Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on May 1, 2020, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis, who died last month, was well known for his devotion to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. 

The late pope announced a Year of St. Joseph in December 2020 in honor of the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph’s proclamation as patron of the universal Church. In making the announcement, Francis issued an apostolic letter, Patris Corde (“With a father’s heart”), dedicated to the foster father of Jesus. 

On today’s feast of St. Joseph the Worker (May 1), here are some of the most beautiful and powerful quotes from Francis’ document of personal reflections on St. Joseph.

Praise for the ordinary ‘hidden’ but vital people

“Each of us can discover in Joseph — the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet, and hidden presence — an intercessor, a support, and a guide in times of trouble. St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. A word of recognition and of gratitude is due to them all.”

“Our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked. People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. They understood that no one is saved alone.”

An invitation to courage

“Even through Joseph’s fears, God’s will, his history, and his plan were at work. Joseph, then, teaches us that faith in God includes believing that he can work even through our fears, our frailties, and our weaknesses. He also teaches us that amid the tempests of life, we must never be afraid to let the Lord steer our course. At times, we want to be in complete control, yet God always sees the bigger picture.”

“Just as God told Joseph: ‘Son of David, do not be afraid!’ (Mt 1:20), so he seems to tell us: ‘Do not be afraid!’ We need to set aside all anger and disappointment, and to embrace the way things are, even when they do not turn out as we wish. Not with mere resignation but with hope and courage. In this way, we become open to a deeper meaning. Our lives can be miraculously reborn if we find the courage to live them in accordance with the Gospel.”

God is greater than our hearts

“God can make flowers spring up from stony ground. Even if our heart condemns us, ‘God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything’ (1 Jn 3:20).”

God works in our weakness

“All too often, we think that God works only through our better parts, yet most of his plans are realized in and despite our frailty.”

The gift of one’s self

“Joseph found happiness not in mere self-sacrifice but in self-gift. In him, we never see frustration but only trust. His patient silence was the prelude to concrete expressions of trust.”

Earthly fatherhood points higher

“In every exercise of our fatherhood, we should always keep in mind that it has nothing to do with possession but is rather a ‘sign’ pointing to a greater fatherhood. In a way, we are all like Joseph: a shadow of the heavenly Father who ‘makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ (Mt 5:45).”

Introducing children ‘to reality’

“Being a father entails introducing children to life and reality. Not holding them back, being overprotective or possessive, but rather making them capable of deciding for themselves, enjoying freedom and exploring new possibilities.”

“When fathers refuse to live the lives of their children for them, new and unexpected vistas open up. Every child is the bearer of a unique mystery that can only be brought to light with the help of a father who respects that child’s freedom.”

A prayer to St. Joseph

“Glorious Patriarch St. Joseph, whose power makes the impossible possible, come to my aid in these times of anguish and difficulty. Take under your protection the serious and troubling situations that I commend to you, that they may have a happy outcome. My beloved father, all my trust is in you. Let it not be said that I invoked you in vain, and since you can do everything with Jesus and Mary, show me that your goodness is as great as your power. Amen.”

null / Credit: Postmodern Studio/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Sen. Hawley urges FDA to reinstate abortion drug safety regulations

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley issued a letter on Monday urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reinstate safety regulations for chemical abortion drugs. 

Citing a newly published study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Hawley urged the FDA to act, saying the “health and safety of American women depend on it.” 

The study, released this week, found that more than 1 in 10 women who use mifepristone experience adverse side effects including sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or an emergency room visit. 

Published on April 28, the study is the “largest known study of mifepristone to date,” according to Hawley. The study found that the rate of negative side effects is “at least 22 times greater” than the adverse effects rate on the drug label, which is approved by the FDA. 

In the letter, Hawley noted that Democratic administrations “have stripped away basic safeguards” surrounding the drug. The Obama administration reduced required in-person visits, removed the physicians prescription requirement, and ended mandatory reporting of adverse effects. 

The Biden administration, meanwhile, ended requirements for in-person visits and dispensing, meaning that mifepristone can be sent via mail without any medical supervision. 

Hawley urged the FDA to “reinstate safety regulations on the chemical abortion drug immediately.”

Catholic leaders fight assisted suicide as bill progresses in New York state

Catholic leaders in New York are speaking out as an assisted suicide bill, the “Medical Aid in Dying Act,” progresses through the state Legislature this week. 

The assisted suicide bill passed the state Assembly on Tuesday. It was the first time such a bill has made it to the floor of either chamber since 2016. 

The bill allows anyone 18 or older to request drugs for assisted suicide if they have been diagnosed with a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less and if they retain “decision-making capacity.”

Proponents maintain that there are safeguards against coercion and that the deadly drugs are self-administered.

Robert Bellafiore, a spokesperson for the New York State Catholic Conference, called the bill “state-sanctioned suicide” in a statement this week. 

Bellafiore described the measure a “Pandora’s box” that “cannot be controlled,” saying that it works against the governor’s suicide prevention efforts. He also criticized the bill for putting people with mental health issues at risk, arguing that the safeguards are “made of straw.” 

“It tells young people, who everyone knows are in the midst of an unprecedented mental health crisis, that life is disposable and that it’s OK to end your life if you see no hope,” Bellafiore said.

Bellafiore called on the state to instead “strengthen palliative care, improve health care services and counseling for people in crisis, and show America what real compassion looks like.”

Local Catholic and pro-life organizations are banding together to oppose the measure. 

The bishops of New York wrote a letter last week urging the Legislature to reconsider the policy. The prelates cited concern for the vulnerable, who could be pressured into assisted suicide, as well as concerns about the quick expansion of assisted suicide in Canada.

On May 6, Feminists Choosing Life of New York and the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide will lobby against the legislation. The Diocese of Rochester partnered with the pro-life feminist group as well as the Finger Lakes Guild of the Catholic Medical Association to host a webinar on Thursday on physician-assisted suicide. 

Parental notification laws challenged in Missouri, Nevada

A pro-abortion group is suing Missouri over its law requiring parental consent for minors to have abortions. 

The Missouri state law requires a minor to receive parental consent from at least one parent to obtain an abortion. Minors may seek an exception in court. 

A pro-abortion nonprofit, Right By You, filed the lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleging the notification laws “bully pregnant young people without parental support into giving birth.”

The lawsuit follows the passage of Missouri’s abortion rights amendment last fall. 

The advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said on Thursday that the lawsuit could “enable abusers and traffickers to exploit minors.”

“They’re suing so girls who aren’t old enough to get their ears pierced on their own can have an abortion without their parents,” said group spokeswoman Kelsey Pritchard.

A judge in Nevada, meanwhile, has blocked the state’s rule requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortion, a policy that was set to take effect this week. 

The 1985 law requiring one parent to be notified if a minor sought an abortion has never been enforced after it was found unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. 

After Roe was overturned, the law was scheduled to be enforced this month. But Planned Parenthood of Nevada challenged the law, calling it “unconstitutionally vague.”

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Traum granted Planned Parenthood’s request to pause the law’s implementation while it files a motion for stay.  

About 70% of U.S. states have some form of parental notification or permission laws for minors seeking abortion. 

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2025 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

The more often Catholics in the United States attend Mass, the more likely they are to oppose proposed changes to the Church, such as blessing same-sex marriages and allowing women to become priests, a new Pew Research Center study reveals.

Pew Research surveyed 1,787 Catholics nationwide from Feb. 3–9 and asked their views on a wide range of topics. Pew’s report specifically tracked and categorized the answers of Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly and those who don’t. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that participation in Mass “is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and his Church” (No. 2182) and that “on Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass“ (No. 2180). The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by attendance at Mass on Sundays or holy days, or on the evening of the preceding day.

According to the study, 53% of Catholics who attend weekly Mass said the Church should “stick to its traditional teachings” and limit change, while only 31% of those who attend less regularly affirmed the same position.

Between Catholics who attend Mass weekly and those who attend less regularly, the topic where the two groups differed the most was on the Church’s stance on recognizing gay marriages. 

Nearly two-thirds, or 66%, of Catholics who go to weekly Mass oppose Church recognition of gay marriages, while 58% of those who attend less frequently believe the Church should recognize same-sex marriages. 

Similarly, 56% of Catholics who go to weekly Mass oppose allowing women to become priests, while 67% of Catholics who attend less frequently are in favor of it. 

A majority of both weekly and non-weekly attendees, however, are in favor of women becoming deacons, with 54% of weekly attendees and 74% of non-weekly attendees supporting the proposal. 

According to the survey, Catholics who attend weekly Mass are sharply divided on the question of allowing priests to get married, with 49% in favor and 48% opposed. That is within the survey’s 3% margin of error. Non-weekly Mass-goers, meanwhile, clearly support such a change, with 69% in favor. 

Other issues surveyed showed less marked differences between the two groups. Large majorities of both weekly and non-weekly attendees believe the Catholic Church should allow the use of birth control (72% of weekly Mass-goers and 90% of less frequent participants). Seventy-one percent of weekly Mass attendees also believe the Church should allow couples to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to get pregnant, a position also supported by 88% of non-weekly Mass attendees.

Pope Francis meets director Martin Scorsese in the Vatican on Nov. 30, 2016. / Credit: L’Osservatore Romano

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is producing a feature-length documentary about Pope Francis and the educational movement the late pontiff founded.

“Aldeas, a New Story” will feature conversations between Scorsese and the pope, including what is reportedly Francis’ final in-depth on-camera interview for a film.

The documentary will highlight the work of Scholas Occurrentes, the nonprofit Pope Francis created in 2013 that aims to bring about what the pope called a “culture of encounter” through the education system. 

Part of the group’s work has included filmmaking under the Aldeas Initiative, which brings together film production with education and community building. The program encourages participants to make scripted short films highlighting their identities and histories. 

The documentary will show the short films of participants of the Aldeas Initiative from Italy, Gambia, and Indonesia. 

Aldeas Scholas Film and Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions announced the documentary on April 30. The two production companies said the film is “a testament to the enduring belief that creativity is not only a means of expression but a path to hope and transformation.”

“Now, more than ever, we need to talk to each other [and] listen to one another cross-culturally,” Scorsese said in a statement. “One of the best ways to accomplish this is by sharing the stories of who we are, reflected from our personal lives and experiences. It helps us understand and value how each of us sees the world.” 

“It was important to Pope Francis for people across the globe to exchange ideas with respect while also preserving their cultural identity, and cinema is the best medium to do that,” the filmmaker said.

Before his passing, Pope Francis said Aldeas “is an extremely poetic and very constructive project because it goes to the roots of what human life is, human sociability, human conflicts… the essence of a life’s journey.”

A release date for the film has not been announced. 

After Pope Francis’ passing, Scorsese called the Holy Father “a remarkable human being” in a statement shared with ABC News. 

“He acknowledged his own failings. He radiated wisdom. He radiated goodness. He had an ironclad commitment to the good. He knew in his soul that ignorance was a terrible plague on humanity. So he never stopped learning,” Scorsese said.

He added: “The loss for me runs deep — I was lucky enough to know him, and I will miss his presence and his warmth. The loss for the world is immense. But he left a light behind, and it can never be extinguished.”

Archivists show a handwritten book of the Rule of St. Augustine found in the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine’s archives, an example of the materials that will be preserved in WRAC’s future heritage center. / Credit: Courtesy of the Women Religious Archives Collaborative

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A group of religious sisters in Cleveland is launching a multimillion-dollar archive center that will help collect, preserve, and share the stories of women religious in the United States. 

Sister Susan Durkin, OSU, told CNA that the Women Religious Archives Collaborative will ensure the preservation of the “tremendous stories of how sisters in the United States overcame insurmountable obstacles to serve the people in front of them.”

Durkin said that when she was serving as the president of the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, the congregation undertook a project to downsize its motherhouse. 

“In our downsizing we had to make a decision about what to do with our archives,” she said, describing the storage option in the reduced space as “not a long-term strategy.” 

Leaders in the Cleveland Diocese expressed interest in a possible archive project. The Ursuline congregation, meanwhile, was working with an archival consultant on its own collection. 

Durkin said the archivist told them: “Look, this project is bigger than the Diocese of Cleveland. You might want to reach out further.” 

The sisters began inquiring in multiple states. The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, meanwhile, provided seed money to help launch the project. After undertaking sustainability modeling, the project became incorporated in 2022. 

“We’re incorporated in the state of Ohio and we’re in the Catholic directory,” Durkin said. “We have a board, a board committee, bylaws, codes, and regulations. We’re an official nonprofit. We’re looking to build this heritage center here in Cleveland.”

‘Really a unique and inspirational story’

The project has already amassed dozens of collections from around the country, Durkin said. 

“Right now we have 41 collections and continue to be in conversation with other congregations,” she said. “It grew from something that was regional to something bigger.”

The collections will include historical information about why a religious community served in a certain area and why it expanded to other places, Durkin said. “There will be individual sister stories, ministry stories, and then the sisters’ influence in the arts and music.” 

One particular area of focus, she said, will be in how many congregations, post-Vatican II, experienced a shift in ministry from more institutional systems like medical care and education to broader endeavors. 

“There are so many tremendous stories of how sisters overcame insurmountable obstacles to serve the people in front of them,” she said. “It’s not just that we’re preserving history. It’s about animating those stories. The sisters aren’t going away, and we need to manage these collections in a way that becomes useful and visible.”

The centerpiece of the project is a major facility in the Central neighborhood of Cleveland, which Durkin noted is “one of the poorest per capita in the U.S.” The sisters are aiming to have the archival center revitalize the neighborhood.

“We’re making an investment there,” Durkin said, calling the effort “not gentrification, but a renaissance.”

The archival project has launched a major capital campaign to that end with the goal of raising $24 million. The building itself will cost $22 million and the sisters hope to cover operational costs for the first year. 

The facility will include research facilities for archivists and other historians as well as an exhibit space with permanent and rotating exhibits, along with multipurpose rooms and other accommodations.

Ultimately, Durkin said, the goal of the project is to ensure that people will have access to the history and the stories of women religious in the United States, offering “examples for up-and-coming generations to show how our faith motivates us and how it’s important to us.”

“I think that resilience and that determination, and just total reliance on the providence of God, is really a unique and inspirational story,” she said. “And we need to continue to tell that.”

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House. / Credit: The White House

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 30, 2025 / 17:43 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump passed the 100-day mark of his second presidency on Tuesday, April 29, a period that has been packed with major policy shifts, more than 130 executive orders, and over 200 lawsuits.

Trump won the country’s Catholic vote by double digits last November and since then has received praise from Catholics on several issues but skepticism and even legal challenges on others.

Actions that have received the enthusiastic endorsement of many Catholics include the administration’s initial pro-life efforts, religious liberty protections, and moves to extricate gender ideology from the government. However, the president’s embrace of in vitro fertilization (IVF), his hard-line immigration policies, and his funding cuts to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have caused tensions with the bishops and Catholic groups.

Pro-life victories and shortfalls

“It’s pretty clear that [Trump] has done almost everything that he could to reverse the different pro-abortion policies of the [President Joe] Biden administration,” Joseph Meaney, a past president and senior fellow of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA.

Meaney noted that Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which bans funding for overseas organizations that promote abortion, and backs the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits direct federal funding for abortion. The president also announced plans to freeze millions of taxpayer dollars for Planned Parenthood, which Meaney said is used “to subsidize their abortion business.”

He added that the administration is revising agency and departmental rules and regulations that are related to abortion, and much of the Biden-era policies have been rescinded or “are going to be reversed.” This includes the last administration dropping conscience protections for health care providers on abortion-related issues, instituting rules that employers must grant leave for an employee to obtain an abortion, and the Pentagon paying workers to travel for abortions, among other pro-abortion initiatives.

Trump also directed the United States to rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which is a coalition of countries that support pro-life and pro-woman policies.

Meaney praised Trump’s decision to pardon 23 “peaceful, nonviolent pro-lifers” who were convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, adding that many people in the pro-life movement believed “there had been a policy on the part of the previous administration to go after pro-lifers in an unreasonable way.”

However, Trump’s executive order to create a plan to boost IVF access is “highly objectionable [and] problematic from a pro-life perspective,” he said. Rather than the deregulation backed by Trump, he said “there needs to be a lot more health and safety and other restrictions.”

Trump also signed an executive order directing the nation’s attorney general to pursue the death penalty in federal cases, especially for murders of police officers. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) criticized this order.

Moving forward, Meaney said he hopes the administration will impose regulations on the abortion pill mifepristone, which he said is “probably the No. 1 issue” currently. It was deregulated in the last two Democratic administrations, but Meaney said reimposing the original safeguards is “very, very doable” for the Trump administration.

Religious liberty, gender ideology, and education wins

On religious liberty policies, “the Trump administration has done what you would hope it would do,” Peter Breen, the head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, told CNA.

“The speed and the vigor of these efforts is 10 times the speed of the first administration,” Breen said. ”They are moving at lightning speed.”

Trump created the White House Faith Office and established a task force on anti-Christian bias to review and revise federal policies throughout federal departments and agencies that threaten religious liberty. This includes a Biden-era rule on “gender identity” discrimination that could have barred Catholic institutions from federal contracts, according to the USCCB.

The bishops were concerned the rule would end contracts with Catholic hospitals if they did not perform transgender surgeries on children and end contracts with foster care providers that did not place children with same-sex couples.

Another Biden-era rule sought to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions in emergency rooms if the abortion is considered a “stabilizing treatment.”

The new office and the task force are specifically “dealing with some of the issues that we have been working on for our clients,” Breen said.

“The fact that he has so vigorously advanced the cause of religious liberty and the full inclusion of people of faith and their ministries in the government and regular life — that is a real achievement,” Breen added. “That is going to have a lasting impact.”

Moving forward, Breen said it’s important to look at “enforcement actions” to ensure officials are following through with the president’s directives to safeguard religious liberty.

In addition to Trump’s policies directly focused on religious liberty, Breen noted that federal promotion of gender ideology “has mostly come to a stop.” The president signed an executive order that defined a “woman” as an “adult human female” and rejected definitions based on a person’s “self-asserted gender identity” for the purpose of federal rules and regulations, which reversed the standard of the previous administration.

Trump further clarified Title IX protections for gender-related education policies with executive actions. Those policies prohibit biological men from participating in women’s sports and ensure that locker rooms, bathrooms, and other private facilities are separated on the basis of biological sex rather than self-asserted gender identity.

Susan Hanssen, a professor of American history at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), told CNA that in her estimation, Trump’s order to scale back and eventually eliminate the U.S. Department of Education is “the greatest triumph of Trump’s first 100 days in office from the point of view of Catholic social teaching.” 

“Any action that will make it easier for parents to exert their authority over how their children are educated, bringing control over education down to the state and local levels, enabling charter schools, school voucher programs, etc., are fundamental to pro-family policy,” Hanssen said.

“The fact that the Department of Education has also been ideologically hijacked by progressive educational theories, the vested interests of teachers unions, LGBT ideology, and critical race theory makes it all the more urgent to liberate families to find and fund the education they want for their children,” she added.

Immigration and Catholic NGO funding tensions

Trump’s immigration policies over his first 100 days in office have created tensions with Catholic bishops, particularly over his plans to conduct mass deportations of immigrants who entered the country illegally and his actions to freeze federal funds for NGOs that resettle migrants.

In February, the USCCB sued the Trump administration after the freeze halted funds to several Catholic NGOs that received funds to provide these services. The USCCB is currently phasing out its migration programs, which were primarily funded with federal money. Catholic Charities agencies across the country cut programs and laid off employees after losing federal funding.

“For more than 100 years, the Catholic Church has consistently supported and advocated for immigrants and refugees arriving in the United States,” Julia Young, a historian and professor at The Catholic University of America, told CNA.

“The loss of funds related to refugee resettlement threatens to derail a very important element of that work,” she added. “Yet Catholic organizations and the Catholic hierarchy, which are driven by Catholic social teaching to minister to the poor and needy, will certainly continue to find ways to respond to the needs of migrants and refugees in the United States."

Trump froze most of the country’s foreign aid funding as well, which impacted several Catholic NGOs. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) were both forced to cut programs and lay off staff as a result.

JRS spokeswoman Bridget Cusick told CNA the freeze “had immediate negative consequences for people who have fled persecution, oppression, abuse, insecurity, discrimination, and lack of opportunity.”

“JRS was compelled to suspend operations in nine countries, including those that provided critical, lifesaving care,” Cusick said.

“Two of our programs were later reinstated, but we estimate that the changes we were forced to make impacted more than 100,000 people, including unaccompanied children,” she continued. “Thanks to the support of the Jesuit network, our board, and others, we have found ways to keep impacted programs running, but in dramatically reduced fashion, leaving thousands at risk.”

Cusick said JRS “will continue its work, but we are deeply concerned that the U.S. and indeed, other countries cutting foreign aid, seem to be trying to deny the existence of a refugee crisis, even as more than 120 million people in the world remain displaced.”

Hanssen alternatively noted that some foreign aid programs were being used to promote gender ideology and population control in other parts of the world and praised the dismantling of such programs.

USAID had become “riddled with skewed grant programs that ‘ideologically colonize’ developing countries — many of them Catholic countries in Africa and Latin America — by tying economic assistance to population control, gender ideology, and leftist political agendas,” Hanssen pointed out. 

The freeze in the international funding for NGOs has also been the subject of several lawsuits.

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CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).

During oral arguments on Wednesday, the conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appeared sympathetic to supporting the establishment of the first Catholic charter school in the United States.

The St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which is managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, last year petitioned the high court to approve its bid to become the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. The case could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S. 

The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ordered Oklahoma’s charter school board to rescind the contract with the school, citing the First Amendment’s prohibition of laws establishing a state religion. 

Shortly after the state Supreme Court ruling, both St. Isidore and the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board filed separate petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2024.

In the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, James Campbell, chief counsel with the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, argued on behalf of the Oklahoma charter board, while attorney Michael McGinley argued on behalf of St. Isidore’s. 

John Sauer, the solicitor general of the United States, argued in support of the school board and charter school. Gregory Garre, meanwhile, argued on behalf of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has opposed the creation of the school.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority and has made several landmark decisions in support of religious freedom in recent years, Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself for the Oklahoma case. This leaves the possibility of a 4-4 split, in which the case would set no federal legal precedent and the state court ruling would remain in place. 

During the proceedings, the remaining five Republican-appointed justices expressed sympathy for the charter school, citing the importance of nondiscrimination and diverse options in education. 

Free exercise and diverse education options 

“You can’t treat religious people and religious institutions and religious speech as second class in the United States,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the hearing.

He added that to have a program open to all private institutions except those that are religious “seems like rank discrimination.”

Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern about religious discrimination by the state, noting that the rejection of St. Isidore “seems to be motivated by hostility” toward particular religions. Alito pointed out that Drummond had made statements about Islamic schools in his reasoning for not allowing religious charter schools. 

In response to Garre’s arguments that charter schools were public institutions and should not support a particular religion, Kavanaugh maintained that charter schools were “built on the idea that innovative approaches to education would increase the quality of education” and provide various options for local communities. 

Chief Justice John Roberts asked skeptical questions of both sides. At one point, he compared the situation to a previous case in which the court ruled that a state program “couldn’t engage in that discrimination” against a religious adoption service in regards to funding. 

“How is that different from what we have here?” Roberts asked Garre. “You have an education program, and you want to not allow them to participate with a religious entity.”  

Justice Neil Gorsuch emphasized the same case, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, asking Garre to define the difference between the two cases. 

Gorsuch also pointed out that state governments could potentially change the nature of their charter schools — making them publicly-run entities — if they wished to avoid funding religious charter schools. 

Conservative justices also pointed to the purpose of charter schools — to provide more accessible options for students. 

“I thought the whole point of charter schools was to offer something different from the so-called public schools,” Alito said.

Establishing no religion 

The three Democratic-appointed justices expressed concern about a religious charter school breaking the establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion. 

During the discourse, the free exercise clause — which affirms the protection of the free exercise of religion without government interference — and the establishment clause appeared pitted against each other, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

Sotomayor expressed concerns that a religious charter school would break the establishment clause by teaching religion, implying that the free exercise clause “trumps” the establishment clause. 

“We’re not going to pay religious leaders to teach their religion,” she said in reference to the establishment clause. 

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed concerns that a Catholic charter school would be using state funding for “a religious purpose.” 

Sotomayor also expressed concerns that a religious school may teach creationism rather than evolution, citing the school board’s responsibility to ensure quality education. 

Justice Elena Kagan, meanwhile, asked what would happen if a school required a statement of faith to accept students. St. Isidore does not require a statement of faith, Campbell noted.

Jackson maintained that the charter school program required “strictly secular schools” and that religious schools were wanting a special “tailored contract.” 

“What they want to do is come in and get a contract that is tailored to their own terms that includes religious education,” Jackson said of St. Isidore. “The state says that’s not the benefit that we’re offering here.”

A decision will likely be issued by late June or early July.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 30, 2025 / 15:07 pm (CNA).

Recent polling data has found that Americans’ religious affiliations have not greatly changed since 2020, appearing to stabilize following decades of substantial shifts.

Data collected by the polling firm Gallup surveyed 12,000 adults in the U.S. and found that from 2000 to 2020, the percentage of people with no religious affiliation spiked, while Protestant and Catholic populations declined.

In 2000, 57% of Americans identified as Protestant or nondenominational Christians. Over the following 20 years this group dropped more than 10 points to 46%. The Catholic population experienced a smaller yet still notable decline over the same time period, decreasing from 25% to 22%.

The largest change over the two decades was the increase in American adults who said they had no religious affiliation. In 2000, only 8% of those surveyed said they did not practice a religion, but in 2020 the number had jumped to 20%. 

Yet recent research from 2020 to 2024 revealed that American adults’ religious affiliations have become more stable, experiencing little to no change in numbers from year to year. 

In 2020, 22% of Americans identified as Catholic and in 2024 the population remained similar at 21%. The Protestant population also only slightly declined from 46% to 45%.

The study looked at people who practice “other religions” including those who consider themselves Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, or another religion and found that this group has only increased by 1 percentage point since 2020.

Following the large 12-point increase in nonreligious adults from 2000 to 2020, the group only increased by 2 points from 2020 to 2024. As of 2024, 22% of Americans, or 1 in 5, said they have no religious preference. 

Millennials are primarily responsible for the increase in adults with no religion, with 31% of them reporting they have no affiliation. This amount has almost doubled from 16% in the 2000 to 2004 survey.

The Silent Generation, baby boomers, and Generation X all had smaller 4- and 5-point increases during the same time period.

The most recent surveys further examined the smaller religious populations that make up the “other religions” group, which has remained consistent from 2000 to 2024 with only very slight fluctuation.

In the U.S., 2.2% of adults identify as Jewish, 1.5% as Latter-Day Saints or Mormon, and less than 1% each as Muslim, Buddhist, Orthodox Christian, or Hindu. 

Combined data from 2020 to 2024 revealed that 69% of American adults are Christian, 4.1% are a non-Christian denomination, and 21.4% said they have no affiliation. The other individuals did not answer or provided a response outside the options the survey listed.

The St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square are seen at sunset near the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans on April 10, 2010. / Credit: Graythen/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2025 / 12:04 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has been ordered to appear in federal court to defend ongoing proceedings in its years-old bankruptcy case, with a federal judge citing no resolution after years of proceedings and millions in expenditures.

Under financial pressure from clerical abuse litigation compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, the archdiocese announced in May 2020 that its administrative offices were filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Yet U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill said in an order this week that after “five years and millions of dollars expended, no coalition of parties has proposed a confirmable plan” to help the diocese compensate abuse victims both monetarily and with “nonmonetary remedies in the form of disclosure, transparency, and lasting institutional protocols.”

The judge directed the archdiocese to appear in the New Orleans court on June 26 to argue “why this case should not be dismissed for cause, including the inability to effectuate a plan of reorganization.”

The court “remains steadfast in its belief that [the bankruptcy] process can supply the best outcomes for all parties in this case,” the order said. 

In a statement this week, the archdiocese said it was “pleased to have the opportunity to share our significant progress in negotiations to bring just and equitable compensation to the survivors and creditors while providing a sustainable path forward for the ministry of the Catholic Church to continue in our area.” 

“Despite the unacceptable amount of time and money spent over the past five years, we believe resolution of these bankruptcy proceedings will be for the benefit of all survivors and creditors and the faithful of the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” the archdiocese said. 

Attorneys for the archdiocese would “work to formally respond to the court’s order,” the statement said.

Last September the archdiocese proposed a bankruptcy settlement of $62.5 million to victims of abuse, though the victims themselves have requested hundreds of millions of dollars more in compensation. 

The $62.5 million proposal was considerably less than the roughly $1 billion proposed by survivors of clergy abuse, the vast majority of which would be paid by insurers.

The New Orleans Archdiocese is one of many U.S. bishoprics to have filed for bankruptcy in recent years due to financial pressure from abuse claims.

Refugees from Mexico. / Credit: David Peinado Romero/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2025 / 15:49 pm (CNA).

Utah’s Catholic Community Services will continue to operate its refugee support programs despite federal funding cuts after receiving well over $1 million in donations.

In early April, the group, which is based in Salt Lake City, announced that its refugee resettlement program was “winding down” and would eventually close amid major federal funding cuts. The program normally provides “hundreds of refugees the assistance they need to recover from lives dismantled by persecution, war, or violence.”

The organization reported that it lost more than $2.5 million of annual aid and “could not sustain the program” without it.

In a statement on Monday, however, the group said that, following the announcement, “something remarkable happened. Our community rallied.”

The organization said it will no longer be forced to close the refugee program or end its support for Utah-based immigrant families.

“Thanks to a generous lead gift and an outpouring of support from individuals, foundations, and partners, CCS will continue offering resettlement services through a new, privately funded model,” the group said.

Catholic Community Services said it has raised $1.5 million to use over the next four years and said it will continue its work “on a smaller scale.” The majority of the funds came from one donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

The Catholic organization is now asking for another $1 million from “the broader community.” It stated that without this additional money, the organization “will be forced to scale back services and make further cuts to the program.”

The funds will help “refugee clients” by focusing on “six key pillars”: extended case management, housing assistance, employment readiness, youth education support, mental health services, and volunteer coordination and community engagement.

“These services aim to address the most urgent needs of refugee families and foster long-term self-sufficiency,” the organization said.

“While the program will operate at a reduced capacity, its core services — and the impact on the lives of those we serve — remain as vital as ever. This transformation ensures we can uphold our mission while adapting to a changing national landscape.”