Catholic News

Father Mitch Pacwa, SJ, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination and is being honored for his decades of service to his community and the faithful.

"This golden anniversary is a blessed occasion to offer gratitude for the abundant graces God has bestowed upon you throughout the past 50 years," Bishop Elias Zaidan, bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, wrote in a letter to Pacwa.

Pacwa is celebrating decades as a Jesuit priest following his ordination on June 12, 1976, in Chicago and entrance into the Society of Jesus on Aug. 21, 1968.

Pacwa has also had a successful media career after he began his work with EWTN under its foundress, Mother Angelica, in 1984.

After working in numerous cities, Pacwa relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, in 2001 to work full time with EWTN, where he has hosted several radio and television shows, series, and documentaries that teach and discuss the Catholic faith.

To honor his work, the Alabama Legislature enacted a resolution in April that recognizes his decades of service, theological contributions, and media work.

The priest has a bachelor's degree in philosophy and theology, a master of divinity and a sacred theology baccalaureate, and a master's and doctorate in Old Testament studies from Vanderbilt University.

Pacwa has taught high school, college, and seminary courses. He is the author of more than 20 books, the founder of Ignatius Productions, a publishing company, and is a senior fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

Pacwa engages in prison ministry by evangelizing and serving the spiritual needs of prisoners. He has also led thousands of pilgrims to the Holy Land and other Christian sites in Europe and the Middle East.

Republican Rep. Chris Pringle introduced Alabama's resolution, which honors Pacwa's "vocation" and "career that has touched the lives of innumerable people, many of them residents of Alabama, but also worldwide through his efforts in theological education, service to others, and ministry," according to the measure.

The legislation acknowledges Pacwa's "tremendous contributions … to Alabamians and those that he has trained throughout the country, and through his worldwide impact through Alabama-based EWTN, with hopes that he may continue his exceptional ministry and continue to serve others in a way that reflects well on this state and nation, and on his Church."

50 years of priestly ministry

In addition to his publications and media presence, Pacwa also serves his community through celebrating the Maronite Catholic Mass at St. Elias Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic church in Birmingham.

During a June 7 Mass at the church, a letter from Zaidan was read to Pacwa.

"This is a wonderful milestone in your ministry and life," Zaidan said. "We give sincere thanks to Almighty God for calling you and for your disposition to follow him in the religious and priestly life."

The anniversary is "an opportunity for us to express our heartfelt appreciation for your steadfast dedication and faithful service to the people of God," Zaidan said.

"As you reflect upon 50 years of priestly ministry, you can look back with gratitude on the countless lives you have touched, how you captivated so many people through your programs on EWTN, as well as providing care and guidance through the mission retreats you held over the years," he said.

"May God continue to bless you abundantly and grant you many more years of faithful and fruitful ministry. I hope and pray you will have many more years filled with God's grace," the bishop said.

Full Article

Parental practice is the strongest predictor of whether children remain Christian as adults, a study found.

The study, "Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations," released in June by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, examined data from four national studies involving tens of thousands of Americans raised in Christian households.

Researchers sought to identify which behaviors most strongly influence whether children retain their faith into adulthood. The study found that the family home is the single-most critical factor in determining whether faith is successfully passed on from one generation to the next.

The power of parental example

According to the report, children whose parents regularly attended church, prayed consistently in front of them, spoke openly about their faith, and fostered strong family relationships were significantly more likely to remain active Christians as adults. The results showed that adults whose parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church regularly themselves decades later (26% versus 12%). The effect was even stronger when both parents participated in religious life together.

The study also highlighted the importance of simple spiritual practices within family life. Saying grace before meals, evening or morning prayers together, and having frequent conversations about faith all corresponded with higher levels of religious belief and practice in adulthood. Children raised in homes where religion was discussed several times a week were substantially more likely to identify as Christian, pray daily, and consider faith an important part of their lives as they went through adulthood.

The domestic church

For Catholics, the findings reflect what the Church has always taught regarding the role of parents as the primary educators of their children in the faith. The Church has often referred to the family as the "domestic church," emphasizing that parents are called not only to teach religious truths but also to model a life of discipleship through daily prayer, sacramental participation, and Christian witness.

The study further found that the quality of family relationships had a tremendous impact on children as well. Adults who reported having strong and loving relationships with both parents were more likely to remain religious than those who experienced distant or conflict-ridden family environments. About 41%of children who attend church weekly with both parents go on to attend church weekly as an adult, the study said. This percentage drops to 29% if children attend with only one parent. In particular, researchers noted the significant role fathers play in shaping the spiritual lives of their children.

Marriage stability also emerged as an important factor. Children raised in homes characterized by strong and happy marriages showed higher rates of adult religious practice. When their lived experience corresponds with what they learned in Sunday school and the Bible, they are more likely to accept those truths in adulthood. Also, compared with non-married individuals, married individuals have significantly more faith conversations with their children, suggesting more frequent and intentional engagement within the home.

While cultural forces may be difficult to control, many of the factors most closely associated with transmitting faith remain within the reach of families themselves, the study showed.

"In a culture where religion is no longer reinforced by broader society," the study's authors, Jesse Smith and Jane Lankes Smith, wrote, "parents cannot assume faith will simply rub off on their children." Instead, faith is most effectively passed on when it is lived openly, discussed regularly, and woven into the ordinary rhythms of family life.

"Parents cannot assume their children will carry on the faith they were raised with. Passing on faith requires intentional effort from both mothers and fathers. Parents serve as their children's most influential teachers, role models, and guides in matters of faith. What they do will make a difference long after their children grow up and leave home," Jesse Smith said in an email.

"For churches, that means youth programming alone is not enough. Congregations should invest not only in children but also in parents, equipping them to fulfill their central role in shaping the next generation's religious lives," Smith said.

The study draws on four longitudinal datasets: the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), Communio's 2024-25 congregational survey, Add Health, and the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), using descriptive statistics and logistic regression with demographic controls. Analyses using GFS, Add Health, and NSYR are weighted. Everything reported in the study is a statistically significant finding based on 95% confidence intervals, Smith said.

Full Article

Genetic researchers are increasing the accuracy of gene editing through experiments on unborn babies that could have been done on animals, one bioethicist says.

At Columbia University, researchers have now edited the DNA of human embryos with "unprecedented accuracy," according to a recent report by the New York Times.

Dieter Egli, a professor of developmental cell biology in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia, led the research, using a technique called base editing to replace individual genetic letters in sequences of DNA, according to the report.

Egli's work did not cause the damage that the gene editing technique "CRISPR," or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, usually causes. Potential side effects are still unknown, according to the researcher, and the technique is not ready to be implemented clinically.

The developing technology comes with its own ethical implications, as it could be used to help cure disease-causing mutations in the early stages of life, but it could also be used in a eugenic way to select traits of unborn children.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a neuroscientist and senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, drew attention to ethical concerns with these experiments.

"Trying to make genetic modifications in a more efficient manner than had been previously achieved is precisely the kind of experiment that should have been carried out in animal embryos, not human embryos," he told EWTN News.

"The same basic biological information reported in these studies could readily have been obtained that way," Pacholczyk said.

Ethical concerns with embryo experimentation

In addition to the unethical nature of the experiments themselves, Pacholczyk considered the way researchers obtained the unborn children to be unethical as well.

"Parents were asked to hand over their extremely young 'leftover children' in fertility clinics to allow scientists to carry out experiments on them, while other subjects of experimentation were created via IVF to be used as 'research fodder,'" Pacholczyk said.

Scientists either got the embryos from parents who had "leftover children" or created the human embryos for experimentation — both of which Pacholczyk said the Church calls unethical.

"Researchers sought out eggs from women for the purpose of fertilizing those eggs to create embryonic humans in glassware, so they could then serve as raw materials for research and experimentation," Pacholczyk said. "From the get-go, these experiments at Columbia University were unethical."

"Also of note, the human embryos produced in these experiments were oftentimes intentionally sacrificed to obtain their embryonic stem cells, which were used for additional research," Pacholczyk continued.

"Creating humans for the purpose of destroying them is invariably unethical and should be illegal," he continued.

Some embryos were obtained from parents who created children through in vitro fertilization (IVF), which Pacholczyk said neglects the consent of the unborn human being.

Parents could not give consent for their unborn children to be experimented on, he said, because "ethical consent by definition focuses on the improvement of health and excludes any approval of directly causing their death or otherwise using subjects as mere means to an end."

"Informed consent is particularly important when dealing with very vulnerable research subjects, and human embryos are among the most vulnerable of God's creatures," Pacholczyk said. "Human embryos are a special class of individuals deserving of special protections."

Looking to the future: Ethical concerns of gene editing

Pacholczyk noted that the Catholic Church would support gene editing as medical therapy but not at the risk of the unborn child.

"It is important to note that the Church would allow for gene editing to fix genetic abnormalities, as long as the risks were very low for the embryonic patient, and heritable changes to the DNA of our species were not made," Pacholczyk said. "Such repair is simply a form of direct medical therapy for the individual."

He noted, however, that at this point, gene editing still poses huge risks to the unborn.

"The complex science of genetic modification at this point in time still involves enormous risks to the embryo," he said.

Pacholczyk also raised concerns about Catholics' acceptance of genetic enhancement, warning that their widespread acceptance of IVF is a harbinger of things to come.

"Catholics need to be concerned about the prospects of genetically modifying future generations," Pacholczyk said.

"In the past, Catholics seem to have largely missed the boat when it came to recognizing and articulating the moral unacceptability of creating children in test tubes and glassware via IVF, and now Catholics participate in such technologies at rates that probably don't differ much from the general population," he continued.

"Similarly, when genetic enhancement of children takes place in the future, considering the widespread lack of understanding and serious reflection on the moral and ethical issues involved, Catholics are likely to end up being swayed by the technological temptation and may end up, once again, 'going along to get along,'" he said.

Full Article

The U.S. State Department has awarded more than $240 million in foreign aid to Catholic Relief Services for humanitarian and disaster response efforts.

The grant to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) marks "the first of a series of global State Department awards to trusted and vetted implementing organizations," according to a June 5 press release. The $240 million awarded to Catholic Relief Services comes from U.S. State Department humanitarian assistance funds appropriated by Congress and administered through the department's disaster-response bureau.

"These awards will focus on the rapid deployment of time-bound, lifesaving assistance in response to crises around the world, with implementers able to respond within 24 hours," the State Department said, noting that its staff is "working closely" with CRS and other aid implementers to ensure the aid is delivered in a timely manner "while reducing administrative overhead and duplicative efforts."

CRS will use the aid to provide assistance in countries "with significant levels of humanitarian need," the State Department said, citing Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where CRS is working to stop the latest Ebola outbreak.

State Department Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response Senior Bureau Official Ryan Shrum announced the grant in Rome alongside U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch, CRS Vice President for Humanitarian Response Jennifer Poidatz, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations Agencies in Rome Lynda Blanchard, and Caritas Internationalis Secretary-General Alistair Dutton.

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See posted several images of the event on social media, writing: "This grant will allow CRS to address urgent humanitarian needs arising from disasters and complex emergencies around the world. CRS' expertise, its deep roots in disaster response, and its network of local partners will help us deliver a fast, flexible, and efficient model of global humanitarian assistance."

Instagram post

"CRS is grateful for the opportunity to reach more people affected by crisis at a time when humanitarian needs far exceed available resources," Poidatz said in a June 5 statement following the announcement. "We appreciate the leadership of the United States and of national governments committed to responding to new and enduring crises."

News of the foreign aid grant comes more than a year after the Trump administration effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2025 following an executive order by President Donald Trump during the first month of his administration. USAID, formerly the government's lead foreign-aid and development agency, focused on long-term development such as health systems, agriculture, education, and economic growth.

Catholic Relief Services did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Full Article

The tomb of Irish American immigrant Father Patrick Peyton, known as "the rosary priest," was moved on June 6 to the newly reopened pilgrimage site, the Father Peyton Center, as families gathered to pray and honor his legacy.

Peyton's tomb was moved from the Holy Cross Community Cemetery in North Easton, Massachusetts, to the chapel at the Father Peyton Center, also in North Easton.

Now on the path to sainthood, Peyton (1909–1992) was hospitalized with tuberculosis in 1939 and on the brink of death when he felt like he was losing his faith. His priest friend encouraged him to seek out the Virgin Mary's intercession.

Inspired by memories of growing up praying the rosary with his family, Peyton asked all of his friends and family members to ask for Mary's intercession for him. He promised that if he was healed, he would dedicate his life to encouraging devotion to Mary through the family rosary.

After a miraculous recovery, Peyton followed through on his promise. Two years after his recovery, he was ordained a Holy Cross priest and went on to lead a widespread campaign to encourage families to pray the rosary through billboards, radio shows, television, and rosary rallies that drew millions worldwide.

Peyton has since taken an important step in the canonization process. In December 2017, Pope Francis declared him venerable, recognizing him for his heroic virtue.

President of Holy Cross Family Ministries Father Fred Jenga said at a press conference of Peyton's devotion to Mary through the family rosary: "We need it at this time more than even in the past. Family life has been going through some kind of crisis. There [are] a lot of divisions and hurts."

At the reopening of the center, five families took turns leading decades of the rosary as part of the opening ceremony at the center's grotto. The grotto is a replica of the grotto at Lourdes, France, which was one of Peyton's favorite religious sites.

In addition to Peyton's tomb, the revamped pilgrimage site now has an immersive rosary exhibit, a rosary walk, and a museum of Peyton's life. The priests of the Holy Cross congregation, Peyton's order, run the center.

"When we pray together as a family regularly, we invite God to become the center of our lives," Jenga said. "As we know, God is love, God is patience, God is kindness, God is generosity — those are the kinds of blessings that we pray upon our families when we give ourselves that opportunity to pray together."

Father David Marcham, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who serves as vice postulator and guild director of the canonization cause, encouraged people to pray for Peyton's sainthood cause.

"We're at the point now where we're asking people to pray through his intercession for a miracle in their lives," Marcham said. "And if one were to be declared a medical miracle by the Vatican, then he would reach the next level, which would be blessed."

"There's this great synergy between the life of a holy person and their ongoing effect even after they've gone home to God," Marcham said. "So we want to invite people to join us, and hopefully through that, in God's grace, it'll strengthen their families."

The Father Peyton Center currently draws about 2,500 visitors per year, but organizers anticipate a growth to 7,500.

"When we have role models that lead us to grow in virtue and holiness ourselves and bring that to our families, then we start to pray more intentionally for our needs and pray together," Marcham said.

Father Charles McCoy, vice president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, said having Peyton's remains at the center transforms it into a place of pilgrimage.

"To have his own physical presence with us here now with the transfer of his body to our center, it's just an opportunity for us to really see this as a place, not just of education or prayer, but even pilgrimage in support of the legacy of prayer that he gave on to us in Holy Cross and in the Church," McCoy said.

Full Article

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on more than 100 Nicaraguan officials associated with the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship following the death of political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera.

"Today the Trump administration took decisive steps to impose additional visa restrictions on more than 100 dictatorship officials and their family members," Rubio said in a June 8 statement.

"With this new set of restrictions, the U.S. government has now taken steps to impose visa restrictions on over 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their family members for their complicit role in Rosario Murillo and Daniel Ortega's dictatorship," Rubio said.

Since 2007, Ortega and Murillo, his wife and co-president, have established an authoritarian regime in the country, repressing opposition through arrests, exile, and violence, suppressing civil rights, canceling elections, and persecuting the Church.

The move comes in response to the dictatorship's "responsibility for the horrific death of political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera," according to the statement.

Rivera, an Indigenous leader and political prisoner, died at 73 after being held incommunicado by the Murillo-Ortega regime for more than 970 days.

"Despite the enormous and intense medical efforts undertaken to restore the health of our Brother Brooklyn, whose physical and neurological deterioration was the result of a bacterial infection triggered by the COVID-19 virus, we regret to confirm that unfortunately he has departed this plane of existence," asserted a communiqué dated May 31 from Nicaragua's Ministry of Health.

Rubio alleged the direct involvement of U.S.-sanctioned Lumberto Ignacio Campbell Hooker, a loyal member of the oppressive regime, in denying medical care to Rivera and with preventing Rivera's family from burying his remains.

The visa restrictions place increased pressure on the dictatorship, which has carried out systematic persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua for years.

Religious persecution at the hands of the dictatorship has included restrictions on the sacraments and the celebration of the Mass; heightened surveillance; forced disappearances and detentions; exile for bishops, priests, and religious; and the forced closure of Catholic institutions. The regime has also banned the ordination of priests and deacons in dioceses with exiled bishops.

In a social media post, Rubio further described the Murillo-Ortega regime as "an enemy of humanity," noting that "the Trump administration will not ignore their crimes and brutality."

Tweet

At least six of Rivera's relatives remain in detention, according to the U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Full Article

Pope Leo XIV's lunch with Spain's bishops at the apostolic nunciature in Madrid offered a glimpse of the pope's more informal and humorous side.

Yago de la Cierva, who is overseeing the organization of the pope's trip to Spain, said Leo broke the ice before blessing the meal with a comment that drew laughter from those present.

"He said that before leaving for the trip, he had contacted artificial intelligence to ask: What should the pope say to the Spanish bishops? And artificial intelligence told him: Pope Francis would say ... So he stopped it and said: 'I think there is another pope.' And then artificial intelligence said: 'Ah, that's right, now it's Pope Leo,'" de la Cierva recounted with a smile.

Leo XIV was elected the successor of Peter on May 8, 2025, though artificial intelligence has at times appeared slow to register the change. National Catholic Register journalist Jonah McKeown saw this firsthand when, like many users, he asked ChatGPT, OpenAI's widely used artificial intelligence tool, about Pope Leo XIV.

"There seems to be some confusion with the name, since there has never been a Pope Leo XIV. However, there have been several popes named Leo throughout history," the chatbot responded in one test.

After the joke, the pope — who is no technophobe and has repeatedly encouraged the proper use of artificial intelligence, including in his May 25 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on the human person in the age of AI — turned to a technological image to deliver a deeper message to the bishops.

"Then he told the bishops that we have another algorithm, and that other algorithm leads us to love people, to accompany them, and to become servants of the word," de la Cierva said.

Shortly after addressing Spain's Parliament in the Congress of Deputies, Pope Leo XIV met with the country's bishops at the headquarters of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, where he called on the Church, "in this time of increasingly drastic polarizations and oppositions," to offer "a witness to unity in diversity."

That communion, the pope said, comes from the awareness that the Church walks with the Lord, "as members of one body." He added that such communion also has "missionary vitality."

"A Church that is interiorly at peace can speak more freely to brothers and sisters of other Christian denominations and other religions, to those who do not believe, to civil authorities, and to all people of goodwill who work for the common good," Leo said.

The pope told the Spanish bishops that their ministry carries a particular responsibility in this work of communion.

"We are called to be a visible sign of communion," he said, first with Christ, then with "the successor of Peter and with the universal Church," as well as with priests, diocesan communities, consecrated life, movements, associations, and every authentic charism given by the Holy Spirit for the common good.

"Your mission calls you to safeguard unity, foster dialogue, heal divisions, and accompany the journey of the people entrusted to your care," he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Full Article

A major spiritual event in the Czech Republic and the biggest day in the history of the Diocese of Brno drew thousands of people and the attention of national media in one of Europe's most secular societies.

The beatification Mass of two priests killed by the communist regime in Czechoslovakia was not "the Church moralizing" but "an offer of forgiveness and hope," as the martyrs showed that "conscience is not luxury."

That is what Cardinal Michael Czerny said in a homily on June 6 in his hometown of Brno, where, as papal legate for Pope Leo XIV, he declared Jan Bula and Václav Drbola the first beatified of the diocese and the first martyrs of the past totalitarian regimes on the territory of today's Czech Republic. The two will be commemorated annually on June 17 in the Church's liturgical calendar.

"Blessed Jan and Václav call us not to sell truth for comfort or to avoid conflict, not to exchange faith for the approval of others, not to choose silence where witness should be given, not to sacrifice conscience for comfort, career, or conformism," the cardinal stressed.

"These all look like good sense," the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development admitted, yet they "are really foolish betrayals of human dignity, freedom, and integrity."

The priests Jan Bula (1920–1952) and Václav Drbola (1912–1951) were popular with their parishioners, active in community life, and loyal to the bishops. They were imprisoned without cause and accused of complicity in the killing of three communists, although they were already in prison at the time. They were executed after a staged trial in the early 1950s.

"Their guilt, in the eyes of the regime, did not consist in violence but in the fact that they refused to betray their priestly conscience. They did not wish to become instruments of ideology and repression," the cardinal clarified.

"Each of us is invited to identify with them, with their time and place," he suggested, adding that "when they were martyred, I was a 5-year-old boy with my family who had fled [communist Czechoslovakia] in 1948 and taken refuge in Montreal, Canada."

Czerny was born in Brno 80 years ago and was naturalized in Canada. As he told EWTN News, celebrating Mass for the occasion in his hometown was "very moving."

He even practiced Czech in recent months to read the homily in the Slavic language. The Mass drew 13,000 people and was widely covered by national media in one of the most secular countries in Europe.

Asked by a local outlet whether other Czech priests killed by communists might be beatified, the cardinal responded that "you can assume that it will happen, but we cannot comment," referring to the strict criteria for beatification, which fall to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Full Article

MANILA, Philippines — Catholic Church leaders, various religious congregations, and associations have called for prayers and support for all those affected by the powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck parts of Mindanao, southern Philippines, on June 8 leaving many communities in fear and uncertainty.

The offshore earthquake severely impacting General Santos City on Mindanao, the Philippines' main southern island. The tremor caused casualties and structural damage and triggered tsunami warnings.

As of this writing, at least 32 people have been killed, 12 are missing, and 200 others have been injured due to building damage and a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami hitting nearby coasts.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos suspended school classes in affected areas of Mindanao and urged people in coastal areas to evacuate immediately. He also assured citizens that the government will provide necessary aid to people in need.

Bishops call for immediate assistance

Expressing his solidarity with victims and all those impacted, Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila said: "With deep sorrow, I join our brothers and sisters in General Santos City and the surrounding communities who have been affected by the recent earthquake."

He appealed for help for survivors. "In these difficult moments, may we draw strength from our faith and from the solidarity of one another," he said. "I also encourage all people of goodwill to extend whatever assistance they can to those in need."

In addition, Bishop Leo Dalmao of the Prelature of Isabela de Basilan issued a pastoral letter calling for a second collection during Masses on Sunday, June 14. The collection will be sent to Caritas Philippines for relief assistance.

"The prelature joins the nation in prayer for the victims, the injured citizens, displaced families, and those people on the front line," the prelate said.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic Church in the United States, is coordinating with its partners to assess humanitarian aid in Mindanao.

Churches damaged

At least three parishes in the Diocese of Marbel, which comprises the civil provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani, and parts of Sultan Kudarat, reported damage following the earthquake.

An outdoor statue of Jesus at the Divine Mercy Shrine in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, was also partially damaged. The pilgrimage site was temporarily closed due to the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, shrine authorities said.

At Holy Cross Parish in Calumpang, General Santos City, parts of the church ceiling fell during the tremor, said Brother Jerson Nunez, a member of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Damage was also reported in some parts of the exterior structure and ceiling of Santa Teresita del Niño Jesus Parish in Tupi, South Cotabato, in Davao Occidental.

Civil authorities are still assessing the impact of the earthquake that was felt in several provinces in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, officials of the Church and local authorities have yet to give a full assessment of the damage in the areas affected.

Calls for prayer

In a separate social media post, Archbishop Alberto S. Uy of Cebu said: "An earthquake reminds us how small, fragile, and vulnerable we truly are."

"Our lives can be taken away in an instant. That is why there is no reason for us to be proud, arrogant, or abusive towards others," he added.

The Archdiocese of Cebu also issued a prayer petition for all to recite in families and churches since June 8. Prayers were also included for authorities, rescuers, and volunteers that they may be guided and given strength, safety, and understanding to help those in need.

"In the aftermath of an earthquake, we all are called to remain strong in faith and express solidarity, support, and compassion to every family affected in Mindanao," Michael Vildal, a Catholic from the Diocese of Marbel, told EWTN News.

"We all unite in prayer for those who have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods in compassion, offering comfort and hope to those who are suffering," he added. "It is time to unite in generosity, sharing our blessings with those who have lost so much."

Meanwhile, in a social media post, the Dominican Province of Philippines, the Order of the Preachers, said: "We stand helpless against earthquakes, and we call upon the mighty name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to save us. Please protect our families, our homes, the cities and towns we live in, as well as all the infrastructure within them."

The Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines also made an appeal.

"In this difficult time, let us come together in prayer for the safety, protection, and healing of all those affected," a statement released on June 8 said. "May the Lord strengthen rescue workers, comfort displaced families, and grant wisdom to leaders and responders as they provide aid and assistance. Let us stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Mindanao — not only through our prayers but also through acts of compassion and support," the press note added.

Full Article

Pew Research Center profiled the U.S. adult Catholic convert population and noted some of the differences between converts and lifelong Catholics.

Converts to Catholicism account for 1.5% of U.S. adults. Converts make up 8% of the nation's Catholics, and the remaining 92% of Catholics are "cradle Catholics," who were raised in the faith and still identify with it today.

Pew detailed "key facts about converts to and from Catholicism" in the U.S. drawn from the center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and previous pew reports.

The RLS is a study intended to provide estimates of the U.S. population's religious composition, beliefs, and practices. It was conducted from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, with a nationally representative sample of 36,908 respondents.

The survey's margin of error for results for the full sample is plus or minus 0.8 percentage points and had a 20% response rate.

While Catholic converts account for a small share of the country's adult population, the number of converts to Catholicism is on par with, or larger, than the number of Americans who identify with some Protestant groups, including Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Reformed Christians.

The research found that the most common reason converts joined the faith was due to a Catholic spouse or a desire to get married in the Church. In the U.S., 1 in 4 married Catholics are married to a non-Catholic, including 1% who are married to someone from a non-Christian religious background.

The RLS found that about two-thirds of Catholic converts were of a different Christian tradition before converting.

More than half (59%) of converts told Pew that they were raised Protestant, and 9% were raised in another Christian tradition, such as Orthodox Christianity or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

About 1 in 5 Catholic converts (22%) did not have any religious affiliation as a child.

Characteristics and practices of cradle Catholics versus converts

Pew noted differences between converts and cradle Catholics, including that converts are more likely than those raised in the faith to be Republican.

Among Catholic registered voters, 60% of converts identified as Republican or leaned toward the Republican Party as of Pew's 2023-24 study. Of lifelong Catholics, 52% said they identify the same.

Of cradle Catholics, 43% identified as Democratic or Democratic leaning, compared with 35% of Catholic converts who reported the same.

Most Catholic converts who responded are white (67%), compared with 20% who are Hispanic, 3% who are Black, and 4% who are Asian.

In contrast, 53% of cradle Catholics are white and 37% are Hispanic.

The research also found that 79% of converts were born in the U.S. and 18% were born outside of the country, compared with 67% of cradle catholics who were born in the U.S. and 30% who were born outside the nation.

Pew also found that Catholic converts attend Mass more regularly than cradle Catholics.

Of adults, 38% of converts attend Mass at least weekly and 58% receive Communion every time they go to Mass, compared with 28% of cradle Catholics who attend at least weekly and 34% who receive Communion every time.

Converts also go to confession slightly more, with 29% reporting they go at least once a year compared with 23% of cradle Catholics.

Full Article