St. Mary's Church

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

Three months after a deadly shooting in Minneapolis that left two students dead and injured 18 others as well as three adults, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, along with Auxiliary Bishops Kevin Kenney and Michael Izen, said a special Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church on Dec. 6 that included a rite of reparation to restore the church for worship.

On Aug. 27, Robin Westman — who was born “Robert” and identified as a woman – shot through the stained glass windows of the church during a morning Mass filled with Annunciation school students in first through eighth grade, killing Fletcher Merkel, eight, and Harper Moyski, 10. 

Westman, who had posted anti-Christian and explicit messages on social media before the attack, then killed himself at the scene.

"Our Blessed Mother lived this faith and cooperated with God's plan for her life, despite the difficulties it would occasion,” Hebda prayed outside the building just before the Dec. 6 Mass. “We profess that our souls now will rejoin hers in proclaiming the greatness of the Lord in this church, dedicated in her honor, and now reclaimed for the glory of God."

"My brothers and sisters, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proclaims that evil and death do not have the final word; God does.”

Hebda, followed by Kenney, Izen, and the rest of the congregation, entered the church chanting the Litany of the Saints.

The altar was bare when the Mass began. Part of the rite of reparation included the prayers: "restore the sanctity of this church, dedicated to your glory and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

Other prayers included petitions to “bring healing to those who were injured” and "bring healing and comfort to those suffering the harm done to their children."

Annunciation pastor Father Dennis Zehren, along with the archbishop, sprinkled holy water throughout the church, on the altar, and on those gathered. The media was not allowed into the church during the Mass.

During his homily Hebda recalled the anointing of Annunciation Church at its establishment 40 years earlier, pointing out that inscribed outside the church are the words: “‘This is the house of God and the gate of heaven.’”

In notes of his homily provided to the media, Hebda recalled what occurred at the church on Aug. 27: “This safe haven, this place of refuge, this foretaste of the order of the heavenly kingdom, was disturbed by a chaos that no one could have imagined. It's for that chaos that we've come together to engage in this act of penance and reparation this day.”

"This community will never forget what happened that day,” he wrote, “and will forever remember with great love Harper and Fletcher, whose beautiful and inspiring lives were cut short as they and fellow students gathered for the Eucharist.”

He continued: "I've never seen such an outpouring of love and mutual support as I have witnessed here these last three months. The sorrow understandably lingers, but there's a Christ-centered resilience here that is remarkable — and praise God — it's been contagious.

"Today we gather penitentially for this rite of reparation in the hope of restoring the order that Christ desires for his Church, his family. We cannot undo the tragic loss of Fletcher and Harper, but we can communicate to the world that we recognize that the power of God is far in excess of any evil; that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.”

"We cannot let Satan win, and we, by God's grace, reclaim this space today for Christ and his Church,” the prelate said. 

El objetivo del proyecto radica en brindarle a los jóvenes “oportunidades de crecimiento, promoviendo una práctica deportiva centrada en valores”

Con el lema “Esta Navidad, seguimos organizando la esperanza”,  Cáritas Argentina presentó su campaña solidaria, que invita a la sociedad a renovar el compromiso con los más pobres.

Eduard Habsburg, archiduque de Austria, que se desempeñó como embajador de Hungría ante la Santa Sede desde 2015, describió su puesto en el Vaticano como “los mejores 10 años de mi vida”.

El Tribunal Supremo de la India admitió la impugnación presentada por los obispos católicos contra la ley de anticonversión del estado de Rajastán, señalando que viola la Constitución del país que garantiza la libertad religiosa. 

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy has declared that several parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York can remain open after Bishop Michael Fisher ordered their closure amid a diocesan-wide renewal plan. 

Save Our Buffalo Churches, which has advocated against church closure proposals in the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” plan, said in a Dec. 8 Facebook post that the Vatican has revoked the closures of three parishes since November, with a fourth parish receiving a temporary reprieve from the diocese itself. 

The closures and mergers of Our Lady of Peace Parish and Holy Apostles Parish have been revoked by the dicastery, the group said. 

As well, the Vatican said it will also examine the “asset appropriation” levied by the diocese against those parishes. The group confirmed to CNA on Dec. 9 that those appropriations, if collected, are meant to help fund the diocese’s ongoing bankruptcy settlement for clergy abuse victims.  

The bishop also revoked the merger of Our Lady of Bistrica Parish with other parishes. The diocese had discovered a “procedural error” in the merger decree that invalidated the directive, leading the bishop to revoke the merger directly.  The diocese has reportedly “promised to issue a new merger decree” as a result, with the parish “ready for that challenge.” 

The favorable rulings come from the Vatican after more than a year of effort from parish advocates to halt the closures and mergers. The dispute reached the New York Supreme Court earlier this year, which in July issued a halt on the parish payments into the diocese’s abuse settlement fund amid parishioner objections. 

The high court in September ultimately allowed the payments to proceed, pointing to a long-standing prohibition against “court involvement in the governance and administration of a hierarchical church.”

The Vatican’s orders follow a similar order from the Holy See in November which allowed Saint Bernadette Church in Orchard Park to remain open. The diocese had planned to merge that parish with Saints Peter & Paul Church in Hamburg. 

The announcement follows Fisher’s decision in November to revoke a 2024 decree forbidding parishioners from using parishes as planning spaces to work against the proposed mergers. 

Fisher said he was ending that policy after meetings with Vatican officials in October. “Based on our conversation, it is clear to me now that this policy is too restrictive of the rights of the faithful,” the bishop said of those talks at the Holy See. 

In November, Save Our Buffalo Parishes joined several other groups to petition the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to donate financial resources to their preservation efforts. 

Group leader Mary Pruski told CNA that the effort would “bring much peace and healing across [New York state].”

Advocates in dioceses around the country have petitioned, sometimes successfully, against church closures in recent years, including in Maryland, Missouri and Wisconsin. 

Bishops have instituted such closures amid sharply declining parish attendance and skyrocketing maintenance costs at aging buildings. 

El próximo miércoles 17 de diciembre se cumplen 89 años del nacimiento del Papa Francisco y la Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Merced, en Buenos Aires, será escenario de un concierto de música sacra dedicado al pontífice argentino. 

La obra de referencia que recoge la organización completa de la Iglesia católica estará disponible por primera vez también a través del ordenador o del teléfono móvil. 

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent who oversaw the Virginia office responsible for a highly controversial investigation into local Catholics will lead the state’s safety office under its new Democratic governor. 

Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger nominated Stanley Meador as the next Virginia secretary for public safety and homeland security, according to a December announcement.

Meador has served in several roles in the FBI, including in field offices in Seattle and Las Vegas, as well as at the bureau headquarters in Washington. 

In 2021 he became special agent in charge at the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia field office, where he served until June 2025. In 2023 that office issued a memo to agents launching an investigation into “radical traditionalist” Catholics and their possible ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.” 

That memo touched off a years-long controversy over the FBI’s investigation into Catholics, including reports that at least one federal agent allegedly went undercover to investigate traditional Catholic communities. 

Multiple state attorneys general called for an investigation into the FBI over the memo, while Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout described the investigation as a “threat to religious liberty.” White nationalism directly conflicts with Catholic principles of human dignity, solidarity, justice, and the common good. 

Spanberger in announcing the nomination said Meador possesses the “expertise necessary to protect our citizens” and claimed he will “make sure Virginia is a place where every Virginian can safely thrive.”

CatholicVote National Political Director Logan Church, meanwhile, described Spanberger’s nomination of Meador as an “endorsement” of the FBI’s controversial investigation. 

“It tells every Catholic in America that violating our civil liberties isn’t a problem, it’s a pathway to advancement,” Church said in a statement, describing the investigation itself as a “disgraceful operation.” 

The FBI retracted the memo in 2023 after it became public knowledge, though years of investigations have followed the revelation. 

In September 2025 FBI Director Kash Patel said in a U.S. Senate hearing that there had been “terminations” and “resignations” of employees related to the investigation. 

The House Judiciary Committee in July, meanwhile, revealed that the Richmond FBI office spied on a priest because he refused to discuss private conversations he had with a parishioner who was converting to Catholicism.

In 2024 the Department of Justice concluded that the bureau “failed to adhere to FBI standards” when launching the investigation but allegedly showed no evidence of “malicious intent” in doing so.

La Federación Europea One Of Us, compuesta por 50 ONG provida que protegen la dignidad humana en las políticas europeas, advierte del riesgo de que exista un “turismo del aborto” financiado por la Unión Europea.