The Church of St. Luke

Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas is the oldest person in the world. / Credit: Nathália Queiroz/ACI Digital

Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jan 7, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The oldest human being in the world is Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, a 116-year-old nun from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul who was born on May 27, 1908.

null / Credit: Darko Stojanovic via Pixabay, CC0/Public Domain

CNA Staff, Jan 7, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

A lawsuit filed in federal court claims that officials in an Ohio city retaliated against a Catholic hospital, violating its constitutional rights in the process, after doctors there refused to perform a drug search on a patient.

The suit, filed by Mercy Health in Lorain, Ohio, said police in August brought a “detainee” to the hospital’s emergency room and requested that doctors “perform a body cavity search” to determine if the suspect was in possession of drugs.

Doctors refused to perform the search, the suit says, because they “determined there was an unjustifiably high risk of serious bodily injury or death” if the procedure released drugs into the patient’s system.

Police attempted to force doctors to perform the search, threatening arrest and obstruction of justice if they failed to do so. The doctors continued to refuse, citing a state statute that allows doctors to “refuse to participate in any medical procedure which violates the practitioner’s right of conscience.”

Police subsequently terminated an agreement with the hospital to provide policing services to its campus. That move “thrust the safety and operation of the hospital into uncertainty,” the lawsuit says, alleging “heightened risks to the hospital, its staff, providers, patients, and community.”

The hospital in its suit says its Catholic mission, and specifically its “Ethical and Religious Directives,” allows doctors to “[refuse] to provide or permit medical procedures that are judged morally wrong” and that patients “have the right and duty to protect and preserve their bodily and functional integrity.”

The guidelines exist to “reaffirm the ethical standards of behavior in health care that flow from the Church’s teaching about the dignity of the human person” as well as “to provide authoritative guidance on certain moral issues that face Catholic health care today,” the suit says.

The filing claims the defendants violated the hospital’s constitutional First and 14th Amendment rights as well as its rights under the Ohio Constitution by attempting to force them to perform the drug search.

In addition to the city of Lorain, the suit names two prosecutors as well as the city’s law directors. It also names Lorain Police Chief James McCann. 

The hospital is requesting compensatory and punitive damages for the allegations. 

The Lorain Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit. The hospital also did not respond to a request for comment.

A separate criminal complaint against the hospital, filed by the state through the Lorain County Prosecutor’s office, is also in the courts, the suit noted. That complaint alleges the doctors were required to perform the medical procedure.

President Joe Biden speaks during an interfaith prayer service at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, in New Orleans on Jan. 6, 2025, with the families and community members impacted by the New Year’s Day truck attack in New Orleans. / Credit: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jan 7, 2025 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders and U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday attended an interfaith prayer service in New Orleans to pray for the victims of the deadly terror attack in that city on New Year’s Day.

Fourteen people were killed on Jan. 1 by a driver who rammed his truck into a crowd of New Year’s partiers on the city’s Bourbon Street. Officials said the truck had on it a flag of the Islamic State. The driver was subsequently killed in a shootout with police.

Biden was among the dignitaries at the Monday evening event at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Archbishop Gregory Aymond and Archbishop Emeritus Alfred Hughes presided over the service. 

“We know what it’s like to lose a piece of our soul,” Biden told the families of the victims. “The anger, the emptiness, the black hole that seems to be sucking you into your chest, the sense of loss, the questions of faith in your soul.”

“I promise you, the day will come,” Biden told them, “... when the memory of your loved one will bring a smile to your lips before a tear to your eye.”

“My prayer is that that day comes sooner rather than later, but it will come, and when it does, [that] you might find purpose in your pain,” the president said. 

Aymond told the assembly that the attack “was not just a wound to New Orleans. It was a wound to our nation, to our world, and to our search for freedom.” 

“For those of you who have lost loved ones, we cannot possibly imagine your pain, your feeling of loss, [or] the wounds in your heart that remain today and will remain,” he said. 

“But we can assure you that God embraces you in love in the midst of your sorrow, and helps you to wipe your tears, for you do not do that alone,” the prelate added. 

Representatives from Jewish and Protestant communities were also in attendance as well as leaders from other faiths in the area, many of whom also offered prayers and reflections at the event. 

Pope Francis last week offered his condolences after the attack, invoking prayers for the souls of the deceased as well as the healing and consolation of the injured and bereaved.

“In assuring the entire community of his spiritual closeness, His Holiness commends the souls of those who have died to the loving mercy of Almighty God and prays for the healing and consolation of the injured and bereaved,” the Vatican said.

Spirits were uplifted and joyful following the concluding Mass at the end of the SEEK25 conference on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, as some 3,500 young Catholics, priests, and religious poured out of the Washington Hilton in downtown Washington, D.C. / Credit: Migi Fabara/CNA

Washington D.C., Jan 7, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Some 3,500 young Catholics who gathered in Washington, D.C., for SEEK25 earlier this week said goodbye to new friends late Sunday morning as the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) conference came to an end.

Spirits were uplifted and joyful following the concluding Mass as some 3,500 young Catholics, priests, and religious poured out of the Washington Hilton in downtown Washington, D.C.

Bishop Nelson Jesus Pérez of Philadelphia delivered the homily, telling those gathered for the final liturgy: “Never, never, never underestimate the power of the spirit of God working in you, through you, and despite you.”

“It is such an incredible blessing to have seen SEEK, both in Salt Lake City as well as here in Washington, D.C., to see, combined, more than 21,000 on fire Catholics,” 40 Days for Life founder David Bereit told CNA after the Mass.

“It provides enormous hope for the current state of the Church as well as for the future of the Church,” the pro-life advocate and recent Catholic convert said. “To hear so many great speakers, to meet so many young people who are falling deeper in love with Our Lord, and to see them making commitments to go out and set the world on fire.” 

“I have great hope for where the Church is going, and it makes me so proud to be a Catholic,” he added. 

Attendees reflect on their time at SEEK: joy and revelation 

A student from Mercy University, Gina Capello, 20, told CNA that she had been struck by “seeing so many people come together with such joy, especially during adoration — just looking around and seeing people reach out to Jesus, all wanting the same thing.”

“We all want God,” she added.

Katerina Carducci, a recent graduate of Clemson University, told CNA that her experience at SEEK25 had been one of “revelation.” Carducci explained that she uses a wheelchair on account of a nerve pain disorder in her left leg, which prevents her from being able to walk for extended periods of time.

“I had a really bad flare-up yesterday and the day before,” the young woman told CNA. “I was like, ‘Why is this happening now at SEEK, when this is supposed to be a great time and everyone coming together?’”

However, at Eucharistic adoration on Friday night, which was coordinated by FOCUS to take place at the same time at the SEEK conference in Salt Lake City, Carducci said she felt that God “opened my eyes to show me that it’s like, not only is this pain the pain that Jesus feels, but it’s also how Jesus feels when we don’t turn to him.”

“As someone in a wheelchair, a lot of the time, it’s like I’m invisible almost,” she continued. “And it feels like not a lot of people, when they see someone in a wheelchair, see the person — they see the chair first.”

“God’s shown me that this is how Jesus feels sometimes, even though he’s always here with us, we just don’t see that ‘does Jesus also feel this invisible,’ so that’s something that I’ve been praying on a little bit today,” Carducci said. 

‘SEEK is for the Church’: record growth and SEEK26

This past week marked the beginning of a new chapter of growth for the FOCUS flagship event, with a record-high attendance of more than 21,000 participants between the two locations in Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C. 

Speaking to the increasing popularity of the conference, Lizzi Lugo, the FOCUS missions director and emcee for the Washington, D.C., event told CNA that FOCUS is “anticipating continued growth” from past years. Next year, SEEK will take place in three locations across the U.S.: Denver; Columbus, Ohio; and Fort Worth, Texas.

Lugo told CNA that as the event grows, FOCUS hopes to make SEEK the same experience across locations year to year.

“We really wanted to emphasize live speakers, live content, that same SEEK experience, [with] Mission Way, having our sponsors involved, having religious orders come and run booths and talk to students,” she said.

This year, several speakers, including Bereit; Monsignor James Shea, the president of the University of Mary in North Dakota; and theologian Edward Sri flew between Salt Lake City and D.C. in order to be present at both locations. 

Although Lugo noted the prominent presence of FOCUS missionaries and content catered toward them, she said “SEEK is for everyone.” Out of all of the opportunities that FOCUS offers participants, including retreats, mission trips, and summer projects, she said, “SEEK really is the widest capture point.”

“You don’t really need to be super churched, you don’t need to be super well catechized to come and experience it,” she told CNA. 

Lugo also said FOCUS leadership has witnessed “a desire for partnership with the Church as a whole” in its coordination of the event.

“Seek isn’t just the FOCUS thing,” she added. “SEEK is for the Church.”

Pep Borrell, a popularizer of the truth and beauty of Catholic courtship and marriage. / Credit: Courtesy of Pep Borrell

Madrid, Spain, Jan 7, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pep Borrell is a dentist by profession, but his passion is to know and spread profound countercultural truths about dating and marriage according to the Church.

ESPN reporter Molly McGrath interviews Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) after NCAA football game action between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, on Jan. 2, 2025. “First and foremost I want to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ,” Leonard told the media. / Credit: John Mersits/Cal Sport Media via AP Images

CNA Newsroom, Jan 7, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In the midst of fierce competition during the college football playoffs, a number of team leaders have made it clear that the glory of a national championship comes only second to their relationship with Jesus Christ.

“First and foremost I’ve got to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ for giving me this opportunity to be on this stage, here in the Rose Bowl,” Ohio State University quarterback Will Howard told the media after the team’s stunning upset win against No. 1 University of Oregon on Jan. 1.

“A younger me would be in awe right now,” the graduate student said. “And I just got to take it all in and enjoy this with my boys and we got two more so we’re not done yet.”

The playoffs, which changed from a four-team to a 12-team bracket this year, run from Dec. 20 to Jan. 20. 

Two semifinal games will be played on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10. The University of Notre Dame will face off against Pennsylvania State University on Thursday. The University of Texas at Austin will play Ohio State University on Friday.

‘Without him, I wouldn’t be here’

After defeating the University of Georgia on Jan. 2, Notre Dame’s quarterback Riley Leonard said: “First and foremost I want to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ.”

“Without him, I wouldn’t be here, and we wouldn’t be here as a whole group,” the senior told the media after the quarterfinal game.

Leonard called the fans “incredible,” adding that the team has more work to do to prepare for its semifinal matchup against Pennsylvania State University. 

Leonard was asked about his team’s tough loss to unranked Northern Illinois University earlier in the season and Notre Dame’s subsequent undefeated run. At the time of the loss to Northern Illinois, Notre Dame was ranked No. 5.

“When you trust in the Lord, anything can happen,” he said. “This team fought every single week. That was the lowest of the low. But we had to trust beyond knowing. And we trusted this group and trusted our fans. Week in and week out we fought and it’s finally paying off.”

“Jesus bless,” he said. 

‘God the creator’

In a Jan. 1 postgame press conference, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was asked about his “clutch” performance that led to the team’s 39-31 double-overtime win against Arizona State University. Ewers threw two touchdown passes in overtime that ended in two 25-plus-yard touchdowns, which sealed the quarterfinal win for Texas. 

“How do you stay so calm?” a reporter asked the junior quarterback. 

“I think that we all stay calm,” he continued. “And for all of us to stay calm it kind of starts with me. And I just try to be that calm within the storm for all the guys. And I think that my relationship with Jesus has helped me in that specific way of knowing that no matter what happens, that he’s going to be there for me. He’s still going to love me.”

Senior defensive back Jahdae Barron was asked by a reporter about his thoughts on Ewers’ performance. 

Barron spoke of a culture-building activity that the team did prior to the game where they wrote on cards. 

Barron said he wrote that “Quinn is going to play fast and the reason he’s going to play fast is because of God the creator. He’s going to give all his worries, everything he has and doubt, and he’s just going to give it to [God], and it’s just going to allow him to play free.”

“And I think that’s what Quinn did,” Barron said. “When our backs were against the wall, he just kept fighting. He made some big-time plays in those three throws.”

Coach introduced him to Jesus

Following Boise State University’s 31-14 quarterfinal loss to Penn State on Dec. 31, Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said: “No matter what, win, lose, or draw, I’m going to always give Jesus the glory.” 

“I’m so blessed to be the head coach here. And we do serve a champion. And I do know God never says ‘oops,’” he added at a postgame press conference with some of the players and media.

“As hard as tonight is as a competitor and as a coach, I do believe we learn and grow from everything. And the best is still to come for our team, for these players, our seniors,” he said. 

“I told every single one of them in the locker room that. God has an amazing plan for your life. Never settle for less than that,” he said.

Senior defensive end Ahmed Hassanein from Cairo, Egypt, said at the press conference: “First I want to start off and say all glory to Jesus Christ. He is the true champion.” 

Turning to his coach, Hassanein said: “Coach D., you changed my life.”

“You changed my life. I did not know God until I got to Boise State. And I serve a true champion. Jesus Christ is the only true God. He died and rose from the dead three days later. That’s the champion that I serve. Thank you Coach D. Like seriously, you changed my life,” he said.

Junior running back Ashton Jeanty, who fell just 27 yards short of breaking the NCAA all-time single-season rushing record, said: “First of all, all glory to God for bringing us this far, for helping us restore the order this year. We couldn’t have done it without him. Keeping God first is what got us here.”

“But this season has been a blessing,” he added. “God’s favor has been upon me and all my teammates all year. And I’m just thankful.”

Cardinal Robert McElroy at the Church of San Frumenzio ai Prati Fiscali in Rome on Apr. 23, 2023, when he took possession of his titular church as a cardinal. / Credit: Pablo Esparza/CNA

National Catholic Register, Jan 7, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Robert McElroy, the new archbishop of Washington, D.C., says he wishes success for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration but that he’ll be watching closely to see how Trump deals with immigrants who are in the country without legal status.

“The Catholic Church teaches that a country has the right to control its borders. And our nation’s desire to do that is a legitimate effort,” McElroy said Monday, shortly after being introduced as Washington’s eighth archbishop during an online press conference at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle amid an unusually heavy snowstorm in the nation’s capital.

“At the same time, we are called always to have a sense of the dignity of every human person. And thus, plans which have been talked about at some levels of having a wider indiscriminate massive deportation across the country would be something that would be incompatible with Catholic doctrine. So we’ll have to see what emerges in the administration.”

The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis has appointed McElroy, 70, as archbishop of Washington, a high-profile see that includes about 667,000 Catholics in the District of Columbia and five counties in southern Maryland.

McElroy, widely seen as a progressive and an ally of Pope Francis, was appointed by the pope to the College of Cardinals in August 2022. He has served as shepherd of San Diego since 2015.

In Washington, he replaces Cardinal Wilton Gregory, 77, who has served as archbishop there since 2019.

The appointment was immediate. Gregory was already listed Monday as among the “former archbishops” of Washington on the archdiocese’s website.

The two cardinals appeared together at the online press conference.

The press conference, which was emceed by a moderator, featured prepared statements by the two cardinals, two questions from reporters the moderator posed to McElroy, and one question from a reporter the moderator posed to Gregory.

Gregory took over the archdiocese in April 2019 when it was reeling after revelations of sexual abuse by Theodore McCarrick, the sixth archbishop of Washington, whom Pope Francis dismissed from the clerical state, and the awkward departure of the seventh archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who was sharply criticized for how he handled allegations against McCarrick and for how he handled certain clergy-sex-abuse cases when he was bishop of Pittsburgh.

Gregory, who has been seen as a lower-profile prelate than his predecessors, has worked to right the ship in Washington. But financial and other problems loom, as McElroy noted in his prepared statement.

“The journey of this Catholic community has known mountaintop moments, the visits of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict, and Pope Francis, and it has known also moments of failure and shame — in the massive betrayal of the young to sexual abuse and the moral and financial reckoning for this betrayal which lie ahead of us,” McElroy said.

“In this mixture of mountaintop and failure, we are no different from the first disciples of the Lord. The light of Christ radiates in the Catholic community of this diocese in all of these dimensions, but most powerfully, it radiates in the lives of individual women and men who form the people of God, struggling in a world filled with turbulence, hardship, and illusion to follow the pathway of Christ,” he added.

The first question McElroy fielded was about decreasing reliance on so-called fossil fuels (such as oil and natural gas) in the Diocese of San Diego, such as through using solar panels.

McElroy, a staunch promoter of Pope Francis’ environment-focused encyclical Laudato Si’, said San Diego implemented the Archdiocese of Washington’s already-existing plan.

“So I’m here to learn as much as to bring new ideas. I think one of the great challenges for the Church in the world at this moment is that of the care for our home on this Earth, for the planet, and all of the abuse which it is suffering,” McElroy said.

“And it is a top issue in terms of our world,” he said. “How are we going to preserve the creation that God has given to us and enhance?”

The second and final question he received was about the incoming second Trump administration.

McElroy said he addressed a similar question about polarization in the United States during a panel discussion about six months ago, long before the November 2024 election that Trump won. His answer remains the same, he said.

“All of us as Americans should hope and pray that the government of our nation is successful in helping to enhance our society, our culture, our life, and the whole of our nation. And that is my prayer. It was my prayer then, not knowing who it would be, and it is my prayer now,” McElroy said.

“I pray that President Trump’s administration and that all of those state and local legislators and governors across the whole of the country will work together to make our nation truly better and to talk through the major issues that we face and make a difference,” he added. “And so our first responsibility for all of us is support for that goal, of success for our government.”

McElroy had been rumored as a likely replacement for Gregory since at least Oct. 10, 2024, when he met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, along with two other allies of the pope, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, and Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago. While details of the private meeting have not been made public, some observers have suggested the men discussed high-profile archbishoprics that needed to be filled, including Washington.

Gregory, who was appointed archbishop of Washington in April 2019, served five years and nine months in the post. His successor’s tenure could be even shorter.

McElroy turns 71 next month. Under Church law, he must submit his resignation to the pope in early February 2029, about four years from now, when he turns 75. Pope Francis has allowed certain bishops to continue serving until age 80, which for McElroy would mean 2034.

Gregory answered one question during the press conference, saying that he plans to stay in the Archdiocese of Washington and assist in any way he can.

At the end, McElroy whispered to Gregory: “That was easy.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

At the 2025 SEEK conference in Salt Lake City, Isaac Smith (left), a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and Alex Tarrios, a Pentecostal Christian, each found themselves seeking Christ, finding encouragement and support in the community they found there. / Credit: Kate Quinones/CNA

Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 6, 2025 / 16:20 pm (CNA).

For many SEEK attendees, the multiday conference geared toward young adults is a “family reunion” of sorts, but for others it’s an introduction to the Catholic faith community and an experience that changes their lives.

At this year’s SEEK conference in Salt Lake City, held Jan. 1–5, a Pentecostal Christian and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) both found themselves seeking Christ and finding encouragement and support in the community of believers they found there.

Drawn to Christ through the Mass

Growing up a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Isaac Smith, 19, became an atheist in his late teens and became involved in the LGBTQ community because he identified as bisexual.

“I grew up Mormon. I’ve never really had an experience outside of being Mormon,” Smith told CNA. “My family has always been very orthodox Mormon — very ‘letter of the law.’”

Smith eventually found himself drawn to the Catholic faith, and when he went to Mass for the first time, he experienced a connection to God. 

“I have Asperger’s syndrome so I’m not generally a very emotional person. I’m a very even-tempered guy all around,” he said. “But when I went to Mass for the first time, even though it was ... held in a tiny classroom with just a couple people from the university, it was one of those profound senses of peace and of coming home I’ve ever felt.” 

When Smith came to SEEK, he said he felt torn between his connections to Mormonism and the call toward Catholicism. 

Currently a student at Brigham Young University (BYU)’s Idaho campus, Smith is considering joining OCIA — but it’s a big decision that will affect many areas of his life. For instance, his BYU tuition scholarship will increase if he converts to Catholicism, meaning he may have to leave the university. Because of this, Smith — who obtained a bachelor’s culinary degree at 18 — is looking for a job with a Catholic organization as a chef. Without the safety net of staying in his parent’s home now, decisions are all the more complex.

In terms of his same-sex attractions, Smith said he has “no qualms” with following the Catholic Church’s teaching and wants to be open about his experience.

“It’s just a part of me, and I have to deal, I have to live with it,” he said. “And to me, it doesn’t affect me anymore. It’s not a huge core part of my personality and identity because, ultimately, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things because labels are useful, but labels are labels. That’s really all they are at the end of the day. And to me, I’d rather live a life that brings me joy.”

Smith said he’s received a lot of support from SEEK attendees — from book recommendations to other resources and helpful advice.

“I’m so grateful for the community that is here that has been able to help me look into future summer jobs, what my life going forward can really look like, and helping me find study materials that will ultimately help me on my journey towards Christ,” he said. 

Smith said he had been “going pretty much door to door asking for resources” at SEEK’s Mission Way — a large array of booths with resources and information about various Catholic apostolates and businesses.

“A lot of people have been very kind,” Smith continued. “I’ve told them my story, and they said, ‘You know what, just take a couple books for free.’”

Smith had an LDS Bible only, so someone at one booth gave him a copy of the Ignatius Study Bible, while others gave him their own personal copies of books.   

“I’ve got a book list, probably about 100 books long. I’ve got dozens of podcasts and everything,” Smith told CNA.

With no family home to fall back on and a looming tuition increase, Smith finds himself in a predicament, but he recalled advice that a seminarian friend gave him before attending SEEK. 

“He ultimately said not to live a lie,” Smith shared.

“But coming here, speaking to a lot of the wonderful people at the booths, listening to the keynote speeches and talks, coming to Mass every day — it has changed my perspective and it has solidified: I can’t live a lie,” Smith said.  

Adoration ‘seals the deal’  

When Alex Tarrios began college, he found himself drifting from the Pentecostal faith he was raised in and after exploring different faith options, he was drawn to Catholicism. 

A sophomore at the University of Minnesota studying computer science, Tarrios, 24, attended his first SEEK this year in Salt Lake City.

“I grew up in a very Pentecostal background. My parents are very devout,” Tarrios told CNA. “As a young teenager, I was pretty invested in the Christian faith from a very young age; but as I was growing up, I felt that there was something lacking there.”

Tarrios felt spiritually connected with his faith but less connected to Scripture and the origins of the early Church. He decided to explore various denominations of Christianity as a freshman in college but ultimately was drawn to the Catholic Church. 

“I think I felt drawn to the Catholic Church because I felt like I needed order in my life, especially as I was growing up, leaving high school,” Tarrios reflected. “I felt there was a lot of disorder in my life; I didn’t feel like I had much of a direction.”

“I was letting myself get drawn through my own passions, through my own desires, and nothing structural, nothing concrete, that I could base my life on,” he added.

Tarrios got involved in the local parish at the university during his freshman year — but he still wasn’t sure about Catholicism.  

“But something about the experience of being in the Mass really drew me in,” he recalled. 

A retreat focused on the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist — put on by the Catholic group on campus, St. Paul’s Outreach — helped “seal the deal” for Tarrios. 

Here, he attended his first-ever adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist, where Tarrios felt “captivated in his presence.” 

“I took that leap of faith at that moment that the Eucharist is actually Jesus,” Tarrios said. 

After this experience, Tarrios spoke with a priest and has been attending OCIA. He will be received into the Catholic Church this Easter. 

Drawn to “the rich history and tradition that Catholicism offers,” Tarrios said, “it’s a strong foundation that I felt like I could apply to my own life and have that order that I was seeking within my heart.”

Tarrios said attending SEEK has helped strengthen his decision to be Catholic as he is “still learning a lot about the Catholic faith.”

“Just being here, I feel like I’ve learned so much,” Tarrios said.

Attending various seminars and keynotes, he said, “has helped me be more informed, but also be more at peace with my decision.”

He said the community at SEEK and “the vast amount of people here” encouraged him.

“I see that there are so many people here who you can see within their eyes that they have that passion for their faith,” Tarrios said. “And being able to see that, I think, just reconfirms that on the other side, once I get there, once I can truly be Catholic, that is waiting for me.”

Archbishop Murray Chatlain is the new archbishop of Winnipeg, Canada.  / Credit: Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas

CNA Staff, Jan 6, 2025 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Murray Chatlain “was instrumental in the pastoral outreach to Indigenous communities in the north,” according to the B.C. Catholic.

Young Catholics listen as Samantha Kelley gives a talk at SEEK25 on the theology of the body on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Migi Fabara/EWTN

Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

The “theology of the body” was a central theme of the SEEK25 conference held in Washington, D.C., last week, with several speakers drawing on the teachings of St. John Paul II in their talks at the flagship Catholic event for young adults.

Speakers including Nebraska priest Father Sean Kilcawley and Samantha Kelley, president of FIERCE Athlete, a Catholic women’s organization that “promotes true and authentic femininity in sports,” called on young Catholics to dive deeper into their understanding of human sexuality and their identity as sons and daughters of God.

Several attendees at the conference, sponsored by Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), told CNA they had limited exposure to the theology of the body and had been surprised and moved by John Paul II’s teachings. From 1981 to 1985, the late pope devoted his Wednesday general audiences to catechesis affirming the dignity of life.

A ‘nose-dive’ into John Paul II’s reflection on creation story 

“This one probably hit me the hardest,” Meredith Cole, 20, a student at Virginia Tech, told CNA after Kelley’s talk, which was titled “Theology of the Body: Understanding Who You Are.” 

Standing in line to meet the FIERCE president, Cole told CNA she felt Kelley “spoke to exactly what I needed to hear and what I’ve been praying with the past couple of days.” 

“It’s important to know theology of the body because it teaches us about the way that God views us and views our bodies,” she said, noting that while she had some exposure to theology of the body through campus ministry at Virginia Tech, Kelley’s talk had “nose-dived into it.”

Kelley underscored the importance of first seeking a relationship with God to find fulfillment, a theme touched upon by Bishop Robert Brennan, Dr. Matthew Breuninger, and Father Chase Hilgenbrinck on the opening day of the conference. 

She then delved into John Paul II’s teachings on human sexuality through the lens of the creation story. 

“St. John Paul II was really wise,” she said, “and he wrote this teaching, theology of the body, while he was in the throes of the sexual revolution, so there was a lot of confusion around masculine roles and feminine roles around sexuality, around relationships.”

“Sound a little bit familiar? We’re still dealing with this today,” she told a conference hall full of young Catholics, priests, and religious on Saturday.

“This is not how it’s supposed to be. But in order to discover how it is supposed to be, we need to look back at God’s original plan,” she said.

Kelley drew from John Paul II’s teachings on the “original solitude” of man, which states that he “is alone” in the midst of creation, completely unique from the visible world and the other living creatures God had made.

In this original state of man, Kelley explained, “before Adam could be in relationship with another, he needed to be in perfect relationship with God.”

And when God determined Adam should not be alone and created Eve, Kelley pointed out, Eve’s first human experience was “being gazed at” by God and Adam, receiving their love.

Ultimately, Kelley explained, theology of the body is rooted in the way God originally created men and women.

“Men, you are external, you are called to give yourself to your bride, and so the height of your masculinity, what you’re called to, is sacrifice,” she said, adding that for women, “the height of our femininity is our receptiveness and our ability to bear life.”

As a former Division I athlete, Kelley recalled struggling with feeling feminine, since societal standards dictate that “if you are a girl and you like sports, you’re a tomboy.” But “it’s a lie,” she said: “Men, the fact that God created you as a man makes you masculine, period. Women, the fact that God created you as a woman makes you feminine, period.”

“We are God’s masterpiece,” she told the audience. “And so when you’re not the person that God created you to be, when you’re some facade of it, you distort God’s original plan.” 

‘Original solitude’ as a way of healing

Kilcawley spoke on “Living the Fullness of Love: The Healing Power of the Theology of the Body.” 

Joshua Kamenitzer, a 19-year-old student at the University of Iowa, told CNA that before the conference, he had not been aware of John Paul II’s teachings. 

“I thought it was really good,” Kamenitzer told CNA. “I had no expectations going into it. I thought it was going to be more about marriage, but then it ended up being more about just healing your relationship with God before you start doing anything outside of that.” 

Kilcawley had also focused on John Paul II’s idea of “original solitude,” telling the young Catholics gathered for his speech: “It should be enough that God delights in us.” 

“That’s what that sense of original solitude means,” he said. 

While Kelley’s talk focused on John Paul II’s teachings on sexuality and relationships between men and women, Kilcawley approached the theology of the body from the perspective of his priesthood and how John Paul II’s teachings on identity helped him to heal childhood wounds. 

Kilcawley had lost his mother at a very young age and described struggling with his identity and failing to seek after God’s love, having struggled in his relationship with his father. 

In the concept of original solitude, Kilcawley explained that he became more fully aware of God’s “delight” in him, which helped him begin healing. 

“In hearing about that concept and then letting it toss around in my heart, and knowing that it agitates me, that’s an invitation to healing,” he said, “knowing that it leads to Our Lord continuing to do his work over and over and over again.” 

“At the end of the day,” the priest concluded, “the theology of the body is supposed to be lived out every day.” 

The sold-out first-ever SEEK satellite event kicked off in the nation’s capital earlier this week with over 3,500 registered attendees, held at the same time as conferences in Salt Lake City and Cologne, Germany. 

The two U.S. locations for SEEK25 brought in a record-breaking 21,115 attendees hailing from all over the United States and Canada. Hundreds of priests attended, with a total of 617 in Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C., combined.