The second day of public sessions at the U.S. bishops’ spring plenary culminated with the much anticipated consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during a late afternoon Mass June 11 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe.

After concluding their public session agenda, the bishops left the Omni Resort in ChampionsGate for a half-hour drive up Interstate 4 to the spiritual refuge that is the shrine.

The Mass was a momentous one as it served to formally consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque — the French Visitation sister who experienced visions of Jesus revealing his Sacred Heart — were also present at the Mass, on loan from the Knights of Columbus for the consecration.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, incensed the altar after processing in from the thick humidity and cloudy skies of a typical Orlando afternoon outside the shrine. “Clothe us, Lord God, with the virtues of the heart of your son, and set us aflame with his love,” he prayed in opening the Mass.

The Sacred Heart reconciles divisions and transforms hardened hearts, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore said in his homily. He described consecration as an act of faith and acknowledgment of the need for God’s mercy, wisdom and guidance, and also an act of hope.

“To consecrate ourselves to the Sacred Heart is ultimately to accept Christ’s invitation to remain in His love and to allow that love to shape every aspect of our lives, public and private,” Archbishop Lori said. “It is a declaration that the future does not belong merely to political movements, economic forces, or human plans. The future belongs to God.”

Like the previous day, the June 11 public session began with prayer, followed by Archbishop Coakley congratulating two prelates on the anniversaries of their priestly ordinations:

• Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, the Italian-born apostolic nuncio to the U.S., who was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milan on June 11, 1983.
• Retired Bishop James A. Tamayo, first bishop of Laredo, Texas (2000-2026), who was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, on June 11, 1976.

Archbishop Coakley also noted the day marked the 75th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, who is “soon to be Blessed Fulton Sheen.” Appointed an auxiliary bishop for New York, he was ordained a bishop in Rome on June 11, 1951. Archbishop Sheen will be beatified Sept. 24 at a Mass in St. Louis.

In their first votes of the day, the bishops approved portions of two texts: a new edition of the Lectionary for Mass, which provides the Scripture readings and psalm for each day’s liturgy; and the 2025 Roman Missal-Liturgy of the Hours Supplement.

The bishops then approved several updates to their landmark document on protection policies for children and minors, seeking to define key terms while balancing care for victim-survivors with accused clergy’s right to a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.

The revisions, preliminarily introduced June 10 during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary assembly in Orlando, passed by a two-thirds vote June 11 after a period of debate.

The changes will keep the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” focused “exclusively” on clergy abuse of minors, with a new document being developed to address abuse involving vulnerable adults, said Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond, Virginia, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, in presenting the proposed revisions June 10.

Next, Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California, chairman of the bishops’ Subcommittee on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, addressed his fellow bishops about preparations for the 500th anniversary of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance to St. Juan Diego in five years. U.S. dioceses will be participating in the Novena Intercontinental Guadalupana (Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena).

Four years ago, the Mexican Episcopal Conference began a “Novena of Years” in anticipation of the quincentennial, and they have invited all dioceses throughout the Americas to join them for the remaining five years leading to the quincentennial.

Catechetical materials already being used in Mexico are in the process of being translated into English for use in the United States, Bishop Cantú said.

Bishop William A. Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee gave a presentation to the bishops on the Catholic Prison Ministry Coalition, urging his brother bishops to deepen their commitment to prison ministry. Joining him in the presentation was executive director Robert Cunningham, who highlighted the coalition’s mission to support ministry for people affected by incarceration and detention.

Bishop Wack said his own involvement in prison ministry began during seminary formation as a Holy Cross priest, even though the work initially intimidated him. He started in youth detention facilities, later serving in jails and prisons and completing clinical pastoral education at a federal prison in California. Those experiences, he said, helped confirm his vocation to religious life and the priesthood.

As a bishop, administrative demands gradually reduced his prison visits. But a letter from a local prison prompted a change. The inmate wrote, “We need a shepherd,” reminding him that incarcerated people remain part of the Church’s flock.

Auxiliary Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt of Hartford, Connecticut, speaking on behalf of a USCCB task force on the ongoing implementation of synodality in the life of the Church, provided the bishops June 11 with an update on recent consultations on synodality with members of the episcopacy.

Experiences of synodality in dioceses presently include assessments of Mass times, workload of priests, resource allocation (including parish mergers and closures), opportunities for diocesan staff to gather for prayer, reflection and learning, as well as transfer from business-minded ethos to mission.

Looking ahead to the next phase of the synodal path for the universal Church, which includes national, continental and universal synodal assemblies for implementation of the final document of the synods on synodality approved by Pope Francis and made an official part of his magisterium.

In preparation for these assemblies, Bishop Betancourt noted that a delegation from the USCCB will be meeting with officials at the Vatican’s General Secretariat of the Synod.

Later, as the bishops gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, President Donald Trump issued a statement acknowledging the U.S. Catholic Church’s consecration of the country to the Sacred Heart for its 250th anniversary.

Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump joined their prayers with the bishops. He called the consecration “a powerful moment in our national story and a poignant reminder that America has always been guided by the loving hand of God.”

“Even in the centuries before the United States was conceived in nationhood, America was a land of prayer, a place of miracles, and home to some of the most faithful and devoted Christians to ever live,” Trump said.

He noted the role of Catholics in the formation of this country, particularly Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, and his cousin Charles Carroll, one of the Founding Fathers.

“We pray that America will continue for the next 250 years, and beyond,” Trump said, “to be a land of faith, a country of miracles, and a light and glory to all nations.”

Contributing to this story were Julie Asher, Gina Christian, Jean Gonzalez, Michael R. Heinlein and Tony Gutiérrez.

Before the consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Archbishop Bernard Hebda told the U.S. bishops during an assembly that suffering experienced in the Twin Cities cannot be undone.   

Such suffering included a shooting during an all-school Mass at Annunciation in Minneapolis Aug. 27, taking the lives of students Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel, and the deaths of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and “the young mom, Nicole Amor, from our area who was killed in a drone strike in Kuwait while serving our country.” 

“As much as Bishop (Michael) Izen and Bishop (Kevin) Kenney, the priests of our archdiocese and I would desire to undo the tragic events … we cannot,” Archbishop Hebda said.  

The USCCB’s annual Spring Plenary Assembly was held in Orlando, Florida, June 10-12. The bishops consecrated the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus June 11 to coincide with the nation’s semiquincentennial. Archbishop Hebda spoke to his fellow bishops during an assembly before the Mass. 

“Brothers, the reality is that even the hearts of bishops can be hardened. Sometimes it’s because of sin, sometimes it’s because of neglect or laziness. Soon-to-be beatified Bishop Fulton Sheen noted that physical idleness deteriorates the mind. Spiritual idleness deteriorates the heart. But sometimes the hardness is a result of a choice that we make to put up walls.” 

Painful situations in ministry can lead priests and bishops to put up barriers, the archbishop said, in order to be strong for others.  

“But often it’s just to insulate ourselves from feeling pain,” Archbishop Hebda said. “Whether that be the pain of a brother priest struggling in his vocation, or of a family grieving the tragic loss of a child, or of a survivor sharing an experience from their childhood of abuse. The crustiness of our heart might help us to get through the day, but it does nothing to communicate to others the love that pours forth from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And isn’t that what our sisters and brothers need most? That encounter with the love of a God who made himself vulnerable for us, who truly holds out to us, as in St. Margaret Mary’s vision, his beating wounded heart, and who desires to walk with us in his suffering.” 

Archbishop Hebda said that “we can bring those who are hurting” to the Sacred Heart of Jesus “to have their hearts enlivened by the one who knew suffering like none other, the one to whom we are consecrating our nation this afternoon.” 

Archbishop Hebda said that to be conduits for that love, “we have to be willing to hold out our hearts no matter how painful,” and “demonstrate how our hearts have first been molded, softened and enlivened by an encounter with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” 

“If we approach the heart of Jesus on fire with his love, it’s going to set even our dry or hardened hearts on fire,” Archbishop Hebda said. 

President Donald Trump June 11 called the U.S. Catholic bishops’ consecration of the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for its 250th anniversary “a powerful moment in our national story and a poignant reminder that America has always been guided by the loving hand of God.”

“(First lady) Melania and I join in prayer with Catholic Bishops gathered in Orlando, Florida,” he said in a statement issued as the bishops celebrated a Mass of consecration at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando.

The Mass was celebrated after the bishops concluded the second of two days of public sessions during their June 10-12 spring plenary.

“Even in the centuries before the United States was conceived in nationhood, America was a land of prayer, a place of miracles, and home to some of the most faithful and devoted Christians to ever live,” Trump said.

“From the heroic bands of Christian missionaries, settlers, and explorers who tamed the unknown to spread the Gospel to the priests, chaplains, and churchgoers who forged our spirit in every generation since, the love of Jesus Christ has stood at the center of our identity and way of life,” the president continued.

He noted the role of Catholics in the formation of this country, particularly Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, who “consecrated our young Republic to Mary, the Mother of God,” and his cousin Charles Carroll, one of the Founding Fathers and the only Catholic to have signed the Declaration of Independence.

Trump invoked the memory of St. John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan, contemporaries whose “moral leadership” in their respective church and state spheres of influence, vanquished “the godless forces of Soviet communism” so the “human spirit” could triumph.

The feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, on June 12, “fittingly marks the anniversary of one of the most momentous days in Western civilization’s long twilight struggle against atheistic communism,” Trump said.

On June 12, 1987, in a historic address at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Reagan “famously implored Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” Trump said.

On the same day, St. John Paul addressed youth in his native Poland, recalling the Battle of Westerplatte and the Polish soldiers who resisted Nazi Germany in 1939. They became a national symbol of courage and fidelity, Trump said. A force of just over 200 Polish soldiers held out for seven days against over 3,000 German soldiers.

The pope challenged the Polish youth to each find their own personal “Westerplatte,” which he described as “some rightful cause for which one cannot avoid fighting. … A just cause that you cannot simply fail to fight for.”

“Nearly four decades later, our Nation and our culture confront a new set of menacing ideologies seeking once again to cast God out from our society,” Trump said.

As the bishops consecrated the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus “in this 250th year of our Independence, we recommit ourselves, like President Reagan and Pope Saint John Paul II, to defending our spiritual identity and great civilizational inheritance,” Trump said.

“Above all, we pray that America will continue for the next 250 years, and beyond, to be a land of faith, a country of miracles, and a light and glory to all nations,” Trump concluded.

Long before Father Kyle Kowalczyk was appointed pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Delano, he developed a talent for writing plays and screenplays in high school and college. After college, he joined a Hollywood-based program called Act One, a collective of Christian entertainment professionals training Christian writers and producers.

“It was started by a Catholic woman named Barbara Nicolosi,” Father Kowalczyk said. “The problem she saw was that Christians don’t make good art. They don’t write good movies and scripts, because nobody’s ever taught them how, and so we relinquish the world of entertainment to (others).”

In a rigorous course schedule, Father Kowalczyk attended class from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day for a month. Then, Father Kowalczyk was assigned a mentor, someone who had graduated from the program. That mentor was Haynes Brooke, who let Father Kowalczyk read a screenplay he wrote called “Longshot.”

“I just fell in love with the story,” Father Kowalczyk said. “It was so good, it was so powerful, so profound that 10 years later, I still remembered it very fondly. And at that point, I had started getting back into playwriting and producing plays, and so I wanted to make it happen.”

“Moonshot: A Statistically Insignificant Musical” — formerly “Longshot” — tells the story of Melvin, an actuary who helps others avoid risk and faces the harsh reality of a life-altering health diagnosis. He finally takes a chance on all the things he’s missed out on. The second star of the show is Christa, played by Gabi Schafer, who is someone Melvin “can’t write off,” according to the show’s synopsis.

Father Kowalczyk, co-founder and director of mission for the St. Paul-based Catholic theater company Missed the Boat Theatre, reached out to Brooke 10 years ago and received permission to adapt the screenplay for the stage. It was brought to life during the 2025 New Works Festival hosted at Missed the Boat Theatre, in which four plays are read dramatically onstage in front of the playwright, director and an audience.

“It was just a screenplay that was never going to see the light of day. But now that I was doing theater, I could actually bring this to life,” Father Kowalczyk said.

“Moonshot” is showing on two weekends, June 18-21 and June 25-27 at the Helene Houle Auditorium at St. Agnes. Tickets can be purchased at the Missed the Boat Theatre website.

But bringing “Longshot” to the stage was “no easy task,” he said. Screenplays are written differently than stage plays.

“I had to do a lot of tweaking, and then of course 20 years had gone by,” Father Kowalczyk said. “(T)imes have changed, so I had to change a lot of things there to make it more believable for today.”

One change was to the script’s title. After deliberation, “Longshot” was changed to “Moonshot” — a word coined by President John F. Kennedy, playing off the word longshot, meaning an ambitious project meant to solve a massive problem.

“As the script went on, ‘Longshot’ just didn’t feel right anymore.” Father Kowalczyk said. “So, we had five options of what the title could be, and we solicited the cast and the crew, and we all voted on it. We narrowed it down.”

The finalists were “Longshot,” “Moonshot” and “One in a Billion.”

One of the older crew members, who is around 50 years old, remembered JFK’s use of moonshot.

“Now it just feels right,” Father Kowalczyk said. “Nobody second guesses it.”

Ellie Wagner, Missed the Boat’s marketing and communications director, said part of her role is boiling a story down into one picture, one title. She said the title works well because it asks the question, “The biggest dream possible, what would it be?”

“You have to think about God’s hand in your life,” Wagner said. “Those two characters (Melvin and Christa) — this show is about them opening up to that — I actually believe that I can be given my moonshot, and that’s not in my control. … I think it’s really resonated in a way with the actors that I think only the title “Moonshot” could have.”

Though Father Kowalczyk is not the original writer of “Moonshot,” Father Kowalczyk has grown to love the story. The original writer, Brooke, is flying out from Los Angeles to see the show this summer. Father Kowalczyk said that he, Brooke and Chad Berg, the musical’s composer, will be watching the musical opening night together for the first time.

Berg was in Missed the Boat Theatre’s first play, CYA, as the character Tyler. Father Kowalczyk said that sometime after that show, Berg approached him and said he’d be interested in composing any future projects the theatre would create. At the time, Father Kowalczyk was beginning to think about adapting Longshot and said, “As a matter of fact, I do.”

“He shot me a possible song, I loved it, and we were off and running,” Father Kowalczyk said. “I’ve known this story for so long, and to watch it take a life of its own is so rewarding and life giving,” Father Kowalczyk said. “It’s neat to bring other people into the process and have the actors saying the lines and saying them maybe a little differently than you had thought, but it’s actually better than what you thought. The director (and) the way he envisioned the scene is different than (how) you envisioned it, but it’s actually better than you envisioned it.”

A CATHOLIC FAMILY

Michael Koester, a part-time actor, drives about two hours from his home in New Ulm to portray the lead character Melvin in “Moonshot: A Statistically Insignificant Musical” a new production of Missed the Boat Theatre at St. Agnes School in St. Paul.

Koester, a teacher at Cathedral High School in New Ulm and a convert to the Catholic faith in 2018, first experienced Missed the Boat during a performance of “Catholic Young Adults: The Musical” (CYA).

“It was right after our first child was born,” Koester said. “I found a picture the other day of us with our first child going to see CYA.”

Koester never dreamed he would perform in a show with Missed the Boat Theatre, given the distance from New Ulm.

“Two hours up, two hours back. That’s seven hours out of my day that Dad’s away,” Koester said.

Plus, his sixth child, Walter, was due. Walter came early from an emergency C-section performed in the Twin Cities. After the operation, Koester’s wife, Christina Miller Koester, looked at him and asked, “Did they post the cast list?”

“(It) was about a month in (the) NICU, and I visited as much as I could, so my first commute over a month was actually going to visit my sixth child and my wife, not for the show,” Koester said.

He said the “Moonshot” cast and production staff became family during this time. Father Kowalczyk baptized Walter in the NICU.

“We have a picture of him being baptized by the writer (of ‘Moonshot’),” Koester said.

Koester said he experienced so much love and support from the Missed the Boat Theatre cast and crew that he saw them as a Catholic family, not just a theater group.

“This is first a Catholic family, but they all happen to be doing theater,” Koester said. “I didn’t realize that until halfway through rehearsals. That was something that the Holy Spirit planted in my life that said, this is more unique than any other show I’ve done, because it’s not just the show, it’s the company that makes it worth it in the end, the two-hour drive. They could be doing whatever.”

Praying for unity, promoting human dignity and entrusting the state and nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Father Paul Shovelain led a Eucharistic procession over a bridge that spans one of the busiest highway interchanges in Minnesota.

The pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton held the monstrance high June 10 as adorers gathered on a bridge on Lake Valentine Road that spans Interstate 35W near Interstate 694.

The procession helped open a 40-hour devotion by the parish with Masses and prayers including the Liturgy of the Hours, rosaries and Chaplets of Divine Mercy that were set to culminate with an 8:30 a.m. Mass June 12 and a consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The interstate exchange is the second busiest in Minnesota, said Father Shovelain, community and public safety chaplain for New Brighton. Interstate 35W also is a symbol of unity for the country as it stretches from Duluth to Laredo, Texas, he said.

“We wanted to pray for the nation, travelers and the state,” Father Shovelain said.

The Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul will include a prayer consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at its 5:15 p.m. June 12 Mass, followed by a picnic. Registration for the picnic is at cathedralsaintpaul.org/sacred-heart-celebration-picnic.

The devotions coincided with the U.S. bishops’ June 11 national consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the country celebrates its 250th anniversary. The bishops encouraged all parishes and dioceses to hold similar consecrations.

In preparation for the 500th anniversary of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance to St. Juan Diego in five years, the dioceses of the U.S. will be participating in the Novena Intercontinental Guadalupana (Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena).

Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, chairman of the bishops’ Subcommittee on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, addressed his fellow bishops June 11 during their spring plenary, sharing that one theologian had referred to Our Lady of Guadalupe as the “Queen of Marian Apparitions.”
Franciscan Father Stefano Cecchin, president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, told the bishop during a conference in Mexico City earlier this year that other apparitions talked about the rosary, repentance or unity of the family.

“But the message in Guadalupe included an entire array of theological messages that included ecclesiology, Christology, the role of the laity, the role of the hierarchy, enculturation,” Bishop Cantú recalled Father Cecchin telling him.

Four years ago, the Mexican Episcopal Conference began a “Novena of Years” in anticipation of the quincentennial, and they have invited all dioceses throughout the Americas to join them for the remaining five years leading to the quincentennial.

“There is much depth to be plumbed for us in our dioceses and our communities in these five years that remain for this novena,” Bishop Cantú said.

The bishop proposed a three-phase plan of pastoral activity. During the first phase, every ordinary will receive a replica of the tilma worn by Juan Diego to be used for veneration in cathedrals or other designated churches. The tilma will have been touched to the original, making it a third-class relic, and it could also journey to different parishes within the diocese.

Catechetical materials already being used in Mexico are in the process of being translated into English for use in the United States.

The National Eucharistic Congress in summer 2029 will kick off the second phase, which will include parish “Encuentros Guadalupanos” through 2031. The third phase would be the national celebration and would continue to the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus’ death and resurrection in 2033.

After the presentation, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio commented about how Our Lady of Gaudalupe can be a source of evangelization.

“This relationship with Our Lady of Guadalupe promotes the culture of life, promotes the reality of immigrants — not only from the South but immigrants in general — and also the relationship of the Church and the Blessed Mother with the poor,” Archbishop García-Siller said.

Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix shared that his diocese implemented a seven-year plan two years ago called “TILMA” to build a culture of evangelization leading up to the quincentennial.

“This is an excellent opportunity for us to invite people to take ownership of the call to evangelize,” he said. “It would be good for us to put Our Lady Guadalupe out there and ask her to lead us in this mission toward a culture of effective and sustainable evangelization.”

Recalling St. John Paul II’s 1999 apostolic exhortation “Ecclesia in America,” Bishop Cantú reflected on the description of Guadalupe as an “example of perfectly inculturated evangelization.”

“Those are words that should echo in our hearts as we seek to evangelize our own churches in the United States.”

Tony Gutierrez is an OSV News correspondent based in Texas.

In recent years, the U.S. housing crunch has turned into a housing crisis, particularly among economically vulnerable Americans, with the U.S. Catholic bishops expressing significant concern about the consequences for families.

According to a March 2026 report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “Only 35 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. Extremely low-income renters face a shortage in every state and major metropolitan area.”

Those hoping to buy a house seemingly don’t fare much better, with the National Association of Home Builders sharing data from March 2025 indicating “76.4 million households — 57% out of a total of 134.3 million — are unable to afford a $300,000 home.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops echoed the urgency of both organizations in a May 21 letter to Congress co-signed by Archbishop Sheldon J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, chair of its Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA; and John Berry, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s National Council of the United States.

“Our nation is faced with an affordable housing crisis that sees no sign of improvement,” the letter stated. It added, “Only one out of every four income-eligible households receive housing assistance. This leaves less room in family budgets for other necessities like food, healthcare, childcare, and transportation.”

Further noting an “alarming rise in homelessness” and wages that “have failed to keep up with rising housing costs and inflation,” the USCCB letter included a federal call to action: “Current federal investments in housing programs do not meet the great need we see in our country. Ultimately, we urge you to provide the highest level of funding possible for housing and community development programs serving families and individuals who are poor and vulnerable.”

However, as Congress nears possible bipartisan passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — which is predicted to be signed by President Donald Trump, and includes 56 provisions related to housing supply; manufactured, veteran and rural housing; mortgage financing; and community banking — policy experts differ with each other in their assessments of, and suggested solutions to, America’s affordable housing needs.

“Something you might hear echoed from our partners at Catholic Charities and at St. Vincent de Paul — people implementing programs on the ground — is that we have programs that work; that make a real difference in people’s lives,” Julie Bodnar, a policy advisor for the USCCB’s domestic justice committee, told OSV News. “They need to be scaled up to meet this need.”

Part of that scaling up requirement, Bodnar emphasized, actually means just keeping up.

“Even keeping a flat funding rate is a cut — because housing costs are constantly rising. And keeping these programs going, those costs go up every year because of inflation,” she said. “So even a flat funding isn’t going to keep the same number of people housed.”

“There’s not enough affordable housing that’s available to those with the lowest incomes,” added Bodnar. “More people than ever are spending more than 30% of their income on housing — and that’s true for both homeowners and renters.”

In 2023, the federal government spent $67 billion on housing assistance, or just over 1% of total federal outlays. About 80% of its support for housing is through low-income rental assistance programs.

The Catholic Church, through all its ministries, is one of the largest private providers of housing services for people in poverty and other vulnerable situations in the U.S., with Church teaching strongly defending the right to housing as a matter of human dignity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and ensure especially … the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing, and the right to emigrate.”

In his 1987 encyclical “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis”, St. John Paul II said “the lack of housing” should be seen as “a sign and summing-up of a whole series of shortcomings: economic, social, cultural or simply human in nature.”

Pope Francis also wrote in his 2016 apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” that families have “the right to decent housing, fitting for family life and commensurate to the number of members, in a physical environment that provides the basic services for the life of the family and the community.”

“It’s always been a crisis,” Berry, with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, told OSV News. “I think people are just maybe in a sense waking up to it now. But in the past, when it was a crunch, it wasn’t a crunch. It was still a crisis.”

Reflecting on the neighborhood of his youth, Berry’s assessment was blunt.

“I grew up on Long Island — and I don’t know how anybody who lives on Long Island, who’s graduated from college or is coming out of high school into a trade, could ever expect to own a house there,” he said. “The prices are just insane.”

In 2024, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA provided over $78 million in rental assistance to prevent evictions, assist people in securing permanent housing through the Motel to Home program, and house thousands of men, women, and children in shelters and transitional housing.

But the dilemma persists.

“It’s an outcome of a multi-tiered problem with income disparity, and it’s a lack of available property,” Berry said. “There’s been a lack of a coordinated, bipartisan approach to what do we do about these issues that are all interrelated.”

Independent investigative reporting outlet ProPublica was recently critical of the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which provides up to $15 billion worth of tax credits a year nationally to help developers build apartments.

ProPublica’s June 3 report noted the tax credit has created “housing that’s often no more affordable than the market rate,” an outcome that has left subsidized units vacant. It cited Portland, Oregon, with nearly 2,000 vacant unused subsidized units as one example that can also be seen in Denver, Seattle and San Francisco.

“Economists and other academic researchers have been warning for decades,” ProPublica noted, “that this was precisely the sort of problem that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit was likely to create.”

Edward Pinto, a senior fellow and co-director of the AEI Housing Center at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, would not count himself among those surprised. Nor, though he had just met with Catholic Charities USA, does he agree with the USCCB’s conclusions in its letter.

“If one starts talking about — as this letter does — that the supply of affordable housing fails to meet the need, especially among people with very low and extremely low incomes, wages that don’t keep up with rising housing costs, that’s all true. But it varies tremendously as to where you’re living. One-size-fits-all solutions — as are being proposed here — in our opinion, are not the solution.”

AEI’s June 2 Housing Market Indicators report has this take-away: “The winning frame is smaller, more attainable starter homes — built gradually, on smaller lots, near jobs, and by homeowners and small builders.”

“We think the solution lies with the states,” Pinto told OSV News. “They can move the needle on land use; they can implement the mantra of smaller lots; and they can implement the mantra of more starter homes.”

He said, “The solution is for the government to get out of the way, not more money. That is our basic message.”

Underscoring the gravity of the crisis, the lack of affordable housing may also mean fewer marriages and families, according to a March 2025 report from the Institute for Family Studies.

“Among young adults under age 35, homeownership rates have fallen by almost half since the 1970s,” it noted. “This young adult housing affordability crisis is a major factor suppressing rates of marriage and fertility in the United States, thus imperiling the health, happiness, and long-term demographic outlook for the entire country.”

“If I were the conference of bishops,” Pinto said, “I’d be saying, ‘Let’s have more single family homes. Let’s have more single family rentals. Let’s have more families. Let’s have more marriage.’ That’s what I’d be saying.”

Kimberley Heatherington is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Virginia.

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. bishops are consecrating the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus June 11 in Orlando.

The special Mass of consecration will be livestreamed from the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ YouTube channel, starting at 3 p.m. CDT.

“The bishops’ livestream event is intended to be a catalyst to encourage parishes and individuals to participate in the America 250 commemoration by contributing to 250 Hours of Adoration and/or 250 Works of Mercy,” said a USCCB news release.

In addition, the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque — the French Visitation sister who experienced visions of Jesus revealing his Sacred Heart — will be present with the U.S. bishops in Orlando at the Mass of consecration.

The relics were flown from Paris to New York June 2 and will remain in the U.S. until September. The Knights of Columbus escorted the historic relics to Orlando for the consecration Mass.

The act of consecration is a significant matter. In consecrating the nation, several theologians said, the bishops aim to place the U.S. under the care of Jesus Christ’s Sacred Heart and renew the country’s orientation toward God.

“Consecration is something that is first and foremost a sacred act,” said Scott Hahn, a biblical scholar at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.

“Secondly, it relates our whole life to our Lord and to the communion of saints. And so it also is something that is rooted and grounded in the notion of covenant,” he said.

Hahn added, “It seems to me that we’ve got to recover the notion of covenant in terms of the sacred kinship bonds that unite us to God, not just as our creator, but as our father.”

Timothy O’Malley, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, emphasized that consecration is “not some sort of magic,” but is “actually to make something sacred, quite literally, to bring it to God.” R. Jared Staudt, a Catholic educator, also said consecration “orders something to God, to help it to realize its purpose.”

He said all creation is meant to give glory to God, and consecration directs people toward that end.

The USCCB also has encouraged Catholics to participate in initiatives including a collective 250 hours of Eucharistic adoration and 250 works of mercy. To celebrate the occasion, “America 250,” the initiatives encourage prayer for the unity and healing of the U.S., according to a USCCB resource guide.

Minneapolis city officials now estimate “Operation Metro Surge” had a $700 million financial impact in the city from December 2025 into April 2026.

The 53-page “Updated Assessment and Recovery Needs Overview” updates preliminary findings in the 38-page “Preliminary Impact Assessment & Relief Needs Overview” that was released by Minneapolis city officials on Feb. 13. Compilers of the updated report stated it is “best read as an updated, more comprehensive impact assessment, rather than a percent change from the previous report.”

“Today, we are releasing a report that shows a greater extent of the damage,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during a June 10 news conference about the latest report’s release. “The impact was felt far beyond those who were directly targeted — we’re talking about businesses that lost customers, workers that lost wages, families that struggled to put food on the table, mental health distress, children that missed meals and were unable to attend school, and then of course people that had delayed medical support.”

The preliminary report’s analysis timeframe started in December 2025, with the majority of data collected in January 2026, and indicated a $203.1 million financial impact. The report analyzed four “priority sectors” serving the community’s most important needs: “food, livelihood assistance, shelter assistance and mental health services.” Respectively, the preliminary report determined the monthly impact to those four sectors as being more than $9.7 million, roughly $171.1 million, roughly $15.7 million, and between roughly $522,780 and $2.4 million. Meanwhile, Minneapolis officials estimated at the time that more than $6 million was spent in one month to support city staff and police overtime and operational expenses.

Now, city officials said the updated report determined the following from December 2025 to April 2026: the monthly impact to food security was roughly $8.7 million (with a roughly $26.1 million overall impact); the overall impact to the livelihood sector was more than $607 million; the overall impact to the shelter sector was roughly $62.8 million; and the overall impact to the health sector was roughly $7.4 million. Additionally, the updated report indicated the overall impact on youth and education — primarily in Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) — was roughly $2.1 million. Within the report’s timeframe, the impact to city operations from January through February was more than $9.7 million (including roughly $8.7 million in police overtime), while the overall impact to city protection was recorded as “unknown.”

Launched Dec. 1, 2025, in the Twin Cities metro area, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s “Operation Metro Surge” marked a time of increased immigration enforcement actions that involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were also present.

During the course of Operation Metro Surge — which included the deaths of 37-year-old Renee Good and 37-year-old Alex Pretti, both of Minneapolis — Archbishop Bernard Hebda responded with a call for prayers. During a Votive Mass for the Preservation of Peace on Jan. 24, the archbishop reminded the faithful that “there are so many ways in which we’re able to bring that light of Christ in concrete ways; first of all, just by being a good neighbor, open to our brothers and sisters and the needs that they have.” Catholic leaders and community members also responded amid increased immigration enforcement actions by connecting those in need with rent and food assistance resources. Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney — pastor of St. Olaf in Minneapolis and vicar for Latino Ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — said, “(W)e’ve seen many, many, many Minnesotans from all different walks of life step up to help their neighbor, to love their neighbor, to protect their neighbor and that’s the beauty of who we are.”

On Feb. 12, U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan announced that Operation Metro Surge was to draw to a close.

Examples of sector impacts

Within the affected sectors, as examples, the updated report estimated the $8.7 million monthly grocery cost for “newly food-insecure households” between December 2025 and March 2026, based on “a $1,092 monthly cost for a typical two-person household.”

The updated report indicated lost wages for workers were estimated to be just under $152.8 million between December 2025 and March 2026. Business revenue loss totaled just under $444.9 million; hotels and hospitality losses totaled roughly $9.3 million, according to the report, and construction losses totaled roughly $100,000.

Both the preliminary and updated reports indicated a $15.7 million monthly rent assistance need.

Meanwhile, based on responses from MPS and 17 voluntary responses from private and charter schools surveyed by Minneapolis’ Emergency Management Department, student mental health needs “rose significantly” during the updated report’s analysis timeframe.

“Private and charter schools reported that many students stayed home for weeks at a time due to fear, anxiety, and uncertainty” and students “displayed signs of trauma, including withdrawal, hypervigilance, and heightened emotional reactivity,” the updated report stated.

Looking to ‘what comes next’

“These numbers matter because they help tell the story of exactly what happened, but they also help guide what comes next,” Frey said during the news conference about the updated report’s findings.

Recommendations in the updated report include encouraging service providers in the city to implement “trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically responsive” practices; strengthen “workforce well-being and operational capacity” across affected sectors; expand access to legal assistance; identify state, federal and private funding for long-term recovery; and help workers who experienced wage loss.

“The city has already put forward $10 million in emergency rental assistance and business support to help local entrepreneurs,” Frey said. “(C)ollectively, between the city, the county, the state and yes, the federal government, we’re going to need to show that compassion in real dollars.”

“(O)ur city has already taken steps to help neighbors and visitors,” said Rachel Sayre, director of the Emergency Management Department for Minneapolis, which led the assessment that resulted in the updated report. During the news conference, Sayre highlighted the city’s Small Business Resiliency Fund and emergency rent assistance efforts.

To compile the updated report, city officials used data collected from city records, the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey, surveys conducted by Minneapolis officials and partner organizations, public “reporting and reports,” and conversations with community groups.

Acknowledging data limitations and Operation Metro Surge’s “complex situation,” the updated report stated “there may be multiple, confounding factors impacting these results.” The report also recognized a need for further analysis to determine the more precise impacts of Operation Metro Surge separate from any broader economic trends.

Bishop Alan McGuckian of Down and Connor denounced rioters who have targeted migrants following a second night of violent protests in Belfast and parts of Northern Ireland.

“Shame on all those who have sought to mobilize, agitate, weaponize and politicize the fear and concerns of others over the last few days,” Bishop McGuckian said in a statement sent to OSV News June 11.

“All of us have a responsibility to de-escalate societal tension rather than stoke the flames of racism,” wrote the bishop who also serves as chair of the Council for Migrants, Refugees and Justice and Peace of the Irish bishops’ conference.

According to BBC News, the violent riots broke out June 9 following the arrest of Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese refugee who was charged with attempted murder after he attacked a man, Stephen Ogilvie, with a kitchen knife.

Ogilvie is currently in an induced coma and in stable condition, his family said.

The attack sparked outrage, prompting many to take to the streets in violent protest and burn vehicles throughout Belfast. Several news outlets reported that masked men took to the streets, chanting “foreigners out” and setting fire to the homes of migrant residents.

Witnesses reported that the majority of those attacked were targeted by rioters for being the same skin color as Alodid.

Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, said there was “no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight.”

“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” O’Neill said, according to Reuters.

In a statement published June 10 by Northern Ireland Police, Olgivie’s family said they felt “disgusted by the scenes” of violent rioting.

“We want to make it absolutely clear that to do this in response is not supported by our family, and peaceful protest is only ever the way forward,” the statement read. “We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including from within our healthcare system and hospitality sector, and we depend on them to make our country work.”

The family said it did not want Olgivie’s attack “to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”

“Do not do this in the name of our loved one as we do not share the same values,” the family said.

Bishop McGuckian said he was praying for Ogilvie’s recovery, and paid tribute to his family’s “appeal for calm as they support Stephen.”

Noting the devastating scenes of rioting in Belfast, the bishop lamented the feelings of people who “are now living in terror, for themselves and for their children.”

While noting that society has a responsibility to address “the real and tangible community concerns regarding safety and accountability,” the riots and continued attacks against migrants “will not resolve any underlying issues, and violence will have to give way to dialogue and engagement.”

“As a society, we in Northern Ireland have journeyed too far on the road to reconciliation and paid too high a price in a legacy of suffering to risk retreating into conflict and racial oppression,” he wrote.

The civil unrest in Northern Ireland was among several issues addressed June 10 by Irish bishops gathered at St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth for their annual summer general assembly.

“Bishops prayed for peace and that the sacred dignity of each human person would be upheld by all,” a statement from the Irish bishops’ conference read.

In their statement, the bishops of Ireland said the attacks against the homes and businesses of migrants were “all the more disconcerting.”

“The true measure of a just society is one which effectively welcomes newcomers, combats racism and rejects divisive political rhetoric,” the statement said.

Although the second night of riots was less intense, water cannons and armored vehicles were deployed against several dozen rioters who were throwing bricks, Molotov cocktails and setting off fireworks.

According to The Irish Independent, 12 police officers were injured and 16 rioters were arrested June 10.

The Irish bishops concluded their statement, calling “for support for the police and for community leaders throughout the summer months.”

Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News.