Northwoods Catholic Churches -- St. Anne, Boulder Junction; St. Mary, Sayner; St. Rita, Presque Isle

Confessional. / Credit: AS photo studio/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 1, 2025 / 13:17 pm (CNA).

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, representing over 500 Roman Catholic priests and deacons from the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom, has issued a statement defending the inviolability of the seal of confession.

The statement was released on June 27, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The declaration comes in response to civil laws, the most recent one in Washington state, that seek to compel priests to disclose information regarding child abuse learned during the sacrament of reconciliation or face penalties.

According to Washington’s new law, noncompliance could result in up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

The confraternity’s statement emphasized that the Catholic Church teaches the seal of confession is inviolable with “absolutely no exceptions.” Expounded in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 1467) and the Code of Canon Law (Nos. 983, 1388), this teaching binds priests to maintain absolute confidentiality regarding both the content of confessions and the identity of penitents. Violation of confidentiality incurs automatic excommunication, reversible only by the pope. 

The confraternity argued that laws like Washington state’s infringe on religious liberty while failing to advance justice, citing the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, the U.K.’s Human Rights Act of 1998, and Australia’s constitution. 

In the statement, the group highlighted the Church’s commitment to child protection through criminal investigation and adjudication, which “can be lawfully and morally done without violating religious liberty.”

Notably, the statement’s authors also pointed out the absurdity of demanding that priests identify anonymous penitents. It also emphasized the injustice of laws like Washington state’s, which exempts other professionals, such as doctors and therapists, from the mandatory disclosure requirement. 

After the passage of Washington’s Senate Bill 5375, signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson on May 3 and effective July 27, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) responded swiftly. 

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to Ferguson, a Catholic, just days after Ferguson signed the bill, announcing an investigation into the law and describing it as a “legislative attack on the Catholic Church and its sacrament of confession, a religious practice ordained by the Catholic Church dating back to the Church’s origins.”

The DOJ then filed a lawsuit against Washington on June 23, asserting that the law violates the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion. “The seal of confidentiality is ... the lifeblood of confession,” the DOJ stated in its brief. “Without it, the free exercise of the Catholic religion ... cannot take place.” 

Washington’s Catholic bishops, including Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne and Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly, filed a federal lawsuit on May 29 challenging the law on First Amendment and equal protection grounds.

The lawsuit highlighted the Church’s robust child protection policies, which the bishops said exceeds state requirements. “The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and the dioceses of Yakima and Spokane have each adopted and implemented ... policies that go further in the protection of children than the current requirements of Washington law,” the lawsuit stated.

Daly vowed to the Catholic faithful that clergy would face imprisonment rather than break the seal of confession. “I want to assure you that your shepherds, bishops, and priests are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail,” he said. Etienne echoed this, referencing Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”

Orthodox churches have joined the legal battle, filing their own lawsuit on June 16, asserting that their priests, like Catholic clergy, have a “strict religious duty” to maintain the confidentiality of the confessional, with violations constituting a “canonical crime and a grave sin.”

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy was founded in 1975 to foster ongoing formation for clergy per Vatican II’s directives.

The icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa is displayed at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Sunday, June 29, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 1, 2025 / 12:07 pm (CNA).

More than 1,000 Catholics with Polish roots gathered for a celebratory jubilee Mass and jubilee concert to honor the 70th anniversary of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in the southeastern Pennsylvania borough of Doylestown on Sunday, June 29.

The Marian shrine, located about 25 miles north of Philadelphia, was established in 1955 by a Polish priest from the Order of St. Paul the First Hermit. It was created to honor the Black Madonna — a centuries-old icon of the Blessed Mother that sits in the southern Polish city of Czestochowa and holds a strong devotion from the country’s faithful.

Pauline Fathers from the order continue to operate the shrine. 

“The seeds of the shrine were sowed 70 years ago by a Pauline priest who came carrying the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa with the dream of establishing a shrine,” Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia, the main celebrant of the Mass, said in his homily.

“And that community came here carrying Our Lady and sowed those seeds,” he said. “... And so here we are, fast-forward 70 years later, and from that little humble barn chapel … came all of this.”

In 1955, Father Michael Zembrzuski brought a copy of the icon that had been blessed by St. John XXIII to the United States in hopes of creating a chapel, according to the shrine’s website. 

The icon was displayed in a small wooden barn chapel at first, but the Pauline Fathers soon built a much larger complex to support the high number of Polish-American pilgrims visiting the site.

Now the Black Madonna icon, which shows the Blessed Virgin holding the infant Christ with two scars down her right cheek, sits above the altar of the Church. The scars on the original icon in Poland are believed to have been caused by an attack from the Hussites.

During his homily, Pérez spoke about the famous wounds on the icon, noting that “they tried to fix it, you know, in the original image and they could not.”

“They represent the wounds that the Church has received over time, sometimes from the outside; sometimes inflicted upon itself,” he added. “Wounds that leave a mark, and those marks could not be taken away from the image — the face of Our Lady.”

Pérez said the scars are also “an incredible sign of compassion and understanding with you and with me because we too bear wounds.”

“They might not be as visible as those wounds,” he said. “They might be the wounds of our heart and actually you and I know right now in this moment what they are and how powerful at times they can exert energy upon us. The Blessed Mother here stands before us saying: ‘I got them too.’ … And those wounds become part of our own story of salvation.”

A homily in Polish was delivered by Father Arnold Chrapkowski, the superior general of the Pauline order.

A large portion of pilgrims who attended the 70th anniversary celebration were immigrants from Poland and many others were descendents of Polish immigrants.

One pilgrim named Adam, who was raised in Poland and visited the original icon in his home country “many times,” told CNA that it’s important to him to be within driving distance to a shrine honoring Our Lady of Czestochowa.

Adam, who now lives in New York City, said the icon serves as a reminder to “look for support from God and from Our Lady.”

Another pilgrim named Gerome, who grew up in Hamtramck, Michigan (a predominantly Polish city near Detroit), told CNA that copies of the Black Madonna icon were prominently displayed at many of the neighborhood churches.

Gerome, who now lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said he often visits the shrine, especially during Christmas, to hear the “kolęda,” which are Polish Christmas carols. He said he has also visited the original shrine in Poland, which he described as “beautiful” and an important devotion for Polish Catholics.

“People would walk from Warsaw to Our Lady of Czestochowa [for pilgrimages],” he said.

Bishop Krzysztof Józef Nykiel, the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Apostolic See, also attended the anniversary to concelebrate and read a letter from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

In the letter, Parolin conveyed a message from Pope Leo XIV bestowing his apostolic blessing on participants in the celebration and thanked the Pauline Fathers for their mission in the United States.

“He sends prayerful best wishes to all participating in the Mass commemorating this occasion,” the letter read.

The 70th anniversary Mass was bilingual, in both English and Polish, to accommodate those who primarily speak Polish and the English-speaking pilgrims. During the concert and the Mass, the choir played several Polish Catholic hymns.

One hymn, “Czarna Madonna,” which honors the Blessed Mother and the icon, was sung at the end of Mass. Much of the congregation joined with the choir in singing the Polish-language hymn as Perez and the nine other concelebrating bishops turned to the icon before the closing procession.

“In her arms, you will find peace and shelter from evil,” the song proclaims, according to an English translation. “For she has a tender heart for all her children. And she will take care of you, when you give your heart to her.”

Multiple advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against Colorado on June 30, 2025, claiming its assisted suicide law unconstitutionally discriminates against disabled people. / Credit: Patrick Thomas/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 1, 2025 / 11:36 am (CNA).

A coalition of advocacy groups is suing the state of Colorado over its assisted suicide law, claiming the statute is unconstitutional for allegedly discriminating against those who suffer from disabilities. 

Filed June 30 in U.S. district court by several organizations including Not Dead Yet and the Institute for Patients’ Rights, the lawsuit describes Colorado’s assisted suicide regime as “a deadly and discriminatory system that steers people with life-threatening disabilities away from necessary lifesaving and preserving mental health care.”

In the lawsuit — spearheaded by the umbrella group End Assisted Suicide — the plaintiffs argue that the law “does not require any evaluation, screening, or treatment by a mental health professional for serious mental illness, depression, or treatable suicidality before the lethal prescription is written.”

The state legalized assisted suicide in 2016, one of several states that year to do so. The measure permits doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who wish to kill themselves.

In 2024 the state expanded the law to allow a larger number of medical officials to prescribe those drugs.

Prescribers are not required to possess expertise about the patient’s specific illness and are not required to be trained in recognizing mental health symptoms associated with the illness, the lawsuit argues.

Providers are similarly not required to help patients access alternative treatments such as palliative care and mental health treatment, according to the suit.

Colorado has created “a two-tiered medical system in which people who are suicidal receive radically different treatment responses by their providers and protections from the state” depending on a medical provider’s opinion, the lawsuit alleges, arguing that the state law violates both federal disability laws and “constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection.”

The suit asks the court to block the law under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, as well as the Affordable Care Act and the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

The Colorado law has received pushback from Catholic advocates. The state Catholic conference last year opposed the expansion of the suicide law, calling the overall statute itself “unjust,” stipulating that it “targets the most vulnerable in our society” and corrupts the practice of medicine. 

Elsewhere, Church leadership has similarly condemned euthanasia and assisted suicide. Pope Francis in 2022 said dying people need palliative care rather than suicide; the next year he condemned euthanasia as “playing with life” and “bad compassion.” 

Prior to his election as pontiff, meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV spoke out against assisted suicide, warning in 2016 that the practice “threatens the most vulnerable in society.”

Eleven other states and the District of Columbia allow assisted suicide. Most recently the New York State Legislature in June passed a law legalizing it there, though Gov. Kathy Hochul had not yet signed it as of July 1.

Various award-winning members of the EWTN News team are shown here in Phoenix, including National Catholic Register Editor-in-Chief Shannon Mullen, EWTN News Special Initiatives Director Jeanette DeMelo, EWTN News Director of Digital Strategy and Social Media Úrsula Murúa, Register Managing Editor Tom Wehner, CNA reporter Kate Quiñones, and CNA Editor-in-Chief Ken Oliver-Méndez. / Credit: CNA

Phoenix, Ariz., Jul 1, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA).

EWTN News properties received 27 awards at the recent 2025 Catholic Media Association (CMA) awards in Phoenix for journalistic excellence across Catholic News Agency, the National Catholic Register, and ChurchPop. 

For the second year in a row, EWTN Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board Michael Warsaw led the way, winning in the “Best Regular Column — General Commentary” category for his regular column “A Note From the Publisher.” A CMA judge hailed Warsaw’s columns for their “exceptional, frank, and forthright candor.” 

Meanwhile, the Register won coveted top honors as best Catholic newspaper of the year. “There’s something for every reader in this fine publication,” one CMA judge said of the paper, which has received this honor multiple times in recent years.

For its incisive coverage of in vitro fertilization, CNA also took first place in the category of “Best Analysis/Background/Round-Up News Writing — National Newspaper or Wire Service.” A CMA judge commented that the articles on the topic by reporters Tyler Arnold and Peter Pinedo gave “a detailed explanation of the science behind in vitro fertilization and how it can be viewed through a Catholic lens.” 

CNA’s editor-in-chief, Ken Oliver-Méndez, also took first place in the category “Best News Writing One Shot — National Event” for his coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention titled “Spiritual tone at RNC heightened in wake of Trump assassination attempt.” A CMA judge heaped praise on this “standout” piece for its “good insights and smart writing.”

Judges also recognized the agency’s top-notch global coverage, with CNA’s Marinella Bandini receiving first place for what one judge described as a “gripping, firsthand account” of a Catholic woman who survived the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in the category “Best News Writing One Shot — International Event.”

The Register also took first place in the “Best Coverage — Disaster or Crisis” category for articles on the Middle East by Solène Tadié, Alberto Fernández, and Michele Chabin.

The Register also led in the category of “Best Coverage — Religious Liberty Issues” with its articles by Alberto Fernández, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, and Jonathan Liedl on “Religious Liberty in the Crosshairs.” The coverage, one CMA judge said, provided “diverse perspectives and present differences evenhandedly.” 

CNA also won top honors for “Best Use of Video on Social Media — Ongoing Series — Radio, Television Stations, and Film Companies” for Francesca Pollio Fenton’s coverage of the new season of “The Chosen.” Pollio Fenton’s reporting of the press junket was described as “highly engaging.”

In the “Best Feature Writing — National Newspaper or Wire Service” category, the Register won first place for Matthew McDonald’s article “Surrounded by Halloween Witchery, Catholics in Salem Wage a Battle for Souls,” which a judge said was “grounded in history and well-known cultural themes.”

In addition, CNA, the Register, and sister EWTN News outlet ChurchPop amassed runner-up awards in 18 additional categories for coverage of ecumenical and interfaith issues and religious freedom as well as other events and topics ranging from 2024 papal travel to the National Eucharistic Revival to the issue of smartphones in the confessional. 

Celebrating the bevy of awards, EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado commented that “it’s humbling for all of the EWTN News team to be recognized among our peers, who understand what it takes to deliver news faithful to our shared mission and unmatched in quality, journalism that informs rather than inflames.”

Likewise, Register Editor-in-Chief Shannon Mullen emphasized that “it means a great deal to us to be recognized by our peers in the Catholic media.” 

“These honors are a testament to the hard work our journalists do every day to deliver the excellent journalism that our Church deserves and our readers have come to expect from the Register,” Mullen added.

In a similar vein, CNA editor-in-chief Oliver-Méndez called the awards a “testament to both the quality and value of the agency’s coverage of important events and issues of interest to Catholics in the United States and around the world.” 

“Receiving such recognition serves to stimulate our entire team as we strive to achieve excellence across the entire scope of our news coverage,” he concluded.

Carmen Sánchez Maíllo is academic secretary of the CEU Institute of Family Studies. / Credit: San Pablo CEU

Madrid, Spain, Jul 1, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Analyzing the consequences of the law that equated same-sex unions with marriage in Spain 20 years ago, Carmen Sánchez Maíllo, academic secretary of the CEU (Center of University Studies, by its Spanish acronym) Institute of Family Studies, considers the statute to be difficult to overturn but “not impossible.”

On July 1, 2005, Spain’s lower house passed the law that then-President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced a year earlier that his government would introduce. Article 44 of the Civil Code was reworded as follows: “Marriage shall have the same requirements and effects when both parties are of the same or different sexes.”

Spain thus became the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to equate marriage with same-sex unions, which also allowed same-sex couples to apply to adopt children in the latter two.

A few days before the final vote, a huge demonstration took place in Madrid featuring the theme “The Family Does matter, for a Father and a Mother.” Numerous civic groups participated in the event, which had the explicit support of the country’s Catholic Church.

As many as 20 Spanish bishops could be seen marching in the streets of Spain’s capital city, including the then-president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela.

On Sept. 30, 2005, the People’s Party (PP) filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court arguing that the law “denaturalizes the institution of marriage” and violates numerous constitutional articles. The court never ruled on the appeal until seven years later, in 2012, when it rejected it.

Despite its initial opposition, the PP has now wholeheartedly supported the so-called LGBTI pride celebrations for years, as evidenced on its social media.

In the six months remaining in 2005 after the law came into effect, 1,269 same-sex unions were entered into, mostly between men, a trend that continued until 2018, when those between women became more numerous.

In comparison with all marriages, same-sex unions have gone from representing 1% of the total population to 4% in two decades.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Sánchez said that “turning these issues around is difficult [but] not impossible” and that achieving it requires “great determination” on the part of a parliamentary majority.

As precedents in the field of family law, she cited the cases of Slovenia and Hungary, by referendum and legislation respectively, and with regard to the right to life, the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade that returned the issue to state legislatures.

‘Gender ideology has swept through Spanish legislation’

As Sánchez sees it, the law equating marriage with same-sex unions “affects the very concept of marriage, its purposes, and its social function in such a way that it is denaturalized,” but that is not its only effect.

With such unions, “a breach was opened on many issues, a spearhead through which an ideology enters in and fully affects politics and legislation,” she added.

“Gender ideology has swept through Spanish legislation,” Sánchez noted, with important “social, cultural, and demographic implications.”

Focusing exclusively on the law equating same-sex unions with marriage, Sánchez emphasized the special impact on minors: “In this type of union, one of the two role models, paternal or maternal, is absent,” which is detrimental to minors “who need both figures” in their lives.

In the case of boys, the paternal figure offers “a model of virility, of masculinity, which today are politically incorrect words,” as are “chivalry” or “nobility,” she pointed out.

In the case of girls, the father figure “is extremely important for their self-esteem, identity, and security. They will compare any relationship they have with their father figure.”

For her part, the mother figure “provides that tenderness, that affection, and is also necessary for sons and daughters.”

For Sánchez, this type of law also carries the danger that “children can be exploited in ideological debates,” which goes against the best interests of the child.

In this regard, she pointed out that what is “healthiest and most balanced” is to have both parents, male and female, and that “the best interest of the child is a marriage” with both role models.

On the other hand, the natural infertility of same-sex relations has other effects. In the case of two men, these types of laws become “a lever” to resort to surrogacy, which “commodifies the female body” and which, Sánchez noted, “has been prohibited in Spain since 2006.”

In the case of lesbian couples, naturally infertile sexual activity leads some to resort to assisted reproduction techniques. In the researcher’s opinion, beyond how these procedures affect the dignity of human life, “this is a huge problem, because these are children born without a known, identified father figure.” 

The importance of nurturing marriage

Faced with this situation, Sánchez proposed highlighting the witness of “strong, stable, united marriages,” including large families, that offer “an image that society needs,” of families living life with joy.

Furthermore, she said she believes it is necessary to “speak well of the fact that a strong, united marriage is possible” and for families to help each other, because “a marriage always needs support,” whether from other spouses, experts, or counselors.

“There is a desire inscribed in the human heart to love and be loved, and it must be nurtured at all stages of life,” explained Sanchez, who went on to emphasize that marriage is “a very well-designed” institution. It is God’s plan for the person. It is a natural vocation.”

“We are called to this communion of persons, to a very deep union between husband and wife, for the family, and children need their parents to love each other and they need those two role models who form the way they see the world,” she explained.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Bishop Hilario González meets Pope Leo XIV during his June 23–27, 2025, visit to Rome. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 1, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Hilario González García, the bishop of Saltillo, Mexico, since 2021, recently made the pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Seminarians, Bishops, and Priests held June 23–27. The prelate shared the highlights of his visit to the Eternal CIty and in particular the reasons why, despite the risks, it’s worthwhile to be a priest in his country.

During the last 30 years, at least 80 priests have been murdered in Mexico, making the nation one of the most dangerous in the world for exercising priestly ministry. Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, González responded with hope to this painful reality.

‘We must not be afraid to give our lives for Christ’

“Mexico is the country where good priests are happy giving their lives for Christ and for his Church,” González said.

He also emphasized that the priestly vocation, even in difficult contexts, allows a priest to offer the best of himself: “This is much more valuable than any human, economic, or sociopolitical project, because it opens horizons of fulfillment and overcomes the selfish and arrogant tendency that the world proposes today.”

In this context, he encouraged those who feel called to the priesthood to respond with generosity: “I invite those who feel called to be honest and transparent in their aspirations, and, trusting in the grace and mercy of the Lord, to take the first step of their vocational journey by saying ‘yes’ to the invitation of Jesus.”

“You shouldn’t be afraid of giving your life for Christ nor be afraid of offering it in priestly service,” he emphasized.

Meetings with Pope Leo XIV

The prelate recounted to ACI Prensa the details of his “edifying” experience in Rome, which served to “strengthen and encourage the spiritual bond” as well as an opportunity to give thanks for the “gift of life, of the priestly vocation, and of the episcopal ministry.”

Coinciding with his 60th birthday, the 30th anniversary of his priestly ordination, and the 10th anniversary of his episcopal ministry, the Mexican bishop traveled “as a pilgrim” to the Eternal City.

Throughout the week, González was able to hear Pope Leo XIV on four occasions. The first was during the meeting with the seminarians, which reminded him of his service as a formator and the “great responsibility involved in accompanying candidates in their initial formation process.”

He also participated in the audience with the bishops. He was particularly moved by the Holy Father’s address, which included “the invitation to be men of theological life” and to “remain firm in the faith, convinced of God’s help so as not to lose hope and thus encourage others in times of trial,” González told ACI Prensa.

Regarding the International Vocational Meeting, he emphasized the importance of the pope’s call “to be more purposeful, with the witness of a life happily given over” to the Lord. Regarding the Mass that Leo XIV celebrated on the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 27, during which he ordained 32 priests, the bishop of Saltillo emphasized Pope Leo’s invitation to “fulfill the promises we made on the day of our ordination.”

Commenting on Pope Leo’s words on celibacy, which during his address to the bishops the pontiff said is more than living a celibate life, González emphasized that it is not merely “a discipline or rule” or “a superhuman effort” but rather “a supernatural gift to pray for, accept, and cultivate, and a response that frees us to serve with the joy that springs from a heart that knows it is deeply loved.”

“For me, this means that I have to ‘put more effort’ into my consecration to the Lord, be more humble and transparent in my interpersonal relationships, and continue to bind myself with ever greater dedication and joy to the heart of Jesus,” he added.

Combatting abuse in the Church

During the meeting with the bishops, Pope Leo XIV also encouraged them to be “firm and decisive” in addressing abuse. The Mexican prelate stated that the bishops in his country are faithfully carrying out these instructions “to protect minors and to prevent such behavior from occurring.”

Each diocese in Mexico, according to the bishop of Saltillo, provides “human and institutional resources to ensure safe environments in our communities.”

He also highlighted the importance of the proper formation of seminarians and priests as well as those in consecrated life and communities, “to respond honestly and seek to purify attitudes that go against the righteous living of Christian life in all areas.”

Challenges facing the Church 

The bishop noted that, in the Diocese of Saltillo, they are “trying to respond to the challenge of selfish individualism” that prevents people’s hearts “from loving and serving generously, which withers interpersonal relationships, thus weakening the fabric of community and society.”

He also emphasized that they are “in tune with the synodal experience” and are working to “recover the identity and joy of the filial experience with God.”

“We see the social consequences of individualism in the disintegration of people (through abandonment, vices, addictions, loss of personal and family life), in violence and cruelty in interpersonal relationships, and in indifference and selfishness in helping those in need. We try to take up these challenges with simplicity of heart and with God’s grace to help build his kingdom in our society,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

A student workshop at The College of St. Joseph the Worker. / Credit: College of St. Joseph the Worker

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A lawsuit that seeks to block West Virginia from offering a Catholic trade college a $5 million grant will move forward after a judge rejected the college’s motion for a dismissal last week.

The lawsuit, filed by the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the American Humanist Association (AHA), is asking a Kanawha County Circuit Court judge to block the grant awarded to St. Joseph the Worker College.

The College of St. Joseph the Worker, based in Steubenville, Ohio, teaches trades related to construction — carpentry, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing — combined with a bachelor’s degree in Catholic studies. The school intends to use the grant money to create a nonprofit construction company in West Virginia and expand its job training and education programs into the state.

The West Virginia ACLU contends in its lawsuit that taxpayer money should not be spent to support a grant to a religiously affiliated college. The lawsuit was filed against the West Virginia Water Development Authority (WVDA), which is the government body that approved the grant for economic development purposes. The college is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

“Our case challenging a $5 million grant in water development funds to a ‘radically Catholic’ school in Ohio can move forward,” the West Virginia ACLU announced in a statement posted on Bluesky.

“Thousands in West Virginia lack clean water,” the statement read. “Forcing them to fund this school’s religious mission with money meant for infrastructure is wholly inappropriate.”

Both the nonprofit construction company and the additional training programs the college wants to establish would be located in Weirton, West Virginia, once a booming steel town. The city sits in the northern tip of the state and borders Ohio, where the college is primarily based.

The proposed construction company would employ students and focus on revitalization projects for sites of historical or cultural significance that for-profit companies would likely pass on.

As part of the grant funding agreement, St. Joseph the Worker would recruit students from West Virginia and develop partnerships with West Virginia-based tradesmen and contractors to help place students in jobs located in the state after graduation.

A spokesperson for St. Joseph the Worker did not respond to a request for comment. 

In January, when the ACLU first filed its lawsuit, a spokesperson for the WVDA told CNA it “will not comment to the media” about the lawsuit but that all comments “will be made in public court filings.”

Actor Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in “The Chosen.” / Credit: EWTN News/Colm Flynn/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Jul 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus in “The Chosen,” heard the news of the election of an American-born pope, he said he wept “because I just never thought I would ever live to see the day.” 

Two months later, on June 25, Roumie had the opportunity to meet the new Holy Father during a papal general audience while the actor was in Italy filming the crucifixion scenes for Season 6 of the popular show.

Roumie sat down with EWTN News correspondent Colm Flynn for an interview just hours after meeting Pope Leo XIV to talk about playing Jesus in “The Chosen” as well as what is was like to meet the pope for the first time.

“It was fantastic,” Roumie told Flynn. “He was so kind and so gracious and generous with his time.”

Despite the meeting being a bit of a “blur,” Roumie recalled telling the Holy Father that he was “humbled to be there and it was great to meet him.”

Pope Leo told Roumie that while one of his brothers is a fan of the show, he himself hasn’t seen it yet, to which Roumie replied: “Well, we brought some DVDs to help remedy that.”

Roumie met the late Pope Francis on two separate occasions during his pontificate. In each of those meetings, Roumie had prepared a message in Spanish to share with the pope but in this meeting, he was able to communicate in his own language. 

“When you know you can communicate with somebody in your own language, it makes all the difference,” he said, adding: “For instance, I mentioned — because Pope Leo is from Chicago — I said, you know it’s nice being able to throw out references like ‘Da Bulls’ and ‘Da Bears’ and him understand what I’m referencing.”

“There was just a kindness on his face and just a charity about him that just moved me,” Roumie said.

Speaking about his time filming the Crucifixion scenes in the historic town of Matera in northern Italy, Roumie said: “I’ve never done anything harder than that.”

He added: “The impact that it’s going to have on people — it’s going to be so huge and so life-changing for so many people … I think it’s just going to propagate the name of Jesus at a breakneck speed.”

Despite the many “beautiful moments,” Roumie also said he believes it will be “extremely hard for people” to watch.

“By that point we will have had five and a half seasons of knowing Jesus as our friend, as a miracle worker, as an intimate companion, a colleague, and a teacher, and a rabbi, and having spent 45 hours of story with him healthy and OK and then to see that rapidly decline in a singular season — it’s just going to be devastating.”

Surrendering to Christ amid a career of instability 

Roumie also shared with Flynn his story of surrender to Christ amid a career of instability.

The actor first began his career in New York, where he did voice-over work and commercials. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he had a plethora of jobs while trying to make into the entertainment industry, including driving ride share, food delivery, catering, and painting houses, just to be able to pay the bills. At one point, he found himself with only $20 and didn’t know where his next paycheck would be coming from. It was at this low point that he fully submitted his life and career over to God. 

“Once I committed my career to him and in doing so the entirety of my life, that’s when my life changed,” he shared. 

Three months later, he received the call from Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of “The Chosen,” asking him if he’d like to take part in a crowdfunded series about the life of Jesus and his disciples.

After filming the first four episodes of Season 1, the actor recalled feeling like they were creating something that was “uniquely special” but had no idea just how much success it was going to have.

Now having portrayed Jesus for more than five years, Roumie said he feels there is “always this striving to be more like him in order to be able to play him and being falteringly human — that can feel impossible at times, but I know that I’m here doing this for a reason and I’m just going to continue to give him everything that I have.”

“I’m going to do the best I can and make sure I’m exercising the sacraments and going to confession and receiving the Eucharist,” he added.

The impact of being seen as Jesus

During the interview with Flynn, Roumie also discussed the challenge of having people view him as Jesus. 

“So many people say to me, ‘You’re exactly what I would have pictured if I met Jesus,’” he said, “and so they impose or project that relationship that they have or those ideas or those expectations on a subconscious level, or maybe an even semiconscious level, onto me to an extent.”

When fans of the show start to call Roumie “Jesus,” he explained that he makes sure to say his own name to them “to remind them that there is a line of demarcation.”

He said these experiences also make him much more aware of “an implied level of accountability.”

“If I’m being held to the standards of Jesus, or being seen as somebody that is at least trying to live out those standards in their life, well, that’s great because it’s just better for me spiritually to be living in that manner,” he said.

However, it does make him think how fans might react to roles he takes beyond “The Chosen.” He did point out, however, that he wouldn’t do anything “that goes against my beliefs or anything like that or a character that just doesn’t sit right with me or that I don’t discern with the Lord before I commit to a project.”

Speaking to what has made him the most proud of being a part of “The Chosen,” the actor highlighted the “impact of the show and the reality of what it’s doing for people — the reality of how God is using it to encounter people.”

null / Credit: Puwadon Sang/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 30, 2025 / 16:18 pm (CNA).

New polling from the Associated Press (AP) NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has found that U.S. adults hold “nuanced views about the role of religion in public schools.”

While the majority of adults, about 58%, say they support religious chaplains providing services in public schools, only 40% say they believe teachers should be allowed to lead a class in prayer, according to data from the survey conducted June 5–9.

The survey contained polling of 1,158 U.S. adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“More people oppose than support policies that would allow religious schools to become tax-funded public charter schools, but there is about equal support and opposition for a policy that would allow school vouchers to be used at private or religious schools,” the survey found.

Results for the AP-NORC polling come after Pew Research Center found that 52% of U.S. adults support allowing Chrisian prayer in public schools as debates about the issue continue across the country.

Though the majority supports designated religious chaplains serving in public schools, 55% of U.S. adults in the AP survey said they did not believe teachers should be allowed to lead a public school class in prayer. 

Sixty percent said public schools should not be allowed to hold mandatory private prayer and religious reading. 

The survey found that regardless of partisan alignment, “attitudes about the role of religion in school are often shared across religious groups, especially white evangelical Christians and non-white Protestants.” 

“White evangelical Christians, non-white Protestants, and Catholics are all more likely than those who are not affiliated with a religion to approve of religious chaplains providing support services, teachers leading prayer in class, and mandatory periods for private prayer and religious reading at public schools,” the report stated, noting that mainline Protestants responded similarly to those without religious affiliation about prayer periods and religious chaplains in public schools. 

Overall, the survey said that “roughly a quarter to a third of the public lack firm opinions” about additional issues regarding religion and public education, including taxpayer-funded vouchers and vaccines.

While polling was less conclusive on these matters because nearly one-third of polled Americans had no opinion, of those who expressed opinions, more respondents said they oppose religious exemptions for childhood vaccines required for public schools. More respondents also said they oppose allowing religious schools to become taxpayer-funded charter schools. 

“People are roughly split on their support or opposition to tax-funded vouchers that help parents pay for tuition for their children to attend private or religious schools instead of public schools,” the report said, noting that Catholics are among the religious groups that were more likely to support taxpayer-funded vouchers, religious exemptions, and religious charter schools.

null / Credit: anonymous/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 30, 2025 / 15:47 pm (CNA).

A coalition of 20 American Catholic bishops and religious leaders from other faiths has signed on to a letter urging lawmakers to vote against a proposed budget bill because of provisions to increase funding for immigration enforcement.

“From our various faith perspectives, the moral test of a nation is how it treats those most in need of support,” the letter read. “In our view, this legislation will harm the poor and vulnerable in our nation, to the detriment of the common good.”

The letter’s signatories included Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Phoenix Bishop John Dolan, Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne, St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, and Sacramento, California, Bishop Jaime Soto were also among those who signed.

In addition to the bishops, other signatories to the letter included the leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Some Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders also signed the letter.

“Our faith organizations have long favored the creation of legal avenues for migration and a legalization program for immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years and contributed their hard work to our economy,” the letter stated. “We believe the adoption of these policies, instead of the implementation of a mass deportation campaign, would not only benefit immigrant workers and their families but be in the best interest of our nation.”

The budget reconciliation bill, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” includes a funding hike for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection. The proposal includes money earmarked for deportations, hiring more ICE and border patrol agents, the construction of a border wall, and various other immigration enforcement measures.

An earlier version of the bill would have penalized states for offering Medicaid benefits to immigrants who are in the country illegally, but this was removed from the current Senate version under consideration. Other proposed Medicaid changes, including work requirements for able-bodied recipients, remain in the proposal.

“We believe that the changes made by the U.S. Senate to the legislation are insufficient and do not significantly mitigate its adverse effects,” the letter read.

The letter criticized funding for “a mass deportation campaign,” which they said “will separate U.S. families, harm U.S.-citizen and immigrant children, and sow chaos in local communities.” It warned of “immigration raids across the nation,” which authors said would harm “hardworking immigrant families essential to our economy.”

According to the letter, the funding boost could also harm faith communities. The authors noted that the government “has removed places of worship from its sensitive locations list, allowing ICE agents to enter them for enforcement purposes.”

“We have already witnessed a reduction in attendance at many of our religious services in our denominations, as the threat of enforcement has deterred many families from practicing their faith,” the letter attested.

Additionally, the letter expressed concerns about the proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico, which the authors wrote “will drive migrants into the most remote regions of the border and lead to an increase in migrant deaths. It also would hurt the local environment along the border and force desperate asylum-seekers seeking safety to increasingly rely on human smugglers.”

The authors of the letter also criticized proposed reforms to Medicaid and food assistance programs, saying they would harm “low-income citizens and legal residents, including asylum-seekers and refugees, driving them deeper into poverty.”

Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and current fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), criticized the interfaith letter in an interview with CNA. He said the letter supports “amnesty” for immigrants who are in the country illegally.

CIS labels itself as a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” think tank. The group is aligned with many of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

“They don’t want any immigration enforcement because they want to legalize the status of everyone in the country illegally,” Arthur, who is Catholic, told CNA.

Arthur also balked at the suggestion of immigration raids at places of worship, saying: “They never actually reference any real enforcement actions taking place in any Catholic churches.” He said it’s possible that a dangerous criminal could be targeted for enforcement at a church but that “it’s not like they’re going to sweep through Sunday Mass looking for people.”

On the subject of the border wall, Arthur said a barrier would “deter people from coming into the United States illegally.” He noted the high rates of migrants who already hire smugglers, saying they “put their lives and safety in the hands of criminals” and that a border wall makes it “less likely that people are going to come” illegally with this method or any other method.

Chad Pecknold, a professor of theology at The Catholic University of America, expressed dissatisfaction with the letter as well, noting that it does not mention the teaching in the catechism that a country has a right to regulate its borders.

“Broad, religiously ecumenical statements which oppose the policies of a democratically elected government are curious things,” Pecknold said. “The authors are clearly aligned with one political party and not another. They make spurious claims about how the bill will separate families, and they seem to disregard entirely that nations have a right [to] defend their borders and a duty to uphold their laws.”