Nationwide Prayer Vigil for Life to Take Place January 23-24

WASHINGTON – “I enthusiastically invite Catholics from all around the country to join me in-person or virtually, in praying for an end to abortion and building up a culture of life,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities. The faithful are invited to observe a nationwide prayer vigil from Thursday, January 23 to Friday, January 24, 2025, and encouraged to pray for an end to abortion and a greater respect for all human life in post-Roe America.

 In 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision Dobbs vs. Jackson which overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Since the Dobbs decision, abortion policy is now determined at the state and federal levels. Some states have increased access to abortion and others are working to ensure stronger policies to protect preborn children and their mothers.

 “Together, we must pray to change hearts and build a culture of life as we advocate for the most vulnerable. I look forward to opening our Vigil with Holy Mass together with many other bishops, hundreds of priests, consecrated religious, seminarians, and many thousands of pilgrims,” said Bishop Thomas.

 The National Prayer Vigil for Life is hosted each January by the USCCB’s Pro-Life Secretariat, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and The Catholic University of America’s Office of Campus Ministry. The vigil has always taken place on the eve of the March for Life, which marks the date of the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

 The Opening Mass will take place in the Great Upper Church at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. from 5:00-7:00 PM on Thursday, January 23. The principal celebrant and homilist for the Opening Mass will be Bishop Thomas.

 After the Mass, there will be a Eucharistic Procession immediately followed by a National Holy Hour for Life, which will include Recitation of the Rosary and Benediction. The Opening Mass and Holy Hour of the National Prayer Vigil for Life will be broadcast on various Catholic networks and will be livestreamed on the Basilica’s website at www.nationalshrine.org/mass.

 The vigil concludes at 8:00 AM on Friday, January 24 with the Closing Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Brooklyn.

 The full schedule of the 2025 National Prayer Vigil for Life is listed below. (All times are in Eastern Time.)

 Thursday, January 23:
4:45 PM Chaplet of Divine Mercy
5:00 PM Opening Mass with Bishop Thomas
7:00 PM Holy Hour for Life

 Friday, January 24:

8:00 AM Closing Mass with Bishop Brennan

The live television broadcasts on January 23 from 5:00-8:00 PM and on January 24 from 8:00-9:00 AM will be provided by the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and will be available via live-stream on the Basilica’s website. For more information about on-site attendance at the Basilica for the National Prayer Vigil for Life, please visit the information page on the Basilica’s website.

Recap of U.S. Bishops’ Fall Plenary in Baltimore

BALTIMORE - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered for their Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, November 11-14. The bishops began their plenary in prayer at the Baltimore Basilica and as the public session of the assembly began, they sent a message to the Holy Father, followed by an address by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States. Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the USCCB, also addressed the bishops.

 Attending the plenary as a special guest was Bishop Stepan Sus, auxiliary and curial bishop to the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Metropolitan of Kyiv-Halych, who shared his testimony of the Church in Ukraine in the midst of war. Bishop Roy E. Campbell, auxiliary bishop of Washington and president of The National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC) gave a brief presentation to the body on the history, mission and programs of the NBCC. And as the universal Catholic Church prepares to celebrate the Jubilee Year 2025, Sister Maria Juan Anderson, a Religious Sister of Mercy of Alma, Michigan who currently serves as the coordinator for the Bishops’ Office for United States Visitors to the Vatican, shared information about her office and the services they provide to pilgrims visiting Rome. Mr. Patrick Kelly, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, provided an update on the Order’s Cor initiative.   

 The bishops received a report on the 2021-2024 Synod of Bishops that concluded in Rome last month; a report on the Eucharistic revival initiative and the National Eucharistic Congress held this summer; and an update on the interim implementation of Antiquum Ministerium (on the ministry of the catechist). An update was also given on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) as a follow up to the discussion the bishops had at their June plenary on the best way that the CCHD could continue the vital work of fighting poverty. The bishops’ migration committee chairman gave an update on the work of the committee, which aims to help reshape the national narrative on migration to be more welcoming and responsive to the needs of migrants and to help the faithful better understand Catholic teaching on migration. A presentation was also given on the resources available for diocesan and parish leaders in applying the Vatican’s declaration, Dignitas Infinita (on human dignity) to the specific cultural context of the United States; this effort is an ongoing collaboration among several committees of the USCCB.

 Exemplifying synodality, the bishops engaged in a table discussion during the public session on the pastoral implementation of integral ecology and Laudato si’. Specifically, they were provided with prompts to discuss how best to mark the tenth anniversary of Laudato si’. The table discussions were enhanced by the adjustment to bishops’ seating made during the November 2022 plenary to more naturally accommodate fraternal dialogue. While a summary of the discussions was not provided publicly during the plenary, the reports from each bishop group will be used to guide the work of Conference committees.

 The bishops also approved the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth to move forward with the drafting of a document to guide lay ecclesial ministry, which is meant to be a follow-up to the bishops’ 2005 document, Coworkers in the Vineyard of the Lord; the action item was passed with 223 votes in favor, 9 votes against, and 6 abstentions. The bishops also voted to pass the USCCB’s 2025 budget (226 votes in favor, 3 votes against, and 4 abstentions), and on the USCCB’s 2025-2028 Mission Directive, which will guide the work of the Conference staff over the next three years (225 votes in favor, 7 votes against, and 2 abstentions).

 During their meeting, the bishops voted for a new treasurer and new chairmen of five standing committees. All six elected bishops will serve for one year as the chairman-elect before beginning a three-year term that begins at the conclusion of the bishops’ 2025 Plenary Assembly. They also held a consultation on advancing the causes for beatification and canonization for Sister Annella Zervas, a professed religious of the Order of Saint Benedict, and of the Servant of God Gertrude Agnes Barber, a lay woman, and by voice vote, they affirmed the advancement of both causes at the local levels.

 The bishops discussed and voted on three action items related to liturgical texts, presented by the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship:

• The bishops voted 216 votes in favor, 4 votes against, and 3 abstentions to approve the revised New American Bible for liturgical use. The approval of this requires a two-thirds vote of the Latin Church members, with subsequent confirmatio from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

• The bishops voted 220 in favor, 2 votes against, and 1 abstention to approve the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) Gray Book of The Order of Crowning of an Image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The approval of this requires a two-thirds vote of the Latin Church members, with subsequent confirmatio by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

• The bishops voted 213 in favor, 1 vote against, and 9 abstentions to approve the Liturgia de las Horas: Textos propios y adaptaciones para las diócesis de los Estados Unidos de América. The approval of this requires a two-thirds vote of the Latin Church members, with subsequent recognitio by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

News updates, texts of addresses and presentations, and other materials from the 2024 fall plenary assembly are posted to: www.usccb.org/meetings.

Bishop Robert Barron pans ‘Conclave’ movie: ‘Run away from it as fast as you can’

By Catholic News Agency

Washington, D.C. Newsroom - Bishop Robert Barron is urging Catholics to skip the new film “Conclave” — a fictional movie that depicts a papal conclave — saying that it “checks every woke box.”

“If you are interested in a film about the Catholic Church that could have been written by the editorial board of the New York Times, this is your movie,” Barron, the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said in a post on X after watching the film himself.

The film, based on the 2016 Robert Harris novel of the same name, hit American movie theaters on Oct. 25. It depicts ideological and theological infighting among Catholic cardinals during the election of a new pope. More traditional cardinals are pitted against others who are portrayed as being open to changes in doctrine that are contrary to Catholic teaching. 

“The hierarchy of the Church is a hotbed of ambition, corruption, and desperate egotism [in the movie],” Barron continued. “Conservatives are xenophobic extremists and the liberals are self-important schemers. None can escape this irredeemable situation.”

In the movie, a fictional cardinal with female chromosomes and an intersex disorder is selected as the new pope. 

“The only way forward is the embrace of the progressive buzz words of diversity, inclusion, indifference to doctrine, and the ultimate solution is a virtue-signaling cardinal who takes the papal name of Innocent and who is a biological female,” Barron said.

 “Since it checks practically every woke box, I’m sure it will win a boatload of awards, but my advice is to run away from it as fast as you can.”

The priesthood, including the papacy, is reserved for biological men. According to St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and ... this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”

Pope Francis has affirmed this Church teaching and spoken about other important roles women have in the Catholic Church. The final document from the Church’s Synod on Synodality encourages the expansion of women’s leadership roles within the Church.

Late last month, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights issued a warning about the book that the film was based on and the film itself.

“Conclave is more a piece of anti-Catholic propaganda than it is a work of art,” the statement reads. “It might have stunning cinematic sequences and a star-studded cast, but those things do not redeem the underlying ugliness of the project, namely it aims to paint the Catholic Church in the most negative light possible.”

The Catholic League statement also notes that Harris, the author of the book, is not Catholic and not, in fact, religious at all. 

Father Carter Griffin, the rector of St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, D.C., spoke to CNA about the filmmakers’ decision to depict a person with female chromosomes and an intersex disorder as the selected pope, saying “a stable, secure, and well-ordered sexual identity is a necessary condition for priestly formation and ordination.”

“It is our individual and unique creation as either male or female that identifies us as man or woman, not our subjective feelings or choices,” he said.

The film’s director, Edward Berger, has responded to some of the criticism from Catholics. He told Yahoo Entertainment that the film is not meant to be “a takedown of the Catholic Church” and that he “tried to portray … the characters in the movie as humans.”

“In the end, if there were controversy, I never think it’s bad,” he said. “I invite that. I love that. We’ve lost the ability to argue with each other without fighting each other. And if everyone has a different opinion and a different feeling, that’s a good thing. If I disagree with you, I might learn something from you … and suddenly go, ‘Ah, OK, never thought about it that way. Thank you for teaching me.’” 

The film had a budget of $20 million and has earned more than $15 million at the box office so far. According to Rotten Tomatoes, about 92% of critics liked the film, while about 84% of viewers rated the film positively. The film has a rating of 7.7 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database.

Survey: New priests are young and involved in their community

CNA Staff - The incoming class of seminarians who will be ordained in 2024 is young and involved in their community, an annual survey released April 15 found.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned the Center for Applied Research (CARA) at Georgetown University for an annual survey. From January to March of this year, CARA surveyed almost 400 seminarians who are scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood in 2024. 

More than 80% of respondents were to be ordained diocesan priests, while almost 20% were from a religious order. The largest group of respondents, 80%, were studying at seminaries in the Midwest.  

The survey found that half of the graduating 2024 seminarians, “ordinands,” will be ordained at 31 years or younger — younger than the recent average. Since 1999, ordinands were on average in their mid-30s, trending slightly younger. 

This year’s ordinands were involved in their local communities growing up. As many as 51% had attended parish youth groups, while 33% were involved in Catholic campus ministry. A significant number (28%) of the ordinands were Boy Scouts, while 24% reported that they had participated in the Knights of Columbus or Knights of Peter Claver.

Involvement in parish ministry was also a key commonality for this year’s ordinands. Surveyors found that 70% of ordinands were altar servers before attending seminary. Another 48% often read at Mass, while 41% distributed Communion as extraordinary ministers. In addition, just over 30% taught as catechists. 

The path to priesthood

Most seminarians first considered the priesthood when they were as young as 16 years old, according to the survey. But the process of affirming that vocation and studying to be a priest takes, on average, 18 years. 

Encouragement helps make a priest, according to the CARA survey. Almost 90% of ordinands said that someone (most often a parish priest, friend, or parishioner) encouraged them to consider becoming priests. 

Discerning the priesthood is not always an easy path, and 45% of ordinands said they were discouraged from considering the priesthood by someone in their life — most often a friend, classmate at school, mother, father, or other family member.

The survey also found that most ordinands had Catholic parents and were baptized Catholic as infants. Eighty-two percent of ordinands reported that both their parents were Catholic when they were children, while 92% of ordinands were baptized Catholic as an infant. Of those who became Catholic later in life, most converted at age 23. 

Catholic education and home schooling were also factors for this year’s ordinands. One in 10 ordinands were home-schooled, while between 32% and 42% of ordinands went to Catholic elementary school, high school, or college. 

Seeing religious vocations in the family also helped seminarians find their vocation, the survey indicated. About 3 in 10 ordinands reported that they had a relative who was a priest or religious. 

Eucharistic adoration was the most popular form of prayer for this year’s graduating seminarians. Seventy-five percent reported regularly attending Eucharistic adoration before entering seminary. The rosary was also important to those discerning vocations: 71% of ordinands said they regularly prayed the rosary before joining seminary. Half said they attended a prayer or Bible group, and 40% said they practiced lectio divina.

The survey also found that 60% of ordinands graduated college or obtained a graduate-level degree before joining the seminary. The most common areas of study were business, liberal arts, philosophy, or engineering. 

This leads to many seminarians — about 1 in 5 — carrying educational debt into the seminary. On average, each ordinand had more than $25,000 in educational debt. 

Most seminarians don’t come straight from school, however. Seventy percent reported having full-time work experience before joining the seminary. Very few served in the military, with only 4% reporting having served in the U.S. armed forces. 

About a quarter (23%) of ordinands were foreign-born — down from the average of 28% since 1999. Ordinands not born in the U.S. were most commonly born in Mexico, Vietnam, Colombia, and the Philippines. The survey found that 67% of ordinands were white; almost 20% were Hispanic or Latino; about 10% identified as Asian, Pacific Islander, or Native Hawaiian; and 2% were Black.