The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 took up a case regarding whether state and local bans on semiautomatic rifles, sometimes called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.

The case concerns a state ban on the AR-15 and other semiautomatic firearms in Connecticut and a similar ban in Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago.

The court took up the case the same day it issued major rulings finding President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship violated the 14th Amendment, and upholding West Virginia and Idaho state laws requiring student athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their self-identified gender.

The high court will hear the semiautomatic rifles case during its next term, which typically begins in October.

According to Giffords — a group that works to prevent gun violence led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who survived a shooting — 11 states and the District of Columbia, have enacted laws that generally ban the sale, manufacture, and transfer of firearms categorized as assault weapons. Two other states, Minnesota and Virginia, have some additional restrictions.

Connecticut first enacted a ban on semiautomatic weapons in 1993. The state increased those restrictions after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle equipped with large capacity magazines killed 26 children and teachers. It was among the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a national ban on assault weapons, a term that refers to military-style semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, and pistols fed by ammunition magazines of various capacities, arguing in favor of a federal assault weapons ban similar to the one they supported in the 1994 crime bill. That legislation had a sunset provision, and Congress allowed it to expire in 2004 without renewal.

That law, the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, commonly called the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, banned about a dozen specific firearms and features on guns, however, the law’s effectiveness was debated as modifications to those features were adapted.

However, a 2004 study on the effectiveness of the ban, which was federally funded by the National Institute of Justice at the Department of Justice, found that the number of gun crimes involving assault weapons decreased by 17% in a sample of six U.S. cities: Baltimore, Miami, Milwaukee, Boston, St. Louis, and Anchorage.

The U.S. bishops have also supported other gun safety measures, including universal background checks and limitations on civilian access to high-capacity ammunition magazines, which allow a shooter to maintain a consistent rate of fire over a longer period of time without having to reload.

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington.

For Americans reflecting on the nation’s history during its 250th birthday, the word “pioneer” might conjure up images of settlers’ covered wagons trundling into the wilderness; buckskin-clad explorers mapping lands unseen by European eyes; or homesteaders eking out a lonely and challenging existence in an unforgiving terrain.

It’s rarer, however, to immediately think of the priests who were also among them as the United States expanded ever westward.

But they are there, embedded in American history — and their memory isn’t simply consigned to dusty archives; they are celebrated as local heroes, with one even in the first stages of potential sainthood.

“They really did not think Catholicism could ever take root here,” Zachary Daughtrey, archivist for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, told OSV News. “But when Father Donnelly came, he came with a strength. He came with a will — and the ability to be tenacious in making sure Catholicism succeeded.”

Often referred to as “The Builder,” Father Bernard Donnelly (1810-1880) was born in Kilnacreeva, County Cavan, Ireland, trained as an engineer, and immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1830s. He first found work as a teacher, but then enrolled in the seminary. In 1845, he was ordained and assigned to a parish in Independence, Missouri.

“There was such a lack of priests in the area,” said Daughtrey. “As someone who could have come here and been so down that he was posted to the absolute end of American civilization at the time, he just takes it all on the chin — and he’s ready to go to work.”

Father Donnelly described his horseback mission trips in the diocesan newspaper — The Catholic Banner — as six-week journeys taking him away from home to cover more than 30 miles a day, reaching Catholic families living maybe 20 miles apart.

The tenaciousness Daughtrey refers to soon earned Father Donnelly the moniker “The Pioneer Priest,” and also saw him acting as a construction foreman of sorts — recruiting hundreds of Irish immigrants to literally carve Kansas City, Missouri, out of the tall limestone bluffs once surrounding it. The Irish laborers naturally brought their religion with them — and so a Catholic community was established, and grew.

“The Builder” erected churches, too.

“He was very instrumental in building the cathedral,” Daughtrey shared, referring to the golden-domed Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. “He owned a brickyard in downtown Kansas City, and the bricks that were used to build the cathedral came from Father Donnelly’s brickyard.”

“I just don’t think there would have been the successes of the Catholic Church in the area,” concluded Daughtrey, “had it not been for Father Donnelly coming here.”

In Minnesota, Father Valentine Sommereisen (1829-1897) is not only thought of as a pioneer priest — there’s an elegant historical marker that says so. Inscribed “Pioneer Missionary Priest” with an inset picture of the determined-looking pastor, it stands in front of St. Joseph Church, a small log and field-surrounded structure completed in 1861. St. Joseph’s was the first Catholic church in Brown County, and it was Father Sommereisen who celebrated its first Mass.

Indeed, Father Sommereisen was a priest of firsts: He was the first resident Catholic priest in three large areas of the American West, including southwestern Minnesota, the Dakota Territory and western Kansas. Born in Rouffach, Alsace, France, he and several other theology students followed Father Augustin Ravoux to Minnesota in 1854. Father Sommereisen was ordained in 1856, and from his first assignment in Mankato, Minnesota, he ministered to 36 communities in 14 counties.

“Father Valentine came to this area 150 years ago, in October of 1876,” Father Reggie Urban, a retired priest in the Diocese of Dodge City, Kansas, told OSV News. “And when he did so, this whole region — from the Rocky Mountains to Montana and down to Oklahoma, and then all the way to the Missouri River and the Kansas City area — was called by the Catholic Church ‘The Apostolic Vicariate of Indian Territory East of the Rockies.’ There were no dioceses; no parishes.”

Able to speak Sioux, the priest in 1862 baptized 33 of the 38 Dakota Sioux who were hanged in Mankato during the largest mass execution in U.S. history, following the Dakota War. He later accompanied the three-month Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, whose security was ensured by Gen. George Custer’s 7th Calvary as the Northern Pacific Railroad survey team traversed the Dakota and Montana territories.

Thirteen years after his ordination, Father Sommereisen had about 5,000 people under his care; some 250 of whom had been baptized within one year. Father Urban is known to joke that he has “never baptized that many people in one year, nor in my 29 years as a priest.”

Father Urban also has a personal interest in Father Valentine’s history.

In 1876 Father Sommereisen was appointed pastor at Hays, Kansas — with the care of six nearby Volga German settlements and their parishes, and various railroad towns. “Volga Germans” are ethnic Germans who migrated to Russia in the 1700s and later immigrated to Kansas in the 1870s.

“My ancestors came from Russia; part of the Volga migration. And one of these parishes,” said Father Urban, “is my ancestral parish.”

In the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, Catholics know precisely who is meant when anyone refers to “The Patriarch of Duluth” — it’s Msgr. Joseph Buh (1833-1922), another pioneer priest whose honorary title is inscribed on his tomb at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Born in modern-day Zadobje, Slovenia, he was ordained in 1858, and left for New York as a missionary in 1864.

“He came primarily to work with Native Americans,” Father Richard Kunst, pastor of St. James Parish in Duluth, told OSV News. “And as Slovenians in particular came to Northeastern Minnesota, he worked with them as well — but he was very much a missionary priest for everybody.”

The Ojibwe (Chippewa) people called him by two names: “Masinaigans,” meaning “little book” — a reference to the breviary and diary that always accompanied him — and “meshidong,” or “long beard,” in tribute to Msgr. Buh’s impressive facial hair.

“When you hear stories about some of these missionary priests, Msgr. Buh certainly had the most extreme circumstances he had to go through just to minister to people,” Father Kunst said. “There were stories of him traipsing through blizzards at 30-40 below overnight, just to go and anoint somebody — so he had to fight that, just to bring the Gospel and the sacraments to the people.”

Msgr. Buh, pronounced “Boo,” eventually established 57 parishes, and became vicar general of the Diocese of Duluth.

“He had very large territory he was pastorally responsible for — and prior to modern transportation, he had a horse and buggy and not very good roads,” continued Father Kunst. “Once trains were introduced here, he got rid of the horse and buggy and went by train. It was much more efficient for him — but none of that was easy by today’s standards.”

“It always just amazes me,” Father Kunst reflected, “to think of a handful of priests in some remote area having to cover hundreds of miles. I don’t know if I would have been called to that sort of lifestyle back then.”

Father Kunst, who grew up hearing about Msgr. Buh’s exploits, and his bishop, Daniel J. Felton, were among the first to promote Msgr. Buh’s sainthood cause.

“We’re waiting from the Holy See to get the approval back,” said Father Kunst, diocesan postulator. “That’s when we would say that the cause is formally introduced, and he’ll automatically get the title ‘Servant of God.’ But the exploration aspect of this has been going on for about 2.5 years.”?

On June 10, the U.S. bishops voted in support of the Duluth Diocese advancing the cause of Msgr. Buh at their 2026 spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida.

Since the 1940s, second-class relics have circulated, said Father Kunst, noting that the Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery had holy cards made with bits of cloth from one of his shirts. A second-class relic is a possession of a saint or would-be saint; a first-class relic is a physical body, such as bone, hair, blood or flesh.

“Even though there was no formal cause, it was just the idea of the sanctity — of what he brought to northeastern Minnesota — in his missionary journeys. He was also buried in a special casket that was intended to be exhumed at a later date. They just knew — this priest is going to have some sort of cause for canonization.”

“There’s a real consciousness in our diocese as to who Msgr. Buh was,” concluded Father Kunst. “He’s legendary.”

Kimberley Heatherington is an OSV News correspondent based in Virginia.

On June 2, 2026, Msgr. George Welzbacher celebrated the 75th anniversary of his ordination as a Catholic priest. June 13 marked his 98th birthday. These milestones make him the longest-serving priest in the history of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to available records. He is currently its oldest living priest.

Yet longevity is just the beginning of the story.

Msgr. Welzbacher was an academic prodigy in his youth — a voracious reader at age 3 and a high school student at 12. He was ordained at the unusually young age of 22 under a special dispensation for that reason from Pope Pius XII.

A local legend as a college teacher of ancient history — and exemplar of the priest-professor model of the priesthood — he counts among his students many current priests in the archdiocese and elsewhere, including six who became bishops.

After retiring from teaching at age 67, he embarked on 27 more years of ministry as a parish priest, bringing to thousands his stentorian speaking voice, capacious love of learning and dedication to his vocation of guiding souls to heaven. In December 2024, he was named a monsignor by Pope Francis, the first such honor given to a priest of the archdiocese in decades.

He has been a unique witness to history — offering a firsthand view into a world many read about only in books. He is one of a handful of priests who not only recalls the days before Vatican II but also served many years of priesthood during that era.

A signature characteristic throughout his priesthood has been his capacity to offer friendship and mentoring to his fellow priests and others, say those who know him. On June 2, 45 priests and two bishops gathered to celebrate a Mass in his honor at the Little Sisters of the Poor facility in St. Paul, his current residence. And on June 13, Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated a Mass in his honor at Holy Family in St. Louis Park.

Raised in wonder in the shadow of the Cathedral

The story of this important figure in Minnesota’s Catholic life begins with a little boy whose mother, Eileen Hanley, led him to contemplate the wonders around him, yearn for holiness and love learning. Msgr. Welzbacher’s mother was a painter and pianist who wrote and memorized poetry and appreciated great literature. She introduced her son to these riches, despite great personal adversity — her husband fell ill and was incapacitated from the time Msgr. Welzbacher was very young.

“My favorite place to sit at home as a little boy was next to a garden fence covered with an abundance of my mother’s ‘bleeding heart’ flowers,” he recently recalled. “I was struck by her comment that this flower was nature’s way of weeping at the death of Christ.” It was sitting next to that fence at age 4, Msgr. Welzbacher added, that he first thought of devoting his life to Christ.

The greatest wonder Msgr. Welzbacher said he remembers as a young boy was just down the street at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. “I thought the solemn high Mass, with its impressive liturgy in the Cathedral’s magnificent setting, was the greatest thing on Earth,” he observed. “It was then, at the age of 6, that I was first drawn to the priesthood.” At age 8, he joined the Cathedral’s men’s and boys’ sanctuary choir and was awestruck by the sense it gave of being uniquely close to Christ. “Even now,” he added with a smile, “when I go to the Cathedral for a solemn high Mass, I sit in the very same choir seat that I sat in as a choir boy.”

“It’s amazing that Monsignor’s mom, in the midst of her own sorrows and struggles, introduced her little George to the wonders of the world,” remarked Father John Paul Erickson, associate pastor of the Cathedral and adjunct professor of homiletics at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. “I really think that Monsignor is still that little boy — the child raised on wonder, awe for the Church, and a love for literature and art — it all still lives in this 98-year-old.”

An avid reader

Msgr. Welzbacher’s mother began teaching him to read when he was two–and-a-half years old, an age when most children are just learning to speak. “Mother would cut out flash cards from empty cereal boxes,” he recalled. “Empty Wheaties boxes, for example, would provide ‘heat,’ ‘eat,’ ‘at’ and ‘ties.’” By age 3, he was devouring the “Big Little Book” series, with its bold black print and action-packed illustrations. At his mother’s urging, he learned the Latin names of all the flowers in her garden.

Though plagued by illness in his early years, he attests that the rich home environment his mother provided prompted the later flourishing of his academic endeavors. In 1940, he graduated from eighth grade at age 11 and was awarded a scholarship to then-Cretin High School in St. Paul.

A chance meeting after a streetcar ride

The following August, he and his mother were returning on a streetcar from Cretin one evening, having just submitted the measurements for his school uniform.

“We exited the streetcar directly in front of the Cathedral rectory,” recalled Msgr. Welzbacher, “and to our surprise saw none other than Archbishop (John) Murray emerging from the crowded back of the streetcar.”

The two greeted him, and the archbishop asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up, sonny?” Msgr. Welzbacher answered, “Your Excellency, I want to be a priest.” Msgr. Welzbacher’s mother explained that they were coming back from Cretin, having just made the final arrangements for her son to become a freshman there. “Oh, no,” the archbishop exclaimed, “If you want to be a priest, you will go to Nazareth Hall, because you will need deep familiarity with the classics.”

“Tomorrow,” he continued, “you will call Father Connolly, the school’s new rector, and tell him that I told you that you, George, are going to Nazareth Hall.”

“You do not say no to an archbishop,” explained Msgr. Welzbacher with a smile, adding that the archbishop’s command “proved in time to be a great blessing.”

An educational feast at Nazareth Hall

Nazareth Hall, a since-closed Catholic preparatory seminary in Arden Hills, offered four years of high school and two years of college. It provided an education steeped in the classics — six years of Latin, four of Greek, and three years either of French or German, Msgr. Welzbacher said, while also praising its instruction in history, English, math, physics and chemistry.

His yearning for knowledge inclined him to want to study both French and German, Msgr. Welzbacher said. But the two subjects were taught at the same hour, so he was delighted when Father Walter Peters, the German instructor, offered to coach him privately. Every Monday night, he visited Father Peters’ room. “For half an hour, we would listen to Sherlock Holmes on the radio, then Father would talk about the great figures of German literature for another half hour, and finally we would address German grammar for the last half hour,” he recalled.

German has remained a love for Msgr. Welzbacher throughout his priestly ministry. While teaching at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights years later, he said, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for summer study in Germany and developed a four-year program in German for the school. At the age of 98, he still reads his breviary in German every night.

A priest since 1951

After graduating from Nazareth Hall at age 17, Msgr. Welzbacher continued his studies at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. There, he earned all A’s, with one exception. “Just a couple of days before the final exam in metaphysics, a new book fell into my hands that I couldn’t put down until I’d read it cover-to-cover,” he explained. The book was Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited,” which remains an icon of Catholic literature. As a result of this time-devouring distraction, said Msgr. Welzbacher, “I got a B in metaphysics, but I still think I made the right decision.”

He was ordained in 1951.

A poetic gateway to the life of a priest-professor

After his ordination, Msgr. Welzbacher held associate pastor positions at St. Peter in North St. Paul and St. John the Baptist in New Brighton. Then, in 1961, a remarkable door opened for him.

Father James Reidy, now retired and a longtime friend of Msgr. Welzbacher’s, taught English literature at the time at the College of St. Thomas (later the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul). Father Reidy mentioned Msgr. Welzbacher’s capacious knowledge of T.S. Eliot’s poetry to Professor Herbert Slusser, an English professor there. As a result of that conversation, Slusser invited Msgr. Welzbacher to speak about Eliot to his late-afternoon senior seminar class.

Msgr. Welzbacher remembered speaking for about an hour and then observing, “I suspect we’ve run out of time.”

“No, no, talk as long as you want!” exclaimed Slusser. So, Msgr. Welzbacher continued for another hour.

Afterward, recalled Father Reidy, Slusser wrote to Father James Shannon, then the St. Thomas president, asking “Why in the name of God is Father Welzbacher not teaching at our college?”

This letter launched an academic career spanning more than a third of a century (1961-1995), which included graduate work in Germany and at the University of Chicago. Msgr. Welzbacher first taught religion, German and Latin at St. Thomas Academy (at the time, a sister institution of the College of St. Thomas) and then, for 21 years, ancient history at the college. Through it all, he assisted in parishes on weekends.

A classroom legend and mentor

Steven Geis, one of Msgr. Welzbacher’s former students, recalled the drama of a typical class. Msgr. Welzbacher would enter with no books or papers in hand, begin with the “Memorare” prayer, and then launch from memory into a lecture that picked up precisely where he had ended the previous class. “I remember his majestic, deep-timbred voice and his vivid stories that brought the ancient world to life,” said Geis. “We could actually see Hannibal crossing the Alps with elephants and imagine ourselves in the thick of battles.”

Geis recalled the day when Msgr. Welzbacher lectured on Homer’s “Iliad” and the “Odyssey,” and for 10 minutes used his commanding voice to recite some passages in Greek. “No one knew what he was saying,” noted Geis, “but the mere fact that he knew it and the profundity of his reading left us in awe.”

Geis took every class Msgr. Welzbacher offered, though these were widely considered among the most difficult at the college. “I graduated with a history degree,” he noted, “but like many at St. Thomas, I say I really majored in Welzbacher.”

Father Michael Miller, pastor of St. Catherine in Spring Lake Township and St. Patrick in Cedar Lake Township, recently sat in the kitchen of his farmhouse paging through a great stack of spiral notebooks that contain all the notes he took in Msgr. Welzbacher’s classes from 1989 through 1992. “On the first day of class,” recalled Father Miller, “he would gaze at the back row of students and say, ‘Every year there is someone without a notebook and wearing a Mona Lisa smile, thinking ‘I’ll remember it all,’ but YOU WON’T! Write it down.’ After that, I took down every word,” he chuckled.

Still, Father Joseph Johnson, rector and pastor of the Cathedral of St. Paul, who took one of Msgr. Welzbacher’s ancient history classes, emphasized that the monsignor was not just a towering intellect. “He was never condescending to his students — never isolated himself in an ivory tower.” Instead, added Father Johnson, “he had a warm regard for each of them and yearned to share the riches of his knowledge.”

Father Miller’s experience with Msgr. Welzbacher had an important consequence that extended beyond the classroom. “He spent hours speaking informally and candidly with me about the priesthood and recent Church history,” he explained. Father Miller entered The St. Paul Seminary after graduating from St. Thomas. “I would never be a priest today without the teaching, guidance and friendship of Msgr. Welzbacher,” he said, “and I’m sure that’s true for many.”

The legacy of the priest-professor

Father Reidy, who taught at the College of St. Thomas for 41 years, described Msgr. Welzbacher and himself as among the last exemplars of the priest-professor model for the priesthood. When the two were in school, he noted, they had priests as teachers in both high school and college in all subjects. “The academic life was once a realistic and highly esteemed option for priests,” commented Father Reidy. “They provided rich examples of the congruence between the intellectual life and that of a priest.” He added that priests could, while teaching, pursue graduate work, as Msgr. Welzbacherr did through German studies on a Fulbright Scholarship and doctoral studies at the University of Chicago.

When he began at St. Thomas in 1958, Father Reidy pointed out, there were 26 priests on campus — four at St. Thomas Academy and the rest teaching a variety of subjects at the college or working in administration. At one point, there was a residence on campus just for priest faculty members. Now, said Father Reidy, there are only a few priests among the faculty, and they tend to teach solely theological subjects.

It’s a different experience for a student to have a priest as a teacher, observed Father Johnson. “We know that priests talk about God, but when Father is teaching biology, literature or history, students begin to see the priest as a real human being with more than one dimension,” Father Johnson said.

“This mirrors the fact that a student’s life has more than one dimension,” Father Johnson noted, “and that God is involved in the whole, which is what a classical approach to education teaches us.”

First-hand experience with a priest-professor can also encourage some students to consider embracing the multi-faceted richness of a priestly life, added Father Johnson.

The most important job in the world

Msgr. Welzbacher ended his teaching career in 1995 at the age of 67. But what followed was a vigorous second chapter that spanned 27 more years, including 18 as pastor at three parishes — St. Nicholas in New Market, St. Agnes in St. Paul and at then-  as  well as nine more years as a weekend pastor at Holy Family in St. Louis Park.

“It’s astounding to consider that, at an age when most would be retiring, he took on his first assignment as pastor and continued in that role for 19 years,” Father Johnson said. Although priests can retire at 70, Msgr. Welzbacher and two of his classmates were pastors well into their 80s, and he continued as a weekend helper in a parish into his 90s.

James May, former chair of the Classics Department at St. Olaf College in Northfield, was one of Msgr. Welzbacher’s parishioners. Everyone he knew, said May, considered Msgr. Welzbacher to be a profound homilist. “His stentorian, mahogany-timbred voice — with its dramatic pauses and exclamations — combined with his broad and deep understanding of the faith and history transfixed his congregations,” May said. “Monsignor would often take us back hundreds of years into layers of ancient history and thought on important religious questions of the moment.”

Kathy Rode, who was a parishioner of Mgsr. Welzbacher when he was a weekend assistant pastor at Holy Family in St. Louis Park, observed that he had an “uncanny ability to bring a strong holiness and gravity to the Mass and the sacraments while simultaneously showing parishioners the shepherd’s warmth and understanding.” Her husband, Mark Rode, said he was astonished at the reception after Mgsr. Welzbacher’s June 13 birthday Mass to see him tirelessly greeting more than a hundred former parishioners and other well-wishers. “He looked intently at each person who approached him,” observed Rode, “recognizing most by name, and talking to each one as a great friend.”

Msgr. Welzbacher said he recalls his days as a parish priest very fondly. “When you consider the purpose of the priesthood — blazing pathways to heaven and away from hell — there is really nothing more important and satisfying in this world than parish work,” he emphasized.

Books in the oven

Throughout his work as a parish priest, Msgr. Welzbacher maintained his academic interests, including a tendency to accumulate vast quantities of books.

When he began his assignment at St. Nicholas, for example, May’s wife, Donna, brought him lasagna as a welcome present. “When I opened the rectory oven to heat it up,” she recalled, “I saw with horror that the oven was stuffed full of books.” She remembers telling him sternly, “Someone’s going to come in, turn on that oven, and you are going to go up in flames if you don’t remove those.”

Was Donna May’s advice taken?

Years later, Father Johnson assisted Msgr. Welzbacher in sorting through his massive book collection at the Leo C. Byrne Residence for retired priests in St. Paul. “The only space in his apartment free of books was a narrow, winding path that led to his reading chair,” recalled Father Johnson. He smiled and added, “It was rumored that sometimes even his oven there was used to house books.”

‘Always the teacher’

In addition to his formal role as a pastor and educator, Msgr. Welzbacher constantly taught and exhibited Christ’s love to those around him.

Geis recalled his mother, Dorothy, dying in Arizona, and Msgr. Welzbacher speaking to her in a 30-minute telephone conversation. “He recited to her in detail all she’d done to care for others,” he explained. “And then he said, ‘Dorothy, you are such a good and faithful servant that you’re being called home, and the Lord is going to be there. He is going to be waiting with a wreath.’”

His mother’s whole demeanor changed, Geis said. “She knew she was dying, and yet she was looking forward to this grand moment.”

“It’s going to be the same way for Monsignor,” Geis concluded. “Our Lord is going to welcome him home for all of the souls he has saved.”

The first marriage Msgr. Welzbacher celebrated after leaving academic life was that of Geis and his wife, Kathleen. Msgr. Welzbacher asked the bride and groom for their complete names — first, middle, and last — explaining that, during the wedding ceremony, it must not be the marriage of “Steve” and “Kathy,” but of Steven Donald Geiss and Kathleen Marie Ruhland. Why? “Because in ancient history,” declared Msgr. Welzbacher, “only slaves were referred to solely by their first names, and you are not slaves.” At that moment, Geis thought to himself, “He’s always the teacher!”

A priest’s priest

On the day of Father Erickson’s ordination, Msgr. Welzbacher introduced himself at the Cathedral and invited Father Erickson to visit St. Agnes, where Msgr. Welzbacher was serving as pastor. Father Erickson remarked, “I was frankly stunned. He hadn’t known me before that at all, and his warm and sincere welcome initiated me into one of the greatest of gifts that we have been given as priests — an order of brothers.” Father Erickson is convinced that Msgr. Welzbacher’s profound offer of friendship to fellow priests — which extends to informal conversations, dinners and movies — is one of his signature contributions to the priesthood.

Msgr. Welzbacher now resides at the Little Sisters of the Poor care facility in St. Paul and, as the senior priest in the archdiocese, continues to take special joy in providing guidance to younger priests. He still presides over an annual spring luncheon for seminarians about to be ordained.

Pope Francis’ designation of Father Welzbacher with the honorary title of monsignor in 2024 was a rare event, the first in the archdiocese in many decades. It is rare, explained Father Johnson, “because sometimes the practice of naming monsignors is viewed as anti-egalitarian and can foster jealousy among priests.” But here? “There was a joyful unanimity that the honor was appropriate for this priest who has done so many remarkably glorious things for the Lord,” Father Johnson said.

A witness to 75 years of Catholicism

Msgr. Welzbacher has witnessed a broad sweep of history in his 98 years. He remembers, for example, reading a newspaper account in 1939 about Germany’s invasion of Poland, and listening avidly to President Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats on the radio in the 1940s.

He has also witnessed great changes in the practice of Catholicism over the 75 years of his ministry. He is one of only a handful in the nation to have lived many years as a priest in the Church’s pre-Vatican II world. It was a time, he observed, when Catholicism was thriving, the priestly vocation was revered and priests had a firm sense of purpose.

He ministered through the uncertainties and confusion of the 1960s and ’70s. Before the Second Vatican Council, he noted, “we were bursting at the seams with new seminarians, but so much was lost overnight.” For example, he points out that in the early 1960s, a large new addition was erected at Nazareth Hall to accommodate exploding enrollment. In 1970, however, the entire campus was closed.

Still, he rejoices in what he views as a strong resurgence of Catholic faithfulness, which he dates especially to the pontificate of St. John Paul II in 1978. “John Paul the Great brought clarity, order and high moral purpose back to the Church,” Msgr. Welzbacher observed, noting, too, St. John Paul’s remarkable personal example of fidelity to Christ. “I remember his first trip to Poland after he became pope, where he spoke to a couple of million people,” the monsignor continued with a smile. “The people were cheering, and he was joking with them. The communist dictator of Poland was standing next to John Paul, and you could see his knees literally knocking.”

Msgr. Welzbacher said he believes this St. John Paul II-inspired reawakening continues to bear fruit. “The young priests I know — and I know quite a few — are top of the line,” he said. “They know exactly for what purpose they have been called to the priesthood. The days of wild confusion are behind us.”

With joy, Msgr. Welzbacher pointed out that young people have been returning to the Church in increasing numbers, and that the number of new entrants into the faith at the Easter Vigil in 2026 was, in many churches across the country, the highest in a very long time.

Final preaching

As his physical capacity to perform priestly functions has waned, Msgr. Welzbacher has intensified his focus on writing poetry, often working until well after midnight. “This is not some peripheral hobby of mine,” he said. “Poetry offers me a final forum for bearing witness to the Word.”

In the seminary and as a young priest, Msgr. Welzbacher often spent his half-hour morning shaving time daydreaming. Inspired by a story that Cardinal John Henry Newman had learned Italian while shaving, he decided to devote this time to memorizing poetry.

His powers of retention proved prodigious. While shaving, he memorized all 433 lines of T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland” and long portions of Eliot’s “Four Quartets,” as well as a smattering of other Eliot poems. “To live with poetry every day is to have beauty always close at hand,” Msgr. Welzbacher remarked.

Recently, he informally published a booklet of his poems, including one five-page poem he has worked on, off and on, for 44 years. The booklet also includes a “Prayer for Priestly Perseverance,” which ends with these words:

“Keep me steadfast in service

Come travail most dire,

Scorned the delusions of whispering pride!

May I walk rather, dear Friend, with You at my side

As my Strength, my Defender, my Guide

Till You tell me my work is done!

Then, Lord, call me home!”

TEACHER OF FUTURE BISHOPS

Many priests, including six bishops, are among the hundreds of students Msgr. Welzbacher taught during his 21-year career teaching ancient history at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul. These bishops include the following:

• Bishop Don DeGrood, who has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, since 2019.
• Bishop John Doerfler, who has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Marquete, Michigan, since 2014.
• Bishop Peter Christensen, who has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho since 2014.
• Bishop Peter Muhich, who served as the bishop of the Diocese of Rapid City, South Dakota, from 2020 until his death in 2024.
• Bishop Paul Sirba, who served as the bishop of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, from 2009 until his death in 2019.
• Bishop Lee Piché, who served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and is now the vicar for retired priests in the archdiocese.

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 upheld West Virginia and Idaho state laws requiring student athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their self-identified gender.

The ruling comes after the high court in 2025 upheld a Tennessee state law banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

In a majority opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that Title IX “allows schools to provide separate women’s and men’s sports teams defined by biological sex.”

The court also found that “West Virginia and Idaho did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by maintaining female sports teams for biological females.”

“To provide equal opportunity for female athletes, schools do not merely maintain, for example, one soccer team, one basketball team, one ice hockey team, and one lacrosse team that are equally open to female and male athletes,” he wrote. “That approach would deny equal opportunity to female athletes because, as all agree, females and males have inherent physical differences relevant to athletic performance.”

Kavanaugh said that to “ensure equal opportunity for female athletes, schools therefore typically maintain separate women’s and men’s sports teams,” and that Title IX’s regulations “require schools to provide the women’s and men’s teams equivalent equipment, facilities, scheduling, and the like.”

“The question before the Court is: Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, may schools maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females? In other words, may schools determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex? The answer is yes,” he wrote.

Kavanaugh added that while 27 states “have enacted laws that maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females,” their ruling considered only those laws enacted by West Virginia and Idaho.

Kavanaugh was joined in his opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito. Gorsuch and Thomas also filed concurring opinions. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined. Jackson also filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.

In her opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, Sotomayor wrote, “This litigation implicates deeply sensitive, contentious, and evolving issues.”

“These circumstances demand exercising judicial restraint, not rushing to answer conclusively difficult questions without sufficient evidentiary development,” she said. “In opting otherwise, the majority extends great sympathy to those it favors: the young cisgender girls and women who play sports. I share that sympathy. Playing sports can lead to benefits that are immeasurable, and many are understandably invested in ensuring that competition stays fair and safe. Because the majority, however, inflicts a hardship on those it disfavors without giving them the fair and full opportunity the Constitution requires to litigate their contentions, I respectfully dissent.”

The cases, which the court heard in combined oral arguments in January, concerned challenges to those laws from students seeking to compete on women’s sports teams — one in middle school cross-country in West Virginia and the other on a university-level track and cross-country team in Idaho — that did not correspond with their biological sex. The attorneys general of those states asked the high court to uphold their respective states’ laws, both of which were previously blocked by lower courts.

In Jan. 13 oral arguments in the combined Idaho and West Virginia cases, plaintiffs argued the bans ran afoul of the Equal Protection Clause, part of the 14th Amendment, because they discriminate on the basis of sex. But the states argued their laws are aimed at preserving women’s sports for women.

In an amicus brief filed in the cases, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops argued that “if Catholic schools were forced to allow males to compete on or against their female-only teams, they would need to abandon athletics programs or stop accepting federal funding. That is because allowing such competition would undermine fundamental Catholic teachings regarding the immutable, God-given differences between the sexes.”

“To be sure, Title IX contains an exemption for religious schools that are ‘controlled by a religious organization’; the exemption applies to requirements that are inconsistent with the organization’s religious tenets,'” it continued. “But that exemption is underdeveloped. And forcing schools to rely upon it would impose significant litigation costs, wasting money that would be better spent on students.”

In guidance on health care policy and practices released in March 2023, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine stated the church’s opposition to interventions that “involve the use of surgical or chemical techniques that aim to exchange the sex characteristics of a patient’s body for those of the opposite sex or for simulations thereof.”

“Any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person,” the document states.

There is no clear data on how many student athletes who identify as transgender compete on teams opposite their biological sex in the U.S., as many sports associations do not track those numbers. NCAA President Charlie Baker, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, told a Senate panel in December 2024 that out of more than 500,000 total college student athletes in the organization at that time, he believed fewer than 10 identified as transgender.

A 2022 study by the UCLA Williams Institute found that there are approximately 1.6 million people in the U.S. who identify as transgender in total, with about half of that population between the ages of 13 and 24.

However, a January 2025 JAMA Pediatrics study found fewer than 1,000 U.S. adolescents with commercial insurance and a gender-related diagnosis received puberty blockers from 2018 through 2022, and none of them were under the age of 12. The study did not include minors covered by Medicaid.

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington.

Where two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name, he promises to be among them.

That promise comes to life each Monday afternoon at St. John Neumann in Eagan, where a retirement small group gathers to pray, reflect on the Gospel, share “God moments” and grow together in faith.

The group, which includes about 21 members, began in response to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ parish-based small group initiative, following the model of the Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS). Today, it is a place where faith strengthens, friendships form and members support one another through life’s joys and challenges.

“We look forward to it every Monday,” said Joanne Stadler, who now leads the group alongside co-leader Kathy Coen.

Parish staff members Coen and Joe Keating first organized the group after they recognized a need for retirees to gather during the daytime. While some small groups meet in homes, Coen said that was not practical for everyone.

“For a lot of people, particularly at retirement age, they have downsized and they live in smaller places and can’t necessarily host,” Coen said. “Evenings don’t always work because driving in the dark, especially in the winter or the rain, is not ideal.”

Instead, the parish became a welcome meeting place where members could easily gather each week. Small groups using the PECS model encourage time for praise and worship, sharing ways Christ has been present to group members and ways they have responded, as well as a teaching moment, discussion and prayers of intercession.

Meetings with the retiree group at St. John Neumann begin with a song before members share “God moments” — stories about where they have encountered God throughout the week or at another meaningful point in their lives. The group then discusses the Sunday Gospel, Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s monthly video message or other faith topics before concluding with announcements and prayer intentions.

For Candy Rogness, the God moments are one of the most meaningful parts of every meeting.

“It’s very important for us to share the God moments and to bring out the amazing things that happen each week,” Rogness said.

Sometimes those moments are found in simple family gatherings.

“When we get together and are able to spend time together, that’s a God moment for me,” Rogness said.

Prayer has also become a defining part of the group’s life collectively. Members pray for one another’s families, friends and the parish community while growing more comfortable praying aloud.

“We don’t know how to do that,” Coen said. “I think that part was really hard initially for a lot of people. Not that they didn’t want to, but knowing the difference between types of prayers and having comfort praying, and not just asking for prayer, but actually doing it.”

Over time, members have seen those prayers bear fruit. Stadler recalled one member who returned to the group after recovering from a stroke.

“We did a lot of praying while he was gone,” Stadler said. “Our prayers were answered.”

The group’s impact extends beyond its weekly meetings. Members volunteer at parish events, assist with evenings of renewal tied to the liturgical seasons and support ministry to young families.

Those who are unable to volunteer because of health or mobility challenges continue serving through prayer. “Some people can’t come and be present, but they can commit to praying for the events we have for families and other things,” Coen said.

In addition to prayer, the atmosphere members have built together is vital to the group.

“We spend a lot of time laughing. It makes everybody so comfortable and just so close,” Rogness said.

That welcoming spirit has made parishioners eager to join and reluctant to miss group gatherings. Members who have stepped away because of health concerns often look forward to returning.

For Rogness, the group has renewed her faith.

“If I wasn’t in the group, life goes on and you get busy with other things, and you don’t think of the church as much,” she said. “This has really taught me a lot.”

Watching that transformation has been rewarding for Coen, who has accompanied the group since its beginning. “It has been a privilege just to see how things have come together in this group,” she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship on June 30, finding the order violated the 14th Amendment.

A cornerstone of his efforts to restrict immigration, the ruling comes as a loss for Trump, who even attended oral arguments in the case, Trump v. Barbara, in person, marking the first time a sitting president has done so, according to records from the high court and the nonprofit Supreme Court Historical Society.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community.”

Citing comments made by Sen. Lyman Trumbull, a proponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which led to the 14th Amendment, Roberts wrote, “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”

The case concerned an executive order signed by Trump within hours of returning to the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2025, that sought to change the longstanding legal interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Trump’s order, part of his administration’s broader efforts to restrict immigration, sought to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who either lack permanent legal status or are temporary visa holders. The order said that after 30 days from the executive order’s date, only children born to at least one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident parent would automatically acquire citizenship. It was promptly challenged in court.

Previously, the Supreme Court limited the ability of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions against the order while litigation over it proceeded, but did not directly address the merits of the order itself.

The Trump administration previously argued in defense of the order that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” makes the president’s order lawful, despite longstanding legal interpretation that children born in the U.S. are granted citizenship with only narrow exceptions.

But Roberts wrote, “The word ‘jurisdiction’ was hardly unknown to the drafters and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment. Congress chose to use an established legal term and the Clause must be interpreted in that light.”

Roberts was joined in his opinion by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Brett Kavanaugh filed an opinion that concurred in the judgment but dissented in part. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

In his own opinion, Kavanaugh wrote that he disagrees with the court’s finding that the order violates the 14th Amendment, instead arguing that it is unlawful because it ran afoul of a federal statute governing birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, which specifies particular circumstances under which citizenship is granted at birth in accordance with that amendment.

“Congress could — consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment — amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,” he said. “But Congress has not yet done so.”

Writing for the minority, Thomas argued the majority’s ruling “adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.”

Trump, in a post on his social media website Truth Social, argued, “The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process.”

“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!” he argued.

However, it was not immediately clear what the path forward for such legislation would be in Congress, as such a proposal would need to gain enough support to meet the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold in order to reach Trump’s desk.

Ashley Feasley, the legal expert in residence at the Immigration Law and Policy Initiative at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, told OSV News, “Today’s opinion is a victory for immigrant children born in the United States.”

Robert’s opinion, she said, “while focused on Constitutional analysis and history and tradition, aligns with the bishops, who noted in their amicus brief on the case, the alignment of birthright citizenship with Church teaching as it treats ‘birth within a community as a sufficient and objective basis for political belonging.'”

J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy and communications at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and the former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News, “This decision shows that, when push comes to shove, the Constitution retains its authority and still guides our 250-year-old republic. It also sends a message to the administration that to change the Constitution you must go through a constitutional amendment process, not just use a pen.”

“The executive order that was struck down would have returned us to a two-tiered society, with one group being stateless and having no rights in our democracy,” he said. “The justices rightly did not take the nation back to that era.”

Catholic social teaching on immigration involves three interrelated principles: the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, also known as CLINIC, said in a statement, “We are relieved and grateful that the Supreme Court has upheld this right that is so important for our identity as a nation and for safeguarding justice and human dignity.”

“In our amicus brief, we explained how the values of Catholic social teaching, the particular realities of undocumented immigration in the United States, and our nation’s legal history make upholding the tradition of birthright citizenship the most just outcome of this case,” she said. “We are glad to receive a decision that will bring relief to immigrant families and our network. This is a win for immigrants, and a win for justice.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and CLINIC previously submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, arguing that ending the practice of birthright citizenship would weaken families and risk leaving children stateless, thereby making them targets for violence, trafficking and exploitation.

“The principle of citizenship by birth is firmly rooted in Western legal tradition, enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment, and reaffirmed by this Court’s precedent,” it said. “It is equally grounded in Church teachings, which affirms the inherent dignity of every human person, especially the innocent child.”

Appleby told OSV News, “I think the Church’s voice made a difference here.”

“This is a victory for human dignity and for human life,” he said, adding the ruling is one that could be celebrated by “Catholics of all political views.”

As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, and with the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage set to conclude in Philadelphia, a priest in that city — whose parish was home to a major milestone in Eucharistic devotion in the U.S. — said that adoration offers a chance to “slow down and listen” to Jesus.

Many times, “prayer is a matter of ‘I’ve got to say my rosary’ or ‘I have to say my novena,'” said Father Edward Kuczynski, pastor of St. Philip Neri Parish in Philadelphia, the first U.S parish to host a diocesan-wide Forty Hours devotion.

But, said Father Kuczynski, “listening is a part of prayer.”

And, amid the city bustle, a sense of stillness paradoxically prevails on the quiet street that’s home to St. Philip Neri Church, where St. John Neumann introduced the first diocesan observance of Forty Hours devotion on May 26, 1853 — the feast of Corpus Christi.

As a Redemptorist, St. John Neumann, then the fourth bishop of Philadelphia (which became an archdiocese in 1875), was well familiar with the practice of sustained prayer before the monstrance.

His order’s founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori, had described Eucharistic adoration — which emerged in 16th-century Italy, and which St. Philip Neri himself promoted — as “the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.”

While individual churches in Philadelphia had held the devotion, a full diocesan observance of Forty Hours devotion was a daunting prospect, given the anti-Catholic sentiment in the U.S. at the time.

In 1844, Nativist Riots erupted in Philadelphia, capping decades of growing suspicion and xenophobia against Irish-Catholic immigrants, whom the largely Protestant Nativists regarded as threats to the nation.

That year, a controversy between Protestants and Catholics over the use of the Bible in Philadelphia schools flared into outright violence that lasted for months, fanned by Nativist newspapers and the movement’s political arm, the American Party (also known as the American Republican Party and the Know-Nothing Party).

St. Philip Neri Church — which had assembled a small volunteer defense force, and which also received protection from a Pennsylvania Militia guard detail — was ransacked by an angry mob in July 1844. The mob attempted to set fire to the church, but was successfully evicted by the militia under Major Gen. George B. Cadwalader.

Those memories were still vivid when St. John Neumann proposed the diocesan Forty Hours devotion, with St. Philip Neri as the flagship parish. According to the parish history, many priests feared the Blessed Sacrament might be desecrated by opponents, but St. John Neumann saw divine confirmation of the effort in a narrow escape he experienced from a potential fire.

Having fallen asleep at his desk while working late, the bishop awoke to see the candle had burned itself out on some papers, leaving them charred but still readable. As the St. Philip Neri Parish history details, the bishop — while thanking God for his preservation — reportedly heard the Lord say, “As the flames are burning here without consuming or injuring the writing, so shall I pour out my grace in the Blessed Sacrament without prejudice to My honor. Fear no profanation, therefore; hesitate no longer to carry out your design for My glory.”

The saint “preached the idea that Jesus is present on the altar, and we should be present” for him,” said Father Kuczynski, whose older parishioners in particular are “very aware” of their church’s historical legacy.

The priest reflected that the need for Eucharistic devotion remains as strong as ever, particularly amid the noise of the digital age.

“The Lord speaks to us, I believe, when we’re not talking to him. He’s not going to talk over us,” explained Father Kuczynski. “I think we have to find that quiet place and listen.”

Young people are often “basically afraid of silence,” he observed, pointing to cellphones as indicative of nonstop activity.

Yet the issue of avoiding contemplation in favor of constant busyness isn’t new, he admitted, recalling that he and his seminary cohort some five decades ago were horrified at the thought of a priest “taking a nap in the afternoon” when “he should be out evangelizing people.”

He noted that during that 1853 Forty Hours devotion, St. John Neumann “stayed at the parish” and “scarcely left the church during the three days.”

The original altar, where the saint displayed the Blessed Sacrament in his own monstrance, was lost to an 1897 fire — sparked at the neighboring stable — that completely destroyed the church’s interior and much of its exterior.

But the spirit of St. John Neumann’s love for the Eucharist lives on, said Father Kuczynski.

“The bread is truly the body of Christ, and the wine truly becomes the blood of Christ,” he said. “We have to reach out and make Jesus available to our people. … And we’re only going to win people back one at a time.”

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News.

Five Catholic bishops from the United States-Mexico border region led a day of pastoral accompaniment in Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico, June 26 as the United States approaches its 250th birthday as a nation.

“We are here as shepherds of the Church,” said Bishop James A. Misko of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, prior to celebrating Mass inside Nogales, Arizona’s historic Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, less than a half mile from the international border.

He was joined by Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix; Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas; and retired Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson.

“This is an important place for us to be,” Bishop Misko said, “because this is where these two nations come together as the people of God. We are here to accompany these (migrants) who find themselves in a complex situation, and to pray for our elected leaders who govern the border, and those (in enforcement) given the very important task of managing our border.”

Following Mass, the bishops led about 200 worshippers in a rosary and procession across the border into Nogales, Mexico, where they spent a brief time in adoration of the Eucharist at Parroquia de la Purísima Concepción. Along with migrant advocates, the bishops then met and dined at a local migrant advocacy complex before returning to the United States.

“This was a day to say, ‘We see you, we hear you and we walk with you,'” said Bishop Seitz.

The events were co-organized by Kino Border Initiative, a migrant advocacy agency based in both Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico, and Hope Border Institute, a similar group headquartered in El Paso, Texas, as well as the New York City-based Center for Migration Studies, a think tank and educational institute studying international migration.

During his homily, Bishop Misko urged the faithful to conform their hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, adding that the right to migrate humanely reflects the dignity of those created in God’s image and likeness.

Like Jesus Christ, he said, the faithful must be sensitive, compassionate and strong in all their dealings with people, including migrants.

“Our hearts must reflect these qualities,” he said.

Bishop Misko also urged prayer for governments and their leaders who craft immigration policy as well as the duly sworn personnel who manage the border and enforce the law.

“We pray that God will fill all hearts with His grace, so that we may see Christ in one another and protect human dignity as the greatest gift given in God’s providential love,” he said.

Prior to Mass, the bishops and advocates put the issue into context.

Bishop Dolan said contributions of immigrants to his state and others cannot be underestimated.

“We belong to a particular community that has continued to show an increase in immigration and refugees,” he said, noting many of these individuals offer potential support to the region’s agriculture.

Dylan Corbett, Hope Border Institute’s founder and executive director and a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, emphasized the role of migrants in the wider economy.

“Our small business across the country is fueled by the contributions of migrants,” he said. “We (also) have many serving in health care.”

Juan Cuellar, Kino Border Initiative’s director of education and advocacy, said Church teaching that humans are created in God’s image and likeness supports the freedom to migrate humanely.

“Migration has been a core reality of the human experience for thousands of years. People possess natural rights to migrate to support themselves and their families,” he said. “Each country has the right to maintain and manage its borders with Christian justice and in a way that equates to a relationship with God and how we treat our neighbors.”

The bishops urged all parties to work for humane, dignified migration solutions.

“We need consistent application of policy from administration to administration and for Congress to work on a true and valuable and sustainable immigration reform,” Bishop Dolan said.

Bishop Kicanas urged the U.S. to ensure those held in detention centers and or waiting to be granted access to the U.S. have ample opportunity to practice their faith. At present, he said those opportunities are limited.

“These are people in great need. They’re desperate, they’re fearful, they’re anxious. They need the consolation and hope that faith can bring,” he said.

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families; the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration; and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

The majority of migrants targeted by the government for mass deportation from the U.S. are Catholics. According to a 2025 joint Catholic-Evangelical report published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other evangelical Christian groups, of the 10 million people estimated to be at risk of mass deportation, eight in 10 are Christian and six in 10 are Catholic.

The report also found nearly one in five Catholics (18%) in the U.S. are either vulnerable to deportation or live with someone who is.

A day before the border Mass, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the Trump administration a green light to end the participation of an estimated 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians in a legal program temporarily shielding eligible migrants from countries experiencing dangerous conditions such as war, disaster, or other unrest. The State Department currently warns Americans against traveling to either country, designating both as “Level 4 — Do not travel,” citing risks of violence.

The high court also ruled June 25 the administration can reimplement a policy of turning away asylum-seekers at the border before they set foot in the U.S., known as “metering.”

Inside a complex in Nogales, Mexico, operated by Kino Border Initiative, migrants were uplifted seeing the bishops, who made their way throughout the dining room, meeting and talking with individuals.

Some shared their experiences.

Francisco Menjivar, 38, said he fled his native Honduras three months ago, often finding rides on trains to escape family discord and the use of drugs by siblings. Speaking through an interpreter, he explained his job as a ranch and stable hand paid the equivalent of $10 a day.

Menjivar arrived in Nogales, Mexico, only a few hours before the bishops.

“This is a great joy. I thank God we are together,” he said, pointing to a friend sitting across the table, adding that “if God allows it,” he will come to the U.S., find work and support himself and his mother.

Azul Guzman, a 19-year-old single mother with a 9-month-old daughter, is seeking to live in the U.S. with her aunt, who resides in Pennsylvania. Guzman now lives with her parents and her daughter, Natalie, in a three room efficiency apartment. She has requested asylum and has waited three months for an answer from the U.S. government. Though not a churchgoer, she said she believes in God and was grateful for the visit from the bishops.

“It’s very beautiful to have them here,” she said.

Jeff Grant writes for The Catholic Sun, the news outlet of the Diocese of Phoenix. OSV News staff contributed to this version. This story was first published in The Catholic Sun and is distributed through a partnership with OSV News.

The relics of the French nun to whom Christ revealed his Sacred Heart will be available for public veneration in the U.S. at a number of locations, as the nation — newly consecrated to the Sacred Heart — marks its 250th anniversary.

The Knights of Columbus announced June 23 that major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque will travel to Washington and Baltimore from June 29 through July 5.

The relics — which include the saint’s clavicles, two of her ribs and a small piece of her brain — arrived in the U.S. in early June, ahead of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ formal consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart during their annual spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida.

The lay leader of the Knights of Columbus in France, Arnaud Bouthéon, personally supervised the relics’ transatlantic transfer from the Chapel of the Apparitions at the Monastery of the Visitation in Parais-le-Monial, where they are housed along with a wax effigy of the 17th-century saint’s body.

Between 1673 and 1675, the Visitation nun experienced visions of Christ showing his Sacred Heart and calling on humanity to experience his love, mercy and tenderness.

The devotion — with roots in Scripture and patristic writings, and widely extolled by a number of popes — spread through the efforts of St. Claude La Colombière, the Jesuit confessor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and the Society of Jesus.

The saint’s relics are currently on display from June 24-27 at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Connecticut.

From June 29 through July 4, the relics will be available for public veneration at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington. Access hours vary slightly during that time, with the relics on public display from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. June 29-July 1, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 2-4.

From July 5-6, the relics will be available at Baltimore’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Public veneration will begin with a 10:30 a.m. Mass on July 5 celebrated by Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, and will last until 7 p.m. that day. On July 6, the relics will be available from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the basilica.

Following public veneration in Baltimore, the relics will return to the Blessed Michael McGivney Center for viewing July 8-11 and July 15-18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The relics are scheduled to be transported to Denver Aug. 1-6 for the Knights of Columbus’ annual convention, after which they will return to the center in New Haven for public veneration Sept. 25-27.

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Caroline de Sury, who writes for OSV News from Paris, contributed to this report.

With bishops leading the way, every Christian should help build unity in the Church and the world by putting Christ at the center and drawing others near while being attentive to their needs, Pope Leo XIV said.

“Communion within the Church is not built by clinging rigidly to one’s own position, but by seeking, in all hearts, points of encounter in the truth, in whose light alone each person becomes a means of growth for another,” he said during his homily at Mass on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29.

“It is important for us today to look to these two saints — Peter and Paul — to understand how we, in turn, can be apostles and builders of unity, and generous servants of the truth in charity,” he said.

The feast day celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica included the traditional blessing of the pallium, the woolen band adorned with crosses that the heads of archdioceses wear around their shoulders over their Mass vestments and symbolizes an archbishop’s unity with the pope and his authority and responsibility to care for the flock the pope entrusted to him.

The pallium, Pope Leo said, expresses “the commitment of every shepherd — and also of every Christian — to take upon their shoulders the brothers and sisters entrusted to them, like so many lambs of the Lord’s flock, and to sacrifice their energy, time, effort and even their lives for them. They do so in order that the Gospel may reach everyone, and the whole world may find in it harmony and concord.”

According to the Vatican, 35 archbishops from 19 countries who were named over the past 12 months received the palliums. Four of them were from the United States: Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso of Mobile, Alabama; Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks of New York; Archbishop James R. Golka of Denver; and Archbishop James F. Checchio of New Orleans.

The pope blessed the palliums after his homily and after they were brought up from the crypt above the tomb of St. Peter. Each archbishop, wearing red vestments, then approached Pope Leo by the altar and knelt as the pope placed the pallium over their shoulders. Each shared an embrace with the pope and a few words.

In his homily, the pope reflected on Sts. Peter and Paul — two very different saints who were martyred on different days and yet share the same feast day.

Pope Leo called them “two pillars of the Church,” who provide important examples for today’s bishops and all Christians.

St. Peter knew how to “acknowledge his mistakes and repent, without becoming discouraged and without failing in his mission to proclaim the Gospel and gather Christ’s flock, even unto martyrdom,” the pope said.

When a controversial issue threatened to divide the community, he said, St. Peter listened to his brothers and made a decision, guided by the Holy Spirit, that preserved communion and ushered in a new era for the entire People of God.

St. Peter holding the keys represents his “faithful and patient concern for unity,” he said, because a key doesn’t break down a door, rather it “opens and closes them by finding the proper levers within and guiding their movements, so that locks may release, bolts withdraw, and doors turn freely on their hinges, thereby joining rooms together and transforming many isolated spaces into one welcoming home.”

“In this light, we can interpret the mission entrusted by the Lord to Peter and his successors for the benefit of the entire holy People of God. It is a mission to listen, with his help, to the voice of each person; to discern inspirations; to guide the way; to correct errors; to instruct, encourage, exhort and accompany our brothers and sisters so that, docile to the action of the same Spirit, they may cooperate in the salvation of one another and of all humanity,” he said.

St. Peter’s example, therefore, “is an invitation to every Christian to become a builder of unity, placing God at the center of one’s life and drawing close to one’s brothers and sisters, attentive to their circumstances and needs,” he said, so that God’s message “might be fully proclaimed.”

St. Paul, whose symbols are the book and the sword, is the “tireless herald of the Good News,” he said.

The symbols represent the word of God being capable of penetrating and transforming even the hardest of hearts, as was seen with St. Paul’s conversion, who was led away from violence and onto “the path of love,” he said.

St. Augustine said, “God took the persecutor of the Church and made him a messenger of peace. He forgave him all his sins and placed him in a ministry where he could forgive the sins of others,” Pope Leo added.

“Let us pray to Sts. Peter and Paul that they may sustain us on our journey of communion in the footsteps of the Savior,” he said.

Keeping with a long tradition, a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, led by Orthodox Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis of Chalcedon, was present at the Mass.

The pope and the Orthodox metropolitan embraced behind the altar during the exchange of the sign of peace, and they descended the stairs below the main altar to pray at St. Peter’s tomb after Mass ended.

Before processing out of the basilica, the pope also stood a few moments in prayer before the dark bronze statue of St. Peter, which is clothed on his feast day with ornate vestments and a jeweled tiara.

Sts. Peter and Paul understood and proclaimed the Gospel with their own distinctive voice, Pope Leo said before praying the Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Their stark differences do not make them adversaries, he said, on the contrary, “they became the symbol of the many other diversities that the one Spirit unites into a single whole.”

“The patron saints of the Church of Rome experienced the challenges of communion; they knew it, served it, and proclaimed it as a sacrament of divine life,” the pope said. “Their witness has contributed decisively to ensuring that the Christian presence in history is directed not toward dominion, but toward service, unity and reconciliation.”