The Catholic Church in East Saint James Parish

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2025 / 16:57 pm (CNA).

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is investigating reports that a local public school facilitated and funded abortion procedures for minors without informing the parents.

Staff at Centreville High School, part of the Fairfax County Public Schools district, arranged abortions for two pregnant high school girls in 2021, according to a report by Walter Curt Dispatch Investigations from earlier this month.

Youngkin said in a press release on Wednesday that he is “deeply concerned with the allegations” and is opening “a full criminal investigation into this matter immediately.”

According to the investigative report, one of the girls, who was 17 years old at the time, had an abortion after a school official brought her to the abortion facility.

The other girl, who was five months pregnant, ran from the clinic after a social worker brought her there and allegedly told her she “had no other choice.”

Virginia has a parental-notification law for abortion procedures. Virginia code requires a physician to certify that at least one parent has been notified before performing an abortion on a minor. While there are exceptions if a minor obtains a judicial bypass, investigator Walter Curt said that “no bypasses appear in either case file” that was provided to him.

The girls also alleged that the principal knew about the abortions and used school funds to pay for them.

“Reports allege school officials may have arranged and paid for abortions for multiple minors without parental notification,” read the Aug. 13 press release. “Reports also indicate that the school administration may have known this was happening, and that school funding may have been used, which could include local, state, and federal funds.”

Fairfax County Public Schools said in a statement earlier this month that it is “launching an immediate and comprehensive investigation” into the reports.

A handwritten note from an 11th-grade ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) student, translated by the investigators, said the abortion took place in November 2021, when she was 17.

“Last year I went to see social worker Carolina Diaz. She helped me with the termination of my pregnancy — that is, an abortion,” the girl wrote in a note dated Nov. 19, 2022.

The social worker, the girl said, “scheduled the appointment for me at the abortion clinic in Fairfax, paid the costs of that medical procedure, and kept everything quiet without informing my family.” 

The school addressed the claims in a statement, saying they recently learned of the allegations, though Walter Curt Dispatch Investigations said in a follow-up report that school officials “have been aware for months.”

Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose commented on the investigation in a post on social media, calling the situation “horrific.”

“Every person involved must be held accountable,” she said in a Thursday post on X.

The Cathedral of St. Paul in Birmingham, Alabama. / Credit: R. Wellen Photography/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2025 / 12:42 pm (CNA).

A high-ranking priest in the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama is on leave amid allegations that years ago, he began a relationship with a young woman who was a minor at the time.

Vicar General Father Robert Sullivan, 61, went on a personal leave of absence on Aug. 4, according to an Aug. 13 letter from Bishop Steven Raica obtained by CNA.

In his letter, Raica said that per internal policy, the diocese did not initially provide a public reason for Sullivan’s leave. But the bishop said an Aug. 13 report in the Guardian made it “necessary and appropriate” to clarify why the priest had left his post.

The Guardian report alleged that Sullivan reportedly “traded financial support for ‘private companionship’” with a woman, Heather Jones, now 33, “including sex, beginning when she was 17.”

Raica confirmed that the diocese had received the allegation, describing it as a report of “a relationship that began when the woman reporting the allegation may have been under the age of 18.”

The diocese reported the allegation to the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the bishop said, though that agency found that it did not merit a state-led investigation. The age of consent for sexual activity is 16 in Alabama.

The diocese, however, opened its own investigation. Since the early 2000s, in response to the global clerical abuse scandal, the Church has classified individuals under 18 as minors and deemed any sexual contact with them as abusive.

The allegations have been provided to the diocesan review board, Raica said. A report is also being developed for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to Vatican protocol.

Sullivan is currently “removed from all priestly service” while the investigation continues, the bishop said. 

“We do not know the time frame for completion of the work of the dicastery in Rome nor of that which will be further required within our diocese,” he said. 

Raica said it was “not [his] intention” to disclose the information of the allegation prior to the results of the investigation. 

“[T]he initial work of any investigation does not lend itself to a definitive determination,” he said, “and anyone accused in the Church possesses a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise, equivalent to the right granted in civil law.”

The bishop asked for “continued prayers for all involved” and called for strict adherence to diocesan youth safety guidelines. 

In its Aug. 13 report, the Guardian said Jones came forward with the claims because Sullivan, as pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Homewood, Alabama, “had continued working closely with families and their children,” leaving her “fearful that ‘others may be vulnerable to the same type of manipulation and exploitation.’”

The paper said Jones alleged that Sullivan met her when she was 17 years old while working at an “adult establishment” he allegedly visited regularly and that the priest took her “shopping, dining, drinking,” and to hotels for sex.

Jones alleged that Sullivan and his attorney “eventually had her sign a nondisclosure agreement in return for $273,000,” the paper said. 

She also allegedly received around $120,000 from “a Venmo account under Sullivan’s name,” according to the Guardian.

A parish bookkeeper in Lincroft, New Jersey, is alleged to have stolen more than $1.5 million in a lawsuit filed by the Church of St. Leo the Great. / Credit: Neal Bryant/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2025 / 10:53 am (CNA).

A New Jersey church is alleging in a lawsuit that its bookkeeper stole more than a million dollars over several years and spent it on personal items including wedding expenses and cigars. 

The Church of St. Leo the Great in Lincroft, New Jersey, said in the Aug. 8 filing that its former finance director, Joseph Manzi, “systematically, secretly, and dishonestly utilized parish funds for his own personal benefit.”

The total amount that Manzi allegedly stole “appears to exceed $1,500,000,” the parish said. He has “not reimbursed St. Leo’s” for any of the alleged stolen funds, according to the lawsuit.

Manzi was hired at the parish in 2014 and was fired from that position on June 26, the suit says. The filing does not disclose why he was fired, but it said an auditor discovered financial irregularities in the parish accounts on July 31, several weeks after Manzi was dismissed. 

A subsequent investigation allegedly uncovered more than six years of financial malfeasance by Manzi, including using parish funds “to pay for tickets to sporting events; personal vehicles, construction projects on his personal home; landscaping, gift cards; expenses related to his daughter’s wedding; his own personal taxes; meals and cigars,” and other things.

His alleged use of parish funds constituted “widespread fraud and theft,” the parish said, alleging that the bookkeeper diverted funds to fraudulent accounts and utilized automatic payments from the church to cover personal expenses.

The lawsuit is seeking financial damages from Manzi, including the return of his compensation during his employment at the parish. It is also seeking a “constructive trust” over Manzi’s home in Atlantic Highlands, with the parish alleging that the home’s mortgage and repairs were financed with funds stolen from the parish.

On its website, the parish said it had reported the alleged crimes to local and state law enforcement while pursuing the civil lawsuit.

On Aug. 13, meanwhile, the Diocese of Trenton said in a statement that it is cooperating with law enforcement and that its own investigation had “confirmed a basis” for the allegations.

null / Credit: Photo Spirit/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A recent study has found an increase in the number of Americans Catholics leaving the Church. To combat the issue, the study’s authors suggest creating stronger community ties among Catholics, especially among children. 

Michael Rota, philosophy professor at the University of St. Thomas, and Stephen Bullivant, theology and sociology professor at St. Mary’s University, conducted the study examining the decline in religious practice among Catholic-born Americans using data from the General Social Survey (GSS). 

The GSS has asked a large representative sample of Americans a number of questions about religion for the past 50 years, which Rota and Bullivant analyzed to write “Religious Transmission: A Solution to the Church’s Biggest Problem,” published by Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal.

The data revealed that in 1973, 84% of the participants raised Catholic still identified as Catholic when surveyed as adults, but in 2002 it was 74%. By 2022, it had dropped to 62%. 

In 1973, about 34% of participants raised Catholic were attending Mass weekly (or more often) when they were adults. By 2002, the number had fallen to 20%, and in 2022 it had fallen to 11%. 

The study reported the Church is losing 9 out of 10 cradle Catholics, and most are becoming religiously unaffiliated.

Overall, there has been a decline in the number of Americans who prioritize faith. In 2013, 72% of Americans considered religion to be the most important thing in their lives, or among many important things, but in 2023, only 53% said the same.

These declines are due to “weaker social connections among Catholics, the ‘values gap’ between Catholic morality and mainstream American morality, and the internet and smartphones,” Rota told “EWTN News Nightly” in an Aug. 13 interview. 

“Before the 1950s, the average Catholic youth would have looked around in their social circle and seen a lot of consensus about faith [and] about the importance of worshipping God in some religion or denomination,” Rota said. “Today, it’s not like that.”

Young Catholics are “much more likely to have many non-Catholic friends, probably non-Catholic family members. In the culture at large, there’s many anti-Catholic and anti-religious voices. So that puts pressure on youth as they grow up.”

Rota explained “the values gap” is a problem because “in the 1930s Catholic morality and mainstream American morality were very close. Now, on issues relating to sexuality, marriage, life issues, they’re quite opposed.”

The last issue the researchers looked at is the changes the internet has caused. Rota said: “When the internet hit the scene, in the late ’90s, we [saw] a huge spike in the percentage of youth who don’t identify with any religion.” 

“Human beings are socialized by their families, their close social network, but also by the culture that they’re in. And what the internet and smartphones have done is change the balance of what’s doing more work.”

Americans, especially children, need more Catholic community. It has become harder to find community since “today ... our neighbors are more heterogeneous in terms of religion,” but “parents need to intentionally seek out close relationships with other Catholics and put their children in situations where they make friendships with other Catholics.”

There also needs to be “more religious activity,” Rota said. “Just going to Sunday Mass and leaving … doesn’t work anymore for handing on the faith to our children, because the wider culture will no longer guide them back to faith. Rather, it’s more likely to take them away.”

To help “cradle Catholic youth retain their Catholic identity as they grow into adulthood,” Rota suggested that both parents share the same religion and that parents and children are religiously active. He said it is important for children to see that faith makes a difference in everyday life and that kids have both faith-supportive peers and adult mentors who are not their parents.

Parents should find “a vibrant parish or a Catholic lane movement, where they can walk the life of discipleship in fellowship,” he said.

Religious sisters show their support for the Little Sisters of the Poor outside the Supreme Court, where oral arguments were heard on March 23, 2016, in the Zubik v. Burwell case against the HHS mandate. / Credit: CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 13, 2025 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

A federal court has ruled against the Little Sisters of the Poor in their long-running legal dispute over government contraception mandates, dealing a blow to the religious order of sisters even after multiple court victories, including at the Supreme Court.

The legal advocacy group Becket said on Aug. 13 that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in favor of both New Jersey and Pennsylvania in finding that the federal government had not followed protocol when issuing exemptions to contraceptive requirements, including for the Little Sisters.

The district court said that a set of religious exemptions granted by the federal government during the first Trump administration were “arbitrary [and] capricious” and failed to adhere to the requirements of the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

The court has vacated those exemptions “in their entirety,” the Aug. 13 ruling said.

Diana Thomson, a senior attorney with Becket, told CNA that the case is the same one that saw the Little Sisters win a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020 when a majority of the court’s justices said the exemptions to the contraceptive mandate were legal.

She described the procedural questions in the Aug. 13 ruling as “cutting-floor arguments” that the states had largely ignored several years ago.

“Instead of dropping the case, Pennsylvania and New Jersey revitalized their cutting-floor arguments that they chose not to pursue at the Supreme Court last time and brought them in the district court,” she said.

The district court accepted those arguments “even though the Supreme Court already blessed the rules,” Thomson said.

The court is “trying to find a loophole” to the 2020 Supreme Court ruling, she said.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania had brought the lawsuit against multiple federal agencies and officials, though the Little Sisters of the Poor were attached to the lawsuit as “defendant-intervenors.”

The sisters will appeal the ruling, Thomson said.

“I assume the Trump administration will appeal also,” she said. “But the Little Sisters’ appeal is already on file.”

“We will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” she said.

In a separate statement, Mark Rienzi, the president of Becket and the lead attorney for the Little Sisters, said it was “bad enough that the district court issued a nationwide ruling invalidating federal religious conscience rules.”

“But even worse is that the district court simply ducked the glaring constitutional issues in this case after waiting five years and not even holding a hearing,” he argued.

“It is absurd to think the Little Sisters might need yet another trip to the Supreme Court to end what has now been more than a dozen years of litigation over the same issue,” he said, adding: “We will fight as far as we need to fight to protect the Little Sisters’ right to care for the elderly in peace.”

A vandalized statue of Mary, the Mother of God, at St. Leo Parish in Hartford, Arkansas, in July 2024. / Credit: Father Joseph Chan

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 13, 2025 / 15:49 pm (CNA).

A report published by the Family Research Council (FRC) documented more than 400 cases of “acts of hostility” against Catholic and other Christian churches in the U.S. in 2024.

The report, published on Aug. 11, found 415 incidents, which included 284 acts of vandalism, 55 cases of arson, 28 gun-related incidents, 14 bomb threats, and 47 other hostile acts.

In every month, there were at least 20 hostile acts against churches, with the highest numbers occurring in June with 49 incidents and February with 45 incidents. The average was 35 incidents per month.

This is a slight downtick from FRC’s 2023 numbers, when the evangelical nonprofit found 485 incidents. Yet, the number is still significantly higher than in previous years: 198 in 2022, 98 in 2021, 55 in 2020, 83 in 2019, and 50 in 2018, the year FRC began tracking hostile incidents.

Neither the perpetrator nor the motive is clear for most incidents, according to FRC. The report notes that some acts appeared to have been motivated by hatred toward Christianity, some by financial gain, and others seemed like they were perpetrated by teenagers “engaging in a destructive pastime.”

There was only one instance in which a pro-abortion motive was found, which is much lower than in 2022, when at least 59 hostile acts were motivated by the perpetrator’s support for abortion. The spike that year is likely related to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The pro-abortion vandalism occurred at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon, where the vandal defaced a church building with the phrase: “[expletive] you, my body my choice.”

Arielle Del Turco, the director of FRC’s Center for Religious Liberty, said in a statement that “no instance of vandalism or other crimes against churches is acceptable, and political leaders should be quick to condemn such actions and affirm the importance of religious freedom.”

“Religious freedom does not rely on legal protections alone but also on cultural support,” she added. “We must bolster cultural support for religious freedom and respect for our Christian heritage.”

According to the report, there were also 33 instances in which the perpetrator targeted churches because the church embraced “LGBT” pride, which mostly came in the form of stealing the pride flags.

One of the hostile acts documented against Catholic churches was an incident in South San Francisco, California, in January. A man fired gunshots toward St. Augustine Catholic Church, but no one was injured in the attack.

In another incident, a person desecrated a processional crucifix and a statue of the Blessed Mother in a Georgetown University chapel. St. Leo Church in Hartford, Arkansas, was attacked once in 2023 and twice in 2024, which included a vandal destroying statues. Another vandal decapitated a statue of Jesus Christ at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Fresh Meadows, New York.

At St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a person discarded about 100 Communion wafers in the church parking lot during an Easter Mass. The priest said at the time that he believed they were likely not consecrated.

FRC President Tony Perkins, a former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said in a statement the report “clearly shows religious freedom faces substantial threats here at home.”

“Religious freedom is seldom handed to the passive; it is claimed by those who exercise it even when a hostile culture says they may not,” Perkins said.

The report notes that the federal government has grown aware of anti-Christian sentiments within American society, with President Donald Trump signing an executive order to create a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias within federal government policies, regulations, and practices.

“The American woke Left has been intentional in spreading its hostility toward the Christian faith throughout every corner of America,” Perkins said. “We applaud the efforts of the Trump administration, but efforts must be taken at every level of government to protect and promote this fundamental human right.”

“Christians must expect and demand more from their government leaders when it comes to prosecuting and preventing criminal acts targeting religious freedom,” he added.

California, which is the country’s most populous state, recorded 40 hostile acts, which were more than any other state. The second-highest number occurred in Pennsylvania with 29, followed by Florida and New York with 25 each, Texas with 23, and Tennessee and Ohio with 19 each.

null / Credit: Carl DMaster/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 13, 2025 / 14:49 pm (CNA).

A coalition of 22 attorneys general — all Republican — led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, has called on the Trump administration to reinstate safety protocols for the abortion drug mifepristone, citing severe risks to women’s health. 

In a letter addressed to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary, the attorneys general urge Kennedy and Makary to restore safeguards removed by the Obama and Biden administrations or consider withdrawing the drug from the market.

The letter references a study published in April by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. The EPPC study claims mifepristone causes many more serious adverse events, including hemorrhage, sepsis, emergency room visits, and ectopic pregnancy, than stated on the drug’s label, which shows a less than .5% rate of adverse events.

“Recent comprehensive studies of the real-world effects of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone report that serious adverse events occur 22 times more often than stated on the drug’s label, while the drug is less than half as effective as claimed. These facts directly contradict the drug’s primary marketing message of ‘safe’ and ‘effective,’” the letter states.

The study, which examined 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023, is the largest known study of the abortion pill. It found that 11% of women “experience at least one serious adverse event or repeated abortion attempt within 45 days of first attempting a mifepristone abortion.”

The attorneys general argue that the FDA should reinstate safety protocols from the 2011 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, which required in-person prescriptions and provider follow-ups but were later relaxed by the Biden administration.

“The FDA’s removal of these crucial safety protocols in 2016 (and in 2023) that only five years before the FDA considered necessary begs the question of whether the removal was motivated by considerations other than the safety of patients,” the attorneys general wrote. “The current FDA’s dedication to the health and well-being of all Americans is encouraging, as is the much-needed review of mifepristone that Secretary Kennedy has promised.” 

The letter continues: “Currently, a woman can obtain a mifepristone abortion by participating in only one telehealth visit with any approved health care provider (not necessarily a physician), ordering the drugs through a mail-order pharmacy, and self-administering them. And the prescriber is only required to report an adverse event if he or she becomes aware that the patient has died.”

This push follows similar urging by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who, echoing the same EPPC findings, introduced the Restoring Safeguards for Dangerous Abortion Drugs Act in May. 

The bill would direct the FDA to create safeguards on mifepristone. It would also give women who have suffered complications from mifepristone the right to file lawsuits against telehealth providers and pharmacies. It would also prohibit foreign companies from importing and shipping the drug into the U.S.

Hawley urged immediate action to restore safety measures, and like the attorneys general, warned that without such measures, the FDA should consider removing mifepristone until the agency completes a thorough review.

When Hawley asked Kennedy if he was familiar with the study during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in May, Kennedy said he was. “It’s alarming, and clearly it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy also “pledged to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the drug,” Hawley said.

Also in May, a coalition of more than 100 pro-life groups, including various Catholic organizations, called for HHS to review the drug’s safety and restore previous federal safety regulations in light of the EPPC study.

Makary previously stated he had no plans to alter mifepristone policies unless data indicated a safety issue. The FDA, which first approved mifepristone in 2000 after a “thorough and comprehensive review,” maintains that periodic evaluations have not identified new safety concerns.

Mifepristone, used with misoprostol to terminate early pregnancies, accounted for 63% of U.S. abortions in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The number of actual abortions might be higher due to underreporting, according to the organization, which was affiliated with Planned Parenthood until 2007.

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to mifepristone’s availability in 2024, declining to rule on the legality of relaxed regulations under the Obama and Biden administrations.

Mary Rice Hasson has been a three-time keynote speaker for the Vatican at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. She currently serves as the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and is a graduate of Notre Dame Law School. / Credit: Rui Barros Photography

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 13, 2025 / 14:14 pm (CNA).

Catholic researcher and speaker Mary Rice Hasson will receive the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from Pope Leo XIV, a papal honor recognizing distinguished service to the Catholic Church.

“I’m truly humbled and grateful to receive this honor from Pope Leo XIV, who reminds us that faith lies at the heart of our mission,” Hasson said in a statement. “It’s an honor to serve the Church.” 

The Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (“For the Church and the Pontiff”), first established by Pope Leo XIII in 1888, is a decoration of the Holy See conferred for dedication to the Church by laypeople and clergy.

It was originally bestowed on men and women who promoted the jubilee and assisted in making the Vatican Exposition successful.

“I’m blessed to be able to integrate my faith and work in a way that serves the Church, and to work alongside so many others with similar commitments,” Hasson told CNA. 

“My personal inspiration, and the touchstone for my service to the Church, comes from Pope St. John Paul II who wrote (in Christifideles Laici) that women have been entrusted with ‘assuring the moral dimension of culture.’”

Hasson is currently a Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and serves as director and co-founder of its Person and Identity Project, an initiative that assists the Church “in promoting the Catholic vision of the human person and responding to the challenges of gender ideology.”

She is also a visiting fellow for the Veritas Center at Franciscan University, an attorney, and a policy expert. Hasson has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women three times and is a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for its Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth and Committee on Religious Liberty.

The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, announced that Bishop Michael Burbidge will formally grant the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice to Hasson and fellow honorees at a private ceremony in September.

The diocese reported it “rejoices that our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV has bestowed papal honors on 50 members of the diocesan faithful, concluding our 50th anniversary golden jubilee.”

Hasson is one of 10 people who will receive the cross, and another 40 will receive the Benemerenti Medal, another papal award that was established by Pope Pius VI.

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CNA Staff, Aug 13, 2025 / 11:42 am (CNA).

A federal appeals court this week ruled that the state of Arkansas is allowed to ban “gender transition” procedures for minors, reversing a lower court’s decision that blocked the law from taking effect.

The state has a “compelling interest” in “protecting the physical and psychological health of minors,” the Aug. 12 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit held.

Arkansas passed the law in 2021, with the state Legislature voting to override then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto. The measure, titled the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act, prohibits a “physician or other health care professional” from providing “gender transition procedures to any individual” under 18 years old.

A federal district judge struck the law down in 2023, claiming it violated the constitutional rights of children who believe they are the opposite sex and who seek to alter their bodies to align with that conviction.

In its ruling this week the appeals court said the Arkansas law “regulates a class of procedures, not people.” It noted that the Supreme Court “leaves wide discretion for medical legislation to the more politically accountable bodies, especially in areas of medical uncertainty.”

Parents, meanwhile, “do not have unlimited authority to make medical decisions for their children,” the court said, citing Supreme Court precedent. 

The court said it did not find a “deeply rooted right of parents to exempt their children from regulations reasonably prohibiting gender transition procedures.”

In a statement after the ruling, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said he “applaud[ed] the court’s decision recognizing that Arkansas has a compelling interest in protecting the physical and psychological health of children.”

Griffin said he was “pleased that children in Arkansas will be protected from risky, experimental procedures with lifelong consequences.”

The ruling comes weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on performing transgender procedures on minors.

The appeals court ruling this week heavily cited that June ruling from the high court. In that decision, Chief Justice John Robert said the Supreme Court “leaves [the] question” of banning such procedures “to the people’s representatives.”

Justice Elena Kagan, on the other hand, argued that the Tennessee law “undermines fundamental liberties and sets a dangerous precedent for state overreach.”

The court rulings come amid a broader public shift regarding transgender policy. 

Several children’s hospitals across the country that have performed transgender surgeries on minors have halted the procedures in response to President Donald Trump’s executive actions and his administration’s regulatory changes regarding the controversial medical practice. 

Trump in January also signed an executive order to end “radical gender ideology” in the military, reversing former President Joe Biden’s directive that allowed soldiers who identify as transgender to serve in the armed forces.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, published last year, found that more than 3% of U.S. high schoolers identify as transgender.

The Catholic University of America. / Credit: Mehdi Kasumov/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 12, 2025 / 17:07 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of some of the latest Catholic education news:

Catholic University Press will exclusively publish Pope Leo XIV’s doctoral dissertation

The Catholic University of America has secured exclusive English-language editorial rights to Pope Leo XIV’s doctoral dissertation, “The Office and Authority of the Local Prior in the Order of St. Augustine.”

The book will be available in print and Kindle editions in October, according to an Aug. 11 press release, with a foreword by Dominican Father Thomas Joseph White, rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, also known as the Angelicum, where the Holy Father defended his dissertation in 1987.

“While the future pontiff’s dissertation focuses on the role of the prior as the local superior in the Augustinians, his insights as a young priest in areas such as Church authority, the spiritual life following the way of St. Augustine, and the mission of the priesthood are of interest as they relate to contemporary Church leadership and Church life,” the press release states.

Catholic high school in St. Louis playing ‘the long game’ to help rebuild city

Administrators at St. Mary’s South Side Catholic High School are playing “the long game” to help revitalize St. Louis, and their neighborhood of Dutchtown, with the launch of a new HVAC and plumbing internship program for seniors.

“We believe in what our neighborhood and city can be, and we are all in on doing the work,” the school’s president, Mike England, said at an Aug. 12 press conference, according to the St. Louis Review. “There are no quick fixes. This is the long game, but each day, we will work to move the needle in a positive way to better support our young men, our families, and our community through our Catholic values and teaching.” This comes after the school bought its Dutchtown campus from the Archdiocese of St. Louis last month.

Bishop Conley announces rollout of new theology curriculum for high school freshmen 

In a video posted to social media on Wednesday, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, announced a new theology curriculum for high school freshmen that will be implemented across the diocese’s six high schools.

The new curriculum, which he said the diocese has been working on for the past four years, will be rolled out this upcoming school year and will eventually be built out for sophomores, juniors, and seniors over the next four years. 

“We hope to be able to put together a beautiful curriculum that integrates all of our subjects and is historically aligned and gives us this coherent and integrated view of the world and how everything fits together and is connected in a beautiful whole education,” Conley said. 

Gonzaga teams up with Catholic Charities to launch small local business program 

Gonzaga University has partnered with Catholic Charities Eastern Washington to launch a new entrepreneurship program for low-income families to help grow their own small businesses, according to a local report.

The Spokane Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Network “will offer hands-on training, mentorship, and consulting to aspiring entrepreneurs, with a focus on small-scale businesses like housekeeping, pet care, skilled trades, and landscaping,” according to the report.

Baltimore, Milwaukee Catholic colleges band together to address teacher shortage

Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore and Mount Mary University in Milwaukee are partnering to counteract staffing shortages by working to boost the number of students obtaining advanced degrees, according to the Catholic Review.

The partnership will allow Mount Mary master’s students to transfer to one of Notre Dame of Maryland’s two online doctorate in education programs, allowing students to transfer up to 12 credits from their master’s programs, saving both time and money. The university’s presidents celebrated the partnership in a signing ceremony on Aug. 1.