“Only by returning to negotiations can the war be brought to an end,” he said in remarks in Italian following his April 8 general audience in St. Peter's Square.

His comments came just hours after a two-week ceasefire was reached between Iran and the United States, narrowly averting further escalation. The agreement followed a stark warning from U.S. President Donald Trump late April 7, when he threatened to destroy Iran’s critical infrastructure, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers. The ceasefire was announced roughly two hours before the White House's deadline.

The pope’s appeal for dialogue echoed remarks he made the previous evening at Castel Gandolfo, where he urged leaders to return to the negotiating table even before the ceasefire was announced.

“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable,” he told journalists April 7. “There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole.”

Expanding on the broader implications of the conflict, he warned of a global economic crisis marked by “great instability,” which he said risks fueling further hatred, and he called on ordinary citizens to contact their political leaders to advocate for peace.

The pope also invited the faithful to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on April 11 in his general audience address. As flowers lined the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Easter season, he used his main talk to reflect on holiness, emphasizing that it is a calling shared by all believers.

"Every baptized person is called to be holy; to live in God's grace, to practice virtue and to become like Christ," he said in his address to English speakers.

Continuing his series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, he described charity as the foundation of holiness, "the fullness of love towards God and towards one’s neighbor," and said its highest expression is martyrdom, calling it the "supreme witness of faith and charity." He added that the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, sustain believers in this call.

He continued his analysis of the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium," specifically, the important role of consecrated life. "Indeed, signs of the Kingdom of God, already present in the mystery of the Church, are those evangelical counsels that shape every experience of consecrated life: poverty, chastity and obedience.

Poverty demonstrates "complete trust" in God -- free of self-interest, obedience follows Christ's "self-giving" offered to God, and chastity is the "gift of a heart that is whole and pure in love, at the service of God and Church." The pope called these virtues a form of "radical discipleship."

"These three virtues are not rules that shackle freedom, but liberating gifts of the Holy Spirit, through which some of the faithful are wholly consecrated to God," he said.

Closing his main address, the pope said that Christ’s sacrifice makes holiness possible even in suffering.

"By contemplating this event, we know that there is no human experience that God does not redeem," he said. "Even suffering, lived in union with the passion of the Lord, becomes a path of holiness."

 — Josephine Peterson, Catholic News Service

 VATICAN CITY — Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica on Easter, Pope Leo XIV delivered a passionate appeal for peace, declaring that the power of the risen Christ is "entirely nonviolent" and calling on world leaders to lay down their weapons and choose dialogue over domination.

The address came moments after the pope offered Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square with more than 50,000 people present and preceded his solemn blessing, "urbi et orbi," meaning "to the city and to the world," in which the pope offers an indulgence to Catholics around the world who receive the blessing with the proper dispositions.

"In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!" Pope Leo said on April 5.

The pope repeated the word peace 13 times in his address, underlining that the peace the risen Christ offers "is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us."

"Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts!"

In a surprise announcement, Pope Leo revealed he will host a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday, April 11.

At the heart of his message was a meditation on the nature of Christ’s power in the resurrection, which he contrasted with the violence that marks the modern world. 
"The power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent," Pope Leo said.

That strength, the pope added, "is God himself, for he is Love who creates and generates, Love who is faithful to the end and Love who forgives and redeems."

"On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil. To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give," he said.

The pope warned against the "globalization of indifference," a phrase he credited to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who gave his final "urbi et orbi" blessing from the same loggia on Easter Sunday one year ago the day before he died. Pope Leo invoked the words from Pope Francis' Easter blessing last year, in which the late pope lamented "what a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of the world."

"We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent," Pope Leo said. "Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow."

"We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil!" he added.

Quoting a sermon by St. Augustine, Pope Leo said, "If you fear death, love the resurrection!"

Easter, the pope said, "is the victory of life over death, of light over darkness, of love over hatred."

"It is a victory that came at a very high price," he added. "Christ, the Son of the living God (cf. Mt 16:16), had to die – and die on a cross – after suffering an unjust condemnation, being mocked and tortured, and shedding all his blood. As the true immolated Lamb, he took upon himself the sin of the world (cf. Jn 1:29; 1 Pet 1:18–19) and thus freed us all – and with us, all creation – from the dominion of evil."

"Evil is not the last word, because it has been defeated by the Risen One," he said.

After giving the "urbi et orbi" blessing in Latin, Pope Leo offered Easter greetings in 10 different languages, including Chinese and Arabic, with loud cheers as he spoke in English and Spanish.

"May you bring the joy of Jesus, who is risen and present in our midst, to all you meet," he said in English. The pope then joined the joyful crowd in St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile.

 At Easter Mass, Pope Leo proclaims Resurrection conquers 'the power of death'

CHARLOTTE — Easter confronts everyone with one single, unavoidable choice: Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? Choosing “yes” demands an all-in commitment to transform one’s life by the choices we make every day to be His disciples.

That was the challenge Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., presented to congregants at the Easter Vigil April 4 at St. Patrick Cathedral, the first of three Easter Masses he celebrated. The other two were offered Sunday morning at St. Matthew Parish’s south campus in Waxhaw and a Spanish Mass on Sunday afternoon at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte.

The Easter Vigil liturgy began with the blessing of the Paschal fire and lighting of the Paschal candle at the Marian grotto outside the historic cathedral. A sudden rainstorm canceled the traditional candlelight procession into the church, but it did not dampen the spirits of the approximately 300 people who filled the cathedral to hear the ancient words of the Exultet (Easter Proclamation) announcing Christ’s victory over darkness and sin, chanted by the parish’s Deacon Brian McNulty.

During the Mass, the bishop also welcomed seven people into the Church. Although numbers from all the churches were not yet reported, Diocese of Charlotte leaders anticipated that the number would be close to or surpass the 1,743 who joined the Church in 2025. 

In his homily, Bishop Martin said Jesus’s resurrection challenges us with choices.

“Do we believe that Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the Son of God and was brutally beaten and crucified … did He rise from the dead?” he asked.

There are “no halfway responses to this question,” he said. “You need to be all in or all out. There is no other choice.”

“For many of us here tonight, we think we’ve made the choice already. After all, we’re here in church celebrating the Resurrection,” he continued. “But the person who has answered this question honestly about the Resurrection of Jesus finds themselves with more questions and more choices that seem to get harder and harder.

“Jesus’ resurrection seems to continue to knock on the doors of deeper and deeper areas of our lives where we have failed to allow our initial decision to believe in the resurrection of Jesus to take control, to have a real effect.”

He challenged the congregation: “What area of your life remains a tomb waiting for resurrection? What aspect of your life, what relationship have you chosen not to allow the resurrection of Jesus to transform? Where are you still trying to do it on your own and believing that your choices are better?”

People who choose Jesus must also choose not only to believe in Him, but to follow Him – making the choice every day to be His disciples, the bishop said.

Referring to the pastoral vision he presented to the people of the diocese in January, Bishop Martin said, “Easter forces us to make a decision … we can no longer live the rest of our lives as fans who only cheer from the pews, offer prayers for our team and sing songs on Sundays. Rather, Jesus invites us to be players who make the choice daily to carry the cross with Him in every area of our life.” 

“Make that choice tonight, over and over again,” he encouraged the congregation. “Make that choice tomorrow, over and over again. And the next day, and the day after that.

“Those are the only choices that will ever satisfy our deepest longings. Happy Easter.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Troy Hull and Liz Chandler.

The Easter Vigil at St. Patrick Cathedral

Scenes from the Easter across the diocese 

From Easter basket blessings under sunny skies to the lighting of the Paschal fire in the evening, churches across the diocese celebrated the joy of Christ's Resurrection:

— Lisa M. Geraci, MaryAnne Luedtke, Toni Rohrbach, Sergio Lopez and provided

Easter Morning at St. Matthew Church's Waxhaw campus

WAXHAW — At 9:30 a.m. Bishop Michael Martin celebrated Easter Mass for a packed congregation at St. Matthew’s Waxhaw campus. People braved cloudy skies and rain to pack into the church for the liturgy, which featured beautiful hymns and instrumental music from the church choir. 

It was Bishop Martin’s first visit to the Waxhaw campus, an occasion he acknowledged in his greeting and that was marked by a parish family presenting him with a bouquet of flowers. 

Bishop Martin’s homily echoed his message from the Easter Vigil the night before, telling congregants that Easter morning presented them with one crucial thing: a choice. 

A choice, he said, which is just one of countless ones facing people in today’s world. 

“If there’s one thing that has changed dramatically over the years, it would have to be the number of choices that we have,” he said. “If you don’t think that’s true, 50 years ago the average supermarket was 10,000 square feet. Today the average supermarket is 40,000 square feet … how many different kinds of ranch dressing do we need?” 

Easter morning offers Catholics the most important choice of all, he said: “Either you choose to believe that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead or you choose to believe that he didn’t – Jesus requires a decision.” 

Making the choice to believe, he said, offers the faithful a further choice. 

He used a sports metaphor: whether to act as a “player” or a “fan” when it comes to faith. Do you act as a “fan” – showing up on Sunday to worship and displaying the appropriate memorabilia at home – or do you go into the fray as a “player” willing to share the evidence of Christ’s resurrection and the fullness of the faith to all you meet? 

“Let His resurrected power get into the cracks and crevices of your life,” Bishop Martin said. 

His words inspired the youngest in the congregation.

At one point in the homily, Bishop Martin asked the crowd “Who here is a fan of Jesus?”

From the first few rows came a small boy’s voice: “YES!” 

The bishop smiled and responded “Way to go! That’s it … homily over.” 

After the Mass, people filed out to greet the bishop and were met by youth from the parish and someone in a bright Easter Bunny outfit, offering a welcome splash of spring color against the cloudy skies and drizzle. The youth held buckets of elastic bracelets bearing the message of the morning: “He is not here; He is risen! (Luke 24:6)

Chris Day of Waxhaw hurried to help his wife Jenn and five children into the family minivan but stopped to reflect on the Mass.

“I thought it was beautiful,” he said. “I liked the fact of the bishop emphasizing the importance of choosing to believe in Christ’s resurrection and message. It’s important to remember that.” 

--Christina Lee Knauss

"Man can kill the body, but the life of the God of love is eternal life, which transcends death and which no tomb can imprison," the pope said in his homily during the Easter Vigil April 4 in St. Peter's Basilica.

"This, my dear friends, is also our message to the world today," to be shared "through the words of faith and the works of charity," he said.

Just as Mary Magdalene and the other women rushed to tell the disciples that Jesus is risen, "we too should desire to set out tonight from this basilica to bring to all the good news," the pope said. "Having risen with him, through his power, we too can give life to a new world of peace and unity."

The Mass began in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica with the blessing of the fire and of the Easter candle. With most of the lights in the basilica turned off, Pope Leo and the concelebrating cardinals, bishops and priests processed in darkness toward the altar, stopping first to light the pope's candle and then those of the concelebrants and faithful.

During the liturgy, Pope Leo baptized 10 adults. Five were from the Diocese of Rome, two from Great Britain, two from Portugal and one catechumen was from South Korea, according to ANSA, the Italian news agency.

The pope also confirmed the 10 and gave them their first Communion during the Mass.

During the Liturgy of the Word and the readings detailing moments in the history of salvation, Pope Leo said in his homily, "We have seen how God responds to the hardness of sin -- which divides and kills -- with the power of love, which unites and restores life."

The Gospel reading described how the women who had witnessed Jesus' death and burial overcame their grief and fear, and went to his tomb, expecting to find it sealed with a large stone and soldiers standing guard, he said.

"This is what sin is: a heavy barrier that closes us off and separates us from God, seeking to kill his words of hope within us," he said.

However, because of the women's "faith and love," he said, they became the first witnesses of the resurrection and "they saw the power of God’s love, stronger than any force of evil, capable of 'driving out hatred' and 'bringing down the mighty.'"

Throughout history, even when humanity failed to live according to God's plan, he said, "the Lord did not abandon us, but revealed his merciful face to us in an even more surprising way -- through forgiveness."

"Sisters and brothers, even today, there are tombs to be opened, and often the stones sealing them are so heavy and so closely guarded that they seem to be immovable," Pope Leo said.

Some "stones" weigh heavily on the human heart, he said, "such as mistrust, fear, selfishness and resentment; others, stemming from these inner struggles, sever the bonds between us through war, injustice and the isolation of peoples and nations."

"Let us not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by them!" he said. With God's help, many men and women have rolled away those "stones," sometimes at the cost of their lives, "but with good fruits that we still benefit from today."

"They are not unattainable figures, but people like us who, strengthened by the grace of the Risen One, in charity and truth, had the courage to speak" the words of God and to act "with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified," he said.

"Let us be inspired by their example," the pope said, "and on this holy night let us make their commitment our own, so that the Easter gifts of harmony and peace may grow and flourish everywhere and always throughout the world."

 — Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

Torch flames flickered against nearly 2,000-year-old stone walls as crowds packed the streets around the Colosseum, praying alongside the pope through the traditional Via Crucis on the first Good Friday of his pontificate April 3.

The 70-year-old pope carried the cross through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross, holding it directly in front of his face for nearly two hours as he prayed for victims of war, the defense of human dignity, the despairing and the lonely.

It was the first time a pope had carried the cross for every station in more than three decades. According to Vatican archival research communicated by Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni April 3, St. John Paul II was the last pope to do so, carrying the cross from 1980 to 1994.

The meditations for this year's celebration were written by Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, who formerly served as custos of the Holy Land and drew on his experience walking the historical Way of the Cross through the narrow streets of Jerusalem's Old City, describing it in both Jesus' time and today as "a chaotic, distracting and noisy environment, surrounded by people who share our faith in him, but also by those who deride or insult him."

In this way, he said, the Via Crucis parallels how every Christian is called to incarnate faith, hope and charity in the real world "where the believer faces ongoing challenges and must constantly strive to imitate Jesus."

Each station included a Scripture reading, a quotation from St. Francis, a meditation by Father Patton and a short introspective litany prayer, after which the crowd prayed an Our Father in Latin and verses of the traditional "Stabat Mater" prayer.

The inclusion of quotations by St. Francis of Assisi fits with the Catholic Church's special Jubilee Year marking the 800th anniversary of the saint's death. St. Francis' reflection on redemptive suffering was among those cited, "Let all of us, brothers, consider the Good Shepherd who bore the suffering of the cross to save his sheep." Many of the quotations were drawn from St. Francis' "Admonitions," the spiritual writings he left for his brother friars before his death in 1226.

The meditation for the first station, "Jesus is condemned to death," called leaders of every kind to account, with Father Patton writing that every person in authority will answer to God in the Last Judgment for how they exercise power, including "the power to judge; the power to start or end a war; the power to instill violence or peace; the power to fuel the desire for revenge or for reconciliation; the power to use the economy to oppress people or to liberate them from misery."

The 10th station, "Jesus is stripped of his garments," drew a sharp connection between Christ's humiliation and contemporary violations of human dignity. The meditations cited authoritarian regimes that force prisoners to remain half-naked in bare cells, torturers who tear away not only clothing but skin and flesh, sexual abusers who reduce victims to objects and an entertainment industry that "exploits nudity for the sake of profit."

The meditation concluded with a call to conversion, "Remind us, Lord, that each time we fail to recognize the dignity of others, our own dignity is diminished."

The 11th station, "Jesus is nailed to the cross," offered a meditation on the nature of true power in the eyes of God. "You show that true power is not that of those who use force and violence to impose themselves, but that of those who are capable of taking upon themselves the evil of humanity -- ours, mine -- and destroying it with the power of love that is manifest in forgiveness," it said. "You are King and you reign from the cross: you do not resort to the supposed power of armies, but to the apparent powerlessness of love."

The litany prayers that followed each meditation gave voice to a wide range of human suffering. At the eighth station, "Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem," the crowd prayed to "weep over the devastation of war" and "for massacres and genocides." At the ninth station, the congregation asked to be made instruments of Christ "to lift up the most frail" and "to lift up those we judge as having 'brought it upon themselves.'"

Throughout the evening, prayers were offered for political prisoners, for people searching for the ultimate meaning of life, for those suffering from addiction, for children whose childhoods have been stolen, for victims of trafficking, for the poor stripped of their dignity, for migrants and refugees, for the lonely, for mothers who have lost children and for those who die alone.

When asked earlier in the week about his decision to carry the cross for all 14 stations, Pope Leo told reporters in Castel Gandolfo that he saw it as a sign the world needed.

"I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents, a spiritual leader today in the world, for this voice that everyone wants to hear to say that Christ still suffers, and I carry all these sufferings too in my prayer," the pope said.

Pope Leo extended an invitation to all people, regardless of faith. "I would like to invite all people of goodwill, all people of faith, all Christians to walk together, to walk with Christ who suffered for us to give salvation, life, and to seek how we may also be bearers of peace and not of hatred," he added.

The Colosseum has long held a special place in the Church's commemoration of Christ's passion. In 1756, Pope Benedict XIV dedicated it to the memory of the passion of Christ and the early Christian martyrs, and the Stations of the Cross were regularly observed there for roughly a century. St. John XXIII later restored the tradition to the Colosseum, with St. Paul VI making it a regular fixture of the pope's Good Friday traditions.

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

CHARLOTTE — Bishop Michael Martin, Father Peter Ascik, rector and pastor of St. Patrick Cathedral, Father Miguel Sanchez and Deacons Brian McNulty and Paul Bruck silently processed into St. Patrick Cathedral Friday afternoon and prostrated themselves before the empty tabernacle and bare altar to begin the Good Friday service. 

The liturgy – the only day of the year on which Mass is not celebrated – started at 3 p.m., which is traditionally noted as the time of Jesus' death. Outside the cathedral doors, just as they did 2,000 years, passersby barely noticed, the bishop said.

Inside the doors, however, the reenactment of the Passion of the Christ in John’s Gospel reading brought the congregation of more than 250 back to the foot of the Cross leading into Bishop Martin’s homily. 

He urged listeners not to fast forward to Easter Sunday before embracing the meaning of Good Friday. 

“Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Son of God, perfect holiness, goodness, truth, and beauty, walked through the streets of Jerusalem, bloody and beaten, carrying a massively heavy cross, and most of the people who saw Him just went about their business,” the bishop said.

They went on with their lives, he said, “not knowing that all of their difficulties, all of their weaknesses, every single sin of theirs, every sin that was ever committed, and every sin that would ever be committed were being carried by that Man and that Cross, on that road. For them, and for us… Our lives could be forever changed, and yet, most of the world doesn’t even take notice.”

Deacon McNulty chanted the 10 Solemn Intercessions of the Good Friday liturgy as the congregation knelt, uniting with millions around the world in prayer. 

The unveiled cross then returned to its rightful place as first the bishop, and then the congregation came forward to venerate the cross with silent kisses, touches and genuflections. In his homily, the bishop had guided people to acknowledge their own faults as they did so.

“Confront the hopelessness,” he said. “We acknowledge Him, bruised and broken for ancestors that didn’t and future generations who won’t.”

“As we venerate the Cross, we accept our own cross, too, whatever you and I carry, whatever that may be, as hard as it is, as challenging as it may be, as hopeless as it may be. Leave it right at the cross here,” he said.

Many in the congregation felt a renewed sense of hope receiving the Eucharist reserved from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper the night prior, and as the clergy silently processed down the cathedral steps, many remained kneeling at the Cross, which was left on the altar with God’s people.

Parishioners, like young couple Riley Waldthausen and Henry Smith, found the service a heavy reminder of the emotional and physical pain Jesus endured at the hands of His own people. 

“Today is different,” Smith said. “In my own life, it calls for deep reflection of my own sins, and walking those steps with Him and experiencing it all firsthand is very meaningful to me.” 

His fiancée, Riley, could not hide her tears. “Every Triduum moves me because we are walking the steps with Him,” she said. “What He is doing right now is opening up a way for us to get to heaven. We can’t ever repay that, and He doesn’t even ask us to.”

Bishop Martin began his homily with an anecdote about his father, who made it a point to leave work and come home by 12:45 p.m. every Good Friday, something parishioner Dave Chattergon related to since he does the same thing.

As he said, “Our life is all about Christ, and this is the most important day of our lives.”

There are three opportunities to celebrate the joy of Easter with Bishop Martin. He will celebrate the Easter Vigil at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Patrick Cathedral. He will begin Easter Sunday at 9:30 a.m. at the Waxhaw Campus of St. Matthew Church and then celebrate Mass in Spanish at 2:00 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte.

— Lisa M. Geraci. Photos by Troy C. Hall, Amelia Kudela, Sergio Lopez, MaryAnn Luedtke and provided 

Living Stations in Asheboro 

In one of the most dramatic displays of the Live Stations of the Cross, St. Joseph Church brings the Passion of Christ to life at Asheboro Regional Airport—a powerful tradition they have faithfully carried on for over 13 years.

— Brian Segovia

Cross Walk at St. Joseph College Seminary

About 40 men and boys started Good Friday at 7 a.m. at St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly. They joined Father Matthew Kauth, seminary rector, in the annual tradition of following Jesus on the Way of the Cross. The men carry “crosses” of all weights and sizes around the seminary grounds. This year, they had their largest turnout to date and had to secure six additional logs for the crowd.

— Edward Chaplinsky Jr.

Good Friday across the Diocese of Charlotte 

CHARLOTTE — El obispo Michael Martin, el padre Peter Ascik, rector y párroco de la Catedral de San Patricio, el padre Miguel Sánchez y los diáconos Brian McNulty y Paul Bruck procesaron en silencio hacia la Catedral de San Patricio el viernes por la tarde y se postraron ante el sagrario vacío y el altar desnudo para comenzar el servicio del Viernes Santo.

La liturgia —el único día del año en que no se celebra la Misa— comenzó a las 3 p.m., hora que tradicionalmente se señala como el momento de la muerte de Jesús. Fuera de las puertas de la catedral, tal como ocurrió hace 2,000 años, los transeúntes apenas se dieron cuenta, dijo el obispo.

Sin embargo, dentro del templo, la recreación de la Pasión de Cristo en la lectura del Evangelio de Juan llevó a la congregación de más de 250 personas de regreso al pie de la Cruz, dando paso a la homilía del obispo Martin.

Instó a los fieles a no adelantarse al Domingo de Pascua sin antes abrazar el significado del Viernes Santo.

“Jesucristo, el Rey de reyes, el Señor de señores, el Hijo de Dios, perfecta santidad, bondad, verdad y belleza, caminó por las calles de Jerusalén, ensangrentado y golpeado, cargando una cruz inmensamente pesada, y la mayoría de las personas que lo vieron simplemente siguieron con sus asuntos”, dijo el obispo.

Siguieron con sus vidas, añadió, “sin saber que todas sus dificultades, todas sus debilidades, cada uno de sus pecados, cada pecado que alguna vez se cometió y cada pecado que se cometería estaban siendo cargados por ese Hombre y esa Cruz, en ese camino. Por ellos, y por nosotros… Nuestras vidas podrían cambiar para siempre, y aun así, la mayor parte del mundo ni siquiera lo nota.”

El diácono McNulty entonó las 10 solemnes intenciones de la liturgia del Viernes Santo mientras la congregación se arrodillaba, uniéndose a millones de personas en todo el mundo en oración.

Luego, la cruz descubierta volvió a su lugar, y primero el obispo y después la congregación se acercaron para venerarla con besos silenciosos, toques y genuflexiones. En su homilía, el obispo había guiado a los fieles a reconocer sus propias faltas al hacerlo.

“Enfrenten la desesperanza”, dijo. “Lo reconocemos a Él, herido y quebrantado por los antepasados que no lo hicieron y por las generaciones futuras que no lo harán.”

“Al venerar la Cruz, también aceptamos nuestra propia cruz, aquello que cada uno de nosotros carga, sea lo que sea, por difícil que sea, por desafiante que pueda ser, por desesperanzador que parezca. Déjenlo aquí mismo, al pie de la cruz”, dijo.

Muchos en la congregación sintieron una renovada esperanza al recibir la Eucaristía reservada de la Misa de la Cena del Señor de la noche anterior, y mientras el clero se retiraba en silencio por los escalones de la catedral, muchos permanecieron de rodillas ante la Cruz, que quedó en el altar con el pueblo de Dios.

Feligreses, como la joven pareja Riley Waldthausen y Henry Smith, encontraron en el servicio un fuerte recordatorio del dolor emocional y físico que Jesús soportó a manos de su propio pueblo.

“Hoy es diferente”, dijo Smith. “En mi propia vida, me invita a una profunda reflexión sobre mis pecados, y recorrer esos pasos con Él y experimentarlo todo de primera mano es muy significativo para mí.”

Su prometida, Riley, no pudo contener las lágrimas. “Cada Triduo me conmueve porque estamos recorriendo los pasos con Él”, dijo. “Lo que Él está haciendo ahora es abrir un camino para que lleguemos al cielo. Nunca podremos pagar eso, y ni siquiera nos lo pide.”

El obispo Martin comenzó su homilía con una anécdota sobre su padre, quien hacía todo lo posible por salir del trabajo y llegar a casa a las 12:45 p.m. cada Viernes Santo, algo con lo que el feligrés Dave Chattergon se identificó, ya que hace lo mismo.

Como dijo: “Nuestra vida gira en torno a Cristo, y este es el día más importante de nuestras vidas.”

Hay tres oportunidades para celebrar la alegría de la Pascua con el obispo Martin. Celebrará la Vigilia Pascual a las 8:30 p.m. el sábado en la Catedral de San Patricio. Comenzará el Domingo de Pascua a las 9:30 a.m. en el campus de Waxhaw de la Iglesia St. Matthew y luego celebrará la Misa en español a las 2:00 p.m. en la Iglesia St. Vincent de Paul en Charlotte.

— Lisa M. Geraci. Photos by Troy C. Hall, Amelia Kudela, MaryAnn Luedtke and provided 

En una de las representaciones más impactantes del Vía Crucis en vivo, la Iglesia Católica San José da vida a la Pasión de Cristo en el Aeropuerto Regional de Asheboro, una poderosa tradición que han mantenido fielmente durante más de 13 años.

— Brian Segovia

Aproximadamente 40 hombres y niños comenzaron el Viernes Santo a las 7 a.m. en el Seminario Universitario San José en Mount Holly. Se unieron al padre Matthew Kauth, rector del seminario, en la tradición anual de seguir a Jesús en el Vía Crucis. Los hombres cargaron “cruces” de todos los pesos y tamaños por los terrenos del seminario. Este año tuvieron la mayor participación hasta la fecha y tuvieron que conseguir seis troncos adicionales para la multitud.

— Edward Chaplinsky Jr.

Viernes Santo en toda la Diócesis de Charlotte

Delivering the homily during the solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion ahead of the evening Via Crucis, Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, the papal preacher, urged the faithful not to give into violence, but rather find the "discreet and stubborn song that invites (us) to love."

"We are all constantly tempted to use a little bit of aggressiveness, a little bit of violence, thinking that without these means things will never be resolved," he said April 3 in St. Peter's Basilica. "The servant of the Lord cannot give in to this instinct."

The rite began with Pope Leo XIV's silent procession down the central nave. Dressed in red vestments, symbolizing the blood of Christ’s Passion, he somberly lay prostrate before the altar, a sign of adoration and penance. The readings recounted Christ's passion and death on the cross.

At the moment of the veneration of the cross, the pope removed his chasuble and shoes and knelt before the crucifix in a gesture of humility. Clergy followed one by one, venerating the cross on bended knee and a kiss.

Father Pasolini’s homily echoed Pope Leo's repeated calls for an end to war, warning that "in a time like ours, still so lacerated by hatred and violence, where even the name of God is invoked to justify wars and decisions of death…."

He said this evil continues "to circulate because it always finds someone willing to return it and multiply it."

The homily emphasized that resisting this evil of violence is neither easy nor instinctive. Faced with injustice, the natural human reaction is to retaliate or "even the scores." Yet Jesus refused that instinct entirely.

"He accepts everything without returning violence," Father Pasolini said. 

Jesus "broke this chain," not through superior force, but by embracing suffering and responding with forgiveness, silence and compassion, the papal preacher said.

Father Pasolini pointed to what he called a "silent line of people," ordinary men and women who, often unnoticed, choose to resist hatred in their daily lives.

"They get up every day and try to make their life something that is not only for them, but also for others," he said. "They carry burdens that they have not chosen, they receive wounds without becoming bitter, they don't stop looking for the good, even when it seems useless."

— Catholic News Service

“The very beginning of these sacred three days challenges all of us to know better why it is that we do what we do,” said Bishop Martin, “and to face the unfortunate truth that many of even some of our best intentions, even some of our best desires, have been twisted by a broken world.”

Holy Thursday is the first day of the Triduum, the three holiest days of the Church’s liturgical year that commemorate Jesus’ Passion, death and resurrection. Holy Thursday recalls Jesus’ celebration of the Last Supper with His disciples, when He institutes the Eucharist and the priesthood, before He is betrayed and arrested. Good Friday commemorates His Passion and death on a cross. The Triduum concludes with the triumphant liturgy of the Easter Vigil on Saturday night, when Jesus conquers death and sin through His Resurrection.

During the Holy Thursday Mass at St. Peter’s, Bishop Martin asked the congregation to delve deeper into the meaning of Lent: “Why are you here? What motivates us? What is at the heart of our deepest longing?”

The answer, Bishop Martin said, and what God wants for us and from us is at the heart of Holy Thursday – communion.

“We see the Communion that Jesus institutes tonight – His sacred Body and Blood – as the greatest gift of communion, that He could be in communion with us for all eternity through what we will celebrate on this altar,” he said. “Why did He create us? So we could be in communion with Him – and not just in communion with Him, so we could be in communion with one another.”

One way to do so, he told the congregation, is to be more focused on others than on themselves.

He recalled that just a few weeks before, he had been at St. Peter’s to film the announcement of his pastoral vision for the Diocese of Charlotte – “Everyone so loves Jesus, that we share Him with others.”

That call to become missionary disciples and be so transformed by God that we share the Gospel with others was vividly demonstrated by Jesus on Holy Thursday, Bishop Martin said. That moment was recalled as, after his homily, he took part in the rite of the washing of the feet, also called the mandatum, which is done in remembrance of Christ washing the feet of His disciples at the Last Supper.

During the rite, Bishop Martin knelt and washed the feet of four people – two men and two women – followed by others from the congregation.

As Jesuit Father Tim Stephens, pastor, explained, “The first wave of folks were volunteers from among parishioners who have been liturgical ministers throughout the year.” After that, anyone in the congregation was invited to come up to the sanctuary to participate. In all, more than 60 people – from young children holding their parents’ hands to an elderly man leaning on his cane to walk up the aisle – came forward for the special moment.

At the conclusion of Mass, Bishop Martin and the altar party processed with the Blessed Sacrament around the church to an altar of repose at the side of the sanctuary. The lights were dimmed, and parishioners knelt in silent adoration – a solemn time meant to commemorate Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest.

— Trish Stukbauer. Photos by Troy C. Hull, Lisa M. Geraci, Brian Segovia, Liz Chandler, Amber Mellon, MaryAnn Luedtke, John Bunyea / Blue Ridge Photo and provided

Across the diocese

As Catholics prepare for Easter on Holy Thursday, Pope Leo also called on the faithful in his homily to overcome fear and a sense of powerlessness in responding to the world’s crises. 

"In this dark hour of history, it has pleased God to send us to spread the fragrance of Christ where the stench of death reigns," he said April 2 at St. Peter's Basilica during Mass. "Let us renew our 'yes' to this mission that calls for unity and brings peace."

While grounding his remarks in the teaching of his predecessors, saints and clergy, the pope in this homily placed particular emphasis on the Church’s mission through his own eyes as a missionary. 

The first step of accepting the Christian mission, he said, is to risk leaving behind what is familiar and certain, in order to venture into something new.

"Every mission begins with that kind of self-emptying in which everything is reborn," he said. 

It is through this self-emptying that Christians encounter the love of Christ, the pope said. 

At the heart of his first Holy Thursday homily as pope, he reflected on the nature of Christian love, saying it is rooted not in power, but in self-giving.

"Jesus' journey reveals to us that the willingness to lose oneself, to empty oneself, is not an end in itself, but a condition for encounter and intimacy," Pope Leo said. "Love is true only when it is unguarded."

He said true peace is not found in remaining comfortable, but in embracing the risk and detachment that mission requires. Calling it a "fundamental secret of mission," the pope said "everything is restored and multiplied if it is first let go, without fear,” a process repeated “in every new beginning, in every new sending forth."

God calls upon the faithful to take risks, so "no place becomes a prison, no identity a hiding place," he said. Every mission requires reconciliation with the past, with the "gifts and limitations of the upbringing we have received," the pope said.

Once the faithful are able to detach from what is familiar and comfortable, Pope Leo said they must then "encounter" the other through selfless service and the sharing of life. This detachment, he said, creates the conditions for authentic encounter rather than control.

He emphasized that it is a priority that "neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power."

He pointed to the example of missionaries, a role he held as an Augustinian in Peru, whose work must be rooted in service, dialogue and respect.

"The great missionaries bear witnesses to quiet, unobtrusive approaches, whose method is the sharing of life, selfless service, the renunciation of any calculated strategy, dialogue and respect," Pope Leo said.

Rather than seeking to "reconquer" increasingly secular societies, the pope said Catholics must approach as guests, not to impose, but to listen and accompany.

The Church's mission, the pope said, is guided by the Holy Spirit, and the faithful must not try to control it but instead follow its lead, entering each culture with humility and "respecting the mystery that every person and every community carries within them."

In his third point, the pope explained that this mission is not a "heroic adventure" reserved only for a few, but rather the "living witness of a Body with many members," and every mission includes rejection and suffering. 

He recalled that the people of Nazareth were filled with rage when they heard Jesus' words and drove him out of the town. Every Christian must "pass through" a trial just as Jesus did, the pope said.

"The cross is part of the mission: the sending becomes more bitter and frightening, but also more freeing and transformative," he said.

Throughout life, Pope Leo said the faithful may be called to experience many "resurrections," as they immerse themselves in service.

Throughout life, Pope Leo said the faithful may be called to experience many "resurrections," as they immerse themselves in service. He pointed to the hope of many witnesses, one of whom "is particularly dear to me."

That witness is St. Óscar Romero of San Salvador, El Salvador, who wrote a month before his assassination that Jesus helped martyrs and if the need arose, "I entrust my last breath to him."

"But, more than the final moment of life, what matters is to give him one’s whole life and to live for him," he wrote. 

He continued, saying that "despite my sins, I have placed my trust in him and I shall not be disheartened." St. Romero, remembered as a martyr for defending the poor and speaking out against injustice, was canonized by Pope Francis in 2018.

A successful mission is not about the results, but rather about the disciple's faithfulness and hope in God. Jesus embarked on a journey "in a world torn apart by the powers that ravage it," Pope Leo said.

"Within it arises a new people, not of victims, but of witnesses," he said.

Pope Leo is expected to wash the feet of 12 priests and celebrate Mass Thursday evening, commemorating Jesus' institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood.

— Josephine Peterson, Catholic News Service

"As true God and true man, Christ offers us the example of self-giving, service and love. We need his example to learn how to love, not because we are incapable of it, but precisely to teach ourselves and one another what true love is," Pope Leo said in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, where he celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper on April 2.

"Learning to act like Jesus, the living sign that God has placed within the history of the world, is the work of a lifetime," he said.

Thousands of people packed the Lateran basilica for the Mass, the first time a pope has celebrated the Holy Thursday Mass at Rome's cathedral in over a decade.

In his homily, the pope reflected on the Gospel of John's account of the Last Supper, in which Jesus washed his disciples' feet, encouraging the faithful to enter into the mystery of Christ's humility and love as the Easter Triduum begins.

"As humanity is brought to its knees by so many acts of brutality, let us too kneel down as brothers and sisters alongside the oppressed. In this way, we seek to follow the Lord's example," Pope Leo said.

"By renewing the Lord's gestures and words this very evening, we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist and of Holy Orders. The intrinsic bond between these two sacraments reveals the perfect self-gift of Jesus, the High Priest and living, eternal Eucharist," he added.

A few minutes later, the pope himself personally washed the feet of 12 priests in imitation of Christ washing the feet of the Apostles. Eleven of the young priests were ordained last year by Pope Leo himself. The twelfth, Father Renzo Chiesa, serves as spiritual director of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary. The pope bent down to kiss each one's feet as he washed them.

"The washing of the feet is a gesture that encapsulates the revelation of God: an exemplary sign of the Word made flesh, his unmistakable memorial," Pope Leo said. "By taking on the condition of a servant, the Son reveals the Father's glory, overturning the worldly standards that so often distort our conscience."

The Mass in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran on Holy Thursday restores the traditional practice of popes, in which the Holy Father, in his role as Bishop of Rome, marks the start of the Sacred Triduum at his diocesan cathedral.

The last time a pope washed the feet of priests at the Lateran was in 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI performed the rite with 12 priests of the Diocese of Rome.

During Pope Francis' pontificate, the late pope opted to celebrate Holy Thursday in Rome-area prisons, where he offered Mass and washed the feet of prisoners.

Pope Leo quoted both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis in his homily. Citing Pope Benedict's 2008 Holy Thursday homily, he said, "Like Peter, who at first resisted Jesus' initiative, we too must 'learn repeatedly that God's greatness is different from our idea of greatness… because we systematically desire a God of success and not of the Passion.'"

The Lateran basilica, the oldest public church in Rome and the seat of the Bishop of Rome, is also the final resting place of Pope Leo XIII, the most recent pope to bear the name Leo before the current pope.

At the conclusion of the Holy Thursday evening liturgy, the pope carried the Blessed Sacrament in procession to the chapel of repose as the congregation sang the traditional Eucharistic hymn "Pange, Lingua." The pope then knelt in prayer and the basilica fell completely silent.

"This evening's solemn liturgy marks our entry into the Holy Triduum of the Lord's Passion, Death and Resurrection. We cross this threshold not as mere spectators, nor out of habit, but as those personally invited by Jesus himself as guests at the Supper in which bread and wine become for us the sacrament of salvation," Pope Leo said.

As night fell across the Eternal City, Rome's historic churches opened their doors for prayer late into the night with elaborately decorated altars of repose adorned with flowers and candles. Catholics filled the streets of the city's historic center, moving from church to church to pray in Adoration at the altars of repose.

"May this evening's Eucharistic adoration, in every parish and community, be a time to contemplate Jesus' gesture, kneeling as he did, and to ask for the strength to imitate his service with the same love," the pope said.

Earlier Thursday, Pope Leo presided over the Chrism Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, where he blessed the holy oils used in sacraments throughout the year, with more than 800 priests in attendance.

The pope will preside over all remaining liturgies of the Paschal Triduum at St. Peter's Basilica, including the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday and the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. On Good Friday night, he will lead the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum. On Easter Sunday, he will offer Mass in St. Peter's Square before delivering the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" blessing to the city and the world.

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

HUNTERSVILLE — A long line of priests filed two-by-two into St. Mark Church in Huntersville Tuesday afternoon as the hymn “To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King” was sung by the parish choir. More than 100 priests from across the Diocese of Charlotte were together to renew the promises of their priesthood at the annual Chrism Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv.

Held each year at the beginning of Holy Week, this special liturgy is when oils used in the Church’s sacred rituals and sacraments are blessed and priests renew their promises and commitment to their ministry.

The priests were joined by more than 300 people who came to pray and worship with the men who serve them year-round and help bring them closer to Christ.

Bishop Martin’s homily drew from themes in the day’s readings from Isaiah, Revelation and Luke’s Gospel centered around the concept of the “suffering servant” – someone who endures pain, exhaustion and sometimes even mockery but still continues to do the work of the Lord. He also spoke about the special concept of being anointed, reflecting both on the holy oils used in anointing and the role that priests play in the life of the Church.

He told a story from early in his priesthood when as principal of a Catholic high school in Baltimore, he had the sad duty of accompanying the police to inform a family that their son, a sophomore, was killed in a car accident. Although the student’s mother was overcome with grief, his father requested that they all kneel on the living room floor to pray. That father, the bishop said, embodied the “suffering servant.”

“This man in the greatest agony of his life brought the comfort and consolation of prayer to that moment that needed it so much,” he said, comparing that moment to the role priests play in bringing solace to their parishioners, at times when they are encountering their own challenges.

Heading into the days leading up to the joy of Easter, he told his brother priests, “we must reflect upon our status as suffering servants and ask (God) the question many of us have been asking for years: ‘Why did you choose me? Why did you anoint me?’”

“The mystery of being anointed, the mystery of being chosen, is not something that we will ever have the certainty of understanding in this life,” he said, noting that God takes the goodness and the brokenness of all those who He calls and uses both for the greater good. “If He can take our faults, if He can take our needs and anoint them, the same can be true of the people of God. He will use our brokenness for His glory.”

He encouraged the clergy to reach beyond the walls of their churches in their pastoral ministry, saying the reason they have been anointed is “for the lowly, the broken, the captives, the prisoners and those who mourn. It is the brokenness of the world for which we have been anointed as His priests.”

After the homily, the priests renewed their priestly promises to the Church and the congregation joined in prayer for them. Bishop Martin then blessed the holy oils which are used in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination of priests and anointing of the sick, as well as the consecration of churches and altars.

At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Martin thanked the priests for their ministry and urged the people in the pews to support them, adding,“Never take them for granted. I certainly don’t.”

“These are men who have committed their lives to service,” he said. “They are flesh and blood. They have needs and they are also wounded healers – suffering servants who are blessed by the faithful when they reach out with a caring word.”

After the Mass, the priests received bottles of the oils to take back to their churches for use during the coming year.

Patricia Hayes, who attends St. Luke Church in Mint Hill, came to the Chrism Mass for the first time.

“I thought it was beautiful – a wonderful chance for us to pray for the men who do so much for us,” she said. “We are so fortunate to have these priests, and especially to have so many young men entering the priesthood. We are very blessed here.”

— Christina Lee Knauss. Photos by Troy C. Hull, Aidan Creter and Amy Burger.

Ames is an Australian Catholic layman whose life shifted at 40 from alcoholism and violence to daily Mass and Communion when he felt a “divine hug” from Jesus.

“I was filled completely with His love, as He reached down to my human heart and placed it inside His divine heart. I was in complete ecstasy. I felt like I was going to explode. I was filled with so much joy and so much happiness,” Ames recalled of the vision that changed the course of his life. “I never wanted to lose this feeling again. The love was so powerful, beyond anything you can imagine.” 

That moment was so impactful that Ames now travels the world, sharing his story and message of Christ’s love, and blessing attendees with his healing gift from God. 

Each healing service started and ended with Eucharistic Adoration, with priests celebrating Mass and hearing confessions before Ames’ testimony and blessing.

Father Bernard Oleru, the pastor of St. Philip Church and a priest from the order of the Missionary Society of St. Paul in Nigeria, referenced the gift of God’s healing presence in the Eucharist, encouraging his flock to speak to the Lord face-to-face, as he celebrated Mass for the Solemnity of the Annunciation.

“This day was a day of perfect healing,” Father Oleru said. “The world was healed on this day. As we gather today for Mass, let’s remember the greatest healing that is given to us is the presence of God.”

In the pews, many came hoping for a miracle. Some arrived with obvious ailments – a blind man with a walking stick, a woman with a knee brace and a teenager with scoliosis. Others needs were more subtle – the couple experiencing difficulty conceiving, the father whose children left the Church, a child unable to heal from the loss of her mother.

No one walked away from their wheelchair or left their hearing aids on the altar. Yet, by the end of the service, God’s presence was felt by the 600 attendees, with many experiencing what they already knew and what Ames and Father Oleru assured them of: God was in them, around them and in front of them all the time. 

During Ames’ testimony, he encouraged the faithful to continue to seek miracles even if they felt nothing during the blessing. Attending daily Mass, dying to oneself through sacrifice, regularly celebrating the sacraments of confession and Holy Communion, and praying the rosary every day, he said, will heal.

In Statesville, some attendees were awed during the blessing when their legs seemingly slipped away from them and they floated backwards, “resting in the Lord.”

Nalawit Tekie drove from Charlotte with her family to attend the healing service with high hopes.

“I lost my vision about two years ago, and I am waiting for a miracle. I came to find healing. I don’t even know who he was,” Tekie explained, after she happened upon an advertisement for the service. “All I was told was that God works through him, and that is what brought us here. Even when he was talking, I saw a bright light shining over him. I felt a connection to him, like God was reaching through him.”

As the night unfolded, Tekie, like so many others, was struck by the unexpected mystical experience that awaited her. Ames touched her forehead, and she felt the overwhelming presence of the Lord, falling backwards gently to be caught by volunteers.

She wept tears of joy. She felt a cold breeze as her body noticeably still shook even as family members felt a warmth emanating from her when they hugged her.

“I was not expecting it. It just feels like I was not standing, lying down, or sitting. It was like I was floating on something,” she cried. “I felt this blowing wind that felt like snow blew at me. I didn’t know where I was. All I knew is there was this beautiful kind of light that had a blue tint to it. Even though I cannot explain it, I know God and the Holy Spirit went through me.”

Long before Ames set foot on the podium, the healing had already begun, Father Oleru said during the Mass.

“God knows your pains more than you understand them. He knows your sicknesses more than you know. That God you cry to at night, that you cry to during the day, that God is here for you,” Father Oleru said. “Today as you sit…view yourself as sitting face-to-face with the love of Christ…and I tell you before you leave these doors you will have a new story to tell, a new song to sing.”

For Tekie and her family, Father Oleru’s words rang true, and for her, her new story just started.

“I can’t say what part of me is healed, but I’m different and this was amazing. God is going to do something through me. I can just feel it,” she smiled. “I can’t wait to see what miracle is going to happen. This is just the start.”

 — Lisa M. Geraci , photos by Troy C. Hull

CHARLOTTE —  Palm Sunday’s mix of joy and suffering is an “odd juxtaposition” that reflects the reality of people’s lives – and an invitation to let God into every part of them, Bishop Michael Martin said.

Bishop Martin greeted a standing-room-only crowd at St. Patrick Cathedral March 29 as the Church began Holy Week, which commemorates the final days of Jesus’ life leading to His passion, death and resurrection at Easter.

The liturgy opened with the blessing of palm branches, and the Passion according to St. Matthew (Mt 26:14-27:66) was proclaimed – recounting both the joy of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and, just days later, His arrest, torture and death on a cross.

In his homily, Bishop Martin reflected on what he called these “two dynamics that don't seem to go very well together.”

“On the one hand, we're called with our palms to praise our God; on the other, we're screaming to crucify Him,” he said. “It is one of the great conflicts in the liturgical life of the Church – that the same voices who early on in the proclamation of today's Gospel can be praising Jesus, in just a later moment are calling for His death.”

People’s lives, too, are marked by a similar mix of joy and pain, Bishop Martin preached.

“In many ways, we come here today with a joy that we know that Jesus wants to transform our lives. We come here today believing in a God that loves us, a God that has forgiven us, a God that wants great things for us – and yet we also recognize that in our own lives there is discord, that we have not placed everything on the table for Jesus to transform.

“As much as we want Him to save us, as much as we want Him to transform our lives, there are still parts of our lives that we hold on to and we're afraid – or we’re ashamed, or maybe even sometimes we’ve just gotten a little lazy,” he said.

“We don’t even think about how Christ could want to be a part of that dynamic of our lives, to raise it up, to transform it,” he said. “We still wallow in sin … seeing God's saving work and yet realizing our own brokenness.”

Holy Week is an opportunity to confront that reality and deepen one’s faith, Bishop Martin said.

“It will be a little awkward, and it will be a little frustrating, and it may not taste right in our mouths,” he said, “but it is at the heart of the Christian journey that we have been celebrating for almost 40 days during this Lent, and gets even more intensified during Holy Week.”

‘Do not be afraid to go on that journey. Do not be afraid to look at the odd, bad-tasting juxtaposition of what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life,” he encouraged people.

God wants to be part of every aspect of our lives, sanctifying both joyful moments and painful ones, Bishop Martin said, so ask for His grace “to make our lives whole, to make our lives holy, during this Holy Week and for all time.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Edward Chaplinsky Jr. and Liz Chandler 

 

—  Photos by Lisa M. Geraci, Brian Segovia, Amy Burger,Toni Rohrbach,Rachel Ward and provided

"Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war," the pope said in St. Peter's Square March 29.

"He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: 'Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood' (Is 1:15)."

Pope Leo repeated the phrase "King of Peace" seven times throughout his homily, weaving it through different moments of the Passion of Christ, pointing to Jesus as a victim of unjust violence who never took up arms in his own defense.

"Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters," Pope Leo said.

He emphasized that Jesus, in allowing himself to be nailed to the cross embraced "every cross borne in every time and place throughout human history."

"As we set our gaze upon him who was crucified for us, we can see a crucified humanity. In his wounds, we see the hurts of so many women and men today," the pope said.

"In his last cry to the Father, we hear the weeping of those who are crushed, who have no hope, who are sick and who are alone. Above all, we hear the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war."

Pope Leo's first Holy Week began under sunny skies with a solemn Palm Sunday procession through St. Peter's Square, where cardinals, bishops and lay people carried large palm branches. The congregation held olive branches, as is customary in Italy.

The Passion narrative from the Gospel of Matthew was solemnly chanted during the Mass; at the moment of Jesus' death, the square fell silent as tens of thousands of people, including the pope, knelt down in prayer.

At the end of the Mass, Pope Leo led the crowd in the Angelus prayer in Latin and made an impassioned appeal for Christians in the Holy Land, where the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has had to cancel or postpone key Holy Week liturgies, including Palm Sunday due to wartime restrictions.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and Father Francesco Ielpo, the custos of the Holy Land, were prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher by Israeli police on Palm Sunday, the Latin patriarchate said March 29.

"At the beginning of Holy Week, our prayers are more than ever with the Christians of the Middle East, who are suffering the consequences of a brutal conflict and, in many cases, are unable to observe fully the liturgies of these holy days," Pope Leo said at the Angelus.

"Just as the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord's Passion, we cannot forget those who today are truly sharing in his suffering," he said, adding "their ordeal challenges all our consciences."

The pope also prayed for migrants who have died at sea, particularly those who perished recently off the coast of Crete.

In his homily, Pope Leo quoted Servant of God Antonio "Tonino" Bello, an Italian bishop and vocal critic of the Gulf War who died of cancer in 1993 and is on the path to sainthood.

"'Holy Mary, woman of the third day, grant us the certainty that, in spite of all, death will no longer hold sway over us; that the injustices of peoples are numbered; that the flashes of war are fading into the twilight; that the sufferings of the poor are breathing their last. And grant, finally, that the tears of all the victims of violence and pain will soon be dried up like frost beneath the spring sun,'" the pope said, quoting Bello, whom he referred to by his nickname "Tonino."

Pope Leo has a busy Holy Week schedule ahead, which includes a return to the tradition of Holy Thursday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and includes Stations of the Cross in the Colosseum.

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

'Lay down your weapons," pope says in Palm Sunday call for peace

VATICAN CITY — Marking the start of Holy Week, Pope Leo XIV used his first Palm Sunday Mass to issue a forceful plea for peace, urging an end to war as he reflected on Christ’s Passion.

During his homily opening Holy Week at St. Peter's Square, the pope said the faithful must follow Jesus, as he embraced humanity "even as others raise swords and clubs." 

"We turn our gaze to Jesus, who reveals himself as King of Peace, even as war looms around him," he said March 29. "He remains steadfast in meekness, while others are stirring up violence." 

Pope Leo continued, recounting Jesus' final words to God, saying that in that moment we can see a "crucified humanity." 

"Above all, we hear the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war," he said. "Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters!"

In his appeal at the close of the Mass, he went on further to press for peace, especially in the Middle East. He called on prayers for Christians in the Middle East, whose "ordeal challenges all our consciences," as the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran enters its fifth week.

"Just as the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, we cannot forget those who today are truly sharing in his suffering," he said. "Let us raise our prayer to the Prince of Peace that he may sustain the peoples wounded by war and open concrete paths to reconciliation and peace."

On a sunny and windy day, thousands attended the Mass, which began with a solemn procession of hundreds of people carrying green palm branches, followed by about 60 cardinals and bishops, carrying "palmurelli," pale green palm branches that were woven and braided.

In the center of the square, the procession circled the ancient obelisk, brought to Rome by Emperor Caligula in 37 AD and later erected in St. Peter’s Square, traditionally marking the site of early Christian martyrdom, including that of St. Peter. 

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Leo followed, opening Mass underneath the obelisk. After the opening prayer and hymns, the procession made its way through the crowd to the altar in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Palm Sunday marks the solemn beginning of Holy Week, commemorating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and leading to his passion, death and resurrection. The liturgy includes the reading of Christ’s suffering and crucifixion, setting the tone for the days leading to Easter.

In closing, the pope ended his Palm Sunday homily recalling the words of the late Bishop Tonino Bello, who was known as a pacifist and social justice advocate. 

"'And grant, finally, that the tears of all the victims of violence and pain will soon be dried up like frost beneath the spring sun,'" the pope said. 

Bishop Bello died in 1993, and Pope Francis recognized him as venerable as his sainthood cause was advanced in 2021. 

— Josephine Peterson, Catholic News Service

Pope Leo XIV's first Palm Sunday homily
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV, OSV NewsThe following is the full text of Pope Leo XIV's Palm Sunday homily given March 29, 2026, in St. Peter's Square.

Dear brothers and sisters,

As Jesus walks the Way of the Cross, we place ourselves behind him, following in his footsteps. As we walk with him, we contemplate his passion for the sake of humanity, his broken heart, and his life as a gift of love.

We turn our gaze to Jesus, who reveals himself as King of Peace, even as war looms around him. He remains steadfast in meekness, while others are stirring up violence. He offers himself to embrace humanity, even as others raise swords and clubs. He is the light of the world, though darkness is about to engulf the earth. He came to bring life, even as plans unfold to condemn him to death.

King of Peace. Jesus' desire is to bring the world into the Father's arms, tearing down every barrier that separates us from God and from our neighbor, for "He is our peace" (Eph 2:14).

King of Peace. Jesus enters into Jerusalem not upon a horse, but upon a donkey, fulfilling the ancient prophecy that calls for rejoicing at the arrival of the Messiah: "Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations" (Zech 9:9–10).

King of Peace. When one of his disciples drew his sword to defend him and struck the high priest's servant, Jesus immediately stopped him, saying: "Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Mt 26:52).

King of Peace. While he was burdened with our sufferings and pierced for our sins, Jesus "did not open his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent" (Is 53:7). He did not arm himself, or defend himself, or fight any war. He revealed the gentle face of God, who always rejects violence. Rather than saving himself, he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, embracing every cross borne in every time and place throughout human history.

Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: "Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood" (Is 1:15).

As we set our gaze upon him who was crucified for us, we can see a crucified humanity. In his wounds, we see the hurts of so many women and men today. In his last cry to the Father, we hear the weeping of those who are crushed, who have no hope, who are sick and who are alone. Above all, we hear the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war.

Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters!

In the words of the Servant of God, Bishop Tonino Bello, I would like to entrust this cry to Mary Most Holy, who stands beneath the cross of her Son and weeps also at the feet of those who are crucified today:

"Holy Mary, woman of the third day, grant us the certainty that, in spite of all, death will no longer hold sway over us; that the injustices of peoples are numbered; that the flashes of war are fading into the twilight; that the sufferings of the poor are breathing their last. And grant, finally, that the tears of all the victims of violence and pain will soon be dried up like frost beneath the spring sun" (Maria, donna dei nostri giorni).

— Pope Leo XIV, OSV News

Palestinian Christians walk in procession as they attend a Palm Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church, in Gaza City, March 29, 2026. (OSV News/Dawoud Abu Alkas, Reuters)

In a statement published March 29, the Latin Patriarchate said that although abiding by restrictions due to the Israeli-U.S.-led war in Iran, “the two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back.”

“As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass” at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the patriarchate said.

“This incident is a grave precedent, and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem,” it said.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was among several holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, that were closed since Feb. 28, after Israel and the U.S. launched their joint attack against Iran.

The Custody of the Holy Land said in a statement March 21 it was in dialogue with authorities and was awaiting “clear indications” regarding Holy Week celebrations.

In the joint statement March 29, the Custody of the Holy Land and the Latin Patriarchate said that since the start of the war, it had complied “with all imposed restrictions,” including canceling public gatherings and making arrangements for Holy Week celebrations to be broadcast.

However, the Israeli authorities’ actions in preventing the entrance of Cardinal Pizzaballa and Father Ielpo, “who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure,” the statement read.

“This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the status quo,” it said.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land expressed its “profound sorrow” to Christians around the world, noting that prayers “on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar have thus been prevented.”

Pope Leo XIV echoed those sentiments before praying the Angelus prayer with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Palm Sunday.

The pope offered prayers for the Christians of the Middle East “who are suffering the consequences of a brutal conflict and, in many cases, are unable to observe fully the liturgies of these holy days.”

“Just as the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, we cannot forget those who today are truly sharing in his suffering. Their ordeal challenges all our consciences,” the pope said.

“Let us raise our prayer to the Prince of Peace that he may sustain the peoples wounded by war and open concrete paths to reconciliation and peace,” he said.

— Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

BELMONT — Amanda Achtman is a young adult from Canada who has dedicated her life to battling euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Her home country is one of several nations that have legalized dying by euthanasia, an issue that U.S. Catholics and people of faith should be concerned about as more states are legalizing assisted suicide, she recently told audiences in North Carolina.

The key difference between the countries is that the United States does not allow euthanasia, which is administration of life-ending medication by a doctor. Several states do allow assisted suicide, which occurs when a patient self-administers life-ending medication.

Achtman, the founder of the Dying to Meet You Project – a program that combats euthanasia and promotes hope, recently spoke at Belmont Abbey College and the Converging Roads Catholic medical conference in Charlotte. She is also the ethics director for Canadian Physicians for Life and an instructor of Catholic Bioethics for St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester, N.Y.

In Canada, she said, statistics show “one in 20 deaths is caused by a doctor or nurse…what started out as exceptional and the most extenuating of circumstances has become routine.”

Canada legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia in 2016. The procedure is most often known as MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying.) In the past decade, statistics show that more than 76,000 Canadians have chosen euthanasia. Once available only to the terminally ill, the nation has extended euthanasia to people with disabilities and is set to make it available to some people with mental illness in March 2027.

As the justifications have expanded, Achtman has heard from disabled and elderly people who have been offered euthanasia when they were simply seeking medical treatment.

“MAID is an attack on self-worth – it deflates and defeats a person’s self-worth and self-value just to have it offered,” she said. “I’ve had Canadians with disabilities say ‘MAID is the only thing the government tells me I qualify for right now.’ That’s very dehumanizing. That kind of language signals that there is a category of people who should just not be here. This is why euthanasia is a life issue that’s coherent with all other life issues – it’s a situation where life is discarded, dismissed and discounted.”

Euthanasia also brings up core issues of the patient’s relationship with their loved ones and their God-created self.

“We all know that other people can dehumanize us and mistreat us, but do we have the humility to recognize when we do it to ourselves?” she asked. “That is what is happening in Canada – people are discarding themselves subconsciously because of fears of being a burden, living too long and using up inheritance money, fears that if they are not independent then life is not worth living … our life is more than appearances and achievements.”

People wanting to end their lives because of suffering need two things – a health care system that offers them adequate care and relief, such as hospice and palliative care in terminal situations, she said. She also emphasized that people seeking an end to physical or mental suffering desperately want and need loved ones to advocate for them.

“We don’t always have the strength at any given moment to be strong and fight for our own value,” she said. “People throughout life experience depression and sometimes suicidal ideation, and what should not be accepted and what we shouldn’t abide is letting people concede and capitulate to that ideation. Resistance to suicidal ideation is always an act of love.”

She called euthanasia “quite literally the opposite of love,” a procedure that “goes to the heart of the issue of whether it is good to be a person in the world after all.”

“We who are full of hope and ideals and faith have to look out at the culture … and say we love you too much to see you go through with this,” Achtman said. “You are worth fighting for, and we’re going to create a culture where life is valued rather than death.”

 —   Christina Lee Knauss

What are euthanasia and assisted suicide? Where are they legal?

Assisted suicide occurs when a patient administers life-ending medication.

Euthanasia occurs when a doctor administers life-ending medication with patient permission.

- Assisted suicide is legal in 13 states as well as Washington, D.C.: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Euthanasia is not legal anywhere in the United States.

- Euthanasia is legal in several countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain.
— Source: Dignity in Dying

Students honored their heritage by wearing traditional attire at Mass Thursday, showing the richness of a community united in faith. The celebration continued with a food tasting featuring flavors from around the world.

The week was a joyful reminder that while we come from many places, we are one in Christ.

— Troy C. Hull

BELMONT — “I thirst,” two of the last seven words spoken by Jesus Christ as He was dying on the Cross, was the perfect Lenten theme for the 2026 Bishop’s Youth Pilgrimage. 

The annual pilgrimage, a youth rally that serves as a prelude to the Diocese of Charlotte’s Eucharistic Congress, drew more than 950 youths who traveled from the 93 parishes to Belmont Abbey College to hear a message of love, hope and unity. 

The day organized by the diocese’s Faith Formation Office in partnership with Belmont Abbey College started with music, games, prayer and reflection. 

Keynote speaker Vicente Capistrano started the morning with a reason to thirst – to be closer to God and better know ourselves. 

Capistrano, who leads parish communications and collaborates in young adult ministry at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Charlotte, is an inspiration. Capistrano spoke at the pilgrimage last year, and young people asked for an encore. 

He presented a heartfelt message about finding your identity, which only becomes fully visible through the Lord.   

Capistrano explained God sent the prophets, judges and kings, and eventually He became flesh. 

“That flesh is still here with us today, present in the Eucharist,” he said.“At Adoration, we are looking at God, but we are also looking in at our true self, like a mirror.”

“I am inviting you guys today to rediscover your identity, because to me, Christ is saying, ‘I thirst for you. I thirst for your tears. I thirst for your broken heart. I thirst for your sadness. I thirst for your love. I thirst for your dreams.’ ”

Capistrano ended by reminding the audience to choose love, not fear, even when it means sacrifice.

“We do speak one language. We all speak the language of love for Jesus Christ,” he said. 

During Mass, Bishop Michael Martin urged young people to unite as one with God.

“He doesn’t want division,” the bishop said. “He takes our brokenness. He takes our sinfulness. He takes the arguments …  and He is able to raise them to something greater.”

Bishop Martin then asked the pilgrims to commit themselves to thirst for that unity, and he instructed the pilgrims to go out and share Jesus with everyone. 

“No more division. This Holy Week, we’ve got work to do,” the bishop said. “I need all of you this week to commit yourselves more and more to the message of unifying love that Jesus gives. No more two, only one. And be willing to take that to your family, school, soccer team, friends. And create one community, one body.” 

Bishop Martin said we become one with the Body of Christ through the Eucharist, not just with God but with all of humanity. 

“All of us are sent out into the world to bring that communion, to bring that unity, to bring His love, by putting our selfish, silly, stupid, egotistic ways behind us so that everyone may be one,” Bishop Martin said. 

This will unite us the way God intended, he said. 

The young pilgrims spent time going to confession, delving into discussions about their faith, eating pizza and hanging out with peers. They tossed balls in the air, climbed trees and played hacky sack while listening to nationally known Catholic musician Dana Catherine. 

“A lot of people get very scared of confession. They think about the world that we live in and expect to be met with judgment, but it is a beautiful place of victory and love. To encounter the love and forgiveness of Our Lord was quite 

beautiful,” said Michael Krafchek, 18, from St. Matthew Parish who is expecting to be confirmed in May. “Beautiful humility is what it is. A way of saying, ‘God, I want to be better. Make me better.’ ” 

The day of pilgrimage ended with Adoration and a Eucharistic procession led by Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari, the college’s chancellor. 

“The Eucharistic procession gave me a chance to slow down and reflect on my own thoughts, to look at the literal reality that God is walking with us right now,” said Nicole Neuse, who is being welcomed into the Church at the Easter Vigil. “It is not like a metaphor – like we are walking with Christ. We really are, like, right behind Him.”

Belmont Abbey’s new president, Dr. Jeffrey Talley, told the young people they were probably used to being asked what they want to be when they grow up, but that may not be the right question. 

“The right question is, ‘What does God want you to be?’ And that is an easy answer. You are called to be a saint,” Talley said. “It all starts with Jesus. Pray: ‘Lord, what do you want me to be?’ ”

The young pilgrims left Belmont Abbey College eager to spread the Good News they learned. 

“I thirst,” Krafchek said. “We need God. It is something we are longing for. It is literally causing us discomfort not to have Him. 

“When you are lacking God, it is like lacking water – you are lacking something vital to your system.”

—Lisa M. Geraci. Photos by Aidan Creter and Troy C. Hull

The path to becoming permanent deacons became one step shorter for 14 men from across the Diocese of Charlotte as they were instituted to the role of acolyte Feb. 14, 2026.

Deacon SchreiberThe addition of a second preparation class with a staggered start will enable the diocese to eventually have ordinations every two or three years instead of the current average of five years without reducing the length of time each individual spends in preparation, according to Deacon William Schreiber, director of the permanent diaconate for the diocese.

“The whole focus is for us to be able to ordain more frequently and allow more opportunities for men,” Deacon Schreiber said.

It takes five years to become a permanent deacon in the diocese. Men must first apply and then be invited to join a class by the bishop. They then go through two years of aspirancy, during which they learn more about the role of deacons in the life of the Church. That is followed by three years of formation, during which candidates and their wives take additional instruction in human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation.

Having two classes in different stages of preparation at the same time will allow more men to study for ordination and speed up the process of getting permanent deacons into service at parishes that need them. Currently 44 of the diocese’s 93 parishes and missions don’t have an assigned deacon.

As a first step in that process, a new class began March 21, with 11 men entering the beginning stages of their journey at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville, which is likely where most instruction will take place going forward.

The 11 men beginning their journey toward becoming deacons join another 14 who are on track to be ordained in 2027.

“I’m excited about it,” Deacon Schreiber said. “We have a good group of men who represent a good cross-section of different cultures.”

The new structure will also shorten wait times for those feeling the call to serve.

“In the past I would have to tell some men ‘We’ve just started a class, so you’ll have to wait five years until the next one starts’.” Deacon Schreiber said. “That can kind of dampen someone’s desire.”

Deacon Schreiber said the immediate goal is start a new class every two years, which will enable more men to perform the important roles deacons play.

“Most people’s view is that the deacon is just the guy who always is there to help at the Mass, but that is just the tip of the iceberg,” Deacon Schreiber said. “Deacons baptize, they help out at funerals, take Communion to the sick, prepare couples for marriage, teach OCIA – you name it, we’re doing it. The diaconate is first and foremost a ministry of charitable service.”

 — Christina Lee Knauss. File photo by Troy C. Hull

Eaton brings nearly three decades of experience in Catholic education, serving as a teacher, principal and diocesan leader. She holds a master’s degree in School Leadership from St. Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

“I am excited and blessed to serve as the next principal of St. Matthew Catholic School,” Eaton said. “Throughout my years in Catholic education, I have been grateful for the opportunity to help students grow academically and in their faith. I look forward to partnering with the faculty, staff and families of St. Matthew as we continue the tradition of educating saints and scholars.”

Eaton previously served as Director of Educational Services for the Diocese of Des Moines, supporting schools in curriculum development, professional learning and student services.

From 2011-2014, she was principal of St. Patrick Catholic School in Perry, Iowa. She led the led the school as it grew from 85 to 125 students, strengthened academic programs and built community partnerships. In 2014, she served as the first principal of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic School in Ankeny, Iowa, guiding the school through its early development and growth until 2019.

She then returned to her roots, working with students scoring below grade-level in math and reading and the teachers who support them as an interventionist/student support teacher at St. Anthony Catholic School in Des Moines. There, she was also a member of the St. Anthony Leadership Team.

“It was clear from our first conversations that Mrs. Eaton has a real love for her faith and a genuine joy in working with children,” said Dr. Greg Monroe, the diocesan superintendent of schools, “and she will be a great fit for our school system with her past experiences and skillset.”

The search for a new principal at St. Matthew began Jan. 1, when Kevin O’Herron, who served as principal for 27 years of the school’s 33-year history became assistant superintendent of schools for the diocese. Suzanne Beasley, who stepped in as interim principal, will continue her leadership as assistant principal.

“I am grateful to Mrs. Beasley for her steady leadership as interim principal over these many months, and to the search committee for the time, prayer, and discernment they gave to helping us land the next principal of St. Matthew,” Monroe said. “I look forward to working closely with Mrs. Eaton as we build on the great legacy and traditions of St. Matthew and keep pursuing excellence as we look to the future.”

— Trish Stukbauer 

More than 200 people gathered by candlelight to sing the simple, repetitive Taizé chants, invoking a sense of peace and harmony.

“It starts with a single voice until the whole church fills with all these voices streaming in,” said organizer Francine Britto, director of music and liturgy at the parish. “It is just a beautiful way to bring people together.”

Taizé is a globally recognized ecumenical movement of reconciliation that started after World War II in Taizé, France, by Brother Roger Schütz, a Protestant. Taizé Prayer is a Christian evening prayer that was recognized by then-Pope John Paul II.

The service occurs twice a year at St. Pius X Church, during the “quiet times” of Lent and Advent.

Britto approached the late Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio with the idea of starting a Taizé service and has loved the moments of quiet prayer set to music ever since.

— Lisa M. Geraci. Photos by MaryAnn Luedtke

The regional conference, hosted by the Diocese of Charlotte’s Office of Family Life in conjunction with the St. Paul II Foundation and Belmont Abbey College, serves as an annual opportunity for Catholic healthcare professionals to learn how to better practice their faith and uphold the dignity of the patients they serve. 

“It was one of our best conferences yet,” said Batrice Adcock, the diocese’s natural family planning program director. “It was clear by the engaged reception of the audience this year that we targeted some of the most compelling issues in medicine right now, such as assisted suicide and compassionate care for persons with disabilities.”

The morning started with about 40 medical professionals attending a White Mass concelebrated by Monsignor Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte, Father Robert Gahl, an associate professor at the Catholic University of America, and Father Benjamin Roberts, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Monroe. 

The tradition of the White Mass originated in the 1930s with the founding of the National Catholic Medical Association and garners its name from the white coats healthcare professionals wear. During his homily, Monsignor Winslow encouraged them to vigilantly “weed out” erroneous ethics. 

“Small and basic errors, when extrapolated out, can have large consequences,” he said. “It is a noble work to be in, and we need good people in it. We need people sorting through the facts, but not just facts that are based on materiality but other realities as well. Metaphysical realities. When does life begin? How does life end? What is consciousness?”

Following Mass, six speakers answered those tough questions by bringing Catholic faith and teachings to medical issues.      

Dr. Joseph Dutkowsky, a leader in orthopedic surgery who has dedicated his life to advocating for people with disabilities, introduced attendees to a program that has children who are physically and mentally disabled leaving their braces and worries aside while dancing in movement workshops under the direction of the New York City Ballet Company. 

“I don’t want to shock, but as a physician and a surgeon, one can easily become very narcissistic,” Dutkowsky said. “But my patients have rescued me from that snare, because they taught me to love myself sometimes because of my imperfections, and not in spite of them. Instead of finding me humanly imperfect, they taught me to accept being perfectly human.”  

Dutkowsky told participants that although it is impossible for medical professionals to carry the cross for their patients, they can hold up a corner and make it a little lighter. 

“The ground is never more level than at the foot of the cross,” he reminded. “There, there is no ‘them’ and ‘us,’ just ‘us’.”

Dr. Frances Broghammer spoke of the emotional struggles of mental health patients and their caretakers. In her experience as the Clinical Director of Inpatient Mental Health for the State of Minnesota, she explained that humanity goes a long way. 

“There are very few times in medicine that we are able to cure. So, what are physicians called to do? We are called to heal,” Broghammer said. “To heal a patient is to be able to walk with somebody.”

Broghammer said she works with more than 100 mental patients “that society would rather assume did not exist.”

Broghammer relayed a story about a patient who had an incident at a previous institution but responded well when treated with respect. 

“He just wanted a cup of coffee, a pair of shoes that fit and to call his mother,” she said. “He got two of these three identified needs before he even sat down with a psychiatrist… We didn’t need any more exceptional resources to handle him. We just needed to treat him like a human being.”  

While the first part of the conference was filled with uplifting stories, the afternoon tackled some jarring realities.

Dr. Jessica Peck, a Baylor University professor, pediatric nurse and policy advocate, spoke about the global human trafficking industry that is estimated to generate $236 billion annually.  

“Human trafficking is second only to the drug trade, and I believe it will soon surpass it, because drugs are commodities that need to be packaged and hidden, and while it is very difficult to hide drugs, it is very easy to hide a person,” Peck said. “One victim makes traffickers about $300,000 a year.” 

Peck said while trafficking can happen to anyone, the likelihood of becoming a victim increases with environmental factors that include abuse, low self-esteem, and a family with addiction problems. 

“Anyone can be a victim of human trafficking, and traffickers can be family members, elected officials, pastors, principals, teachers, anyone,” Peck said, noting that 35% of traffickers are family members. “The cycle is always generally the same. They will befriend and establish trust, intoxicate and introduce drugs and alcohol, and alienate and separate them from their family.”

She said recruiters are now using artificial intelligence to find and groom vulnerable children on social platforms.

“Parents are so worried about the stranger on the street, but at the same time they’re allowing their child to invite thousands of strangers into their bedroom almost every night,” Peck said.

By the end of the conference, medical professionals took away six professional development credit hours and a renewed understanding of human dignity from a Catholic lens.

As Broghammer said, “hope comes from your faith, and I see hope embodied in the dignity of every individual I work alongside.”

— Lisa M. Geraci

When greeting Polish-speaking visitors during his general audience in St. Peter's Square March 25, Pope Leo highlighted Poland's pro-life celebration during his greetings, saying initiatives such as their "Spiritual Adoption of a Conceived Child" were truly needed.

"In a time marked by the madness of war, it is important to defend life from conception to its natural end," he said.

Poland celebrates the Day of the Sanctity of Life every March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, which falls nine months before the Lord's birth Christmas Day and celebrates Jesus' incarnation in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Similar prayer initiatives exist around the world, including in the United States. The late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who is set to be beatified Sept. 24 in St. Louis, also inspired a spiritual adoption program, in which participants pledge to pray daily for nine months for an unborn child whose mother is considering abortion.

Sometimes "spiritual parents" are encouraged to name the unborn child and to pray for him or her daily, and, at the end of nine months, hold a baby shower to collect supplies and money to donate to local pregnancy centers.

Marking the feast of the Annunciation, Pope Leo invited Catholics to follow the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary more closely and to "always be ready to do God's will."

"As we continue our Lenten journey, let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace to imitate Our Blessed Mother in her total 'yes' to the Lord, and so open our hearts to his will for our lives," he told English-speaking pilgrims and visitors.

In his main catechesis, the pope continued his series of reflections on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, specifically, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "Lumen Gentium."

Pope Leo explained that the hierarchical structure of the Church is not a "human construct" for fulfilling some kind of organizational function, but is "a divine institution whose purpose is to perpetuate the mission given by Christ to the apostles until the end of time."

The Catholic Church, he said, is "founded on the apostles, whom Christ appointed as the living pillars of his mystical body, and possesses a hierarchical structure that works in the service of the unity, mission and sanctification of all her members."

Since the apostles are called to faithfully preserve Christ's "salvific teaching, they hand on their ministry to men who, until Christ’s return, continue to sanctify, guide and instruct the Church 'through their successors in pastoral office,'" he said.

While all the faithful make up "the one priesthood of Christ," he said, those ordained ministers who have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, that is, bishops, priests and deacons, do have a unique ministry.

Endowed with "sacred power" for service in the Church, the bishops, "first and foremost, and through them the priests and deacons, have received tasks ('munera' in Latin), which lead them to the service of 'all those who belong to the People of God,'so that, 'working toward a common goal freely and in an orderly way, [they] may arrive at salvation,'" the pope said, citing the council document.

This apostolic mission is "collegial and communal," reflecting the Lord's desire for "shepherds of His people" who serve with love, he said. That is why St. Paul VI presented the hierarchy as being "born of the charity of Christ, to fulfil, spread and ensure the intact and fruitful transmission of the wealth of faith, examples, precepts and charisms bequeathed by Christ to His Church."

"Dear sisters and dear brothers, let us pray to the Lord that He may send to His Church ministers who are ardent with evangelical charity, dedicated to the good of all the baptized, and courageous missionaries in every part of the world," Pope Leo said.

— Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, who is president of the Italian bishops' conference, presided over the closing Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

"In these extraordinary days, we have experienced moments of profound communion, during which countless men and women have been able to encounter the spirit of St. Francis, finding in him an inexhaustible source of light and hope in such a difficult time for our world," Cardinal Zuppi said in his homily.

"St. Francis takes us by the hand and helps us to look at reality with authentically Christian eyes."

The veneration, which ran from Feb. 22 to March 22, marked the first time in 800 years that the mortal remains of St. Francis had been exposed for an extended public display. It is part of the Catholic Church's yearlong observance of the 800th anniversary of the saint's death in 1226.

Following the Mass, Franciscan friars gathered for a final period of prayer with the relics before they were carried in procession from the basilica's Lower Church to the crypt. Before midnight, the saint's remains were sealed inside a gilded bronze urn along with the documentation required by canon law and placed inside the stone sarcophagus in the crypt of the basilica, where pilgrims can always pray in close proximity to the relics of the saint.

According to statistics released by the basilica, more than 5,000 of the American pilgrims and nearly 4,000 from Poland were able to venerate the relics, along with pilgrims from more than 40 other countries, including 99 pilgrims from China and 9 from Iran.

American mother Heather Martin was one of the first pilgrims to venerate the relics. "St. Francis is by far the most important saint in my life," she said, calling the experience "utterly life-changing."

Franciscan friars from Brazil, Tanzania, India, South Korea and the Middle East also made the pilgrimage to pray before the founder of their order.

Among those present in Assisi for the closing Mass was Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Yurash, who attended alongside 70 members of the Ukrainian community in Italy to pray for peace.

"These encounters teach us that a just and genuine peace is not an unrealistic goal," Ambassador Yurash said.

"With the blessing of Saint Francis, an eternal symbol of love between peoples, our intentions can become reality."

During the period, more than 170 Masses were celebrated in the upper basilica, attended by more than 100,000 people, including 50 bishops and cardinals.

Franciscan Friar Giulio Cesareo, the spokesman for the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, said the turnout exceeded his expectations, not only in numbers, but in atmosphere.

"I really didn't expect … the collected and joyful atmosphere that characterized the pilgrimage and veneration in the basilica: silence, patience, cell phones in pockets," he said.

Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed a special Jubilee Year of St. Francis running until Jan. 10, 2027, offering a plenary indulgence to pilgrims who visit Franciscan churches or places of worship connected to the saint.

Father Jimmy Zammit of Toronto, now based in Rome as general definitor for the Franciscan order, shared his advice for Catholics who were unable to make the trip to Assisi who want to live out the special Jubilee Year of St. Francis in a particular way.

"If our heart becomes more Franciscan, we become makers of peace," Father Zammit told OSV News. "We seek out to help those who are less fortunate than we are to help the poor, but also to help those who are suffering because they're feeling isolated and maybe even shunned in some way."

—  OSV News 

Johnathan Jaheim Henderson, 22, of Lancaster, South Carolina, was arrested by Kannapolis Police March 20. He was arraigned and released March 23 from the Cabarrus County Jail on a $30,000 bond, and his next court date is April 8, court records show.

Henderson joined Christ the King in March 2025 as a part-time assistant football coach after passing a mandatory background screening. School administrators said he was terminated in June 2025 after they learned he had been conducting unsanctioned football training sessions with players off campus and outside normal school operations, and using unauthorized communication channels to arrange the sessions.

In September, administrators received new information from students indicating that some of Henderson’s communications may have included inappropriate and sexually explicit phone and electronic messages with two 16-year-old students.

School officials shared the information with football team parents and the Kannapolis Police Department, which launched an investigation that led to Henderson’s arrest.

— Catholic News Herald

The pilgrimage – the third of its kind – will begin in May on Memorial Day weekend and end July 5. This year’s pilgrimage celebrates America’s 250th anniversary with the theme “One Nation Under God,” and its route incorporates key sites in the history of the country and its Catholics.

Locally, the pilgrimage will journey from Our Lady of Grace in Indian Land, South Carolina, to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe on the afternoon of Saturday, May 30. Stops will follow at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte, St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville and St. Pius X Church in Greensboro.

Non-public events that are not advertised on the pilgrimage website, are still being planned. Initial plans include a “Meet the Pilgrims” event from on Sunday, May 31, at St. Peter Church in Charlotte, and a young adult event later that evening at a time and location to be determined. A service project in Greensboro is in the works for the morning of June 2 before the pilgrims continue on to Richmond, Virginia.

Organizers described the pilgrimage as “a nationwide call to renewal, unity and mission rooted in the Eucharist.” They noted that 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the lobbying campaign, led by the Knights of Columbus, to add the phrase “One nation under God” to the nation’s Pledge of Allegiance.

“One Nation Under God is not a borrowed slogan; rather, it is an invitation to realign our lives, our communities and our country under the sovereignty of Jesus Christ,” said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress.

The nonprofit National Eucharistic Congress organizes the pilgrimage, which first took place in 2024 ahead of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival.

“Our hope is that Catholics will come together on this significant anniversary to give thanks for our country and to pray for our future,” said Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress.

The pilgrimage has been placed under the patronage of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-American immigrant and the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. It will also take place in solidarity with the U.S. bishops’ call to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The pilgrimage will start Memorial Day weekend in St. Augustine, the site of the first Mass on American soil in 1565, and end in Philadelphia with events planned July 4-5.

The pilgrimage will also connect with a national prayer campaign and digital lecture series “that highlights themes and topics of America through a Catholic lens and framework,” organizers said.

— OSV News and Catholic News Herald

How to participate

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will make these official stops in the diocese, with additional events still in the planning stages:

1. Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe: Eucharistic Adoration from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., followed at 5 p.m. Mass on Saturday, May 30

2. St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte: 2 p.m. Mass followed by Eucharistic Adoration on Sunday, May 31

3. St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville: 9 a.m. Mass, followed by Eucharistic Adoration until 10:30 a.m. on Monday, June 1

4. St. Pius X Church in Greensboro: Eucharistic Adoration from 4 to 5 p.m., followed by a 5:15 p.m. Mass on Monday, June 1

National Eucharistic Pilgrimage seeks to be a sacred journey for US at 250 years

The upcoming National Eucharistic Pilgrimage -- which takes place as the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026 -- marks a moment for "a country still in conversion," and "a country still on pilgrimage," said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress organization.

Shanks joined pilgrimage organizers, along with several of its nine perpetual pilgrims, for an online March 25 press conference announcing further details of the event, which takes place May 24 through July 5.

With a theme of "One Nation Under God," the route will run from Florida to Maine, spanning more than 2,200 miles in most of the nation's 13 original colonies. Over the course of 43 days, pilgrims will travel through 18 dioceses and archdioceses, as well as two Eastern Catholic eparchies.

Nine perpetual pilgrims will accompany the Blessed Sacrament, with public events -- including Masses, Holy Hours, sacred music concerts, talks and charitable outreach -- taking place along the way.

Pilgrimage organizers are inviting the faithful to participate in a spiritual bouquet of 250,000 Holy Hours, with a signup form available on the pilgrimage website, eucharisticpilgrimage.org/one-nation-under-god.

The spiritual bouquet will be presented in the nation's capital as a sign of "prayers for peace in our world, for unity and peace in our country, and for God's hand to continue to guide all of those in the United States," said Shanks.

The 2026 pilgrimage, which continues the 2024 and 2025 journeys undertaken as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, has been placed under the patronage of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the woman religious and Italian immigrant who became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized after a lifetime of work ministering to immigrants.

Along with Mother Cabrini, other holy men and women who will be commemorated throughout the pilgrimage are St. Katharine Drexel, the Philadelphia banking heiress who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and served Black American and American Indian communities; St. John Neumann, the Bavarian-born Redemptorist who as bishop of Philadelphia established the nation's parochial school system, as well as the Forty Hours devotion; and the soon-to-be-beatified Georgia Martyrs, six Spanish Franciscans who were slain while missioning to the Indigenous Guale people in the late 16th century.

The stops along the Cabrini Route will highlight sites significant to Catholicism's contributions to U.S. history, said Shanks.

"Before there was a Constitution, there was a consecration," he said, pointing to Masses celebrated on the territory of what would later become the U.S.

Historians have cited a number of such liturgies, including Masses reported to have taken place in 1541 in the future states of Kansas and Texas, and the Sept. 8, 1565, liturgy celebrated by Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales at the site of present-day St. Augustine, Florida.

In 1664, the London-born Jesuit Father Andrew White celebrated Mass in the Maryland colony.

"We're excited to unite our country in memory of its history and to sort of explore the Catholic contribution to this American experiment," Shanks said.

Among the pilgrimage events honoring the nation's development will be a Eucharistic procession through historical Williamsburg, Virginia; a blessing from Arlington Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River in Washington, with a procession past national landmarks in the capital; Eucharistic adoration in Pilgrim Memorial State Park in Plymouth, Massachusetts; and a crossing of the Delaware River into New Jersey -- a nod to George Washington, who led 2,500 Continental Army troops across the body of water on Christmas night in 1776, surprising enemy Hessian troops, mercenaries of the British empire, and securing major U.S. victories in the Revolutionary War.

The pilgrimage concludes with Mass and a Eucharistic procession over the July 4 holiday weekend in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and which served as the nation's capital from 1790 to 1800, when the new city of Washington became the nation's seat of government.

Pilgrim Zachary Dotson said at the press conference that "the real beauty" of the theme "One Nation Under God" lies in "the great humility that it takes to truly believe that and follow that."

"There's nothing more healing than God's divine mercy and love, which is open and available to all people," he said.

— Gina Christian, OSV News

One of the most visible elements of the restoration work at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville occurs high atop the church. Workers are replacing the copper on its dome as part of an extensive restoration of the landmark, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Photos provided by John Nobers)

Launched in October 2025, the first phase of the project is expected to cost an estimated $7.7 million and bring new life to much of the beloved 117-year-old basilica, which was designed by the renowned Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino Sr.

Parishioners and donors from around the country have donated to the project. The basilica is on the National Register of Historic Places and is known for its large elliptical dome, one of the largest in North America.

Replacement of the copper on top of the famous dome started in early March, and is the latest, most visible element of the project.

“Upfitting, waterproofing and placement of the new copper dome material will be happening through the spring,” said John Nobers, construction project manager for the Diocese of Charlotte.

“From a construction standpoint, all the masonry and rehabilitation work is on schedule, and everything at the basilica is moving along as planned.”

The copper on the roof is being completed in sections, and that work will continue through early summer, Nobers said.

The installation of new storm drains and other work to stop water intrusion has gone well, along with repairs to the cornice and parapets around the dome, Nobers said. Some interior work is also being done on the Marian chapel.

The final touch on the project will be repairing and replacing the oculus glass and installing the cupola skylight cover.

“The work is on budget and moving along well and really putting the Basilica parish in a good position to have the work completed by the end of the summer,” Nobers said.

The current work is the first of three phases of restoration, which will stretch over many years as fundraising continues and could eventually cost an estimated $30 million.

— Christina Lee Knauss
How to give

At www.saintlawrencebasilica.org/preservation-efforts: Learn about and donate to the preservation campaign

A poplar tree branch that fell in Tropical Storm Helene revealed a unique image that has since been enhanced. Photos provided

As its title suggests, the piece is a branch of a poplar tree that was knocked down during Helene, but what is unique is its image of the Blessed Mother holding the Christ Child.

During the storm, Alex Kneen and her husband watched as the little creek in their yard overflowed and the winds uprooted a poplar tree.

“We hopelessly watched as the water rose and the ground became supersaturated. A tree fell,” Kneen recalled. “It demolished a swing we had and then hit this particular branch to the ground. And then it knocked out another tree.”

While parts of Burke County were completely wiped out, the Kneen residence was spared. When they started piling up branches, Kneen stopped in her tracks.

“When I saw the broken branch, immediately I saw Mary holding the Baby. I just thought it was beautiful. It captured my heart and my imagination,” she said.

Kneen could not bring herself to put it in the woodpile, so she put it in her shed for safekeeping.

“The revealing of the beauty, even in the midst of what was difficult for so many, amazed me,” she said. “There is so much God can say if we just pay attention and look.”

As an Anglican who graduated with a theology degree from Nashotah House Theological Seminary, Kneen did not believe the resemblance was a coincidence. When she showed the branch to family and friends, they saw it, too.

After she took an iconography carving class, she knew exactly what to do. She returned “with all these woodworking tools and immediately sat down and started sanding the branch, and I kind of traced around the colors in the wood and the contours where I saw her picture,” Kneen said.

The project took about two weeks of sanding to accentuate the image.

“The whole process of carving for me was filled with prayer and meditation,” Kneen said. “Of course, the reason I name it ‘The Branch’ is because of the Biblical idea of Christ being the branch from the stump of Jesse. A righteous branch that would spring from Mary, that would be fully God and fully man. And, Mary was a part of that. And, of course, the fact that it was an actual branch.”

It was then that Gail Watson, faith formation director of St. Charles Borromeo, learned about the branch from her daughter, a friend of Kneen’s, and wanted to see it for herself.

“I was awestruck,” Watson said. “I could not believe that a branch from a tree broke with such a clear image of the Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus.”

She then brought it to St. Charles Borromeo Parish for all to see.

While it was on display at the church, parishioners paused in front of the image to reflect on the simple beauty of God’s creation revealed in nature while praying for Mary’s intercession.

After its visit to the church, “The Branch” was mounted by a local artisan and is proudly displayed on a table in Kneen’s house – although it may not stay there.

“I am not sure if I want to part with it, but I am also not sure if I want to keep it to myself,” Kneen said. “When God does something beautiful, He doesn’t want to hide it.”

Kneen has since taken the time to walk very intentionally through forests, looking for images that God puts in her path.

As Kneen said,“I can’t help but think that is the Christian life. In us, God is bringing out those things that are good and true and beautiful and forming us and shaping us, highlighting His own work.”

— Lisa Geraci

The Catholic nonprofit, founded in 2020, seeks to heal and restore women dealing with unresolved emotional or physical trauma in a faith-driven environment.

The visit comes as Bishop Martin continues efforts to tour and connect with Catholic nonprofits across western North Carolina, as he has done with other organizations throughout the diocese.

Elza Spaedy, director and founder of Healed and Restored and a parishioner at St. Mark Church, gave Bishop Martin a tour of the home, showing him the spaces where women receive care and support.

Spaedy, author of several books on healing from trauma, spoke with Bishop Martin about the organization’s core areas of focus: healing workshops that help women explore their personal stories to find healing, restoration and wholeness in Christ; a food pantry that provides assistance during times of need; and a boutique stocked with clothing and accessories for women receiving care.

Spaedy explained that many women disconnect from their faith after experiencing trauma. The organization works to help women heal through counseling and coaching so they can rebuild their lives.

“When we encounter women, we love them in their brokenness and guide them to the divine physician,” Spaedy said. “Why are we not bringing Christ into the healing of our mind, body and spirit?”

Later, Bishop Martin met over breakfast with Spaedy and her team to discuss their needs and how they might work together. Spaedy said the organization has helped hundreds of women heal but still needs to reach more survivors, 90% of whom are Hispanic.

To meet that need, Spaedy said the organization hopes to add more bilingual female counselors and explored possible ways to begin the effort with Bishop Martin.

“The need to have more bilingual counselors is huge for us right now,” Spaedy said. “We are so glad Bishop Martin had so many ideas for us. It’s beautiful, and I expected that from him.”

 — Brian Segovia