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The National Catholic Education Association report highlights that 18% of students in U.S. Catholic schools use school choice programs, up by nearly 5% from last year. / Credit: RasyidArt/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) this week released the annual report for Catholic school data, which among other things indicated that school choice is on the rise. In the 2024-2025 school year, there were 1.6 million Catholic school students and more than 150,000 professional staff members, with a student to teacher ratio of about 11 to 1. Nearly 40% of Catholic schools had a waiting list.This school year, 63 Catholic schools closed while 24 new Catholic schools opened. This is a slight increase in both closures and openings from last year but marks a continued break from the early 2000s trend, which averaged 130 Catholic school closures per year. Of the 5,852 Catholic schools in the United States, 31% u...
Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school's campus in Tallahassee, Florida, Thursday, April 17, 2025. / Credit: AP Photo/Kate PayneCNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 15:31 pm (CNA).Catholic students at Florida State University have been praying and assiting their fellow Seminoles amid a mass shooting at the campus on Thursday, a ministry leader there told CNA. News outlets reported on Thursday afternoon that multiple people had been injured during a shooting on the Tallahassee campus. Officials said the shooter was taken into custody after the incident. The shooting reportedly took place in or near the campus student union.Sam Nunnally, the Catholic campus ministry director at the university, told CNA via email that the ministry's parish and facilities "are directly across the street from the FSU student union. So we could hear gunshots as the incident occurred.""Many of the students in that area came running up the hill towards t...
Many "Hebrew Catholics" continue to practice aspects of their Judaism; they continue to eat the Passover Seder (pictured here) with their families and friends. / Credit: RadRafe~commonswiki, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsSt. Louis, Mo., Apr 17, 2025 / 10:54 am (CNA).Raised in a conservative Jewish household in New York, David Moss had his bar mitzvah at age 13. In his heart, though, he had lost his faith in Judaism.What followed was a 23-year period of searching for religious truth and life's meaning, culminating in a dramatic mystical conversion experience that led Moss to embrace the Catholic faith in 1979.Despite being a happy and committed Catholic today, Moss, 83, has not left his Jewish identity and heritage behind. He is the longtime president of the Association of Hebrew Catholics (AHC), a St. Louis-based group that seeks to provide a welcoming place for Jewish converts to Catholicism and encourage them to preserve their Jewish identity.When he entered the Church ...
Marchers hold pro-life signs at the Missouri March for Life in St. Louis on Saturday, April 12, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Coalition LifeCNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 11:28 am (CNA).Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:Hundreds join St. Louis March for LifeOn Saturday an estimated 700 pro-lifers marched on the Gateway Arch for the eighth annual St. Louis March for Life run by Coalition Life. Before marching through the streets of downtown St. Louis to the 630-foot-tall stainless steel monument, various pro-life leaders and politicians gave speeches encouraging Missourians to fight for life. Heavy on the minds of speakers was last November's vote to enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution, an amendment that led to the reversal of many of the state's pro-life laws. Reagan Barklage, the national field director of Students for Life, encouraged people to carry on "after suffering such a big blow" last November."Let this be t...
Palestinians stand on the rubble and debris of the Latin Patriarchate Holy Family School after it was hit during Israeli military bombardment in Gaza City on July 7, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. / Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 18:36 pm (CNA).An ecumenical Palestinian Christian organization doubled down on criticism of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) this week, accusing the body of dismissing concerns of Palestinian Christians and portraying opposition to the Israeli government as antisemitic.The organization, Kairos Palestine, is led by Catholic Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah and is composed of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christian Palestinians. The group supports "nonviolent resistance" to Israeli policies in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which includes boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel."As Palestinian Christian...
American historian and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts (right) speaks with "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Erik Rosales on April 15, 2025. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"/screenshotWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts is calling on Americans to become more open about their faith as a means to "revitalizing" religious belief in the United States. "I think it's important, as we are on the brink of Easter during Holy Week, to encourage people of all faiths, whether they're Christians like me or Jews or Muslims, to speak about their faith," said Roberts during a Tuesday appearance on "EWTN News Nightly.""This is an opportunity here in the United States, not just for political and policymaking success, but more importantly, for the revitalization of our faith as individuals and also as a country," he said. Earlier this week Roberts penned an op-ed for the Daily Signal in which the form...
Using Rembrandt's oil painting "Return of the Prodigal Son" as a source of inspiration for his April 16, 2025, catechesis, the Holy Father said God's love is like that of a father who goes out in search of his lost children. / Credit: Rembrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsVatican City, Apr 16, 2025 / 10:13 am (CNA).Pope Francis on Wednesday said the Gospel is a "message of hope" founded on the belief that God is a merciful father and not a slave master.Using Rembrandt's oil painting "Return of the Prodigal Son" as a source of inspiration for his April 16 catechesis, the Holy Father said God's love is like that of a father who goes out in search of his lost children. "In this we find the heart of the Gospel of Jesus, namely God's mercy," the pope said in his written reflection on the parable of the merciful father with two sons."The Gospel is intended to give us a message of hope, because it tells us that wherever we are lost, and however we are lost, God always co...
The Catholic Church in France will welcome a record number of adults into the faith in 2025, with particularly strong growth in the numbers of young adults and teenagers, according to newly released statistics from the country's Conference of Bishops (CEF). / Credit: French Bishops' ConferenceParis, France, Apr 16, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).A new survey in France illuminates the surprising pathways bringing young people to the Catholic faith in unprecedented numbers at the coming Easter vigil.The Catholic Church in France will welcome a record number of adults into the faith this weekend, with particularly strong growth in the numbers of young adults and teenagers, according to newly released statistics from the country's Conference of Bishops (CEF).A survey of 900 French catechumens conducted by Catholic media outlets Famille Chrétienne and Aleteia has revealed that social media plays a crucial role in attracting young adults to Catholicism, with 78% saying social media played a r...
Credit: iweta0077/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).A new initiative is trying to shift the narrative on the Catholic priesthood by shining light on stories of heroic virtue, courage, and selfless acts from modern-day priests and bishops in an effort to strengthen the appeal of the vocation.The Philadelphia-based nonprofit International Institute for Culture (IIC) launched the first pillar of its "Shepherding Future Shepherds" program, which is the creation of ThankAPriest.com. It showcases positive stories with the hope of inspiring young Catholic men to consider vocations to the priesthood."By sharing stories of priestly heroism and compassion, we hope to inspire young men to recognize the priesthood as a profound and fulfilling vocation," IIC President John M. Haas said in a statement."Our goal is to bring to light the countless untold stories of the good and virtuous work priests do every day," he added. "This effort is critical not only t...
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo and her husband, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. / Credit: Inti Ocon/AFP via Getty ImagesACI Prensa Staff, Apr 15, 2025 / 15:28 pm (CNA).The dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his "co-president" and wife, Rosario Murillo, in Nicaragua has banned, for the third consecutive year, street processions in the country, where the Catholic Church has suffered fierce persecution from the regime for several years."Before, we used to go out into the streets and go around the communities, but now we don't. We have to do it inside the church, and that somewhat diminishes popular religiosity, because people liked the procession. Now, we just pray and read the Stations [of the Cross]," a parishioner named Marcos, who serves at a church in Managua, told the newspaper Confidencial.Aurelio (first name), 35, pointed out in turn: "We already know who the plainclothes police are. There was a fair recently and we saw them there. They take photos,...
