null / Credit: Ground Picture/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 25, 2025 / 18:27 pm (CNA).

In a bid to help strengthen marriages across the state, the California Catholic Conference (CCC)
has launched its first-ever statewide partnership with Communio, a nonprofit organization that equips parishes to “evangelize through the renewal of healthy relationships, marriages, and families.” 

News of the agreement follows the CCC’’s efforts over the past year to promote marriage and family through its “Radiate Love” initiative, which is set to end on Sept. 26 with a marriage summit in Oakland, where the CCC’s partnership with Communio will officially launch. 

“The goal is to quantifiably strengthen marriage, either by self-reported happiness in marriage, by rising marriage rates, or by encouraging people to marry,” Communio’s director of church growth, Damon Owens, told CNA. 

Ordinarily, Communio partners on a diocesan and parish level to build out the most optimal version of its Full Circle Relationship Ministry Model to suit the needs of the community. Owens said he was inspired about a year and a half ago by the Radiate Love initiative to reach out to the conference about a partnership. 

After speaking with California Catholic Conference Executive Director Kathleen Domingo for some months and traveling to California to deliver talks centered on the theology of the body and marriage and family issues, the partnership — which includes all 12 bishops and dioceses in the state — came to fruition.  

The agreement, Owens said, marks the first time that every bishop across an entire state has bought in to bringing the program to every parish in his diocese.

“Every parish in California will now have access to Communio’s relationship ministry model, which is credited with a 24% drop in the divorce rate in Jacksonville, Florida,” the conference said in an Aug. 20 press release announcing the arrangement.

“I’ve been watching the progression of Communio over the years and hearing really great things from our marriage and family life directors, who have always told us that Communio is the gold standard,” Domingo said in the release.

She added: “If they could have any tool in their toolbox to help parishioners and parish families, it would be Communio.”

“In John 10:10, the Lord said that he came so that we would have life and have it more abundantly. We know that strong marriages and healthy families help us to have this abundant life, so we are excited to partner with Communio,” Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer of the Diocese of Orange and executive officer for the CCC also said in the release.

Inside the data-driven effort to reach parishioners

“The core of what we offer is data insight to know what the problems are, but also access to technology and consulting that helps to build a plan of events and encounters where new people come to the parish and parishioners themselves want to come,” he explained.

“We have a unique technology that helps to do both the data gathering but also determining which programs are a good fit for them,” Owens continued. “So part of the consulting is literally going through almost like an Amazon page where you’re selecting facilitator-led programs or on your own or workbook or group or individual.”

Communio provides programs tailored to one of four areas: singles, marriage preparation, marriage enrichment, and marriage in crisis. They work with a team of five to six people in a parish to build a calendar of events for the year in a sequence that best helps “to draw people into the Church, but addresses the top needs first.”

“It’s a very customized way of making sure that they get the results that they want because people are telling us what their needs are through the surveys,” he said, noting that this addresses the “deepest concern” for pastors regarding the “specific needs that their people have.”

“California represents probably the whole spectrum of the type of parishes that we work around the country. You’ve got the poor rural, you’ve got the wealthy suburbs, you’ve got big cities, you’ve got mountains, you’ve got large parishes, small parishes,” Owens pointed out. 

“I think for each of those pastors, they want to know, is investing in Communio to invest in those marriages going to bring to them the success that we’ve been able to achieve around the country?” he said. “And that’s why we’re so confident and excited about it, because we know that we can.”

The Ten Commandments outside the Texas state capitol building. / Credit: BLundin via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Houston, Texas, Aug 25, 2025 / 17:57 pm (CNA).

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has directed public schools across the state not enjoined by ongoing litigation to comply with Senate Bill 10 (SB 10), a new law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. 

A federal court ruling last week temporarily blocked its enforcement in nearly a dozen independent school districts (ISDs) across the state.

“Schools not enjoined by ongoing litigation must abide by [SB 10] and display the Ten Commandments,” Paxton said in his directive, issued on Aug. 24.

On Aug. 20, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction after 16 families sued 11 Texas school districts, arguing the law violates the First Amendment’s separation of church and state. 

The federal ruling halts the law’s implementation, set to begin Sept. 1, in school districts in and around San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and includes Alamo Heights ISD, North East ISD, Lackland ISD, Northside ISD, Austin ISD, Lake Travis ISD, Dripping Springs ISD, Houston ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Cypress Fairbanks ISD, and Plano ISD. 

Paxton’s office filed an appeal on Aug. 21, asserting that the law reflects Texas’ historical and moral foundation.

“From the beginning, the Ten Commandments have been irrevocably intertwined with America’s legal, moral, and historical heritage,” Paxton said in an Aug. 25 press release. “The woke radicals seeking to erase our nation’s history will be defeated. I will not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country.”

SB 10, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 21, requires all public elementary and secondary schools to display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments, measuring at least 16 by 20 inches, in every classroom.

According to Paxton: “While no school is compelled to purchase Ten Commandments displays, schools may choose to do so. However, schools must accept and display any privately donated posters or copies that meet the requirements of SB 10.”

Supporters, including Republican state Sen. Phil King, who introduced the legislation along with state Sen. Mayes Middleton, have argued the law promotes values foundational to Texas and U.S. law.

“The Ten Commandments are part of our Texas and American story,” King said of the law earlier this year. “They are ingrained into who we are as a people and as a nation. Today, our students cry out for the moral clarity, for the statement of right and wrong that they represent. If our students don’t know the Ten Commandments, they will never understand the foundation for much of American history and law.”

Attorney Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of The Conscience Project, told CNA: “These laws requiring a passive display of the Ten Commandments do not violate either the establishment clause or the free exercise clause.”

Of the appeal filed by Paxton, Picciotti-Bayer said: “The 5th Circuit en banc should examine challenges against them, and if it does not, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely make clear that such modest acknowledgements of faith and the foundations of law pass judicial scrutiny.” 

The law’s opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), contend it unconstitutionally favors Christianity.

Heather Weaver, an attorney with the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, who represented the plaintiffs, acknowledged that Biery’s ruling, “as a technical matter,” only “covers the school district defendants.” Despite this, she went on to say: “Every school district should heed it, even if they are not a defendant in the case.”

The 11 school districts affected by the temporary injunction have a combined enrollment of approximately 680,790 students. This represents about 12.38% of the total 5.5 million public school students in Texas for the 2024-2025 school year.

As of the 2024-2025 school year, Texas has 1,246 public school districts, according to the Texas Education Agency. This number includes 1,026 ISDs and 220 charter school districts.

The legal fight mirrors similar battles in Louisiana and Arkansas, where courts have also blocked Ten Commandments display laws. Paxton’s appeal could escalate the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Known as “the papal chef,” Salvo Lo Castro spent 10 years at the Vatican cooking meals for Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Now, he’s opened his first restaurant in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood called Casasalvo. / Credit: TheBrandoers, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Aug 25, 2025 / 17:27 pm (CNA).

Known as “the papal chef,” Salvo Lo Castro spent 10 years at the Vatican cooking meals for Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Now, he’s opened his first restaurant in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood called Casasalvo. 

The new Italian restaurant opened in July and has quickly gained popularity, particularly for Lo Castro’s mother’s meatball recipe — which was also a big hit among the two popes he served. 

The 52-year-old Sicilian chef said that for those who eat at his new restaurant, it’s like eating a meal in his home.

“The restaurant is my home, and the people who dine with me aren’t clients — they’re guests who come to my home,” he said in an interview with the New York Post. 

During his time cooking for the two popes, he shared that in his eyes “every pope is a normal person,” and “[w]hile John Paul was very charismatic, for me the best was Benedict.”

He added that while during the last years of John Paul II’s life he had a very light diet, Benedict was a fan of his meatballs and schnitzel. 

“His eyes were magnetic, and his voice to me was God in the world,” Lo Castro said of Pope Benedict.

Lo Castro’s experience cooking meals for notable figures doesn’t end with popes. He’s cooked for Moammar Gadhafi, the Saudi royal family, and actors Tom Cruise and Robert De Niro, among others. He will soon welcome Leonardo DiCaprio and tennis champion Roger Federer into his new restaurant for an event with the brand Rolex.

“Normally, for other people, it is not normal, but for me, it doesn’t matter if I’m cooking for a pope, president, or ordinary person,” Lo Castro said. “Every man I cook for is a king, and every woman I cook for is a queen.”

The chef also pointed out that while he typically freely invents new dishes for his menu, during Church holidays his menu has the least amount of leeway.

“Every religious period for the Catholic Church, like Christmas, is very strict when it comes to what food to serve,” he said. “On Easter, for example, I’d prepare lamb and it’s all very traditional.”

As for the future, Lo Castro said he hopes to open more restaurants around the world.

“My biggest satisfaction is that I came from a small town, and now I’m cooking for the world,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m still a very normal man.”

null / Credit: Lighthunter/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 25, 2025 / 14:36 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Catholic Health Association have voiced their “strong support” for the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act, a bipartisan bill reintroduced in the Senate last month by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia.

In a letter to Senate committee leaders, Archbishop Borys Gudziak, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop Daniel Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; and Catholic Health Association President and CEO Sister Mary Haddad emphasized the legislation’s potential to address critical gaps in palliative care access while aligning with the Catholic Church’s moral teachings.

The bill aims to expand access to palliative care, a medical approach focused on improving quality of life for seriously ill patients near the end of life through pain and symptom management, emotional support, and care coordination.

The letter cited the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) Samaritanus Bonus (On the Care of Persons in the Critical and Terminal Phases of Life): “Palliative care is an authentic expression of the human and Christian activity of providing care, the tangible symbol of the compassionate ‘remaining’ at the side of the suffering person.”

In their letter, the Catholic leaders highlighted three major barriers to broader access to such care: a shortage of trained palliative care professionals, limited research funding for advancing best practices, and low awareness among both the public and health care providers about the role and timing of palliative care.

The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act seeks to address these challenges by funding training programs for health care professionals, supporting research to improve palliative care practices, and promoting public education campaigns. If passed, the legislation would allocate resources to expand the workforce of palliative care specialists and enhance care delivery for patients with chronic or terminal illnesses.

Gudziak, the archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Arechparchy of Philadelphia; Thomas, the Bishop of Toldeo, Ohio; and Haddad praised the bill’s inclusion of language ensuring compliance with the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997, which prohibits federal funds from being used for assisted suicide or euthanasia.

“Importantly, the bill includes essential language affirming that all supported programs must comply with the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997 and may not be used to cause or assist in causing a patient’s death under any circumstance,” they wrote.

The bill’s endorsement comes amid growing national attention to end-of-life care, with Catholic leaders advocating for approaches that prioritize the compassion and dignity of palliative care without the moral offenses of euthanasia or assisted suicide.

The Church teaches that “human life is a sacred gift from God that must be protected and respected at every stage,” the letter said. The USCCB’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services and the CDF’s 1980 Declaration on Euthanasia teach that euthanasia is “an action or an omission” on the part of health care providers “which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated.” Assisted suicide occurs when a health care provider assists a patient to end his or her own life. 

Oregon was the first state to legalize assisted suicide in 1997. The practice is now legal in 10 states and in Washington, D.C.

In another two states — Montana and New York — legislation that could legalize the practice is still pending. New York’s legislation awaits the signature of that state’s governor, while pro-life voices such as New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan are outspoken against the bill.

Originally introduced in 2022, when more than 50 groups endorsed it, the legislation is currently under review by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

On July 16, Reps. Earl “Buddy” Carter, R-Georgia, and Ami Bera, D-California, introduced an identical, companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The campus of Crown College in Minnesota. / Credit: Clappert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 25, 2025 / 14:06 pm (CNA).

A federal judge has ruled that Christian colleges that require students to sign a statement of faith cannot be excluded from a Minnesota program that lets high school students take college courses for credit.

On Friday, Aug. 22, United States District Judge Nancy Brasel ruled that the law banning religious institutions from the Minnesota Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program is an unconstitutional violation of religious freedom. 

The 40-year-old PSEO program has long served high schoolers in the state by promoting academic pursuits at both secular and religious colleges. It allows sophomore, junior, and senior high school students to take college courses at the school of their choosing and covers the cost of tuition and required classroom materials.

Religious colleges, including Crown College in St. Bonifacius and the University of Northwestern in Roseville, were banned because they require their students to pledge to follow school religious values and rules. They also do not allow students who are not Christian or who identify as LGBT.

Since 2019, the state’s Department of Education had sought to apply such a ban and eventually succeeded in 2023, when Democrats gained control of both houses of the Legislature. The ban on participation in the program by religious schools with faith statement requirements was enacted through a broader education funding bill signed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Subsequently, the two colleges and parents of high school students who wished to partake in the program at the Christian schools sued to overturn the law. The group was represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which argued the law violated religious freedom under the First Amendment.

After Becket filed the lawsuit, Minnesota promised not to enforce the law while the case was ongoing. More than two years after filing the suit, Brasel ruled in favor of the colleges and parents. 

Brasel said the court had to “venture into the delicate constitutional interplay of religion and publicly‐funded education.” She said the First Amendment “gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations,” and states can’t disqualify private schools “solely because they’re religious.”

Brasel also threw out a related nondiscrimination requirement that prohibited participating schools from basing admission to the program on gender, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs.

A young pro-lifer holds a sign that says “No human is a mistake” at the Colorado March for Life in Denver on Friday, April 11, 2025. / Credit: Kate Quiñones/CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 25, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

When it comes to unborn life, only 19 states in the U.S. protect unborn children from abortion during the first trimester of their lives. As far as assisted suicide goes, in 10 states as well as the District of Columbia, it is legal. And in about half of U.S. states, the death penalty is legal.

CNA is unveiling three new interactive maps to show where each state in the U.S. stands on life issues. The maps will be updated as new information on each issue becomes available.

Here’s an analysis of the maps and of the laws around life issues across the United States as of August 2025.

Abortion

After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, abortion legislation returned to the states. But in 2024, Americans had more than 1 million abortions, according to the latest data.

Twelve states now protect life throughout pregnancy with some exceptions. Soon after Roe was overturned in 2022, Texas prohibited almost all abortions, leading the charge alongside a few other states whose pro-life trigger laws went into effect.

Seven states protect unborn children within the first trimester, usually at the times when the child’s heartbeat can be detected, which is about five to six weeks. Ohio led the charge for heartbeat legislation — laws that protect unborn children once a heartbeat can be detected. Florida also passed a heartbeat law in 2023 under Gov. Ron DeSantis. Nebraska passed a pro-life constitutional amendment protecting life after 12 weeks.

In 18 states, laws protect life after 18-24 weeks. Most of these states protect life only after “fetal viability,” the time when a baby can survive outside the womb with medical support. Viability is usually estimated to be between 22 and 23 weeks by most doctors, but it continues to advance thanks to improving technology. For instance, a baby born last year celebrated his first birthday after being born at 21 weeks.

Abortion is legal up to birth in nine states and Washington, D.C. Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont have no protections for unborn children at any stage of development. In most of these states, taxpayer dollars fund abortion.

Several states have passed ballot measures in recent years declaring a “right to abortion” or “reproductive freedom” under the state constitution. These states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, and New York. In states with a right to abortion, the constitutional amendments leave room to expand already existing laws. While California currently allows abortion up to viability and up to birth in cases of the mother’s life or health, pro-life advocates warn that the constitutional right to abortion could lead to an expansion of abortion in the state.

Four states have ongoing litigation over abortion laws, including in Missouri, where courts are determining how the state’s constitutional right to abortion will be enforced. In 2024, Montana also approved a constitutional right to abortion in 2024 that is currently being challenged in court. Abortion laws in North Dakota and Wyoming are also in flux.

Assisted suicide

Assisted suicide — sometimes also called physician-assisted suicide — is when a doctor or medical professional provides a patient with drugs to end his or her own life. It is to be differentiated from euthanasia, which is the direct killing of a patient by a medical professional.

The term euthanasia includes voluntary euthanasia, a practice legal in some parts of the world when the patient requests to die; involuntary euthanasia is when a person is murdered against his or her wishes, and “nonvoluntary” euthanasia is when the person is not capable of giving consent. 

Assisted suicide is legal in some U.S. states and around the world, while voluntary euthanasia is legal in a limited number of countries including Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal. In Belgium and the Netherlands, minors can be euthanized if they request it.

In Canada, patients with any serious illness, disease, or disability may be eligible for what is known as medical aid in dying (MAID), even when their condition is not terminal or fatal. In 2027 Canada plans to allow MAID for those with mental health conditions; Belgium, Luxembourg, and Colombia already allow for this.

While most U.S. states have laws against assisted suicide, a growing number of state legislatures have attempted to legalize it.

Thirty-eight states in the U.S. have laws against assisted suicide. Some states specify that assisted suicide is illegal, while other state codes say they do not “authorize” assisted suicide.

Other states maintain laws that were enacted before assisted suicide was popularized in the late 1990s. Often, these states ban the practice of “assisting suicide.”

Some states have established newer legislation against the practice in recent decades including Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.

The state of West Virginia has taken the lead in opposing assisted suicide. In 2024, the state became the first to approve a constitutional amendment banning assisted suicide.

In 10 states and in Washington, D.C., assisted suicide is legal. Oregon was the first state to legalize assisted suicide in 1997.

In another two states — Montana and New York — legislation that could legalize the practice is still pending. New York’s legislation awaits the signature of the state governor, while pro-life voices such as Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan are outspoken against the bill.

Death penalty

The United States is split on the death penalty, which is also known as capital punishment. Twenty-three states have the death penalty, while 23 states have abolished it. In the remaining four states, executions have been temporarily paused via executive action, but the death penalty has not been abolished.

Of the states that have abolished the death penalty, Michigan took the lead, becoming the first state to abolish the death penalty in 1847. Alaska and Hawaii — both newer states — have never had the death penalty.

Five states (Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah) allow the death penalty via firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection.

The federal death penalty can be used for certain federal crimes in all 50 states as well as U.S. territories.

A total of 16 federal executions have occurred since the modern federal death penalty was instituted in 1988. The federal death penalty was found unconstitutional in the Supreme Court’s decision Furman v. Georgia in 1972 but was later reinstated for certain offenses and then expanded by the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994. In 2024, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men, leaving three men on death row.

Where does the Catholic Church stand on life issues?

On abortion: The Catholic Church opposes direct abortions in all cases, teaching that human life must be protected at all stages. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception” (CCC, 2270).

“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion,” the catechism says. “This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable” (CCC, 2271).

Notably, the Church does not teach that the life of the child must be preferred to the life of the mother but rather instructs doctors “to make every effort to save the lives of both, of the mother and the child.”

On assisted suicide: The Catholic Church condemns both assisted suicide and euthanasia, instead encouraging palliative care. 

The Church advocates for a “special respect” for anyone with a disability or serious condition (CCC, 2276). Any action or lack of action that intentionally “causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator,” the catechism reads (CCC, 2277).

On the death penalty: In 2018, the Vatican developed the Church’s teaching on the death penalty, with Pope Francis updating the Catechism of the Catholic Church to reflect that the death penalty is “inadmissible” in the contemporary landscape. 

St. John Paul II’s previous teaching in the catechism permitted the death penalty in “very rare” cases, saying that “cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender ‘today ... are very rare, if not practically nonexistent” (CCC, 2267, pre-2018). 

null / Credit: Srdjan Randjelovic/Shutterstock

Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 24, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Nina Marie Corona thought she was just checking the box like any good cradle Catholic when she sat down in a pew over a decade ago. From her perspective at the time, she wasn’t there for anything dramatic — just the usual holy day of obligation Christmas Mass. Her heart wasn’t in it though. Addiction had crept into her family’s life, and her entire world felt like it was falling apart. So, while others sang and smiled and shook hands at the sign of peace, she wept quietly.

Alone. A stranger. In a church filled with people.

“I remember looking and thinking, you know, why does nobody know that I’m going through this?” she said. “Like, I need you people, you know? Where else do I turn?”

Already immersed in theology classes triggered by a retreat she had attended, Corona — who once ran a successful food manufacturing business — turned to an educational pursuit that sought to weave her spirituality with her social conscience.

In the years that followed, that moment of personal desperation developed into a multipronged outreach titled Afire and launched an international multimedia ministry called “We Thirst: Christian Reflections on Addiction,” which is now in university and seminary libraries, including Trinity College Dublin, and has been shown in churches across the United States and beyond.

The five-part parish-based series is part catechesis, part communal healing, blending Catholic spirituality with the biological, psychological, and social realities of addiction. People have watched it in living rooms, church halls, and classrooms. It’s been used by priests, parents, social workers, and people recovering from addiction. It has freed people to talk about addiction, to open up, to stop hiding.

“They drop the armor,” she said. “They receive the gift of courage to face reality. That’s when healing can begin.”

The way it works is simple. You watch the series as a group — maybe over five weeks, maybe as a weekend retreat, and then you talk — not about solutions or strategies at first, but about what’s real: fear, guilt, grief, love, hope. Each session incorporates comprehensive educational presentations with prayer, music for reflection, and imagery to enlighten and inspire.” On the final night of each series, attendees are encouraged to discern next steps in their own communities.

“I initially didn’t know what they should do, but over time I realized those things that were helpful to me and my family,” she explained. “So, we eventually created kits with leader and member manuals to help guide groups through a discernment process. The leader’s manual has been granted an imprimatur.”

Each parish group is given space to listen to one another, assess the specific needs in their community, and create a plan — whether that’s hosting prayer gatherings, offering support to families affected by addiction, starting recovery ministries, or assembling care packages for local recovery homes. The work is deeply local and highly personal, but its spiritual and emotional resonance is what fuels a broader growth.

Among the programs now offered by Afire Ministries are weekly Vespers via Zoom, an online Advent Prayer Calendar, and Set Hearts AFIRE — an evangelization resource designed to equip both experienced ministers and everyday Catholics to share the Gospel. The program provides everything needed to present the material, including fully developed scripts, music, media, and opportunities for personal witness.

Also forthcoming is Graced Collaboration, an innovative faith-based recovery program developed by Corona during her doctoral studies. It integrates evidence-based scientific approaches with the spiritual wisdom of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

“I can’t do this alone,” Corona said. “We need more people stepping up.”

One of the newest groups has formed at St. Isidore in Quakertown, where Sharon Butler is a parishioner. “My daughter has been battling addiction for a very long time,” she said. “My husband and I… we’ve always had each other, but I never went to anything. People would suggest Al-Anon or different groups, but I just didn’t go.”

This was different, she said. Right from the start. “It was very inspiring,” Butler said. “I couldn’t wait for the next week. Each session gave me something to think about. It all just spoke to me.”

The formula is repeated throughout Afire’s various programs, Corona said. And, she believes, God’s fingerprints are all over it.

“I didn’t know how to listen for God’s voice at first, but once I did, he didn’t stop,” she said. “I know the resistance. The shame. You think you’ve heard it all — another addiction talk, more statistics, more blame. But this is different. This is about healing hearts, not just solving problems. It’s about rediscovering our humanity and God’s love for us in the middle of pain.”

She continued: “I believe strongly that God wants to work this way through every person. So many of us are asleep. We’re distracted, numb. But if we just pause — listen — we’ll hear him. And he’ll move. That’s what happened to me. I just finally stopped long enough to listen.”

This story was first published by Catholic Philly and has been reprinted with permission. It is part of the Face of Hope, a series of stories and videos “highlighting the work of those who make the Catholic Church in Philadelphia the greatest force for good in the region.” 

St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio. / Credit: LO Kin-hei/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 24, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

As federal budget cuts halt programs for people in need, Catholic Social Services (CSS) in Columbus, Ohio, is encouraging volunteers to step up and become community heroes. Modeling the good Samaritan, people are being invited to join the new “Super Neighbor” initiative to lend a hand to others in need, beginning with seniors who need help.

“You don’t have to wear a cape to show up and be a super neighbor,” president and CEO of CSS, Kelley Henderson, told CNA. As the program kicks off, the organization is calling on people who want to “make an impact by being present, showing up, and serving with the love of Christ.”

CSS is a Catholic Charities member agency for the Diocese of Columbus. It works with 168 other agencies across the country to support the needs of the local ordinary but also works on national policy issues, national funding, and advocacy work.

In the Columbus Diocese, CSS serves communities within 23 counties in Central and Southern Ohio through “a myriad of programs that operate to address acute and crisis needs, whether they’re of an older adult, a family with children, or a person living with a disability,” Henderson explained.

The organization’s work is “grounded in the good Samaritan parable in Luke 10” that reminds us that everyone is our neighbor. “It’s a core part of our Catholic social teaching, is this solidarity.”

‘Neighbors serving neighbors’

CSS programs stem from its motto: “Neighbors Serving Neighbors.” The Super Neighbor initiative was formed out of a belief that volunteerism is “an easy, structured way for people in a local parish to get involved and serve,” Henderson said. 

Super Neighbor was designed “to pair a volunteer from the parish with an older adult who might be living alone. They’ll go by and visit with them, play cards, go get a haircut, or meal plan … It’s really designed to go deep and build relationships with people.”

“Social isolation is a real challenge in our community, and as Catholics, we’re called to respond to the signs of our time, and isolation is a major sign,” Henderson said. “We really see that it not only has negative health impacts on people who are isolated, but it really is not being a good neighbor. We reach out and spend time with people.”

The initiative follows other senior-oriented programs that CSS has offered including the Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent programs, which were both catered to community relationships with seniors.

Both programs were mostly federally funded for the last 30 years, primarily through the AmeriCorps agency. The funds helped “lower-income seniors receive a little support money and travel reimbursement to be able to go out and spend time with others in the community.” But as federal funding cuts have been made across the nation, the programs are unable to operate as usual.

“Regardless, we’re committed to serving,” Henderson said. “We’ll find new innovative ways to serve, and Super Neighborhood is one of them.” 

“I really see beauty and value in volunteerism. I think volunteers can not only see the face of Christ in those we serve but be the face of Christ. And be the hands and feet of who we’re called to be in the community.”

What is unique about Super Neighbor is it doesn’t just have one type of volunteer. The program opens the doors for all kinds of people to serve and be served.

Historically, volunteers are people who have extra time. Henderson explained that it tends to be people who have retired, those winding down their careers, or parents with children in school, but CSS and Super Neighbor bring in an even larger demographic.

“We’re beginning to not only see the folks that have that discretionary time, but we’re seeing people make time available,” Henderson said. “One of our local Catholic high schools started a Catholic Social Services Club, and the kids are making time to volunteer.”

Employers around the diocese are even beginning to offer volunteer time off, including CSS, which gives its staff allotted time to serve the community. “They can take two hours a quarter to volunteer at a place of their choosing,” Henderson said. 

“The culture of giving back is really inspiring to see right now. And we’re using that as an opportunity to be that resource for people.”

The future of ‘Super Neighbor’ 

Although it is a new initiative, three parishes have committed to be a part of the effort. There are already 60 volunteers that have signed up who will begin the program with home visits with seniors in late September.

While prioritizing seniors, CSS is working to expand Super Neighbor to reach even more groups of people. It is working to place volunteers in local schools to be “homework helpers or tutors,” to connect with younger generations.

“My hope is by the Advent season, we have a couple hundred super neighbors signed up, which is really important because the impetus of the launch of this program was to have a hope-filled response to some of the cuts that we’re facing federally.”

Despite “a tightening fiscal environment … it’s an opportunity for the Church to show up,” Henderson said. “The Church is generally the one that shows up first.”

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska in St. Peter's Square, a day before the canonization Mass of St. John Henry Newman, Oct. 12, 2019. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 23, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Lincoln, Nebraska, Bishop James Conley this week said a proposed federal immigrant detention facility in the state must allow Catholic ministers to provide sacramental and pastoral care.

The bishop made the announcement after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announced the repurposing of the state Work Ethic Camp in McCook to house immigrants in the country illegally.

The state website says the camp presently offers “an integrated program that combines evidence-based practices with treatment and educational opportunities” for prisoners. Pillen told local media this week that the facility “would be converted and provide capacity for 300 migrants,” according to the Nebraska Examiner.

In his own statement this week, Conley said the Diocese of Lincoln has been allowed to administer the sacraments and pastoral care to detainees at the camp “for decades.” The diocese has been allowed to say Mass there “on a weekly basis,” he said.

“It will be of utmost importance that any person detained in the federal immigration detention center in McCook can also access regular and ongoing pastoral care,” the bishop said. “This is fundamental to the dignity of every human person, as each of us is called to union with God.”

Conley further urged that the facility should not be used to detain immigrants who are only in the country illegally but rather “those who have committed crimes that endanger public safety.”

“To do otherwise would undermine the facility’s moral legitimacy and erode public trust,” he argued.

Conley said he remains “committed to safeguarding human dignity, which maintains public safety and respects our migrant brothers and sisters.”

The bishop’s letter comes a few weeks after Catholic leaders in Florida were allowed pastoral access to the state’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detainment facility in the Everglades.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski had previously expressed concern that Catholic ministers were not being allowed access to the facility, though the state ultimately allowed Mass to be celebrated there earlier this month.

A view from the entrance of Christ the King Chapel during the solemn blessing Mass on Aug. 17, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Franciscan University of Steubenville

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 23, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the U.S.:

Franciscan University blesses newly renovated Christ the King Chapel

Franciscan University of Steubenville has officially reopened its Christ the King Chapel after 15 months of renovation and expansion as part of the school’s Rebuild My Church Capital Campaign. 

“Franciscan’s chapel has nearly doubled its seating capacity — from 325 to 590 — to better accommodate the growing student population and has added a new altar and tabernacle, new sacred art, and stained-glass windows to beautify the space,” the school said in a press release. 

A Mass of solemn blessing was celebrated on Aug. 17 by Diocese of Steubenville Apostolic Administrator Bishop Edward Lohse to mark the occasion.

Former Black parish in Kentucky to be converted into science building at local college

Christ the King Catholic Church, a historically Black parish in Louisville, Kentucky, will be converted into a science and technology campus for Simmons College of Kentucky after the Archdiocese of Louisville donated it to the school following the church’s closure on March 7, according to local reports.

“Converting the church property into classrooms and labs is expected to cost around $32 million in total,” a university news article stated, noting the project has been in the works for years.

“At Simmons it’s so important for us to meet workforce needs,” said Simmons Chief of Staff Myra Rock. “There’s a need in our community, not just in the West End, not just in the city, but across the commonwealth, for talent in the STEM fields and specifically underrepresented talent.” 

Archbishop Shelton Fabre said the parish closure was due to declining membership and the financial burden of maintaining the historic property.

Oklahoma archdiocese celebrates grand opening of migrant education center

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City on Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of its Holy Angels Education Center for immigrants in an event attended by Archbishop Paul Coakley and other Catholic leaders, according to the Oklahoman. 

The center will operate on the property of the former Holy Angels Parish, which has been closed since February 2023. 

“The Holy Angels Education Center was born out of a deep desire to serve, uplift, and walk alongside our immigrant brothers and sisters as they build new lives in our community through education, language learning, skills development, and cultural integration,” said Larann Wilson, the associate director for the archdiocese’s secretariat for evangelization. “This center will become a beacon of support and opportunity.”

ExxonMobil donates $5,000 to STEM program at Catholic school in Maryland

ExxonMobil Baytown has donated $5,000 to St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School to promote “enhancing science education and empowering the next generation of innovators and problem solvers,” according to a local report.

Located in Beltsville, Maryland, St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School’s mission “is to cooperate with families, who are the primary educators, in developing the whole child in the Catholic Christian faith,” according to its website.

Louisiana Catholic school brings nuns, therapy dogs to help students as classes begin

Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School in Baton Rouge kicked off the school year by inviting nuns and service dogs for the first weeks of classes to help ease anxiety among students, according to a local news report.

“Their presence here has been so transformative,” the school’s pastor and prominent Catholic speaker, Father Joshua Johnson, said in the report.

“And with the sisters came the dogs. When I saw the effect that the dogs were having on our kids, especially our kids who experience anxiety and the peace it brought to those kids, I knew we needed more dogs and more nuns.”