By OSV Staff WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception has once again been targeted by vandals. This time, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the north lawn of the basilica grounds, located in an area known as Mary’s Garden, suffered severe damage.
At approximately 2:30 p.m. Feb. 15, a visitor praying the rosary in the garden discovered the desecrated statue. The individual immediately alerted the basilica staff, prompting an inspection. It appeared that the Blessed Mother’s face had been deliberately struck with a hammer, and the surrounding light fixtures, meant to illuminate the path for visitors, were shattered.
A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the north lawn of the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was vandalized Feb. 15, 2024. According to the basilica’s rector, the damage appears to have been caused by a hammer and is being investigated. (OSV News photo/courtesy of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception)
According to Msgr. Walter Rossi, the basilica’s rector, this act of vandalism seems to have occurred shortly before its discovery, given the routine checks performed by the security staff. This act of vandalism echoes a disturbing pattern of disrespect towards religious symbols at the national shrine. Msgr. Rossi recalled, in a statement, a similar incident on Dec. 5, 2021, when the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, an image of the Virgin Mary located in the Rosary Walk and Garden across Harewood Avenue from the basilica, was also vandalized.
The statue vandalized Feb. 15, “Mary, Protector of the Faith” by sculptor Jon-Joseph Russo, depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the child Jesus. According to the basilica’s website, it was erected in 2000 in honor of Bishop Thomas J. Grady, the fifth director of the national shrine, who oversaw the construction of the Great Upper Church.
Msgr. Rossi expressed concern and compassion not only for the sanctity of the shrine but also for the person or people responsible for the damage. “While this act of vandalism is very unfortunate, I am more concerned about the individuals who perpetrate such activity and pray for their healing,” he said.
The basilica is the largest Roman Catholic church in North America and one of the 10 largest churches in the world. The basilica welcomes nearly a million visitors annually.
The shrine’s security team is working closely with the Metropolitan Police Department to investigate the vandalism and bring those responsible to justice. Sources tell Our Sunday Visitor that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. The Metropolitan Police Department has not yet returned Our Sunday Visitor’s request for comment.
By Lauretta Brown (OSV News) – Only about 15% of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic said they had remained practicing Catholics attending weekly Mass into adulthood, according to data from the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
But what were some of the things that distinguished the families of those children who remained practicing Catholics as adults from those who left the faith entirely? Seeking answers to this question, researchers at Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and the Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life conducted the “Future Faithful Families Project” study.
The interviews for the study were conducted with 28 individuals from June 2021 to February 2023 and included qualifying participants from past CARA surveys. The study noted “a greater lack of response from the adult children than the parents who had been interviewed,” but added that “it is well known in the social science research fields that it is often easier to recruit participation from older adults than young adults.”
A Catholic family is pictured having dinner together at their home in Valatie, N.Y. The recent “Future Faithful Families Project” study identifies families who successfully raised most — and in many cases all — of their children to a faithful adulthood. The study was conducted by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and the Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life. (OSV News photo/Cindy Schultz via The Evangelist)
The study found that participants from these families generally described their households as “warmer and more affectionate than the average family.” Most of the participants also indicated “very good communication” within the family.
Another shared thread among those interviewed was having rituals of meals eaten together and prayer, with most indicating that faith was a part of family routines regardless of the routines themselves.
Additionally, all participants emphasized the importance of weekly Mass attendance and nearly all participants reported doing service work and giving to charity, with many doing so through their parish or a church organization.
Mark Gray, director of CARA Catholic Polls, co-wrote the study along with Greg Popcak, co-executive director of the Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life. Gray told OSV News that while the findings from these qualitative interviews were not meant to be taken as some sort of “checklist” of things to keep one’s child Catholic, parents could gain insight from the common responses.
For these families, he said, “their faith wasn’t just something that they went and did on Sunday morning; their faith was present in the household. It was present every day. It came out in conversations about the faith, with prayer, with things that are in the home.”
He also noted that when children would come to the parents with doubts about the faith, most of the parents “went on a journey with their children and said, ‘Well, let’s see why the church teaches this,’” as opposed to strictly shutting down questioning of the church’s teachings.
“It’s a lot of discussion, working through things, thinking about things rather than being this overbearing parental force,” he said.
The study also included an analysis of existing data from the General Social Survey, or GSS, going back to the 1970s, which showed a marked decline in the number of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic and stayed Catholic while still attending Mass weekly.
In the 1970s, “an average of 36% of those who were raised Catholic remained Catholic as adults and attended Mass weekly (peaking at 40% in 1977).” GSS data later showed “this average percentage declined to 32% in the 1980s, 25% in the 1990s, and 21% in the 2000s. In the 2010s, this averaged 15% and was 14% in the 2018 study.”
These numbers exclude those who converted to Catholicism but were not raised Catholic. The study also notes the large number of Catholics who have immigrated to the U.S.
Focusing on the 51% of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic and had remained so between 2010 to 2018, there were some commonalities. Among weekly Mass attendees who had remained Catholic, 81% were “more likely to have been living with both parents at age 16” compared to the 72% who attend Mass less often than weekly or the 63% who left the Catholic faith.
Gray said that the families they spoke with referenced things that “any parent can do,” noting the importance of the child to see their parent be “Catholic every day of the year, not just on Sundays” and for the parent “to listen to their children and have conversations with them, and guide them through what the faith teaches and why the faith teaches it.”
(Lauretta Brown is culture editor for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @LaurettaBrown6.)
Bishop Peter M. Muhich of Rapid City, S.D., revealed Feb. 14, 2024, that he is entering hospice due to cancer. He is pictured in an undated photo. (OSV News photo/courtesy Diocese of Rapid City)
NATION RAPID CITY, S.D. (OSV News) – The Diocese of Rapid City, South Dakota, announced “with sorrow” that its shepherd, Bishop Peter M. Muhich, died Feb. 17. “Bishop Peter, 62, was in hospice care after suffering from esophageal cancer. Please continue to pray for the soul of our shepherd,” the diocese said in a statement. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may your perpetual light shine upon him.” Funeral arrangements are pending. Two days earlier a message from the Diocese of Rapid City called for a novena for their bishop Feb. 15-22, the feast of the chair of St. Peter. “In our prayers for Bishop Peter leading up to this feast, we are also giving thanks for his leadership and imploring the Lord that we may enjoy this leadership for more years to come,” it said. On Feb. 14, Bishop Muhich had announced he was moving into hospice treatment, and planned to offer his suffering from cancer to increase devotion to the Eucharist. “I have reached another step along my journey with cancer. Despite the best efforts of my health care team, all treatment options have been exhausted and there is no more that can be done without causing greater harm to my system,” Bishop Muhich said in an announcement released by the diocese. On Feb. 15, a message from the Diocese of Rapid City called for a novena for their bishop Feb. 15-22, the feast of the chair of St. Peter.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSV News) – The Nashville Diocese announced Feb. 9 that Father Juan Carlos Garcia, a former associate pastor at St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin, who was ordained nearly four years ago, has been indicted by a grand jury on multiple sex abuse charges. A Williamson County grand jury indicted the priest on one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, one count of aggravated sexual battery, four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and two counts of sexual battery. The Nashville Diocese removed Father Garcia from his parish post and from public ministry in January while the Franklin Police Department investigated reports of sexual misconduct. The police began their investigation of Father Garcia after representatives of the Nashville Diocese contacted the police department to provide information it had received regarding alleged misconduct. He was booked into the Williamson County Jail Feb. 9 and as of midday Feb. 13, he remained in custody. Father Garcia, ordained to the priesthood in 2020, was assigned to St. Philip in July 2022. In early November, St. Philip officials reported to the Diocese of Nashville Safe Environment Office that a teen in the parish had made a report of improper touching involving Father Garcia. Per diocesan protocols, a report was immediately made by the diocese and St. Philip representatives to the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The second assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will meet Oct. 2-27 and will be preceded by several formal studies coordinated by the synod general secretariat working with various offices of the Roman Curia. The Vatican announced the dates for the assembly Feb. 17, indicating that the desire of some synod members to spend less time in Rome was not accepted. The fall assembly will be preceded by a retreat for members Sept. 30-Oct. 1, the Vatican said. And in response to a formal call by members of the first assembly of the synod, Pope Francis has agreed to the establishment of “study groups that will initiate, with a synodal method, the in-depth study of some of the themes that emerged.” In a chirograph, or brief papal document, released Feb. 17, the pope said that “these study groups are to be established by mutual agreement between the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod, which is entrusted with coordination.” However, the papal note did not list the topics to be studied nor the members of the groups. The synod office said it hoped the approved groups and their members could be announced by mid-March.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – One day, Jesuit Father Jorge Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis, wanted to make sure a group of visitors did not go home hungry, so he whipped up a huge omelet loaded with onions and potatoes. One of those guests, Claudio Perusini, who still remembers that meal fondly, was in Rome for the canonization of Argentina’s first female saint Feb. 11. It was his inexplicable recovery from a devastating stroke in 2017 that became the second miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed María Antonia de Paz Figueroa, known as Mama Antula. Perusini met the pope when he was 17 on a trip with five others for an ordination. After the ordination, then-Father Bergoglio, who was provincial superior of the Jesuits, invited the group “to the residence of the Catholic university, where he cooked us an enormous omelet with 30 eggs,” onions and potatoes, he told the Punto Medio program on Radio2 in Argentina.
“He divided it into six and served each of us, and since then I have been friends with him,” he told the radio in late October after the Vatican announced Pope Francis had approved the miracle attributed to the intercession of Mama Antula. The last time Perusini saw the pope was in 2014 when he and his wife, María Laura Baranda, had an audience at the Vatican. “I brought him ‘dulce de leche,’ ‘alfajores’ (cookies) from Santa Fe, drawings from my children and craft beer that I make,” he told the radio. The pope gave away the food, but not the beer, he said.
WORLD LVIV, Ukraine (OSV News) – As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reaches the two-year mark, the Knights of Columbus are calling for nine days of prayer to end the bloodshed. The national chaplains of the Knights in Ukraine, Metropolitan Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop Mykhailo Bubniy of the Archiepiscopal Exarchate of Odesa, recently announced a “Novena for Peace and Healing in Ukraine.” In their joint appeal, the bishops invited “the brotherhood of the Knights and people of good will around the world” to begin the novena on Feb. 15, nine days ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty on Feb. 24, 2022. The war has been declared a genocide in two collaborative reports by the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. Szymon Czyszek, director of international growth in Europe for the Knights of Columbus, previously told OSV News that his organization’s members are “doing heroic work, and they are willing to risk their lives to bring aid to people in places like Avdiivka and … other villages that (are) close to the front line.” To date, the Knights have provided close to $22.4 million in aid to Ukraine, even as their organization, along with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, was outlawed by a Russian occupation official in the Zaporizhzhia region.
MAKURDI, Nigeria (OSV News) – Nigeria is one of the countries in the world with the best Mass attendance. As many as 94% of self-identified Nigerian Catholics surveyed said they attend weekly or daily Mass, according to a study published in early 2023 by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The World Values Survey, which conducted the poll, doesn’t survey all countries in the world, but among those asked, Nigerian Catholics had the highest Mass attendance, followed by Kenya (73%) and Lebanon (69%). At the same time, both Christian Concern and Open Doors, organizations that track Christian persecution in the word rank Nigeria as one of the worst countries for Christians to live in after North Korea, and followed by India, Iran, China, Pakistan and Eritrea as top countries for Christian persecution. Father Moses Iorapuu, director of social communications for the Diocese of Makurdi, said that Christianity should continue to grow in an environment as hostile as Nigeria, because “this is the mystery of our faith: The blood of the martyrs remains the seed of Christianity.” Nigeria’s Intersociety advocacy group said over 100,000 unarmed and defenseless citizens have died directly or indirectly outside the law in the hands of security forces in the past eight years, between August 2014 and December 2023. Emeka Umeagbalasi, director of Intersociety, said the killings are part of a government agenda to “Islamize Nigeria.”
VALPARAISO, Chile (OSV News) – Since wildfires devastated areas in the province of Valparaíso and other regions of Chile early February, authorities and international agencies have multiplied their efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the communities. OSV News spoke with Lorenzo Figueroa, director of Caritas Chile, about what he called a tremendous catastrophe, saying that in addition to at least 131 lives lost, the number of those missing and the extent of the damage has yet to be determined. “There is talk of up to 20,000 houses affected,” said Figueroa, for whom psychological damage is also a determining factor during and after these emergencies. Figueroa highlighted the community’s participation in the recovery and assistance efforts amid this natural and human tragedy. “Their knowledge, their experience. They know their territory and are active protagonists,” he explained. And after the emergency aid organizations leave “the community is no longer the same because they remain organized” to face emergencies, he added. For Figueroa, the support of other organizations is fundamental, not only financially but also in terms of experience, training and human resources, which add up when it comes to providing the necessary support to the victims. “The action of Caritas all over the world is an expression of humanitarian action in which we express ourselves as a family and the help of CRS and USAID allows us to take care of our common home, our people and those most in need,” Figueroa said.
By Kimberley Heatherington (OSV News) – “It is a scandal,” Pope Francis said in his 2013 message for World Food Day, “that there is still hunger and malnutrition in the world!”
The pontiff further warned against acceptance of that lethal truth, cautioning that “hunger and malnutrition can never be considered a normal occurrence to which one must become accustomed, as if it were part of the system. Something has to change in ourselves, in our mentality, in our societies.”
Listeners may readily nod in agreement – while all too easily imagining that Pope Francis was speaking of some distant, developing nation.
But the truth is, even in the United States – the richest country in the world, if ranked by its $26.95 trillion gross domestic product, or GDP – 49 million Americans, one in every six, relied on food assistance from charities in 2022.
A woman walks away with free groceries from the food pantry and free hot meals at a church in Boston April 14, 2020. (OSV News photo/Brian Snyder, Reuters)
During Poverty Awareness Month, OSV News talked with Catholic Charities offices across the country – in Virginia, Mississippi and Nevada – to learn how they help feed a hungry nation.
The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia – just outside the nation’s capital – is home to four of America’s richest locales, in terms of median income: Loudoun, Fairfax and Arlington counties, and the city of Falls Church. It’s a landscape distinguished by large homes, elevated rents and a highly educated workforce.
“But the reality is that – even in this prosperous area of the country, there is significant poverty,” explained Bishop Michael F. Burbidge after he blessed the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington’s new Alexandria regional office Jan. 5. “There are people who are hungry every day, every night – not knowing where their next meal is coming from. And so, it’s our sacred duty to kind of wake people up a little bit, and say, ‘No – if we’re really looking, the need is apparent.'”
The new regional office – which includes an expanded food pantry and emergency financial assistance services – opened at a time when casual observers might expect the economic gaps apparent during COVID to be mended.
They aren’t.
An estimated 200,000-plus people remain food insecure in the Arlington Diocese, which encompasses 21 counties and seven cities. The three Catholic Charities food pantries and warehouse form an integral part of the more than 50 pantries and various distribution sites located throughout the diocese, all coordinating together to serve the hungry.
More than 59,000 food requests were made during the last year, $2.2 million in food was distributed, and Christ House shelter served 17,627 free evening meals.
“When we tell people within the last year there’s been a 40% increase in the number of people served – that’s a significant number,” Bishop Burbidge said. “Sometimes you get the word out by numbers – the pounds of food that have been delivered. So the good news is that there is a more spacious place to serve even more people. But the sad reality is, the need is just as great, too.”
Synodality, Bishop Burbidge shared, is essential in serving the poor.
“Even though we may have good intentions, if it comes from above – ‘We want to do good works, and this is what we’re going to do’ – it may not be the most effective way of serving. So it must begin with that synodality, that listening,” he explained. “What are the needs – the most critical needs – at this point? And when you hear from the people you’re trying to help, then you’re going to be more effective.”
“When people come into this place,” Bishop Burbidge said of the food pantry, “one of the things that respects the dignity of the human person is that they get a cart – and they choose. That helps uplift the dignity of the person.”
Mississippi – according to the Mississippi Food Network – “has the worst hunger problem in America.” The charity reports almost one in six Mississippians – about 480,600 people – don’t have enough to eat, while more than one in five children (18.8%) frequently go to bed hungry.
Those are all-too-familiar statistics to Chamon Williams, community services manager at Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, which includes 65 of the state’s 82 counties.
“We’re always looking for different solutions or resources to support the community,” Williams said.
One solution to senior hunger in Natchez – a little over 100 miles from Jackson – is a partnership between Catholic Charities and the Basilica of St. Mary. Each month, seniors in need are offered a box that includes such food staples as meat, vegetables, fruit, sugar, flour and more. An average of 40 boxes are distributed monthly.
JACKSON – St. Jude parish engaged in their Feed My Sheep ministry led by Beth Paczak. The group served lunch at Poindexter Park on Sunday, October 23, 2022. (Photos by Rhonda Bowden)
“Because they are on a fixed income,” Williams explained, “the likelihood of many of these individuals receiving SNAP benefits – or even receiving SNAP benefits that would allow them to buy all of the staples that they need on a monthly basis – may be slim, based on their income.” SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the largest federal food assistance program to people with low incomes.
It’s an awful paradox – numerous of the box recipients are just well enough off, in the government’s assessment, to not receive comprehensive food assistance, but are not well enough off to cover combined costs of rent, medicine and food.
While “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” those who live in (rather than simply visit) Las Vegas, the most populous city in Nevada, struggle with more than just the lure of the Strip and its casinos. More than 274,000 Southern Nevadans – including one in six children – experienced food insecurity in 2023.
Deacon Tom Roberts – president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada – is uniquely qualified to identify with the needs of his community. During a 30-plus-year executive career in the gaming industry, he was ordained a deacon for the then-Diocese of Las Vegas (now an archdiocese). When his predecessor at Catholic Charities – Msgr. Patrick Leary – died unexpectedly, Deacon Roberts was asked to step in.
He’s been there ever since.
“I like to say, ‘Our clients never expected to be here, and neither did I,'” Deacon Roberts shared, noting Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada has dealt with a “dramatic” rise in food insecurity in the last decade.
The numbers Deacon Roberts cites underscore that assertion: almost 2,500 meals on wheels delivered per day to senior citizens, with another 1,000 on a waiting list; 500-600 community meals served daily; and 150 daily visitors to the community food pantry, open five days per week.
“There’s more need than ever,” sighed Deacon Roberts, who – even as CEO – continues to help deliver meals. Sometimes, what he encounters still has the capacity to shock.
“I’d see the dishes that our food comes in on the floor,” Deacon Roberts recalled, “and I’d say, ‘Why is your dish on the ground? Didn’t you like the food?’ And they’d say, ‘No, deacon – we’re sharing our food with our pets.'” “And so I’d go out in my car and cry,” the deacon reflected, “and then we started to put donated pet food on our delivery run. Hundreds of our seniors now are as excited and grateful for the food that feeds their companion, so they’re not having to share their food with that pet. It’s been a complete eye-opener for me.”
Deacon Roberts adds, “They’re having to make that sad decision of, ‘Can I afford my rent and my medicine, or do I have food?'”
At the free daily community meal, Deacon Roberts said, “so many of these people we’re serving in that dining room every day are homeless – or as they get towards the end of the month, they just run out of money. Families come in – it breaks my heart to see families and little ones come in.”
Other resources also are available at mealtime, with Deacon Roberts’ staff and volunteers on the lookout to “connect the dots for people.”
“Help and hope” is their mission, according to Deacon Roberts – optimism and assistance for all. “I like to say we don’t check religious ID cards around here,” Deacon Roberts said. “So anybody that needs help and hope can get it.”
(Kimberley Heatherington writes for OSV News from Virginia.)
By D.D. Emmons (OSV News) – Among the beautiful, meaningful and solemn ceremonies of the Catholic Church is the gathering of the faithful on Ash Wednesday.
This special day begins our Lenten journey. It is the start of 40 days of prayer, penance and almsgiving as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. But why does Lent begin on a Wednesday, and what is the significance of ashes?
Ash Wednesday was added to the liturgical calendar well after the 40-day penitential season of Lent became the norm throughout the Latin Church. Lent, in turn, was universally established only after the early church sorted out the date of Easter. The issue was clarified at the famous Council of Nicaea in 325 where “all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox.” (Catechism, No. 1170) The vernal (spring) equinox generally falls on March 21, thus the date of Easter in the Western Church can occur anytime between March 22 and April 25.
Catholics from the Jackson Metro area gathered to receive ashes at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in downtown Jackson at noon on Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023 for the beginning of the Lenten season. During the 40-day period of Lent, Catholics seek the Lord through prayer, giving alms and fasting. (Photos by Tereza Ma)
The word “Lent” is from an Old English term meaning “springtime,” and by the second century the term was being used to describe the period of individual fasting, almsgiving and prayer in preparation for Easter. Among the Christians of the first three centuries, only those aspiring for baptism – the catechumens – observed a defined period of preparation, and that time lasted only two or three days.
The idea of Lent being 40 days in length evolved over the next few centuries, and it is difficult to establish the precise time as to when it began. Among the canons issued by the Council of Nicaea, the church leaders, in Canon Five, made reference to Lent: “and let these synods be held, the one before Lent that the pure gift may be offered to God after all bitterness has been put away, and let the second be held about autumn.” The language of this canon seems to validate that Lent, in some fashion, had by the fourth century been established and accepted by the church. While the exact timing and extent of Lent both before and after the Nicaea council is unclear, what is clear from historical documents is that Christians did celebrate a season of Lent to prepare themselves for Resurrection Sunday and used a variety of ways to do so.
That Lent evolved into a period of 40 days in length is not surprising, as there are numerous biblical events that also involved 40 days. Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instructions from God for that number of days (see Ex 24:18); Noah and his entourage were on the Ark waiting for the rains to end for 40 days and 40 nights (Gn 7:4); and Elijah “walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.” (1 Kgs 19:8)
Mostly, though, the 40 days of Lent identify with the time our Lord Jesus spent in the desert fasting, praying and being tempted by the devil. (Mt 4:1-11) “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.” (Catechism, No. 540)
There is, therefore, evidence that by the end of the fourth century Christians were participating in a 40-day Lent before Easter. The dilemma now became how to count the 40 days. In the Latin Church, six weeks were used to identify the Lenten period, but one doesn’t fast on Sundays, so six Sundays were subtracted and there remained only 36 fasting days. In the early seventh century, St. Pope Gregory I the Great (pope from 590-604) resolved this situation by adding as fast days the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday before the first Sunday of Lent. Thus the Lenten 40-day fast, or the Great Fast as it was known, would begin on a Wednesday.
Initially, people fasted all 40 days of Lent. They ate one meal a day and only an amount of food that would sustain survival. But the church taught, and people believed (then as now), that fasting is not about what we eat, it is about changing hearts, interior conversion, reconciliation with God and others. It’s about living in an austere way, giving from our abundance to the poor. St. John Chrysostom (347-407) explained it this way: “Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works! … If you see a poor man, take pity on him! If you see an enemy, be reconciled to him! If you see a friend gaining honour, envy him not! If you see a handsome woman, pass her by!” (Homily on the Statutes, III.11)
The church has long used ashes as an outward sign of grief, a mark of humility, mourning, penance and morality. The Old Testament is filled with stories describing the use of ashes in such a manner. In the Book of Job, Job repented before God: “Therefore, I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.” (42:6) Daniel “turned to the Lord God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.” (Dn 9:3) Jonah preached conversion and repentance to the people of Nineveh: “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.” (Jonah 3:6) And the Maccabees army prepared for battle: “That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their garments.” (1 Mc 3:47)
Ashes were imposed on the early catechumens when they began their preparation time for baptism. Confessed sinners of that era were also marked with ashes as part of the public penitential process. Other baptized Christians began asking to receive ashes in a manner similar to catechumens and penitents. Christian men had ashes sprinkled on their heads while ashes were used to trace the cross on the forehead of women. Thus the use of ashes as the sign of penance, in readiness for Easter, was becoming a churchwide practice.
During the papacy of St. Gregory the Great, the practice was further expanded and is mentioned in the sixth-century Gregorian Sacramentary. Around the year 1000, Abbot Aelfric of the monastery of Eynsham, England, wrote: “We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the new that men who repented of their sins bestowed on themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent, that we strew ashes upon our heads, to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten feast.” This same rite of distributing ashes on the Wednesday that begins Lent was recommended for universal use by Pope Urban II at the Synod of Benevento in 1091.
So when we go to that early Mass on Ash Wednesday morning and receive the blessed ashes on our forehead, we are repeating a somber, pious act that Catholics have been undergoing for over 1,500 years. As “The Liturgical Year, Septuagesima,” by the Benedictine Abbot Gueranger, written in the middle decades of the 1800s, puts it: “We are entering, today, upon a long campaign of the warfare spoke of by the apostles: forty days of battle, forty days of penance. We shall not turn cowards, if our souls can but be impressed with the conviction that the battle and the penance must be gone through. Let us listen to the eloquence of the solemn rite which opens our Lent. Let us go whither our mother leads us, that is, to the scene of the fall.”
Like all those before us, we unhesitatingly embrace this invitation to sanctity, this time to turn away from sin. We are part of that great cloud of witnesses who through all the ages have donned the ashes, publicly acknowledging that we are Christians, Christians who have sinned and seek to repent. We acknowledge that “we are dust and to dust we shall return.”
By Sandy Cunningham SAINT BENEDICT, La. – A group of seminarians from St. Joseph Seminary College won the 22nd annual Father Pat O’Malley Invitational basketball tournament in Mundelein, Illinois, this past weekend. It is the second straight year the team has won the tournament, which brings seminarians from around the country together to compete on the hardwood.
St. Joseph Seminary swept through pool play with wins over Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary (Athenaeum) from Cincinnati, 61-38, host Mundelein Seminary, 49-39 in overtime, and St. John Vianney Theological Seminary of Denver, 54-49. The Ravens defeated Mundelein in the semifinals, 35-30, to advance to Sunday’s championship game, where they beat Conception College Seminary of Conception, Missouri, 75-62.
MUNDELEIN, Illinois – Shown with the championship trophy are, from left, kneeling, Emmanuel Legarreta and Jacob Zimmerer; and standing, Coach Brian Cochran, Francisco Maldonado, Logan Simon, Thomas Benson, Tim Talbott, Michael Bradford, Ethan Green, Zach Jolly, Grayson Foley, Evan Lang, Carter Domingue, Joey Piccini and Father Maurice Moon. (Photo courtesy of St. Joseph Seminary College)
Team members are Ethan Green, Thomas Benson, Michael Bradford, Tim Talbott and Joey Piccini, Archdiocese of Mobile; Grayson Foley and Francisco Maldonado, Diocese of Jackson; Evan Lang and Jacob Zimmerer, Diocese of Fort Worth; Emmanuel Legarreta, Diocese of El Paso; and Carter Domingue and Logan Simon, Diocese of Lafayette. Zach Jolly (Saint Joseph Abbey) assisted the team, coached by Brian Cochran. Father Maurice Moon served as team chaplain.
Domingue, who scored 32 points in the championship game, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
(Sandy Cunnuingham is the communications and marketing manager for St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana.)
NATION PALM BAY, Fla. (OSV News) – A retired Florida Catholic priest and his sister were killed in a multi-location rampage that also took the life of another man, left two police officers injured and ended with the death of the suspect. Father Robert Hoeffner and his sister, Sally Hoeffner, were found slain at their Palm Bay, Florida, residence on the evening of Jan. 28, as police were investigating a domestic disturbance at another area home that turned deadly. Their car had apparently been stolen by 24-year-old suspect Brandon William Kapas, who loaded the car with a cache of weapons and drove it to a family gathering nearby. Police were called to the home after Kapas became agitated and destructive, and in the course of his flight, Kapas killed his grandfather and injured two police officers before he himself was shot and killed. No motive for has been given. In a statement, Orlando Bishop John Noonan said the diocese is mourning the loss of life and will miss Father Hoeffner’s “grace-filled presence.” Father Hoeffner had celebrated his 50th jubilee in 2023, recalling decades that included becoming a pastor, celebrating Mass on television regularly, and establishing a multicultural parish council at his final assignment. “I’ve had a glorious ride. I’m proud to serve and do wonderful things for wonderful people. I enjoy doing that,” Father Hoeffner said in his jubilee reflection for the diocese. “I’ve spent 50 years doing absolutely incredible things and I am thankful to God for it.”
BALTIMORE (OSV News) – The one-and-only known photograph ever taken of Mother Mary Lange held a place of prominence during a special Jan. 30 Mass celebrated by Archbishop William E. Lori at St. Frances Academy in East Baltimore. Resting at the foot of an altar set up inside the school’s gymnasium, the more than 140-year-old black-and-white image seemed to stare stoically at a congregation of more than 300 that had gathered to celebrate Mother Lange’s recent advancement along the path to canonization. Pope Francis declared the foundress of St. Frances Academy “venerable” June 22, 2023 – recognizing Mother Lange’s heroic virtues. Mother Lange is one of six Black Catholics in the U.S. who are candidates for sainthood, four of whom have been declared “venerable.” Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, who called St. Frances Academy “holy ground” during his homily, elicited applause when he said the recognition of Mother Lange as venerable is “something of great importance, not only for this school and not only for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, but for the Catholic Church throughout the United States.” St. Frances Academy was founded in 1828 as the first Catholic school in the country to educate Black students. Mother Lange co-founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence one year later as the world’s first sustained women’s religious congregation for Blacks.
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – An upcoming webinar series hosted by a U.S. bishop explores synodality through the prism of Jesus Christ’s words to his disciples at the Last Supper. Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, leads three “John 14 and Synodality” webinars, with the sessions taking place over Zoom Feb. 14 (Ash Wednesday) at 4 p.m. EST, March 6 at 3 p.m. EST and March 19 at 4 p.m. EDT. A separate Jan. 31 webinar titled “Conversation in the Spirit” at 11 a.m. CST features U.S. Jesuit Father David McCallum, executive director of the Discerning Leadership Program in Rome. Participants can obtain more information about and register for the sessions at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ dedicated webpage for the Synod on Synodality at usccb.org/synod. Bishop Flores, who serves as chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine, has shepherded the synodal process in the U.S. Launched by Pope Francis, the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops organized around the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” commonly known as the Synod on Synodality, took place Oct. 4-29, 2023, in Rome. Concluding sessions of the synod will take place in Rome this October.
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Ten children from Gaza in need of medical attention arrived in Rome on a military plane late Jan. 29, the first group of young patients who will receive treatment in Italy thanks to the lobbying of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and negotiations involving the governments of Italy, Israel, Palestine and Egypt. The 10 children and a young man, described as being just over 18 years old, were taken to the Vatican-run Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital for assessment, Vatican News reported. The patients include children seriously injured in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas as well as chronically ill children who can no longer receive the necessary treatment in Gaza because of the war. Four of the patients will stay at Bambino Gesù while the young man will be treated at St. Camillus Hospital in Rome and the others will be cared for at hospitals in Genoa, Bologna and Florence.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis expressed his hopes that Lunar New Year celebrations would offer opportunities for people to experience warm friendships and to show care. “This coming Feb. 10, in East Asia and various parts of the world, millions of families will celebrate the Lunar New Year,” he said during his greetings after the midday Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 4. The holiday is widely celebrated in China, South Korea, Vietnam and countries with a significant number of people from China. “I send them my warm greetings, with the hope that this feast may be an opportunity to experience relationships of affection and gestures of care, which contribute to creating a society of solidarity and fraternity, where every person is recognized and welcomed in his or her inalienable dignity,” he said. “I invite you to pray for peace, for which the world longs so much,” he said.
Performers exhibit a traditional dragon and lion dance to welcome in the Chinese New Year, which begins Feb. 10, during an audience at the Vatican Feb. 2, 2024. The audience included a delegation from the National Federation Italy-China and the Chinese Martial Arts Academy of Vercelli in northern Italy. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
WORLD MEXICO CITY (OSV News) – Catholic peace group Pueblo Creyente marched through the colonial city of San Cristóbal de las Casas Jan. 26 to remember the late Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, who promoted a vision of an autochthonous church in the largely Indigenous state of Chiapas. The march also called for an end to the rising violence in Chiapas, where rival drug cartels are disputing territory in the southern Mexican state, prompting entire villages to flee. “It is urgent that the Mexican state implement measures to guarantee the comprehensive protection of the civilian population, including servants of the church and defenders of territory,” Pueblo Creyente (People Who Believe) said in a Jan. 25 statement. Residents of the municipality of Chicomuselo hid in their homes as bullets pierced the walls during a seven-hour gunfight on Jan. 4, which killed 20 people – including two locals, whose relatives were unable to retrieve the bodies – according to a statement from the community. “They’re killing us, they’re forcing us to leave our homes and others to be part of them,” the statement said. “Communities are stuck in the middle of this,” said a priest who works in the area and spoke on condition of anonymity.
DUBLIN (OSV News) – Ireland’s most-senior churchman has hailed an agreement that sees a Catholic take the top political job in Northern Ireland for the first time in its history as an “opportunity for a fresh start and a new beginning.” Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, president of the Irish bishops’ conference, made the comments as a power-sharing government was restored Feb. 3, after two years of deadlock. The executive branch is a key plank of a 1998 peace agreement that ended 30 years of bloody sectarian violence, but has struggled to take root with sporadic boycotts from political parties. Michelle O’Neill of the Sinn Féin party is the first Catholic to head the region’s government. Her title is “First Minister.” “The days of second-class citizenship are long gone, and today confirms that they will never come back,” O’Neill, 47, told the legislative assembly upon her election Feb. 3. “This is an assembly for all: Catholic, Protestant and dissenter. … the public rightly demand that we work and deliver together, and also that we build trust and confidence in our ability to collectively do that.” Archbishop Martin told The Irish Catholic newspaper that he felt there was a “sense of relief” from citizens “who are so anxious that we can have appropriate representation to deal with the very pressing problems that we have in the North at this time.”
(OSV News) — El fallecimiento del obispo Mario Eduardo Dorsonville Rodríguez quien lideró la Diócesis de Houma-Thibodaux, Luisiana, por casi un año y fue arzobispo auxiliar de la Arquidiócesis de Washington además de acompañar a esa comunidad por casi tres décadas como sacerdote, llenó a muchas personas de tristeza por su partida, además de gratitud por su vida y ministerio.
Foto del obispo Mario E. Dorsonville de Houma-Thibodaux, La. El obispo Dorsonville, quinto obispo de Houma-Thibodaux y antes obispo auxiliar de la Arquidiócesis de Washington, falleció sorpresivamente el 19 de enero de 2024 por complicaciones relacionadas con recientes problemas de salud. (Foto OSV News/cortesía de la Arquidiócesis de Washington)
“Despidámonos de nuestro hermano y que nuestra despedida exprese nuestro afecto por él, alivie nuestra tristeza y fortalezca nuestra esperanza. … Escucha nuestras oraciones y abre las puertas del paraíso a tu servidor, el obispo Mario, y ayúdanos a los que quedamos a consolarnos unos a otros, con la seguridad de la fe hasta que todos nos reunamos en Cristo y estemos contigo y nuestro hermano para siempre”, dijo el arzobispo Wilton Gregory de Washington ante su ataúd al presidir la recomendación final en la Misa de sepultura el 1 de febrero del 2024 en la co-catedral de San José en Thibodaux.
El obispo Dorsonville falleció sorpresivamente el 19 de enero por complicaciones de salud derivadas de una enfermedad hepática que fue diagnosticada a finales de 2023. Tenía 63 años.
Dorsonville nació, se educó y fue ordenado en 1985 en su natal Colombia. Vino a Estados Unidos a estudiar en la Universidad Católica de América y se graduó con un doctorado en 1997. Sirvió a los católicos en organismos internacionales, fue vicario parroquial en Nuestra Señora de Lourdes de Bethesda (1997 al 2004) y luego en San Marcos El Evangelista de Hyattsville (2004-2005). El entonces sacerdote, quien se incardinó en la arquidiócesis en 1999, fue director del Centro Católico Hispano (2005 al 2013) y vicepresidente de Caridades Católicas (2013-2015). Fue obispo auxiliar de la Arquidiócesis Católica Romana de Washington desde 2015 al 2023, presidió varios comités en USCCB y estaba sirviendo desde marzo del año pasado como el quinto obispo de la Diócesis de Houma-Thibodaux, Luisiana.
En los días después de su prematuro fallecimiento, fue recordado como un pastor y líder que instaba a imitar a Cristo, un ferviente defensor de la justicia social y de los inmigrantes, además de ser un campeón recaudando fondos a favor de los más pobres. También era conocido como una voz alentadora para la comunidad de fe en un clima nacional de división, inequidad social y adversidad hacia los inmigrantes hispanos como él.
El cardenal Donald Wuerl, arzobispo emérito de Washington, dijo durante la homilía de la Misa del funeral que el obispo Dorsonville era un pastor lleno de energía, ingenioso y amoroso, de risa espontánea, amable disposición, atento a las necesidades de los demás y con amor por su vocación.
El cardenal, quien trabajó de cerca con el obispo por varios años y compartió con él muchas conversaciones luego de su instalación en Houma-Thibodaux el 29 de marzo del 2023, dio fe de que Dorsonville abrazó su nueva misión en Luisiana con celo, entusiasmo e incansable energía. “Ustedes fueron una gran parte del motivo de su orgullo y deleite sirviendo a esta Iglesia de Luisiana”, le dijo a su feligresía.
Considera que era visible el lazo de amor y servicio con su diócesis, así como la gracia de Dios actuando en su vida y ministerio.
“En el centro de su alegría, de su amor a la Iglesia, de su dedicación a los que estaban bajo su cuidado pastoral y de su compromiso con tantos que llegaron a quererle, estaba su fe permanente”, dijo el cardenal, recalcando que eso mismo se reflejaba en las lecturas que el propio obispo escogió para su funeral.
“Siempre tuvo la convicción de que, al igual que sus manos se alzaban a menudo para consagrar, absolver, ungir y bendecir, él también debía doblar la rodilla a imitación de su Señor para responder a la necesidad de los demás”, dijo el cardenal.
El padre Simon Peter Engurait, vicario general de la Diócesis de Houma-Thibodaux y administrador temporalmente hasta que el Papa Francisco asigne otro obispo dijo en la Misa del funeral que la pérdida del obispo Dorsonville le generó un shock y un sentimiento de incredulidad — reacción generalizada entre quienes lloran su partida.
“Nada pone a prueba nuestra fe tan severamente como la muerte, pero Jesucristo nos consuela con su presencia”, subrayó.
El Santo Padre envió su bendición, paz y consuelo a su diócesis y a todos los que lloran la muerte del obispo Dorsonville con la segura esperanza de la resurrección — por medio de una carta firmada por el cardenal Pietro Parolin, secretario de estado del Vaticano.
El 2 de febrero, el cardenal Gregory fue el celebrante principal en una Misa en memoria del obispo Dorsonville en la parroquia Nuestra Señora de Lourdes de Bethesda, Maryland. Esta concurrida Misa contó con la presencia del nuncio apostólico del Vaticano Christophe Pierre, los arzobispos Gregory y Wuerl y los obispos auxiliares Roy Campbell Jr., Evelio Ménjivar y Juan Espósito y muchos de sus hermanos sacerdotes.
“Nos embarga un gran sentimiento de tristeza, pero a la vez, nuestro corazón está lleno de agradecimiento por las muchas maneras cómo Dios mostró su amor, misericordia y cercanía a través de la vida y del ministerio fructífero de nuestro querido obispo y amigo Mario Dorsonville”, dijo el obispo Menjívar, en su homilía.
Lo describió como un siervo bueno y fiel, que se sentía muy bien acogido en Estados Unidos y que ponía mucha energía en la tradicional procesión anual “Caminemos con María”, que él mismo estableció. “Para él era una caminata de solidaridad con los inmigrantes y una oportunidad para evangelizar. Nos contagiaba con su entusiasmo”, dijo.
El obispo Menjívar recordó estas palabras del obispo Dorsonville: “Tenía sed y encontré a alguien que me dio de beber… He visto tantos rostros sedientos que me recuerdan a mí mismo y en ellos veo a Jesús”. Cree que tal vez eso era lo que generaba su preocupación y compromiso en cuidar a los que se han visto obligados a abandonar su patria en busca de una vida mejor y más segura.
El obispo fallecido abogaba incansablemente por los ‘dreamers’, inmigrantes que llegaron a Estados Unidos con sus familias a una edad temprana y que buscan oportunidades educativas y una vía hacia la ciudadanía. El obispo los veía como el futuro de la Iglesia y de la nación, dijo. Un refugiado, decía, es un hijo de Dios y de la Iglesia, es la sonrisa de Dios al mundo.
“No es de extrañar que fuera elegido por los obispos de la nación para ser su voz principal en materia de migración como presidente del Comité de Migración de la USCCB. ¡Y qué voz!”, expresó monseñor Menjívar.
El obispo Dorsonville, dijo, no fue solo una vela encendida en la oscuridad sino una antorcha que iluminó nuestro camino a seguir.
Explicó que gran parte del ministerio del obispo fue de alcance a la comunidad, cabildeo o abogacía y cuidado pastoral a los pobres y recién llegados. El Centro Católico Hispano, que dirigió del 2005 al 2013, era como su hijo, dijo el homilista.
“Luchó por mantener activos estos servicios vitales para la comunidad. Amaba a los clientes y sobre todo amaba a los empleados de Caridades Católicas para quienes tenía un tremendo respeto, les consideraba su familia y siempre se mostraba agradecido”, dijo.
Como obispo auxiliar, dirigió la Oficina de Alcance a la Comunidad y Diversidad Cultural. Lideró los esfuerzos para reconocer y celebrar los dones, la riqueza y la importancia de la diversidad de nuestra familia de fe en la Arquidiócesis de Washington. También promovió con entusiasmo la iniciativa que proporciona apoyo financiero a las familias hispanas para la educación de sus hijos en una escuela católica, dijo monseñor Menjívar, quien pidió apoyo a las mismas en tributo al obispo fallecido.
Lo recuerda con su rostro cálido y radiante, sonriendo con el amor de Jesús, como un gran oyente compasivo, amable, generoso y encantador que marcó la diferencia en la vida de la gente para mejor, dando a las personas la experiencia de ser reconocidas y sentirse queridas.
“Ahora tenemos en el cielo a un gran amigo que seguirá enriqueciendo nuestras vidas con sus oraciones ante Dios y buscando la intercesión de María… Apelemos a la compasión sin límites de Dios, autor de la vida, para que en su misericordia perdone los pecados que haya podido cometer por fragilidad humana y le conceda una amable acogida en la ciudad celestial de la luz y la paz eternas”, finalizó el obispo Ménjivar.
Los líderes hispanos laicos de Washington dijeron que, con su partida, el obispo Dorsonville deja un vacío notable — recordando cómo sus homilías alentaban al inmigrante a no darse por vencido en un camino cuesta arriba.
“El obispo Mario Dorsonville combinó su profunda intelectualidad con su compromiso de justicia social y el cuidado pastoral y espiritual de la feligresía. Fue un defensor compasivo de la comunidad inmigrante y apasionado por fortalecer el multiculturalismo en la Arquidiócesis de Washington. De muchas maneras, buscó incluir en vez de excluir”, dijo Celia Rivas, coordinadora de los servicios de inmigración del Centro Católico Hispano de Gaithersburg, Maryland, quien trabajó de cerca con él durante dos décadas.
“Ha dejado una huella imborrable”, dijo Enrique Soros, líder laico en la parroquia de Lourdes, a nombre del Movimiento de Schoenstatt de Washington. “Recorrió sus comunidades sin descanso, invitando, motivando, abriendo caminos, dando respuestas, ayudando. Se dedicó a los más necesitados, sin cesar. … Nunca caíste en la trampa de los extremos. Siempre fuiste pastor del Señor, fiel a la Iglesia. Hasta pronto, querido padre, hermano y pastor”, agregó.
Los restos del obispo Dorsonville descansan en los predios de St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, 721 Canal Boulevard, Thibodaux, Luisiana. (Andrea Acosta escribe para El Pregonero, el periódico en español de la Arquidiócesis de Washington.)
La flor de mirto, con sus pétalos blancos brillantes en forma de estrella y sus estambres radiantes con puntas doradas, es una elección natural para representar la luminosidad o los Misterios Luminosos en un jardín del Rosario. (Foto de OSV News/Renzo Solfaroli, Pixabay)El obispo Mark J. Seitz de El Paso, Texas, es visto el 26 de febrero de 2019 en el muro fronterizo entre Estados Unidos y México. El obispo Seitz es actualmente el presidente del Comité sobre Migración de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos. (Foto de noticias OSV/David Agren)El presidente de la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos, Mike Johnson, republicano por Luisiana, sostiene una Biblia durante el Desayuno Nacional de Oración anual en el Capitolio de los Estados Unidos en Washington el 1 de febrero de 2024. (Foto de OSV News/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters)Se muestra un automóvil decorado durante la manifestación “Take Our Border Back” en San Diego el 3 de febrero de 2024. La manifestación, que reunió a personas a favor de aumentar la seguridad fronteriza entre Estados Unidos y México y leyes de inmigración más estrictas, fue una de varias manifestaciones a lo largo la frontera sur de Estados Unidos con México. Unas 300 personas asistieron al evento y muchas más tarde se unieron a una caravana de automóviles que se dirigió a Yuma, Arizona, para otra manifestación. (Foto de noticias OSV/David Maung)Hombres vestidos con ropa ceremonial ghanesa oran durante la Misa anual del Mes de la Historia Negra de la Arquidiócesis de Nueva York en la Catedral de San Patricio en la ciudad de Nueva York el 4 de febrero de 2024. La liturgia también marcó el Día Nacional de Oración por la Familia Afroamericana y Africana. (Foto de OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)
By Peter Jesserer Smith (OSV News) – Against gray skies and falling snow, thousands of people flocked Jan. 19 to the nation’s capital for the national March for Life, gathering them under the theme “With every woman, for every child,” showing their resolve amid the piercing cold to make abortion eventually “unthinkable” in the U.S. “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” Miguel Ángel Leyva, 21, a Catholic and third-year college student from Detroit, told OSV News.
The March for Life began in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which once legalized abortion nationwide, and gathers pro-life advocates from across the U.S. This year’s march – its second year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022 – took place as winter weather put much of the U.S. in a deep freeze, snarling transportation and canceling flights.
While the crowds appeared smaller than in years past, this year’s march showed a movement eager to up its game to help American society embrace a culture that affirms and supports the dignity of all human life, and not just for the unborn.
Pro-life demonstrators carry a banner past the U.S. Supreme Court building while participating in the 51st annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 19, 2024. (OSV News photo/Leslie E. Kossoff)
Levya said the presence of so many people amid the punishing weather conditions “shows there are many who are willing to serve God and stand up for what is right.” Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life Education and Defense Fund, and others emphasized during the March for Life Rally that not only was the national march there to stay, but pro-life marches would be multiplying throughout all 50 states in the coming years.
“We will keep marching every year at the national level, as well as in our states, until our nation’s laws reflect the basic truth that all human life is created equal and is worthy of protection,” Mancini told the thousands gathered on the National Mall.
Speaker after speaker at the march rally emphasized its theme of making abortion “unthinkable,” in particular by emphasizing the culture-changing and life-saving work of pregnancy resource centers and related efforts.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., addressed the crowd and shared that he himself was once an unplanned pregnancy for his parents, just teenagers at the time, who chose life.
Johnson said the U.S. House of Representatives passed two important pieces of legislation right before the march: the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act for colleges and universities to follow and another bill that prohibits the Health and Human Services Department from excluding pregnancy resource centers from obtaining federal funds.
However, speakers at the march acknowledged that the end of Roe came with both successes and setbacks for the pro-life movement. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a Catholic lawmaker and co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, told those gathered that they should remain “undeterred.”
“We will never quit in our defense of the weakest and most vulnerable,” he said.
Aisha Taylor, author of “Navigating the Impossible: A Survival Guide for Single Moms,” took to the rally stage and reminded the crowd, “It was people like you who helped people like me to choose life for my unborn twins.”
“I am eternally grateful for that pregnancy center,” she said, adding that her presence among them was part of her pledge to “pay it forward” for all the support she had received to choose life.
But March for Life speakers also indicated strongly that changing the culture for life did not just affect the unborn, but extended to all human beings. Rallygoers watched on the screens a preview of the movie “Cabrini” – a film about St. Frances Xavier Cabrini who cared for immigrants, orphans and people of all races – which Mancini said exemplified the march’s theme.
A voiceover in the “Cabrini” trailer reflected that New York, where Mother Cabrini ministered, is a city “built on immigrant bone.”
It said, “Is this bone not ours as well? Did we not all arrive as immigrants? Do we not owe these children, our children, a life better than a rat’s?”
Benjamin Watson, a former NFL tight end, said pro-life advocates must embark on “a new fight for life” that also addresses the factors behind abortion, and he connected those efforts to the wider struggle for peace and justice in society.
“Roe is done, but we still live in a culture that knows not how to care for life,” Watson said. The national march also showcased organizers’ determination to mobilize the thousands gathered for immediate and effective action. At one point, Mancini invited the crowds to pull out their phones and told them to text MARCH to 73075 and “send a message to Congress that you want to protect pregnancy resource centers.”
“We want to make sure Congress hears you are pro-life and we support pro-life policies,” said Mancini. She pointed to the large screens, which featured a map of the U.S. with “pins” showing in real time how many people were texting the number. As pins filled up the map, Mancini cajoled people from states lagging behind in pins.
“I think California needs a little love,” she said. “Come on, Texas!”
More pins popped up on the screens. Marchers also were encouraged to take the time to visit their members of Congress in person and ask them to affirm life-affirming policies.
Thousands of Catholics participating in the march came from prayer vigils and Masses held that day or the evening before.
At the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, preached to a crowd of 7,000 gathered for a vigil Mass that was followed by a National Holy Hour for Life.
At the morning Mass in the basilica Jan. 19, Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, encouraged Catholics not to get discouraged by setbacks in the pro-life movement but to recall how Jesus Christ “fell three times under the weight of his cross but he got back up.”
“Even after defeats we get back up and we march for life in radical solidarity with women and children,” he said.
Sarai Gonzalez, 18, a public school student from Detroit who was attending the national march for the second time, said she was touched by Bishop Fernandes’ homily during the Mass, calling it inspirational and moving.
“I felt at peace and loved. I felt the fire of the Holy Spirit within me,” she said.
Braving the freezing temperatures of the early morning were nearly 6,000 youth and adults who joined the March for Life Rally coming from the second annual Life Fest at the D.C. Armory, where they had fortified themselves listening to inspiring music and personal testimonies, and engaged in Eucharistic adoration and Mass.
As the snow continued to fall, thousands of marchers took to the streets to march between the Capitol and the Supreme Court buildings as the song “God bless America” rang out through the loudspeakers. Before she went to the rally stage and on to march, Mancini told OSV News what she hoped people take away from the March for Life – besides “a lot of snowballs.”
“I hope that they take away that the pro-life movement is about the full flourishing of both mom and baby,” she said.
Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association told OSV News that the march demonstrates that even with the end of Roe “there’s still a lot of work to be done.” In fact, the theme of the next day’s 25th Annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life at Georgetown University focused on this pro-life challenge: “Discerning the next 25 years.”
“But I think we still have that same kind of youthful energy that we need to finish the work that was started,” she said.
It was a point Gonzalez emphasized as well. “This march shows everyone – women, men, children and politicians – that we do not support abortion,” she said.
“We can’t let peer pressure hold us back,” she added. “We can’t be mediocre. We must fight for life.”
Peter Jesserer Smith is the national news and features editor for OSV News. Follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) @jesserersmith. Maria-Pia Chin, Spanish editor for OSV News and Kate Scanlon, OSV News national reporter covering Washington, also contributed to this report.
