Biblical tales old and new

By Kurt Jensen
(OSV News) – Vintage biblical epics sprout like daffodils during Lent, which began with Ash Wednesday on March 5.

But one of the most visible of those re-blooming buds over the years, Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 “The Ten Commandments,” is taking Easter weekend off this year. It’s still available on streaming platforms after being an ABC-TV staple of Holy Week and Passover for more than half a century, beginning in 1973.

The acting is over the top, but that’s the fun. Who wants to see nuance from Yul Brynner as Ramses II, Charlton Heston as Moses, Anne Baxter as Nefertari, and Edward G. Robinson as Dathan snarling, “Where’s your Messiah now?”

Classic! Quotable! And when Heston spreads his arms wide to part the thundering Red Sea – what more could you want?

Like “The Ten Commandments,” Scripture-based epics with big-name actors are mostly a thing of the past – think Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward in in 1951’s “David and Bathsheba” and Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr in 1949’s “Samson and Delilah” as well as Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus in 1961’s “King of Kings.”
One of the last big-screen attempts, Richard Gere in “King David” in 1985, was a notorious bomb. Mel Gibson’s 2004 “The Passion of the Christ” inspired many but also stirred controversy.

Jamie Ward portrays Christ in a scene from the movie “The Last Supper,” in theaters beginning March 14, 2025. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (OSV News photo/Pinnacle Peak)

Yet the TV series “The Chosen,” with Jonathan Roumie as Jesus, has been a long-running success since its 2017 pilot and first season two years later. The newest episodes, dealing with the Last Supper, will have a three-part theatrical release beginning March 28.

Two other new productions downplay epic elements to focus on intimate narratives. They also take on the challenge of inserting non-Biblical elements to flesh out the scriptural accounts.

The directors of both “House of David,” a miniseries on Amazon Prime that will become available on Feb. 27, and “The Last Supper” (Pinnacle Peak), in theaters beginning March 14, put great effort into making their settings realistic and developing three-dimensional characterizations.

Mauro Borrelli, an Italian Catholic and former altar server, began to paint at age 7, instructed by a monk, and studied classical painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. His art design for movies has included “Batman Forever” (1995) and Tim Burton’s “Planet of the Apes” in 2001.

His recreation of events surrounding the Last Supper, a gathering of such significance that it’s described in all four Gospels, has Jamie Ward as Jesus, Robert Knepper as Judas and James Oliver Wheatley as St. Peter.

Of the script, co-written with John Collins, Borrelli told OSV News, “I don’t know that you can really improve Scripture, but you could add something.”

He enjoyed filling in spare details: “What did these people eat? Who served? I wanted to be accurate. I didn’t want it to be an interpretation.”

The film is told from the standpoint of Peter who, in a moment of weakness, denied ever knowing Jesus. “As a human being, we can’t always think that we’re strong,” Borrelli commented.

As for the portrayal of Jesus, “I wanted to keep him on a pedestal. I didn’t want to humanize him too much,” he said. Having Jesus manifest “a spiritual aura all the time,” Borrelli thought, kept the story faithful to the Gospel narratives.

Judas “is much weaker” than Peter, he observed, “and sensitive, intelligent. But he was being targeted by Satan.” Peter “overcomes his struggle, but Judas does not.”

Reflecting on the institution of the Eucharist, Borrelli commented, “’This is my body, this is my blood.’ You hear it (at Mass) all the time. But so familiar, It loses its meaning, you know?”

So he felt he had to make a direct connection in the script. By doing so, he gained a new insight into the meaning of Jesus’ words.

“Jesus’ blood now is replacing that lamb’s blood (of Passover). Here Jesus came to pay all the debts (for human sin) with his sacrifice. I never really realized that before. A payment for the full debt. It was a revelation for me.”

The story of David, the shepherd boy and future king of Israel who slew the Philistine giant Goliath, takes up only one chapter of the First Book of Samuel. Its staying power is built on David’s strong faith while Goliath is not only taunting David but also flouting God’s authority.

David, a country lad and unheralded warrior, needed only one stone in his sling to kill the giant. The story is so familiar that it’s often regarded as material most easily appreciated by children – almost all of whom can likely relate to the tale of an underdog standing up to a mocking bully.

There have been three film versions, notably one from 1960 in which Orson Welles played King Saul, David’s father-in-law who united the Hebrew tribes into a single nation, as sort of a hammy King Lear.
It’s one of the Bible stories that makes an easy transition to film, with a substantial cast, prophecies, kings, hard-charging desert battle scenes with javelins and shields, and the “six cubits and a span,” i.e., nine-foot, nine-inch, Goliath of Gath – terrifying to Saul and his army, but not to David.

Michael Iskander, of late a cast member of the Broadway musical “Kimberly Akimbo,” is the brooding David anointed by the prophet Samuel (Stephen Lang). Israeli actor Ali Suliman is Saul and six-foot, eight-inch bodybuilder-turned-actor Martyn Ford, through special effects, towers even higher as Goliath.
The series avoids anything that can be described as a reference to contemporary Middle East politics and stays focused on one boy’s challenge.

Showrunner Jon Irwin, who co-directed with Jon Gunn, told OSV News he regards the biblical David as similar to the fictional Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter – all of them underestimated before they were heroes. Early on, David is told, “You have the heart of a lion.”

Quite a bit of attention went into Goliath’s appearance, Irwin said. “What would a giant have to look like to have an army frozen in fear for 40 days?” he asked. Fortunately, he said, Ford’s appearance “really is unbeatable.”

Close consideration also was paid to the sling and the stone, in order to make it believable that such a weapon was all it took to kill Goliath. A specialist in ancient warfare was called in to make sure the stone was flung with enough realistic force so that it “embedded itself in his brow, and he fell on his face to the ground.” (1 Sm: 17:49)
Irwin, an Alabama Protestant who has co-directed other faith-based fare, including 2020’s “I Still Believe” and “Jesus Revolution” (2023), said he had “wanted to tell this story since I was 16 years old” when, during a family trip to the Holy Land, he visited King David’s tomb in Jerusalem.

The production, financed by Amazon MGM Studios, has the resources “to really do it justice.” He calls it “a testament” to earlier biblical epics, but not one that owes anything to other film versions of the David and Goliath story: After all, “There’s not really a definitive (screen) version of that event.”

Like most scriptural tales, the passage in First Samuel is a spare account, requiring some elaboration and a lot of non-biblical dialogue. Irwin said the goal was to “do the story that justified the events that are on the page. It’s a love letter to the source material.”

He points out that the psalms of the mature David “are the most relatable words you’ve ever seen. A man wrestling with himself and his feelings, frustrations and regret.”

(Kurt Jensen is a guest reviewer for OSV News.)

Lenten food ‘doesn’t mean boring,’ says Catholic chef

By Gina Christian
(OSV News) – While the season of Lent is marked by fasting and abstinence, cooking for a hungry family in this season of prayer and penance “doesn’t mean boring or ‘fish all the time,’” a Catholic chef told OSV News.

Catholics fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and forego meat on all the Fridays of Lent as well. In the Latin Catholic Church, those norms are obligatory for the faithful ages 18 through 59.

Members of the 23 Eastern Catholic churches observe their own particular restrictions during Lent, more commonly known among those churches as the Great Fast.

A gourmet crab cake prepared by certified executive chef Jim Churches, president of the American Culinary Federation’s Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association and a member of St. Patrick Parish in Brighton, Mich., is seen in this undated photo. Churches told OSV News that with planning, flexibility and creativity, Lenten meals can engage the entire family and every palate. (OSV News photo/Courtesy of Jim Churches)

But discipline and deliciousness aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, said certified executive chef Jim Churches, president of the American Culinary Federation’s Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association and a member of St. Patrick Parish in Brighton, Michigan.

Churches – who also offers culinary instruction through Homeschool Connections, a national Catholic homeschooling course provider – said the key to Lenten cooking is to “plan ahead.”

“When you don’t think about it until it’s Friday, it’s a knee-jerk reaction of, ‘What do we have around the house?’” he said.

Instead, he advised, “take the time throughout the year to write a note” about family favorites – such as “mac and cheese, or pizza” – that can be enjoyed “without the meat component,” and cook the meatless versions on a regular basis.

“You can nail it down, and have the kids excited about it,” he said. “Get their input. And then they start to say, ‘This is really good.’”

Ditching meat – and dairy, and fish – all year long is something the nonprofit PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is hoping Christians and others will embrace.

PETA’s Christian outreach division, LAMBS (an acronym for “least among my brothers and sisters”), has issued a “40 Days of Lentils” challenge, inviting faithful to adopt a vegan lifestyle for both spiritual and ecological benefits.

The campaign includes vegan starter and creation care kits and cites numerous scriptural references to animals – with the organization noting that while Jesus is recorded in the Gospels as eating fish (and likely lamb, at least during Passover), he “would be horrified by today’s factory-farming practices.”

Although he doesn’t eschew meat, Churches admitted, “My body tells me sometimes, ‘You’ve had too much meat,’ and you just don’t crave it; you want something light.”

For millions worldwide, going meatless and eating light aren’t choices, but necessities – something Catholic Relief Services, the official humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic bishops, highlights in its annual Lenten Rice Bowl initiative.

Now in its 50th year, the campaign invites participants to prayerfully eat simple, meatless meals and donate savings toward CRS’s humanitarian and development projects, with 25% of the funds benefiting local hunger relief efforts and 75% assisting those in a number of low-income nations.

As part of Rice Bowl, CRS provides meatless recipes from the areas it serves, among them egg sauce with boiled yams from Nigeria, black bean soup from Guatemala, dahl (a lentil-based dish) from Bangladesh and crispy pancakes from Vietnam.

Churches told OSV News that some of his Lenten favorites are Polish pierogi – boiled or fried unleavened dough dumplings filled with vegetables (and, outside of Lent, meat) – as well as “really creative salads” with “strawberries, goat cheese and candied nuts.”

He describes his cooking style as “very cheese-forward and butter-forward,” heavily incorporating dairy in the style of classic French cuisine.

But even on a tight budget with limited room for dairy, Lenten meals can be flavorful and interesting, Churches said.

“You can buy dried gnocchi (Italian dumplings made of flour or potato starch), which is very inexpensive but very filling,” he explained. “You can make that with a white or red sauce … keep some of the pasta water to help thicken up your sauce a little bit, and throw your vegetables in there.”

Of course, fish and seafood are still staples of Lent, said Churches, noting the fish fry he started at his parish five years ago.

“One of our top sellers is the bang-bang shrimp,” he said, describing a popular recipe for fried shrimp in a spicy, sweet chili sauce with a mayonnaise base.

That recipe and Churches’ other signature Lenten dishes are a far cry from those listed in a late-19th century “Cookery Book for Fasting and Abstinence Days” by an author simply known as “P.O.P.”

The volume – released in London by Burns and Oates, and in the U.S. by the New York Catholic Publication Society – features instructions for eel soups and pie, as well as anchovy toast and imitation mutton broth, dishes the author hoped would offset the “monotony” of faithful’s Lenten fare.

Yet the main ingredient for Lenten cooking isn’t something found in a grocery store, said Churches.
“When you gather around the table, it’s a nourishing experience; a family-driven thing,” he said. “It’s all about family connection.”

Certified executive chef Jim Churches, president of the American Culinary Federation’s Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association and a member of St. Patrick Parish in Brighton, Mich., is seen in this undated photo. Churches told OSV News that with planning, flexibility and creativity, Lenten meals can engage the entire family and every palate. (OSV News photo/Courtesy of Jim Churches)

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.)

Briefs

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posts on X March 14, 2025, about a conversation he had with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state. (CNS photo/screen grab from X)

NATION
TOPEKA, Kan. (OSV News) – A Satanic group’s plans for a “black mass” in the Kansas Statehouse on March 28 are sparking widespread outrage among Catholics. The Kansas Catholic Conference condemned the event as a “sacrilegious” display of “anti-Catholic bigotry” and an insult to people of goodwill. Benedictine College in Atchison is dedicating its March weekly Holy Hours, rosaries and Memorare prayers “to the intention of the conversion of those involved in the sacrilegious event and that faith will grow in Kansas.” Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced March 12 that she was not planning to stop the event and it could still be held outdoors but not inside the Capitol. Despite this, Michael Stewart, founder of the Kansas-based Satanic Grotto, has vowed to defy the ban. In a March 13 statement, Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference criticized Kelly’s response, saying it “reeks of condescension and a willful ignorance about what is scheduled to happen.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The 2021 American Rescue Plan brought a major victory for families, lifting 3.7 million U.S. children out of poverty by increasing the federal child tax credit and making it fully refundable. For the first time, even families with little or no income could access the credit, benefitting millions, especially in minority communities. The maximum credit was raised to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for kids aged 6 to 17, with no cap for multiple children. The program had a measurable impact, reducing child poverty to 5.2%. However, this boost expired, and the existing credit of $2,000 per qualifying child is set to halve after 2025. States may offer a lifeline with their own child tax credits – currently, 16 states and the District of Columbia have such programs. As federal support wanes, some states are stepping in with their own solutions, which is “a huge policy shift (and) really an area to watch,” said Megan Curran, policy director at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, in New York City. There are also indications that child tax credits are a pro-life asset, with Josh McCabe, director of Social Policy at the Niskanen Center in Washington pointing to research supporting the view they “can tilt the scales toward having the child” for some on the margins.

VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As the United States continues to attempt to broker a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with the Vatican secretary of state. In a long post on X March 14, the Ukrainian leader said that during the conversation with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, “I wished Pope Francis a speedy recovery and thanked him for his prayers and moral support for our people, as well as for his efforts in facilitating the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported and displaced by Russia. The Holy See has received a list of Ukrainians being held in Russian prisons and camps. We are counting on support for their release,” the president posted. The Vatican released no information on the call.

ROME (OSV News) – As Pope Francis marks the 12th anniversary of his election while recovering in the hospital, his biographer, Austen Ivereigh, reflected on the pope’s enduring witness. Ivereigh compared Francis’ leadership to that of St. John Paul II, highlighting his dedication to the papacy even in frailty, including the willingness to serve while wheelchair-bound. Despite ongoing health concerns, Francis continues to embody humility and docility, focusing on mission over personal comfort, his biographer highlighted. Ivereigh, author of “The Great Reformer” and “Wounded Shepherd,” recently wrote “First Belong to God,” which guides believers to place Christ at the center of their lives and is based in part on Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s past retreats. Addressing criticism of documents such as “Amoris Laetitia” and “Fiducia Supplicans,” Ivereigh underscored Francis’ pastoral approach to complex issues, emphasizing mercy and the importance of walking with those in difficult situations. Looking ahead, he noted Francis’ unique leadership, fostering a culture of discernment and humility within the church, rather than triumphalism.

WORLD
MEXICO CITY (OSV News) – The Mexican bishops’ conference condemned the discovery of an extermination camp operated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, calling it “one of the cruelest expressions of evil and human misery.” The camp, found by a group of people searching for their missing relatives in Teuchitlán, included cremation ovens, bone fragments, and over 200 pairs of shoes. The bishops expressed concern that similar sites exist across Mexico, violating the dignity of the human person. The discovery highlights the ongoing crisis of over 120,000 missing persons in the country, a tragedy fueled by cartel violence and government inaction. The bishops praised the families, particularly the “Madres Buscadoras,” for their efforts to uncover the truth despite facing danger and indifference from authorities. They criticized President Claudia Sheinbaum’s claims of a drop in homicides, pointing out a 40% increase in disappearances. At a press conference, Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega of Guadalajara questioned why local authorities failed to properly inspect the area. Sheinbaum responded to the bishops’ statement March 13 during a press conference, saying, “They don’t have the correct information, the episcopal conference.” She continued, “There’s this idea that there are more disappearances than homicides. That’s not true.”

SAN SALVADOR (OSV News) – Catholic sisters in El Salvador are leading the charge against a new law allowing metal mining in the country, supporting the church’s “Yes to Life, No to Mining” campaign. The law, passed in December 2024, permits exploration and extraction of gold and other minerals like lithium, despite a 2017 ban. The church, inspired by Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi, has urged unity in opposing the law, which critics argue threatens the environment and human health. On Feb. 7, Catholic groups, including the Conference of Religious of El Salvador, organized fasting, prayers, and signature collection to present to lawmakers. The bishops, along with local activists, have rallied against mining, citing risks to water sources and public health. President Nayib Bukele supports mining for economic reasons, but Catholics argue it threatens the poor and the environment. Despite threats and political persecution, the church remains resolute in its opposition, calling for a united effort to protect El Salvador’s natural resources. Natividad Chicas Rivera, a Catholic from Osicala, El Salvador, told Global Sisters Report that all Salvadorans will be left with from mining is pollution.

New stamp honors William F. Buckley Jr., lifelong Catholic and conservative thinker

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. Postal Service is issuing a stamp honoring the late William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008), a lifelong devout Catholic who was an intellectual, provocative commentator well-known for his sharp wit. Buckley is considered a founder of modern conservatism.
The Postal Service said March 6 that the Buckley stamp is being issued along with other new stamps celebrating the 250th anniversaries of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps and one previewing the 2026 World Stamp Show in Boston. Additional stamps in the Postal Service’s 2025 program will be announced later.

The new stamp from U.S. Postal Service features William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008), a lifelong devout Catholic who was an intellectual, provocative commentator well-known for his sharp and who is considered a founder of modern conservatism. (OSV News photo/U.S. Postal Service)

One of the most influential public intellectuals in modern U.S. history, Buckley defined the conservative movement of the mid-20th century and was one of its most recognizable spokesmen. He was the founder of National Review magazine, hosted the weekly “Firing Line” television program for 33 years and wrote more than 50 books.

Greg Breeding, an art director for the Postal Service, designed the stamp, which bears a portrait of Buckley. Dale Stephanos created the original art by hand with graphite and charcoal on hot-press watercolor paper, then refined it digitally.

Born in New York City, Buckley served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Afterward he attended Yale University, where he engaged in debate and conservative political commentary. Upon graduating from Yale with honors in 1950, he worked at the CIA for two years, then went on to found National Review.

He died at his desk in Stamford, Connecticut, Feb. 27, 2008, at age 82. That April more than 2,000 people attended a memorial Mass for him. It was concelebrated by 18 priests at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
He was remembered as a man of deep faith and unfailing confidence in the Catholic Church who brought people to believe in God and inspired vocations to the priesthood.

“His tongue was the pen of a ready writer” and his “words were strong enough to help crack the walls of an evil empire,” according to Father George W. Rutler, principal celebrant and homilist. “His categories were not right and left, but right and wrong. What graces he had to change a century came by his belief in Christ, who has changed all centuries.”

Buckley’s “life testified that there can be no concord with evil, for evil always seeks to devour the good, and peace at any price is very expensive,” the priest added.

Basilicas, churches and shrines across US areJubilee 2025 pilgrimage sites

By Jack Figge
(OSV News) – Catholics across the world are embarking on pilgrimages to commemorate the Jubilee Year of Hope.

Many will travel to Rome to visit the four major basilicas and pass through their Holy Doors so as to gain a plenary indulgence.

For those that are unable to travel to Rome, however, they are still able to participate by traveling to one of the numerous Jubilee Year pilgrimage sites across the country.

These sites each have a unique history and hold significance in their local region, helping Catholics to encounter God in new ways.

In the densely populated East Coast, bishops have designated a multitude of jubilee sites located in dense cities and rural countryside.

Surrounded by dense forest, yet only a mere 50 miles away from New York City, sits Graymoor – the Holy Mountain.

Mission San Buenaventura in Ventura, Calif., is seen in this undated photo. On July 15, 2020, Pope Francis elevated the mission church to the rank of minor basilica. (OSV News photo/Mike Nelson)

Run by the Franciscan Friars of Atonement, Graymoor serves as a home for the friars and a retreat center. It also houses many ministries, such as St. Christopher’s Inn, a residential program for men battling drug addiction.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York designated Graymoor as one of the eight jubilee pilgrimage sites in his archdiocese.
When Atonement Father Jim Gardiner, director of special projects, and the other friars learned about the designation, they were ecstatic.

“We’re grateful to be named a pilgrimage site because Cardinal Dolan could’ve named all kinds of other places,” Father Gardiner told OSV News. “We see it as a sign of support and encouragement, which is especially needed as these are tough times, since we, like many other places, have been struggling with vocations.”
In Father Gardiner’s own vocation story, a pilgrimage to Graymoor played a significant role. He said it launched his discernment journey.

“In 1948, I was in the first grade when I visited Graymoor,” Father Gardiner recalled. “It was so exciting. We had Mass outdoors and walked around the property. When we were preparing to leave, one of the friars stopped and asked me if I had a good day. I said yes, and he said, ‘I’m going to pray every day that you come back here.’”

“I have no idea who that friar was, but as a result of that pilgrimage, I’ve been here 60-plus years now,” he said.

To commemorate the Jubilee Year, Father Gardiner and other staff members have developed a variety of programs and events.

“We have great staff here that has been meeting regularly, coming up with all kinds of great ideas,” Father Gardiner said. “We have special Masses planned, special retreats; but really, we just have a great space that we want visitors to take part in.”

In the South, Sacred Heart Parish in downtown Tampa, Florida, is preparing to welcome a plethora of pilgrims.

Founded in the early 1850s, the parish became a cornerstone in the Tampa Bay area as the city grew around it.

“Sacred Heart was founded in the infancy of Tampa Bay as a city,” Rob Boelke, director of communications at Sacred Heart, told OSV News. “John Jackson, an Irish immigrant, and his wife, Ellen, arrived in the area as a surveyor. He surveyed the majority of our downtown and the older areas of the city itself, and those streets largely stand in the same grid that he had put together. Soon after arriving, he and his wife sent a petition to the Diocese of Savannah asking for a parish to be founded.”

In the 1850s, the area that now comprises the St. Petersburg Diocese was part of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia.

Soon after the Jacksons’ request, a small wooden church was built, served by Jesuit missionaries. By the late 1800s, the parish had outgrown it and began constructing a new Romanesque-style church. Completed in 1905, the church remains today as a unique architectural fixture in Catholic Florida.
“Most of the churches in Florida were built in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and they are not architecturally significant,” Boelke said. “Sacred Heart has very unique architecture that is much more in line with churches that you would see across the Northeast or in the Midwest. It’s largely Romanesque with beautiful stained-glass windows so people are drawn to the parish for its beauty.”

Sacred Heart is one of six Jubilee pilgrimage sites in the Diocese of St. Petersburg. Already, pilgrims are flocking to the church to commemorate both the Jubilee Year and the parish’s 120th anniversary.

“We are hosting lots of tours for both Catholic and secular schools; other parishes are calling us to set up times for large group visits,” Boelke said.

Located in the Midwestern small town of Perryville, Missouri, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is preparing to welcome pilgrims to its vast property for the Jubilee Year.

One of nine Jubilee sites in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the national shrine has a robust history dating back to 1818, when a small log cabin church was founded on the property. The shrine encompasses 55 acres and includes a large church, a rosary walk and a grotto.

Run by Vincentian priests, Father Jim Osendorf, superior of the community, told OSV News that he hopes pilgrims will develop a deeper relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary after visiting the site.

“Our facility is dedicated to the Blessed Mother and to commemorate the appearances of Mary to Catherine Labouré,” Father Osendorf said. “This just seems to be one of the perfect places to come just to kind of get away to pray, to meditate and to deepen our relationship with Mary, who leads us to Jesus.”
To commemorate the Holy Year, the community has planned various events throughout the year that include speakers, music and special liturgies.

“We have a number of guest speakers who will be coming and will have musicians regularly,” Father Osendorf said. “But really, we just want people to come and encounter God on our property. From my office, I can see people coming to pray, pray the rosary on our walk or sometimes just getting away to think, to ponder, to meditate. And it brings me so much joy to see this happening.”

Out in the West, historical shrines and churches are abundant, as they have been ministering to locals since Franciscan missionaries established them centuries ago.

One such church is Mission Basilica of San Buenaventura in California, which was founded in 1782. Since its founding, the basilica has played a critical role in the local community, Father Tom Elewaut, pastor of the mission, told OSV News.

“There are 21 original missions established by the Franciscan padres in what is now the state of California,” Father Elewaut explained. “The significance of our particular parish is that we were the last of the nine missions founded by St. Junipero Serra.”

The town of San Buenaventura, located 70 miles from Los Angeles, grew around the parish. The original church built in 1809 and refurbished in 1812 after an earthquake remains as the primary worship space.
“The church building that we have today was originally finished in 1809,” Father Elewaut said. “The artwork, the statues, the back altar – that is all original from 1809. Everything that was used to decorate the church had been shipped up from New Spain (today’s Mexico) … so there is a lot of history in the church.”

Father Elewaut is excited to welcome pilgrims from the surrounding area to the basilica. Everyday, pilgrims visit the historic church, and the priest uses these interactions and Sunday Mass as an opportunity to remind them to be pilgrims of hope.

“We are pilgrims of hope, and we certainly are including that message in our homilies weekly, and encouraging people to be hopeful in a world that sometimes wants to cast darkness; that we are to be people of hope in the light of Christ,” he said. “And not only for eternal life, but to be hope-filled in this life as well.”

(Jack Figge writes for OSV News from Kansas.)

As funding freeze hits some Catholic agencies, others operate minus government money

By Kimberley Heatherington
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Catholic agencies including Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services and Jesuit Relief Service/USA are facing major setbacks in the wake of the Trump administration’s 90-day pause and review of federal funding to numerous nonprofit organizations providing domestic and overseas aid to migrants, refugees and people in need.

Reversals, litigation and appeals have followed – but funds remain in limbo, and contracts have been terminated.

Félicité Raminosoa shows Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, in gray hat, learns how to hand pollinate vanilla at her vanilla farm in Ifanadiana, Madagascar, Nov. 2, 2022. (OSV New photo/Laura Elizabeth Pohl, CRS)

On Feb. 26 – after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops filed suit challenging the funding suspension of its refugee admissions program – the U.S. State Department informed the USCCB its financial agreement would be terminated the next day, because the arrangement “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”

CRS is bracing for massive program cuts as high as 50%. Numerous Catholic Charities offices – including those in California, Kansas, New York and Texas – have scaled back operations and laid off staff. JRS/USA is trying to cover its funding gap, but laid off some 400 employees around the world.

While the cessation of funds has been devastating for these service-providing Catholic agencies, others that do not accept federal funds remain as active as before.

“Has the landscape changed? Absolutely. Has it changed irrevocably? Probably. Are we being asked to pick up where others can no longer function? Of course we will,” said Michael La Civita, communications director for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, or CNEWA.

“This places a huge burden on the local church,” he said. “We work entirely through the local church – the local Eastern churches – and their landscape has been changed irrevocably, because the church doesn’t shut down. The church doesn’t change from one administration to the next. The church is present where her members are.”

Founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926, the New York-based CNEWA – an initiative of the Holy See – works through and with the Eastern churches to provide humanitarian and spiritual support in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe.

As a Vatican agency, it operates independently of U.S. government funding – and instead raises its funds from individuals, family foundations, private grant organizations and partner agencies of the worldwide Catholic community. Material and spiritual aid is provided regardless of faith or religious creed.

While the funding freeze’s impact on other Catholic agencies will ultimately impact CNEWA as it attempts to help where others no longer can, La Civita remains optimistic.

“Things have changed so much and for the good in so many places, sometimes we lose sight of that,” he said. “And much of that has to do with, frankly, American Catholic generosity.”

American Catholics are “members of a global worldwide Catholic communion of churches – we’re not concerned about just what happens in our local parish; we’re concerned about the entire church,” he said.
With that perspective, La Civita is certain the U.S. faithful “will continue to respond to the question that was put to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ I have great faith and hopes in our Catholic family, that it will continue to rise to the occasion.”

The Pontifical Mission Societies USA likewise does not receive government aid for its charitable work overseas. Its fundamental purpose is to share the faith, not specifically humanitarian works, but it does operate Missio, a crowdfunding platform that digitally connects donors with current and emerging projects in the pope’s missions.

“Even though we do fund some of the church’s charitable outreaches in missionary territories, most of the time we do so through church structures – dioceses, parishes, seminarians, religious orders, etc. – in missionary lands, building churches, seminaries, converts, charitable centers and other ecclesiastical infrastructure, so that they can better minister to their people,” said Msgr. Roger J. Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies USA.

Current Missio projects include helping flood victims in Nigeria, providing food and clothes to Holy Land residents, and aiding earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.

“We are grateful for the missionary zeal and charitable generosity of American Catholics that make this work possible,” Msgr. Landry said in an email to OSV News. “We’re not asking them to do so through their taxes.”

Edward Clancy, outreach director for Aid to the Church in Need-USA – an international papal charity supporting persecuted and suffering Christians around the world – said a certain amount of autonomy accompanies a decision not to receive government funding.

“It’s a long-standing policy of the organization – both in the United States and internationally – not to create alliances with governments,” Clancy said. “Obviously, they have their pluses and minuses. Governments are going to have great power and great money. But oftentimes that comes at the cost of the freedom of what we’re supposed to be doing with the money as a Catholic organization.”

Under the guidance of the pope, Aid to the Church in Need has provided pastoral and humanitarian assistance for nearly 75 years to the persecuted church around the world. It proudly notes its donors have helped “the suffering, the distressed and the poorest of the poor” in over 145 countries.

“We prioritize certain objectives that might be accepted, or not, by governments,” Clancy said. “And again, we don’t want to be beholden to them for long-term aid.”

Clancy shared an example involving the U.S. Agency for International Development, America’s now-dismantled overseas aid bureau.

“We were funding a project in Nigeria; the church was supporting victims of Boko Haram after their recovery and renewal from many years of torture,” he said. “And when the USAID initially said they were interested in supporting a project, the local project partner was happy to accept the funding — but they didn’t want to allow themselves to be subject to some of the strings attached. And then when it was decided not to be sent, Aid to the Church in Need, thankfully, was able to find donors to help them and to make up the difference.”

Echoing La Civita, Clancy confirmed that Aid to the Church in Need remains untouched by the uncertainty that can accompany political shifts.

“Aid to the Church in Need continues to work regardless of any administration or decisions at government levels – because we do the work of the church,” Clancy said. “That’s our mission.”

Mary’s Meals – an international charity founded in 2002 that establishes school meal programs in some of the world’s poorest communities and is currently feeding almost 2.5 million children every school day – also said its operations would not suffer disruption.

“Mary’s Meals is not currently receiving any U.S. government aid, and so our programs are not directly impacted by this news,” Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, the Catholic CEO and founder of Mary’s Meals, told OSV News in an email. “We have diverse income streams through affiliate organizations and fundraising groups in more than 20 countries, who help to guide our grassroots movement and philanthropic activity.”

That does not mean, however, that Mary’s Meals will not feel the funding freeze’s effects.

“The communities we serve will still be impacted, though, and at a time of acute need, any reductions in aid budgets are devastating and likely to cost many lives – including the lives of children,” MacFarlane-Barrow said. “Right now, the world’s poorest communities are urgently in need of more life-saving assistance, not less.”

A lack of reliance on government funding instead means dependence upon everyday charity.

“Being largely reliant on the generosity of individuals, through our thriving grassroots support, allows us to make free choices on where to deliver our programs based on where need is greatest and allows us to stay free from politics,” MacFarlane-Barrow said. “We will continue to build our movement based on our confidence in the innate goodness of people and their little acts of love. Mary’s Meals is – and has always been – a movement of people who are not going to sit and do nothing in the face of child hunger, even if governments fail, or are not able, to act.”

(Kimberley Heatherington writes for OSV News from Virginia.)

Briefs

NATION
INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) – The Archdiocese of Indianapolis is investigating a possible Eucharistic miracle at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Morris, Indiana, following an incident in late February. The archdiocesan Office of Communications confirmed the investigation aided by a professional scientific lab, but declined further comment. According to social media posts by the Catholic group Corpus Christi for Unity and Peace, a woman reported seeing blood on two consecrated hosts that had fallen on the floor. After being placed in water to dissolve, the next day, the hosts appeared to have a thin layer of skin with blood on it, according to the woman’s claims. Photos of the hosts, taken by the woman, were shared online. Father Terry Donahue, a scientific expert on Eucharistic miracles, explained that new Vatican guidelines require the local bishop to notify the Holy See and national episcopal conference at the beginning of an investigation and to ensure the specimens are carefully preserved for further examination.

A resident is seen at a site of an apartment building in Odesa, Ukraine, March 4, 2025, hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. (OSV News photo/Nina Liashonok, Reuters)

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops urged Catholics to answer Pope Francis’ call for prayer for the people of Ukraine in their Lenten reflection as that nation fends off Russia’s invasion. In a Lenten reflection released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on March 3, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the conference, wrote, “As we begin the holy Season of Lent, a time of prayer, penance, and charity, we join our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in his solidarity with the ‘martyred people of Ukraine.’” “We pray and hope that the United States, in concert with the wider international community, works with perseverance for a just peace and an end to aggression,” Archbishop Broglio wrote. “As our Holy Father reminded us in 2024, courageous negotiations require ‘boldness’ to ‘open the door’ for dialogue.” Although the reflection did not mention either event, it was published shortly after Ukraine marked the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, and days after a tense Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance about the future of U.S. aid in that conflict.

PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) – At the start of Catholic Relief Services’ 2025 Rice Bowl initiative – an annual Lenten program blending almsgiving, meal-making and prayer to provide aid to overseas and domestic aid – Rice Bowl founder Msgr. Robert Coll, a retired priest of the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, reflected on the program as it marks its 50th year. He described how the initiative, which he launched as an Allentown pastor in 1975, rose to the national level as part of the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in 1976 and severe global famine at the time. “If there were grave problems in the world, to ignore them would itself be unacceptable as a Catholic and as a Christian,” he said. Rice Bowl “mixed the physical with the spiritual,” he said, adding that “it was never intended to be a collection,” but “an informative experience for the family.” Amid the U.S. government’s current suspension of foreign aid, Msgr. Coll said Rice Bowl could be in “its strongest moment, because the more funds you receive from the people, the greater pressure you put on governments to assist in a variety of ways.”

VATICAN
ROME (CNS) – The journey of Lent “unfolds amid the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us,” Pope Francis wrote in his homily for Ash Wednesday. “Indeed, the ashes help to remind us that our lives are fragile and insignificant: we are dust, from dust we were created, and to dust we shall return,” said the pope’s text. Although the 88-year-old pope was still in Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 5, the day Latin-rite Catholics received ashes and began their Lenten observances, the Vatican released what it said was the homily he prepared for the occasion. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, who read Pope Francis’ homily prefaced the reading by saying, “We are deeply united” with Pope Francis, and “we thank him for offering his prayer and his sufferings for the good of the whole church and the entire world.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Despite her distress at losing the 12-year-old Jesus, Mary’s search for her son is a model of every Christian’s journey to deepen their relationship with Christ, Pope Francis said in a prepared message. In the catechesis prepared for his general audience March 5, the pope reflected on the episode from St. Luke’s Gospel in which Mary and Joseph lose Jesus during a pilgrimage and search anxiously for him for three days before finding him in the Temple engaged in discussion with the elders. “Throughout this journey, the Virgin is a pilgrim of hope, in the strong sense that she becomes the ‘daughter of her son,’ the first of his disciples,” the pope’s text said, emphasizing that Mary, though chosen as the mother of God, had to undertake her own journey of faith. During the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis’ general audience talks have been focusing on “Jesus Christ our hope,” starting with a look at the Bible stories of Jesus’ infancy and childhood. Pope Francis has been hospitalized for treatment of bilateral pneumonia since Feb. 14, but the Vatican has continued to publish the texts prepared for his general audience each Wednesday. The text for March 5 reflected on how Mary’s understanding of Jesus grew gradually, through moments of joy but also through hardship: She carried Jesus while pregnant to Bethlehem, fled with her family to Egypt to protect her son and ultimately stood by him at the foot of the cross.

WORLD
BRUSSELS (OSV News) – Catholic bishops in the European Union are calling for unity in support of Ukraine amid growing tensions between the U.S. and the war-torn country invaded by Russia Feb. 24, 2022. In a March 4 statement, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union emphasized the importance of EU solidarity, stating that Ukraine’s fight for peace and territorial integrity is critical not only for the nation but for the future of Europe and the world. The statement comes after a tense Feb. 28 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. EU leaders, however, rallied behind Zelenskyy during a London summit, where peace plans were discussed. COMECE reaffirmed its support for Ukraine, condemning Russia’s violation of international law and calling for accountability. The bishops emphasized the need for a peace agreement based on justice, international law and security guarantees, while urging EU membership for Ukraine. “As the contours of a new global security architecture are currently being redrawn, it is our profound hope that the European Union will remain faithful to its vocation to be a promise of peace and an anchor of stability to its neighborhood and to the world,” the bishops said.

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – Poland honors the “cursed soldiers” throughout March – a group of patriots who fought against communist rule after World War II, motivated by an unwavering faith in God. Following the war, Poland was under Soviet influence, and the communist government was imposed. The resistance continued with the soldiers of the wartime Polish Home Army, which rejected the Soviet-aligned regime and fought for Polish independence. These soldiers, guided by their Catholic faith, took military oaths to defend Poland to the death under the virtues of “God, honor and homeland,” and were participating in daily prayers and rituals. The clergy played a vital role, offering spiritual support and risking their lives to serve the underground fighters. One notable figure, Capt. Witold Pilecki, voluntarily entered Auschwitz to organize a resistance movement in the German death camp, later offering vital intelligence to the Allies. He was arrested by the communists, tortured, and executed in 1948. His last request to his wife was that she read “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas á Kempis to their children after his death. The “cursed soldiers” are remembered each year on March 1, the National Day of Remembrance, which marks the death of the resistance’s leadership in 1951.

Catholic immigration advocates seek to counter false narratives about their work

By Kate Scanlon

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Catholic immigration advocates sought ways to respond to some anti-immigration or false narratives about their work during a conference in the nation’s capital.

Participants in the event, “Understanding Migration from a Catholic Perspective” held at The Catholic University of America, examined current and historical narratives around U.S. immigration, seeking new ways to dialogue with those skeptical about the church’s work in this area, including some Trump administration officials.

“If the narrative is wrong, the actions that are based upon that narrative will be wrong,” said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in a keynote address.

Bishop Seitz, also the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said that some of the Trump administration’s actions on immigration should concern Catholics.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, speaks at The Catholic University of America in Washington March 4, 2025, during an event on “Understanding Migration from a Catholic Perspective.” The bishop is the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration. (OSV News photo/Patrick Ryan, courtesy The Catholic University of America)

“I really don’t think we can over exaggerate the seriousness of these measures,” he said, expressing particular concern about a Trump administration policy rescinding long-standing restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals, as well as the suspension of a federal refugee resettlement program.

The USCCB is in ongoing litigation with the federal government over the suspension of funding for refugee resettlement assistance and payments the USCCB says it has not yet received for completed work. The Trump administration also terminated two USCCB refugee resettlement agreements with the USCCB, that group said.

Claims circulated by officials, including Vice President JD Vance, that the conference profits from that work were “shocking,” Bishop Seitz said.

“All I can really think of when I hear that kind of assertion is ‘Animal Farm,'” Bishop Seitz said in reference to the 1945 novella by George Orwell. “Because the truth is just turned upside down. You know, what is being done in a selfless way by so many dedicated people is characterized as just an effort to get money, like that’s what the church is about? Not the church I know.”

In a January interview, Vance questioned the motives of the U.S. bishops’ criticism of some of Trump’s immigration policies, suggesting their objection to the suspension of a federal refugee resettlement program had more to do with “their bottom line.” But outside audits of the bishops’ work with refugees show the USCCB does not profit from that work and, in fact, has spent the church’s funds to cover what the government would not.

The additional suspension of U.S. foreign aid, Bishop Seitz added, presents another concern for those seeking to reduce “irregular migration.”

“The drastic cuts to foreign aid, especially visible with the dismantling of USAID, has had devastating consequences,” Bishop Seitz said. “While this may not seem directly tied to migration, it is of central importance. Migration should be a choice, not a necessity. When people can build stable lives in their homeland, fewer are forced to depart their home country in search of a new home where they can better provide for their families. Investing in local economies, infrastructure and essential services is key to addressing the root causes of irregular migration.”

Julia Young, a historian of migration, Mexico and Latin America, and Catholicism at CUA, said during a panel discussion that there was a great wave of immigration to the United States that took place between about 1870 and 1910 of Irish, Italian, and Southern and Eastern European immigrants that led to significant demographic changes in the U.S. and helped increase the U.S. Catholic population.

“Immigration surged to the point that the United States became a country where over 14% of the population had been born in another country by 1910 which, interestingly, we’re again at that moment,” she said, noting that about 15% of the U.S. population was born in another country.

Young said “as that immigration wave surged, there also surged a huge wave of nativism, nativist sentiment,” she said, expressing concern that similar trends may again occur.

But panelists also stressed that underlying concerns about issues including economic stability and cost of living, or other concerns tied to immigration issues should not be dismissed as nativism when advocating for migrants.

Peter Skerry, a professor of political science at Boston College, said during a panel discussion, “I don’t think (calling it) racism is a very helpful response or answer to this kind of question.”

“I don’t deny that racism exists, but I think as an answer, it’s much too vague, too facile and basically unfair to the situation and certainly unfair to our fellow citizens,” he said of those who raise concerns about “real challenges.”

In considering challenges to the church’s work with migrants, Bishop Seitz said, “I am a person of hope because I know who wins.”

“I believe that the Lord will not leave us,” he said, adding, “And I don’t mean just wishful thinking, right? Hope is, for a Christian, not wishful thinking. I’m hopeful that this, in God’s plan, will become a moment of reawakening for our country, a recommitment to those principles that are the best of our country.”

The event was hosted by CUA, the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services and Jesuit Refugee Service/USA.

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.

10 tips for a Christ-centered Lent

By Tom Hoopes
(OSV News) – We sell our faith short, and so we sell our Lent short. At least I do.

I have spent most of my life thinking of the faith as a series of rules I have to live in conformity with. Don’t get me wrong: I knew that the rules themselves were not the goal – they were a path to God’s will, and therefore to God’s love, and therefore to happiness.

But our faith is not just about union with God’s will, it’s also about union with Jesus Christ – “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God,” as St. Athanasius put it. God is love, a love so powerful he wants to be one with us. He became man to make that possible – and he made the sacraments, especially baptism, to make it happen.

I used to live Lent as a way to build my spiritual muscles to be able to do God’s will better. Now I do exactly the same things I always did, but with a new intention: to become one with Jesus Christ.

Baptism guarantees that this is possible. If we cooperate with baptismal grace, the sacrament guarantees that we can “participate in the divine life of the Trinity” first of all by receiving the theological virtues: faith, hope and love.

  1. Pray with Christ in the desert to gain his faith
    Be explicit about it: Imagine yourself next to Jesus in the desert; or imagine him joining you wherever you pray. Jesus is God, so he is outside time and space. Spiritual masters like St. Ignatius of Loyola say we are free to use our imaginations not because it’s helpful to pretend Jesus is with us, but to help our minds acknowledge what is true.

    One of the points Father Mike Schmitz has stressed several times in his “Catechism in a Year” podcast is that Christianity is not a “religion of the book” but a “religion of the Word.” Faith isn’t merely an assent to a proposition; it’s a relationship with a person – Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

    Think of him this way: God is goodness, truth and beauty itself, such that God’s light shines through all we see, as if the surface of the world were a stained glass window aglow with the presence of God who stands behind it all. Jesus Christ is the light of the world who collects in one place all the greatness we see elsewhere. Spend time next to him in the desert, where he shines brighter than the desert sun.

    Lord Jesus, give us the faith that will allow us to see your presence, essence and power everywhere in all the things that you made.
  2. Fast with Jesus Christ in the desert to learn hope
    It is the Holy Spirit, the consoler, that leads Jesus into the desert in the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent. This reveals what real consolation looks like. The Holy Spirit doesn’t console us by telling us that our life here on earth is just fine. He consoles us by telling us that we have a deeper relationship that keeps us rooted and steady as storms rage.

    Lent consoles us the same way. It’s true that fasting helps build our self-control while weakening our appetites, and that’s good. But the ultimate reason we fast is to connect us with that deeper hope, said Pope Benedict XVI.

    “When we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt,” he wrote in “Spe salvi,” his encyclical on hope, “we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering” that we find hope. (No. 37)

    Fasting takes away our desire to say “Everything is awesome!” and teaches us to say, instead: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Ps 23:4).

    Lord Jesus, as we sit with you in the desert, give us a share in the spiritual hope that only grows as our false, material hopes wane.
  3. Give alms to grow in love for the suffering Jesus
    One thing you learn as a parent is how unfairly partial you are to your own children. You see your children as more special than others, more beautiful and more deserving of the good things offered in life. This happens because they are yours and share in your image.

    The same thing happens with God. Everyone you see is someone who he made, in his image and likeness – someone he would become man for; someone he would die for. He loves them each and loves to see you love them too.

    Therefore, to become like Jesus, you have to see Christ in others. Mother Teresa, the saint of charity, shared what she called “The Gospel on five fingers”: You. Did. It. To. Me. This was the criteria Jesus the Judge will use at the end of time: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mt 25:40)

    Lord Jesus, as we give alms this Lent, help us console you in the people you identify so closely with that in serving them we serve you.
  4. Pray the Stations of the Cross to see with Jesus’ wisdom
    In addition to the three theological virtues, baptism guarantees we will receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

    The priest who confirmed me said that if I don’t receive faith, hope and love, I should demand them from God. “God promises you these graces,” he said. “Hold him to it.” It’s the same, he said, with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, fear of the Lord and piety.

    To remember the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, I think in terms of my body, starting with the eyes: Wisdom is the gift of seeing things as Christ sees them.

    The “Via Crucis” (Way of the Cross) celebration in your parish is a great way to gain this grace. Again, use your imagination. Yes, you are standing in the back of a church, craning your neck to see each station, looking from your book to the tabernacle to the altar server holding the crucifix. But you are also standing in the crowd at Jerusalem that came to see a spectacle. Pray to have the vision they lacked, the vision to see through the spectacle to its deepest meaning. And pray to realize you aren’t just watching Christ; he is gazing with love on you.

    When Jesus Christ sees Pilate on the way of the cross, he sees his dignity and appeals to that. When he sees his mother, he is encouraged by her fidelity. When Simeon is seen by Christ, it changes the trajectory of his life. When Veronica is seen by him, he leaves his image with her.

    Lord Jesus, help us enter into the Stations of the Cross deeply so that we see with you and are seen by you.
  5. Do spiritual reading to think with Christ’s understanding
    The gift of understanding is the holy insight that lights up your brain. If a passage of the Bible has ever jumped out at you and convicted you, if a homily’s words have ever cut you to the heart, if you ever felt like you finally “got” what life is all about for one fleeting moment – you have experienced the Holy Spirit’s gift of understanding.

    A shortcut to this gift is to share in the understanding of others through spiritual reading.
    Catholics in the 21st century have a gift that our predecessors in the faith never even dreamed of: Almost any book we can think of can be delivered to our door this week or appear on our phone in electronic form instantly. We can summon Thomas Aquinas to our hand; at any time, we are moments away from reading or listening to the words of C.S. Lewis, Fulton Sheen or Bishop Robert Barron. We can deepen our understanding starting now, through a podcast or a spiritual classic.
    Lord Jesus, fill our minds with your understanding through our relationship with you and those who came before us in the Faith.
  6. Attend Mass to imbibe Christ’s knowledge
    The purpose of life is to know, love and serve God. To know him means to know things about him, but it also means to “have knowledge” of him in the Biblical sense: to unite with the body of Christ. That means that the Catholic Mass’s Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist are a summing up of one of our whole life’s tasks.

    There are two remarkable passages in the Bible recounting mystical visions of sharing in Christ’s knowledge. In one, the prophet Ezekiel is given a scroll to eat; in another, St. John the Evangelist is given the same. We have this gift not in a vision but in reality through Scripture and Communion at each Mass.

    Lord Jesus, give us the gift of receiving you deeply at each Mass, through our ears and on our tongues.
  7. Give something up so that your heart grows in Christ’s fortitude
    Giving something up is a Lenten tradition for a reason. I was deeply convicted by a friend’s Facebook post three years ago that asked: “What is it that you won’t give up, even for God?” We all have something in our life – eating, drinking, shopping, entertainment, social media – that we rely on for comfort and meaning, something we are afraid to live without.

    Think of all the things lovers give up to make their beloved first in their lives: their own preferences, their personal time, and the money they would have spent on themselves. Think of all the things parents give up because their children become first in their lives: their days and nights, their travel plans and their future plans. They give them up gladly for the person their heart loves most.

    Jesus, love gives us the fortitude to give things up for those we love. Give us the fortitude to give up that thing that most keeps us from you.
  8. Live Ash Wednesday, Fridays and Good Friday to walk in Christ’s counsel
    Think of counsel as the Holy Spirit’s GPS system. It allows you to judge where to go and how to act almost by intuition. This doesn’t happen magically; it happens by building the habit of following God’s will, which is expressed in his church. The precepts of the church are here to help give us that habit: Fast with Jesus as the church asks on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, abstain from meat on Fridays in union with his sacrifice, and more.

    To see how powerful the church’s life is, think of the deep nostalgia Catholics feel every year not just at Christmas, but also at Lent. Maybe we remember wearing ashes to school as a kid. Maybe we remember fish sticks, rice and ketchup on Fridays. We remember the strangeness of the empty tabernacle in church on Good Friday and the mystery of the candles at Easter Vigil. That nostalgia is the church’s life moving into my soul, telling me I belong to Jesus and that I can rest in him through the life of the church.

    Lord Jesus, you gave us your church as a way to train us to walk in your path. Give us the grace to walk in fidelity to your church and to you.
  9. Pray the Rosary to join Christ in his fear of God and piety
    If we are going to share in the life of the Trinity through Christ, the two final gifts of the Holy Spirit are indispensable. Jesus prays, “Father, glorify your name!” to show us fear of God, awestruck respect for his majesty (Jn 12:28). He also prays “Abba, Father!” calling God “papa” or “daddy” to show us piety, the sweet consolation of closeness with God.

    The person who best exemplifies life in Christ is Our Lady, who carried Christ in her womb. In the joyful mysteries of the rosary, she makes Christ the center of her life and brings him to others. In the final glorious mysteries, she is given the awe-inspiring gifts of being welcomed at Christ’s side in heaven as a queen. In between are the sorrowful mysteries.

    The Lenten song that for me best demonstrates fear of the Lord and piety is “Stabat Mater”: “At the cross her station keeping.” The song shares the awe and gratitude at the great act of majesty and closeness that Christ made on the cross.

    Lord Jesus, let me kneel with your mother in awe at your majesty and fold my hands with her in appreciation at your closeness.
  10. Recommit to your baptism on Easter, ready to become one with Jesus
    Spoiler alert: At the end of Lent, you will be renewing your baptismal promises at Easter Mass. It turns out that renewing your baptismal graces is what Lent was about all along.

    “All Christ’s riches ‘are for every individual and are everybody’s property,’” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 519). The more we give to Lent, the more it will conform us to Christ, and that is truly the greatest happiness available on earth or heaven.

    To live Lent better, you don’t have to do anything extraordinary, you just have to live Lent’s practices with this end in mind.

    Lord Jesus, every year I renew my baptismal promises at Easter. This year I want to be more prepared for that moment than ever before. Kindly give me the graces in Lent that will unite us at Easter.

(Tom Hoopes, author of “The Rosary of Saint John Paul II” and “The Fatima Family Handbook,” is writer in residence at Benedictine College in Kansas and hosts “The Extraordinary Story” podcast on Ex Corde.)

Bishops sue Trump administration, say halting refugee resettlement funds will cause harm

By Maria-Pia Chin
(OSV News) – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sued the Trump administration Feb. 18 over the suspension of funding of refugee resettlement assistance.

In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the bishops called this suspension “unlawful and harmful to newly arrived refugees,” The Associated Press first reported. A USCCB spokesperson told OSV News that the lawsuit urges the government “to uphold its legal and moral obligations” to refugees and to restore the funding needed to ensure that faith-based and community organizations can continue their work with refugees.

The USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services is one of 10 national resettlement agencies that work with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which was established by Congress in 1980, formalizing the process by which refugees are legally resettled in the United States.

A protester holds up a sign during an Oct. 15, 2019, demonstration outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington against the first Trump administration’s cuts in the number of refugees to be admitted under the U.S. resettlement program. The U.S. bishops Feb. 18, 2025, sued the second Trump administration for its abrupt halt to funds for resettling refugees. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller, CNS file)

USRAP was suspended through executive order signed by President Donald Trump Jan. 20 and is being evaluated to see whether refugee resettlement “is in the national interest.” The State Department issued suspension notices to domestic resettlement agencies, including the USCCB, on Jan. 24, which has impacted resettlement agencies’ ability to carry out services for refugees, including those under the Reception and Placement Program, according to an alert to support refugee resettlement seen in USCCB’s Action Alert Center.

The R&P program is a domestic effort that provides assistance to newly arrived refugees to meet initial needs such as housing and job placement during the first 90 days that they are in the country.

According to AP’s reporting on the lawsuit, the USCCB’s president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said that “the conference suddenly finds itself unable to sustain its work to care for the thousands of refugees who were welcomed into our country and assigned to the care of the USCCB by the government after being granted legal status.”

Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokesperson, told OSV News Feb. 18 that the lawsuit filed by the USCCB “challenges the suspension of the funding for refugee assistance we have run for decades.”

“Refugees are individuals who have undergone special screening and vetting procedures by the U.S. government and are fleeing hardship and persecution in their home countries to resettle in the United States,” she said in an email. “Throughout this long-time partnership with the U.S. government, the USCCB has helped nearly a million individuals find safety and build their lives in the United States.”

Under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, refugees are persons who have left their countries of origin and are unwilling or unable to return due to actual or well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion.

As previously reported, the USCCB website states that its Migration and Refugee Services “is the largest refugee resettlement agency in the world,” and that in partnership with its affiliates, it resettles approximately 18% of the refugees that arrive in the U.S. each year.

“We are urging the government to uphold its legal and moral obligations to refugees and to restore the necessary funding to ensure that faith-based and community organizations can continue this vital work that reflects our nation’s values of compassion, justice, and hospitality,” Noguchi said.

This is a developing story.

(Maria-Pia Chin is the Spanish editor for OSV News.)