Category: 2024 News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – President Joe Biden June 4 signed an executive order aimed at reducing unauthorized border crossings by asylum-seekers. The move was expected and comes as Biden faces increasing political pressure on the issue of migration in the midst of his reelection bid.

Catholic immigration advocates expressed concern about the impact Biden’s order could have on asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, chairman of the Committee on Migration for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement that the group is “deeply disturbed by this disregard for fundamental humanitarian protections and U.S. asylum law.”

J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News, “This action will drive desperate asylum-seekers to more remote areas of the border, leading to the loss of life, and strengthen smuggling networks, who will charge enormous sums to get people across the border undetected.”

In its announcement, the White House said Biden’s order would “bar migrants who cross our Southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum.”

The order would temporarily shut down asylum requests once the seven-day average number of daily encounters with noncitizens between official ports of entry is over 2,500. Asylum requests would be reopened once daily encounters dropped below 1,500 — something that has not taken place since July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The order, however, excludes “unaccompanied children … from non-contiguous countries” in calculating the number of encounters.

The White House announcement said Biden “believes we must secure our border.”

“That is why today, he announced executive actions to bar migrants who cross our Southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum,” it said. “These actions will be in effect when high levels of encounters at the Southern Border exceed our ability to deliver timely consequences, as is the case today. They will make it easier for immigration officers to remove those without a lawful basis to remain and reduce the burden on our Border Patrol agents.”

The White House also took aim at congressional Republicans for ultimately coming out against a bipartisan border security package previously negotiated by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. The legislation failed to advance in February after former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, despite his own hard-line stance on immigration policy, argued passing the bill would aid Biden in the November election. It also failed to advance in May when even some of its original negotiators did not support bringing it up for another vote.

That legislation would have implemented strict new migration policies for the U.S.-Mexico border, among other measures. But Catholic migration advocates previously expressed concern about the implications of the legislation, particularly for people seeking asylum.

In its announcement, the White House argued, “We must be clear: this cannot achieve the same results as Congressional action, and it does not provide the critical personnel and funding needed to further secure our Southern border. Congress still must act.”

Sister Norma Pimentel of the Missionaries of Jesus, who is the executive director of Brownsville, Texas-based Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, told OSV News she is concerned about particularly women and children who will be denied asylum because they are often “exposed more to more danger” on the journey to the border.

“They’re more exposed to the dangers of human trafficking, and that worries me a lot,” she said.

Sister Norma added that elected officials should prioritize policies that protect vulnerable people, and Catholics must advocate for humane responses to migration.

“We’re not helping them because they’re immigrants, we’re helping because they’re here — they’re here and in our communities here at the border,” she said. “And there are people suffering and so we have a responsibility before God to respond correctly.”

In his statement, Bishop Seitz added, “There is a crisis of conscience at the U.S.-Mexico border.”

“When vulnerable families seeking safety and the means for a dignified life are labeled ‘invaders’ or ‘illegals’, terms that mask their humanity, we have strayed from the path of righteousness, succumbed to our fear of the ‘other’, and forsaken the values upon which our nation was founded,” he said. “This sentiment in no way violates a country’s right and responsibility to maintain its borders and regulate immigration in furtherance of the common good. Nevertheless, as defenders of human life and dignity, which we hold sacred and inviolable from the moment of conception, we cannot accept unjust conditions on the right to migrate for those fleeing life-threatening situations. We especially worry for those compelled by these policies to traverse more treacherous terrain, further endangering their lives and the lives of Border Patrol agents.”

Bishop Seitz said, “For those concerned about violent gangs, drug smugglers, and human traffickers, we join you in opposing those evildoers. At the same time, we ask: What fate awaits the families who flee for their lives from the same predatory actors, only to be returned to their grasp once they reach our borders?”

“Imposing arbitrary limits on asylum access and curtailing due process will only empower and embolden those who seek to exploit the most vulnerable. These measures will not sustainably reduce the increased levels of forced migration seen worldwide,” he added. “Mindful of challenges faced by American communities and consistent with our longstanding and repeated calls for bipartisan reform of our broken immigration system, we strongly urge the President to reverse course and recommit his administration to policies that respect the human life and dignity of migrants, both within and beyond our borders.”

Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, said in a statement the Biden administration’s “proposed actions are a real step backward in our nation’s commitment to human rights and asylum protections as well as a humane and orderly process at the border.”

“Political considerations cannot override the moral imperative to offer protection to those fleeing persecution and violence,” Corbett said. “Instead, we can choose to lead with compassion, justice and respect for human dignity.”

Appleby told OSV News the June 4 executive action “also likely violates domestic and international law and will certainly be challenged in the courts.”

Anna Gallagher, executive director at Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., or CLINIC, said in a statement the organization was “appalled that the United States is abandoning its commitment to humanitarian protection and national and international asylum law.”

“This move to drastically reduce asylum access is dangerous, immoral, and illegal,” Gallagher said.

“The policy will strip countless migrants of their legal right to seek asylum with due process, and as a result many lives will be endangered and lost, and families separated,” she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union indicated it intends to sue over the order, writing on X, formerly Twitter, “We will be challenging this order in court.”

Appleby noted the order “comes at a peculiar time, as arrivals at the border have gone down significantly.”

U.S. officials have observed a dip in unauthorized border crossings in March and April after a surge the previous year.

“The human and moral costs of the policy will exceed any perceived political gain for President Biden,” Appleby said.

A Gallup poll released April 30 found that Americans said the most important problem facing the U.S. is immigration, marking the third consecutive month immigration topped that list, which it said was “the longest stretch for this particular issue in the past 24 years.”

(OSV News) – The U.S. Catholic bishops’ latest annual report on child and youth protection shows abuse allegations are down, while safe environment protocols have taken root in the church — but guarding against complacency about abuse prevention is critical, as is providing ongoing support for survivors.

On May 28, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection released the “2023 Annual Report — Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

The 2023 report is the twenty-first since the charter was established by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2002 as a number of clerical abuse scandals emerged. Commonly called the Dallas Charter, the document lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, and includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse.

Data for the report came from audits conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners, a Rochester, New York-based consulting firm that provides forensic and compliance services to a range of organizations. In addition, the report includes a 2023 survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate on allegations and costs related to the abuse of minors.

For the July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023, period, CARA’s report found a more than 51% drop in historical allegations from those reported in the same period last year, from 2,704 in 2022 to 1,308 in 2023. The decrease was partly due to the resolution of allegations received as a result of lawsuits, said the report.

Another milestone was the full participation of all 196 dioceses and eparchies in the Charter audit, a 100% response rate that was unprecedented. Of those, 28 were visited on-site by StoneBridge, with another 17 audited remotely by the firm and 131 other dioceses and eparchies submitting data for the report.

At the same time, “the number of new allegations from minors remained similar to the prior year, at 17,” wrote Suzanne Healy, chairwoman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Review Board, a lay-led group that advises the bishops on preventing sexual abuse of minors, in a Feb. 21 letter to USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio that was included in the report.

Healy — a licensed marriage and family therapist who served as the victim assistance coordinator for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from 2007 to 2016 — also cautioned against “charter fatigue or complacency” in addressing sexual abuse in the church.

“Even as we move forward with progress, we must acknowledge that without ongoing diligence and commitment, there is the possibility that failures can happen and we must be ready to act if they do. … We must remain vigilant,” wrote Healy. “One new allegation is one too many.”

She wrote that 70% of the nation’s dioceses and eparchies “conduct their own parish audits on the implementation of safe environment programs and policies,” with the data showing “a correlation between parish audits and charter compliance.”

Yet Healey warned, “Without monitoring implementation at the parish level, the risk of abuse increases.” She noted the National Review Board supported the use of high reliability organization principles — used to maximize safety in complex organizations where error stands to inflict great harm — to examine the 17 new claims for “any holes or practices that need to be shored up to prevent future abuse.”

One such deficit was highlighted by a recent discovery in the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that several safe environment clearance documents were missing from the file of a parish staffer who had previous criminal charges flagged in an FBI fingerprint check.

The gap came to light when the employee was arrested May 8 for unrelated alleged sexual assaults against a minor, which were said to have occurred off site from the two parishes at which he had worked. The pastor who oversaw both parishes had attested that he had personally reviewed the clearances and had found them in order. Bishop Larry J. Kulick of Greensburg took swift action, removing the pastor, placing the parish staff involved on leave and ordering an immediate audit of all safe environment clearances throughout the diocese.

StoneBridge wrote in its assessment that “chancery offices (that) maintain regular face-to-face contact with parishes have better results in implementing training and background check procedures than those (that) do not,” and recommended that diocesan officials periodically visit parishes and schools to review safe environment documentation.

Four dioceses and eparchies audited by StoneBridge were found to be noncompliant with various articles of the charter, but subsequently took steps after the audit to address the issues and attain compliance: St. Mary Queen of Peace Syro-Malankara Catholic Eparchy in USA and Canada, the Chaldean Diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle USA and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee initially failed to meet review board requirements. St. Mary Queen of Peace along with the Ukrainian Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago also lacked safe environment training for minors during the 2023 audit period.

StoneBridge also found several issues at more than 25% of the dioceses and eparchies audited:

– A struggle to maintain functioning review boards, which serve as consultative bodies for their bishops, due to lack of meetings, members, bylaw compliance, policy reviews and understanding of member roles.

– A lack of language in child protection policies regarding either child sexual abuse content or “individuals who habitually lack the use of reason.”

– Ineffective monitoring by dioceses and eparchies to ensure compliance with their existing safe environment programs, with a lack of updated documentation and visitation to parishes and schools.

– Outdated or missing letters of promulgation from bishops on their safe environment programs.

Among the problems StoneBridge identified in less than 25% of the dioceses and eparchies:

– Some clergy, employees and volunteers were not trained or background checked, but nonetheless had contact with minors.

– Offers by the bishop or his representative to meet with victims and their families were not specified in the policies or were not made on a timely basis.

– Abuse reporting procedures were not consistently displayed at parishes and schools, or were not available in all languages in which liturgies were offered, thereby limiting the ability of non-English speakers to file complaints.

– Documented policies regarding accused clergy were lacking with regard to a presumption of innocence, retention of civil and canonical counsel, steps to restore a cleric’s good name in the case of an unsubstantiated allegation, or clergy transfers.

– Lack of a formal policy on communicating with the public regarding clerical sexual abuse of minors.

The CARA survey included in the 2023 report showed that between July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023, reporting dioceses and eparchies paid more than $260.5 million in allegation-related costs — 99% higher than that paid during the previous fiscal year. Of the 2023 total, 73% represented victim settlements, with 19% dedicated to attorney fees.

Over the past 10 years, the Catholic dioceses and eparchies in the U.S. alone have paid more than $2 billion in costs regarding abuse allegations.

But the cost to abuse survivors is far greater, said both Archbishop Broglio and Healy in the report.

“Theirs is a lifelong journey and the mission of the church is a lifelong commitment to accompany them on this healing journey … to minister, even to those who believe they have lost God along the way and left the church,” wrote Healy, noting that during the audit period, 183 new survivors and their families received pastoral care and 1,662 survivors and their families receive ongoing pastoral care.

“I am deeply sorry for their suffering,” wrote Archbishop Broglio in his preface to the 2023 report. “These numbers are not just numbers. The statistics are the many stories and accounts of the betrayal of trust and the lifelong journey towards recovery.”

The archbishop also wrote that he was “grateful” to victim survivors “for holding all of us accountable,” stressing as well the importance of countering abuse amid a landscape “in flux,” given both technological and therapeutic developments.

“I pray that together, we continue working toward the goal of ending the scourge of child sexual abuse, not only in the church but in society,” wrote Archbishop Broglio.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly will leave his post in July, the embassy announced.

The ambassador will step down from his role and return to his native Indiana on July 8, the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See said in a post on X published May 30.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve my country in this unique way,” Donnelly was quoted as saying in the post.

The former Indiana senator assumed his role in Rome in April 2022 when he presented his letters of credential to Pope Francis. His posting coincided with the 40th anniversary of the United States establishing formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1984.

In a March interview with Catholic News Service, Donnelly said that when interacting with Vatican officials his job was “to try to make sure that where the United States stands, it’s understood.”

As an example, when Pope Francis said the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have been “facilitated” in part “because NATO is barking at Russia’s doors,” Donnelly said, “We tried to let them know, well, here’s what’s actually going on” in the various parts of Ukraine and “here’s the plans that Russia actually had to invade Ukraine based on that they just wanted to take Ukraine back.”

The embassy announced that Laura Hochla, a career diplomat who has served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See since July 2023, will serve as chargé d’affaires of the embassy.

(OSV News) – As a Eucharistic procession made its way May 28 through Victoria, Texas, a 20-something man sitting on the side of a street caught Charlie McCullough’s attention. McCullough stopped to talk with him, explaining what was going on: The procession was part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage en route to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress, and the Eucharist they were walking behind is really, truly Jesus.

“He had grown up in the Protestant faith and had never seen a Eucharistic procession before, and was at a time in life where he was asking a lot of big questions about what is the reason I exist for, what’s the purpose of life, all these things,” McCullough, one of six perpetual pilgrims on the pilgrimage’s southern St. Juan Diego route, recalled May 29. “We talked briefly and I kept walking.”

About five blocks later, McCullough looked over his shoulder and saw the man running after the procession. He caught up to McCullough and asked if they could talk more.

“He told me that that morning was the first time he had tried to pray in years. He opened his Bible, and he didn’t know if the Lord had heard him. And when we walked by — when Jesus Christ walked by — he knew something was different. And he knew that he wanted to follow the Lord, and he had so many questions about how and what he wants to do, and there was this zeal welling up in his heart,” McCullough said. “I just got to pray with him and encourage him.”

“At the end of our conversation, he goes, ‘I know this sounds crazy, but I want to go all the way to Indianapolis,'” he said.

McCullough, a fellow Texan, thinks it’s unlikely the man will follow the pilgrimage to Indianapolis, “but I pray that he follows the Lord the rest of his life,” he said. “He had a very profound experience, and the Lord stirred his heart through a simple encounter there, and it was very beautiful.”

McCullough shared that encounter on a May 29 media call that included pilgrims from all four routes of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which began May 18-19 in California, Connecticut, Minnesota and Texas. Ten days into their journeys, the 23 perpetual pilgrims were in the Diocese of Victoria; the Diocese of Boise, Idaho; the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis; and the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey.

Their second week included already iconic events — such as when Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York blessed the city with the Eucharist from a boat near the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor May 27 — and hidden moments — like when a man got out of a truck in the middle of Oregon, far away from any towns, and genuflected as the Eucharistic caravan passed.

“It was just a moment driving by, but he had gone out that distance to make sure he knew he would be by Jesus,” said Chas Firestone East, a perpetual pilgrim from Virginia journeying on the western St. Junipero Serra Route.

The pilgrims shared other stories of encounter and conversion: On the California side of Lake Tahoe, a photographer for a secular news outlet — amazed by the masses of people turning out for processions — told the perpetual pilgrims that he was inspired to learn more about the Eucharist and plans to begin the process for becoming Catholic. Meanwhile, a woman who isn’t able to walk with the pilgrims has been joining each procession along the St. Juan Diego Route since Brownsville, Texas, on a retrofitted tricycle. Also in Texas, some perpetual pilgrims helped bandage a woman’s wounded leg at a homeless shelter, and then the woman — whose name is Hope — asked the pilgrims to pray with her.

“It was just a beautiful moment to see Jesus … getting to see him inside the person that we encounter,” said Shayla Elm, a Juan Diego Route perpetual pilgrim originally from North Dakota.

The pilgrims have been amazed by the number of people who met them for Eucharistic processions, Holy Hours and Mass.

“I have been blown away at how hungry people are to show their faith and how thirsty Jesus is for their souls,” Elm said. “Jesus really is thirsty for this whole country. He really wants so many souls to encounter him, and he’s the one walking in the streets. He’s leading us right now. So, it’s really beautiful to have all of us walking alongside our Lord.”

Meanwhile, the pilgrims have been bringing the Eucharist to places where people cannot join the public events. On May 28, perpetual pilgrims on the northern Marian Route visited a St. Paul, Minnesota, nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. The visit was a day after a 7,000-person procession on a nearby avenue. A deacon with them pointed out that Jesus wanted to come to people, who due to age or infirmity, couldn’t come to him, and his message stuck with perpetual pilgrim Kai Weiss, a German student who studies in Washington.

“Jesus is really seeking all kinds of different people out on this journey,” he said.

While the perpetual pilgrims expected large turnouts in the cities along their routes, events in small towns have also drawn hundreds. Weiss noted that processions in rural parts of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota, likely exceeded the towns’ populations.

“The enthusiasm in those small towns was shocking,” he said. “You just walk through these small towns and church bells are ringing, the first communicants have flowers … people along the route come out of their houses to check what is going on and they’re really moved. Many of them kneel down, but I think a lot of them are like, ‘Wow, this is amazing.'”

On May 26, the Serra Route’s perpetual pilgrims had driven a long time across the Nevada landscape without passing any towns — an experience that East described as beautiful but eerie, especially right after spending time in major California cities. Then, they pulled up to a tiny mission church on the Nevada-Oregon border town of McDermitt, where they were warmly welcomed by a group of Catholics. That arrival “felt like there was a family waiting for us,” East said.

In McDermitt, they met Bishop Liam S. Cary of Baker, Oregon, who accompanied the pilgrims in driving processions for the 24 hours they were in his state. The Baker Diocese encouraged the Catholics joining them by car to pray, sing and listen to Catholic podcasts. As the vehicles crossed into Idaho May 27, Bishop Cary knelt before the monstrance on a float pulled by a truck.

Zoe Dongas, a perpetual pilgrim from New York on the eastern St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route, said a highlight from the pilgrimage has been “the amount of faithful bishops and priests we’ve been able to encounter.”

“We were just on a boat … with Cardinal Dolan and (Metuchen, New Jersey) Bishop (James F.) Checchio, (and New York Auxiliary) Bishop (Edmund J.) Whalen … and getting to bless the Statue of Liberty — that was wild,” she said. “To get to spend time in adoration with all of these holy men that love their church so much and are willing to say ‘yes’ to this amazing adventure and to receive us with such great hospitality — it’s truly been such a gift.”

On May 30, the Seton Route pilgrims had moved into the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Juan Diego Route pilgrims were in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. The Serra Route pilgrims were preparing to leave the Boise Diocese for the Diocese of Salt Lake City; and the Marian Route pilgrims were preparing to leave the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to enter Minnesota’s Diocese of Winona-Rochester, which is led by Bishop Robert E. Barron, who in 2019 first proposed the idea of a National Eucharistic Revival.

On the May 29 media call, the perpetual pilgrims acknowledged that their packed days can sap their energy. As they aim to become more like Jesus through time with him in the Eucharist, that also means “ourselves becoming a kind of broken bread, and abandoning yourself to that,” Weiss said.

“We’ve had some days where we would get up at 5 a.m. and we’ll hit four or five different parishes by 10 a.m. And, it’s like 10 a.m. and I’m like, ‘Gosh, it’s already so many parishes, and I can’t keep them apart,'” Weiss said with a laugh. “But one of the beautiful things is that the Lord really provides then with some kind of spark, some kind of amazing encounter that really makes you realize again what is happening and the impact that the pilgrimage is having.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Through the gift of their vocation and their different charisms, consecrated men and women play a central role in the Catholic Church’s mission to spread the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

“Indeed in many places on the planet the first proclamation of the Gospel bears the face of consecrated men and women who take up with great commitment and dedication of their lives the Lord’s mandate: ‘Go into the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature,'” the pope said, quoting St. Mark’s Gospel.

Pope Francis’ comments came in a message to participants in a conference for consecrated religious life in Brazil released by the Vatican May 30. The theme for the conference is taken from Jesus’ instruction to the disciples in St. John’s Gospel: “Remain in my love.”

The pope told participants that “the gift of the vocation must be kept and cultivated every day, so that it produces good fruits in the life of every religious man and woman.”

To live out one’s vocation in a good way, “it is necessary to remain in His love, through constant dialogue with Jesus in daily prayer and faithfulness to the vows that express our consecration in a beautiful way,” he wrote.

Citing his homily for World Day for Consecrated Life in 2020, Pope Francis said that in consecrated life: “poverty is not a colossal effort, but a higher freedom;” chastity is not “austere sterility, but the way to love without possessing;” and “obedience is not a discipline, but victory over our own chaos, in the way of Jesus.”

The pope congratulated the Conference of Religious Men and Women of Brazil for their 70 years of service to the church, and he encouraged them to live in the present while sustained by their specific charisms and “to look to the future with hope.”

SCRANTON – Starting on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, the main entrance to Cathedral Cemetery, located in the 1700 block of Oram Street, West Scranton, will be temporarily closed to both vehicles and pedestrians.

The temporary closure is necessary so that renovation work to the cemetery entrance gates and sidewalks can be completed. The work is expected to be completed, and the main entrance to Cathedral Cemetery reopened, no later than Labor Day weekend.

Cathedral Cemetery will remain open to visitors throughout the duration of the renovation work, however access by both vehicles and pedestrians will be the alternative entrance on Pettibone Street (adjacent to the green maintenance garage).

The Diocese of Scranton and the staff of Cathedral Cemetery appreciates the understanding of all people avoiding the construction area to ensure the safety of both workers and visitors.

ROME (CNS) – The first years of priesthood are challenging, and the best way to survive and thrive is through closeness to God, to one’s bishop, one’s fellow priests and to one’s parishioners, Pope Francis told priests who have been ordained less than 10 years.

“One never comes out of a crisis alone,” the pope told them, according to the Vatican press office.

Pope Francis held a closed-door meeting May 29 with about 90 priests working in the Diocese of Rome who have been ordained since 2014; they included priests who were ordained for the diocese in April.

Earlier in May the pope had met with priests who have been in ministry for more than 40 years, and he is scheduled to meet June 11 with clerics ordained between 11 and 39 years ago.

Meeting at a church complex owned and staffed by the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, a religious order of women, Pope Francis and the priests began with prayer and then moved into a private question-and-answer session.

“Among the topics at the center of the dialogue were the experience of the early years of priesthood, the happy discovery of people’s faith but also the challenge of ministering to the sick, to whom one must respond with closeness, compassion and tenderness, and the crises one faces in priestly life,” including loneliness, according to a summary provided by the Vatican press office.

The pope and priests also talked about what is going well and what challenges the Diocese of Rome faces, the summary said. Pope Francis told the priests the problems must be faced “not with gossip, but with dialogue.”

Rome Auxiliary Bishop Michele Di Tolve, who was present at the meeting, described the dialogue with the pope as part of the priests’ formation.

“It is not enough just to have seminary training; one becomes a priest by exercising ministry,” he told Vatican News. “And so, the questions of our priests were precisely in reference to their becoming pastors in the midst of the people of God.”

In response to several of the questions, he said, Pope Francis spoke of the importance of “the four proximities: closeness to God, to the bishop, to each other in fraternity and closeness to the people of God.”

Auxiliary Bishop Baldo Reina, who also was present, told the diocesan media that Pope Francis “gave advice, like that which a father gives — or a grandfather, we might say — to grandchildren, to younger children, related to his experience. He talked a lot about closeness: to the elderly, to the sick, to those living in distress.”

“He also recommended closeness among them, among priests, without giving space to the gossip that sometimes frays relationships and a healthy spiritual life,” Bishop Reina said. “The meeting was beautiful as was the frankness with which the young priests put questions to the Holy Father, even questions about problematic issues, and he answered them naturally, without hiding problems but manifesting his willingness to deal with them and resolve them in a positive way.”

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (OSV News) – Almost halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan May 26, “amazing” was the only word Riya D’Souza-Pereira could come up with to describe the scene around her of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

“I don’t have words to say, but it’s giving me goosebumps just that they’re coming there and we’re coming to meet our Lord over here and from here it goes ahead,” D’Souza-Pereira said. “It’s just amazing.”

D’Souza-Pereira was referring to hundreds of pilgrims from the Archdiocese of New York and Diocese of Brooklyn converging on the Brooklyn Bridge that afternoon, where New York Auxiliary Bishop Gerardo J. Colacicco and Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Brooklyn met for benediction before Eucharist continued in the monstrance into Brooklyn.

The major liturgical event was a high point for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which launched the week before from California, Connecticut, Minnesota and Texas. Groups of young adults known as “perpetual pilgrims” walking the four routes with the Eucharist are tacking toward Indianapolis, where they will converge for the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21.

The Memorial Day weekend included key highlights along all four routes. Before entering Brooklyn, pilgrims on the eastern route spent the weekend in other New York boroughs, with Masses, Eucharistic adoration, and processions through Central Park and Midtown Manhattan. On May 27, the perpetual pilgrims and their priest chaplains boarded a boat in New York Harbor with Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who, from the water near the Statue of Liberty, gave benediction and blessed the city with the Eucharist before the pilgrims continued on to the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.

“For Catholics, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives and I can’t think of a better way to bring that message to the world than something like this kind of display of solidarity, and faith, and conviction,” Joe Cerato, who participated in Brooklyn’s procession, told The Tablet, newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn. “I think it’s tremendous that we can be a part of what’s happening across the country.”

In St. Paul, Minnesota, an estimated 7,000 Catholics gathered for a 4.5-mile procession from the St. Paul Seminary along a historic avenue to the Cathedral of St. Paul. Despite predictions for thunderstorms, the sun shone as pilgrims pushed children in strollers and wagons while others in the procession rode wheelchairs or leaned on canes. Passersby knelt in reverence for the Eucharist or stared in awe at the massive crowd, which spanned several blocks of shoulder-to-shoulder pilgrims. The procession also included many priests, deacons, seminarians, and religious sisters and brothers.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis led the procession with Auxiliary Bishops Michael J. Izen and Joseph A. Williams, who was recently named coadjutor bishop of Camden, New Jersey.

Also processing were retired Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, and Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, a leader in the National Eucharistic Revival, first in a three-year role for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and now as board chairman of National Eucharistic Congress, Inc. Bishop Cozzens oversaw the northern route’s launch May 19 at Itasca State Park, and he accompanied the pilgrims for several days their first week.

“Here we are so close to our God, filled with gratitude for the gift of the Eucharist, and really desiring that all would come to know the greatness, the closeness, the tenderness and the compassion of our God,” Bishop Cozzens said shortly before the procession began. “The Lord has accompanied us all these years, and today we are accompanying him. This pilgrimage reminds us that we are on our way with him to the Father’s house.”

On the pilgrimage’s southern route, pilgrims spent the weekend in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, named for the body and blood of Jesus, where Catholics joined a mile-long procession after Sunday Mass celebrated by Bishop W. Michael Mulvey at the Corpus Christi Cathedral May 26.

“It’s a reverent movement as Jesus is with us,” said Elizabeth Morales, the diocese’s social media coordinator, as she reported live from the procession. “It’s been a beautiful five days of faith and people witnessing to their love of Christ.”

On Memorial Day, the southern route’s perpetual pilgrims entered the Diocese of Victoria, Texas, spending the evening in praise and Eucharistic adoration at Presidio La Bahía, an historic Spanish colonial fort that played a significant role in the Texas Revolution.

After crossing from California into Nevada via a Eucharistic procession on Lake Tahoe May 24, perpetual pilgrims on the western route spent three days in the Diocese of Reno, with a Eucharistic procession following Sunday Mass celebrated by Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg at St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral May 26. That afternoon, the pilgrims headed north to the Nevada-Oregon border town of McDermitt, where Bishop Liam S. Cary of Baker, Oregon, met them for a driving procession to Burns, Oregon, for dinner, faith-sharing and overnight adoration. Memorial Day included a series of driving processions across the state.

The perpetual pilgrims crossed in vehicles from Oregon into Idaho — with Bishop Cary leading the procession on a float, kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament — to meet Bishop Peter F. Christensen of Boise and hundreds of Catholics for a short time of Eucharistic adoration at Corpus Christi Church in Fruitland, Idaho.

Across the country in New York, as the eastern route’s entourage prepared to leave May 27, perpetual pilgrim and New York resident Marina Frattaroli stood in the rain at Pier Four in New York Harbor and, via social media, asked the Catholic faithful for prayers. “Please pray for us, for all of the seeds we just planted, all the fruit that’s going to come from our time in New York,” she said. “Pray for the revival, pray for the church, pray for us pilgrims.”