Month: March 2024

(OSV News) – The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace called upon the faithful to renew prayers during Holy Week for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

“As the Church enters Holy Week and Christ’s suffering on the cross and his resurrection are made present to us so vividly, we are connected to the very source of hope. It is that hope that spurs us to call on Catholics here in the United States and all those of good will to renew their prayers for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war,” wrote Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, USCCB president, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, International Justice and Peace committee chairman, in a March 23 statement.

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 32,000 people, including more than 13,000 children, with an additional estimated 75,000 injured, in Israel’s retaliation on the Palestinian territory following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on communities along Israel’s southern border. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups have killed more than 1,100 people and injured more than 8,700, taking more than 240 hostages. A reported 130 hostages remain in Gaza, including at least 33 dead. With Israel restricting Gaza from access to resources, including food, many Gaza residents are facing catastrophic levels of hunger and imminent “famine.”

“Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering,” the bishops said in their statement. “This must stop.

As the Holy Father recently said, ‘One cannot move forward in war. We must make every effort to negotiate, to negotiate, to end the war.’ To move forward, a cease fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary. To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need.”

Israel and Hamas have been engaged in mediated talks about a ceasefire and the release of prisoners and captives, with Hamas recently presenting a proposal for a truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal was based on “unrealistic demands” and he plans for Israeli forces to invade another area of the Gaza Strip to defeat Hamas, according to media reports.

“As Christians, we are rooted in the hope of the resurrection, and so we pray for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land,” the Catholic bishops wrote.

Holy Week began March 24 with Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.

(OSV News) – A recent study from the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that supports abortion access, found that the number of abortions in 2023 has increased to the highest number and rate in the United States in over a decade.

The group announced March 19 that “new findings from the Monthly Abortion Provision Study show that an estimated 1,026,690 abortions occurred in the formal health care system in 2023, the first full calendar year after the US Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade.”

Guttmacher noted that this is a “10% increase since 2020, the last year for which comprehensive estimates are available” and “is also the highest number and rate measured in the United States in over a decade.”

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, told OSV News that these reported increases in abortion “in recent years, both before and now with the Dobbs decision, highlight the importance of what we in the pro-life cause have always said: that we must not only make abortion illegal, but rather it should be unthinkable.”

Bishop Burbidge, who is the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities, said the study’s findings “demonstrate that there is an ongoing need for us not only to work to change laws, but also to transform hearts and to offer meaningful hope with radical solidarity with women in the face of fear.”

The bishop called for pro-lifers to be “proactive” and “visible” to women seeking abortion so that they are aware of the support available to them. “In bringing this message to others, we have to show our radical solidarity so that we also transform hearts,” he said.

This nationwide increase in abortion despite the procedure being banned in 14 states since Dobbs may be due, in part, to “the broader availability of telehealth for medication abortion,” the Guttmacher Institute said, pointing to medication abortion via mail increasing “considerably after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted in-person dispensing requirements of mifepristone — one of the drugs most commonly used in medication abortion — during the pandemic.”

Guttmacher also highlighted a large increase in medication abortions overall. It found that “there were approximately 642,700 medication abortions in the United States in 2023, accounting for 63% of all abortions in the formal health care system. This is an increase from 2020, when medication abortions accounted for 53% of all abortions.”

Tessa Longbons Cox, senior research associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of SBA Pro-life America, called this increase in medication abortions “nothing short of a tragedy.”

“While Guttmacher’s report doesn’t count abortion drugs illegally mailed into pro-life states from other states with so-called ‘shield laws,’ other research suggests these account for a large share of mail-order abortions,” she added. “These numbers are unfortunately not surprising given abortion advocates post-Dobbs, including Guttmacher, have not only pushed unlimited abortion, for any reason, at any point in pregnancy, but supported the removal of safeguards on abortion drugs at the expense of women’s safety.”

“We know from major international studies that abortion drugs pose four times the risks of surgical abortion,” Cox continued, “but the abortion lobby consistently downplays these risks that undermine their narrative. Given the FDA’s recent push to deregulate these drugs and not requiring an in-person visit, what we’re witnessing is a new abortion landscape that prioritizes putting women’s health and safety last.”

Regarding the rise in abortions with the abortion pill mifepristone, Bishop Burbidge pointed out that these abortions “have been increasing since the FDA began reducing safety standards and increased their availability.”

In 2016, the Obama administration loosened restrictions on mifepristone so that it could be taken later in pregnancy and with fewer doctor’s visits. Under the Biden administration, the FDA altogether removed the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone in December 2021, allowing for mail order abortions by pill.

In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would allow retail pharmacies to provide the abortion pill. Prior to this, its provision was limited to certified doctors, clinics and some mail-order pharmacies.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments March 26 for Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, and Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, cases in which the court could require a return to stricter regulations on the abortion pill.

Bishop Burbidge highlighted a nationwide invitation to prayer that he is leading along with Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, president of the USCCB, which will begin on March 25, the eve of these oral arguments.

He called prayer in this matter “critically important,” saying the abortion pill not only kills a child in the womb, but that “we’ve heard from women how extremely upsetting and violent and painful” the experience is and “how alone” women feel, going through this experience.”

The bishop is calling the faithful to pray “to St. Joseph, Defender of Life, for the protection of women and preborn children until this decision is reached by the court.”

“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them.
“Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Luke 22:46)

At the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates the institution of the Eucharist and Christ giving the Twelve Apostles and their successors the authority to be ministers of the Sacrament. At the end of Mass, the Eucharist is taken in solemn procession to an Altar of Repose.

At the Altar of Repose, parishioners keep vigil in silent prayer and adoration, recalling our Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and his rebuke to his disciples: “What? Could you not watch one hour with me?”

On Holy Thursday in particular, Catholics are encouraged to pray for priests and seminarians – that they be holy messengers of hope, reconciliation and peace.

This Holy Thursday, March 28, the Diocese of Scranton is inviting you to participate on a prayer journey and is asking you to share that journey on social media.

Invite your family, friends or assemble a group of people from your parish (young adults are especially encouraged to participate) to visit the Altar of Repose in several different churches in your community. Below are a listing of parishes that invite you to visit the Altar of Repose:

BRADFORD COUNTY

Saint Michael Parish
107 N. Washington Street
Canton
8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

 

LACKAWANNA COUNTY

Blessed Sacrament Parish
215 Rebecca Street
Throop
6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Cathedral of Saint Peter
315 Wyoming Avenue
Scranton
6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Christ the King Parish & Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish
411 Church Street
Archbald
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Holy Cross Parish
200 Delaware Avenue
Olyphant
6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Immaculate Conception Parish
801 Taylor Avenue
Scranton
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Mary Mother of God Parish
316 William Street
Scranton
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish
322 Chestnut Street
Dunmore
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Prince of Peace Parish
123 West Grace Street
Old Forge
8-10pm

Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish
 1101 Willow Street
Peckville
8-11pm

Saint Ann Basilica Parish
1233 St. Ann Street
Scranton
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saint Eulalia Parish
214 Blue Shutters Road
Roaring Brook Twp.
8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

Saint John Vianney Parish
704 Montdale Road
Scott Township
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saint Michael Parish 
1703 Jackson Street
Scranton
8pm-12am

Saint Patrick Parish
1403 Jackson Street
Scranton
8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Saint Paul Parish
1510 Penn Avenue
Scranton
8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

SS Anthony & Rocco Parish
303 Smith Street
Dunmore
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

SS Peter & Paul Church
1309 West Locust Street
Scranton
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

 

LUZERNE COUNTY

All Saints Parish 
66 Willow Street
Plymouth
8-9pm

Exaltation of the Holy Cross Parish
420 Main Road
Hanover Township
8:30 p.m. – 10:15 p.m.

Gate of Heaven Parish
40 Machell Avenue
Dallas
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Good Shepherd Parish
87 S. Hunter Highway
Drums
8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Holy Family Parish
574 Bennett Street
Luzerne
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Holy Name of Jesus Parish
213 West Green Street
West Hazleton
7-9pm 

Nativity of Our Lord Parish
127 Stephenson Street
Duryea
7:50 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Our Lady of the Eucharist Parish
535 North Main Street
Pittston
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Parish
898 Centre Street
Freeland
8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Our Lady of Victory Parish
16 Second Street
Harveys Lake
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish
215 Lackawanna Avenue
Dupont
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saint Elizabeth Parish
5700 Bear Creek Blvd.
Bear Creek
8:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish 
116 Hughes Street
Swoyersville
8-10pm

Saint Ignatius of Loyola Parish
339 North Maple Avenue
Kingston
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

St. John the Baptist Parish 
126 Nesbitt Street
Larksville
6-9:30pm

Saint John the Evangelist Parish
35 William Street
Pittston
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saint Joseph Marello Parish
237 William Street
Pittston
8:15 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

St. Leo Parish
 33 Manhattan Street
Ashley
8-10pm

Saint Maria Goretti Parish
42 Redwood Drive
Laflin
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

St. Robert Bellarmine Parish 
143 West Division Street
Wilkes-Barre
8:15-10pm

Saint Therese Parish
64 Davis Street
Shavertown
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

 

LYCOMING COUNTY

Immaculate Conception & Saint Luke Parishes
5973 Jacks Hollow Road
Bastress
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish
800 Mulberry Street
Montoursville
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Resurrection Parish 
75 Musser Lane
Muncy
8:30pm

St. Ann Parish 
1220 Northway Road, Williamsport
8-11pm

Saint Boniface Parish 
326 Washington Boulevard, Williamsport
8-11:30pm

St. Joseph the Worker Parish
 711 West Edwin Street, Williamsport
in the Monsignor Fleming Parish Center (720 W. 4th St.)
8-10pm

 

MONROE COUNTY

Saint John Parish
5171 Milford Road
East Stroudsburg
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saint Matthew Parish
78 Ridgeway Street
East Stroudsburg
8:00 p.m. – Midnight

Saint Maximilian Kolbe Parish
5512 Pocono Crest Road
Pocono Pines
8:00 p.m. – Midnight

 

PIKE COUNTY

Saint Ann Parish 
125 Richardson Avenue
Shohola in the St. Eligius Room
8-11:45pm

 

TIOGA COUNTY

Saint Peter Parish
47 Central Avenue
Wellsboro
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

 

WAYNE COUNTY

Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of Peace Parish 
314 Chestnut Avenue
Hawley
8-10pm

Saint John the Evangelist Parish
414 Church Street
Honesdale
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

SCRANTON – Parishes across the Diocese of Scranton, including the Cathedral of Saint Peter, are busy preparing for Holy Week and Easter. The faithful are invited and encouraged to attend Masses in-person to experience the joy, hope and love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate several Pontifical Liturgies at the Cathedral of Saint Peter for this holiest time of the year. The dates and times are highlighted below.

CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will provide live coverage of all of the Pontifical Masses from the Cathedral of Saint Peter. In addition to being broadcast, the Masses will also be available via livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and all Diocesan social media platforms.

PALM SUNDAY, MARCH 24

The solemn observances of Holy Week, which recall the passion and death of Jesus Christ, begin on Palm Sunday, March 24. Those attending the service receive palms, a reminder of Scripture telling us that people welcomed Jesus by laying down their cloaks and waving palm branches.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate a Pontifical Liturgy at 12:15 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.
Palm Sunday Masses at the Cathedral will also be celebrated at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, and 6:30 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Evening Prayer and Benediction will also take place at 6:00 p.m.

CHRISM MASS, MARCH 26

Priests serving throughout the Diocese will gather at the Cathedral on Tuesday, March 26, at 4:00 p.m. for the Solemn Pontifical Chrism Mass, at which the Holy Oils used during the conferral of sacraments throughout the Church year will be blessed. Bishop Bambera will be the principal celebrant and homilist.

During this Mass, priests will renew their ordination promises and acknowledge the Bishop’s role as the unifying symbol for Church governance and pastoral guidance. After Mass, they will receive the Sacred Chrism, Oil of the Sick, and the Oil of Catechumens, which are used in the celebration of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, the Anointing of the Sick and the Rites of the Catechumenate.

HOLY THURSDAY, MARCH 28

The three most sacred days of the Church’s liturgical year, known as the Sacred Paschal Triduum, begin on Holy Thursday, March 28, with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. During the Triduum (Latin for “three days”), the Church solemnly celebrates the greatest mysteries of our redemption, keeping by means of special celebrations the memorial of the Lord, crucified, buried and risen.

Holy Thursday marks the day on which Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist and the priestly Order and gave us the commandment concerning fraternal charity. At the Cathedral, Morning Prayer will be at 8:00 a.m.

The Pontifical Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which will include the Rite of the Washing of Feet, will begin at 5:30 p.m., with Bishop Bambera serving as the principal celebrant. Following this Mass there will be the transfer of the Most Blessed Sacrament to the place of repose. Adoration will continue until 9:00 p.m. Night Prayer will be celebrated at 9:00 p.m. and broadcast via livestream.

GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29

On Good Friday, March 29, and the following day (up to the Easter Vigil Mass), by a most ancient tradition, the Church does not celebrate the sacraments at all, except for Penance and Anointing of the Sick. At the Cathedral, Morning Prayer for Good Friday will be at 8:00 a.m.

The Commemoration of the Passion and Death of the Lord celebrated by Bishop Bambera will begin at 12:10 p.m. In addition, the Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 5:00 p.m. Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence.

HOLY SATURDAY, MARCH 30

Holy Saturday, March 30, is the day that the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb in prayer, meditating on his passion and death and awaiting his resurrection. Morning Prayer will be at 8:00 a.m. at the Cathedral.

Bishop Bambera will be the principal celebrant and homilist of the Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral beginning at 8:00 p.m.

On the Holy Night of Easter, many individuals who have participated in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) will become fully initiated Catholics by the celebration of their Baptism, Confirmation, and reception of the Eucharist for the first time. This year, 177 people are expected to celebrate in parishes throughout the Diocese. They join tens of thousands of other individuals throughout the world who will become members of the Church that night.

EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 31

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord is the most joyous day in the Church year. This joy overflows into the 50 days of the Easter season, which concludes on Pentecost Sunday. On Easter Day, Bishop Bambera will celebrate a Pontifical Mass at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral. Additional Masses at the Cathedral during the day will be at 6:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.

Since Christ accomplished his work of human redemption and of the perfect glorification of God through his Paschal Mystery, in which by dying he has destroyed our death, and by rising restored our life, the Sacred Paschal Triduum shines forth as the high point of the entire liturgical year. Therefore, the preeminence that Sunday has in the week, the Solemnity of Easter has in the entire year.

(OSV News) – Texas Catholic and community groups are holding an event in El Paso called “Do Not Be Afraid: March and Vigil for Human Dignity” the evening of March 21 in the wake of what organizers called “dehumanizing laws and policies” toward migrants in the Lone Star State.

Organizers called the event “a decisive moment of community resistance and prayer” in response to the passage of Senate Bill 4, a controversial law that makes it a state crime for unauthorized migrants to cross into Texas from Mexico; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit seeking to shut down Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit serving migrants; and the first anniversary of a fire that killed 40 people in immigration detention across the border from El Paso in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and injured about two dozen others.

The event, organizers said, is intended to “affirm our welcoming borderland identity, protect our freedom to put faith into action, lift up the rights and dignity of those who migrate, defend our humanitarian workers, (and) commemorate those dying at the border.”

Bishop Mark J. Seitz and Auxiliary Bishop Anthony C. Celino of El Paso and other “faith and community leaders from across the borderlands” host the event, which starts at 6:30 p.m. at San Jacinto Plaza, where participants will meet and then march to Sacred Heart Church for the vigil at 7 p.m.

Paxton’s suit targeting El Paso’s Annunciation House, as well as Texas’ passage of SB 4, comes as some Republicans have grown increasingly hostile toward nongovernmental organizations, including Catholic ones, that provide resources such as food and shelter to migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

A state judge March 11 temporarily blocked the Texas attorney general’s demands for the records of Annunciation House, indicating both that Paxton’s effort seemed politically motivated with a “predetermined” outcome in mind, and that it must go through appropriate due process in the state court system.

Paxton in February filed suit in an attempt to shut down Annunciation House, accusing it of “human smuggling,” in a move denounced by Catholic immigration advocates, including Bishop Seitz.

Meanwhile, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision late March 19 once again blocking Texas from enforcing SB 4. Earlier the same day, a divided U.S. Supreme Court lifted its temporary pause on the law and sent the matter back to the federal appeals court, which in effect briefly allowed the state to enforce the law while litigation proceeds.

Federal law already makes it illegal to enter the U.S. without authorization, and most portions of a similar 2010 Arizona law were later struck down by the Supreme Court. Immigration advocacy groups in Texas filed a lawsuit over the bill prior to the Justice Department’s challenge.

In a statement about SB 4 emailed to OSV News, Jennifer Carr Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, said, “The church supports the right of a sovereign nation to control its borders. We want the federal government to enact effective and humane border management as part of a framework of comprehensive immigration reforms. All law enforcement agencies can and should cooperate with each other but should not take over each other’s responsibilities or jurisdiction.”

“The obligation to control the international border lies with federal authorities,” Carr Allmon continued. “We understand the situation at the border has become untenable, but this law is not the solution. We advocate for immigration and refugee policies that protect family unity and allow newcomers an opportunity to contribute and participate more fully in our communities.”

“Targeted, humane and proportional border security policies are also a critical part of addressing the broken immigration system in the United States,” she said. “We extend our prayers to our brothers and sisters experiencing the harsh realities of this journey, and for all who encounter them. We ask all people of goodwill to join us in praying and working for a secure border, to protect the vulnerable and for just immigration solutions to protect all human life.”

The Hope Border Institute, a group that works to apply the perspective of Catholic social teaching in policy and practice to the U.S.-Mexico border region and is one of the partners organizing the El Paso event, wrote in a post on social media, “Thank you to our incredible partners for joining us for “Do Not Be Afraid: March & Vigil for Human Dignity.”

“Join us in our commitment to creating a community of respecting human dignity. We hope to see you there!” the post said.

(OSV News) – Early morning phone calls aren’t unusual for Father Joseph Friend – a busy pastoral administrator of three parishes in the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas – but a recent ring at 7 a.m. left him “100% blown away.”

On the line was Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of Little Rock, who advised Father Friend to get ready to head to Rome at the request of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“I kind of laughed, because I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, Bishop — they want Father Joe to go to Rome,'” Father Friend told OSV News. “And he didn’t laugh back.”

Instead, Bishop Taylor simply said, “I’m not joking.”

As it turned out, Father Friend was among five U.S. priests tapped to share their experiences of parish life with the ongoing Synod of Bishops on synodality.

The group — selected by the USCCB as part of a 300-member worldwide delegation — will also speak with Pope Francis during the April 28-May 2 meeting.

The U.S. priests, who were chosen by synod leaders, had all been involved locally in their synod processes, with some participating as well in the national and continental phases of the synod, Julia McStravog, a theologian and co-coordinator of the North American team for the synod’s continental phase, told OSV News.

A Feb. 3 Vatican statement said the 300 priests will be involved in “roundtables for the sharing of best practices, workshops around pastoral proposals, dialogue with experts and liturgical celebrations.” The results of the meeting will then be incorporated into the working document drafted ahead of the second synod assembly.

The gathering — which will take place at a retreat center in Sacrofano, near Rome — is also an opportunity for parish priests to “experience the dynamism of synodal work at a universal level,” said the statement.

Joining Father Friend will be Byzantine Catholic Father Artur Bubnevych of the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix; Father Don Planty of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia; Father Luis Navarro of the Diocese of Stockton, California; and Father Bill Swichtenberg of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Father Bubnevych told OSV News that his first reaction to the news was “shock” and a deep sense of being “unworthy.”

“I was shaking,” he admitted.

Both he and Father Friend each said they feel a sense of responsibility to represent those to whom they minister.

“I (feel) a call to be responsible to bring our unique experience of the Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic Church here in the U.S. (to the synod),” said Father Bubnevych. “The Byzantine Catholic Church … (has been) kind of marginalized, and even nowadays, (I find) in my priestly ministry the Roman Church is often lacking knowledge about our presence and our work among the faithful.”

He said Catholics of Byzantine-rite churches enrich the universal church through their Divine Liturgy, which he described as “a very powerful point of unity, growth and thriving.”

The strictness of the Byzantine Church’s fasts are “challenging to the modern world,” as are the Byzantine expressions of humility through prostrations during the liturgy and observances such as Forgiveness Sunday, during which “people to come out and extend forgiveness in front of the community, to the priest and to each other,” said Father Bubnevych.

As pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he also wants to highlight the charism of his “small parish community” at the global synod’s priest gathering.

“It’s like a family environment where everyone knows everyone,” he said. “(It’s) a kind of a model of this small primitive church that I think existed at the very beginning (of Christianity), where people were very bonded, welcoming and just united in Christ, listening to the Holy Spirit.”

Father Friend said his parishioners — many of whom are immigrants — now feel that “Rome has seen us” by virtue of his selection.

“I wish you could see their faces,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Rome is going to hear of Hamburg, Crossett, Lake Village in Arkansas.’ (The) people feel seen and they feel meaning.”

Father Friend — whose uncle is a monsignor and whose brother also is a priest — said he hopes to represent fellow hardworking clergy who remain steadfast in their mission, particularly in challenged areas.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who just have their heads down — kind of dogs in the field — who love the church and what it is, and love our people,” Father Friend said. “I think that there are a ton of priests out there that are radically in love with Jesus, that love the church, that love the structure of the church, that love the pope (and) the sacraments, and also radically love our people.”

Father Bubnevych said he plans to “be led by the Spirit” during his time in Rome.

“I’m praying to the Holy Spirit in order to be able to really listen to what the other brings,” he said. “So (I have) no (particular) expectations, but a great expectation from the power of the Holy Spirit to guide me.”

ROME (CNS) – Pope Francis’ envoy for peace in Ukraine asked his fellow bishops and all Catholics in Italy to continue their prayers for peace in Ukraine and in the Holy Land, but also to make those prayers concrete through acts of solidarity.

For example, Italian dioceses should expand summer camp programs to welcome Ukrainian children “who are orphans or victims — and they all are — of the catastrophe that is war,” said Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the Italian bishops’ conference and the pope’s envoy for Ukraine.

Addressing the conference’s permanent council March 18, the cardinal also encouraged the bishops to promote the full participation of their dioceses in the annual Good Friday collection for Christians in the Holy Land.

And, he said, the late May plenary assembly of the Italian bishops’ conference will include a day of prayer, fasting and solidarity for peace in the world.

“Can we still accept that war is the only solution to conflicts?” Cardinal Zuppi asked his fellow bishops.

“In this time of conflicts, divisions, nationalist sentiment, hatred and opposition,” he said, the Catholic Church’s work for unity “shines as a light of hope.”

The commitment of each bishop and every Catholic community, the cardinal said, must be to be “artisans of peace, weavers of unity in every context, peaceful in words and behavior.”

Cardinal Zuppi said he knows many people view Pope Francis as naïve in his constant pleas to stop sending weapons to war-torn regions and in urging negotiations even when, like in Ukraine, the identity of the aggressor is clear.

“The Holy Father’s words on peace are anything but naïveté,” the cardinal said. Rather, the pope is trying to share “a pain that we will never be able to measure.”

“We are living through a very long Good Friday when darkness covered the whole earth, and darkness erases life and all light, and sometimes, it seems, even hope and consciences themselves,” he said. “The church is always Mary at the foot of the cross of her children; she cannot get used to the darkness and believes in light even when there is only darkness.”

“The church is a mother and experiences war as a mother for whom the value of life is superior to reasoning or alliances,” Cardinal Zuppi said.

(OSV News) – As the Supreme Court prepares to take up two cases on access to pills commonly used for early abortions, U.S. Catholic bishops have issued a nationwide call to prayer to end abortion and protect women and unborn children.

The invitation was issued March 14 by Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The prayer campaign, which seeks the intercession of St. Joseph as the “Defender of Life,” begins March 25, the day before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments for Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Both cases center on the drug mifepristone and its widespread availability.

The start date also marks the anniversary of the release of Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”). The encyclical itself was published on that year’s observance of the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord, which in 2024 will be celebrated Monday, April 8.

The daily prayer for the campaign is available in English and Spanish at respectlife.org/prayer-to-st-joseph.

“We ask Catholics to offer this prayer daily, from March 25 through June, when a decision is expected,” wrote Archbishop Broglio and Bishop Burbidge.

First approved by the FDA in 2000, mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which maintains proper conditions in the uterus during pregnancy. The drug is paired with misoprostol (initially created to treat gastric ulcers) as part of a chemical regimen used in more than half of all U.S. abortions in 2020.

More recently, the same pill combination has also been prescribed to women who experience early pregnancy miscarriage in order to expel any fetal remains and residual pregnancy tissue from the womb. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its protocols to recommend a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol as more effective than misoprostol alone for early miscarriage care based on research published since 2018.

Last year, the doctors and medical professionals represented by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine challenged the FDA’s greenlighting of mifepristone as unsafe.

While it struck down the alliance’s request in August 2023, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did revoke the FDA’s efforts to increase access to the drug. Nonetheless, an earlier stay issued by the nation’s top court has maintained broad access to the drug.

The bishops acknowledged that the upcoming Supreme Court case “is not about ending chemical abortion,” but still has the potential to “restore limitations that the FDA has overridden.”

“When a Supreme Court decision is released, probably in June, we can expect a public and political reaction similar to the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade,” they wrote.

On March 11, Bishop Burbidge issued a statement expressing “great sorrow” after the body of a preterm baby was discovered in a pond in Leesburg, Virginia.

The bishop asked the faithful to pray “for the child’s mother and for anyone involved in this incident” and offered burial services while highlighting diocesan resources for women in challenging pregnancies.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Faced with decades of rising secularism, the Catholic Church must invest in families and in strengthening other forms of community to transmit the faith, Pope Francis said.

“The big issue before us is to understand how to overcome the rupture that has been established in the transmission of faith,” the pope told members of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s section for new evangelization March 15. “To that end there is an urgent need to recover an effective relationship with families and formation centers.”

Developing faith in Christ “requires a meaningful experience lived in the family and in the Christian community as a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ in order to be transmitted,” he wrote in his message to members of the dicastery during their plenary assembly. “Without this real and existential encounter, one will always be subject to the temptation to make faith a theory and not a testimony of life.”

As he has done at several meetings in past weeks, the pope had an aide, Msgr. Filippo Ciamanelli, read his speech to the group.

In his message, the pope wrote that the secularism of recent decades “has created enormous difficulties” for the church, “from the loss of a sense of belonging to the Christian community to the indifference regarding the faith and its contents.”

As a result, he wrote, it is time for the church to “understand what effective response we are called to give to young generations so that they may recover the meaning of life.”

He noted that lure of personal autonomy, “promoted as one of the pretenses of secularism, cannot be thought of as independence from God, because it is God himself who grants the personal freedom to act.”

And while technological advances offer many ways for humanity to progress, including through developments in medicine and methods of protecting the environment, they also can create a “problematic” vision of humanity that fails to satisfy “the need for truth that dwells in every person,” he wrote.

Pope Francis urged members of the dicastery to develop a “spirituality of mercy” as the foundation of their work in evangelization. People are more receptive to evangelization when done with a “style of mercy,” he wrote. By communicating mercy, he added, “the heart opens more readily to conversion.”

The pope thanked the dicastery for its work in developing resources for catechists, referencing the latest “Directory for Catechesis” published by the dicastery in 2020, and praised the support they have given to those who serve as catechists.

“I hope that bishops will know how to nurture and accompany vocations to this ministry especially among young people,” he wrote, “so that the gap between generations and may be reduced and the transmission of the faith may not appear to be a task entrusted only to older people.”

The pope also discussed plans for the Holy Year 2025, which he has asked the dicastery to organize. The theme for the holy year is “Pilgrims of Hope.”

“This theological virtue has been seen poetically as the ‘little sister’ of the other two, faith and charity, but without it these two do not move forward, they do not express the best of themselves,” he wrote. “The holy people of God has such a great need” for hope.

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