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Catholic growth in anti-Catholic colonies: The fledgling Church in New England
By Father Anthony D. Andreassi
In this continuing series on the origins of Catholicism in the 50 states, the story of New England begins in a region that was, from the start, among the least welcoming places in early America for Catholics.
The English settlements of Plymouth (1620) and Massachusetts Bay (1630) were founded by deeply committed Protestants, shaped by a Calvinist worldview that defined itself in sharp opposition to Catholicism. Their religious imagination was nourished not only by the Bible but also by John Foxe’s “Book of Martyrs,” a widely read and fiercely anti-Catholic account of Protestant suffering under Queen Mary I.
That memory of persecution was reinforced by the dramatic tale of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, in which a small group of Catholics attempted to blow up Parliament and assassinate the Protestant king, James I. With such stories shaping the culture, it is no surprise that New England became the most inhospitable region of the 13 colonies for Catholics.
In such an atmosphere, Catholics in colonial New England kept a low profile, and for long stretches there was effectively no public Catholic life at all. Laws passed in 1647 and again in 1700 barred Catholics from settling in Massachusetts, and any priest who entered the colony could, in theory, face death as “an enemy of the true Christian religion.”
The Revolutionary era brought some measure of relief, and small numbers of Catholics began settling more openly in the New England colonies, which had by then become states. Legal barriers gradually softened, and public worship, once unthinkable, slowly emerged. In Boston, the first public Mass was celebrated in 1788 (nearly a century after the first Mass had been offered in New York City) marking a tentative but historic step toward an established Catholic presence in the region.
Progress, however, remained limited. The Massachusetts state constitution of 1780 imposed a religious test that effectively barred Catholics from holding public office and required citizens to pay taxes supporting Protestant ministers, though both provisions were eventually repealed.
Even as legal conditions slowly improved, Catholics remained a tiny minority. When the Diocese of Boston was created in 1808 (encompassing all of New England), the Catholic population of the state was still small; by 1820 still fewer than 4,000 Catholics lived among a general population of more than half a million.
This began to change dramatically with the arrival of large numbers of Irish immigrants in the decades before the Civil War, followed later by French Canadians and then by Catholics from Southern and Eastern Europe. Today, roughly one-third (about 2.5 million) of the state’s population is Catholic, served by four dioceses, a remarkable transformation from the tiny, legally restricted community of the early republic.
Maine
Before English control took hold in northern New England, Catholic missionary life had already emerged in what is now Maine through French Jesuits working among the Abenaki. François de Laval (who was eventually named the first bishop of Quebec in 1674 and later beatified in 1980) reported some 200 baptisms near present-day Augusta between 1660 and 1663. This mission endured amid growing conflict between France and England until 1724, when English forces destroyed the village of Norridgewock, killing many residents along with their longtime missionary, Jesuit Father Sebastian Rale.
Catholic life reemerged after the Revolution when Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, whose diocese then encompassed all of the fledgling republic, sent the French émigré priest Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus to minister at Indian Island and establish what would become St. Patrick Parish in Newcastle.
When Maine entered the Union in 1820, Catholicism remained sparse and missionary. Hostility flared again in the mid-19th century, most notably in 1854 with the tarring and feathering of the Swiss Jesuit John Bapst. Resistance ran so deep that the priest appointed as Portland’s first bishop in 1853 declined the position.
When Father David Bacon from Brooklyn arrived two years later (quietly and without clerical dress) to take up this role, the diocese (which then included both Maine and New Hampshire) counted only six priests and eight churches. Today the Diocese of Portland serves just the state of Maine, ministering to roughly 275,000 Catholics in 48 parishes.
New Hampshire
Since the Diocese of Portland initially encompassed both Maine and New Hampshire, the Catholic story of the Granite State began in close connection with Maine’s. Its roots, however, stretch back to the mid-1600s, when small numbers of Sokwaki and Pennacook converts instructed by French missionaries became the first Catholics in what is now New Hampshire. Their presence remained minimal if not miniscule for decades.
By 1741, the Anglican rector of Queen’s Chapel in Portsmouth could claim that no “papist” was known among the population. After the Revolutionary War, Catholics were still exceedingly rare. Of the roughly 25,000 Catholics in the United States at the time (about 1% of the population), New Hampshire — then home to some 100,000 people — officially counted none, though a few likely lived quietly among French traders or Irish immigrants.
A more visible Catholic presence began to emerge only in the early 19th century. The first Catholic church in the state, St. Mary’s in Claremont, was built in 1823 by a father and son (both Episcopal priests) who converted to Catholicism. The first parish followed in 1830 with the establishment of St. Aloysius in Dover. Even then the numbers remained modest. In 1835, New Hampshire counted just under 400 Catholics, served by two churches and two priests.
Catholic growth in New Hampshire accelerated dramatically in the second half of the 19th century. The first of several French-Canadian parishes was founded in 1873 to serve the rapidly expanding population of immigrants from Quebec.
When Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Manchester in 1884, separating New Hampshire from the Diocese of Portland and appointing Father Denis Bradley as its first bishop, the Church had already assumed a substantial presence. The new diocese counted 31 parishes, six parish schools, 10 chapels, one orphanage, 37 priests required to minister in both French and English, and five convents with 89 religious sisters from three congregations.
Among Bishop Bradley’s most important early decisions was inviting Benedictine monks from Newark to establish a college and preparatory school. The monks who came to Manchester and founded St. Anselm Abbey were largely of German descent, a deliberate choice in a city where tensions between Irish and French Canadians could easily flare.
By the turn of the 20th century, Manchester’s Catholic population was roughly 40% French Canadian and 60% Irish, reflecting the immigrant streams that had reshaped the Granite State’s religious life.
Today, nearly 190,000 Catholics worship in 88 parishes across New Hampshire, served by about 175 priests — a striking growth from the handful of believers who once struggled to establish even a single church in the Granite State.
Vermont
Turning westward, the Catholic story in Vermont unfolded along a different frontier. The Diocese of Burlington today encompasses the entire state, but its Catholic roots reach back to July 1609, when the Catholic explorer Samuel de Champlain first entered the region and gave it the name that would become Vermont, drawn from its green mountains. Champlain was not merely an explorer but a man of evident religious conviction, often remarking that the salvation of one soul was worth more than the conquest of an empire.
Jesuit missionaries were active throughout much of the 17th century. The first Catholic structure within the present boundaries of Vermont was built at Fort St. Anne in 1666, where Mass was celebrated for the first time in the region. Two years later, in 1668, Bishop Laval of Quebec administered confirmation there, likely the first celebration of that sacrament in New England.
When the Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm traveled along Lake Champlain in 1749, he noted Jesuit missionaries present in nearly every Indian village, serving both converted and unconverted communities. Although the territory later came under English control and, after independence, formally fell within the Diocese of Baltimore, the Bishop of Quebec continued to oversee the spiritual care of early Catholic settlers and Native Americans until Vermont was incorporated into the newly erected Diocese of Boston in 1808.
A permanent Catholic presence took firmer shape in 1830, when Bishop Benedict Fenwick of Boston sent the energetic Jeremiah O’Callaghan as Vermont’s first resident priest. Under his leadership, the Church grew steadily, so that by 1853, when the Holy See established the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont counted five priests, 10 churches, and approximately 20,000 Catholics. Today, though Vermont remains the second smallest state by population, the Diocese of Burlington serves about 110,000 Catholics through 36 active priests, 44 permanent deacons, and 15 religious ministering in 68 parishes.
Rhode Island
Turning now to southern New England, the Catholic story in Rhode Island unfolded within a colony known for its commitment to liberty of conscience. In Rhode Island, anti-Catholic sentiment tended to express itself more in politics and legislation than in the mob violence seen elsewhere in New England.
Founded in 1643 by the Baptist minister Roger Williams, the colony was built on a broad principle of religious toleration (even allowing Jews to establish their own congregation in 1658), a sharp contrast to the more restrictive policies of neighboring colonies. Yet this toleration had limits. By 1719, the Rhode Island General Assembly had enacted a law disenfranchising Catholics in an effort to discourage their settlement.
The first Catholic Mass in Rhode Island is generally believed to have been celebrated in July 1780, when the French forces arrived in Newport during the Revolutionary War. A more permanent Catholic presence emerged only in the 19th century.
As Irish immigrants began arriving in Newport in significant numbers, tensions deepened. Many came to work on the construction of Fort Adams, to labor in the growing number of grand mansions, or to escape the devastation of the Irish potato famine. Anti-immigrant sentiment was often rooted in anti-Catholic prejudice. St. Mary’s Parish, the first Catholic parish in Newport, was founded in 1828.
In 1843, Pope Gregory XVI established the Diocese of Hartford, encompassing both Connecticut and Rhode Island, and appointed Msgr. William Tyler of Boston as its first bishop.
At the time, Providence counted about 2,000 Catholics, compared to only 600 in Hartford, prompting Tyler to petition Rome to relocate the diocesan see. A generation later, on February 16, 1872, Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Providence, separating Rhode Island from Hartford and adding nearby territories from Massachusetts, including Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod and the Fall River area. Thomas Hendricken was named the first bishop of Providence.
The new diocese began with 125,000 Catholics, 43 churches, nine parish schools and one orphanage. Today the diocese serves almost 600,000 Catholics across 119 parishes.
Connecticut
In contrast to repressive laws and outright violence found at times elsewhere in much of New England, Catholic life in Connecticut unfolded within a stable but firmly Protestant culture that proved cautious rather than openly hostile.
Although the Dutch erected a fort in 1633 near what is now Hartford, Connecticut developed primarily from two independent English settlements founded by Puritans with Congregationalism (which was the way the descendants of the Puritans began to refer to their church) remaining as the established church until 1818.
The earliest Catholics were likely Irish immigrants and French-speaking Acadians who were driven from Nova Scotia and settled in small numbers in the region during the mid-18th century.
By the 1820s, the Catholic population in Connecticut had grown large enough to warrant a resident priest. In 1829, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, the second bishop of Boston, sent Father Bernard O’Cavanagh as the state’s first resident priest. The following year, Bishop Fenwick returned to dedicate Connecticut’s first Catholic church, a converted Episcopal frame building.
Connecticut’s Catholic population expanded rapidly in the decades after the Civil War, driven by immigration and industrial growth in cities such as Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury. That expansion found strong leadership under Lawrence McMahon, a distinguished Civil War chaplain, who was appointed Hartford’s fifth bishop in 1879.
During his 14-year episcopate, the diocese experienced remarkable growth, with 48 new parishes and 16 parish schools established. It was also during this period, in 1882, that a young diocesan priest from Waterbury, Michael J. McGivney, organized a small group of Catholic men in the basement of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven.
What began as a small gathering soon grew into the Knights of Columbus, a lasting expression of Catholic charity, fraternity and faith, one of the most influential Catholic organizations in American history. McGivney was beatified at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford in 2020.
Catholic life in Connecticut continued to expand through the 20th century, especially during the prosperity of the postwar era. As population shifted outward from the cities, new parishes were established across the growing suburbs, reflecting both demographic growth and rising Catholic confidence in public life.
That expansion was formally recognized in 1953, when Pope Pius XII created the dioceses of Bridgeport and Norwich and elevated Hartford to the rank of an archdiocese, marking Connecticut’s full maturation into a major center of Catholic life in New England.
Taken together, the Catholic story of New England is one of endurance and gradual transformation. From the early missionary encounters with Native peoples along rivers and lakes, through centuries of exclusion, suspicion and legal restriction, Catholic life survived largely at the margins. What began as a scattered and often hidden faith was reshaped in the 19th and early 20th centuries by immigration and industrialization as parishes, schools and charitable works took root across the region.
Today, Catholicism is woven deeply into New England’s religious and cultural fabric — a long way from the days when Mass was forbidden, bishops arrived in their new diocese in disguise and Catholics struggled simply to be counted.
(Father Anthony D. Andreassi, a priest of the Brooklyn Oratory of St. Philip Neri, holds a doctorate in history from Georgetown University. His research and writing have focused on the American Catholic community. After spending many years in Catholic secondary education, he is on the staff of the Oratory parishes of Assumption and St. Boniface in Brooklyn, New York.)
9 ‘perpetual pilgrims’ to travel patriotic East Coast route in 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage
(OSV News) — Nine young adults have been selected as “perpetual pilgrims” to travel with the Eucharist along the East Coast this summer in the third National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The pilgrims — five men and four women — will participate in the pilgrimage’s full route, which begins May 24 in Florida and reaches Maine before ending in Philadelphia July 5 for U.S. semiquincentennial celebrations.
The pilgrims include Zachary Dotson, a parish employee in Indiana; Marcel Ferrer, a sophomore at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio; John Paul Flynn, sophomore at The Catholic University of America in Washington; Eduardo Gutierrez, an accountant in Phoenix; Cheyenne Johnson, a missionary in New Jersey; Angelina Marconi, a college athletic trainer in Kentucky; Raymond Martinez II, a seminarian for the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas; Sharon Phillips, a high school youth minister in the Archdiocese of Seattle; and Mary Carmen Zakrajsek, a youth faith formation director in Indiana.
With four routes that met in Indianapolis, the 2024 pilgrimage included 30 pilgrims. Last year’s pilgrimage included eight. Johnson was among the 2025 perpetual pilgrims, and she is returning this year as the team lead. Last year’s pilgrimage also included a returning pilgrim who had traveled one of the 2024 routes to serve as team lead.
With the theme “One Nation Under God,” the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage route celebrates key Catholic landmarks and events in American Catholic history as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The pilgrimage’s route includes public events in 18 dioceses and archdioceses in 13 states and the District of Columbia.
Registration for public events such as Masses, Eucharistic processions, adoration and Holy Hours opens March 18 at eucharisticpilgrimage.org.
The pilgrimage will launch Memorial Day weekend with Mass at Our Lady of La Leche Shrine at Mission Nombre De Dios in St. Augustine, Florida, the site of the first Mass celebrated on American soil in 1565. It will also include commemorations of the Georgia Martyrs, five Franciscan missionaries who were killed for their faith in 1597, whose beatification is expected Oct. 31; the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi in the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia; and stops in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the nation’s first Catholic diocese.
The route is dedicated to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-American religious sister who cared for the immigrants and poor in New York during the turn of the 20th century.
The National Eucharistic Congress nonprofit organizes the pilgrimage, which first took place in 2024 ahead of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, and which returned last summer with a route from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.
This year’s pilgrimage will take place in solidarity with the U.S. bishops’ call to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It also aims to broadly involve the Church in the U.S. through a campaign to offer 250,000 Holy Hours “for the renewal and blessing of America,” according to its website.
Dioceses and archdioceses with stops along the route are St. Augustine; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Arlington, Virginia; Washington; Baltimore; Wilmington, Delaware; Camden, New Jersey; Paterson, New Jersey; Springfield, Massachusetts; Manchester, New Hampshire; Portland, Maine; Boston; Fall River, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Philadelphia.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the model of ‘perfect in culturation,’ Pope Leo says
By Courtney Mares
ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has pointed to Our Lady of Guadalupe as the model of “perfect inculturation” as Mexico prepares to mark the 500th anniversary of the apparition in 2031 with a jubilee year.
In a Feb. 24 message to the Theological-Pastoral Congress being held in Mexico City, the pope said Our Lady of Guadalupe “manifests God’s way of approaching his people.”
The congress, running Feb. 24-26, was organized to prepare for the 500th anniversary of the Marian apparitions to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City. It is promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the Mexican Episcopal Conference, the Knights of Columbus and the Pontifical International Marian Academy.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe is a lesson in divine pedagogy on the inculturation of salvific truth,” Pope Leo said. “She does not canonize a culture or absolutize its categories, but neither does she ignore or despise them: they are assumed, purified, and transfigured to become a place of encounter with Christ.”
In December 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared four times to St. Juan Diego, an Indigenous Mexican convert to Christianity, on Tepeyac Hill. She asked that a church be built in her honor on the site and left her image miraculously imprinted on St. Juan Diego’s tilma, or cloak, which remains on display today at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Scholars and theologians have long noted how the image on the tilma is rich with symbolism that was intelligible to the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of central Mexico from her turquoise mantle, associated with a queenly status in Aztec culture, to the black band around her waist, which was a sign of pregnancy in Indigenous tradition. The four-petaled flower, located on her garment over Our Lady’s womb, was an Aztec symbol for the center of the universe and the fullness of the divine.
The pope said the apparitions on Tepeyac Hill can be seen as “a permanent criterion for discerning the evangelizing mission of the Church, called to proclaim the True God for whom we live, without imposing him, but also without diluting the radical newness of his saving presence.”
Inculturation refers to the concept of making the Gospel incarnate in different cultures. The pope clarified that “inculturation does not equate to a sacralization of cultures or their adoption as a decisive interpretive framework for the Gospel message.”
“To legitimize everything that is culturally given or to justify practices, worldviews, or structures that contradict the Gospel and the dignity of the person would be to ignore that every culture — like every human reality — must be enlightened and transformed by the grace that flows from the Paschal mystery of Christ,” Pope Leo added.
He noted that Our Lady of Guadalupe exemplifies an inculturation that is “respectful in its starting point, intelligible in its language, and firm and delicate in its guidance toward the encounter with the full Truth, with the blessed Fruit of his womb.”
“Inculturation is, rather, a demanding and purifying process, through which the Gospel, while remaining intact in its truth, recognizes, discerns, and assumes the semina Verbi present in cultures, and at the same time purifies and elevates their authentic values, freeing them from what obscures or disfigures them,” the pope said.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is venerated as the patroness of the Americas. Pope Leo noted that “today, in many regions of the American continent and the world, the transmission of faith can no longer be taken for granted, particularly in large urban centers and pluralistic societies marked by visions of man and life that tend to relegate God to the private sphere or to dispense with Him altogether.”
Pope Leo, who is on his Lenten retreat this week, signed the message on Feb. 5, the feast of St. Philip of Jesus, the first canonized saint born in Mexico.
He pointed to the example of “many holy evangelizers and pastors” who can serve as examples and intercessors for the congress’ efforts, citing St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, St. Junípero Serra, Blessed Sebastián de Aparicio, St. Mamá Antula, St. José de Anchieta, Blessed Juan de Palafox, St. Pedro de San José de Betancur, St. Roque González, St. Mariana de Jesús and St. Francisco Solano.
“And may Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization, accompany and inspire every initiative leading up to the 500th anniversary of her apparition,” Pope Leo said.
(Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.)
‘Christ is my identity, my foundation,’ says Catholic player on US women’s hockey team
By Mike Latona / Catholic Courier , OSV News
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (OSV News) — The Olympic gold medal hanging from Haley Winn’s neck was a crowning touch on her rapid rise to ice hockey’s mountaintop.
Winn — a graduate of Bishop Kearney High School in the Rochester suburb of Irondequoit — and her United States women’s team struck gold Feb. 19, thanks to a 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the Olympic final in Milan, Italy. Winn played stellar defense throughout the 2026 Winter Games, helping her team score 33 goals in seven games while allowing just two goals.
“It’s crazy to think about. It’s so hard to put into words,” Winn, 22, told the Catholic Courier, newspaper of the Diocese of Rochester, in a Feb. 22 telephone interview from Milan. “Just to be a part of something so much bigger than myself, it’s so special. There’s been so many emotions — a lot of tears of joy, disbelief.”
The gold-medal win came in Winn’s first Olympics and followed three world titles with other U.S. national teams on which she played. She asserted that her hockey success was only made possible through two mainstays in her life — her family and her Catholic faith.
“I wouldn’t be (an Olympic champion) without them,” Winn said of her parents, Janet and Mike, and older brothers Casey, Ryan and Tommy — all five of whom were on hand in Milan to cheer her on. “It’s their medal as much as mine.”
Winn said she also drew inspiration from praying together with several U.S. teammates before each Olympic game.
“Christ is my identity, my foundation,” she said. “I think it’s the thing that keeps me grounded.”
Staying grounded was no easy task in the gold-medal contest, as Winn’s U.S. team faced a 1-0 deficit until Hilary Knight’s goal tied the score with just over two minutes left in regulation. Megan Keller followed with the game-winner 4:07 into sudden-death overtime, setting off a wild U.S. celebration.
“I just had a sense of belief and confidence that as soon as we got that tying goal, it was over,” Winn said, lauding the ability and cohesiveness of her U.S. teammates: “It’s the best team I could have played on, a great group of girls. Everyone just has so much trust in each other and gives you the confidence to play your own game.”
Winn, a 5-foot-5-inch defenseman wearing uniform No. 8, logged substantial ice time in every Olympic game. Offensively, she netted her first Olympic goal — in a 5-0 win over Switzerland Feb. 9 — and three assists during the Games.
En route to her Olympic success, Winn spent her high school career with the BK Selects Hockey Academy for boys and girls, playing in elite youth events across the U.S. and Canada.
Winn, as well as BK Selects players from other states and countries, resided in dormitories on Bishop Kearney’s top floor while attending the school, where Winn’s mother is on the board of directors. She was one of eight BK Selects alumnae to play in the Olympics — five for the U.S. squad — yet was the only Rochester-area resident among those eight.
Upon graduating from Bishop Kearney in 2021, Winn played Division I hockey at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. In her senior season, she served as co-captain and was named ECAC Player of the Year as well as first team All-American. She graduated in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Winn also has won International Ice Hockey Federation women’s world championships in 2023 and 2025 and was on the U.S. under-18 national team that earned the world title in 2020. In June 2025, she was selected second overall by the Boston Fleet in the Professional Women’s Hockey League draft. Through late February, she had helped the Fleet to a first-place showing in the eight-team PWHL.
Despite the time demands of playing top-level hockey, Winn makes ample time for her Catholic faith and is adamant about sharing it with others. While attending Clarkson, she joined a team Bible study group as a sophomore, and by her senior year, she was overseeing it.
Winn noted that her faith kicked into another gear while still at Bishop Kearney. Through attending Masses at Rochester’s St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish with other team members, Winn developed a friendship with Father Robert Werth, a Diocese of Rochester priest who assists in the parish. Winn’s parents eventually became good friends with Father Werth as well.
“Father Bob and Haley have really helped Mike and I become strong in our faith through the years,” Janet Winn said, noting that they often attend Sunday Masses that Father Werth celebrates when they’re not traveling for their daughter’s hockey games.
“He is amazing. I don’t have enough good things to say about him,” Winn remarked about Father Werth. The priest, in turn, lauded the star hockey athlete: “She is the best — the most humble person, maybe even a little shy.”
The same cannot easily be said about Winn’s brothers. Casey, Ryan and Tommy became viral sensations during the Olympics with their zany outfits and videos; their supportive antics even led the four siblings to being featured on NBC’s “Today” show.
Meanwhile, Winn was part of a U.S. squad that, according to published reports, attracted a television viewing average of 5.3 million people — peaking at 7.7 million during overtime — in the final against Canada, making it the most-watched women’s ice hockey game on record.
As she continues to gain popularity around the world, Winn said she will utilize that attention not for personal gain, but to continue voicing her religious beliefs.
“I am so blessed that God is using me to glorify him on this platform,” she stated.
(Mike Latona is senior staff writer at the Catholic Courier, newspaper of the Diocese of Rochester. This story was originally published by the Catholic Courier and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.)
Miami clergy, staff accompany aid to Cuba for ongoing recovery from Hurricane Melissa
By Tom Tracy / Florida Catholic , OSV News
MIAMI (OSV News) — Representatives and clergy of the Archdiocese of Miami recently accompanied a series of ongoing humanitarian relief shipments to Cuba following last year’s Hurricane Melissa.
The new airlifts of foodstuffs and hygiene supplies were approved by the U.S. and Cuban governments this year and amount to some $3 million in aid to mostly eastern Cuban communities impacted by the Category 5 hurricane in 2025.
The hurricane made landfall on Oct. 28 in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm before passing over the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba. Dozens were killed, mostly in Jamaica and Haiti.
But Cuba’s weakening economic situation prompted action from a small group of donors through Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.
Those local efforts at the end of last year were extended in 2026 through a $3 million governmental partnership with Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Church’s overseas relief and development agency. The partnership marks a return of the Baltimore-based agency to Cuba for the first time in a decade.
The Catholic Church in Cuba, through its regional dioceses, has been entrusted with overseeing the distribution of the aid to ensure that it benefits those most in need in the communist nation, according to Peter Routsis-Arroyo, CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.
“Caritas Cuba along with priests, staff and volunteers from the parishes in the four dioceses impacted by Hurricane Melisssa continue to distribute the humanitarian assistance provided by CRS using a needs-based criteria,” Routsis-Arroyo said.
“The newest obstacle is the fuel shortage that will make the distribution more challenging,” he said Feb. 21. “It is also making garbage pickup throughout the region almost nonexistent which could lead to the spread of more diseases.”
In November, Routsis-Arroyo and two other archdiocesan representatives traveled to Cuba to accompany the third of four shipments, which departed from Miami International Airport and arrived at Antonio Maceo International Airport in Santiago, Cuba.
On Jan. 28, Father Jose Espino, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami, and Sister Eva Perez-Puelles from the Daughters of Charity in Miami accompanied a new airlift of aid to Santiago, Cuba. Father Elvis Gonzalez, pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Miami and Father Esney Munoz Diaz, of the same parish, oversaw an air delivery the following day to the Holguín region.
“They are met by a bishop or a representative from Caritas Cuba, making sure these supplies get into the correct hands,” Routsis-Arroyo said, adding that the Jan. 28 flight included 648 food kits, along with 510 hygiene kits, for example.
“Caritas Cuba needs-based criteria for dispensing the aid, with single mothers, senior citizens and people with disabilities and reduced mobility taking priority,” he added, noting that a hurricane appeal in the Miami Archdiocese last year provided an initial $400,000 in hurricane relief to the island following Hurricane Melissa.
“The difference now is that this new aid is part of the $3 million the U.S. government allowed to be used as part of a pledge to help Cuba,” Routsis-Arroyo said, noting that he met on Jan. 28 with Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski to discuss the operation.
“We (in the Miami Archdiocese) are trying to help and complement those efforts, we will continue our own relationships and efforts with Cuba.”
This is not the first time aid has been sent to Cuba. Archbishop Wenski explained to the Florida Catholic in December that it is “something that we’ve been doing for a long time.” “In the last five years, we’ve probably sent 45 containers to Cuba to help dioceses and religious communities in their work with the poor, especially elderly people,” he said.
Archbishop Wenski also organized a campaign in 1996, when he was the director of Catholic Charities of Miami, to collect food after Hurricane Lili struck Cuba. “We were able to send that food on two plane loads,” he said.
That shipment was made possible thanks to the relationship he had developed with the director of Caritas Cuba.
Santiago in the eastern part of Cuba is where the hurricane had the greatest impact. The humanitarian relief effort in Cuba aims to assist people in the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba and the Guantanamo-Baracoa, Holguín and Bayamo-Manzanillo dioceses.
The U.S. State Department has said the food kits include supplies such as rice, beans, oil and sugar. The assistance will also include water purification tablets and storage containers, as well as household essentials like pots and pans, along with sheets, blankets and solar lanterns.
Last year, the Trump administration moved to dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development, placing some of its remaining functions under the purview of the State Department.
Cuts to funding for the government’s now-shuttered humanitarian aid agency in countries all over the globe included funding for some efforts by Catholic and other faith-based humanitarian groups including CRS.
Robyn Fieser, media relations manager for CRS, said in a statement, “Following Hurricane Melissa, we are supporting the delivery of emergency supplies to families in Cuba with funding from the U.S. government, working in coordination with the Catholic Church, a longstanding and trusted partner in reaching communities during times of crisis.”
Archbishop Wenski said this new project with Cuba serves as an opportunity for the U.S. government to rebuild some of its coordination with CRS. “I think (U.S. Secretary of State) Marco Rubio was very wise in rebuilding that relationship,” the archbishop told the Florida Catholic, the archdiocesan news outlet.
“CRS is back helping Cuba and hopefully this opens funds and provides assistance to Cubans, because that is the only thing that is reaching Cubans right now,” the archbishop added.
USCCB calls for adoration hours, works of mercy to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary
WASHINGTON (OSV News) — As the U.S. prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has encouraged Catholics to participate in initiatives including a collective 250 Hours of Adoration and 250 Works of Mercy.
To celebrate the occasion, “America 250,” the initiatives encourage prayer for the unity and healing of the U.S., according to a resource guide the USCCB has published. The conference previously said the U.S. bishops will consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June.
In his encyclical “Dilexit Nos,” Pope Francis “instructs us to ‘nourish our lives with the strength of the Eucharist’ in Holy Communion and Adoration, so that we might understand Christ’s love for all more deeply and live out this love ourselves,” the guide stated. “Our contemplation of the Sacred Heart leads us deeper into the mystery of our salvation and deeper into our love for Christ found in the faces of our sisters and brothers — especially those most in need.”
The guide said parishes can participate in 250 Hours of Adoration by offering a Holy Hour on a weekly or monthly basis leading up to the nation’s July 4 anniversary. It noted that this could include continuing current practices or inviting new people to join. It suggested similar efforts to carry out 250 Works of Mercy.
It includes resources for Holy Hours for life, peace, marriage, religious liberty, vocations, an end to racism, as well as a Sacred Heart Holy Hour.
“Consider hosting a holy hour or series of holy hours at your parish using the templates provided. … You may have other ways to invite members of your community to spend some time in prayer for our country with Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament,” the guide said. “To prepare for the Consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart, parishes can also incorporate the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus into their Holy Hour.”
As examples of works of mercy, the guide encouraged parishes to find ways to assist women who are facing a crisis pregnancy; donate to food pantries and clothing closets, and community beautification programs; raise money for an overseas development project; sponsor a refugee family; tutor children; or volunteer at homeless shelters.
“The seven Corporal Works of Mercy come to us directly from the Scriptures in the Gospel of Matthew,” the guide said. “Rooted in our lives of faith, the actions that Jesus calls us to in feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned, burying the dead, and giving alms are central elements of our Catholic identity.”
It quotes from Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation “Dilexi Te,” which itself draws on Pope Francis’ “Dilexit Nos”: “As we contemplate Christ’s love, ‘we too are inspired to be more attentive to the sufferings and needs of others, and confirmed in our efforts to share in his work of liberation as instruments for the spread of his love.'”
Tristeza, conmoción y oraciones por los católicos de Oriente Medio mientras Estados Unidos e Israel atacan Irán, iniciando una guerra
Por Gina Christian
(OSV News) – Los católicos de todo Oriente Medio están conmocionados y afligidos, y responden con oraciones, ante los ataques conjuntos lanzados por las fuerzas israelíes y estadounidenses contra Irán el 28 de febrero, sumiendo a la región en una guerra.
Estados Unidos e Israel revelaron que el líder supremo de Irán, el ayatolá Alí Jamenei (Khamenei), de 86 años, es uno de los altos dirigentes del país fallecidos tras el ataque inicial, que tuvo como objetivo Teherán y otras ciudades de Irán.
El presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, describió los ataques como parte de “importantes operaciones de combate” para derrocar al régimen iraní con el fin de “defender al pueblo estadounidense”.
Por otra parte, el ministro de Defensa israelí, Israel Katz, anunció el “ataque preventivo” del 28 de febrero contra Irán, con la declaración del estado de emergencia en todo Israel.
Irán ha respondido con contraataques, dirigidos contra Israel y varios lugares de interés para Estados Unidos en varios países de Oriente Medio.
Aún se están evaluando las víctimas en ambos bandos en medio de los continuos intercambios, pero el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Irán, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, afirmó que una escuela de niñas en Minab fue bombardeada en el ataque aéreo estadounidense-israelí.
“Solo en este lugar han sido asesinados decenas de niños inocentes”, afirmó, mostrando una foto. “Estos crímenes contra el pueblo iraní no quedarán sin respuesta”.
El secretario general de la ONU, António Guterres, imploró a “todas las partes que regresaran inmediatamente a la mesa de negociaciones, en particular sobre el programa nuclear de Irán”, y advirtió que “la alternativa es un posible conflicto más amplio con graves consecuencias para la población civil y la estabilidad regional”.
El 1 de marzo, el Papa León XVI se pronunció en el Ángelus dominical en la plaza de San Pedro y dijo a las partes beligerantes que tenían la “responsabilidad moral” de poner fin a los combates y volver a la diplomacia antes de que la violencia condujera a un “abismo irreparable”.
El arzobispo Paul S. Coakley de Oklahoma City, presidente de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos advirtió: “Nos enfrentamos a la posibilidad de una tragedia de proporciones inmensas”.
El obispo Aldo Berardi, vicario apostólico del norte de Arabia – quien pastorea a los aproximadamente 2,2 millones de católicos, en su mayoría trabajadores migrantes de otras naciones, en Baréin, Kuwait, Qatar y Arabia Saudita– emitió un comunicado el 28 de febrero en Facebook, en el que instaba a los fieles a “mantener la calma, permanecer unidos en la oración y estar atentos a la seguridad de todos”.
“Por favor, sigan atentamente las instrucciones de las autoridades civiles y tomen todas las precauciones necesarias en sus hogares, lugares de trabajo y parroquias”, dijo el obispo Berardi.
“Permanezcamos unidos en la fe y la caridad, cuidando especialmente a los ancianos, los enfermos y los vulnerables”, dijo el obispo Berardi. “Que Nuestra Señora de Arabia, nuestra madre, nos cuide a todos”.
El arzobispo católico caldeo Bashar M. Warda, de Irbil, Irak, declaró a OSV News el 2 de marzo que “pudo ver toda la escena” de los ataques con misiles lanzados por Irán contra una base militar estadounidense cercana al aeropuerto de Irbil.
“Los misiles, los antimisiles, el ruido y los bombardeos…”, afirmó. “Se pueden imaginar el miedo y el horror”.
En un mensaje a OSV News dos días antes, compartió que las escuelas de la zona estaban cerradas “por el momento”. El arzobispo Warda añadió que los fieles de la región de Irbil “se mantenían realmente fuertes”.
“La oración es la única esperanza que tenemos”, dijo.
En Israel, el padre benedictino Nikodemus Schnabel, rector de la abadía de la Dormición en el monte Sión, en la ciudad vieja de Jerusalén, y abad de Tabgha, el priorato de la comunidad en la costa noroeste del mar de Galilea, se refugió con unos 60 peregrinos en Tabgha, el lugar tradicionalmente venerado por la multiplicación de los panes y los peces por Jesucristo.
“Siempre se intuía que algo podría pasar”, explicó.
Dijo que su grupo internacional, que incluía a niños y personas mayores, había estado en el refugio durante dos horas, y describió ese tiempo – que el video obtenido por OSV News mostraba a los peregrinos rezando y cantando – como un momento unificador en medio de los ataques.
“Fue una buena experiencia. No nos conocemos, pero cantamos canciones en diferentes idiomas. Rezamos juntos”, explicó.
Dijo que la experiencia era un ejemplo de la hospitalidad benedictina.
“Muy a menudo digo: ‘Quiero que nuestros dos monasterios sean dos islas de esperanza en un océano de sufrimiento'”, afirmó el padre Schnabel. “Y esa fue exactamente la sensación. Hoy también fuimos una isla de esperanza en un océano de sufrimiento”.
El padre jesuita John Paul, rector del Instituto Ecuménico Tantur, situado entre Belén y Jerusalén, dijo a OSV News que había pasado la mañana “entrando y saliendo de refugios”, aunque creía que “Jerusalén no es una zona objetivo”.
El sacerdote, cuyo instituto cuenta con personal tanto palestino como israelí, señaló el dolor que han provocado los ataques, que se producen tras la guerra entre Israel y Hamás y las continuas tensiones entre Israel y los palestinos que viven en la Franja de Gaza y Cisjordania.
“En general, entre los palestinos locales” hay “un sentimiento de verdadera tristeza; supongo que entre los israelíes también”, dijo el padre John Paul.
El padre Schnabel dijo que él y los peregrinos de Tagbha rezaban por todos los afectados.
“Oramos por los demás… Oremos por el pueblo de Irán. Oremos por el pueblo de Israel. Oremos por el pueblo de Palestina. Oremos por las personas de la región que se enfrentan a esta situación”, dijo.
(Gina Christian es reportera multimedia de OSV News. Paulina Guzik, editora internacional de OSV News, contribuyó a este reportaje.)
Miembros de la Arquidiócesis de Miami acompañan serie de envíos de ayuda humanitaria a Cuba tras el huracán Melissa
Por Tom Tracy
MIAMI – Representantes y miembros del clero de la Arquidiócesis de Miami acompañaron recientemente una serie de envíos de ayuda humanitaria a Cuba, tras el paso del huracán Melissa el año pasado.
Los nuevos envíos aéreos de alimentos y artículos de higiene fueron aprobados por los gobiernos de los Estados Unidos y Cuba este año, y ascienden a unos $3 millones en ayuda, principalmente para las comunidades del este de la Isla, afectadas por el huracán en el 2025.
El huracán tocó tierra el 28 de octubre en Jamaica como tormenta de categoría 5, antes de su paso por las Bahamas, la República Dominicana, Haití y Cuba. Decenas de personas perdieron la vida, la mayoría en Jamaica y Haití.
Pero el deterioro de la situación económica de Cuba impulsó la acción de un pequeño grupo de donantes a través de Caridades Católicas de la Arquidiócesis de Miami.
Dichos esfuerzos locales, a finales del año pasado, se ampliaron en 2026 mediante una asociación gubernamental de $3 millones con Catholic Relief Services (CRS, Servicios Católicos de Ayuda Humanitaria de los Estados Unidos), lo que marcó el regreso a Cuba de la organización benéfica internacional con sede en Baltimore, por primera vez en una década.
La Iglesia Católica en Cuba ha estado encargada de supervisar la distribución de la ayuda para garantizar que beneficie a los más necesitados en la nación de régimen comunista, según Peter Routsis-Arroyo, director ejecutivo de Caridades Católicas de la Arquidiócesis de Miami.
“Cáritas Cuba, junto con sacerdotes, personal y voluntarios de las parroquias de las cuatro diócesis afectadas por el huracán Melissa, continúan distribuyendo la ayuda humanitaria proporcionada por CRS utilizando criterios basados en las necesidades”, dijo Routsis-Arroyo.
“El obstáculo más reciente es la escasez de combustible, que dificultará aún más la distribución (de ayuda)”, señaló el 21 de febrero. “También está provocando que la recolección de basura en toda la región sea prácticamente inexistente, lo que podría conducir a la propagación de enfermedades”.
En noviembre, Routsis-Arroyo y otros dos representantes de la Arquidiócesis viajaron a Cuba para acompañar el tercero de cuatro envíos, que partió del Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami y llegó al Aeropuerto Internacional Antonio Maceo, en Santiago, Cuba.
El 28 de enero, el padre José Espino, rector del Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad, en Miami, y la hermana Eva Pérez-Puelles, de las Hijas de la Caridad de Miami, acompañaron un nuevo envío aéreo de ayuda a Santiago, Cuba. Al día siguiente, el padre Elvis González, párroco de St. Michael the Archangel, en Miami, y el padre Esney Muñoz Díaz, de la misma parroquia, supervisaron un envío aéreo a la región de Holguín.
“Los suministros son recibidos por un obispo o un representante de Cáritas Cuba, que se asegura de que lleguen a las personas adecuadas”, informó Routsis-Arroyo.
“Cáritas Cuba aplica criterios basados en las necesidades para distribuir la ayuda, y da prioridad a las madres solteras, las personas mayores, y las personas con discapacidad y movilidad reducida”, indicó.
“La diferencia ahora es que esto forma parte de los $3 millones que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos permitió utilizar como parte de un compromiso para ayudar a Cuba”, explicó Routsis-Arroyo, quien se reunió a finales de enero con el arzobispo de Miami, Mons. Thomas G. Wenski, para discutir la operación.
“En la Arquidiócesis de Miami tratamos de ayudar y complementar dichos esfuerzos, y continuaremos nuestras propias relaciones y esfuerzos con Cuba”, expresó.
No es la primera vez que se envía ayuda a Cuba. En diciembre, el arzobispo Wenski explicó a los periódicos arquidiocesanos que es “algo que llevamos haciendo desde hace mucho tiempo”.
“En los últimos cinco años, hemos enviado unos 45 contenedores a Cuba para ayudar a las diócesis y comunidades religiosas en su labor con los pobres, especialmente con las personas mayores”, afirmó.
El huracán Melissa tuvo mayor impacto en Santiago, en la parte oriental de Cuba. La ayuda humanitaria a Cuba tiene como objetivo asistir a la población de cuatro diócesis, entre ellas Guantánamo-Baracoa, la Arquidiócesis de Santiago de Cuba, la Diócesis de Holguín, y la Diócesis de Bayamo-Manzanillo.
El Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos ha informado que los paquetes de alimentos incluyen suministros como arroz, frijoles, aceite y azúcar. La ayuda también incluye tabletas para purificar el agua, y recipientes de almacenamiento, artículos domésticos esenciales como ollas y sartenes, junto con sábanas, mantas y linternas solares.
El año pasado, la administración Trump decidió disolver la Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID, por sus siglas en inglés), y transfirió algunas de las funciones restantes al Departamento de Estado.
Los recortes a la financiación de la ya desaparecida agencia de ayuda humanitaria afectaron el apoyo a iniciativas de organizaciones humanitarias católicas como CRS, así como de otras confesiones religiosas.
Robyn Fieser, gerente de CRS de relaciones con los medios, dijo en una declaración a OSV News que “tras el huracán Melissa, estamos apoyando la entrega de suministros de emergencia a familias en Cuba mediante la financiación del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, en coordinación con la Iglesia Católica, un socio de larga trayectoria y de confianza para llegar a las comunidades en tiempos de crisis”.
El arzobispo Wenski compartió con los periódicos arquidiocesanos que este nuevo proyecto con Cuba supone una oportunidad para que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos restablezca en parte su coordinación con CRS. En su opinión, el secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, ha actuado con gran sensatez al restablecer esa relación.
“CRS ha vuelto a ayudar a Cuba”, añadió el arzobispo. “Esperamos que esto abra fondos y proporcione asistencia a los cubanos, porque eso es lo único que les está llegando en este momento”.
(Tom Tracy escribe para el periódico Florida Catholic, medio de comunicación de la Arquidiócesis de Miami. Este artículo fue publicado originalmente por Florida Catholic y La Voz Católica. Este artículo es distribuido en colaboración con OSV News.)
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe es el modelo de ‘perfecta inculturación’, afirma el Papa León
Por Courtney Mares
ROMA (OSV News) – El Papa León XIV ha señalado a Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe como el modelo de “perfecta inculturación”, mientras México se prepara para conmemorar el 500 aniversario del acontecimiento guadalupano en 2031 con un año jubilar.
En un mensaje del 24 de febrero dirigido al Congreso Teológico-Pastoral que se celebra en la Ciudad de México, el Papa dijo que “La Morenita manifiesta el modo de Dios para acercarse a su pueblo”.
El congreso, que se celebra del 24 al 26 de febrero, se organizó para preparar el 500 aniversario de las apariciones marianas a San Juan Diego en el cerro del Tepeyac, en la Ciudad de México. Está promovido por la Comisión Pontificia para América Latina, la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano, los Caballeros de Colón y la Pontificia Academia Mariana Internacional.
“Santa María de Guadalupe es una lección de la pedagogía divina sobre la inculturación de la verdad salvífica”, dijo el Papa León. “En ella no se canoniza una cultura ni se absolutizan sus categorías, pero tampoco se las ignora o se las desprecia: son asumidas, purificadas y transfiguradas para convertirse en un lugar de encuentro con Cristo”.
En diciembre de 1531, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe se apareció cuatro veces a San Juan Diego, un indígena mexicano convertido al cristianismo, en el cerro del Tepeyac. Pidió que se construyera una iglesia en su honor en ese lugar y dejó su imagen milagrosamente impresa en la tilma, o manto, de San Juan Diego, que hoy se exhibe en la Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en la Ciudad de México.
Los estudiosos y teólogos han señalado desde hace tiempo que la imagen de la tilma está llena de simbolismo comprensible para los pueblos de habla náhuatl del centro de México, desde su manto turquesa, asociado al estatus de reina en la cultura azteca, hasta la banda negra alrededor de su cintura, que era un signo de embarazo en la tradición indígena. La flor de cuatro pétalos, situada en su vestimenta sobre el vientre de Nuestra Señora, era un símbolo azteca del centro del universo y la plenitud de lo divino.
El Papa dijo que las apariciones en el cerro del Tepeyac pueden considerarse “un criterio permanente para el discernimiento de la misión evangelizadora de la Iglesia, llamada a anunciar al Verdadero Dios por quien se vive sin imponerlo, pero también sin diluir la radical novedad de su presencia salvadora”.
La inculturación se refiere al concepto de encarnar el Evangelio en diferentes culturas. El Papa aclaró que “la inculturación no equivale a una sacralización de las culturas ni a su adopción como marco interpretativo decisivo del mensaje evangélico”.
“Legitimar todo lo culturalmente dado o justificar prácticas, visiones del mundo o estructuras que contradicen el Evangelio y la dignidad de la persona sería desconocer que toda cultura –como toda realidad humana– debe ser iluminada y transformada por la gracia que brota del misterio pascual de Cristo”, añadió el Papa León.
Señaló que Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe ejemplifica el modo de Dios para acercarse a su pueblo –” respetuoso en su punto de partida, inteligible en su lenguaje y firme y delicado en su conducción hacia el encuentro con la Verdad plena, con el Fruto bendito de su vientre”.
“La inculturación es, más bien, un proceso exigente y purificador, mediante el cual el Evangelio, permaneciendo íntegro en su verdad, reconoce, discierne y asume las semina Verbi presentes en las culturas, y al mismo tiempo purifica y eleva sus valores auténticos, liberándolos de aquello que los oscurece o los desfigura”, dijo el Papa.
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe es venerada como la patrona de las Américas.
El Papa León señaló que “hoy, en muchas regiones del continente americano y del mundo, la transmisión de la fe ya no puede darse por supuesta, particularmente en los grandes centros urbanos y en sociedades plurales, marcadas por visiones del hombre y de la vida que tienden a relegar a Dios al ámbito de lo privado o a prescindir de Él”.
“Y que Santa María de Guadalupe, Estrella de la Nueva Evangelización, acompañe e inspire cada iniciativa rumbo a los 500 años de su aparición”, dijo el Papa León.
(Courtney Mares es editora del Vaticano para OSV News. Síguela en X @catholicourtney.)