetish and reducing Christ to having a mere supportive role; when Christ did the opposite: he put himself in the place of the poor, to make them sharers in his divine dignity." 

The letter, written on June 13 — the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, a doctor of the Church — was sent "first and foremost to the president general of CELAM," Cardinal Jaime Spengler, archbishop of Porto Alegre in Brazil, and "to all the presidents of the regional CELAM," Boff told ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner.

The priest told the bishops that he dared to write to them "because for a long time" he has seen "with dismay, repeated signs that our beloved Church is running a truly grave danger: that of alienating itself from its spiritual essence, to its own detriment and that of the world."

"When the house is on fire, anyone can scream," Boff explained. After reading CELAM's message, something he said he felt almost 20 years ago came back to him, when, "no longer able to bear the repeated equivocations of liberation theology, such an impetus arose from the depths of my soul" and he said: "Enough! I have to speak."

"It was under the impact of a similar inner impulse that I wrote this letter, hoping that the Holy Spirit may have played some part in it," he emphasized. "So far, I have only received the reaction of Don Jaime, president of CELAM, and also of the CNBB," the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, the friar told ACI Digital.

According to Boff, Spengler, who was his “student back in the 1980s in Petrópolis,” was "receptive to the letter, appreciating the fact that I had expressed my thoughts, which could help revise the ways of the Church in the Americas.”

Boff wrote in his letter that, upon reading the document of the CELAM assembly, “the words of Christ come to mind: The children ask for bread and you give them a stone (Mt 7:9).”

For the friar, “the secular world itself is fed up with secularity and is off searching for spirituality,” but the CELAM bishops “continue to offer them social issues and more social issues; and of the spiritual [you give them], almost only crumbs.”

“And to think that you are the custodians of the greatest treasure, that which the world needs most and yet, in a certain way, you deny it to them,” the priest wrote.

“Souls ask for the supernatural, and you insist on giving them the natural. This paradox is evident even in parishes: While lay people delight in displaying signs of their Catholic identity (crosses, medals, veils, blouses with religious prints), priests and nuns go in the opposite direction and appear without any distinctive sign.”

In their “Message to the Church on pilgrimage in Latin America and the Caribbean,” the CELAM bishops wrote that the 40th Assembly “has been a space for discernment, prayer, and episcopal fraternity,” in which they shared “the lights and shadows” of their “realities, the cries” of their “peoples, and the longing for a Church that is a home and school of communion.”

“[We are] aware of the current challenges that affect us as a Latin American and Caribbean region: the persistence of poverty and growing inequality, violence that goes unpunished, corruption, drug trafficking, forced migration, the weakening of democracy, the cry of the earth, and secularization, among the most common,” the bishops stated.

Boff responded: “You say, without any hesitation, that you hear the ‘cries’ of the people and that you are ‘aware of the challenges’ of today. But does your listening reach deep? Doesn’t it remain on the surface?”

“I read your list of today’s ‘cries’ and ‘challenges’ and see that it goes no further than what the most ordinary journalists and sociologists observe. Don’t the Most Reverends hear that, from ‘the depths of the world,’ a formidable cry for God is rising today? A cry that even many secular analysts hear? And isn’t it to hear this cry and give it a response, the true and full response, that the Church and its ministers exist?” 

"Governments and NGOs are there for the 'social cries'. The Church, without a doubt, cannot exclude herself from this service. But it is not the protagonist in this field. Her proper field of action is another and higher: responding precisely to the 'cry for God,'" he emphasized.

‘Progressives’ or ‘traditionalists’

The friar stated in his letter that he knew that bishops “are harassed day and night by public opinion to define themselves as ‘progressives’ or ‘traditionalists,’ ‘right-wing’ or ‘left-wing.’”

“On this, St. Paul is categorical,” he wrote, quoting: Men should consider us simply as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1).

“It is worth remembering” that “the Church is, first and foremost, the ‘sacrament of salvation’ and not a mere social institution, progressive or not,” the friar said.

“She exists to proclaim Christ and his grace. That is her central focus, her greatest and enduring commitment. Everything else comes after that,” the priest emphasized.

“Forgive me, dearest friends, if I'm here recalling what you already know. But why then is all of this not mentioned in your message and in the writings of CELAM in general? From reading them, one almost inevitably draws the conclusion that the great concern of the Church today, on our continent, is not the cause of Christ and his salvation, but rather social causes, such as justice, peace, and ecology, which you cite in your message as another refrain.”

The friar also noted that “the very letter that Pope Leo sent to CELAM, in the person of its president, speaks clearly of the ‘urgent need to remember that it is the Risen One who protects and guides the Church, reviving it in hope, etc.’”

“The Holy Father also reminds us that the Church’s proper mission is, in his own words, ‘to go out to meet so many brothers and sisters, to announce to them the message of salvation in Christ Jesus,’” Boff said.

“However, what was the response the venerable brothers gave to the pope? In the letter you wrote to him, there is no echo of those papal warnings. Rather, you asked him to help you, not to keep the memory of the Risen Lord alive in the Church; not to proclaim salvation in Christ to your brothers, but rather to support them in their struggle to ‘encourage justice and peace’ and to ‘support them in denouncing every form of injustice.’ In short, what you made the pope hear was the same old refrain: ‘social issues, social issues...’, as if he, who worked among us for decades, had never heard it.”

Boff was referring to the fact that Pope Leo XIV was a missionary and bishop in Peru and, therefore, familiar with both the social reality of Latin America and the various types of theology and pastoral care practiced on the continent.

“You will say: But these are assumed truths, which do not need to be repeated all the time. No, my dearest ones; we do need to repeat them, with renewed fervor, every blessed day, otherwise they will be lost,” Boff wrote to CELAM.

“If it weren't necessary to keep repeating them, then why did Pope Leo remind you about them? We know what happens when a man takes his wife's love for granted and doesn't bother to nurture it. This is infinitely more important in relation to faith and love for Christ.”

The friar pointed out in his letter that “the vocabulary of faith” such as God, Christ, evangelization, resurrection, Kingdom, mission, and hope “is not lacking” in CELAM's message, but, for him, these are “words placed there in a generic way,” because “one sees nothing of clear spiritual content in them” and “rather, they make one think of the usual refrain ‘social issues, social issues, and more social issues.’” 

“Please consider the first two words, key words and more than elementary words of our faith: ‘God’ and ‘Christ.’ As for ‘God,’ you never mention him in and of himself,” the friar wrote, but “only refer to him in the stereotypical expressions ‘Son of God’ and ‘People of God.’ Brothers, shouldn’t you be astounded?

The name of Christ “appears only twice, and both times only in passing,” Boff observed.

The friar said the bishops “declare,” and “rightly so, that they want a Church that is a ‘house and school of communion,’ and, furthermore, ‘merciful, synodal, and outgoing,’” and that “a Church that does not have Christ as its reason for being and speaking is, in the words of Pope Francis, nothing more than a ‘pious NGO.’”

“But isn't that where our Church is headed? A lesser evil is when, instead of going to the non-religious, Catholics become evangelicals. In every case, our Church is hemorrhaging. What we see most around here are empty churches, empty seminaries, empty convents,” the friar observed.

“In our Americas, seven or eight countries no longer have a Catholic majority. Brazil itself is on its way to becoming ‘the largest ex-Catholic country in the world,’ in the words of a well-known Brazilian writer,” said the friar, referring to the playwright, writer, and journalist Nelson Rodrigues. “However, this continued decline doesn't seem to worry the venerable brothers so much.”

The priest even said that CELAM's message affirms that the [heart of the] Church in Latin America "continues to beat strongly" and that there are "seeds of resurrection and hope," and asked: "But where are these 'seeds', dear bishops? They don't seem to be in the social sphere, as you might imagine, but in the religious sphere. They are especially in the renewed parishes, as well as in the new movements and communities."

"All these expressions of spirituality and evangelization" are "the ecclesial aspect that most fills our churches (and the hearts of the faithful)," he wrote. "It is there, in this spiritual seedbed, where the future of our Church lies. An eloquent sign of that future is that, while in the social sphere, currently, we see almost only 'people with white hair; in the spiritual realm, we see the rush en masse toward the spiritual by today's young people."

“Without the leaven of a living faith, social struggle itself ends up being perverted: from liberating, it becomes ideological and ultimately oppressive,” Boff emphasized. “This is the lucid and grave warning that St. Paul VI issued (in Evangelii Nuntiandi 35.2) regarding the then-nascent ‘theology of liberation’ (a warning from which that theology, it seems, drew no benefit).”

Where does CELAM want to 'take our Church'?

"Dear elder brothers, allow me to ask you: Where do you want to take our Church?" Boff asked. The bishops "speak a lot about the 'Kingdom,' but what is the concrete content of their 'Kingdom'?" the friar asked in his open letter.

"Since you speak so much about building a 'just and fraternal society' (another of their refrains), one might think that this society is the central content of the 'Kingdom' that is evoked. I am not unaware of the grain of truth therein. However, the most reverend bishops say nothing about the principal content of the 'Kingdom,' that is, the Kingdom present, both in hearts today and in its consummation tomorrow," he observed.

“In your discourse, there is no eschatology to be seen. It is true: You speak twice of ‘hope,’ but in such an indefinite way that, given the social slant of your message, no one, upon hearing such a word from your mouths, raises their eyes to heaven.”

“Why this reticence in speaking loudly and clearly, as so many bishops of the past did, of the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ (and also of ‘Hell’), of the ‘resurrection of the dead,’ of ‘eternal life,’ and of other eschatological truths, which offer such great light and strength for the struggles of the present, as well as the ultimate meaning of everything?”

“It is not that the earthly ideal of a ‘just and fraternal society’ is not beautiful and great” the friar noted, “but nothing compares to the Heavenly City (Phil 3:20; Heb 11:10, 16), of which we are fortunately, by our faith, citizens and workers, and you, by your episcopal ministry, its great engineers.”

“It is, therefore, time, and more than time, to bring Christ out of the shadows and into the full light. It is time to restore to him absolute primacy, both in the Church ad intra (in the individual conscience, in spirituality, and in theology), and in the Church ad extra (in evangelization, ethics, and politics),” Boff wrote. “The Church on our continent urgently needs to return to its true center, to return to its ‘first love.’”

“With this, my dearest friends, would I be asking you for something new?” Boff asked. “Absolutely not. I am simply reminding you of the most evident requirement of faith, of the ‘ancient and ever new’ faith: the absolute option for Christ the Lord, the unconditional love for him, required particularly of you, as he did of Peter (Jn 21:15-17).”

For the friar, it is urgent for the bishops “therefore to adopt and practice clearly and decisively a strong and systematic Christocentrism; a truly ‘overwhelming’ Christocentrism, as St. John Paul II expressed it,” and “to live an open Christocentrism that acts as leaven and transforms everything: people, the Church, and society.”

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

Idaho State Capitol building, Boise. / Alden Skeie via Unslpash

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 12, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Just over a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that every state must offer marriage licenses to homosexual couples. Ten years later, several lawmakers throughout the country are reigniting the marriage debate within their state legislatures.

In 2025, lawmakers in several states introduced resolutions that urged the Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which established same-sex civil marriage nationwide. 

The North Dakota House and the Idaho House passed resolutions, but both efforts failed when sent to their respective state senates. In most states, the resolutions died in committees.

The limited success was in legislative chambers with overwhelming Republican supermajorities. The Idaho House, for example, has a 61-9 Republican majority and passed the resolution in a 46-24 vote. 

The North Dakota House, with its 81-11 Republican majority, adopted the resolution more narrowly: 52-40.

Still, both measures died in the upper legislative chambers despite Republicans holding a 29-6 supermajority in the Idaho Senate and a 42-5 supermajority in the North Dakota Senate.

The current effort to urge state lawmakers to pass resolutions on Obergefell is being led by the national pro-family group MassResistance. Arthur Schaper, the group’s field director, told CNA he expects the resolutions to be reintroduced in 2026 in most states where lawmakers carried them this year and is working with lawmakers to carry them in several additional states.

“We are hitting the pedal to the metal,” Schaper said. “We are doubling down on this fight. We are not giving up. We are going to keep pushing.”

Most of the state legislatures likely to see a resolution on their dockets next year will again be ones with Republican majorities, but Schaper said the holdups in many states are caused by “a real timidity on the part of Republican operatives in some states,” along with “liberal politicians masquerading as conservatives.”

Some Republican leadership in states have “frustrated our efforts,” he said. In some cases, he added, members of the party “just don’t want to touch the issue.”

Still, Schaper expressed optimism moving forward, saying that “people are waking up to the dangerous, destructive realities of redefining marriage.” He noted that recent polling shows a majority of Republicans oppose same-sex marriage.

Yet about 41% of Republicans do support it, as do about two-thirds of the country’s voters as a whole, which is contributing to the difficulty of getting legislative support.

Ongoing efforts in Idaho

Although resolutions don’t have the force of law, Idaho Rep. Heather Scott — who introduced her state’s resolution — told CNA that a resolution “lays out the facts on the issue and allows legislators to take a stand on the idea itself.”

“It also alerts the Supreme Court of the Idaho state lawmakers’ opposition to their decision,” she said. “Resolutions are often the first step in crafting language for successful legislation.”

Scott said the resolution was successful in the House “because we strategized a path forward and worked with outside supporters and legislators to be clear with the messaging.” But she noted it became “a very controversial issue,” which she attributed to “false narratives and messaging.”

According to Scott, some members of the media “promoted the idea that Idaho lawmakers were trying to end all ‘gay marriages’."

She said many citizens “did not understand that this is a state sovereignty issue that should be discussed, debated and dealt with at the state level, not mandated from the federal government.”

Schaper partially attributed the success to Idaho’s commitment to “state’s rights” and “state’s authority.” He said “it’s kind of baked into the idaho culture, resistance to federal overreach.”

In the Senate, however, he noted that leadership “didn’t bring the bill up for a vote." But he said he expects “widespread outrage” at some of the chamber’s leadership for failing to take up major conservative priorities. He said he is “more confident going into next year.”

“The state population has become very conservative,” Shcaper said, adding “a lot of liberal Republicans have been phased out; they lost their primaries or they retired.”

“There’s a real push for respect for the 10th Amendment, respect for family, the population is getting more conservative, and they want the legislature to respect that,” he said.

North Dakota lawmaker defends marriage

North Dakota Rep. Bill Tveit, who introduced his state’s resolution, told CNA that despite the Republican supermajority in the House, “clearly it wasn’t a unanimous vote.” But, he added, “we were pleased with that passage.”

Yet, when the bill got to the Senate, Tveit said the chamber took a “verification vote,” which allows lawmakers to vote anonymously to gauge the level of support for a resolution. 

Tveit referred to the procedure as “a chicken way to do things.” Most Republicans voted against the resolution in a 31-16 vote, but it’s unclear who voted for it and who against it.

“It was very easy for all of the senators to hide behind what they considered to be the threat of the next election,” Tveit said. “I think all too often we have ‘RINOS’ in charge — Republicans In Name Only. … Once it passed the House, I thought this thing would sail through the Senate.”

“Under certain leadership, it did not move forward,” he added.

The North Dakota legislature meets every two years, and Tveit noted he is up for re-election before the next session. He said, if re-elected, he will introduce the resolution again. If not, he said he expects another lawmaker to do so.

“I believe it’s that important,” Tveit explained. “We need to keep the pressure on.”

Movements in South Dakota and elsewhere

South Dakota Rep. Tony Randolph also introduced his state’s resolution in 2025. Although only one Democrat serves on the House Judiciary Committee, eight Republicans voted with the sole Democrat to defer a vote to the 41st legislative day, essentially killing the resolution. 

Only four Republicans voted against the deferral.

“This is one of those things where, a lot of times, folks really struggle with what to do with it,” Randolph told CNA.

Randolph attributed its failure to a mix of reasons, saying that many Republicans are “worried about getting on the wrong side of certain groups.” He said some lawmakers are “concerned about public backlash.”

Although both chambers of the legislature have Republican supermajorities, similar to Idaho and North Dakota, he said South Dakota is “not as red as it appears from the outside.” He said that “some of the Democrats are actually more conservative than [some of] the Republicans.” There are some lawmakers, he said, who run as Republicans because it’s the “only way to get elected in their district.”

In spite of the setback this year, Randolph said he plans to introduce the resolution again next year. He said the resolution this year was put together at "the last minute” and he believes “it’ll have more support” next year.

Lawmakers in Michigan and Montana introduced resolutions nearly identical to Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Lawmakers in four other states introduced different resolutions to establish a new legal category reserved for one man and one woman, called a “covenant marriage.”

Schaper said MassResistance is in talks with lawmakers in other states where he hopes to get resolutions introduced that encourage the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell. Some of the states he hopes will see resolutions include Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.

He noted that state-level resolutions have been able to launch larger legislative movements in the past, and that the next step will be to get states approving resolutions in both chambers.

“It’s about starting the conversation,” Schaper said.

A view from an upper window of Sacra di San Michele, Italy, July 2025. / Credit: Emma Silvestri

Paris, France, Jul 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Stretching back to ancient times, Christian pilgrims and curious observers have noted an invisible line spanning the continent of Europe across to the Holy Land, known as “St. Michael’s Sword.” The line follows the locations of seven sanctuaries dedicated to the leader of the heavenly hosts — from the northern tip of Ireland to Jerusalem in the south, passing through France, Italy, and Greece.

“People are surprised when we talk about a line. If you look at a map, the line isn’t perfectly straight. But we live on a globe — lines are relative. For me, what matters is the direction this symbol gives,” Tatiana Bogni, a guide for 20 years at the Sacra di San Michele in Piedmont, Italy, told CNA. 

Bogni is passionate about the Sacra di San Michele, located at the center of the invisible line connecting the seven sanctuaries, and speaks tirelessly about the medieval building perched on a rock where St. Michael is said to have appeared.

Over the centuries, countless pilgrims have walked the paths of this angelic sword-shaped line, driven by personal devotion, a search for meaning, or bound by a vow. 

According to some traditions, it is customary to start from the north and make one’s way down to Jerusalem. Bogni, however, believes it makes more sense to begin in the Holy Land and travel north to Ireland — representing the journey of Byzantine Persian monks who brought the cult of St. Michael from the East to the West.

Whichever direction one chooses, this invisible line was “created” a long time ago. 

They seven sanctuaries share one notable feature: All are hard to reach — isolated, far from everything, built on islands or rocky mountain outcrops. Sometimes, just reaching them requires facing the raw power of nature. Most importantly, each has a centuries-old history linked to the archangel.

The seven sanctuaries of St. Michael

In Ireland, the sanctuary of Skellig Michael is a rocky island rising like a temple from the sea. Now deserted and home to seabirds, the island can only be reached by boat. Pilgrims can see the remains of the monks who lived there between the sixth and 12th centuries, and who dedicated the place to the famous angel defeater of the demon.

From there, the second sanctuary stop is in the United Kingdom: St. Michael’s Mount, another island dedicated to the archangel. Legend has it that St. Michael appeared to fishermen to save them from the reefs. The castle-fortress built there served as a strategic stronghold during European wars. Today, only 30 residents preserve its legacy.

The third location is Mont-Saint-Michel in France, whose famous abbey is a global tourist destination. Every now and then, the sacred promontory — where St. Michael is said to have appeared to Bishop Aubert of Avranches in the eighth century, asking him to build a sanctuary — is surrounded by ocean waves, left to the wild tides.

The line continues through Italy with two sanctuaries still inhabited by monks. 

The first is the Sacra di San Michele, a medieval abbey in Piedmont perched at 3,156 feet high and visible throughout the Susa Valley. For those who approach, its colossal stone foundations overhanging the cliff still radiate a mystical force and a sense of the harshness of life.

Further south, in the Apulia region, lies San Michele Arcangelo Shrine on Mount Gargano, built between the fifth and sixth centuries around a cave where St. Michael is said to have appeared. Among the site’s mysteries, legend says the archangel’s footprint is imprinted in the rock.

The sixth sanctuary is the Monastery of Panormitis on the Greek island of Symi, home to an icon of St. Michael clad in silver armor. The Orthodox monastery dates from the 18th century and is still inhabited by monks.

Finally, the line ends — or begins — in the Holy Land at Stella Maris Monastery on Mount Carmel. Though not historically linked to St. Michael, the Carmelite monastery stands as a symbolic anchor for his devotion to St. Michael in the land of Jesus.

A journey toward the light

“Since the dawn of humanity, people have always chosen privileged places for spiritual health, to withdraw from chaotic life and return stronger,” Bogni noted, referring to these ancient sanctuaries. “I always say the Middle Ages weren’t better — just as chaotic. Technology changes, but people remain the same.”

Bogni often meets pilgrims determined to visit all seven sites on St. Michael’s line. 

“Just yesterday, I gave a tour to a Frenchman from Brittany. He’s visiting each sanctuary one by one. In the past, pilgrims would walk the whole line in one go. They would prepare, make a will in case they didn’t return. Today, people usually visit in stages, bit by bit,” she explained.

This is not “tourism,” Bogni stressed. “They walk to find themselves. Everyone has their reasons. I believe St. Michael represents the ongoing battle within oneself. ‘Who is like God? Who wants to take God’s place?’ — that’s Michael’s big question. He is a warrior figure who gives strength, a powerful symbol that helps people stay balanced and centered.”

Frenchman Éloi Gillard, now in his 30s, went to Mont-Saint-Michel as a young scout. “I walked three days alone to get there — it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life: like being in the desert, facing myself and facing God.”

Now a father of three, Gillard says St. Michael helped him “take stock of my life” at that time. “It was like coming of age — a time to commit, to convert. St. Michael, with his powerful, masculine figure of a brave knight, became a strong image for my life as a young man.”

For Bogni, St. Michael speaks to atheists and believers of other religions, too. He represents “a journey toward the light, and light and darkness are the same for everyone,” she said.

null / Shai Barzilay via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

CNA Newsroom, Jul 11, 2025 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

A Catholic flight attendant who says United Airlines fired him after he endorsed Catholic teachings on marriage and gender identity while talking with a co-worker can proceed with his lawsuit against his union for not standing up for him, a federal judge has ruled. 

The flight attendant, Ruben Sanchez, of Anchorage, Alaska, claims the airline investigated his extensive social media posts only after receiving what he describes as “baseless accusations” arising from a red-eye flight conversation in May of 2023 — and that when the company came up with nothing that violated its social media policy, it terminated him anyway. 

Sanchez filed the lawsuit in January of 2025 against United Airlines and the union he belonged to while working for the airline, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

In court papers, he claims the airline violated his right to express his religious beliefs and discriminated against him because of his age, which was 52 at the time of the firing two years ago. He said had served as “a loyal United flight attendant” for almost 28 years. 

Sanchez’s complaint says that when he met with a United investigator online in June of 2023 to discuss the accusations against him, the investigator “reacted negatively when Sanchez explained the religious basis for his beliefs,” and that his union representative “did nothing to support him.” 

After United fired him, the union told Sanchez it would not represent him in arbitration unless he came up with the union’s portion of the cost and hired his own lawyer, according to court documents. 

In March of 2025, lawyers for the union filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Sanchez’s complaint made “insufficient allegations of fact to plausibly suggest that the Union’s decision was covertly based on age or religious animus,” and that federal law governing fair representation by a union bars such a lawsuit. 

The union’s lawyers also argued that the union refused to represent Sanchez in arbitration because of “a lack of success in other cases in which flight attendants were fired related to their social media activities.” 

The judge disagreed with the union’s arguments for dismissal, saying that Sanchez presented sufficient evidence to pursue his claim that the union acted arbitrarily in not representing him in arbitration. 

Judge Christina Snyder, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, also wrote in her decision, dated June 30, that Sanchez established a “prima facie case” that the union discriminated against him because of his age and religion — meaning that on first impression, his claim is plausible based on the evidence he has presented so far. The case would likely proceed toward a jury trial unless the union appeals the judge’s ruling or the parties settle. 

Lawyers for United Airlines have not responded to Sanchez’s claims in court filings so far. The judge has extended the deadline for doing so until Aug. 1. A spokesman for United Airlines contacted by CNA declined comment. 

CNA contacted a lawyer who is representing the union in the court case and a spokesman for the union but did not hear back by publication deadline. 

His case, meanwhile, has apparently caught the eye of officials at the social media giant X. 

 “Sanchez’s lawsuit is being supported by X Corp.,” Sanchez’s lawyers said in a written statement published Thursday on the law firm’s web site, referring to the company that owns the social media platform called X, previously known as Twitter from 2006 until July of 2023. A spokesman for X could not be reached for comment Friday.  

What did he do? 

Sanchez, who is also a member of the Alaska Air National Guard, was a last-minute replacement flight attendant on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Cleveland on May 30, 2023. To stay awake overnight he engaged in a quiet conversation with a fellow flight attendant, according to court papers. 

“Sanchez and his colleague discussed their working conditions and everyday life. As they were both Catholic, their discussion turned to Catholic theology and then, with United’s ‘Pride Month’ activities set to start on June 1, Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality,” Sanchez’s complaint states. 

A few days later, a user on what was then Twitter complained to the airline through its own Twitter account about Sanchez’s remarks, claiming that he overheard the two flight attendants during the flight – though Sanchez’s lawyers say in court papers that the unnamed person, who had sparred with Sanchez on social media before, was not on the flight. 

The Twitter user claimed that Sanchez “openly hates black people and is anti-trans,” according to court papers. 

During a subsequent meeting with an investigator from United, Sanchez denied making any racial comments, according to his complaint. Asked about an accusation that he is “anti-trans,” Sanchez “discussed his conversation with a co-worker during which they discussed Church teachings on marriage being between a man and a woman and that a person is unable to change his/her sex.” 

“Sanchez also noted that even though he is a gay male, he agrees with the Church’s teaching,” the complaint states, adding:  “The in-flight conversation was in low voices in the galley away from all passengers and no passenger reported any issues.” 

During a subsequent investigation of his social media posts, United highlighted 35 of more than 140,000 posts, “and accused Sanchez of lacking dignity, respect, professionalism, and responsibility on X when Sanchez was off-duty,” according to the complaint. 

But Sanchez’s complaint says United had never previously complained about his social media posts, which date back to 2010, even though several members of mid-level and senior management followed him online. 

Sanchez says in the complaint that he suspects his age was a factor in the firing because United prefers younger flight attendants and features them in its advertising and because “United has a history of targeting older flight attendants to terminate them for minor violations.” 

Sanchez also argues in court papers that United Airlines treated him differently from other employees, including firing him for personal social media posts stating his opinions on politics, social matters, and religion while retaining other United employees for more problematic social media posts, including a female flight attendant who chided some United customers as “drunks” who “drink like camels” and a female flight attendant who posted sexually provocative images of herself in a United uniform.

The flight attendant who posted images of herself was eventually fired, but only because she failed to delete a single image that depicted her in a United uniform, Sanchez’s complaint states.

“Sanchez was interrogated and investigated for his social media posts because of his age, religion, and political beliefs, while his co-workers who were younger or held different religious and political beliefs were not similarly,” Sanchez’s complaint states. 

“The termination of Sanchez’s employment served as an implicit warning and message to United’s other employees that the expression of views departing from liberal perspectives on race, political figures, the transgender movement, and public health issues would not be tolerated,” Sanchez’s lawyers wrote in the January complaint. 

Another case 

Sanchez says his case wasn’t the first time the union walked away from religious members who clashed with their employer over human sexuality. 

In May of 2022, two flight attendants who identify as Christian, Marley Brown and Lacey Smith, filed a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and the union, saying they were fired for posting comments opposing the Equality Act, a bill filed in Congress in 2021 that sought to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in federal civil rights law and to limit religious-freedom defenses against claims arising from it. 

The airline had posted on an intra-company website its support for the Equality Act bill, and had invited employees to post their own comments on it, according to Brown and Smith’s subsequent lawsuit. But when the women posted comments challenging the bill and the company’s support for it, the company took down their comments and subsequently fired them, the lawsuit states. 

The union didn’t advocate for the women vigorously, according to the complaint. At one point, the complaint states, a union representative told Brown “that if she punched someone in the face on an airplane and it was captured on video, it would not be possible to offer much defense," likening her opposition to proposed legislation on religious grounds to physical assault. 

In May of 2024, Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, dismissed the lawsuit. But the two women have appealed. 

Oral arguments in the Alaska Airlines case are scheduled for Friday, Aug. 22 at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. 

A spokesman for Alaska Airlines contacted by CNA declined comment. 

St. Joseph Cathedral, Buffalo / CiEll/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 11, 2025 / 17:43 pm (CNA).

Parishioners in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, won a reprieve on Friday when the state supreme court instituted a temporary halt on payments the diocese has required of parishes in order to fund its clergy abuse settlement amid a Vatican-moderated dispute over parish mergers. 

The complicated case stems from a group of parishes who object to the diocese’s requirement that they pay huge portions of cash into the diocese’s $150 million clergy abuse settlement even as they wait for the Vatican to hear their appeal concerning a diocesan merger plan. 

The Diocese of Buffalo, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020 amid the large number of abuse claims, announced last month that its parishes would be required to pay up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” by July 15 to help fund the settlement for abuse victims. 

The amount a parish must pay is calculated by its cash reserves. Parishes with less than $250,000 in unrestricted cash must pay 10% of that amount, while parishes with more than $3,000,000 will be required to pay 75%. 

Parishes that are closing or merging, meanwhile, must pay 80% of their cash. 

Bishop Michael Fisher called the required contributions “necessary to bring to a close this painful chapter of our diocese and achieve a level of restitution that is owed” to victims of sexual abuse. 

Temporary payment would ‘fatally destroy’ parishes

Yet in their lawsuit, filed this month at the New York State Supreme Court, a group of parishioners representing several parishes in the diocese argued that ongoing litigation with the Vatican over the closure of their churches preempts their payment into the diocesan plan next week. 

The Vatican earlier this year granted the parishes a stay on their pending mergers, suspending the diocese’s closure plans “for the duration” of the Vatican’s review of the cases.

The parishes represented in the suit, including Blessed Sacrament in Tonawanda and Saint Bernadette Church of Orchard Park, have all been slated for closure or merging under the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” plan, meaning they will be required to pay the 80% rate into the diocesan settlement. 

The diocese said in June that parishes who are appealing their closure to the Vatican will nevertheless have to pay the 80% rate, though if the appeal is successful the parish “will be returned the difference” between the 80% rate and the proper rate based on their cash reserves. 

In their lawsuit, the parishioners said that having to pay the higher rate by next week “would be catastrophic and likely would…fatally destroy the parishes.” 

Having to turn over 80% of their cash for the duration of the appeal would bring “irreparable harm” to the parishes, insofar as they would “be unable to adequately function and serve [their] community.”

Mary Pruski, a spokeswoman for the church preservation group Save Our Buffalo Churches, told CNA on Friday that attorneys for both the parishioners and the diocese agreed at the state supreme court to allow the diocese more time to respond to the lawsuit. 

Judge John DelMonte issued an injunction against any payments going to the settlement fund while the diocese continues to develop a response, Pruski told CNA. The deadline is August 6, she said. 

Pruski said the injunction only covers the parishes represented in the suit, though she said advocates are working to bring other parishes on board to avoid having to pay into the fund by next week. 

“There are more parishes that can’t be protected because they’re not in the lawsuit,” she told CNA. “We’re going to get it done.”

The Diocese of Buffalo declined to comment on the case on Friday. “As a matter of long-standing policy and legal prudence, the Diocese of Buffalo does not comment on pending litigation,” diocesan spokesman Joe Martone told CNA via email. 

“This policy is in place to protect the integrity of the legal process, ensure fairness to all parties involved, and maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information,” he added. 

The state supreme court’s ruling comes amid widespread Catholic parish closures and mergers around the country. 

Dioceses in Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri and elsewhere have all undertaken major restructuring plans in recent years amid priest shortages, declining attendance, and rising costs, with some parishes costing more to keep open than they do to close. 

Parishioners in numerous dioceses have mounted appeals to the Vatican over parish closures, with the Vatican in some cases putting mergers on hold while the Holy See considers the cases. 

In some instances parishioners have been creative with efforts to save parishes from closure. In Manitowoc, Wisconsin last year a group of Catholics launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay a canon lawyer to represent the church before the Vatican. 

In the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania last year, meanwhile, a group of parishioners managed to purchase an historic church from the diocese and preserve it as a chapel and place of worship.

Father Bashar Fawadleh, Latin rite pastor of Taybeh, with children from his community. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Bashar Fawadleh.

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 11, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

After raising Lazarus from the dead, the Lord Jesus “no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim,” (Jn. 11:54). 

Ephraim is today known as Taybeh. In addition to being the only entirely Christian village in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, it is also known for its beer.

This small village has been under recent attack by Israeli settlers, with the aim of “undermining the dignity of its residents and the sanctity of its sacred land,” according to a statement from the pastors of the three local Christian churches.

Priests from the Latin, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite Greek Catholic churches reported July 8 that Israeli settlers have set fires in Taybeh, damaging historic buildings and essential crops and instilling fear among residents.

Father Bashar Fawadleh, the Latin Rite pastor in Taybeh since 2021, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, about the current situation. Although he does not speak Spanish, he has a special connection to Latin America: his mother was born in Valencia, Venezuela, but at age 16 returned to her family’s homeland.

Between 250 and 300 people remain in Taybeh, while many of the town’s previous inhabitants have emigrated. Those who have decided to stay depend primarily on harvesting olives from which they produce extra virgin olive oil for export.

Since the attacks began, the workers have been terrified of going to work the land because they have been attacked so many times. 

Fawadleh knows the situation very well because he was born in the small village of Aboud, near Ramallah. He says that, even before his appointment as pastor in 2021, he had never seen attacks of this magnitude.

“Their main goal is to occupy more land. To tell us: this land is for us, not for you. They do this to steal everything from the land. They also want to encourage us to leave this country, to leave the land of Taybeh. They do this to instill fear in the people,” he said.

“We are a peaceful people; we don't cause trouble, we don't have weapons, we don't have anyone to cause problems, difficulties, or restrictions,” the parish priest added.

Since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the situation in Taybeh has worsened dramatically. Unemployment affects a large portion of its residents, who, being Palestinians, are prohibited from entering Jerusalem, about an hour’s drive south, where many worked.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is trying to alleviate the suffering by providing basic necessities and cash assistance so the people of Taybeh can pay for basic services and their school and university tuition. However, Fawadleh said, that's not enough.

“What we need now is to end this war, this conflict, to pray for peace, to seek peace, and to pray for justice, so that the fruit of justice may be peace,” he said.

Despite the attacks and suffering in Taybeh, the community still maintains its hope, joy, and happiness, “because we are Christians, and our hope and faith are in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the empty tomb,”  Fawadleh said.

The priest asks all people, regardless of their religion, to join in prayer to save the town.

He also called for pressure on the governments involved in the conflicts in the Holy Land "to stop these attacks and open all checkpoints and military barriers in the West Bank."

‘Come and see’

He also asked all people of good will to "come and see" the reality of Taybeh, echoing Jesus' first words to the apostles Andrew and John. "You can come and see it and stay in our homes," said  Fawadleh, also emphasizing the importance of tourism for the people.

“We are living stones. You must visit us to encourage us to stay, to encourage us to be present in our land, because this is the land of Jesus' homeland,” the priest said.

This is the uniqueness of Taybeh, which formed its identity after Jesus' visit 2,000 years ago. “When he visited us, he instilled in our hearts that we are his disciples, that is, we are Christians. So we must preserve our culture, our traditions, our church, and the first flame of Christianity that rose up in Jerusalem,” he said.

Then, all the pilgrims who go to see what is happening in Taybeh,  Fawadleh continued, "will be able to return and tell the truth" about what the people need.

The heads of the Christian Churches of the Holy Land are scheduled to visit Taybeh on Monday, July 14, as an expression of  their solidarity and closeness.

According to the local parish priest, this is a great joy and a clear sign that the Lord has not abandoned the small village. “Jesus would ask us to stay and be present in our land,” he said. Upon their arrival, the leaders will pray together for peace in the ancient Church of St. George.

“Here in Taybeh, we seek peace and pray for peace for everyone, not only for Palestine, but for all the nations and countries of the world. When we have unity and love one another, we can hear the voice of God,” he concluded.

You can read the full letter from the Taybeh parish priests here.

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