Blessed Stanley Rother’s witness in the face of persecution in Guatemala hits home, said Gaby Damasceno, who has family in Nicaragua where the Church is facing increased persecution.

“We still have an uncle over there, and we see how hard it is, especially with kids and raising families over there,” Damasceno said. “We’re turning to (Blessed Stanley) for his help. Seeing the work and the love that he’s done with Guatemala, it’s a light into what’s going on in Nicaragua right now.”

Damasceno and her husband Pietro attended the Blessed Stanley Rother Feast Day Mass at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine July 28 ahead of the premiere of the documentary on Blessed Stanley’s life later that evening. The documentary was released in theaters nationwide in both English and Spanish Aug. 25-27.

With a social media following through Gaby Damasceno’s small Catholic home décor company Gabrielle Isabel, the couple, who attend St. Ann Parish in Coppell, Texas, had been invited to help promote the film.

“It really is a really meaningful story to me,” Pietro Damasceno said of Blessed Stanley’s life. “It’s not easy to make a documentary and to get promotion, which is important. So we love to just be able to contribute to that.”

The Mass readings for the feast day recounted Samuel’s anointing of David, drawing parallels with Blessed Stanley. After Samuel had met the physically impressive seven older sons of Jesse, the prophet was told by the Lord to anoint instead the youngest brother, the ruddy shepherd David, as the new king over Israel.

“The one that the Lord chose was not the obvious one. That’s one of the things that struck me,” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City told OSV News. “Stanley was a good man, ordinary guy, but may not have stood out in a crowd as the Lord’s Anointed. God’s ways are not our ways; God’s ways are mysterious. He chooses whom he will.”

When Blessed Stanley first arrived in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, in 1968, other members of the mission team looked down on him because they didn’t consider him to be “up-to-date theologically” or sophisticated on matters concerning the Church.

“But Father Rother gave his life and his heart for his people. He was the one of that original mission team that persevered to the end, persevered to the point of shedding his blood,” Archbishop Coakley said in his homily that day.

Blessed Stanley, the archbishop said, was given little chance of being ordained by his first seminary because of his failure to master Latin. Reminiscent of Pentecost, however, after arriving in Guatemala Blessed Stanley mastered not only Spanish, but became “more proficient than any of the other missionaries on the team in the intricacies of Tz’utujil, an obscure Mayan dialect,” the archbishop said.

While in Guatemala, not only did Blessed Stanley learn the native language, but he also opened a health clinic, created farm and craft co-ops, trained catechists and established a radio station in Tz’utujil to evangelize the people in their own language.

The fact that Blessed Stanley struggled in seminary serves as a source of inspiration for seminarians and priests today, the archbishop told OSV News. While there are still a few priests who knew Father Rother personally, younger priests and seminarians are continuing to get to know him today.

“We have a new generation of young priests that didn’t know him and were not around, so we’re trying to acquaint a new generation of priests and seminarians with Blessed Stanley because his is a life worthy of studying and a witness and an example worthy to be imitated,” he said. “There’s a great deal of interest and pride among the priests and seminarians here in Oklahoma regarding Blessed Stanley Rother — he’s one of our own. He’s a red dirt Catholic.”

Delaney Schmidt — a parishioner of St. Damien Parish in Edmond, Oklahoma, who moved to the state from Colorado in January — brought her 10-month-old son Augustine to the feast day Mass with her. As a Catholic convert, she explained why she looks to the witness of martyrs such as Blessed Stanley.

“I definitely faced opposition from my family and friends who didn’t understand,” Schmidt said of her journey into the Catholic Church from non-denominational Christianity. “Taking that small bit of inspiration from him who gave up his life for the Church, I think that’s really inspiring for me.”

The Catholic Spirit covered two episodes of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show that premiered Aug. 14. Both episodes discuss Blessed Stanley Rother.

Archbishop Hebda tells story of Blessed Stanley Rother

In 2017 interview, Archbishop Flynn recounted knowing Blessed Stanley Rother

The Vatican foreign minister urged Russian officials to end their war with Ukraine and to begin negotiations with the help of the international community.

“The position of the Holy See remains clear: the conflict cannot be resolved by military means,” said Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, at an Aug. 25 press conference in Moscow alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“It is essential to create the conditions for a serious political and diplomatic process,” the archbishop said. “The Holy See urges both parties to demonstrate openness and goodwill so that such dialogue can become a reality as soon as possible.”

“Let us be clear: this war must end,” Archbishop Gallagher said.

The bilateral meeting in Moscow was the first high-level meeting of Archbishop Gallagher’s four-day visit to Russia. The meeting was the first between Archbishop Gallagher and Lavrov in five years. The Vatican foreign minister last visited Moscow in 2021.

Before delivering their statements to the press, Archbishop Gallagher spoke with Lavrov for more than an hour at a meeting that was also attended by Archbishop Giovanni d’Aniello, the apostolic nuncio to Russia, Vatican News reported.

Addressing the members of the press, Lavrov described the talks with Archbishop Gallagher as “comprehensive” and “substantive,” while noting that despite “fundamental changes in the geopolitical landscape,” relations between the Vatican and Russia “remain trusting, friendly, and pragmatic.”

However, the Russian foreign minister took the opportunity to criticize Europe’s support for Ukraine, which he called “the Kyiv regime.”

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, an escalation of a conflict that began in 2014 with the Russian annexation of Crimea. Russia’s war on Ukraine has been described as genocidal in character in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, with Russia continuously attacking civilian infrastructure and targets since their invasion started.

In his statement, Archbishop Gallagher focused on his “constructive” conversation with Lavrov, stressing that “in an international context marked with deep tensions, meeting and discussing matters together with clarity already constitutes a sign of responsible action.”

“Dialogue does not eliminate differences of opinion or approach, but it does prevent incomprehension and suspicion from becoming the only language available to us,” the archbishop said.

Both sides, he continued, agreed on the need to “keep the channels of communication open,” as well as the protection of civilians and “the importance of pursuing collaboration on humanitarian issues.”

The Vatican foreign minister also noted that he and Lavrov had “an extensive exchange of views on numerous regional and international issues,” including situations in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Highlighting the need for diplomacy, especially “when differences exist,” Archbishop Gallagher expressed the Vatican’s “deep concern” over the war in Ukraine, and “deplores the sufferings of the innocent.”

“After more than four years of hostilities, the conflict continues to expand, the number of victims continues to grow, many families remain divided, and the material and psychological consequences of the conflict affect millions of people in Ukraine and Russia,” the archbishop said.

“For this reason, during our exchange, I reiterated the appeal of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to end the hostilities and to begin authentic negotiations with the support of the international community,” the Vatican’s foreign minister said.

He also stressed that true dialogue “implies a recognition of the fact” that the longer the war continues, “the more difficult it will be to arrive at an adequate resolution, while the sufferings of the population continue to increase.”

“Pope Leo XIV has recently reiterated that peace is at the same time a gift and a responsibility,” Archbishop Gallagher said. “He has defined it as both unarmed and disarming. In terms of diplomatic relations, pursuing such peace means promoting the de-escalation of tensions, dialogue, trust-building measures, and arms control.”

The Church has long offered Masses that recognize special occasions and special needs. Among such Masses are those for professional groups, traditionally popularized by names of a color: Red Mass (lawyers and politicians), Blue Mass (first responders), White Mass (healthcare community) and Gold Mass (scientists).

At both the national and local level, these professional organizations petition the Church to celebrate Mass for their members. In some locations, the diocese annually sponsors the Mass with the bishop as the celebrant.

In an act of solidarity, Catholic and non-Catholic members of a professional group frequently attend Mass together. Their presence is indicative of a desire to connect the realities of their work with the Gospel message of Our Lord. These Masses are occasions when not only practicing Catholics but also nonpracticing and even non-Catholics can be recognized for their many achievements: to defend, to protect, to heal and to improve the lives of mankind. It is also a time for the Church to demonstrate the grandeur of the Catholic Mass and the wisdom of Catholic teaching as it applies to the specific professional group.

These groups or associations, committed to the betterment of mankind, are filled with many members known for their self-giving, rather than self-fulfillment; appreciating their contributions to society is a mark of the Church’s gratitude.

Red Mass

The Red Mass recognizes the important role of legal professionals (including law professors and law students) and politicians. This is the oldest and most widespread of the Masses celebrated for professional groups and can be traced to the 13th century, the period of time when a Sacred Roma Rota was being developed. It became an official office in 1331. Masses were offered during which the judges of the Rota were blessed and the gifts of the Holy Spirit invoked on them; those celebrating the Mass wore red vestments in concert with the flames of the Holy Spirit. The first Red Mass in the United States was held in 1928 at Old St. Andrews Church in New York City.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia describes the role of the Red Mass: “the solemn votive Mass in honor of the Holy Spirit, celebrated annually at the opening of the judicial year … is offered to invoke divine guidance and strength during the coming term of the court. It is celebrated in honor of the Holy Spirit as the source of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, gifts of which must shine forth preeminently the dispensing of justice on the courtroom as well as individual lawyers’ offices.”

Each year in Washington, a Red Mass is celebrated before the Supreme Court convenes in October. The celebration is normally at the Cathedral of St. Matthew with members of the Supreme Court and the Congress in attendance. There are numerous Red Masses within and outside the United States.

Sponsors are typically associations of legal professionals including the John Carroll Society and the St. Thomas More Society. The patron saints for this group are St. Ives (Ivo) and St. Thomas More.

White Mass

One of the professional groups we all will most assuredly come in contact with during our lifetime is the healthcare profession: nurses, doctors, administrators, specialists, dentists and numerous support personnel in every country of the world. The Mass that acknowledges this group is called the White Mass, because that is the color of the clothing worn by many in this profession.

These individuals represent healing and survival; into their hands we are placed in times of illness, pain and suffering. They comfort us when we are the most vulnerable and sometimes when we are not at our best. For most of us, they will be among the first and last persons we will see during our earthly journey. The White Mass is the occasion for the Church to offer words of appreciation and encouragement.

The first White Mass was held in the United States in the 1930s and is typically sponsored by the Catholic Medical Association, which watches out for not only its members, but more importantly for patients’ rights. In whatever the circumstances, these healthcare workers are called (and desire) to do what is morally right. Knowing that the Church has their backs when they comply with the laws of God is important.

White Masses frequently take place near the feast day of St. Luke (Oct. 18), the patron of physicians.

Blue Mass

The Blue Mass acknowledges first responders: law enforcement, firefighters, EMS personnel, 911 operators and correctional officers, including those who have given their lives to save someone else. The color blue is adopted from the uniform worn by police. Blue Masses began in the United States in 1934, and the first was held to remember police who had sacrificed themselves in the line of duty. This first Mass turned into an annual tradition, and today Blue Masses are held throughout the nation.

Initially, only police were acknowledged in the Mass, but now Blue Masses include all first responders. These are the folks who enter into harm’s way for others, even rushing into burning buildings to save those inside; their first inclination when confronted with danger is to go toward the tragedy, not away. The Church applauds these courageous individuals, including the 911 operator who calmly deals with and answers calls concerning life and death situations, and the correctional officer who works at rehabilitation, bringing the incarcerated person to Christ.

During the Blue Mass, the Church can praise and bless this group of professionals, whom we all count on, and assure them of our continued support. Many Blue Masses include a procession with the role of every first responder represented. Local first-responder associations coordinate with the church or diocese to organize a Mass which, in many places, has become an annual event. St. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of this group.

Gold Mass for scientists

The Gold Mass for Scientists began in 2016 and is sponsored by the Society of Catholic Scientists; the group includes science students and teachers. The website for this group, Catholicscientists.org, says they are “an international organization … to foster fellowship among Catholic scientists and to witness to the harmony of faith and reason.”

Working in concert with the Church, following the teachings of the divine Teacher, surfaces as goals of SCS. The name Gold Mass comes from the hoods worn by graduating Ph.D. scientists as well as from St. Albert the Great, patron of scientists, who worked at turning lead into gold (and found that it can’t be done).

At a Gold Mass, the Church can encourage the work of scientists and emphasize the long-held position that science is not at odds with Catholic teaching. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council wrote in “Gaudium et Spes”: “Therefore if methodical investigations within every branch of learning is carried out in a genuinely scientific manner and in accord with moral norms, it never truly conflicts with faith, for earthly matters and concerns of faith derive from the same God.”

Many great scientists have been and continue to be Catholic. Some 35 moon craters are named after Catholic priests who were scientists; one of the world’s prestigious observatories is at the Vatican. The Church for over 1,000 years has promoted, encouraged and funded (even Galileo) scientific research. Religion and science are both on the quest for truth and both have the same Creator.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago has reinstated a diocesan priest — known for his longtime social justice ministry — as pastor after an inquiry cleared the cleric of abuse allegations.

In an Aug. 24 letter addressed to the faithful of St. Sabina Parish, Cardinal Cupich said that a recently made allegation against Father Michael Pfleger had been “thoroughly reviewed” and found unsubstantiated.

The allegation, brought forward in July and dating to the period 1993-1995, involved a female claimant who said she had been a student at the parish school of St. Sabina in Chicago, where Father Pfleger has long served as pastor.

In a July 11 statement, Father Pfleger — who had been cleared of previous accusations of sexual abuse in 2021 and 2022, following independent investigations — vigorously denied the claims, saying he and “countless others” at the parish in the 1990s had “no memory of this girl.”

In his statement, the priest — an outspoken activist against racism, gun violence and other social injustices — said he had been “threatened, slandered, and attacked” throughout the “51 years” of his ministry, and particularly over his opposition to Trump administration policies.

Father Pfleger was placed on administrative leave as the investigation proceeded, in accordance with archdiocesan policy.

Cardinal Cupich said in his Aug. 24 letter that an independent review board, along with the archdiocese’s child protection office and outside investigators, had examined the allegation in depth.

The review board “has concluded there is no reason to believe Father Pfleger is guilty of this allegation,” said the cardinal. “After careful consideration I have accepted their conclusion and have reinstated Father Pfleger to ministry at St. Sabina, effective immediately.”

In his statement, Cardinal Cupich also appeared to address concerns raised by St. Sabina parishioners, who in a July 17 open letter had called for an “immediate and comprehensive reform” of archdiocesan investigative policies.

While stressing they “fully recognize and support” Church efforts to take seriously and investigate abuse claims, the letter’s more than 40 signatories lamented “the devastating impact of a process that has repeatedly demonstrated itself to be fundamentally unjust to those who are accused.”

“For our pastor, this has meant repeated public scrutiny, emotional anguish, and damage to his ministry and reputation before any conclusion has been reached,” they said. “For our congregation, it has meant uncertainty, grief, disruption, and the emotional burden of repeatedly watching our spiritual leader removed from active ministry while investigations unfold.”

Cardinal Cupich had acknowledged parishioners’ feelings in his July 11 message, saying, “As your parish has been through this before, I can well understand your distress in learning of this development.”

In his Aug. 24 letter, the cardinal stressed that “no one should underestimate the value of an independent and disciplined inquiry, even if it is made public and requires a substantial amount of time.”

Cardinal Cupich said such an inquiry “assures the public and the person making the accusation of a fair and impartial review of all matters related to such cases.”

He added, “It also protects the rights and interests of the accused cleric, especially if the board concludes there is no reason to believe the accused is guilty of the allegation. In that case, the cleric has the freedom to return to ministry without a cloud of suspicion over him.”

The cardinal pointed to the Gospel passage for the upcoming 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mt 16:21-27), in which Jesus warns his disciples of his pending crucifixion.

“Jesus tells us that being a disciple is about taking up our crosses and following him,” and so “redefines our sufferings in life,” said Cardinal Cupich. “Sufferings are not punishments or even tests of our endurance for pain. Rather, Jesus calls them crosses and thus associates them with his own. He wants us to see discipleship as participating in the salvation of the world; discipleship involves joining our sufferings, our crosses to His on Calvary.”

In that spirit, said the cardinal, “I want to recognize the suffering you and Father Mike have endured, for I know his absence has been real and painful. But I ask you to allow God’s Word this weekend to free you from any sadness and disappointment.”

He urged parishioners to “respond to Christ’s invitation to join your sufferings to His saving work” and remember their “dignity as disciples.”

“You will have my support and prayers as you continue to be a light in the community, a great witness that has distinguished St. Sabina’s for generations,” said Cardinal Cupich.

In an Aug. 25 press release, St. Sabina Parish announced that Father Pfleger was “grateful to be returned to his church family.”

The parish said the priest and his lawyer would hold an Aug. 26 press conference at the parish on the matter.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda is encouraging the faithful of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and all community members to be “beacons of light” as the one-year mark of a fatal shooting during an all-school Mass at Annunciation in Minneapolis approaches.

In his “Together on the Journey: A Weekly Word” newsletter released Aug. 24, the archbishop wrote, in part, that Aug. 27, 2025, “continues to have an impact on so many others connected with the parish, its school, and its families.”

In reflecting on the loss of 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel that day, the archbishop wrote that “I have no doubt that their absence will be forever felt. My heart continues to go out to all who feel their loss.”

The archbishop also wrote that “I give thanks to God for the many ways in which he continues to bring healing into the lives of the others who were directly impacted by last year’s shooting. How blessed we are to have such excellent first responders and medical care here in our corner of Minnesota! I know that the Lord was compassionately working through them and through the perseverance and courage demonstrated by each of those who were injured.”

The archbishop also acknowledged a gathering of parishioners and visitors for An Evening with Annunciation Parents: Faith, Hope and Resilience at Our Lady of Grace in Edina Aug. 19.

“The four speakers who shared their experiences from last Aug. 27 (an Annunciation teacher, two parents, and a student wise beyond her years) each provided proof that even in the midst of such tragedy, there can be an outpouring of compassion, a meeting of hearts, a deepening sense of solidarity, and a turning to the Lord,” the archbishop wrote.

The archbishop continued: “I am grateful that the over 300 attendees who were privileged to hear their stories, to pray with them, and to break bread with them could walk away that evening with assurances that faith had been shaken, but not destroyed. While many hearts are understandably still hurting, we can also see how they have been fortified by the love, prayers and support that have been poured out in response to this tragedy. I sure hope that the Annunciation Light Alliance, the sponsor of the event, will be welcomed into other parishes and schools for similar evenings.”

Archbishop Hebda wrote that as Annunciation’s theme for the 2026-2027 school year — “Guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:79) — was announced, Principal Matt DeBoer “explained that ‘peace is not passive — we must work towards it.’”

“That certainly resonates in my heart, and I hope that it will touch the hearts of the Annunciation community and your hearts as well,” the archbishop wrote. “We are blessed that the families of Annunciation continue to choose ‘to be beacons of light and to pursue peace.’ What a necessary and powerful reminder for our world.”

As Annunciation leaders encourage acts of service and prayer on Aug. 27, the city of Minneapolis will hold a community remembrance event at Pearl Park.

“The City and our partners invite community members to join us to plant flowers and trees, assemble care kits for youth and collect school supplies,” officials wrote on the city’s website, which includes details about Annunciation Remembrance Day.

“As we approach Aug. 27, I invite you to find a way to be a beacon of light within your own community, no matter your state in life,” Archbishop Hebda wrote in his reflection. “Our sisters and brothers at Annunciation will be spending the day engaged in acts of service, and they have invited us — in our own communities and homes — to do the same. Please join me in praying for Annunciation and for all those in need of healing as we are guided to walk together in the way of peace.”

Read the archbishop’s full reflection online at archspm.org/archbishops-weekly-word-beacons-of-light.

Immaculate Conception Church, a handsome, 19th-century red-brick edifice near the Mississippi River, hosts a weekly Mass on late Saturday afternoons.

That is absolutely nothing new. Regular Mass has been held in Kaskaskia, 75 miles southeast of St. Louis, at least since 1714, when a simple stone church was built.

But even more remarkable than the church’s longevity is that it still thrives even after Kaskaskia basically disappeared.

The first capital of the state of Illinois with 7,000 people in 1818, the town suffered a terrible flood in 1881 that cast it adrift, creating a new island. Other floods followed including a particularly devastating one in 1993 that partially wrecked the church and further depopulated the town.

Once east of the Mississippi and part of Illinois, Kaskaskia now sits west of the river and is accessible through a bridge from Missouri. Still belonging to Illinois, the island is down to fewer than two dozen residents and a handful of homes, sheds and barns. Most of the time, aside from the singing at weekly Mass, the only sound to be heard on the island is the rumbling hum of the barges plying the Mississippi.

Yet most Saturdays 100 worshippers or so, most of them whose parents and grandparents were once parishioners, crowd into the church. After Mass, people linger and talk before crossing the bridge off the island and returning to their widely scattered homes. They also gather at the church for the occasional funerals, baptisms and weddings and a festive late summer picnic to raise funds for the church’s upkeep.

Old Man River keeps on rolling, destroying towns and breaking apart communities. But Immaculate Conception has been too beloved and cherished to not save and continue.

“It’s an honor and an obligation to preserve the church,” said Emily Lyons, who turned 90 Aug. 22. Her ancestors arrived in the area in the early 1700s and have attended the church for centuries.

The church is special for another reason beyond its resiliency. It grew out of a mission founded in northern Illinois for the Kaskaskia people on Easter Sunday in 1675 by the legendary French Jesuit missionary Father Jacques Marquette, who died a short time later. The mission was moved downstate around 1700 when the tribe migrated south.

Lyons penned a detailed history of the church and island a quarter of a century ago. A decade before that, in 1993, when the levee was breached and the floodwaters lifted pews off the floor and rose 9 feet, filling the old-fashioned elevated pulpit, she helped lead its restoration.

These days she gladly leads church tours. Not long ago, “a young couple from California came. They said, ‘Our grandparents talk about the church all the time. We wanted to see it for ourselves,'” recounted Lyons, lively and peppy despite her age.

There is a lot to see and appreciate in the cozy church, which seats 150. The altar stone is believed to have been brought to the New World by Father Marquette himself. The wooden altar, hand-carved out of native black walnut and cottonwood, dates from 1736. The lithographs of the Stations of the Cross on the walls were painted in Germany by artisans in the 1800s and then framed in butternut mahogany carved at Kaskaskia.

The church is so old that the normal sense of time is upended. A British soldier once saluted the church’s grandeur, Lyons told OSV News. He hailed “the venerable old altar.” But he wrote that after the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763) — in 1766.

The church sits next door to an intriguing slice of history. A quaint brick building, the Kaskaskia Bell State Memorial holds the “Liberty Bell of the West,” the counterpart to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. In 1741, King Louis XV of France shipped the bell with the inscription “Pour Leglise Des Illinois P Arles Soins Duroi Doutre Lea” (“For the Church of the Illinois, by the gift of the King across the water”). The bell was joyously rung on July 4, 1778, when Patriot military leader George Rogers Clark (the older brother of William of the Lewis and Clark expedition) captured Kaskaskia from the British for the American colonies.

The 1993 flood destroyed Lyons’ farmhouse, and the church is a 20-minute drive from her current residence. Likewise, most worshippers come from 5 to 20 miles away for Saturday Mass.

Mary Ellen Brown, who, like Lyons, can rattle off a slew of church-related historical dates and events, now lives 5 miles away in St. Mary, the small town in Missouri near the bridge that leads to Kaskaskia.

Her grandparents settled here basically yesterday — in 1914. “We’re German, not from the French fur trappers,” said Brown, who will turn 69 on Aug. 31. She is an authentic cradle-to-grave Catholic. When she was a baby, her mom, busy at the church and lacking a crib, would place her in a large empty food bowl.

The church’s long history makes it precious to her. “So we can’t quite compare to the Spanish missions. But we’re pretty darn close,” she told OSV News. But it’s people’s longstanding ties to the church that mean the most. “If I had a dollar for every time someone told me, ‘My grandmother grew up here.'”

The flood of 1993 nearly doomed the church. As fate would have it, the day then-Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville visited the parish to assess its future a terrific storm erupted. The tent that had been set up blew over. “He told us, ‘These clouds have been following me the whole day,'” Brown recalled. “Maybe that was an omen and led him to reconsider.”

Ultimately, the Diocese of Belleville designated it as a chapel, instead of a parish. Worshippers such as Lyons were tasked with overseeing the church, raising funds for maintenance and securing priests for weekly Mass.

Year after year, members have had to scramble to find priests to fill up the Mass slots. They use mostly retired priests and sometimes religious order priests. Once they celebrate Mass there for the first time, getting them to return to the church is usually not difficult. “They come to appreciate it and love it,” said Brown.

However historic Immaculate Conception is, it’s like any other church in its appeal to worshippers. “This is the place I go to talk to God,” explained Lyons. “Some people go to psychologists or whatever. This is where I renew my faith.”

Baptisms in the Catholic Church in Ireland have fallen by almost a third since 2015, with just one Irish diocese seeing any positive change, a new report shows.

While around 60% of the 30% collapse can be attributed to declining births, the rest is accounted for by “rising secularism,” according to the Catholic nonprofit Iona Institute.

The effect of secularization is “very significant,” continues the Iona Institute’s report, “Baptism trends in Ireland,” released Aug. 18.

The decline is in line with census figures, which show that the number of people who identify as having “no religion” — the so-called “nones” — has been “rising fast” in Ireland over the past 10 years, the report states.

Irish census figures show that the number of people identifying as Catholic fell from over 79% in 2016 to 69% in 2022.

Hostility toward the Church is also widely prevalent in Ireland. A 2025 study by Irish pollster Amárach found that two-fifths (40%) of the Irish population view the Church negatively, with another third indifferent.

This hostility is largely attributed to the fallout from revelations over the past three decades of abuses in Church-led institutions.

However, the report sees a glimmer of hope in the continued rates of baptism among “cultural” Catholics, suggesting that it is a sign that negative attitudes toward the Church are not as entrenched as has been feared.

Commenting on the figures, Chairman of The Iona Institute Tom Finegan said that “In a way the figures are not a surprise given the rapidly falling number of births and growing secularisation. Given that births have fallen by almost a fifth in the last 10 years, and more people are ticking the ‘No Religion’ box in the Census, we could expect nothing but a big drop in baptism figures.”

The most dramatic decline was experienced in Ireland’s largest diocese, the Archdiocese of Dublin, which saw almost a 40% drop in the number of children being baptized.

Some 9,465 were recorded in 2025 compared to 15,759 baptisms in 2015 in the Irish capital.

Removing the Irish capital from the picture shows that baptisms are down by just over a quarter (26.1%) in the last decade.

The Diocese of Meath also saw a dramatic decline in percentage with baptisms down by 40.8% but the actual numbers were much lower than in Dublin — 4,675 baptisms in 2015 and 2,768 in 2025.

The only diocese to see an increase in the number of baptisms was Elphin, a small diocese in the west of Ireland, where baptisms rose by 0.9%.

A neighboring diocese, Achonry, saw the next lowest change and the rest of Ireland’s 26 dioceses saw declines in the double digits, ranging from 10.7% to 40.8% with no response from two dioceses.

The discrepancy between Dublin and the rest of the country is partly explained by a faster decline in birth rates.

Births fell by 17.9% in Ireland between 2015 and 2025, while in Dublin they fell by 21.9%.

However, Dublin also has a higher percentage of children marked down in the “no religion” and “other religions” categories on the Irish census.

The most recent census in 2022 found that, across Ireland, 15.6% of children ages 0-4 have no religion, and 10.5% belong to a religion other than Catholicism.

The numbers for Dublin were 21.9% and 14.4% respectively, suggesting that the “more secularized nature” of Ireland’s capital explains the difference between it and the rest of the country, according to the Iona Institute.

However, the Catholic think tank finds some cause for hope in the census figures. Examining the data suggests that the “vast majority” of parents who identify as Catholic still have their children baptized.

Over 65.4% of 0- to 4-year-olds were marked down as Catholic in a 2022 census. This corresponds “very closely” to the percentage of mothers ages 25-39 who identified as Catholic in that year.

The “relative popularity” of baptism means that hostility to the Church “might not be as widespread in the population as can sometimes be assumed,” the report states.

“No one who is very anti-Catholic would have their child baptized,” it concludes.

Finegan warned that it “remains to be seen” whether the phenomenon will continue to be a “force in Irish life.”

Teenagers and young adults serving at St. John’s Summer Program at St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood told the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan news outlet, what draws young people to the Church and gives them a reason to stay.

They talked about friends who invited them, Catholics they admired, communities where they felt at home and moments that helped the faith become their own.

For many, those experiences helped them come to know Christ personally.

Start with an invitation

Several of the young people at St. John’s, a Catholic day camp for ages 4 to 14, said they found their way into Catholic community because someone invited them or encouraged them to come.

Betsy Pieniadz, 19, came from New Mexico after hearing about the program through people connected to St. John’s. Ethan Lansing, 18, learned about it from a friend at Ave Maria University in Florida.

Carmen Davidson, 21, arrived from Baylor University in Texas after a friend urged her to apply, while Caroline Grifone, 21, came from Pennsylvania through people already connected to the program.

Authentic relationships matter

Grifone said young people need to meet Catholics whose faith is part of their everyday lives.

“I met people who were involved in their faith but were also athletic, fun and outgoing,” she said. “That drew me in.”

Pieniadz said negative experiences with Catholics had caused her to drift away from the Church.

“Then I came here and met people who really lived their faith,” she said.

Addie Lyons, 19, said relationships can make young people more open to the faith. Rather than beginning with a theology talk, she said, counselors build friendships, have fun with the children and let questions about faith come naturally.

Build a place where they belong

Rachel Mroz, 22, became more involved in her faith through the Catholic Student Center at the University of Maryland and returned to St. John’s looking for that same kind of community during the summer.

She said young Catholics need people around them who encourage them in the faith, “other people who want to run to heaven with us.”

Rollins Don-Simmons, 19, said the community at St. John’s gave him confidence to seek out Catholic life at the University of Maryland.

For Summer Phan, 16, and Maria Northrup, 17, older staff members offered an example to follow. Both saw teenagers and college students return year after year, showing them what staying active in the faith could look like as they grew older.

Teach the faith so they can understand it

Don-Simmons said parishes hoping to reach young people should think carefully about how they communicate the faith.

“I think we can best engage young people in the faith by explaining the faith in a way that they can understand,” he told the Catholic Standard.

Carlton Costanzo, 17, made a similar point.

“Stay rooted in our tradition while also presenting it in a way that’s accessible to younger generations,” he said.

Christopher Damron, 19, said young people respond when the faith is explained clearly and in a way they can understand.

Keep Christ at the center

Many pointed to the Eucharist as central to Catholic life.

Lansing said helping young people understand what happens at Mass can change the way they see the Church.

“If more people really understood what is happening at Mass and believed it with their whole hearts, I think it would completely change the way they look at the Catholic faith,” he said.

Hannah Lawrence, 29, said friendships first brought her to St. John’s, but daily Mass and Eucharistic adoration helped transform her faith.

Help them ask what God wants for their lives

Several also spoke about faith in terms of vocation and discernment.

Pieniadz said she initially did not want to come to St. John’s, but eventually believed God was asking her to go.

“God called me to,” she said. “God told me to.” she said.

Lansing had spent months asking St. Joseph the Worker to help him find a summer job before his friend told him about St. John’s.

“This was the opportunity that opened up,” he said. “I took it as God showing me where he wanted me to be.” he said.

Costanzo is considering college, military service, the trades and priesthood as he discerns his future.

“I think every Catholic man should be open to the possibility of seminary until he’s called to marriage,” he said.

For the young people at St. John’s, faith has grown through friendships, invitations and the example of people who took their relationship with Christ seriously.

And many of them are now doing the same for someone else.

Pope Leo XIV said Aug. 24 that recognizing Jesus in the face of each person with disabilities helps to advance society.

In a meeting with the Marsodeto Federation, a Spanish nongovernmental organization that supports people with cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities, the pope reflected on the importance of discovering “in the face of each person, Jesus Christ himself.”

The pope thanked the federation for its dedicated work with the disabled, which he acknowledged involves much hidden work that “no one sees and that only God can reward.”

“Through your work, you can bear witness, in a special way, to what we hear in the Gospel: ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me’ (Mt 25:40),” Pope Leo said in Spanish.

“Being able to recognize, in the lives of the weakest and most vulnerable, the gaze of Christ that challenges us, is something that helps us grow as a human and Christian society,” the pope emphasized.

Father Marcelino Casas Puente founded the Marsodeto Federation in 1980 with a dream that “no family with a person with an intellectual disability should ever be left without support.”

Today the federation serves more than 2,600 people. Pope Leo highlighted how this work puts into concrete action how “the love of Christ impels us toward our brothers and sisters (cf. 2 Cor 5:14), and the charity and concern with which we respond to its promptings are the proof of our faith.”

Members of the federation traveled from Toledo, Spain to Rome on a pilgrimage to mark 45 years of the institution’s mission.

Solidarity, the defense of human dignity, and complete inclusion are values the pope highlighted that mark the federation’s approach to working with people with intellectual disabilities and cerebral palsy.

Pope Leo entrusted the Marsodeto Federation to the protection of Mary, praying that she will accompany the group in its ongoing work.

“May she encourage you in moments of greatest difficulty and help you always to keep your gaze fixed on the Lord, so that your Federation may continue to be a true point of reference for both the Church and society,” he said.

Venezuelan Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate of Valencia had just finished celebrating Mass on the Feast of St. John the Baptist when the unthinkable happened.

Speaking with OSV News on Aug. 20, Archbishop González, who serves as president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, recalled the fateful day when his country was struck by back-to-back earthquakes, the strongest to hit the country in more than a century.

“I was right at the church doors, stepping out to greet the faithful in the atrium. And at that moment, the seismic movement occurred, and, well, the first impression was how long, how extensive the tremor was,” the archbishop said of the June 24 twin earthquakes.

Within minutes, Archbishop González said he witnessed the main plaza swaying and, upon realizing “the scale of the tragedy,” he began to reach out to family and priests, though communication was difficult in the quakes’ aftermath.

The twin earthquakes that struck the northern Venezuelan state of La Guaira measured magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, and by late afternoon June 25, news reports said that more than 1,500 people were injured and another 200 were trapped in rubble.

Now, two months later, the death toll has surpassed 6,400, and over 86,000 injured are still recovering in hospitals in the most affected areas.

Archbishop González told OSV News that the following evening, the bishops of Venezuela met via a Zoom call to “define the initial course of action,” which included a National Day of Prayer for Venezuela.

However, he noted that mobilizing charitable assistance in the most affected areas was a top priority. The archbishop said he also met with the priests of the Diocese of La Guaira “to learn firsthand what the real situation was.”

“It’s not the same seeing it through social media and the news as it is listening to the cry of pastors who lost their parishioners, their relatives, and many pastoral workers in their parishes who were affected by this great tragedy,” he said.

The Catholic Church’s response, the archbishop said, was immediate, not just in material aid but also “through the physical presence of numerous religious sisters, brothers, and priests who came from other parts of Venezuela, as well as lay missionaries whose sole purpose was to accompany people in their grief.”

“I take as an example the words of one priest: ‘We cannot go rescue people; we do not have the machinery, and we do not know how to rescue those who might be under the rubble. But we can, and we do know how to console people,'” Archbishop González told OSV News.

For the president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, the sense of “closeness, presence and prayer” was desperately needed in the weeks that followed. He noted that the public response to the June 28 National Day of Prayer was “massive,” as well as July 2, when the Church commemorated the country’s consecration to the Blessed Sacrament.

“There we saw our people’s faith, and how our people, alongside material aid, needed spiritual help,” he said. “The sheer fear generated by an event like this, felt across many areas, required that deeper spiritual and religious response that we, as the Church, could provide.”

However, that fear also led some to a superstitious interpretation of the disaster that viewed the tragic events as a sort of divine punishment, prompting the Venezuelan bishops’ conference to release a message urging Christians to become witnesses of hope.

“For this reason, we must reject the manipulation of those who, guided by superstition and fundamentalism, have claimed that the earthquakes are a punishment from God, a kind of divine vengeance,” the bishops wrote.

Archbishop González explained to OSV News that the superstitious interpretations of the earthquakes were confined to very small groups of Catholics who come from “numerous religious traditions of Afro-American origin.”

“Those who interpreted it as a punishment from God were the detractors of these folkloric expressions, which have a deep religious meaning centered on devotion that, in its most widespread expressions along the central coast of Venezuela, is linked to the origins of our people in African peoples,” he said.

The archbishop went on to say that the bishops’ message aimed to highlight “the merciful God, the God who accompanies His people, the God who reveals mercy and forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ.”

“The widespread experience has been one of great trust and attachment to God,” he told OSV News. “Many people were impacted, but they found their comfort and strength in God during this difficult ordeal.”

The head of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference said that two months on, the Catholic Church is still doing its best to minister to those in need, even as its priests face tremendous difficulties, particularly in the Diocese of La Guaira, the hardest-hit area.

“I was speaking with the bishop of La Guaira and with priests who are on a sort of reconstruction team; practically half of the clergy in La Guaira were left displaced. They have no home; they have no place to conduct worship. But it is like that everywhere. Here in the state of Carabobo, in the Archdiocese of Valencia, we have six closed churches — even in the cathedral we cannot hold services,” Archbishop González said.

In the Diocese of La Guaira, he added, six diocesan schools and five Catholic medical clinics and institutions were wrecked in the aftermath. He also said the diocesan seminary “is practically unusable” and a hospital run by the local Little Sisters of the Poor of Maiquetía is facing demolition after the earthquakes rendered the building unstable.

“The evangelizing and charitable work of the Church has also been hit because many pastoral workers died in the tragedy. Thank God no priests or religious died, but extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, family ministry workers, and catechists lost their lives in the tragedy, as well as students and teachers from our Catholic schools,” Archbishop González lamented.

Amid the devastation, Archbishop González told OSV News he was moved by “the solidarity of the whole Church,” including from Pope Leo XIV and “various dicasteries who have made their presence felt through their communications.”

He also noted the solidarity expressed in messages and visits by representatives of bishops’ conferences in Latin America, as well as by Catholic charitable organizations such as Caritas and Aid to the Church in Need.

“They haven’t just sent goods or money to support us; they have shown up in the field,” Archbishop González said. “These two months have been an experience of profound closeness and ecclesial communion.”

He added that Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martín, the apostolic nuncio, as the pope’s representative, “has also been present practically every Sunday. The nuncio celebrates Mass in places where displaced people are living on the street, in the hardest-hit areas, to demonstrate the closeness of the Holy Father.”

Archbishop González was also appreciative of “Cartas para el Papa” (“Letters for the Pope”), an initiative launched by several Vatican journalists to collect letters from Venezuelans, which will be compiled into a single volume and presented to Pope Leo aboard the papal flight to France Sept. 25.

“I think the initiative is good because it expresses something we feel deeply: accompaniment and love for the Holy Father, which is one of the distinct traits of the Venezuelan people,” he told OSV News.

“First and foremost, as we know that we depend on God — that He is our Rock, our strength, our hope — we ask that he continue praying for us. That is where the source lies for the daily work of the Church,” Archbishop González said.