St. Mary's Church

CNA Staff, Nov 13, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

According to a new survey, engagement among U.S. adults who identify as Catholic is strong, especially among the youngest adults, and there is growing trust in the Church after the fallout of the clergy sexual abuse crisis of the early 2000s.

In July, Leadership Roundtable commissioned a polling firm to conduct a national survey of Catholics in the U.S. in order to inform Church leaders of problems as well as strengths within the Catholic Church since the sexual abuse crisis came to national attention in 2002 and the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was composed to address it.

Researchers composed a 72-question survey and divided respondents into three groups: the Faithful (1,541 respondents), the Occasional (472 respondents), and the Disengaged (1,020). The Faithful said they attend Mass at least monthly, the Occasional said they go a few times a year, and the Disengaged said they go “seldom” or “never.”

Although the Catholic Church in the U.S. has shrunk from 65 million to 50 million people in the more than two decades since the sexual abuse crisis and engagement is “at an all-time low,” the survey’s findings are cause for hope, the authors say.

In a reversal from the organization’s 2003 survey, adults between the ages of 18–29 are now the most likely group (84%) to attend Mass regularly and to be active in their parishes in addition to Mass (attending Eucharistic adoration, social events, and confession), the survey found. 

The group’s 2003 survey of 1,004 Catholics found that Mass attendance increased with age. The 2025 survey found the opposite to be true: Two-thirds of young adults (65%) said they attend Mass at least monthly now, compared with 43% of adults aged 45–64 and 42% of those over 65 years old. In 2003, 83% of adults 45–64 and 85% of those over 65 attended monthly. 

Trust in the Church

The survey found that Catholics trust their pastor and other parish staff more than they trust the Church as an institution. 

Nearly 80% of respondents said they trust parish staff and volunteers to protect children, and 77% said they trust their pastor and other clergy. 

“Building a transparent and accountable leadership culture” was one of the highest priorities across all age groups, according to the survey. For 77% of respondents, it was among their top two priorities, with 45% giving it the highest possible rating of “extremely important.”

In 2003, 70% of respondents said they had high confidence in their bishops as doctrinal authorities but low confidence in them (44%) as listeners of the opinions of laity or parish priests.

That low confidence has not changed much in two decades. In the recent survey, just 49% said they think their bishops involve the laity in solving Church issues. Fewer, 47%, believe bishops “lead with financial transparency,” and 45% worry that their donations will go to paying legal fees and abuse settlements.

Catholics who donate regularly to their parishes (61%) say they would give more if they thought the Church was more transparent about financial matters. Nearly three-quarters of them (72%) said they would give less if there was a scandal in their parish or diocese. 

Of Catholics who go to Mass sometimes, 58% donate financially to their parish at least once a year. Of the 42% who never give, 39% cited a lack of financial transparency as their reason.

Regarding education, of U.S. Catholics whose parishes have a parish school, only 53% said they think the school is thriving. This was the lowest rating of all youth formation activities surveyed.  

According to its website, Leadership Roundtable, founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, is a nonprofit organization composed of clergy, laity, and religious “working together to promote best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications, and human resource development of the Catholic Church in the U.S., including greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity.”

El Papa León XIV instó a desarrollar políticas que protejan la dignidad de los niños y adolescentes en la era de la Inteligencia Artificial.

El matrimonio se casó el 31 de agosto del 2024 y el IOR les despidió un mes después, el 2 de octubre

National Catholic Register, Nov 13, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

In April 1912, Mother Frances Cabrini was in Italy with her sisters. Her plans were to visit her foundations in France, Spain, and England before sailing back to the United States in mid-April to continue work in New York City. Her sisters in England were eagerly awaiting this visit from their 62-year-old founder and superior. To help make her journey back to the U.S. more comfortable, they bought her a ticket and booked passage on a new ocean liner, the RMS Titanic.

Although an intrepid traveler who would eventually make 24 transatlantic crossings to establish her foundation, hospitals, and orphanages, Mother Cabrini was not a fan of ocean voyages since she had almost drowned as a child.

While the sisters in England waited, word got to Mother Cabrini that there was trouble at the Columbus Hospital she had established in New York. It was overflowing and there was urgent business to settle connected to a new expansion. She could not wait. She had to get back to raise desperately needed money to proceed with the project. So she changed her plans and left early, sailing from Naples, disappointing the sisters in England who had booked her passage on the Titanic.

The prefix “RMS” in “RMS Titanic” stood for “Royal Mail Ship” because it would also carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail — an important bit of context for something she wrote in a May 5, 1912, letter to a Sister Gesuina Dotti:

“Only two of your letters I have received so far, and if you have sent five, then it must be said that it went down into the depths with the Titanic. If I was going to London, I might have left with it, but Divine Providence, which is constantly watching, did not allow it. God be blessed.”

Another close call at sea

This was not Frances Cabrini’s only miss with an iceberg.

In 1890, on her second trip to New York, she was among 1,000 passengers on a ship called La Normandie. The seas were very heavy one night and most skipped dinner and stayed in their cabins — except Mother Cabrini and five other souls. She knew of the dangerous situation and back in the cabin remained ready to save her sisters and herself if the call came to go to the lifeboats. She would later report that “the Good Lord … lulled us all to sleep on a great seesaw, rocking us back and forth.”

But that was only the beginning. As the storm raged on the next day, she braved going on deck, finding a chair in a relatively safe place, and continued writing a letter. In it, she wrote:

“You should see how beautiful the sea is in its great movement, how it swells and foams! It is truly a marvel! … If you were all here with me, daughters, crossing this immense ocean, you would exclaim, ‘Oh how great and wonderful is God in his works!’”

Now that is enlightenment from someone who did not like sailing one bit. Maybe because two days earlier she had, as told in an article about her, “compared the tranquility of the sea to the joy experienced by a soul abiding in the peace of God’s grace. No matter what the circumstances, she was able to see the love of Jesus shining through.”

That was not all on this trip.

Next, around midnight, “we felt a strong jolt and the ship stopped suddenly,” she would write about one such event after another on this journey. She and her sisters dressed and readied to board lifeboats if necessary. The trouble turned out to be something wrong with the engine. At that point “the sea became calm and beautiful” and the ship remained practically motionless until the engine was fixed by the morning and the ship was again able to continue. The breakdown caused an 11-hour delay — a delay that likely saved the ship and passengers from a disaster.

Two days later, Mother Cabrini said, “toward 11 we saw ourselves surrounded by icebergs on every part of the horizon … they were about 12 times the size of our ship.” The captain reduced the ship’s speed to weave slowly and carefully through the ice field to avoid colliding with the “immense, jagged fortresses.”

A story recorded at her shrine described it this way: “Mother Cabrini noted that though they had complained when the engine broke, the crisis was a great grace. Without that delay, the ship’s encounter with the icebergs would have occurred in the dark, most likely with dire consequences.”

‘Supported by my Beloved’

Then there was the time the train she was riding from one orphanage to another was shot at outside of Dallas by enemies of the railroad. She remained unruffled and recounted later how one bullet “aimed at my head fell to my side, while it should have pierced my cranium.” When those aboard were aghast about her escape, she told them: “It was the Sacred Heart to whom I had entrusted the journey.”

Shortly after this incident, she wrote a letter stating: “Didn’t I write and tell you that I am alive miraculously?”

From the Titanic to La Normandie to Dallas, there was no question about divine providence in Mother Cabrini’s life. As she would write: “Supported by my Beloved, none of these adversities can shake me. But if I trust in myself, I will fall.” And: “In whatever difficulty I may encounter I want to trust in the goodness of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who will never abandon me.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Cada 13 de noviembre la Iglesia celebra a una religiosa excepcional, cuya vida estuvo consagrada al servicio de los inmigrantes, esto es, de aquellos que dejaron atrás la tierra en que nacieron en busca de una vida mejor: ella es Santa Francisca ‘Xavier’ (Javiera) Cabrini M.S.C.

La fiesta de Cristo Rey cumple 100 años de su institución, con la encíclica Quas primas del Papa Pío XI, que la publicó en 1925. En ese marco, tres expertos latinoamericanos reflexionarán sobre su impacto en el mundo de hoy.

El Cardenal Fabio Baggio, Subsecretario del Dicasterio para el Servicio del Desarrollo Humano Integral del Vaticano, recordó a los obispos mexicanos que “en cada migrante está presente Dios”. 

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.

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.”

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.”