The Church of St. Luke

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

A federal court has ordered the governments of North Carolina and West Virginia to provide coverage for sex-change operations in state health care plans offered to state employees and through Medicaid.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals — which has jurisdiction over North Carolina, West Virginia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland — ruled in an 8-6 decision that refusing to provide coverage for transgender operations in state health care plans is discrimination “on the basis of gender identity and sex” in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

The ruling claims policies in both states violate the Constitution and federal law. The North Carolina policy that the court found to be in violation excludes sex-change surgeries in its coverage for state employees. The West Virginia policy found to be in violation excludes sex-change surgeries in its Medicaid coverage.

According to the majority opinion, written by Chief Judge Roger Gregory, the policies in both states are based on “a gender stereotype.” He used mastectomies (operations to remove breasts) as an example, suggesting that the stereotype is “the assumption that people who have been assigned female at birth are supposed to have breasts, and that people assigned male at birth are not.”

“No doubt, the majority of those assigned female at birth have breasts, and the majority of those assigned male at birth do not,” Gregory, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, said in his opinion. “But we cannot mistake what is for what must be.”

Several judges wrote strong dissenting opinions, including Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who questioned why there is a “rush to constitutionalize” and to create a “right to transgender surgery and treatment” in the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

“The recurrent creation of rights so unmoored from constitutional text or history will deplete the store of public respect on which a branch devoid of sword or purse must ultimately rely,” he said.

The legal battle, however, will not end at the appellate court. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is representing his state’s policies in court, said in a statement that this decision “cannot stand” and that he intends to appeal the ruling to the United States Supreme Court. 

“We are confident in the merits of our case: that this is a flawed decision and states have wide discretion to determine what procedures their programs can cover based on cost and other concerns,” Morrisey said. “Just one single sex-transition surgery can cost tens of thousands of dollars — taxpayers should not be required to pay for these surgeries under Medicaid. Our state should have the ability to determine how to spend our resources to care for the vital medical needs of our citizens.”

Just two weeks ago, the same appellate court handed West Virginia an unfavorable ruling over its law that restricts women’s and girls’ sports to only biological women and girls. Similarly, the court claimed that the law was discriminatory on the basis of gender identity. This ruling is also being appealed to the Supreme Court.

Landscape view of Sacrofano, Italy, north of Rome. / Credit: Dmitry Taranets/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The four-day meeting, which is taking place from April 29 to May 2 at the Fraterna Domus retreat house in Sacrofano, Italy, is attended by about 300 priests.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill on April 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said that he would not advocate for a law that would restrict abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy at the federal level, arguing that such a bill is unlikely to receive enough support to pass the Senate. 

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, McConnell noted that federal legislation in “any direction,” whether it be pro-life or pro-abortion, would need support from 60 senators to overcome the filibuster — a threshold that would be difficult for either side to reach.

“I don’t think we’ll get 60 votes in the Senate for any kind of national legislation,” the Senate minority leader said. “I think as a practical matter, it’s going to be sorted out at the state level.”

McConnell did not directly answer a question about whether he would vote for a bill restricting abortion after 15 weeks but said he’s “not advocating for anything at this level.” He said he thinks abortion policy will “be sorted out all across the country and be very different in different states.”

The Republican leader added that individual Republican senators are welcome to differ in how they approach the policy question. 

“Views about this issue at the state level vary depending on where you are, and we got elected by states and my members are smart enough to figure out how they want to deal with this very divisive issue based upon the people who actually send them here,” McConnell said.

Abortion policy has become divisive in the United States — and among Republicans — since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which allowed federal and state legislation restricting abortion. More than 20 states imposed restrictions on abortion after the Supreme Court decision and several other states passed pro-abortion laws.

Although most Republicans espouse pro-life views, electoral struggles and referendum losses have led some Republicans to diverge from traditional pro-life policy goals, such as federal restrictions. Other Republicans have tried to advance pro-life bills through Congress, without any success.

The presumptive Republican nominee to challenge President Joe Biden for the White House in November, former president Donald Trump, announced his proposed abortion policies in early April: a state-by-state approach rather than federal restrictions. 

“Many states will be different,” Trump said. “Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative [policies] than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”

Biden and most Democrats have embraced an effort to legalize abortion nationwide, which would overrule pro-life laws in more than 20 states. They have referred to this proposed legislation as a codification of Roe v. Wade’s abortion standards into federal law.

Migrants, mostly Haitians, wait in Mexico City to be sent to different migration centers in Puebla, Hidalgo, and Queretaro to obtain their humanitarian visas, which will allow them to continue their journey to the U.S. border ion March 31, 2023. / Credit: ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is criticizing President Joe Biden for resuming deportations of Haitian refugees, which he called “unconscionable.” 

After first making his strong statements in an interview with OSV News, the Miami archbishop doubled down on his criticism of Biden while also calling on the U.S. to extend blanket temporary protective status to all Haitian migrants in the U.S.

“What President Biden has done is unconscionable when you think of the fact that he’s deported over 28,000 Haitians back to Haiti in the last three years, at a time when Haiti has been in a political, social, and economic freefall,” the archbishop told CNA. “If a house is on fire, you don’t force people to run back into the burning house.”

He also criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for increasing the presence of state officials in southern Florida to redirect any Haitians arriving by boat back to their home country.

“They are speaking about them as if they were an invasive species, [when] they’re human beings,” Wenski lamented.

What is going on in Haiti?

Haiti is a small Caribbean nation that has been suffering from political instability for the past several years. Currently the country is experiencing widespread crime, violence, and food shortages in the wake of a long-simmering government meltdown.  

Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince has descended into chaos in the last several months. With a widespread lack of food, health care, and drinking water, among other needs, the government has been largely incapable of controlling criminal elements in the capital and throughout the country. 

At a United Nations Security Council briefing, Maria Salvador, head of the U.N. mission to Haiti, testified that “it is impossible to overstate the increase in gang activity across Port-au-Prince and beyond, the deterioration of the human rights situation, and the deepening of the humanitarian crisis.” 

According to an April 22 United Nations report, roughly 2,500 people were killed or injured in Haiti in the first quarter of this year. About half the population — more than 5 million people — are going hungry while hundreds of thousands have been displaced. 

Amid the chaos, there have been lootings of homes and hospitals as well as kidnappings of religious sisters, brothers, priests, and other innocent bystanders. Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of the Catholic Diocese of Anse-à-Veau was injured in an explosion in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 18.

Despite all this, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement resumed deportations of illegal Haitian migrants earlier this month after temporarily pausing removals in recent months. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed with CNA that authorities have thus far repatriated approximately 50 Haitian nationals.

The spokesperson also told CNA that “individuals are removed only if they were found to not have a legal basis to remain in the United States.” 

While noting that DHS is “monitoring the situation in Haiti and coordinating closely with the State Department and international partners,” the spokesperson said that “all irregular migration journeys, especially maritime routes, are extremely dangerous, unforgiving, and often result in loss of life.”

“U.S. policy is to return noncitizens who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States,” the spokesperson continued. “DHS will continue to enforce U.S. laws and policy throughout the Florida Straits and the Caribbean region, as well as at the southwest border.”

Miami archbishop responds

The Miami area has the largest Haitian population in the country. As a parish priest, Wenski said that he learned to celebrate Mass in Haitian Creole.

According to the archbishop, Haitians make up an essential part of the Church in Miami, with at least 13 Haitian Catholic churches and about a dozen Haitian priests in the archdiocese. He praised Haitians’ devotion to their faith, saying that “there are a lot of vocations,” with Haitian priests serving the Church all across the Eastern seaboard.  

Wenski said “there’s an inconsistency in the application of the laws,” and “sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason behind some of the American actions.”

He claimed that the federal government’s removals violate portions of international law that the U.S. has signed onto, namely the “principle of non-refoulement,” which prohibits the removal of refugees if it presents them with a real danger of irreparable harm, torture, ill treatment, or other serious human rights breaches.

Wenski called on Biden to extend temporary protective status for all Haitian migrants “regardless of how they arrived.” 

“Are you going to now order people back to the countries where they came from? And what happens if the conditions in the countries haven’t changed? Can you really do that?” he asked.

By extending temporary protective status and allowing Haitian migrants to live and work in the U.S. legally, Wenski said that it “not only helps the Haitians, but it also helps everybody else” because “that means they’re contributing their taxes, they’re paying into Social Security, et cetera, et cetera.”

Immigration expert disagrees

Andrew Arthur, a Catholic, former immigration judge, and resident law and policy fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, told CNA that while he understands Wenski’s stance on this issue, he believes the deportations are the ethical thing to do.

Arthur said that he could “dispositively” confirm that all of the Biden administration’s recent deportations of Haitian migrants are in full accordance with U.S. and international law.

According to Arthur, Haitians can still take advantage of several other legal pathways for refuge in the U.S. as well as many other American countries. He said that 168,000 Haitian migrants have legally entered the country since January 2023 through a special humanitarian parole program available for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.

He explained that the only Haitian migrants being deported by the Biden administration are people who have either committed crimes or entered the country illegally. Regarding the non-refoulement principle, Arthur said the Biden administration is only deporting migrants who have been determined to be not at risk of persecution or torture in their home country.  

In Arthur’s opinion, returning illegal Haitian migrants is the moral answer, since he said that not doing so would encourage still larger numbers of people to attempt to cross into the U.S. illegally in a journey that he said results in untold deaths and trauma, especially to migrant children.

“About two-thirds of all of those migrants [coming illegally] are assaulted on their way to the United States,” he said. “It’s an extremely dangerous process, and we want to deter people from undertaking that. That’s the moral side of this. We don’t want them to put themselves in a position of danger.”

Bishops’ conference has yet to weigh in

At the time of publication, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not reply to CNA’s request for comment about Wenski’s statements. However, the bishops have previously called for the international community and American Church to stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti.

In a March 15 statement, Bishop Elias Zaidan, head of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon and chairman of the U.S. bishops’ International Justice and Peace Committee, said: “I heartily join our Holy Father Pope Francis in his expression of concern and support for the people of Haiti and who recently invited us to pray for the people of this land through the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, patroness of Haiti that violence cease, and peace and reconciliation in the country be realized with the support of the international community.”

Billboard for AI priest Father Justin on social media. / Credit: Catholic Answers / Screenshot

National Catholic Register, Apr 29, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Father Justin, we hardly knew ye.

Just days after debuting an artificial intelligence (AI) priest character to overwhelmingly negative reviews, Catholic Answers has given “Father Justin” the virtual heave-ho.

The lay-run apologetics and evangelization apostolate, based in El Cajon, California, said it will replace him on its app with a lay character named “Justin.” 

“We won’t say he’s been laicized, because he never was a real priest!” Catholic Answers said in a written statement.

“We chose the character to convey a quality of knowledge and authority, and also as a sign of the respect that all of us at Catholic Answers hold for our clergy,” the statement, from Catholic Answers’ president, Christopher Check, explained.

“Many people, however, have voiced concerns about this choice. We hear these concerns; and we do not want the character to distract from the important purpose of the application, which is to provide sound answers to questions about the Catholic faith in an innovative way that makes good use of the benefits of ‘artificial intelligence.’” 

Catholic Answers said it would continue to tweak the way it works with AI.

Depicted wearing a black cassock sitting among chirping birds, the bearded AI “priest” appeared oblivious to the cascade of criticism that erupted on social media after Catholic Answers debuted the character last week.

Some found him creepy. Some didn’t like his voice. Some worried about replacing actual human beings. Some didn’t like his character being a priest. 

“I say this with nothing but respect for you guys and your work, but ... this should’ve just been a plain search engine,” said Father Mike Palmer, a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). “Dressing it up as a soulless AI avatar of a priest does absolutely nothing except cause confusion and invite mockery of your otherwise excellent work.”

Even so, “every knock a boost,” as the old saying about negative publicity goes.

As of last Wednesday afternoon, about 1,000 people an hour were using the “Father Justin” app. Traffic at the Catholic Answers website (Catholic.com) was up 77% in April 2024 versus April 2023, said Donna Barrack, director of marketing at Catholic Answers.

Demand was so high that it was taking minutes to receive an access code by email on Wednesday, something that normally takes a few seconds.

Last Wednesday, the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, ran into technical problems when it attempted to interact with “Father Justin.” Questions had to be shouted into a laptop microphone, and the app took time to translate them into printed words on the screen. “Eucharist” came out “caressed” and, later, “you, you, you.” “Communion” came across as “commute” and later “commune.”

When he understood a question, though, “Father Justin” provided a short, substantive answer.

Asked why you should go to church on Sunday, Father Justin answered with brief quotations from Scripture (Psalm 122:1; 1 Corinthians 12:27; John 6:54) and also explained: “When we gather together for Mass, we are united with Christ and each other in a profound way. We hear God’s Word in the Scriptures, and we receive Jesus himself in the Eucharist. … Going to church isn’t just an obligation, it’s a privilege and a joy.”

“Father Justin” was aimed at providing answers to questions faster than was possible with human apologists on staff. Several years ago, the organization took down a question-and-answer feature on its website because its staff apologists were inundated with thousands of queries.

“With our mission to explain and defend the Catholic faith, we do think artificial intelligence has a usefulness, at least as a starting point. I would caution against it being an ending point in your journey or in your search for answers,” said Chris Costello, director of information technology for Catholic Answers, in a Zoom interview, just prior to the decision to end Father Justin was announced.

Barrack said the “Father Justin” app was an attempt at “gamifying the question-and-answer process” to appeal to young people.

Costello said the intent was never to replace human apologists.

“Obviously, there’s something different in the human delivery,” Costello said. “People … don’t just want the answer. They want to understand the answer. And they want to talk about it and have a back-and-forth, which you can actually do with the application. But I think that there’s always going to be something missing if you don’t have an actual person.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

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CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

A Pennsylvania priest was arrested this week after police say he misused tens of thousands of dollars in parish funds to purchase video games. 

Father Lawrence Kozak has been on administrative leave in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia since November 2022. The archdiocese told CNA his leave “followed a review of St. Thomas More Parish’s financial activity by the Archdiocesan Office for Parish Services and Support.” Kozak had previously been pastor at the Pottstown, Pennsylvania, parish. 

The archdiocesan review “resulted in certain expenses and expenditure levels utilizing parish funds being questioned,” the archdiocese said. After placing the priest on leave, the archdiocese “referred the matter to law enforcement.”

Pennsylvania law enforcement arrested Kozak last week in connection with the allegations. A criminal complaint filed by Pennsylvania State Police alleges that Kozak “used credit cards for the purpose of obtaining property or services using parish funds valued at” more than $41,000. 

The complaint revealed that an archdiocesan official observed incorrect coding in the parish’s financial records. The subsequent review revealed “an astronomical amount of Apple transactions” in the parish books. 

According to the parish records, nearly 2,200 transactions were related to a category of spending identified as “gaming.” The total amount spent in that category was just under $41,000. 

Among the games purchased using parish funds were Candy Crush, Pokemon GO, and several “slots” games. 

In an interview with law enforcement as part of the investigation, Kozak said he “didn’t realize when he went past the balance on his Apple Card [that] the charges were kicked over to the parish card,” the complaint said.

The priest “expressed that he’s disappointed that he let it get like this and that there’s no excuse except that he wasn’t paying attention and should have been.”

Law enforcement in 2023 met with the new pastor of the Pottstown parish who said that Kozak had paid the parish roughly $41,000 in “reimbursement” after he was put on leave. 

“I am so sorry that I made this mistake which has been any source of stress for you,” the priest wrote to the pastor at the time.

The investigation concluded that there was “probable cause that [Kozak] misused funds” from the parish.

In a statement to CNA on Monday, Archdiocese of Philadelphia spokesman Ken Gavin said Kozak is facing “felony theft charges” over the controversy.

“The archdiocese and the parish will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as the criminal matter enters its next phase,” Gavin said. 

“Pending the outcome of the criminal prosecution, Father Kozak remains on administrative leave,” he added.

The Verona Arena is illuminated at night on Aug. 3, 2018, in Verona, Italy. The Holy See Press Office on Monday, April 29, 2024, released the pope’s schedule for a one-day trip to the city scheduled for May 18, 2024, on the vigil of Pentecost.  / Credit: Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The Holy See Press Office on Monday released the pope’s schedule for the one-day trip scheduled for May 18 on the vigil of Pentecost.

Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne. / Credit: Diocese of Burlington, Vermont

CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A New England prelate is urging Catholics to both minister to transgender-identifying individuals in the Catholic Church while still continuously affirming “the goodness of human creation” as male and female.

Coadjutor Archbishop Christopher Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut, told CNA last week that he would make it a point not to challenge a transgender-identifying man or woman when they present as the opposite sex.

Coyne appeared on Connecticut Public Radio earlier this month arguing against the basic claim of gender ideology, which argues that men and women who “identify” as the opposite sex should be treated as such.

“Biology is biology. You’re either XX or XY. That’s a scientific fact. You can’t un-prove that fact,” the bishop told public radio. 

But, he argued, the LGBT debate has “pulled me more into a place of understanding and care,” including regarding transgender-identifying individuals. 

The prelate told CNA he would accept the identity of those men and women as they present themselves to him.

“It doesn’t cost me anything to accept them as they’re presenting themselves, as a brother or a sister, or whatever gender they’re asking me to refer to them as,” the archbishop said. “If they’d like to be referred to by this name or this pronoun, it doesn’t cost me anything to say, ‘Okay,’ and then begin a communication with this person.”

“If I start off just by beginning to define what the conversation will be, I could cut off an opportunity to bring that person more deeply into the Church,” the prelate said. 

“That doesn’t mean I accept what they’re bringing forward,” he pointed out. “It just means I accept what they’re presenting to me as brother or sister.”

Coyne was appointed to the Hartford Archdiocese last year and will succeed as archbishop once current Archbishop Leonard Blair retires. He has in the past offered candid opinions on Church matters, such as arguing that the Holy See should be moved out of Rome and expressing hope that the Church might in the future “ordain or name some deaconesses.”

He stressed to CNA this week that, when ministering to transgender-identified individuals, “the line obviously has to be clearly drawn” on matters such as ordination.

“The line has to be drawn clearly by way of biology,” he said. 

“We’re not intending to hurt this person or shut them off from the community,” he pointed out. “It would have to be clearly defined in terms of what we do. There are certain things that just can’t happen. Now, if that hurts the person and they decide they have to walk away, that’s unfortunate. But we haven’t changed any teachings on this matter.”

“Conversation is very important,” he said further. “When you’re dealing with these issues, especially [with] children — but at this point I’m talking about adults — we need conversation and clear understanding on what Church teaching in this matter is.”

Coyne stressed that, when dealing with children who suffer from gender dysphoria, “we have to be very careful.”

“When the child presents themselves with this issue, we have to first say, ‘We love you, we understand you’re going through these things, we have to be patient and walk with you.’” 

“We have to involve the parent, or parents,” he said. “We walk with the child, we love the child, and we work with the family.”

The Catholic Church in recent years has moved to address gender ideology. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith this month released the declaration Dignitas Infinita, which stressed “the promotion of the dignity of every human person.”

The document states that “all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected” and that “only by acknowledging and accepting this difference in reciprocity can each person fully discover themselves, their dignity, and their identity.”

Asked how the Church might minister to transgender-identifying individuals while still affirming the truth about human bodies, Coyne said: “I think we continually talk about how we were made in the image of God, that God created us male and female biologically, and that that’s a good thing, and that’s something we should accept.” 

“How we live it out in terms of gender expression is another question,” he argued. 

But “we can continually affirm the goodness of human creation, and our bodies as male and female, and that it’s not something that needs to be in conflict with our gender, or seen as a mistake.” 

“It’s a given. It’s a beautiful thing,” he added. “It’s God’s graces already operating in that person by virtue of creation. Start with the theology.” 

Sidewalk advocates withstand the rain to be present outside a Planned Parenthood in Syracuse, New York. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Sidewalk Advocates for Life

CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A national organization that organizes sidewalk counseling — the practice of giving women information outside abortion clinics about their other options — is celebrating more than 22,000 lives saved this month on its 10th anniversary. Sidewalk Advocates for Life (SAFL) president Lauren Muzyka said that even in a post-Roe America, their work is very much needed.

The latest numbers from a Planned Parenthood report titled “Above & Beyond,” shows that Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022 —an increase of 18,560 — or 5% — from the previous report, which showed 374,155 abortions in one year. Abortion pill access is also on the rise, with the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute reporting that this accounts for more than 60% of abortions in 2023. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments about the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone. 

But Muzyka is able to offer a perspective from “out on the sidewalk,” where Sidewalk Advocates encounter women seeking abortions every day.

“In some of our states where abortion is limited, like a six-week ban or a heartbeat ban, it’s really interesting because we’re actually still seeing a great amount of traffic,” she said. “I wish the country could see what we’re seeing in some of these more pro-life states.”

“Even in our pro-life states, we still know that there are women in crisis in our communities that, at the very least, are considering driving 300 or 600 miles away to the next nearest abortion facility,” she told CNA in a phone call. “A lot of people don’t realize, even in the pro-life states, that we still have Planned Parenthood Family Planning Centers on the ground that serve as abortion referral facilities.”

Muzyka gave the example of the state of Georgia. “It’s surrounded by pro-life states,” she explained. “A lot of women are going to Columbus, Georgia, or Atlanta to see if they made the six-week cutoff. If they didn’t, then they’re getting referred to the Carolinas or to Virginia or the Panhandle of Florida.”  

“Sometimes you have very distraught, angry women [who are] overwhelmed because they drove all through the night to see if they made this cutoff,” Muzyka further explained. “Some of them will turn around because they’re met by a sidewalk advocate there, but this is why our states really need to protect life at conception, because sometimes the six-week ban isn’t doing as much as I think the people of that state would desire to protect life and to protect women from this trauma.”

The sidewalk advocates do what Muzyka calls “crisis management.” They stand in strategic places outside an abortion clinic with pamphlets, information, and sometimes small gifts, and talk to women going in for an abortion.

“There’s always a reason or set of reasons that brings a woman to an abortion facility,” Muzyka said. “The idea is, if we can fill that crisis, then what we see is that that mom … often turns back to herself and reconsiders the life of her child. We let her know how we can help her, and then we give her a vision forward for how it’s possible for her to have her child and to have the life that she wants as well.”’

“A lot of women are there because they ironically feel like they have no choice,” she added.

Issues women struggle with vary from a challenging pregnancy diagnosis or severe morning sickness to fear that their parents will kick them out if they don’t have an abortion. 

“All we can do is invite, and it’s up to that other person to respond,” Muzyka said. “We do get a mix of rejection and then people who take us up on that offer of help.”

SAFL is celebrating more than 22,000 lives recorded to be saved from abortion through their sidewalk counseling service. In addition, more than 5,000 “hopeful saves” — women who leave the abortion facility to “think about it.” SAFL also reported 89 abortion workers leaving and 55 abortion facilities closing as a result of their work.

But their success isn’t their own, Muzyka said. 

“It’s the grace of God. It’s his hope, it’s his love, it’s his peace that’s really winning someone over,” she said. “… It’s even right there in our mission statement that we are the hands and feet of Jesus. And that’s really the heart of sidewalk advocacy, is Our Lord sent people out in twos to go spread the Gospel. And this is really the epitome of the gospel of life, is meeting someone there in their moment of crisis and speaking hope and peace into their circumstances.” 

The ministry sees “miracles out on the sidewalk” because it is a “beautiful little mix of practical and spiritual,” Muzyka said. 

SAFL’s top core value is being Christ-centered. Though the organization doesn’t subscribe to a particular denomination, the movement is “Catholic-heavy” but “comfortable” for anyone of another denomination, Muzyka said, and their formation materials incorporate Scripture. 

“And it’s beautiful, because we’re actually seeing this new springtime of collaboration throughout the body of Christ,” Muzyka said. 

“When you go to a Sidewalk Advocates for Life training, there is Scripture from beginning to end, reinforcing basically every major concept that we’re teaching,” she said. “Even the understanding that in every case, there’s a life-affirming solution — really anchoring ourselves and anchoring her into the hope that we have in Christ and giving her his joy and his peace and his love.”

“We really believe, of course, too, that we’re not the ones actually saving these babies,” she added.

The ministry doesn’t just help mothers and babies in crisis, but it offers community to pro-lifers across the country, Muzyka pointed out.

“It’s almost like Sidewalk Advocates for Life is here to say to the pro-life person serving on the front lines, ‘You are not alone, and we’re going to journey with you until you are called elsewhere or until your abortion facility shuts down,’” she said. 

This article was updated on April, 29, 2024 with more recent stats from Planned Parenthood's latest report.

The hidden chapel where St. Catherine of Siena died in Rome is located in the Palazzo Santa Chiara on Via di S. Chiara, 14. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Rome, Italy, Apr 29, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Located around the corner from the Pantheon, the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena sits within the high altar of the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.