The Church of St. Luke

As Planned Parenthood reports a record 434,450 abortions of unborn babies in 2023-2024, advocates for unborn children renew their call to permanently defund the group.

As Planned Parenthood reports a record 434,450 abortions of unborn babies in 2023-2024, advocates for unborn children renew their call to permanently defund the group.

A French Catholic aid leader said conditions in southern Lebanon have become untenable.

Archbishop José H. Gomez has declared 15 sites in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as pilgrimage destinations during the 2026 Jubilee Year of St. Francis.

Archbishop José H. Gomez has declared 15 sites in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as pilgrimage destinations during the 2026 Jubilee Year of St. Francis.

Catholic educators and parents say the proposal could deepen learning gaps and increase screen addiction, especially for low-income families.

Experts say the ruling is a setback for religious freedom in one of Europe’s most secular countries, where a concordat had been decades in the making.

WASHINGTON - “As the United States seeks a negotiated end to the war in Iran, I call on President Trump and the international community to ensure that the people of Lebanon receive greater access to humanitarian assistance, including food and medical supplies, especially in the south,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.  

Bishop Zaidan continued:

“I am grateful for the ceasefire between the United States, Israel, and Iran, and pray for all sides to engage in effective dialogue to end this devastating war. I am disappointed, however, to learn that the agreement does not cover Lebanon, and thus falls short of encompassing the entire region where the conflict has been raging. I acknowledge that the people of Israel have the right to live in peace, as well as the innocent Lebanese civilians who are currently suffering from lack of food, medical supplies, and from paralyzing fear. Distressingly, over one million people, including 370,000 children, have been displaced by the fighting, in what is becoming one of Lebanon’s most acute internal displacement crises in recent history.  

“As the United States seeks a negotiated end to the war in Iran, I call on President Trump and the international community to ensure that the people of Lebanon receive greater access to humanitarian assistance, including food and medical supplies, especially in the south. Furthermore, as I previously stated, for peace in Lebanon to take root, it is imperative that all parties work toward the full and immediate disarming of Hezbollah, as well as the implementation of the UN resolutions concerning Lebanon. Hopefully, after that, the governments of Israel and Lebanon can sign an agreement for lasting peace.  

“I join our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV’s Easter message of consolation and strength to the people of Lebanon, as they endure this ongoing tragedy: ‘May you, in the midst of feelings of pain, anxiety, and mourning, come to know in your hearts a deeper joy: Jesus has gloriously triumphed over death. It is a joy that comes from heaven and that nothing can take away.’ May Our Lady of Lebanon, Queen of Peace, pray for her children in Lebanon and for the peace of the entire world.”

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WASHINGTON – The Catholic faithful who give to the annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal are imitating Jesus, who “spent little time in cities but built his ministry in fishing villages and rural areas,” said Bishop Chad W. Zielinski, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions.

The appeal supports nearly 75 Latin Rite dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies in the United States and its current and former territories that cannot sustain ministry without outside help due to limited financial resources, small or widely dispersed Catholic populations, or both. They are typically in rural regions or small cities with seasonal employment.

Many dioceses will take the collection in their parishes on April 25-26, though some dioceses choose a different date. Those who wish to support the appeal with an online gift can donate at www.igivecatholic.org/story/USCCB-CHM.

“The work of the Catholic Home Missions Appeal reflects Jesus’s encounter with the ‘woman at the well,’ whom Eastern Christians call St. Photina,” said Bishop Zielinski, referencing the Samaritan woman at the well. “She was an outcast in a community that was considered heretical and that many of Jesus’ followers avoided. After talking with him, Photina evangelized her neighbors (John 4).”

“Most of our mission dioceses are in remote, rural areas, or communities with economic and social challenges. Yet they are filled with people like St. Photina, who thirst for the Gospel and are eager to spread its life-changing message,” Bishop Zielinski said.

Recently, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal provided more than $8.1 million in assistance to mission dioceses. The array of needs the grants addressed ranged from fuel for the seaplanes that priests fly to island villages in Alaska to developing Spanish-language ministries in dioceses with growing Latino immigrant populations. Among the grant recipients:

• The Diocese of Steubenville strengthened its ministries to vulnerable expectant mothers by engaging its parishes in the USCCB’s “Walking with Moms in Need” initiative. 
• The Diocese of Dodge City expanded its Spanish-language ministry by increasing the availability Spanish-language print resources, diocesan marriage retreats, and bilingual diocesan personnel.  
• The Diocese of Belleville supported a full-time college minister who is forming students to be church leaders and has inspired new vocations to the priesthood.
• The Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago serves the people of American Samoa’s seven islands through its five Catholic schools that provide educational opportunities in a territory where unemployment rates and living costs are high.

“Your generosity shows Catholics in remote areas that the Church stands with them, and that Jesus is calling them to embrace his mercy and share his message as St. Photina did,” Bishop Zielinski said.

Information about the Catholic Home Missions Appeal may be found at: www.usccb.org/committees/catholic-home-missions.

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Assessing the country’s current situation, the prelate emphasized that free elections and democracy simultaneously require the separation of powers, free speech, and a well-informed public.