“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35) 

Faith is not just about belief. It is also about action.

As noted in the verse above from Matthew’s Gospel, how we treat others – particularly the most vulnerable in society – is directly linked to our relationship with Christ.

Put simply, when we serve those in need, we are serving Jesus Himself.

This basic principle is put into action every day across northeastern and north central Pennsylvania without a second thought: from young students collecting food for the less fortunate, to community organizations working together to provide nightly shelter to those experiencing homelessness, and parishioners in our parishes visiting the sick and lonely.

As Christians, this verse should also shape how we approach complex societal issues, reminding us to always act with mercy, dignity, and love.

The issue of immigration in the United States is one that often divides us. For some, the conversation revolves around safety, security, and order in our great nation, while for others, it is about compassion and human rights.

As followers of Christ, we must never forget one of the central and basic tenets of our faith: the dignity of every human person. Every person is made in the image and likeness of God – and that inherent dignity cannot be taken away by status or nationality.

From the very beginning of Scripture, God’s command to welcome the stranger is clear. The parents of Jesus had to flee their own land and take refuge in Egypt to save the life of their child.

Likewise, we must see Christ in those who seek refuge among us – whether because of war and widespread violence, religious and ethnic persecution, or human rights abuses. For many of these individuals, the decision to leave their homeland is often born out of desperation – and in the face of these concerns – we all have a responsibility to respond with compassion and understanding.

While the Catholic Church teaches us that individuals and families have the right to migrate, likewise, no country should be unduly burdened by those seeking refuge. To be clear, the United States has the responsibility to secure its borders and keep its citizens safe. Yet, as Pope Francis recently noted in a letter to the Bishops of the United States, “the true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all … welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable.”

Like many of my brother bishops, I am calling on our political leaders to set aside partisan politics and to fix our broken immigration system. But I pray that they do so in a way that respects Gospel values. Threats of mass deportations and allowing immigration officials to enter churches, schools, and healthcare facilities to conduct arrests, have only led to fear and anxiety for many of our brothers and sisters who live in our neighborhoods, attend our schools, provide useful services throughout our communities and worship with us on a regular basis.

Since its inception, our nation has been built upon the presence of immigrants who have contributed to the well-being and greatness of our land. As such, it is essential that we continue to support proper, legal pathways for immigration, ensuring that those who seek to contribute to society can do so in a manner that honors both their dignity and the lawful order of our communities.

As we pray for a system that honors the dignity of all people, one that is always guided by God’s love and justice, let us all remain hopeful that with faith, dialogue, and a commitment to justice, a solution to the complex challenges of immigration may be addressed in a way that honors the dignity of all.

May Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas, intercede for us and for our nation, guiding us toward solutions that uphold the dignity of all people and reflect the mercy of Christ.

 

Defendiendo la Dignidad de Todos- Un Mensaje sobre la Inmigración del Muy Reverendo Joseph C. Bambera, Obispo de Scranton 

 

“Porque tuve hambre, y me diste de comer; tuve sed, y me diste de beber; era forastero, y me acogiste” (Mateo 25:35) 

La fe no es solo cuestión de creencias. También se trata de acción.

Como se señala en el versículo anterior del Evangelio de Mateo, cómo tratamos a los demás – particularmente a los más vulnerables en la sociedad – está directamente vinculado a nuestra relación con Cristo.

En pocas palabras, cuando servimos a los necesitados, estamos sirviendo al propio Jesús.

Este principio básico se pone en acción todos los días en el noreste y centro-norte de Pensilvania, sin pensarlo dos veces: desde los estudiantes más jóvenes recolectando alimentos para los menos afortunados, hasta las organizaciones comunitarias que trabajan juntas para proporcionar refugio nocturno a quienes experimentan la falta de vivienda, y los feligreses de nuestras parroquias visitando a los enfermos y solitarios.

Como cristianos, este versículo también debe moldear nuestra forma de abordar los complejos problemas sociales, recordándonos actuar siempre con misericordia, dignidad y amor.

El tema de la inmigración en los Estados Unidos es uno que a menudo nos divide. Para algunos, la conversación gira en torno a la seguridad, el orden y la protección en nuestra gran nación, mientras que para otros, se trata de compasión y derechos humanos.

Como seguidores de Cristo, nunca debemos olvidar uno de los principios centrales y básicos de nuestra fe: la dignidad de toda persona humana. Cada persona está hecha a imagen y semejanza de Dios, y esa dignidad inherente no puede ser arrebatada por el estatus o la nacionalidad.

Desde el principio de las Escrituras, el mandato de Dios de acoger al extranjero es claro. Los padres de Jesús tuvieron que huir de su tierra y refugiarse en Egipto para salvar la vida de su hijo.

De igual manera, debemos ver a Cristo en aquellos que buscan refugio entre nosotros – ya sea por la guerra y la violencia generalizada, la persecución religiosa y étnica, o las violaciones a los derechos humanos. Para muchos de estos individuos, la decisión de abandonar su tierra natal nace a menudo de la desesperación, y ante estas preocupaciones, todos tenemos la responsabilidad de responder con compasión y comprensión.

Mientras que la Iglesia Católica nos enseña que los individuos y las familias tienen el derecho a migrar, igualmente, ningún país debe ser excesivamente cargado por aquellos que buscan refugio. Para ser claros, los Estados Unidos tienen la responsabilidad de asegurar sus fronteras y mantener a salvo a sus ciudadanos. Sin embargo, como el Papa Francisco señaló recientemente en una carta a los obispos de los Estados Unidos, “el verdadero bien común se promueve cuando la sociedad y el gobierno, con creatividad y un estricto respeto por los derechos de todos… acogen, protegen, promueven e integran a los más frágiles, desprotegidos y vulnerables.”

Como muchos de mis hermanos obispos, hago un llamado a nuestros líderes políticos para que dejen de lado la política partidista y arreglen nuestro sistema de inmigración roto. Pero rezo para que lo hagan de una manera que respete los valores del Evangelio. Las amenazas de deportaciones masivas y permitir que los funcionarios de inmigración entren en iglesias,

escuelas y centros de salud para realizar arrestos, solo han generado miedo y ansiedad en muchos de nuestros hermanos y hermanas que viven en nuestros vecindarios, asisten a nuestras escuelas, brindan servicios útiles a lo largo de nuestras comunidades y adoran con nosotros de manera regular.

Desde su inicio, nuestra nación ha sido construida sobre la presencia de inmigrantes que han contribuido al bienestar y la grandeza de nuestra tierra. Por lo tanto, es esencial que sigamos apoyando caminos legales y adecuados para la inmigración, asegurando que aquellos que buscan contribuir a la sociedad puedan hacerlo de una manera que honre tanto su dignidad como el orden legal de nuestras comunidades.

Mientras oramos por un sistema que honre la dignidad de todas las personas, uno que siempre esté guiado por el amor y la justicia de Dios, sigamos teniendo esperanza de que, con fe, diálogo y un compromiso con la justicia, se pueda abordar la solución a los complejos desafíos de la inmigración de una manera que honre la dignidad de todos.

Que Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, patrona de las Américas, interceda por nosotros y por nuestra nación, guiándonos hacia soluciones que defiendan la dignidad de todas las personas y reflejen la misericordia de Cristo.

NAPLES, Fla. (OSV News) – Prayers and fasting, Eucharistic adoration and getting back to the basics of the Catholic faith are some of the ways the laity can encourage priestly and religious vocations in 2025.

Those were among the recommendations that a panel of lay and religious offered during the 2025 Legatus annual summit for Catholic business men and women Feb. 6-9 at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples. Some 700 people attended the three-day national gathering.

Sister Pia Jude, a Sister of Life, speaks on a panel Feb. 8 at the 2025 Legatus International Summit in Naples, Fla., during a conversation on vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Also on the panel are Jason Shanks, CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc, and Father John Burns, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. (OSV News photo/Tom Tracy)

New Jersey native Sister Pia Jude, who entered the Sisters of Life community in 2013 after law school and a short law career in New York City’s Wall Street district, recalled the importance of a strong parish engagement within her family.

“Parish life for me was everything – I was a little altar server and that meant being so close to the Lord standing up there, being involved in the parish and the parish and having Eucharistic adoration Holy Hours available to the young does make a difference,” said Sister Pia Jude, who has an identical twin sister, Sister Luca Benedict, also a Sister of Life.

Sister Pia Jude currently lives at Annunciation Motherhouse in Suffern, New York, and serves as an assistant to Mother Mary Concepta, superior general of her order.

“We had a priest in our parish and his thought was to have a Holy Hour for the parish pro-life society that my mom was part of — she brought her two little daughters to this Holy Hour,” Sister Pia Jude said.

“And so sitting before Our Lord in the Eucharist praying; I didn’t really know how to pray but I knew Jesus was there,” she added.

“I do think that we’re planting seeds we don’t even know and that I couldn’t have articulated back then, but the Lord showed me later on as I was in religious life that ‘I’ve seen you and I’ve known you from this moment. I saw you there, I was calling you, I was drawing you.'”

“Those confirmed my vocational graces, those were bedrock for me,” Sister Pia Jude told the Legatus audience.

Also on hand was Father John Burns, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee ordained in 2010 and author of “Lift Up Your Heart: A 10-Day Personal Retreat with St. Francis de Sales.” He is the founder of Friends of the Bridegroom, an apostolate dedicated to the renewal of the church through the renewal of women’s religious life.

Father Burns noted that canon law defines religious life as the most perfect way to imitate Christ, “not meaning that it is better than other states in life, but it is the fullest way you can cling to Christ, and it is given to us so that the world may see something of what it looks like to being completely to Christ,” he said.

Recent decades of secularism, clericalism and scandals among the clergy brought the church to a place where many priests are themselves embarrassed by their priestly vocation and identity, he added. They may, as a result, have backed away from the supernatural and attempted to make religious life look more normal and approachable.

“But it isn’t normal; it is supernatural,” Father Burns said of religious vocations.

“I would never trade this life — given a thousand times to redo things I would never choose another pathway,” he said.

“And as a church we are getting comfortable saying, ‘We need holy priests and we need holy sisters and it would be a gift if my son or my daughter were called to that.’ It would be an honor if God might be interested in your son, your daughter, your granddaughter, your grandson and to encourage them in that,” Father Burns said.

He also recommended parishes and the laity adopt prayer, fasting and alms to ask God for an increase in vocations even if the fruits of those efforts are not realized in the short run.

“We have to believe that God wants his church renewed, that God wants holy priests, holy marriages and holy religious and that he is the one doing the work and we have to align with his will,” the priest added. “Be willing to say, God, what do you want to do; how do you want to mobilize us to renew your church?”

Jason Shanks, CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. which recently announced its next national congress will be held in 2029, told the gathering of his work as a layman organizing a Catholic youth summer camp in Ohio in 2000, replete with jet skis, a ropes course and other adventure sports.

“The kids would leave and would say, ‘We came for the adventure but what we got out of it was the Mass, the adoration, the worship,” Shanks said. “I think the parents would send the kids for the jet skis and the high ropes course but were tickled and touched that they came back talking about Jesus.”

What families need to do is carve out more quiet and reflective time for youth to escape the pressures and distractions of daily life in order to discern their calling, according to Shanks. He agreed with Sister Pia Jude that adoration time is a great time and place for such discernment.

“We live in a world of so much distraction and so much pressure on these kids that we need to create that space of silence so they can discern what the voice of the Lord is doing in their life,” he said, adding that last year’s Eucharistic congress seemed to renew the participating clergy and hierarchy as well.

“All of us in Legatus can be part of that healing solution as this revival moves forward and to love and encourage our priests and our religious and our families every day,” Shanks said.

EWTN’s Colm Flynn, who moderated the vocations conversation, added his recollection of reporting from 2023’s World Youth Day Lisbon in Portugal, and how the event featured a broad range of activities both traditional and secular.

The morning of the final day before the closing World Youth Day Mass with Pope Francis featured a DJ priest “who for 40 minutes did this really loud techno set” of music, Flynn said. “Not one person we interviewed said that was the highlight that touched me, that made me think differently. It was the Eucharist, or the priest who led late night discussions they remembered.”

“There is this idea that if we don’t be more like the world, they won’t come for us, rather than, ‘Let’s invite the world to be more like the Gospel,'” Flynn added.

“A priest I know back in Scotland who had been in Angola for 30 years said to me: ‘You have to tell more young people that besides the supernatural aspect, it is a great exciting life. You travel, you meet people. He said the church needs to be not arrogant but more bold and say, ‘This is the best thing you could ever do with your life.'”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has urged U.S. Catholics and people of goodwill to not give in to “narratives” that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to migrants and refugees.

“I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights,” he said in a letter to the U.S. bishops published by the Vatican Feb. 11.

Pope Francis receives a hug from a child as he meets migrants, refugees, orphans, the elderly and the sick at the apostolic nunciature in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 3, 2024. The people the pope met are assisted by the Community of Sant’Egidio, the Dominican sisters and Jesuit Refugee Service. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope Francis said he was writing because of “the major crisis that is taking place in the United States” with the start of President Donald J. Trump’s “program of mass deportations.”

In his presidential executive order, “Protecting the American people against invasion,” released Jan. 20, Trump said, “Many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.”

Pope Francis said, “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”

He also applauded the efforts of the U.S. bishops to assist migrants and refugees and to counter the arguments of the Trump administration, saying that “God will richly reward all that you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!”

“I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of goodwill, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters,” he wrote.

“With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all,” the pope wrote.

In his letter to the bishops, the pope said every nation has the right to defend itself and keep its communities safe “from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.”

However, he continued, “the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

“This is not a minor issue,” he wrote. “An authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized.”

Pope Francis also used the letter to respond to an assertion U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, made in a late January television interview about the Catholic concept of “ordo amoris” (the order of love or charity).

The concept, Vance said, teaches that “you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”

However, the pope said, “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!”

“The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception,” the pope wrote.

The pope wrote that “worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations (of human fraternity), easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.”

“The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable,” he wrote.

That does not prevent or hamper the development of policies that regulate “orderly and legal migration,” he wrote. “However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others.”

“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” the pope warned.

While the pope did not name specific U.S. policies, his letter emphasized the Catholic Church’s longstanding closeness to and support of migrants and refugees.

The U.S. bishops’ conference had recently faced unfounded claims that it profited from its partnership with the U.S. government in assisting refugees who qualified for federal assistance. Vance questioned the bishops’ motives for criticizing new immigration policies in a Jan. 26 interview, asking whether the bishops were just concerned about receiving federal resettlement funding.

At a time that is “so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration,” the pope reaffirmed “not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.”

These words, he said, “are not an artificial construct.” Even a quick look at the church’s social doctrine over the centuries clearly shows Jesus Christ “did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own.”

“The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration,” he wrote.

Therefore, he wrote, “all the Christian faithful and people of goodwill are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa.”

“Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain due to migration and/or deportation,” he wrote.

 

The annual Friday Lenten Buffets at St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Pocono Pines are scheduled to begin on Friday, March 7, from 4 – 6 p.m.  All three buffets will include a variety of meatless dishes for your dining pleasure.  Our first dinner will offer a garden salad, a choice of two soups, and many delicious entrées and side dishes, including, but not limited to, fish, stuffed shells, macaroni and cheese, halushki, baked ziti, veggie penne, pierogi casserole, spinach lasagna, Mexican casserole, penne with vodka sauce, plus steamed and roasted vegetables. There will be several gluten-free offerings as well.  The buffet includes rolls, hot and cold beverages and a visit to St. Max’s famous dessert table.  Our menu is subject to change and all menu items will be available while supplies last. Enjoy a delicious array of food at the low price of $14 per person with a discount to our Senior citizens (65+) whose meal price will be $12.  Reservations are not needed. You are welcome to dine in or take out.

All meals will be held downstairs in Our Lady of the Lake Hall, which is handicap accessible.  Additional buffets are planned for Friday, March 21st and Friday, April 4th.  In the event of snow or hazardous road conditions, a dinner will be postponed and rescheduled for Friday, April 11th.

For many years, the Social Concerns Committee of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish has held three dinners during the Lenten season. Since the committee does not use any parish funds, they are dependent on the generosity of St. Max parishioners, the community, and the proceeds of these dinners – their only fundraisers – to support their many outreach endeavors. 

The committee, guided by the Corporal Works of Mercy, is actively involved in programs benefiting both the parish and the surrounding community.  They have served the community at large by supporting the following agencies with their time, talent and treasure: Family Promise of the Poconos, Shepherd’s Maternity House, Pregnancy Resource Center of the Poconos, Nurse-Family Partnership, Safe Monroe (formerly Women’s Resources), Meals on Wheels, and the Top of the Mountain Ecumenical Council Food Pantry.  In 2024, the committee donated funds to the Sunyani Diocese, Ghana, to help drill a well in an area of need and donated to the American Red Cross for disaster relief after Hurricane Helene.  They offer monetary gifts to parish families in need during the holidays and host Bereavement luncheons for parishioners and their guests.  In addition, the committee hosts three free Community Dinners each year. These dinners are offered regardless of need and warmly welcome all to share a meal and enjoy a time of fellowship. 

St. Maximilian Kolbe is located at 5112 Pocono Crest Rd., Pocono Pines, near the intersection of Routes 940 and 423.  For additional information, please call 570-646-6424 or visit the parish website www.stmaxkolbepoconos.org.

 

 

The Knights of Columbus John Paul II Council 13935 and St. Joseph’s Parish welcomed scouts from the Hudson Delaware Council for a special Scout Mass in honor of the 115th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. The Mass, held at St. Joseph’s Church, was a tribute to the values of leadership, service, and faith that Scouting fosters in young people.

During his homily, Fr. Joseph Manurchuck reflected on the Scout Oath as a representation of Christian virtues, emphasizing the commitment to duty, honor, and service to God and others. He encouraged the scouts to live out these principles in their daily lives, mirroring the Gospel call to discipleship.

Following the Mass, the Knights of Columbus hosted a pancake breakfast for the scouts and their families, fostering fellowship and community spirit. The breakfast was part of a fundraising effort conducted in partnership with Ben’s Fresh of Port Jervis, further supporting the mission of the Knights and local Scouting initiatives.

“We are honored to support the next generation of leaders through this event,” said Joseph Saski, Grand Knight of Council 13935. “Scouting instills values that align closely with our Catholic faith, and we are proud to celebrate this milestone with them.”

The event served as a reminder of the shared mission between the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Church, and the Scouting community—to develop young men and women of character, faith, and service.

For more information about upcoming events and initiatives, visit KofC13935.org.

 

Left to right:  Event Organizer/Volunteer Referee Tim Wolff; St Francis Kitchen Executive Director Rob Williams;  Scranton High Student Volunteers Zahir Kennedy, Henry Bartlebaugh, Connor Thomas, Carter Tomczyk; Event Organizer/SHS Athletic Director Ted Anderson

Scranton High School Athletic Department conducted the 12th Annual Donald J. Wolff Freshman Basketball Tournament over the recent holiday. 

All proceeds were donated to the St Francis of Assisi  Kitchen.  A check presentation of $850 is shown here.

 

(OSV News) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Feb. 5 barring biological males from competing in women’s sports.

“Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls,” the president said at the signing ceremony, surrounded by female athletes. “From now on, women’s sports will be only for women.”

The order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” stated that allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order banning people who identify as transgender from participating in women’s sports, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2025. OSV News photo/Leah Millis, via Reuters

Under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, the order says, educational institutions that receive federal funding “cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports” adding that, as some courts have said, “ignoring fundamental biological truths between the two sexes deprives women and girls of meaningful access to educational facilities.”

The administration will “prioritize Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions” that “deny female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women’s category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males.”

Additionally, the order called for Secretary of State Marco Rubio to use “appropriate measures” to see that “the International Olympic Committee amends the standards governing Olympic sporting events” so that “eligibility for participation in women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that President Trump “does expect the Olympic Committee and the NCAA to no longer allow men to compete in women’s sports,” saying, “the President with the signing of his pen starts a very public pressure campaign on these organizations to do the right thing for women and for girls across the country.”

While the U.S. bishops have yet to comment on this latest move by the Trump administration, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minn., the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, recently praised President Trump’s Jan. 28 order that seeks to prohibit certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

“Helping young people accept their bodies and their vocation as women and men is the true path of freedom and happiness,” Bishop Barron said at the time. “As Pope Francis affirms (‘Dignitas Infinita,’ 60), we are all called to accept the gift of our bodies created in God’s image and likeness as male and female. Sexual difference is profoundly beautiful and the basis for the union of spouses whose love can bear fruit in the inestimable gift of a human life.”

In 2023, the U.S. bishops backed a bill in Congress that would require federally funded female sports programs “to be reserved for biological females.”

Then, Bishop Barron and Bishop Thomas A. Daly of Spokane, Washington, wrote that, “in education and in sports, we must seek to avoid anything that undermines human dignity, including denial of a person’s body which is genetically and biologically female or male, or unequal treatment between women and men.”

(OSV News) — When it comes to the pressures associated with being the shepherd of a diocese, it doesn’t get much easier than advocating for your community’s football team.

Such is the situation for Bishop James V. Johnston, who has spearheaded the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, since 2015. On Feb. 9, Bishop Johnston’s favorite football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, meets the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

To the dismay of every other NFL fan base, watching the Chiefs grapple for the Lombardi Trophy has almost become an annual occurrence. No team has won more games than Kansas City since two-time NFL Most Valuable Player quarterback Patrick Mahomes assumed the reins in 2018.

A combination photo shows Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie celebrating after winning the NFC Championship game against the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field, and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) speaks to the media after being presented with the Lamar Hunt Trophy after the AFC Championship game against the Buffalo Bills at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium Jan. 26, 2025. (OSV News photo/Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images and Denny Medley-Imagn Images via Reuters)

Sunday’s worldwide event marks Kansas City’s fifth Super Bowl appearance overall and the team’s third during Bishop Johnston’s tenure. The Chiefs have won three crowns, including the past two. If they defeat the Eagles, the Chiefs would become the first franchise to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

“While our faith is paramount as we journey through this life, sports and teams have a very important role in a community,” Bishop Johnston told OSV News. “The Chiefs’ run over these last seven years is something that I was privileged to be a part of during my years here as bishop.”

Regardless of the Super Bowl victor, Bishop Johnston said fans from all over the globe are encouraged to maintain perspective.

“A Super Bowl brings people together across so many lines and in ways no other event could,” Bishop Johnston said. “It supercharges community spirit and common identity in ways that are truly amazing. The greater Kansas City area, and indeed this multistate area of the Midwest, feels like a family when it comes to the Chiefs. It’s a source of pride and joy.”

Two years ago, Bishop Johnston and Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia found themselves in the exact same scenario. Shouldering a tradition known as the “Bishops’ Bet” — a friendly wager between the Catholic spiritual guides of the respective dioceses of the Super Bowl teams — the two leaders promised to send a $500 donation to the charity of the other’s choice. The Chiefs’ last-second win secured a generous offering to the Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Before the Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers last year, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco had promised — and reportedly ultimately delivered — a monetary donation along with a shipment of San Francisco-based food product Rice-A-Roni.

This year, in addition to a charitable donation, there has been some talk of cheesesteaks — a culinary delight that originated in Philadelphia — heading to the Midwest should the Chiefs capture an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl. An Eagles Super Bowl win — which would be the franchise’s second — could procure some Kansas City barbecue spicing the environs of the City of Brotherly Love.

“This doesn’t get old,” Bishop Johnston said. “It’s all in good fun. We try to use it to emphasize the positives that sports offer, but also the friendship between the bishops and our dioceses.”

Despite the Chiefs’ sustained success, Bishop Johnston recognizes that sports often result in bitter disappointment.

A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Bishop Johnston vividly recalls Super Bowl XXXIV on Jan. 30, 2000, a contest that defined the ubiquitous thrill of victory and agony of defeat.

Trailing the St. Louis Rams, 23-16, in the waning seconds, the Tennessee Titans fell one yard shy of a touchdown as the clock posted all zeroes. The scene of grown men — not to mention stunned Titans fans scattered throughout the Georgia Dome in Atlanta — visibly crying tears of disbelief remains a legendary talking point a quarter of a century later.

“I’m first a Tennessee Volunteer fan, still cheering for the Big Orange,” Bishop Johnston said. “The Titans moved to Tennessee from Houston, and so my emotional ties to them are not as strong. But I did pull for the Titans and vividly remember the ending to that Super Bowl, where they were so close. I pull for the Titans — unless they’re up against the Chiefs.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Christians are called to follow Mary’s example by responding to God’s love with action, reaching out to others instead of withdrawing from the world, Pope Francis said.

Reflecting on Mary’s visit to her pregnant cousin Elizabeth after learning that she will bring the Messiah into the world, he said that “this young daughter of Israel does not choose to protect herself from the world, does not fear the dangers and judgments of others, but goes out to meet others.”

The pope began his general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall Feb. 5 by apologizing for being unable to read his catechesis due to a lingering cold, and explained that an aide, Msgr. Pierluigi Giroli, would read his prepared text.

“It is difficult for me to speak,” Pope Francis said before ceding to the floor to his aide. However, he did read the summary of his catechesis in Spanish and spoke without clear signs of difficulty.’

Pope Francis speaks to visitors in Spanish during his general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican Feb. 5, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

In his prepared text, the pope said that moved by love, Mary goes out to meet Elizabeth, who is “an elderly woman who welcomes, after a long wait, an unexpected pregnancy, tiring to confront at her age.”

“But the Virgin also goes to Elizabeth to share faith in the God of the impossible and hope in the fulfillment of his promises,” he said.

Even after Elizabeth recognizes the significance of Mary’s pregnancy, saying, “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” Mary responds by speaking “not of herself but of God and raises a praise full of faith, hope and joy,” Pope Francis said.

Mary’s response to Elizabeth, recited today as the Magnificat prayer, “resounds daily in the church during the prayer of vespers,” the pope noted.

The Magnificat, filled with references from the Old Testament and recalling Israel’s liberation from Egypt, is “imbued with a memory of love that ignites the present with faith and illuminates the future with hope,” he said.

“Mary sings the grace of the past but is the woman of the present who carries the future,” Pope Francis wrote in his message.

Christians, he said, should “ask the Lord for the grace to know how to wait for the fulfillment of all his promises; and to help us welcome Mary’s presence in our lives.”

At the end of the audience, the pope took the microphone to ask that people remember the many countries suffering from the effects of war: “martyred Ukraine, Israel, Jordan — so many countries that are suffering there — let us remember the displaced people of Palestine, and let us pray for them.”

A transcript of the pope’s remarks published by the Vatican listed Palestine in the place of Jordan among the countries he referenced.

Pope Francis met Feb. 3 with Jordan’s Queen Rania as part of a Vatican summit on the rights of children.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – “Blessed are those who have not lost hope” is the theme for the fifth World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly which will be observed in the Catholic Church July 27.

The theme, announced by the Vatican Feb. 4, is taken from the Book of Sirach as part of its moral instruction to the Jewish faithful.

The theme expresses “the blessedness of the elderly and points to the hope placed in the Lord as the way to a Christian and reconciled old age,” the Vatican said in its announcement.

Pope Francis greets residents and staff at St. Joseph’s Home in Brussels, a residence operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor for the elderly, Sept. 27, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Particularly during the Holy Year 2025, the world day “seeks to be an opportunity to reflect on how the presence of grandparents and elderly people can become a sign of hope in every family and ecclesial community,” it continued.

The motto for the current Jubilee, selected by Pope Francis, is “Pilgrims of Hope.”

The Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, which organizes the world day, invited every diocese to organize local celebrations for World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly July 27, “promoting visits and occasions for encounter between generations.”

Pope Francis instituted the world day to be celebrated in the church on the fourth Sunday of July, near the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anna — Jesus’ grandparents.

Last year, the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican court charged with granting indulgences, announced that grandparents, the elderly and all the faithful who attend Mass or other prayer services as part of the day’s celebration could receive a plenary indulgence.

Additionally, the indulgence could apply to those who “devote adequate time to actually or virtually visiting their elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty,” such as those who are sick, lonely or disabled, the Vatican said.