Tag: Christianity

An unassuming stream — just 18 feet across — pours forth from Lake Itasca, forming the start of the Mississippi River’s winding flow down 2,552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. At this very point among the Northern Minnesota pines, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens held high a golden monstrance on the afternoon of May 19, tracing the sign of the cross over the waters and the people gathered — a humble gesture pleading for a mighty river of grace to flow for the National Eucharistic Revival.

Here at the start of the waters once blessed and named by the earliest Catholic missionaries as the “River of the Immaculate Conception” — the bishop of Crookston, Minnesota, carrying Jesus in the Eucharist, turned onto a trail into the woods of Itasca State Park, followed by pilgrims whose hymns and psalms were punctuated by long periods of meditative silence — and short bursts of rain from the cloudy gray sky.

The Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage had begun at last.

The May 19 blessing of the Mississippi River headwaters marked the launch of the northern route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, an eight-week journey with the Eucharist from four compass points across the U.S. All routes began their treks May 18-19, Pentecost weekend, with the other three routes starting from Brownsville, Texas; New Haven, Connecticut; and San Francisco.

The pilgrimage is part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative launched in 2022 by the U.S. bishops to inspire a deeper love and reverence for Jesus in the Eucharist, after a Pew Research Center survey found only one-third of U.S. Catholics believed the church’s teaching of Jesus being truly present in the Eucharist.

From these four directions, the pilgrimage routes trace what organizers call “a sign of the cross over the nation,” as pilgrims traverse a combined 6,500 miles across 27 states and 65 dioceses, through small towns, large cities and rural countryside — often on foot, always with the Eucharist — until they converge in Indianapolis for the July 17-21 National Eucharistic Congress.

“Brothers and sisters, the revival has to begin with you and me, and has to begin with our repentance, humbling ourselves, turning from our sin,” Bishop Cozzens, who chairs the board of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., which is responsible for overseeing the congress in Indianapolis, told an estimated 2,500 people gathered for the outdoor Pentecost Mass held in a field near the state park’s entrance just prior to the headwaters’ blessing.

He encouraged them to seek to receive the Eucharist worthily through frequent confession, ideally monthly.

“That’s when the power of the Holy Spirit will be able to inhabit our hearts,” Bishop Cozzens said, calling them to undergo a “personal Pentecost,” and to ask the Lord “to enkindle in our hearts his fire, so that I can be the saint that he’s calling me to be.”

As the pilgrims meandered with the Eucharist through the wooded state park, cyclists and hikers respectfully stopped and waited for the procession to pass. Some, like Tom and Jeanne Young, dropped to their knees.

“You recognize that Jesus is really present, and here he is right with us,” Jeanne Young said.

Juan Diego Route: ‘The Spirit moves us to join Christ’

In contrast to the gray skies and cool temperatures of Northern Minnesota, the pilgrims and faithful gathered for the launch of the St. Juan Diego Route had bright blue skies and the Texas heat for the start of their journey at the southernmost tip of the U.S.

“The Holy Spirit moves us to join Christ in his sacrifice and in glorifying the Father, and we move with Christ because the Spirit moves us,” Brownsville Bishop Daniel E. Flores told the hundreds of Catholics who filled the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Brownsville, Texas, to overflowing May 19 for the Pentecost solemn Mass.

The Mass, celebrated in English and Spanish, marked the start of the southern pilgrimage route named for St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, the Indigenous Catholic visionary who saw Our Lady of Guadalupe and had a deep devotion to the Eucharist.

Jaime Reyna, part of the National Eucharistic Congress’ planning team, came from Corpus Christi, Texas, to join the May 19 launch of the southern route. He explained that at points of the Eucharistic procession in Brownsville, the Blessed Sacrament was being transported in an open trailer decorated with white flowers pulled by a white truck, as hundreds of people followed. He added that people in their cars, or on the side of the road, would make the sign of the cross when seeing Jesus in the Eucharist passing by them.

About 350-500 people joined the day’s observances, according to a diocesan official.

Reyna said that organizers had not expected “to have hundreds of people walk in the Texas heat, and yet people did, and people were just wanting to keep walking, and keep walking.”

“It was just amazing to see that,” he said.

Shayla Elm, one of the perpetual pilgrims who hails from Denver, said she “witnessed a deep level of faith in this community that I’ve never really experienced before myself in a community here in America.”

Describing people responding to the procession by saying “Viva Cristo Rey” or spontaneously offering water to those walking on the road, and the faithful processing alongside her singing religious hymns, Elm said, “It was just really beautiful to see how personal the Lord is with the people here.”

Seton Route: Hearts burning for the Eucharist

On the day of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s eastern route’s launch in New Haven, Connecticut, perpetual pilgrim Natalie Garza said her heart was burning.

At a May 18 presentation at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center, the Kansas City, Kansas-area high school theology teacher shared her desire to “witness with my body the truth that I have professed with my words many times, that Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharist.”

For Garza, the eight weeks of pilgrimage are both an opportunity to “intercede for the American church” and live out “a real expression and experience of discipleship,” walking alongside Jesus in the Eucharist.

Under a gray sky punctuated at times by a cold drizzling rain, scores of Catholics in New Haven sang and prayed in procession May 18 with the Eucharistic Jesus, held by Father Roger Landry, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and Catholic chaplain at Columbia University.

Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut, celebrated an extended Pentecost Vigil Mass at New Haven’s St. Mary Church, the church where Blessed Michael McGivney, the Knights of Columbus’ founder, once served and where his remains are reposed. The archbishop prayed “for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be given to our nation during the Eucharistic Revival” and for the success of the eastern pilgrimage named after the first American-born canonized saint, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

“Our life as Christians is a pilgrimage along the path of salvation. But it is not a solitary one. It is one in which we walk together as the body of Christ,” the archbishop said. “In seeking after what God desires of us, we become pilgrims of no path but the one that he would have us follow.”

The Seton Route pilgrims experienced an overnight Holy Hour organized by young adult groups, which concluded at 7 a.m. May 19 and led into a 1.5-mile Eucharistic procession from St. Mary Church to St. Joseph Church for Pentecost Mass. Following Mass, the Seton Route’s perpetual pilgrims headed to Long Wharf, New Haven’s waterfront district.

Much like Jesus did with his first disciples many times in the Gospels, the Eucharistic Jesus, held aloft by the Seton Route’s chaplain, Father Landry, boarded a boat with the pilgrim-disciples and headed out on the sea — this time venturing into the Long Island Sound, toward Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Serra Route: Proclaiming Jesus’ ‘way of love’

On the West Coast, Jesus’ travels in Galilee were also on the minds of the pilgrims gathered in San Francisco for the start of the western branch of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

“The last time Jesus walked this far across the face of the earth was in Galilee, so to be able to carry him will be extraordinary,” said Wisconsin native Jack Krebs, one of two drivers of the van specially equipped with a tabernacle where the pilgrims will travel when they are not walking the St. Junipero Serra Route of the National Eucharistic Revival.

The six young adults who are the Serra Route’s perpetual pilgrims received a special blessing from Oakland Bishop Michael Barber at a May 18 prayer vigil, consisting of Eucharistic adoration and Benediction at Mission Dolores Basilica.

“Junipero Serra would be just in love with this whole idea, because his notion was he was bringing the Gospel and the Eucharist into an area where it had never been brought before,” said Andrew Galvan, curator of Mission Dolores and a descendant of the Ohlone Indians evangelized by St. Junipero Serra, noting the saint would often celebrate Eucharistic processions.

The Serra Route finally began in earnest following the Pentecost Mass May 19 at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in San Francisco.

“Christ breathes new life into us, his church,” said Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, who celebrated the Mass.

He urged those gathered to follow Jesus Christ in his “way of love,” living publicly their faith in such a way that people perceive “a better way to live.”

He said Jesus’ way of love “has the power to change history, to change hearts, to bring the life of heaven to earth and to bring us to the life of heaven when we pass from this world to the next.”

At the day’s conclusion, after leading about 1,000 pilgrims across the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco archbishop raised the monstrance and blessed the city with the Eucharist from a vista point across from the city.

He then blessed the faithful who had crossed the bridge with him, and the perpetual pilgrims who would continue to journey with Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, all the way to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress.

Believe me, I did not want to comment on Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement address this month at Benedictine College, which made headlines for its criticism of “woke” culture, American Catholic bishops, abortion, gender theory, President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and women in the workplace.

I am not interested in engaging in online iterations of the “working mother” wars in the Catholic world, where much of the commentary has been centered. I find it all mostly just self-justification and sloganeering.

But here’s my comment: the speech is a mess. It’s also probably a lesson to colleges everywhere to vet your commencement speeches: I am sure that people at Benedictine could have shaped the Catholic athlete’s ramblings into something coherent that still maintained his central point.

That point — I think — is that Catholics should be courageous and prophetic, both in their daily lives and in the public square. But while I probably don’t disagree with much of what he said, I would describe the speech as a whole as “flailing.”

Sure, you can criticize American bishops for being weak and careerist, but is this where you want to do it? And in a way that sounds like a mashup of various gripes you’ve heard from your circle of friends? And if you’re going to do so without mentioning recent problems related to sexual and spiritual abuse, how courageous are you, actually?

I came away from the speech with two main thoughts.

First, while the most controversial elements of Butker’s talk concerned women and work outside the home, it is important to note that his words on this certainly came from a place of deep appreciation and love for his wife. That said, how much more helpful would his points on the relationship of life, family, and career have been if they considered the challenge of balancing these values for both men and women in today’s human-consuming world of ours?

One could take a page, for example, from a recent online essay in Christian commentary site Mockingbird titled “Overselling Vocation.” Writing about the false promises of the sexual revolution and the egalitarian movement, author Alex Sosler imagines a world “where men and women were called to mutual homemaking, where the career vs. family struggle disappeared altogether.”

How would homes be different, Sosler writes, “if we were building something together versus being exhausted away from home and apart? Instead, we’re part of an exploitative economy that doesn’t end with the products we buy or those who make them. The exploitation comes after us all, twisting our desires and priorities into mutual enmity.”

Butker certainly might have interesting things to say about faith and vocation in today’s culture. But what if they came from a place of willingness to be honest about his own career and place in the world, and a deep understanding of Catholic spirituality?

In short: Dude, you make millions of dollars a year for kicking a ball for an employer that does not embody traditional Christian values on basically anything, from economic justice to sexuality.

Far more interesting than excoriating others who, in his view, fail to live up to the standards of Christian discipleship, would be an explanation of where he sees his role as a Christian in the context of the NFL industrial complex.

You are a part of — and therefore support — an institution that is deeply oriented toward profit and exploits human desires and yearnings for belonging, combat, entertainment, one that turns a blind eye to criminal behavior, and the physical harm this work causes its own employees.

How do you understand your role to be a prophetic disciple of Jesus there? How do you balance your huge income with Catholic teaching on justice and the dangers of wealth? How do you use your position to speak up for the truth in your own workplace?

This is not a screed against the NFL or professional sports. All of us who work do so for imperfect, compromised institutions. But how do we make that fit with our call to be conformed to Christ, no matter where we work? And what about when that daily work means being part of a corrupt, venal, anti-human institution?

In short — you’re doing a stupid job for The Man. What’s the Christian path in and through that life?

If he is thoughtful, I do think that the millionaire football player who professes faith in Jesus would have something useful to say to the young person in the audience who’s looking at a first job in front of a laptop doing data entry, or to the cashier who hates her job but catches a glimpse of this talk on YouTube.

It’s within Butker’s right to use his platform to spout off about others — bishops, priests, and politicians included. But it’s harder to hold up a mirror and speak honestly about the challenges of Christian discipleship from the fraught, conflicted, compromised place where we — not others — find ourselves.

Nikola Stankovic   

“Have a good trip! Will you be so kind to bring me a chess set the next time you come? A deal?” This is what Nikola Stankovic told us when we parted the last time as we were leaving Slivova near Pristina. This is the place we return to once the opportunity presents itself.

It’s true that we come here often—to the suburb of the once glorious city of Pristina, once the intellectual, industrial, and cultural center of our “Kosovo is the Grave Where we Have Been Buried for Centuries and from Which we Have Risen Again and Again”The reality in which we live today in Kosovo and Metohija can undoubtedly be called, “Divine education”.

“>Kosovo… People used to come here from everywhere, as the city attracted professors, engineers, writers, and artists. Before, Pristina was known for its flourishing cultural life, just as today it’s buzzing with commercial and shopping activity—full of intrusive and aggressive advertising by foreign companies, probably the only ones who benefit from the war. “Nuk ka me Pristine” (Albanian)—“Pristina is no more!” was the title of a novel published on the twentieth anniversary of the “March pogrom“ of Serbs. Serbs remember how yesterday’s neighbors, colleagues, and friends chased them out of their then Serbian city.

Things are no better in the suburbs of Pristina; they are completely cut off from the city. The nearby villages are dying out, standing isolated from the outside world and kept away from the blessings of civilization. Many Serbs were forced to leave or flee their homes. Many of them have died. Many of their houses were burned down… The tiny village of Slivova is a place where you can still hear people speak Serbian.

A Serbian school for a single student   

“It used to be so wonderful here before the war! People worked in factories and in agriculture. Our village was bustling with life and there were a lot of children. I had more than twenty students in my class, and we are talking about a village school! But these days, after the war… Consider it a desert; everyone has moved or fled away,” Nikola’s father tells us. He speaks of Serbs when he says “everyone,” as with every passing day, more and more Albanians settle into Slivova. For a long time now, the village is more than half Albanian. They come from the city in search of a quiet life and clean air, and they firmly settle here. I asked if there were any clashes. No, he replies, not yet, but who knows.

“Soon we’ll be left all alone. Our children have no future here”

Basically, why would they want clashes when Serbs are already on the move, leaving their homeland behind. “Soon we will be left all alone. Our children have no future here. My older sons, for example, have long been living and working elsewhere.”

Nikola, the third son and the only school student in Slivova, is in seventh grade. We ask our old friend how he is doing.

“I mind the goats and play chess. Sometimes I look after Dragan, my younger brother (there are four brothers in his family), but he doesn’t always listen to me!”

A young shepherd. A kind one We are walking with our seventh-grader to his school, now located in a house left behind by a Serb. Since 1999, Serbian children never returned to their classes in their old school. It is the result of the “optimization of Serbian education,” the Kosovar way. We “snatched” Nikola for a short while—pulling him away from his herd. His youngest brother Dragan worthily replaced his brother in the line of shepherd duty. We sat down with him on a bench nearby to play a game of chess, Nikola’s favorite pastime. He admitted, embarrassed, that he sometimes played chess with his teacher at his “new” school, as well. But once he entered high school grades, he played against the computer, his main rival. It is not much of a conversation partner, but at least it offers an interesting game of chess.

We met Nikola for the first time three years ago. He won’t make friends with you lightly, or for no reason at all; it took him a while to grow accustomed to us. Village folk are like that. But once they get to know you, you can’t find a better friend. It was the same this time. When he saw us, he didn’t say much, but his eyes shone with such joy that no words were necessary. And he is always trying to give us gifts.

“I recently went to a soccer game in Gracanica; my dad took me there. It was really great! Teachers come to the village every day, well, to teach me. So, I’m learning. What else can I do?”

Nikola Nikola is one of our “trailblazers”. He took part in the summer school camp organized last year for Serbian children from Kosovo and Metohija by our charity organization called “Kosovo Pomoravlje.” Everything went well, but, as we have noticed, these children couldn’t get enough of playing soccer with their peers from other ghettos. For them, soccer is an important thing, a way to interact, no matter how you cut it. We asked him if he’s going to attend our summer school this year.

“I sure will! Only if you have more soccer time!”

We finish the chess game and say our goodbyes. We leave Nikola with his herd, kings and queens, and a chessboard under his armpit. We already know what we’ll bring him when, God willing, we come here next time: soccer cleats and a football. We wave and honk… and hope that we will be able to bring together the boys and girls from the enclaves of Kosovo and Metohija in our summer school. And yes, they’ll have more soccer time there—we’ve learned our lesson well.

The Damien High marching band was selected from a nationwide group of applicants to participate in the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The band was notified during a special event at the school on May 20.

Damien, an all-boys Catholic school in La Verne, was one of nine high schools chosen and the only one from California, said Damien Band Director Jaime Magallón.

“I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for them to showcase their talents on a national stage and such a historical event,” he said.

At the school announcement, a representative from the Macy’s Parade Band Committee presented a $10,000 check to help kick off the marching band’s fundraising.

The band will spend the next 18 months rehearsing, preparing, and fundraising for the trip to New York, where about 60 students are expected to travel. Since the group largely performs open-air concerts like halftime shows, much of the training will be to get the group parade-ready. And preparing for colder weather.

“You know, East Coast weather,” Magallón said. “On that day, we’ll probably have to get up at 2 a.m. to be able to practice for the actual parade.”

The band is coming off back-to-back titles at the Southern California Division 2 Championships. While this is its first appearance at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — and biggest event so far — the group has performed at Disneyland and Hawaii before.

For Magallón, who has been Damien High’s band director for five years and was in the marching band during his days at La Puente High School, the trip and performance will be a dream come true.

“It was always a big dream of mine to be able to march in a parade like this,” Magallón said. “Just staying grounded in my faith and believing every day that if you work hard, you’ll prevail.

“I’m excited to see the growth for these next 18 months for the students and how well they can progress and be able to do this.”

Donations can be sent to the school designating that the funds should be used for the band’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade trip. The school’s address is: Damien High, 2280 Damien Ave., La Verne, CA 91750.

Artist: Steve Hanks It is not uncommon for people to come to the faith through sorrow or joy. I would like to share with readers a vivid story from my childhood, which made a strong impression on me and afterwards helped me come to the faith, get baptized and become a church-goer.

Our family was on a business trip to Mongolia in the 1980s. It was in the small town of Erdenet. We had a lot of friends there who we would visit regularly.

Among my parents’ acquaintances there was a married couple, both pediatricians—Mikhail and Lyudmila. They were a beautiful and interesting couple, but childless.

One day Mikhail and Lyudmila invited some close friends to their home; they said they would reveal a secret to all of them… Everyone was intrigued. They imagined various things, but no one hit the nail on the head.

Mikhail, an adult man who went in for sports, laughed and cried like a child. He now stood up, now sat down while sharing the secret with us:

“Lyudmila and I have been married for over twenty years now. We got married in our first year at university. We have always dreamed of a big, closely-knit family, with both daughters and sons, with a lot of noise and fun at home. We so wanted to hear children’s laughter! But the doctors diagnosed infertility. We went to various sanitariums, underwent mud therapy and all kinds of other procedures. We saw the most famous doctors, and my wife courageously did various tests, some of which were painful—but it was all in vain.

“Three years ago we moved to Mongolia. Before that, there had been business trips to Latin America and Africa. And now Lyuda¹ is in her first trimester. We didn’t tell anyone earlier because we couldn’t believe it and were afraid it was a mistake. The first months of pregnancy are very sensitive and complicated. The gynecologist said that if we managed to get through the first three months, then we wouldn’t have to worry anymore.”

Silence began to reign after such a speech. Even we, the children, stopped joking and laughing, somehow feeling the importance of what had been said, intuitively realizing that we had come into contact with a miracle.

After a few minutes the hospitable hosts were bombarded with questions.

Lyudmila was shining with happiness:

“I had never thought that I, a physician and the author of several scientific articles, would utter the word ‘miracle’. But I can’t call it otherwise! I have a grandmother who is a long-liver. Twenty years ago she said that she would pray for me in front of an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God. She believed in the mercy of the Lord and His Most Pure Mother. I showed understanding, thinking that she was an elderly woman and these were remnants of the past…

“But what has happened to us demonstrates that my religious grandmother was right: the mercy and love of the Lord are always with us. So many years of treatment and hope… Now we are both almost forty years old, and in six months we will become the happiest mother and father.”

Everyone congratulated the couple, saying kind and beautiful words. Then the guests tried to “figure out” what exactly had helped Lyudmila get pregnant. They suggested many different explanations: One of them assumed that a change of climate had had a wholesome effect on the woman’s body, another one supposed that the presence of mountains and a slightly high radioactivity level had played a role, while others believed that the treatment, albeit belatedly, had borne fruit at last.

Lyudmila put a crystal glass of homemade fruit drink on the table and said seriously:

“I see only one explanation: It’s neither the mountains, nor the climate, nor the Gobi Desert. It’s a miracle. My grandmother turned out to be much smarter than me. She always said that we would have a child, because the Lord and His Most Pure Mother are merciful. But until recently I stubbornly believed that since the doctors had diagnosed infertility, no prayers could help. Foolishly, I equated my grandmother’s earnest prayers with the spells of various psychics who ‘cure’ childlessness with a decoction of a cat’s tail or by sprinkling ashes on the bed! As soon as my pregnancy was confirmed, we immediately called my grandmother. I cried with joy and then, of course, I apologized for being skeptical about her words about God and faith. I thanked her.

“But, nevertheless, my Komsomol upbringing affected me. At the end of the conversation, I asked my grandmother why the Lord had sent us a baby only twenty years later, if she had started praying earlier. My wise grandmother replied that I would understand it myself. Now I know that getting ready to become a mother at my age (over thirty-five), when all attempts to cure infertility did not help; when, according to all biological laws, the chances of getting pregnant even for a very healthy woman decline, is a miracle of God. This is the power and mercy of the Lord. I recall how my grandmother once told me a chapter from the Gospel about how the elderly holy Prophet Zachariah and the holy Righteous Elizabeth became the parents of the holy Prophet John the Baptist, and how the Archangel Gabriel announced the Good News to the Virgin Mary… Before confirming my pregnancy, the doctors had ruled out uterine fibroids and cancer, re-examining everything and repeating tests many times, and only then did they tell me the good news: ‘Believe it or not, but marvel—you will be a mother.’ When I asked them how it was possible, they smiled and said that such a phenomenon could only be called a miracle, as they could not explain it from a scientific point of view.”

The whole town of Erdenet followed the events in their family. Everyone offered their help, gave children’s clothes and toys. Lyudmila’s husband walked with her before going to bed, bought groceries himself and cooked only healthy food intended for expectant mothers.

After a while, the couple went to Moscow for the birth. In due time, a beautiful, healthy boy was born.

Later, the happy parents sent us a long letter: after a month and a half, the baby was baptized with the name Zakhary (Zachariah).

At that time, the authorities began to return monasteries and churches to the Russian Orthodox Church, and many people began to go to church for confession and Communion. Mikhail and Lyudmila converted to the faith as well.

In the latest comment from the Vatican on “Fiducia Supplicans,” the controversial declaration issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in December 2023 that includes guidelines on the blessing of same-sex couples, Pope Francis clarified that he didn’t allow blessings of “the union” but of “each person.”

“What I allowed was not to bless the union,” the pope said, correcting the question of CBS journalist and interviewer Norah O’Donnell, who stated within her question that the pope had “decided to allow Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples.”

“That cannot be done because that is not the sacrament. I cannot. The Lord made it that way,” said Pope Francis, according to the English translation provided in voiceover by CBS. “But to bless each person, yes. The blessing is for everyone. For everyone. To bless a homosexual-type union, however, goes against the given right, against the law of the church. But to bless each person, why not? The blessing is for all. Some people were scandalized by this. But why? Everyone! Everyone!”

The Spanish-language video, however, reveals that instead of “given right,” Pope Francis said “natural law,” which, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life.”

“Fiducia Supplicans,” which sparked international uproar within the church, was just one of the many topics touched on in the wide-ranging interview that covered the pope’s thoughts on war, a “globalization of indifference,” conservativism in the church, antisemitism and U.S. policy toward migrants.

The pope spoke with O’Donnell April 24 at his residence, Casa Santa Marta (Domus Sanctae Marthae). A roughly 13-minute portion of the interview aired May 19 on “60 Minutes,” the long-running newsmagazine of the CBS Television Network, with the balance of the session to be broadcast in a one-hour primetime special May 20 on the network and on the Paramount+ streaming platform.

The pair were seated beneath a large image of Our Lady Undoer of Knots, a Marian devotion from 18th-century Germany that is a favorite of Pope Francis, who learned of it some 40 years ago from a nun he had met while he was completing his doctoral thesis in that nation.

As a follow-up to the topic of same-sex blessings, O’Donnell reminded Pope Francis of his previous remarks that “homosexuality is not a crime,” qualifying of “unjust” laws criminalizing the condition of same-sex attraction, which the church recognizes as “objectively disordered” while calling for such persons to exercise chastity and self-mastery, and to be treated with respect and compassion.

Homosexuality “is a human fact,” Pope Francis told O’Donnell.

She asked him how he would respond to “conservative bishops in the United States that oppose your new efforts to revisit teachings and traditions.”

In his reply, Pope Francis defined a conservative as the “suicidal attitude” of “one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that.”

“One thing is to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box,” he said.

Throughout the interview, Pope Francis underscored his soft-spoken but energetic responses — delivered in his native Spanish through an interpreter — with emphatic gestures, shifting occasionally in his chair and appearing to be in good health, despite a bout with bronchitis earlier this year that saw him taken to the hospital for tests.

Asked by O’Donnell if the Catholic Church had “done enough” to reform and repent of clerical sexual abuse, Pope Francis said “it must continue to do more” since “the tragedy of the abuses is enormous.”

He also stressed the need to “not only … not permit it but to put in place the conditions so that it does not happen.”

“It cannot be tolerated,” Pope Francis said. “When there is a case of a religious man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them. In this there has been a great deal of progress.”

O’Donnell, in the May 19 excerpt, did not ask Pope Francis about Father Marko Rupnik, the Slovenian-born priest who was expelled from the Society of Jesus in June 2023, and who has gained international recognition both for his liturgical art and for the numerous accusations of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse leveled against him in the course of his career.

O’Donnell did ask Pope Francis about the children of Gaza ahead of the Catholic Church’s inaugural World Children’s Day May 25-26, an observance instituted by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education.

When O’Donnell, citing the United Nations, said that more than a million in Gaza, mostly children, would face famine on World Children’s Day, Pope Francis replied, “Not just in Gaza. Think of Ukraine.”

He said that many of the Ukrainian children who come to the Vatican “don’t know how to smile … they have forgotten how to smile. And that is very painful.”

As a follow-up question, O’Donnell asked if the pope had a message for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“Please, warring countries, all of them, stop. Stop the war,” replied Pope Francis. “You must find a way of negotiating for peace. Strive for peace. A negotiated peace is always better than an endless war.”

O’Donnell asked the pope how to address international division over the Israel-Hamas war, which has sparked “big protests on college campuses and growing antisemitism.”

“All ideology is bad, and antisemitism is an ideology, and it is bad,” said Pope Francis. “Any ‘anti’ is always bad. You can criticize one government or another, the government of Israel, the Palestinian government. You can criticize all you want, but not ‘anti’ a people. Neither anti-Palestinian, nor antisemitic. No.”

Asked by O’Donnell if he could help negotiate peace, the pope sighed and replied, “What I can do is pray. I pray a lot for peace. And also, to suggest, ‘Please, stop. Negotiate.’”

O’Donnell also asked Pope Francis for his thoughts on the state of Texas’ efforts to shutter Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit sheltering migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“That is madness. Sheer madness. To close the border and leave them there, that is madness,” he said. “The migrant has to be received. Thereafter you see how you are going to deal with him. Maybe you have to send him back, I don’t know, but each case ought to be considered humanely.”

Recalling the pope’s July 2013 visit to Lampedusa — the Italian island to which thousands of migrants have fled, with thousands more perishing while crossing the Mediterranean — O’Donnell asked Pope Francis to speak about “the globalization of indifference.”

“People wash their hands!” he answered. “There are so many Pontius Pilates on the loose out there … who see what is happening, the wars, the injustice, the crimes … (They say), ‘That’s OK, that’s OK’ and wash their hands. … That is what happens when the heart hardens … and becomes indifferent.

“Please, we have to get our hearts to feel again,” Pope Francis implored. “We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such human dramas. The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease. Very ugly.”

No reference was made to another hot button topic: women in the clergy, except in a post-interview narration in which O’Donnell said that although the pope had appointed more women to positions of church power than his predecessors, “he told us he opposes allowing women to be ordained as priests or deacons.”

In a particularly poignant moment in the interview, O’Donnell asked the pope about the church’s rejection of surrogacy, saying she knows women who are cancer survivors for whom the practice has become “the only hope” for having a child.

Pope Francis reaffirmed church teaching on the point, saying that surrogacy has sometimes “become a business, and that is very bad.”

He also said that for infertile women, “the other hope is adoption,” and stressed that “in each case the situation should be carefully and clearly considered, consulting medically and then morally as well.”

The pope commended O’Donnell for her sensitivity toward people that “in some cases (surrogacy) is the only chance,” saying with a warm smile, “It shows that you feel these things very deeply. Thank you.”

O’Donnell, in turn, said the pope has inspired hope among many “because you have been more open and accepting perhaps than any other previous leaders of the church.”

Reiterating a cry he issued at World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Pope Francis said that the church is open to “everyone, everyone, everyone.”

“The Gospel is for everyone,” he emphasized. “If the church places a customs officer at the door, that is no longer the church of Christ.”

The May 19 segment concluded with O’Donnell asking the pope what gave him hope.

“Everything,” Pope Francis said. “You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things … heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.”

Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Viña del Mar; Chile)     

Vina del Mar is a Chilean resort town located about 75 miles northwest of Santiago. Buses run here regularly from the capital of Chile, taking passengers from the huge, chaotic Santiago to more tranquil places on the Pacific coast. Life in Vina is quieter and more comfortable than in the big city, largely thanks to a more equable climate (it doesn’t have the unbearably hot weather, like in the capital) and a more favorable environment. True, Vina has its own natural nuances; they are eloquently indicated by the signs showing evacuation routes for residents to follow in the event of a cataclysm—a tsunami.

Anyone who comes from Europe to this seemingly forgotten town at the back of beyond will be pleased and a little surprised to learn that there is an Orthodox church here. Not just a community renting a tiny space in a Catholic or Protestant church (as is often the case), but a separate complex with a church building and additional outbuildings.

It is worth noting that the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Vina del Mar is approaching its sixtieth anniversary—it was built through the efforts of patrons and parishioners in the 1960s. The Arab and Greek diasporas, headed by Juan Massu and Georges Moustakis, contributed much to the construction of the church. The church was consecrated on February 14, 1965.

The church is situated at 1 Poniente Street 420, about a half-hour walk from the bus station and a 10-minute walk from the ocean. You can distinguish that this is an Orthodox church by a mosaic icon of the Mother of God on the facade of the building. Priest Jorge (George) Suez has served here for almost twenty years. I was abke to speak with batiushka during a short trip to Chile, which included a visit to Vina del Mar.

Portraits of Juan Massu and Georges Moustakis     

“My ancestors lived in Jordan, in the city of Madaba,” Fr. Jorge related. “My great-grandfather was a priest. My grandfather left Jordan in the 1920s and emigrated to Chile. Here he got married, and our family settled down in South America.”

Being Orthodox from birth, Fr. Jorge obtained his education in the Middle East—he graduated from the Balamand Seminary (Lebanon). In 1999, he was ordained a priest; he served in the Cathedral of the Patriarchate of Antioch in Santiago. He moved to the Pacific coast in 2004.

Priest Jorge Suez performs the sacrament of Baptism —The then priest in Vina del Mar, Fr. Stavros, was very ill, so the community was looking for an assistant priest for him. As a result, it was decided to send me here. I like it in Vina del Mar, especially since my close relatives live here.

—And the church you came to serve in apparently had a well-established community?

—Fr. Stavros, who served in Vina, came to Chile in 1961. His father, also a priest, was a martyr—he was murdered by Turks who crucified him on the church door. Fearing Turkish persecution, the family moved from Smyrna to Jerusalem, where there was a large Greek diaspora. After the Second World War, Fr. Stavros was ordained a priest. He was invited to Chile from Baghdad, where he then served. The community needed a priest who could speak Greek and Arabic—these were the main languages of the local parishioners. But Fr. Stavros belonged to the so–called “old school”—in effect, his ministry was limited to celebrating the Liturgy on Sundays and performing services of need, such as baptisms, The Mystery of Marriage—the Spiritual Foundation of the FamilyWhy is it necessary to get crowned in the Church? What is the symbolism of the rings and crowns? Why do the bride and groom stand facing east during the crowning? What does the phrase “to love as you love yourself” mean? What is the proper understanding of the words: “A wife should fear her husband?”

“>weddings and funerals. Unfortunately, pastoral work was overlooked. Over time, the emigrant generation died out, and as a result, the number of parishioners declined dramatically.

“Once I had a situation where I couldn’t start the Liturgy,” Fr. Jorge recounted. “No one came to the service—the church was empty. I understood that changes were needed. I began to serve in Spanish in order to make our church and services more open to people around us. For Chileans, including descendants of emigrants, church services have become clearer; in addition, we have begun pastoral work with people of all ages, holding meetings, reading the Bible, and answering questions. Thanks to this, the community has begun to grow. We have introduced the practice of celebrating services not only on Sundays, but also on weekdays, trying to attract parishioners to help during services (for example, reading and singing).”

The sea-front in Vina del Mar     

—As I understand it, the translation of services into Spanish may have caused discontent among the older generation?

—By that time hardly any of them was alive. In addition, I have not given up Greek and Arabic completely—sometimes I use them in services. Unfortunately, I don’t know Russian, although we have some parishioners from Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia. But they all listen to the Liturgy in Spanish quietly. On the major Greek holidays (for example, Greek Independence Day, or Ohi Day) a significant part of the Liturgy is celebrated in Greek. However, in any case, Spanish is the dominant liturgical language in our parish.

—Perhaps thanks to the Spanish language the Chileans have begun to show more interest in Orthodoxy?

—People do quit the Catholic Church, but chiefly because they are horrified by cases of pedophilia among Catholic clergy.

And one of the factors contributing to Chileans’ conversion to Orthodoxy is that they see a married priest who has children. They see me with my family at the market, in a supermarket and realize that this priest is a normal person like them, living a normal life. People can talk to me more freely about their daily problems, about what worries them.

—Fr. Jorge, as a father with many children (I am raising four children) I always wonder what should be done to ensure that These Children Grew Up… and Stayed in ChurchIt is no longer a secret to anyone that some children who were brought up in religious families drift away from church in their teens, while some others abandon the Church altogether, quite often for the remainder of their lives. Is there any way to avoid this? What is the measure of parental responsibility for the choice of faith that children make? We spoke about this with Archpriest Maxim Pervozvansky.

“>children stay in the Church, especially in a situation where they are surrounded by the secular world, which is often hostile to Christianity?

—Yes, children usually attend church until they are twelve or thirteen, and after that they have other interests: parties on Saturdays, football, ballet, etc. They say that going to church is boring, they don’t like it. But we have a rule in our family: You can do whatever you want, but from eleven to twelve on Sunday you must be in church. Although, frankly speaking, I do not have ready-made solutions to this problem. Parishioners complain that their children don’t want to go to services. But there are often situations when, for example, the fathers themselves don’t attend services—they sleep late on Sundays and allow their children to oversleep and miss the Liturgy. Don’t forget that temptations in the West are very strong.

—In the West? You mean Chile?

—Yes, I consider Chile as part of the Western world compared to the Middle East or Russia. Here at the age of twelve children sometimes start drinking, smoking, and taking drugs. At the age of thirteen or fourteen they become “sexually active”. In general, we need personal motivation, an understanding that the Church is important for spiritual life. We often have a consumer attitude towards the church. If someone’s relative dies, we know that a funeral service must be performed over him; if someone was born, we know that he must be baptized, and so on. But people should strive to improve their spiritual state.

At the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God     

—In your view, is the educational system in Chile acceptable for Orthodox Christians?

—Many of our parishioners’ children go to Catholic schools—everything there is built around the liturgical cycle of the Catholic Church. Children receive their first Communion and get confirmed. It is difficult to refuse, otherwise you will be a black sheep.

Of course, secular schools don’t have all this—there are no religious lessons in them, only ethics. In such schools, children are instilled with a tolerant attitude, for example, towards same-sex marriage. And we see that at the age of fourteen children declare their homosexuality and enter into same-sex relationships.

—Are locals interested in the Orthodox Church on a street of their own town?

—Older people are interested in the Liturgy as such, as it resembles what was in the Catholic Church prior to Vatican II. Sometimes these people come to our services…. In general, we try to organize everything so that our parishioners would not feel abandoned. We have a playroom for children with drawing supplies and various toys. There is also a hall where people of different ages can chat over a cup of coffee after the Liturgy. Unfortunately, nowadays many people are busy with their cellphones and no longer have the time or desire for personal communication. We would like to change this trend a bit. And, of course, to enlighten people we need more accessible literature in Spanish, including proper translations of the Fathers of the Church.

On June 1, Archbishop José H. Gomez will ordain 11 new priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

In the days leading up to their ordination, we’ll be introducing a new soon-to-be Father. Los Angeles, meet your new priests!

Age: 29

Hometown: Garden Grove

Home parish: Maria Regina Church, Gardena

Parish assignment: St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Whittier 

Born the only child of Vietnamese immigrant parents in Garden Grove, Anthony Huynh had all the fundamentals of a good Catholic upbringing. He watched his parents sing in the parish choir, went to Catholic school until 8th grade, and even played piano at Mass. 

It was during those years, he realizes now, that the seed of his vocation to the priesthood was quietly planted. 

“It was just always there, but I just never really looked into it,” said Huynh.

What Huynh did know was that he wanted to help people for a living. So after graduating from high school, he pursued a bachelor’s degree in social work at Cal State LA. But during vacation one summer in Vietnam, he crossed paths with an old priest friend of his father’s who was involved in a slightly different kind of social work.

“He was doing ministry in one of those villages way out in the mountains, very poor, with one road in one road out.” Huynh remembered being struck by the simplicity of how he lived. 

“He didn’t own a lot of things materially, but just the fact that he was happy with life, doing his priestly ministry, working with the locals in the villages … that kind of sparked curiosity,” recalled Huynh.

That led Huynh to start praying seriously about his future and talk to a priest at his home parish of Maria Regina Church in Gardena, Father Sang Tran. After graduating from Cal State LA in 2017, he decided to enter formation for the Archdiocese of LA. 

One of the key sources of encouragement during discernment was Huynh’s father, who grew up attending a boarding school in Vietnam run by Redemptorist priests. Some of his dad’s classmates went on to become priests themselves. Hearing stories about their lives as priests — not just their joys, but their difficulties, too — spoke to the younger Huynh.

“It just gave me at least that knowledge that if I were to pursue this vocation, there was something good to be had,” remembered Huynh. 

Huynh also found plenty of affirmation in the bonds formed with his seminary classmates. He recalled one trip that several of them took to Mexico, where they attended first Masses for two new LA priests celebrated at the Basilica of Guadalupe. 

“Coming out of that trip, we made a lot of memories together, and that helped carry this momentum into the rest of our formation,” said Huynh. “We’re not just guys who attend class together, but we’re really brothers who are trying to walk together and support each other in our calling to holiness.”

The similarities between his original career path and the priesthood are not lost on Huynh. Like social work, priestly ministry begins with “meeting people where they’re at,” whether struggling with their faith or carrying the “baggage” of difficulties in life. 

“We’re meeting people who come from these unique environments where there’s a lot of different influences all trying to grab their attention,” said Huynh. “I believe it’s being able to enter into the complexity of their lives and being able to see how God can touch them, and accompany them into the life of God himself.”

Huynh credited a long list of people — family, friends, classmates, and parishioners at places like Our Lady of Loretto Church near downtown, where he spent his parish internship year — with helping him make it this far. All have convinced him that ordinary encounters with people — believers and nonbelievers alike — have a special ability to reveal God’s love. 

“It’s not just something we practice only on Sundays when we’re inside the church,” he said of faith. “It’s a life that continues outside.”

Tallinn, May 20, 2024

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn. Photo: Wikipedia     

The Estonian Orthodox Church has enlisted the help of a local law firm as the state calls upon the Church to sever its legal and canonical ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.

Attorneys Steven-Hristo Evestus and Artur Knjazev of Sirel & Partners in Tallinn are representing both the Estonian Orthodox Church and Pukhtitsa Monastery, which is stavropegial—directly under the omophorion of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

The lawyers’ goal is “to find a solution in accordance with Estonian laws and Orthodox canons in a difficult situation with the state,” the law firm reports.

The report recalls that the Estonian Parliament declares Russian Church accomplice in state aggression, Estonian hierarch respondsThe Riigikogu adopted a statement on Monday, May 6, which formally identifies the Moscow Patriarchate as a supporter of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“>Estonian Parliament declared the Moscow Patriarchate an institute supporting Russian military aggression on May 6, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is Estonia’s Pukhtitsa Monastery: If the state wants us to change jurisdiction, it can make its own appeal to the PatriarchIf the government of the Republic of Estonia, represented by the Minister of Internal Affairs, insists on changing the jurisdiction of the monastery, then as the initiator of the process, the government itself may approach Patriarch Kirill with a proposal to cancel the stavropegial status of Pukhtitsa Monastery. Abbess Philareta noted that such a course is canonically legitimate for the convent’s residents.”>calling on the Church and monastery to separate from the Patriarchate.

But freedom of religion must be respected, says Evustus:

Our primary task is to remind everyone that the representatives and members of the EOC-MP and the Pukhtitsa Convent have in no way expressed support for military actions or opposition to the constitutional order of the Republic of Estonia. For this reason, it’s particularly important that the freedom of religion and the rights, freedoms, and activities of parishioners and the members of the convent aren’t arbitrarily or inadvertently restricted or condemned. We’re open to finding solutions for a continued peaceful coexistence.

Moreover, the Church has proven itself to be perfectly law-abiding, says Knjazev:

Additionally, we must emphasize that neither the EOC-MP nor the Pukhtitsa Convent has broken any laws. They have always been against the war and have never endorsed the war-related statements of the Moscow Patriarch. Law-abiding behavior should be respected, and under no circumstances should it lead to punishment or actions of that nature by the state.

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Today the Church celebrates the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of the Church.

In 2018, Pope Francis declared this new memorial to be added to the Church’s calendar of feasts, to be celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost each year. In doing so, he hopes to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious, and faithful.”

Mary is the mother of Christ, and as such, she is a mother to all of us in the Church. She was with the apostles when they gathered on Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit, and was part of the early ministry of the Church in those days.