The Catholic Church in East Saint James Parish

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, the chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ religious liberty committee, speaks on the issue of immigration during a press conference on Nov. 11, 2025, at the USCCB’s fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Hakim Shammo/EWTN News

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 18:01 pm (CNA).

Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, was elected to serve as secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at the Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12.

The bishops held elections for the secretary position and the leadership of six committees on Wednesday. On Tuesday, they elected Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City as president and Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, as vice president of the conference. 

Rhoades, who previously chaired the Committee on Religious Liberty, has criticized government policies that impose mandates for abortion and contraception. This year’s committee report laid out concerns with policies related to gender ideology and immigration enforcement as threats to the freedom of religious organizations.

The new chair of the Religious Liberty Commission will be Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon.

That election was tied between Sample and San Angelo, Texas, Bishop Michael Sis. Although Sis was granted the spot because the tiebreaking procedure defers to the older bishop, Sis withdrew his nomination to allow Sample to assume the role.

For the rest of the elections, the winner will serve as chair-elect for one year while the current chairs finish their terms. They will assume the positions in 2026.

Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia was elected chair-elect of the Committee on International Justice and Peace. The archeparchy serves many Ukrainian immigrants, whose home country continues to suffer amid the ongoing Russian invasion.

Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee was elected chair-elect of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance. Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith of the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, was elected chair-elect of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

The bishops also elected Bishop William Wack of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, as chair-elect of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis. They elected Bishop-elect Mark O’Connell of Albany, New York, as chair-elect of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.

Maura Moser (far left), director of the Catholic Communications Campaign, moderates a discussion on immigration with (left to right) Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chair of the USCCB's religious liberty committee, and Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the USCCB's migration committee, on Nov. 11, 2025, during a press conference at the conference's fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/National Catholic Register

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a statement that opposes the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.

The bishops approved their special message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12. The motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted. It received 216 votes in favor, just five against, and only three abstentions.

“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the message emphasized.

“We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement,” it added. “We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials.”

The bishops said they “are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ” and “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.”

“We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care,” they said.

“We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status,” they continued. “We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”

The message recognized the contribution of immigrants and said the bishops feel compelled to “raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity” of migrants. They urged immigration reform and said “human dignity and national security are not in conflict.”

The statement also recognizes that governments have a “responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.” It goes on to call for “safe and legal pathways” for immigration.

Scripture mandates compassion for “those who are most vulnerable,” including “the stranger,” the statement noted. The Church’s concern for migrants “is a response to the Lord’s command to love as he has loved us,” it added.

The original text of the message brought to the floor did not include the language plainly stating the bishops’ opposition to large-scale deportations, which was added in a last-minute amendment to the message.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago introduced the amendment. He said the message needs to be clear in telling migrants “we stand with you” by expressly opposing “the indiscriminate deportation of people that is taking place.”

No bishops spoke against Cupich’s amendment.

The last time the bishops approved a special pastoral message was in 2013 in opposition to a federal contraception mandate. Such messages are meant to show “the consensus of the body” of the U.S. Catholic bishops, according to a USCCB statement.

The discussion of deportations and immigration enforcement was a major theme throughout the duration of the plenary assembly.

On the previous day, USCCB Committee on Migration Chairman Bishop Mark Seitz announced a national initiative to provide accompaniment to migrants who are at risk of being deported, which was inspired by similar efforts already underway at dioceses across the country.

The initiative will focus on four areas: emergency and family support, accompaniment and pastoral care, communication of Church teaching, and solidarity through prayer and public witness.

In his address to his brother bishops, Seitz directly criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for carrying out the “campaign promise of mass deportations.” 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in late October that the administration has carried out more than 527,000 deportations this year and another 1.6 million people have self-deported.

“This is just the beginning,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an Oct. 27 statement.

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged the American bishops to provide a more unified voice in support of the dignity of migrants. He met with Seitz and other bishops and supporters of migrants last month to discuss the plight of immigrants in the United States.

According to one person present, Dylan Corbett, the founding executive director of Hope Border Institute, Pope Leo told the group: “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.”

The Holy Father last week said that “there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening” with migrants in detention after detainees were denied Communion at an Illinois Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

McLaughlin told CNA last week detainees are “only briefly held [at that facility] for processing” and DHS could not accommodate religious services there for practical and safety reasons, but clergy are “more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities.”

Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA, died Nov. 10, 2025, after roughly three-quarters of a century of religious life. She was 94. / Credit: Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration

CNA Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 15:54 pm (CNA).

Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA, died on Nov. 10 after roughly three-quarters of a century of religious life. She was 94.

Sister Mary Michael was the last of the original five nuns who, along with EWTN foundress Mother Angelica, began the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama. (The monastery is now located in Hanceville; EWTN, the parent company of CNA, remains in Irondale.)

Born Evelyn Shinosky on Feb. 25, 1931, to Joseph and Helen Shinosky, she entered Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 15, 1951, and received the habit and her new name the following May.

Sister Mary Michael made her first profession on May 1, 1954, and her solemn profession exactly six years later in 1960. Shortly after her solemn profession she joined Mother Angelica to journey to Alabama to help found the new monastery.

Her religious community said she was renowned for her talent in baking, cooking, and sewing. Sisters frequently sought her advice when an insurmountable difficulty arose in the kitchen or a novice was at an impasse making a new habit.  

Sister would go on to serve several terms as vicar and councilor for the community. With a special devotion to the Church Fathers, she was a fervent devotee and reader of St. Augustine.  

Devoted to prayer until the end of her life, Sister Mary Michael attended Mass until she was physically unable to do so. In her final days she was known to fall asleep in the monastery’s infirmary with her hands folded in prayer.

Father Joseph Mary Wolfe, chapel dean and chaplain for EWTN, told CNA that Sister Mary Michael “always radiated a quiet love and joy and was always ready to use her sewing and baking skills to bring joy to others.”

“In fact, she and Sister Gabriel made the first habits for the friars here in Irondale,” he said. He noted that Sister Mary Michael “lovingly and tirelessly” served Mother Angelica in the latter’s final years, “often at the expense of her own rest.”  

“When I asked Sister Michael about her own vocation, she told me that she loved St. Francis of Assisi; spending time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; and was drawn to the contemplative life,” he said.

“She wasn’t sure where she could find all three together and it was right there in the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration community in Canton, Ohio, where she entered before moving with Mother Angelica to found the new monastery,” he said.

Her passing marks the end of an era at EWTN and at the monastery — one that saw both the launch of the global Catholic network and the expansion of the religious community to include the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.

Just days before her death, Sister Mary Michael urged followers of Christ to “keep doing what you are doing so we can be one big family in heaven.” She also expressed gratitude for prayers offered to God on her behalf.

“I just want everyone to be Catholic,” she said prior to her passing, “and to love God passionately.” 

Father Richard Thomas, SJ, ministered in the U.S.-Mexico border region. / Credit: Courtesy of Our Lady's Youth Center

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 15:24 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted in favor of advancing the beatification and canonization cause of the late Jesuit Father Richard Thomas. 

Bishop Peter Baldacchino, who has served as bishop of Las Cruces in New Mexico since 2019, initiated the request for the Jesuit priest’s beatification. Baldacchino spoke about Thomas and his ministry to the poor at the bishops’ Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

“Jesus said, ‘When you hold a lunch or dinner, do not invite your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, rather … invite the poor. Blessed indeed will you be, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous,’” Baldacchino said during his Nov. 11 presentation. 

Thomas “gave witness to those words of the Lord through a life dedicated to serve persons in need, primarily in the Diocese of El Paso but also in the Diocese of Las Cruces and along the southern border of the United States,” Baldacchino said. 

Thomas was born in Seffner, Florida, in 1928 and entered the Jesuit order in 1945 after attending Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida. He was ordained to the priesthood in San Francisco in 1958.

From 1964 until his death, Thomas served as the executive director of Our Lady’s Youth Center in El Paso, Texas. The center grew to include ministries to the poor around Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, including food banks, medical and dental clinics, prison and mental hospital ministries, and schools. 

In 1975 Thomas started The Lord’s Ranch east of Vado, New Mexico. The ranch has provided recreation and rehabilitation to youth in need and created multiple food banks. 

The priest “lived a very simple, austere lifestyle because he wanted to live in solidarity with the poor,” Baldacchino said. “He slept in a small room with very few furnishings that included a desk, a chair, and an army bed. There was no carpeting, no air conditioning, and no heating.”

“Father Thomas had a foundational vision based on the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel in which Jesus said, ‘When you minister to the poor, you minister to me.’ Father Thomas believed that in serving the poor, we encounter the presence of Jesus in a special way, and we are enriched by the experience.”

The priest “recognized that each human being is made in the image of God,” Baldacchino said. This includes the unborn and the immigrant.”

Thomas was “a pioneer in the pro-life movement” and “recognized the need to be supportive of women who are in difficult circumstances because of pregnancy,” Baldacchino said. “There is currently a very vibrant pro-life community in the El Paso-Las Cruces area, and many of its leaders are people who have been mentored by Father Thomas.”

Thomas died on May 8, 2006, at The Lord’s Ranch at age 78.

A ‘miraculous meal’

Baldacchino told a story of a potential miracle by Thomas at a garbage dump in Juárez, Mexico, on Christmas Day in 1972. Thomas and some lay Catholics came across the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus tells his followers to invite the poor.

“Father Thomas and his companions decided to obey the words of Jesus, and they organized a Christmas Day meal for people who were scavengers at the garbage dump in Juárez,” Baldacchino said. 

The priest and the group prepared enough food for about 150 people, but when they arrived at the dump nearly twice the number of guests were present.

“Nevertheless, they decided to share what they had,” Baldacchino said. “Much to their surprise, everyone had more than enough to eat, and in fact, when the meal was over, they donated leftovers to two orphanages.”

“Now, 53 years later, the ministries that began with that Christmas Day meal are continuing. There is a food bank, a medical clinic, a Montessori school, and four different sites, [and] catechism is taught to children using the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd method,” Baldacchino said. 

Agreement among bishops 

Following Baldacchino’s address, a number of bishops spoke up to share their agreement with his testimony.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, said he has personal friends who spent time at the ranch and said they “testify to having witnessed both his generosity, heroic life, but also the miracle of the multiplication of food.”

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, also said he is in favor of the cause. He said: “I think all of us in our work, we [have] moments where we heard of something or experienced something [and] we said: ‘That was a miracle.’ But someone like Father Thomas — it was miracles almost every day. His trust in God was so incredible.”

Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith of Portland, Oregon, also detailed Thomas’ involvement in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and added that he was “a wonderful presence.”

“As was mentioned, miracles were regular in his ministry,” Smith said. Thomas “was always very joyful. Faith just radiated from him. You could just feel the presence of Christ in him.”

Ezequiel Ponce is among teens chosen to ask Pope Leo XIV questions at the National Catholic Youth Conference Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 12, 2025 / 14:24 pm (CNA).

A group of teens will speak with the Holy Father during a digital encounter at the upcoming National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Indianapolis.

Pope Leo XIV will hold a 45-minute digital encounter with young people from across the United States during the Nov. 20–22 NCYC, hosted by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM). The pope will speak at 10:15 a.m. ET on Nov. 21 and enter into dialogue with a group of high school students. 

This marks the first time that a pope will directly engage with U.S. youth in a live digital encounter at NCYC. More than 40 teens have participated in the dialogue planning processs, and five of them will get the chance to speak directly with the Holy Father, organizers said.

Mia Smothers, Elise Wing, Christopher Pantelakis, Micah Alcisto, and Ezequiel Ponce will ask Pope Leo questions next week as thousands of teens gather in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Mia Smothers 

Mia Smothers, a high school freshman from Joppa, Maryland, is the youngest teen selected to speak with the pontiff. Growing up in a large family has taught her patience and teamwork, she said. Her parents have encouraged her to stay grounded in faith and to serve others.

Smothers is the second of 10 children and said she hopes her faith and NCYC experience will set a good example for her younger siblings. She wants to show them how wonderful it is to know and love God.

As a parishioner at St. Francis De Sales, Smothers serves as an altar server and helps with Vacation Bible School and youth group. She also participates in cheer, choir, and Helping Hands Club at her school and enjoys reading, dancing, singing, and doodling. 

Elise Wing

Elise Wing is a high school senior from Waterloo, Iowa, who says she enjoys nature and coffee. 

Wing is usually busy with speech, theater, competitive swimming, and serving her parish community at St. Edward’s. She said she loves to have bonfires and game nights with friends and go on road trips with her family. 

Her Catholic faith is the lens through which she sees the world, she said. She said she is inspired daily by St. Thérèse of Lisieux — her confirmation saint. Wing said she is looking forward to going on a pilgrimage to Rome, Florence, and Assisi in Italy this spring and is excited to represent faithful teens at NCYC next week.

Christopher Pantelakis

Christopher Pantelakis, or Chris, is a high school junior who was born and raised in Mesquite, Nevada. Pantelakis said he gets his inspiration from young people who go out in the world to make it a better place.

For fun, Chris said he loves watching sports and participating in any athletic activity. Recently his soccer team at Virgin Valley High School qualified for state. His favorite soccer team is Chelsea in England, which he hopes to watch play in person someday.

Micah Alcisto

Born and raised in Honolulu, Micah Alciso said he enjoys playing baseball, working out, fishing, and going to the beach. The high school senior is a leader in his community serving as a member of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, LIFE team, and Catholic Honors Society.

Seeing how God continues to work in his life and in the lives of others inspires Alciso, he said. Even in hard times, he said experiences with God remind him he is not alone.

Keeping his faith strong and at the center of his life is important to Chris as he said he believes it will guide his career, relationships, education, and family.

Ezequiel Ponce

Ezequiel Ponce is a high school senior from Downey, California. He has a brother and sister who introduced him to St. Dominic Savio Parish, where he serves as a summer camp counselor and helps lead youth group.

Ponce said he sees his parish as his home and loves participating in the community and growing in his faith. He shares the same birthday as his favorite saint — St. John Bosco on Aug. 16.

Doing community work with kids led him to find a passion for teaching, he said. Ponce teaches at a middle school for one period of his school schedule every day. 

Ponce, who will ask the pope a question, said in an Nov.11 interview with NFCYM that it is “an honor and a great privilege to … talk to the Holy Father.” He added: “It makes me feel like my voice is heard and … that the youth of America’s voice is heard.”

“It is very reassuring that the Holy Father wants to indulge in dialogue with the youth,” Ponce said.

Katie McGrady, Catholic author, speaker, and radio host who will serve as the NCYC event moderator, said: “As we’ve prepared these teens to ask a question of the Holy Father, I’ve been struck by how excited they are to get to represent their peers in this moment. Their openness to dialogue, with each other and with adults who have helped prepare this moment, has inspired me to remember that the young Church is the Church of now, not tomorrow.”

null / Credit: joshimerbin/Shutterstock

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a new translation of the Bible, which will be used for personal Bibles, the lectionary at Mass, and the text in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Bishop Steven Lopes, chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, announced the translation will be called the “Catholic American Bible.” The translation for personal Bibles and the Liturgy of the Hours will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2027.

The bishops have not announced when the revised lectionaries will be available.

The USCCB also approved a Spanish-language translation of the New Testament, the Biblia de la Iglesia en América, which will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2026.

Lopes made the announcement during the USCCB’s Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 11.

According to Ascension Press, one of the publishers of the translation, the Catholic American Bible has a modified translation of the Old Testament from the New American Bible Revised Edition. It will replace the current translation of the Book of Psalms with The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, which was translated by monks at Conception Abbey in Missouri.

The new translation will also include a revised New Testament.

U.S. bishops also approved a new edition of the Roman Pontifical, which is the liturgical book for pontifical Masses, which can only be celebrated by bishops. It is expected to be ready in 2027. The bishops are still awaiting Vatican approval for two of the five pontifical rites, but approval is anticipated in December. 

Carmelite Father Craig Morrison speaks on a panel about Jewish-Catholic relations at The Catholic University of America on Nov. 11, 2025. / Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA

Washington, D.C., Nov 12, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Nostra Aetate, the Church’s declaration on building relationships with non-Christian religions,  “planted a seed” that must continue to be nourished, according to panelists reflecting on the document’s legacy at The Catholic University of America on Nov. 11.

At the event, titled “The Church and the Jewish Community in Our Age,” Bishop Étienne Vetö, ICN, auxiliary bishop of Reims, France, and Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, discussed the state of Catholic-Jewish relations as well as shared practices and difference. 

“Even though Nostra Aetate is one of the shortest, if not the shortest document of Vatican II, it has had a powerful impact,” Vetö said. “A Jew or a Christian from the first half [of] the 20th century who traveled in time to 2025 would find unbelievable the quality of dialogue, understanding, and trust that is now growing between the two communities.”

Rebecca Cohen, program and research specialist for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, agreed, saying Nostra Aetate produced a “seismic shift in Christian understanding” of Judaism that was revolutionary for its time in 1965. 

Nostra Aetate contains a paragraph on Judaism that centers on the biblical roots and shared history with Christianity rather than the Judaism of today. It sowed the beginnings of something that needs nurturing, Cohen said. 

Carmelite Father Craig Morrison, director of the Center for Carmelite Studies and professor of biblical studies, said Nostra Aetate “launched new possibilities for a relationship between Catholics and Jews.”

“No longer was this relationship to be triumphal, Catholics telling Jews who they are, what they believe, and how they kill God, Jesus,” he said, adding: “Western Christianity kept the Jews mostly silent for centuries.”

Today, he continued, “our present task on the Catholic side is not so much as dialogue but rather to listen to the Jews for the first time in our shared history.”

“Our Gospels are a part of Jewish documents and cannot be properly understood apart from the Judaism of the late Second Temple period,” he said.

Ultimately, Craig said, “we know that a better understanding of the concerns of first-century Jews will illuminate the Gospels and significantly reduce the risk of anti-Jewish preaching. Then we will hear Jesus speaking within the first-century Jewish world in which he was incarnated.” 

Marans reflected on the legacy of Nostra Aetate for Jewish people, saying that prior to the document’s publication, the Jewish people viewed Christianity “as a threat.” Conversely, he said, Nostra Aetate was a “gift for Christians” because it meant “Christianity no longer needed to self-define in opposition to the other.” 

At the end of the day, Marans said, “Nostra Aetate was not perfect, but it was good [and] has been perfected over time.” 

First responders provide aid after a bus carrying a group of mostly teenagers from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana, California, on its way home from a three-day retreat at Camp Nawakwa in the San Bernardino Mountains crashed on a two-lane highway near Running Springs on Nov. 9, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).

As a group of mostly teenagers made its way home from a Catholic youth retreat in the mountains of Southern California this past weekend, the bus rolled over at a winding turn, injuring 26. 

Nearly 40 parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana were on their way home from a three-day retreat at Camp Nawakwa in the San Bernardino Mountains on the evening of Nov. 9 when their bus crashed on a two-lane highway near Running Springs. 

When emergency responders arrived, passengers were still escaping from the bus, with many exiting through the roof hatch. Twenty-six passengers were treated for their injuries, including 20 who were later hospitalized, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department. Three passengers had major injuries.

Jarryd Gonzales, a spokesman for the Diocese of Orange, told CNA that the Diocese of Orange “offers heartfelt prayers and support to the youth, families, and staff of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana who were involved in a serious bus accident.”

“We extend our deepest gratitude to the first-responder agencies for their prompt and professional response in safely evacuating passengers and ensuring they received proper medical attention,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales said about 125 people participated in the retreat, which started Friday and ended Sunday. Most left the retreat in vans, except for the one group that took the bus.

Gonzales said the diocese will continue to “provide further updates as information becomes available.”

“Until then, our entire Diocese of Orange community will keep all those affected in prayer, and we thank all for their continued support,” he said.

Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ migration committee, speaks during a press conference on Nov. 11, 2025, at the USCCB’s fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Hakim Shammo/EWTN News

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is launching an initiative called “You Are Not Alone” to focus on providing accompaniment to migrants who are at risk of being deported.

Bishop Mark Seitz, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, announced the nationwide initiative during the conference’s Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 11.

The initiative, which was inspired by similar efforts in Catholic dioceses throughout the country, will focus on four key areas: emergency and family support, accompaniment and pastoral care, communication of Church teaching, and solidarity through prayer and public witness. 

Seitz said the Catholic Church has been “accompanying newcomers to this land since before our country’s founding.” He said — in addition to spiritual and corporal works of mercy — the Church “cannot abandon our long-standing advocacy for just and meaningful reform to our immigration system.”

He said clergy will continue “proclaiming the God-given dignity of every person from the moment of conception through every stage of life until natural death,” which includes the dignity of those who migrated to the United States. 

The bishop said many dioceses have launched migrant accompaniment initiatives already.

For example, the Diocese of San Diego launched its Faithful Accompaniment in Trust & Hope (FAITH) initiative on Aug. 4. The diocese works with interfaith partners to provide spiritual accompaniment to migrants during court proceedings and throughout the court process.

Seitz reiterates opposition to ‘mass deportations’

In his address to his fellow bishops, Seitz criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for carrying out its “campaign promise of mass deportations,” which he said is “intimidating and dehumanizing the immigrants in our midst regardless of how they came to be there.”

He said the accompaniment initiative was launched because Trump’s immigration policy has created “a situation unlike anything we’ve seen previously.” He specifically referenced efforts to revoke Temporary Protected Status designations for migrants in several countries, including Venezuela and Nicaragua, and restrictions on certain visas.

“Those who lack legal status are far from the only ones impacted by this approach,” Seitz said.

He said most deportees “have no criminal convictions,” and the administration has pressured immigration enforcement “to increase the number of arrests.”

“Our immigrant brothers and sisters … are living in a deep state of fear,” Seitz said. “Many are too afraid to work, send their children to school, or avail themselves to the sacraments.”

Seitz, earlier in the day, noted that bishops are primarily pastors, and “because we’re pastors … we care about our people, and we care particularly for those who are most vulnerable and those who are most in need.”

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged the American bishops to be vocal on the dignity of migrants. In October, the pontiff met with American bishops, including Seitz, and other supporters of migrants. 

According to one person present, Dylan Corbett, the founding executive director of Hope Border Institute, Leo told the group: “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.”

The Sacred Heart of Jesus. / Credit: Unidentified painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 17:16 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2026 to accompany the country’s 250th anniversary.

At the USCCB Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, bishops voted “to entrust our nation to the love and care of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” Devoting the nation is an opportunity “to remind everyone of our task to serve our nation by perfecting the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel as taught by the Second Vatican Council,” Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, said.

“One hundred years ago, in 1925, in his encyclical instituting the feast of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI, drawing on the teaching of Pope Leo XIII, referred to the pious custom of consecrating oneself, families, and even nations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a way to recognize the kinship of Christ,” said Rhoades, who serves on an advisory board for President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission.

To help Catholics prepare for the consecration, Rhoades said the bishops will develop prayer resources, including a novena. He said they are already putting together other resources for use by dioceses, parishes, and other groups to engage Catholics.

“In his fourth and last encyclical, Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis brought devotion to the Sacred Heart to the forefront of Catholic life as the ultimate symbol of both human and divine love, calling it a wellspring of peace and unity,” said Rhoades, who has served as chair of the USCCB Committee on Religious Liberty. 

Francis “wrote of how the Sacred Heart teaches us to build up in this world God’s kingdom of love and justice. Then in his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, Pope Leo XIV, following upon Pope Francis’ teaching, invites us to contemplate Christ’s love, the love that moves us to mission in our suffering world today,” Rhoades said.

Before bishops voted to consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle asked if the bishops will include catechetical materials to guide Catholics, as the devotion “is ultimately inviting people into a deeper relationship with the very person of Jesus himself.”

Etienne said the “devotion to the Sacred Heart is such a rich devotion and almost complex.” 

Rhoades responded they “do intend to have catechetical materials,” because “there is such an abundance of beautiful teaching.” 

At the request of Bishop Arturo Cepeda of San Antonio, Rhoades said the bishops can provide the materials in various languages “to have as many of our people involved as possible.” He said the resources will also allow individuals and families to make their own consecration, as the  consecration simultaneously happens across the nation.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski proposed a celebration during the bishops’ spring meeting in Orlando, Florida, in June at the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and suggested inviting Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other officials to attend.

History of the devotion

The story behind the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus dates back to 1673. At a monastery belonging to the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in eastern France, Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque began experiencing visions of the Sacred Heart that continued for 18 months.

Sister Margaret Mary learned ways to venerate the Sacred Heart of Christ during her visions. These devotions included a Holy Hour on Thursdays, the creation of the feast of the Sacred Heart after Corpus Christi, and the reception of the Eucharist on the first Friday of every month.

On June 16, 1675, Jesus told Sister Margaret Mary to promote a feast that honored his Sacred Heart. He also gave Sister Margaret Mary 12 promises to all who venerated and promoted the devotion of the Sacred Heart.

The Vatican was first hesitant to declare a feast of the Sacred Heart. But as the devotion spread throughout France, the Vatican granted the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to France in 1765. In 1856, Blessed Pius IX designated the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart for the universal Church.