St. Bridget, St. Elizabeth & Sacred Heart

The Colorado Capitol in Denver. / Credit: robert cicchetti/Shutterstock

Denver, Colo., Apr 9, 2025 / 17:41 pm (CNA).

The Colorado Catholic bishops are urging state Gov. Jared Polis to veto a bill that would put at least $1.5 million of public funding annually toward Medicaid-covered abortions.

The Tuesday open letter — co-signed by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver, Bishop James Golka of Colorado Springs, and Bishop Stephen Berg of Pueblo — urged the governor “to consider the millions of Coloradans who do not want their hard-earned tax dollars to be used in the destruction of human life.”

The legislation would require the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to cover abortions for Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus participants. The bill passed the state House earlier this week and the state Senate in March.

In the letter, the Colorado bishops expressed their “deep disappointment and grave concern” over the bill, saying it “violates the dignity of human life,” “disregards the safety of women,” and neglects “the conscience rights of millions of Coloradans who do not want to pay for abortion.”

“Every human life, from conception to natural death, is a sacred gift from God,” the bishops continued. “No act of law can change this truth, nor can it erase our moral obligation to defend the most vulnerable among us.”

The bishops called the bill “a tragedy for Colorado.”

Rather than supporting “life-affirming alternatives,” the bill “prioritizes public funding of abortion at the expense of the lives of preborn children, the health of their mothers, and the conscience rights” of pro-life Coloradans, the bishops noted.

The legislation follows the passage of Amendment 79 in November 2024, which enshrined a right to abortion in the Colorado Constitution.

The bishops cited the financial impact of the bill, noting that “the electorate was informed by the legislative blue book and media that Amendment 79 would not cost the state money.”

A “fiscal note” of the bill argued that the government would save money due to the number of “averted births,” a claim the bishops decried as “abhorrent.”

“Such a statement is an egregious reflection of the inhumane mentality behind the bill,” the bishops wrote.

The bishops maintained that the so-called “averted births” wouldn’t save money.

“The fiscal note drastically underestimates the cost of abortion,” they wrote, noting that legislators used the average cost for first-trimester abortions — and not the more expensive late-term abortion costs — in its calculations.

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, called the arguments for the bill “bad economics and even worse ethics.”

“[T]he federal government subsidizes other health services covered by Colorado’s Medicaid program. Colorado taxpayers pay for only a fraction of the cost of Medicaid births,” New wrote at National Review earlier this month.

“Indeed, contrary to the assertion of Colorado Democrats, covering elective abortion would cost Colorado taxpayers money.”

In his analysis of the bill for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, New found that when state Medicaid programs cover abortions, the number of abortions increases in the state.

In his estimate, if passed, the bill would increase the number of abortions in Colorado by more than 1,800 annually.

Nineteen states allow Medicaid programs to use state taxpayer dollars to cover elective abortions.

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany, New York. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Albany

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 15:37 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Albany, New York, will undertake a planning initiative in response to a diocesan “financial and maintenance crisis” that the bishop says could result in the closure of “perhaps one-third” of the diocese’s 126 parish churches. 

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger in an April 7 letter informed the faithful that “clergy health and well-being, quality sacramental ministry, consistent attendance, participation and volunteerism, well-maintained properties and assets have been heading in the wrong direction” in the upstate New York diocese.

The bishop said the planning initiative is focused on evangelization and better stewardship of the Church’s assets. 

“If we are to have a solid, long-term future, we cannot NOT act. We are now launching a process in an effort to implement a newly envisioned future for long-term growth and the formation of mission-focused disciples,” Scharfenberger wrote. 

“It is a challenge and an opportunity to rechannel our efforts and resources toward a healthier Church focused on service, growth in our relationship with Jesus Christ, personally and communally, and sustainable for the needs we have inside and outside our walls. Through a prayerful, comprehensive and participatory evaluation process, we can ensure that the mission of the Church is carried forward, not left to decline.”

Scharfenberger said the main objective of the process is that every parish in the diocese will take part in a transparent and honest decision-making process over several months of discernment, taking care to listen especially to the voices of youth and young adults, about “the mission and resources of each parish toward a realistic vision for its future.” The bishop described it as “a process to focus each parish on its mission as the Church, making best use of its personal and material resources.”

Reconfiguration or merging of parishes and the repurposing, closing, or sale of some churches, rectories, and schools “must surely be anticipated” as part of the outcome, he noted, saying they may ultimately need to “realign or relinquish perhaps one-third of 126 parish churches and other buildings, even some of our remaining parish schools.”

“Every resource or asset — buildings, personnel, services, holdings, and expenses — must point to fulfilling the mission Christ entrusts to us,” Scharfenberger continued. 

“The faith and trust of so many have been shaken. We need to focus now on re-evangelization, reeducation, and becoming the mission Church we long for and know we can be. My prayers for you now are for a fruitful and richly blessed Holy Week and a joyful Easter season.”

The details of the process in Albany will be “unfolded in weeks to come and launched on Pentecost Sunday,” which is June 8, the prelate concluded. 

Albany is the latest U.S. diocese to announce such a pastoral planning process, joining numerous major dioceses that have announced and completed the processes in recent years including Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 

The Diocese of Albany previously launched and completed a pastoral planning process beginning in 2006 and concluding in 2011 dubbed “Called to Be Church,” which resulted in the diocese implementing nearly a dozen parish mergers in response to changing demographics and a shortage of priests. 

Scharfenberger had previously announced in 2023 his decision that the Albany Diocese would declare bankruptcy, in part due to a flood of more than 400 lawsuits filed during a two-year period under New York’s Child Victims Act of 2019. Nearly all of New York’s dioceses filed for bankruptcy following the passage of the act, which opened up a “look back” window during which alleged abuse victims could file lawsuits long after the statute of limitations had expired. 

Further difficulties arose when Albany’s longtime former bishop, Howard Hubbard, who led the diocese from 1977 to 2014, made headlines three years ago when he admitted under oath that he did not report several instances of alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests, instead choosing to keep the allegations quiet and to refer the priests for treatment. 

Later on, in 2023, not long after an accusation of abuse against Hubbard himself came to light, Hubbard announced he had contracted a civil marriage with a woman. He later died in August 2023 at age 84.

Participants march at a rally for immigrants and refugees at the Diocese of El Paso on Monday, March 24, 2025. / Credit: Father Miguel Briseño, OFM Conv

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 9, 2025 / 14:37 pm (CNA).

The debate over immigration, border control, and refugee resettlement remains a hot-button topic among the general population, including U.S. Catholics, who have a wide range of stances on the issue. An array of policymakers, theologians, and representatives for Catholic aid organizations have shared their takes on the topic with CNA.

In the wake of the Trump administration’s funding cuts, Catholic aid organizations such as Catholic Charities and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) USA have been outspoken in their advocacy for the restoration of aid to their programs, which benefit migrants and refugees. As part of the 90-day funding freeze, over $18 million in federal federal funding to JRS USA was frozen, though aid to select programs has since been reauthorized. Catholic Charities across the country have shuttered refugee services and other programs due to the freeze.

At a JRS USA-sponsored conference late last month, Kevin Appleby, former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and current senior director of international migration policy for the Center for Migration Studies, weighed in on the divide between the U.S. bishops and the administration.

“I always believe that dialogue is important,” he told CNA. “I don’t think the Church should wait for four years. We have to try to engage the administration as much as possible because by doing that, you can help refugees.” Appleby indicated there are areas where the Church and administration might find common ground, such as in combatting human trafficking.

At that same conference, Washington, D.C.’s Cardinal Robert McElroy emphasized that “we’ve got to remember the call of Jesus is constant, to always be attentive to the needs and the suffering that lie around us, to perceive it, and then to act,” he said, comparing the plight of migrants to the robbers’ victim in the parable of the good Samaritan.

The cardinal archbishop criticized the Trump administration’s foreign aid suspension, describing it as “unconscionable through any prism of Catholic thought” and “moral theft from the poorest and the most desperate men, women, and children in our world today.” While acknowledging the need for border control, McElroy condemned mass deportation efforts and called for legislation that supports “generous asylum and refugee policy.”

Thomistic perspective 

Both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas have also become subjects of media attention on the topic due to Vice President JD Vance’s recent invocation of the concept of “ordo amoris” in the context of the immigration debate, which then garnered a response from Pope Francis himself. 

In discussing the principle, Vance, a Catholic, said “ordo amoris” teaches that one’s “compassion belongs first” to one’s family and fellow citizens “and then after that” to the rest of the world. “[Y]ou love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” Vance said.

Pope Francis promptly issued a letter to the U.S. bishops in which he stated that “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.”

Offering additional insights on the subject of welcoming the stranger, the president of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, Father Thomas Petri, OP, noted that “obviously, Aquinas did not have the same concerns about immigration since his day was not marked by the globalism of today.”

Petri said the Angelic Doctor’s most explicit treatment of the issue comes out in his analysis of the judicial precepts found in Mosaic law. Essentially, Petri said, Aquinas “argued that foreigners who are just visiting or staying for a short period should be received without problem, [citing] Exodus 22:19 (‘Thou shalt not molest a stranger’).”

However, Petri explained, for foreigners who wanted to be admitted to citizenship, Aquinas pointed out that in those days “foreigners would not be admitted to citizenship for two or three generations.”  Petri added: “The reason this was the case is instructive for us.”

According to Petri, Aquinas believed that “those who want to be citizens need to come to understand and hold the common good of the society ‘firmly at heart’ lest they attempt to do something (even unintentionally) that might harm the society.“

Backlash against refugee resettlement 

As the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Mark Krikorian, sees it, the refugee system has been “so abusive of taxpayers, such a misdirection of resources” that “it may require a blunt instrument, at least at first, to address it.”

Known for its close relationship with the Trump administration, CIS bills itself as a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” think tank. Krikorian himself is a deacon in the Orthodox Armenian Apostolic Church. 

According to Krikorian, the moral debate surrounding refugee resettlement is not just over the amount of money being spent or what services people should be eligible for, but the purpose of resettlement itself.

“This public image of resettlement is that we’re saving lives, when the reality is nothing of the kind,” he said, adding: “If anything, more people die because of the money we spend on refugee resettlement than would if we spent that money on refugee protection abroad.” 

“We did a deep dive into the costs of resettling a refugee here versus the cost of taking care of a refugee in the country they took their first asylum,” Krikorian continued. “The five-year cost of resettling a refugee was 12 times greater than the cost of taking care of a refugee in the country they had taken their initial refuge.”

“The analogy here is that there’s 12 people floundering in the water, and instead of throwing each one of them a life preserver, which isn’t great, but at least you won’t drown, we’re sending a yacht to pick up one of them and leaving the rest to their fate,” he added. “There’s simply no excuse for it.”

While he acknowledged concerns for human dignity advanced by the U.S. bishops advocating for the restoration of the resettlement program, Krikorian also noted that “there is no infinite source of funding for refugee protection.” As such, he argued, the best use of taxpayer dollars for this purpose would be toward helping refugees abroad, “where you get much more bang for the humanitarian buck.” 

A ‘longer view’ 

“I would advise Catholics to take a longer view of Catholic teaching, which does not support open borders or illegal migration,” Chad Pecknold, an associate professor of systematic theology at The Catholic University of America, told CNA. 

“As well, I would remind faithful Catholics that the USCCB is not ‘the Catholic Church’ but a national conference which has outsourced much of the Church’s charitable work with immigrants to NGO [nongovernmetnal organization]-type organizations, many of which work on the liberal principles which have been operative in global humanitarian aid for decades,” he added. This, he said, “is at the heart of the so-called ‘debate’ between the USCCB and the administration.”

Pecknold recalled Pope Benedict XVI’s teachings in Deus Caritas Est, which stated that the Church’s charitable work “must avoid any semblance of becoming an NGO.” Benedict’s teachings were not meant to exclude the Church from becoming allied with federal programs, he said, but rather to discourage it from becoming dependent on government aid.

Notably, in the past week, the USCCB announced its decision to end its cooperative agreements with the federal government for resettling refugees and unaccompanied minors.

Multiple U.S. bishops continue to call on the Trump administration to make a radical about-face on mass deportation efforts, citing Catholic social teaching on human dignity. At a recent vigil march in solidarity with migrants in El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz described the administration’s actions in this regard as “a fundamental attack on human community. On the body. On Jesus’ vision of a fully reconciled humanity.”

Pecknold noted that the Church has been opposed to mass deportations since the end of World War II. Yet then, as now, the Church’s position against the practice has been “under the prudential caveat that nations have the right to decide such questions.” 

“It was never framed as ‘a fundamental attack’ on any of the emotive points the bishops insist upon,” he continued. “I think it’s good that the Church advocates always for the migrant family, for keeping the family together and safe, and when necessary and possible, for returning migrant families to the countries where they are from. But I think Bishop Seitz’s condemnations go too far.” 

The CUA professor also referenced Pope Pius XII’s Excul Familia Nazarethana, the only papal encyclical on the question of migration, in which Pecknold said “the overwhelming concern was to protect the family unit.” 

“Pope Pius XII's encyclical on protecting migrants did not make human dignity hinge upon the absolute rights of individuals who want to cross any border they want, regardless of laws,” he explained. “Human dignity for Pius XII was bound up with the family, and the plight of migrants was keyed to both mercy and justice: Mercy for the migrant family must be balanced with the just laws of nations.” 

For 2,000 years, he reflected, the Catholic Church has served as “a light” to nations on these crucial societal questions, not by acting as social activists “but by encouraging rulers to make ‘justice and mercy kiss’ as far as that is possible in their prudential decisions of civic governance.”

null / Credit: ArtOlympic/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 12:12 pm (CNA).

A priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has been arrested after allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct with a minor.

Father Jaime Arriaga was taken into custody on April 3, according to records at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The archdiocese told parishioners at the parishes of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Louis of France on Sunday that it had received the allegation of misconduct on April 2 and promptly reported it to law enforcement.

Prior to his arrest the priest was “removed from ministry as a result of [the] report of alleged sexual misconduct involving a minor,” the archdiocese said.

The allegations “led to a criminal proceeding,” the archdiocese noted, according to Angelus News.

Arriaga has been charged with “assault with intent to commit a felony and four felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a person 14 to 15,” Angelus News reported. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday.

The priest is being held without bail and his next court date is June 5, according to sheriff’s records.

A profile of Arriaga on the archdiocesan website had been taken down as of Wednesday morning. The priest was ordained last year on June 1.

The archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday morning.

Father Arul Carasala served as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas for over 20 years. / Credit: Courtesy of Archdiocese of Kansas City

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2025 / 17:12 pm (CNA).

The accused killer of a Kansas Catholic priest shot the clergyman last week “intentionally” and with “premeditation,” a prosecutor has said. 

Gary Hermesch was taken into custody last week at the Nemaha County Jail and charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Father Arul Carasala, the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office said. 

Carasala was shot at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Seneca on April 3. The priest later died from his injuries at Nemaha Valley Community Hospital.

Nemaha County Attorney Brad Lippert’s office said in a press release that the murder was planned beforehand. Hermesch is being held on a $1 million bond at the county jail. 

The exact motive of the shooting remains unclear, though local news outlet KSNT reported that Hermesch had previously written letters to the local paper that contained both political and religious remarks. 

“[M]aybe if we just follow Donald Trump’s example we’ll ‘make the Church great again,’” Hermesch reportedly wrote in one of the letters in which he also alleged that “the faith” is “not being taught.”

In other letters he reportedly referenced a “fake Catholic Church” and spoke negatively of the Second Vatican Council. 

The priest had served in the archdiocese for more than 20 years. Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann said after the shooting last week that Carasala “was a devoted and zealous pastor” who “faithfully served” the archdiocese. 

“His love for Christ and his Church was evident in how he ministered to his people with great generosity and care,” the archbishop said. “His parishioners, friends, and brother priests will deeply miss him.”

Kansas Capitol. / Credit: Gino Santa Maria/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2025 / 16:12 pm (CNA).

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday vetoed legislation that would have protected the religious liberty of adoptive parents and faith-based adoption centers on issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation.

The bill, which passed the state Senate 31-9 and the House 84-38, would have prohibited the Kansas Department for Children and Families from enacting policies that require a prospective adoptive parent or foster parent to first affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.

The vetoed bill would have ensured a person could not be denied a license to adopt or foster children and could not be refused selection for adopting or fostering children because he or she holds “sincerely held religious or moral beliefs” that conflict with the state government’s ideology on those subjects.

The bill would have still allowed the state to consider an adoptive or foster parent’s beliefs on those subjects for the placement of a specific minor who identifies as transgender or has same-sex attraction, but it would have prevented a blanket ban on people with those beliefs adopting or fostering children.

Kelly, who is a Democrat, said in a statement that the bill would have interfered with children’s welfare.

“The top priority of the Kansas Department for Children and Families should be adhering to the ‘best interest of the child’ standard,” she said. “Legislation like this detracts from this standard and stands in the way of best serving those in the child welfare system.”

Kelly said she was also concerned the bill could subject the state to “frivolous lawsuits,” which would take away “time and resources” from adoptive care and foster care services.

“Children in need of care already face unique and complex challenges,” Kelly added. “I will not sign legislation that could further complicate their lives.”

Republican lawmakers could have the votes to override the veto, which requires a two-thirds vote by both chambers of the Legislature. The party holds an 88-37 supermajority in the House and a 31-9 supermajority in the Senate.

Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, both Republicans, released a joint statement suggesting they may take that action, asserting that “this veto cannot stand” and arguing that the proposed law reinforces the First Amendment’s guarantee that every person is free to exercise his or her religious beliefs.

“Our foster care system depends on strong and stable families to care for the children in our system,” they said. 

“The last thing any administration should be doing is discriminating against qualified families due to their religious or moral beliefs. It’s perplexing that the governor would choose to veto legislation that would ensure First Amendment protections extend to foster parents.”

Concerning national trends

In recent years, some states have enacted policies that force prospective adoptive and foster parents to agree that they will affirm a child’s transgender identity or same-sex attraction as a condition to adopt or foster any children, even if they would be adopting or fostering a child who has never indicated that he or she identifies as transgender or has same-sex attraction.

Two families in Vermont, who are represented by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), filed a lawsuit against the state after their licenses to foster children were revoked because they refused to agree to a policy that would have required them to affirm a child’s transgender “gender identity” or same-sex attraction.

Neither of those families had fostered any children who identified themselves as transgender or had same-sex attraction when their licenses were revoked.

In Oregon, a mother of five who is also represented by ADF is fighting a lawsuit after she was denied the opportunity to foster any children for the same reason. In that state, a prospective foster parent must also agree to support a child’s transgender identity or same-sex attraction to receive a certification.

ADF Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen issued a statement expressing concern over Kelly’s veto and “hope that the Kansas Legislature will prioritize the state’s children and promptly override this veto.”

“Kelly’s disappointing veto … puts politics over people, excluding caring families and faith-based adoption and foster care organizations from helping children find loving homes — just like we’ve seen in other states that don’t have this protection,” Chafuen added.

Chafuen said the proposed law “would help children benefit from as many adoption and foster care agencies as possible, both faith-based and non-faith-based,” and that an override of the veto “would mean that more families can open their hearts and homes to children in need of a safe and loving environment — that’s keeping kids first.”

“Every child deserves a loving home that can provide them stability and opportunities to grow,” Chafuen added.

CatholicVote president Brian Burch speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination for to be ambassador to the Holy See on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. / Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Washington D.C., Apr 8, 2025 / 15:39 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for CatholicVote president Brian Burch to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See took place Tuesday morning, with Burch facing questions on how he plans to represent the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts to the Vatican as well as his position on the Holy See’s relationship with China.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be nominated by President [Donald] Trump to serve as the United States ambassador to the Holy See,” Burch told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “This is a role of great significance, and I am grateful for the trust President Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio have placed in me.”

Burch described the U.S.-Holy See relationship as “both unique and vital,” highlighting its character as being rooted not in traditional diplomacy but rather in “shared commitments to religious freedom, human dignity, global peace, and justice.”

The hearing took place alongside those of Trump’s ambassadorship nominees to Croatia and Chile. Burch, a Catholic father of nine, answered questions from a handful of committee members, including committee chairman Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho; Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire; Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Nebraska; and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida.

“This is going to be a very challenging issue,” Burch told the committee in response to questions regarding the Trump administration’s widespread cuts to foreign aid. “The secretary has made clear when he took office that he was recharging and refocusing our foreign aid on places that would make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”

“I think those criteria have to be met by these places,” he continued. “Of course, again, I think the partnership with the Holy See can be a very good one, but I think those partners have to understand that our foreign aid is not endless, that we can’t fund every last program.”

During the hearing Shaheen repeatedly pressed Burch on his support for the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts and their impact on Catholic nonprofit organizations abroad. 

At one point the New Hampshire senator asked Burch if he knew how much the U.S. spends on foreign aid, and whether he could name any programs that were not in keeping with American foreign policy interests. 

Burch stated that he was “unaware of the exact numbers” and further stated that he had “read some of the stories” about superfluous foreign spending, citing one about alleged “transgender mice experiments,” a claim Shaheen disputed.

Burch said the situation regarding foreign aid “is going to be a process” and noted several aid organizations he had spoken to had had their grants reauthorized, while others are still pending. 

Ricketts asked Burch for his thoughts on the Vatican-China deal, expressing concern that the communist-ruled government should be allowed to appoint Catholic bishops and that the arrangement encourages the continued persecution of religious minorities in the country. 

“I think it’s important for the Holy See to maintain a posture of pressure and of applying pressure to the Chinese government around their human rights abuses, particularly their persecution of religious minorities, including Catholics,” Burch stated. 

“I would encourage the Holy See as the United States ambassador, if I’m confirmed, to resist the idea that a foreign government has any role whatsoever in choosing the leadership of a private religious institution,” he said.

Scott, meanwhile, asked Burch what he believed he could achieve through diplomacy with the Vatican for hostages, including American citizens, still being held by Hamas in Gaza. 

Burch said he believed the Holy See “can play a very significant role” by being “a partner in that conversation and [delivering] the necessary moral urgency of ending this conflict and hopefully securing a durable peace.”

null / Credit: Vinokurov Kirill/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2025 / 14:14 pm (CNA).

Multiple U.S. bishops are hailing a proposed bipartisan effort to keep religious workers — including Catholic priests — in the United States by extending their special visas instead of sending them to their home countries for extended lengths of time. 

Catholic advocates have been warning for months of a looming crisis in which many U.S.-based priests will be forced to leave their ministries and return to their home countries, after which they would be subject to lengthy wait times before coming back. 

A 2023 change to U.S. visa rules created a backlog of visa applicants that has threatened to prevent priests from obtaining a green card before their initial religious worker visa expires. 

The backlog was created when the State Department and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) increased the number of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who are applying for EB-4 visas, the special visa category used by religious workers.

Church officials have warned that the backlog could lead to significant priest shortages in the country, with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops stating that, due to the rule change, immigrants on temporary five-year R-1 visas could be forced to return home and wait many more years for a permanent EB-4 visa.

‘Critically needed’ visa reform

On Tuesday a group of U.S. senators including Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins introduced the Religious Workforce Protection Act, which would allow R-1 immigrants to “stay in the U.S. while waiting for permanent residency,” according to a press release from Kaine’s office. 

The proposed bill, which is just three pages long, would offer a “targeted fix” to the looming R-1 crisis “by granting the DHS secretary the authority to extend temporary R-1 nonimmigrant status for religious workers past five years until they receive a decision on their permanent residence application.”

The measure was hailed by multiple U.S. bishops, including El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ migration committee. 

“We applaud this bipartisan effort, which recognizes the importance of foreign-born religious workers in communities across our nation,” Seitz said in a press statement. “Without them, many Americans would be left without the essential religious and social services they provide.”

Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond, Virginia, said the Richmond Diocese has “relied on missionary priests from around the world” since its founding in 1820. 

“The loss of a trusted clergy member due to impractical immigration-related restrictions, compounded by significant visa backlogs, deeply impact[s] our parishioners’ free exercise of religious life,” Knestout said, hailing the proposed legislation’s help in “easing the burden on our parishioners, our churches, and the entire Diocese of Richmond.”

Columbus, Ohio, Bishop Earl Fernandes and Portland, Maine, Bishop James Ruggieri similarly praised the legislation. Ruggieri called the measure “critically needed” while Fernandes said it will allow “many of our religious priests and sisters to continue to serve the people of God and our local communities through their ministry.”

A similar measure was introduced on Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

In November 2024, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki joined multiple dioceses in asking the federal government to address the EB-4 backlog. 

In 2023, meanwhile, the USCCB’s migration committee joined an interfaith letter warning the government of the “increased hardship in staffing houses of worship, community centers, schools, charitable works, and other sites” stemming from the rule change.

The letter asked the government to “do everything within your power to preserve meaningful access” for religious workers seeking visas.

Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, featuring Christ Pantocrator. / Credit: Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 4.0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

Twenty Catholic and evangelical Protestant scholars have issued a joint statement on where both traditions are unified and where they are distinct in their understandings of the four marks of the Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The Nicene Creed was initially adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, but the referenced “four marks” were added to the creed at the second ecumenical council decades later, in A.D. 381.

Although some interpretations of the councils are debated among Christian faith communities, the Catholic Church, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, and most traditional Protestant communities all recognize the validity and authority of these councils and profess a vernacular translation of the creed.

Scholars associated with the Evangelicals and Catholics Together project have now released a seven-page statement on the four marks titled “The Pillar and Foundation of Truth.” 

“Our differences notwithstanding, we acknowledge the truth of the Gospel: Christ is one,” the document reads. “He is holy, and he is the Lord of all. Christ is the source and guarantor of apostolic teaching. Therefore, every gathering of faithful Christians possesses to some degree the four notes of the church, however imperfectly.” 

R.R. Reno, the executive director of First Things magazine and one of the leaders and signatories of the initiative, told CNA the statement was issued “so that we can be better instructed to what our traditions teach about the Church.”

He said Evangelicals and Catholics Together, which was first launched in the 1990s, helps “to promote the larger goal of Christian unity by speaking about the areas where we agree” but also avoids a “false ecumenism that pretends that there are not profound differences.”

Catholic signatories include the group’s Catholic theological co-chair, Seton Hall University theology professor emeritus Monsignor Thomas Guarino, Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow George Weigel, and The Catholic University of America theology professor Christopher Ruddy.

Evangelical signatories include Gerald McDermott, an Anglican theologian and instructor at Jerusalem Seminary and Reformed Episcopal Seminary; Laura Smit, a professor at Calvin University; and Dale Coulter, an ordained minister in the Church of God and theology professor at Pentecostal Theological Seminary. 

One, holy, catholic, and apostolic

The statement notes that the scholars “do not propose to resolve the questions that have divided Protestants and Catholics for centuries,” but “rather, we seek to express a shared understanding of the creedal marks of the Church.”

“Contemporary secular culture attacks and damages our corporate witness to Jesus as Lord, often by weakening our faith, subverting our teachings, and corrupting our worship,” they write. “The perversions and corruptions of the city of God by the city of man are legion: division, indifference, parochialism, hypocrisy, and other betrayals of the Gospel. The creedal affirmation … helps us discern where and when the Church needs reformation and repair.”

Regarding the first mark, “one,” the statement notes: “We agree that all Christians are united in one faith through one baptism” and that “holiness is the perfect praise of God, and thus the body of Christ is united when, empowered by the Holy Spirit, believers offer the same perfect adoration and worship.”

“We acknowledge that the disunity of Christians impairs our witness,” it reads. “Our unity in Christ is something the world must see in order that they might know the power of his love.”

The scholars acknowledge, though, that Catholics and Protestants have an “imperfect unity” based on the distinct understandings of what makes the Church “one” — and that resolving those disputes is still something “we are far away from achieving.”

For Catholics, they write the Church’s oneness is based on “the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist” and the unity of bishops and doctrines under leadership of the pope. For Catholics, unity under Rome “ensures that the Church is one in her teaching, worship, and governance.” 

Evangelicals, alternatively, believe “the Church is one in those regenerated in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, united in the profession of true doctrine, the practice of sound biblical preaching, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and faithful Christian living.”

On the second mark, “holy,” the statement notes that “together we recognize that the Son of God governs the Church, and that the Church is therefore a divine instrument that is sacred and must be worthy of its calling.” It adds that the signatories are “united in our concern that our churches are often lazy, lukewarm, and apathetic, failing to impose discipline and cultivate the practices that set the followers of Christ apart from the world.” 

“As Christ is our holiness, the Church is holy even now, however hidden her sanctity might be under the sinfulness and worldliness of the faithful,” the authors write.

The third mark, “catholic,” stems from the Greek word “katholikos,” which essentially means “on the whole” or “universal.” The statement notes that Catholics and evangelicals are united, in a sense, on the catholicity of the Church because “the body of Christ is universal” and both faith traditions are united in the belief that God’s “love knows no boundaries; his offer of salvation has no limits.”

“The note of catholicity means more than the baptism of people worldwide; we are called to convert every culture so that all peoples recognize the lordship of Christ in all things,” the scholars write.

“Mission, service, leadership, and proclamation further the catholicity of the Church,” they add. “In this work, we agree that it is God in Christ who accomplishes catholicity, which is present in every community gathered in his name.” 

The differences in understanding the catholicity of the Church are similar to the differences in understanding the oneness of the Church. 

While Catholics “emphasize the sacramental, doctrinal, and juridical universality of the Church,” the scholars write, evangelicals “focus on the consistent and universal confession of faith, mutual recognition of the charisms of service and leadership, as well as shared patterns of spiritual renewal and rebirth in Christ.”

Regarding the fourth mark, “apostolic,” the statement notes that there is agreement that “the Church is apostolic because it confesses the faith of the apostles and sustains the common life established in Christ.”

“We are united in the conviction that the Church must always seek to be true to the teachings we have received from the apostles,” the scholars write and quote from the Epistle of Jude: “The Church’s vocation is ‘to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.’ We are called to preserve, transmit, and proclaim the Word of God in its fullness.”

The signatories also voice agreement that “progressive religion” seeks to alter the teachings of the apostles, adding that it “poses a grave threat to the apostolicity of our churches — a threat far graver than the important theological issues at stake in the differences between evangelicals and Catholics.”

However, the statement also notes where the two traditions are distinct. Catholics, according to the statement, see “apostolic succession as the continuous chain of bishops ordained to govern, instruct, and lead in worship, especially those who serve in the chair of St. Peter.” Evangelicals, meanwhile, emphasize Scripture and that “there is a succession of true doctrine and faithful leadership through the ages.”

The document adds that evangelicals and Catholics unite in the recognition “that only the Church Triumphant in heaven is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in the fullness of perfection.” 

“Our mission, witness, and worship constitute the Church Militant, which participates in the perfection of the Church Triumphant but does not possess its fullness,” it adds. “We are divided in our assessment of the degree to which we possess the marks of the Church, but we share a profound confidence: Christ has promised to build his Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

Evangelicals and Catholics Together project

Work on the Evangelicals and Catholics Together project began in 1992, and the first document was published in 1994, titled “The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.” The collaboration has produced more than a dozen documents since its inception, which includes some focused on social and cultural matters and others focused on theological matters. 

Reno said the initiative was launched with two goals: “One is to be able to speak in a united fashion to many cultural issues of our time” and the other is “to promote the larger goal of Christian unity by speaking about the areas where we agree” while acknowledging that the differences “remain real.” 

He said the initiative helps “break down stereotypes that often hinder an understanding of each other.”

“We all agree that we’re called by God to obey his will; to serve his purpose,” Reno said, adding: “That is a unifying commitment in a secular age.”

Reno explained that an “increasingly progressive and hostile secular culture, especially among American elites,” made the initiative possible because this “has driven religious Americans together.” He said it provided “an opportunity to actually have conversations and probe our differences.”

Guarino told CNA that Catholics and evangelicals became “allies in the culture wars” first but that this initiative was meant to provide a theological unification: “It’s the idea that we are brothers in Jesus Christ.”

He said ecumenism is “important, not as a political alliance, but for Christians to witness together.” He added that although “we have some differences” with evangelicals, both groups also “share a great deal.”

According to Guarino, when the initiative was launched, scholars on both sides were “convinced that the Gospel was important for answering [or] certainly contributing to understanding the complex social and political problems the country and the world face.” 

“There’s a great deal that we can say together about the Church [although there is a] long road to travel in terms of complete theological unity,” Guarino said.

More than 200 Deaf Catholics from across the United States gathered in Maryland for a Eucharistic congress, the first of its kind, on April 4–6, 2025, held at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland. / Credit: EWTN News Nightly

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2025 / 11:31 am (CNA).

Deaf Catholics from across the United States gathered in Maryland for a Eucharistic congress of their own — the first of its kind. 

Held at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, April 4–6, the congress brought together more than 200 Catholics to pray and honor the Eucharist. 

Inspired by the National Eucharistic Congress last summer in Indianapolis, the Deaf Catholic congress was centered on the Eucharist and featured opportunities for attendees to go to confession with signing priests.

There are fewer than 10 Deaf priests serving the entire Deaf Catholic population in the U.S. The Deaf community often distinguishes between being “culturally Deaf” (signified by the uppercase Deaf) versus losing hearing later in life.

Father Mike Depcik — one of those few priests — designed the congress to be entirely focused on the Deaf Catholic community. The event featured Deaf presenters as well as adoration, Mass, confession, and fellowship — all in sign language.

According to Depcik, surveys have found that 96% of Deaf people do not attend church as there are limited services available in American Sign Language (ASL).  

Sister Kathleen Monica Schipani, an organizer of the Deaf Eucharistic Congress, said the congress was designed “to attract more of the Deaf community throughout the United States.” 

Sister Kathleen — a sister servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who serves as director of the Office of Persons with Disabilities and Deaf Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia — highlighted the importance of shared language. 

“We as Catholics love to communicate with each other and be inspired by the faith of another person who speaks your language, whether it’s English or Spanish,” Sister Kathleen told EWTN’s associate producer for “EWTN News Nightly” Julia Convery.

“The Deaf community are the same way — they want to interact not only with the person presenting but with one another, and [to] pray together in the language that they love and cherish.”

The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton has been a place of gathering for Deaf Catholics before. The Seton Shrine frequently hosts retreats, including a Lenten retreat for the Deaf last year. The Seton Shrine is located just a half hour away from the K–8 Maryland School for the Deaf. 

Father Sean Loomis, a chaplain of the Deaf Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who is fluent in American Sign Language, said the event was “incarnational.” 

​​“Because ASL allows the Deaf community to command more of their body and to employ it in the interaction with other people, the theology of the Incarnation becomes explosive,” Loomis told EWTN. “And so when they are, for example, deep diving into the Gospels, the whole Gospel becomes alive. It’s not English vocabulary just changed into a certain sign to match it — it’s a movie that’s transpiring in front of you.”

Jeannine Adkins, a Deaf Catholic from Topeka, Kansas, who gave a presentation at the event on the healing power of the Eucharist, explained how the Deaf community is like a family. 

“When we’re together, we have a common bond and we can help each other, and we want to bring people to Jesus,” Adkins told EWTN. “Because we’re Deaf, we feel like family together.”

As part of her digital ministry platform DeafCatholicMom, Adkins shares her own faith and even translates various Catholic resources into sign language to share on platforms like YouTube. 

“I wanted to tell people about my love for Jesus and that in the Eucharist, Jesus’ soul and divinity is truly there,” Adkins said. “I wanted to express that and different ways that we can inspire people to go back to church, to go back to serve within the Church and that use their gifts within the Church.” 

Organizers hope the event will become an annual one, growing as the word spreads. 

“We’re here to worship Jesus in the Eucharist and really understand that we’re the body of Christ. People who have disabilities or who are Deaf are overlooked in that body and access isn’t provided,” Sister Kathleen said. “So when it is really provided, I think we’re a fuller expression of the body of Christ, and I think Jesus is really pleased.”