The Church of St. Luke

The Freedom Group was founded in 2023 and works to help men gain freedom from pornography addiction. / Credit: Courtesy of Joe Masek

CNA Staff, Jun 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

At 8 years old, Minnesota native Joe Masek was exposed to pornography for the first time and went on to struggle with an addiction to it for 23 years. Through a series of actions he finally gained freedom and after experiencing a calling to help other men, he founded a ministry called The Freedom Group in 2023.

About 100 men have gone through the ministry’s program each year since then. The group uses  a 12-month training system as well as additional courses and retreats to help men break free from porn addiction.

The Porn Free training system includes weekly coaching calls with a Freedom Coach, group coaching calls, performance and mindset coaching, simple daily habits to build discipline and rhythm, access to an app to connect and track progress, and more. There are also several courses that help individuals understand the neurological aspect of addiction and how to rewire the brain.

Based in the Twin Cities, The Freedom Group also offers individuals the opportunity to attend nature retreats, where they are encouraged to encounter God and themselves in a deeper way. Through guided reflections, group sessions, time alone, and physical adventure, participants learn how to live free from their addiction and become grounded in their true purpose. 

Masek, now 32, said he was first exposed to porn while using Limewire, an audio file downloading program used during the early 2000s. Believing he was downloading a music file, he ended up downloading a video file that contained pornographic images.

Around the same time, Masek was also sexually abused by an older peer. 

“​As a young 7-, 8-year-old kid, I experienced all the symptoms [that] now that I understand and we understand as adults trying to help other people in that same sort of way — a lot of sort of disconnection in my own experience of who am I and feeling dirty and worthless, but also looking for it and starting to have seeking behavior,” he told CNA in an interview.

He shared that the rest of his upbringing was “really good.” He grew up in a middle-class family who attended church every Sunday and he was very involved in youth group. But as he got older, he began to experience an “ever-increasing sort of dichotomy through faith life and this hidden life.”

It wasn’t until college that Masek found himself in a men’s group that was addressing sexual issues and was able to share his story in depth, releasing the “10,000-pound gorilla off my back.”

“So this was my first introduction to shame flowing out the front door of the house of my heart and it was massive for me,” he recalled. 

Soon afterward he went on a retreat and had his first confession in years, which he said was “a powerful experience.”

However, Masek continued to struggle — experiencing periods of sobriety and then turning back to his addiction. After years of trying everything he could, he started to piece together everything he was learning and experiencing into what is now the approach used in The Freedom Group. 

“In a three-month span, I went from basically a two- to three-week cycle where I felt like I hit a wall and couldn’t keep going to the point where I didn’t even have an inclination to use anymore when familiar triggers would come,” he said.

He then began leading a national marriage and family ministry and the more time he spent with young husbands and fathers, the more he saw this as a “core issue” and decided to leave that ministry to start The Freedom Group.

Masek shared that roughly 85% of the men his group works with are believers — either Catholic or evangelical. Therefore, faith does play a role in the program but “is really lived out in the experience.”

He explained that “any addiction is an intimacy disorder.” So The Freedom Group talks about intimacy in four dimensions: me and God, me and myself, me and others, and me and nature, or creation. These connections of intimacy then begin to shift as the brain begins to shift.

Masek gave the example of one man that he worked with who “had lived the model Christian life.” He worked in campus ministry, got married young, and had a family. However, he was suffering from anxiety, was disconnected from himself, and was not experiencing connections in any of the four dimensions of intimacy. Three months into the process, this man shared with Masek that he had gone for a walk and sat down for 30 minutes in total stillness and felt God’s presence.

“To me, that’s like the greatest testimony I could ever get because I know the difference between ‘I’m trying to do the right thing, go to church, or participate in the life of the church, and try to pray,’ and to just be frazzled and out of control, and anxious, and avoidant through all of it. And then I know what it feels like to know how to slow down and to calm myself, to center myself, and connect to the living God. And I know how much that can change the way you show up then to your family, to others, the way that you see yourself then out of that connection.”

A motto of The Freedom Group is “Pain is the path. Discomfort is your teacher.” Masek explained how this highlights that life is hard but we are called to pick up our crosses.

“We only experience the Resurrection on the other end of our embrace of the suffering that’s handed to us uniquely, and that’s the invitation of our life — to be able to,” he said. 

He added that true healing and transformation begins to be made visible when the individual also embraces the suffering he has been given and sees the good in it.

“That’s our desire for this whole process is for men to, at the end of their journey with us, however long that they spend time with us, is to get to that point in their own lives. It goes from attraction or desire for something disordered to the point where they want to choose the good in good times and in bad,” he said.

“I always tell guys, this is the worst possible year — if you’re in our coaching process — to have the best year of your life because you won’t learn very much,” Masek added. “The goal is to have hard things happen to you and to stay in them and to welcome them as purposeful and see what happens because Jesus said, ‘Pick up your cross and follow me.’ And he promised that it would change us and even that it would bring us to freedom.”

Pope Leo XIV addresses Catholic faithful on the scoreboard at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, during a celebration and Mass on June 14, 2025, in Chicago to honor his selection as pope. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Vatican City, Jun 14, 2025 / 19:35 pm (CNA).

The following is the full text of Pope Leo XIV’s address to Catholics during the “Chicago Celebrates Pope Leo XIV” event at Rate Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team, on Saturday, June 14.

My dear friends,

It’s a pleasure for me to greet all of you gathered together at White Sox Park on this great celebration as a community of faith in the Archdiocese of Chicago. A special greeting to Cardinal [Blase] Cupich, to the auxiliary bishops, to all my friends who are gathered today on this the feast of the Most Holy Trinity.

And I begin with that because the Trinity is a model of God’s love for us. God: Father, Son, and Spirit. Three Persons in one God live united in the depth of love, in community, sharing that communion with all of us.

So, as you gather today in this great celebration, I want to both express my gratitude to you and also [give] an encouragement to continue to build up community, friendship, as brothers and sisters in your daily lives, in your families, in your parishes, in the archdiocese and throughout our world.

I’d like to send a special word of greeting to all the young people — those of you gathered together today and many of you who are perhaps watching this greeting through technological means on the internet. As you grow up together, you may realize, especially having lived through the time of the pandemic — times of isolation, great difficulty, sometimes even difficulties in your families, or in our world today — sometimes it may be that the context of your life has not given you the opportunity to live the faith, to live as participants in a faith community, and I’d like to take this opportunity to invite each one of you to look into your own hearts, to recognize that God is present and that, perhaps in many different ways, God is reaching out to you, calling you, inviting you to know his Son, Jesus Christ, through the Scriptures, perhaps through a friend or a relative, a grandparent, who might be a person of faith. But to discover how important it is for each one of us to pay attention to the presence of God in our own hearts, to that longing for love in our lives, for searching, a true searching, for finding the ways that we may be able to do something with our own lives to serve others.

And in that service to others we may find that coming together in friendship, building up community, we too can find true meaning in our lives. Moments of anxiety, of loneliness. So many people who suffer from different experiences of depression or sadness — they can discover that the love of God is truly healing, that it brings hope, and that actually, coming together as friends, as brothers and sisters, in community, in a parish, in an experience of living our faith together, we can find that the Lord’s grace, that the love of God can truly heal us, can give us the strength that we need, can be the source of that hope that we all need in our lives.

To share that message of hope with one another — in outreach, in service, in looking for ways to make our world a better place — gives true life to all of us and is a sign of hope for the whole world.

To, once again, the young people who are gathered here, I’d like to say that you are the promise of hope for so many of us. The world looks to you as you look around yourselves and say: We need you, we want you to come together to share with us in this common mission, as Church and in society, of announcing a message of true hope and of promoting peace, promoting harmony, among all peoples.

We have to look beyond our own — if you will — egotistical ways. We have to look for ways of coming together and promoting a message of hope. St. Augustine says to us that if we want the world to be a better place, we have to begin with ourselves, we have to begin with our own lives, our own hearts (cf. Speech 311; “Comment on St. John’s Gospel,” Homily 77).

And so, in this sense, as you gather together as a faith community, as you celebrate in the Archdiocese of Chicago, as you offer your own experience of joy and of hope, you can find out, you can discover that you, too, are indeed beacons of hope. That light, that perhaps on the horizon is not very easy to see, and yet, as we grow in our unity, as we come together in communion, we can discover that that light will grow brighter and brighter. That light which is indeed our faith in Jesus Christ. And we can become that message of hope, to promote peace and unity throughout our world.

We all live with many questions in our hearts. St. Augustine speaks so often of our “restless” hearts and says: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O God” (“Confessions,” 1,1,1). That restlessness is not a bad thing, and we shouldn’t look for ways to put out the fire, to eliminate or even numb ourselves to the tensions that we feel, the difficulties that we experience. We should rather get in touch with our own hearts and recognize that God can work in our lives, through our lives, and through us reach out to other people.

And so I’d like to conclude this brief message to all of you with an invitation to be, indeed, that light of hope. “Hope does not disappoint,” St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans (5,5). When I see each and every one of you, when I see how people gather together to celebrate their faith, I discover myself how much hope there is in the world.

In this Jubilee Year of Hope, Christ, who is our hope, indeed calls all of us to come together, that we might be that true living example: the light of hope in the world today.

So I would like to invite all of you to take a moment, to open up your own hearts to God, to God’s love, to that peace which only the Lord can give us. To feel how deeply beautiful, how strong, how meaningful the love of God is in our lives. And to recognize that while we do nothing to earn God’s love, God in his own generosity continues to pour out his love upon us. And as he gives us his love, he only asks us to be generous and to share what he has given us with others.

May you indeed be blessed as you gather together for this celebration. May the Lord’s love and peace come upon each and every one of you, upon your families, and may God bless all of you, so that you might always be beacons of hope, a sign of hope and peace throughout our world.

And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit come upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

Pope Leo XIV addresses Catholic faithful on the scoreboard at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, on June 14, 2025, in Chicago during a celebration and Mass to honor his selection as pope. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Chicago, Ill., Jun 14, 2025 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV delivered a video message June 14 to thousands of Catholics gathered in his hometown of Chicago, making a special appeal to young people to be “beacons” of Christ’s hope for others.

“You are the promise of hope for so many of us,” the pope told young people attending the “Chicago Celebrates Pope Leo XIV” event at Rate Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team.

“The world looks to you as you look around yourselves and say: We need you, we need you to come together to share with us in this common mission, as Church and in society, of announcing a message of true hope and of promoting peace, promoting harmony, among all peoples.”

The pope acknowledged some of the difficulties facing youth today, from isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic to dwindling communities of faith. He invited young people gathered to look into their own hearts to see that God is present and “is reaching out to you, calling you, inviting you to know his Son, Jesus Christ.”

In turn, the pope said this discovery of Christ’s love can inspire young people to serve others.

“And in that service to others we find that coming together in friendship, building up community, we too can find true meaning in our lives,” the pope said. “To share that message of hope with one another — in outreach, in service, in looking for ways to make our world a better place — gives true life to all of us and is a sign of hope for the whole world.”

The eight-minute video message from Pope Leo XIV, who was seated and clad in white, was the first time the Chicago native has directly addressed the people of his hometown and home nation as pope.

And although he wasn’t in person to deliver it, the pope’s message made an impact on young people in attendance.

Michael, an 11-year-old student at Queen of Angels School in Chicago, said he was encouraged by the pope’s message to “stay faithful” and be a witness of Christian love to those going through hard times.

“You’ll be sharing hope with them and that hope could go on and be shared with everyone else,” said Michael, who was in attendance with his father, Joe.

Matthew Gamboa, a 15-year-old who attends St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, said he was inspired by the pope’s encouragement to be “a beacon of light,” even though he might be only a high schooler.

“I too should be a part of that and continue to spread God’s message throughout our communities,” said Gamboa, who said he felt inspired to engage in more service projects and possibly lector at Mass after hearing the pope’s message.

Pope Leo XIV’s unprecedented address was also the highlight of pre-Mass programming at the afternoon celebration.

Emceed by Chicago Bulls play-by-play announcer Chuck Swirksy, the program also included musical performances by a local parish and Catholic school as well as an original piano ballad in honor of Pope Leo called “One of Us,” written and performed by the pope’s fellow Augustinian Brother David Marshall.

Sister Dianne Bergant, Pope Leo XIV’s former teacher, and Father John Merkelis, a fellow Augustinian and high school classmate of the pope, also shared insights into their friend during a panel discussion.

Outside the stadium, Chicago-area members of the Neocatechumenal Way celebrated the new pope with songs and dances of praise, while others tailgated in the baseball stadium parking lot. White Sox jerseys with “Da Pope” and “Pope Leo” emblazoned on the back were spotted throughout the crowds.

At the start of Mass, Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich said that Pope Leo was aware of and grateful for the celebration taking place at Rate Field.

A fan of the White Sox, the pope attended a World Series game at the stadium in 2005 when he was prior general of the Augustinian order and recently donned the ball club’s trademark black hat for a photo op outside of St. Peter’s Basilica. White Sox Senior Vice President Brooks Boyer, a Catholic and former Notre Dame basketball player, also took the opportunity at the Chicago event to publicly invite the South Side native to come back to Rate Field and throw out a ceremonial first pitch.

The Vatican has not indicated that Pope Leo has any plans to visit the United States. When Lester Holt of NBC News asked Leo at a May 12 Vatican audience if he would come to the U.S. soon, the pope responded: “I don’t think so.”

Nonethless, the pope’s sports fan credentials may help him connect with young people in his homeland and beyond.

During his video message the pope also encouraged the youth of Chicago and the whole world to grapple with the “restlessness” they might experience, just like St. Augustine did.

“That restlessness is not a bad thing, and we shouldn’t look for ways to put out the fire, to eliminate or even numb ourselves to the tensions that we feel, the difficulties that we experience,” he said. “We should rather get in touch with our own hearts and recognize that God can work in our lives, through our lives, and through us reach out to other people.”

Before concluding by imparting his apostolic blessing via video, the pope invited those gathered to “take a moment” and open their own hearts to God’s love, “to that peace which only the Lord can give us.”

“To recognize that while we do nothing to earn God’s love, God in his own generosity continues to pour out his love upon us. And as he gives us his love, he only asks us to be generous and to share what he has given with us to others.”

A Brooklyn Park police officer looks on while guarding the entrance to a neighborhood on June 14, 2025, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. / Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jun 14, 2025 / 15:16 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Minnesota responded with prayers and calls for peace following what authorities said were the politically motivated shootings of state lawmakers that left two dead.

Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed early on Saturday in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot early on Saturday in their home in Champlin, with both reportedly expected to survive after surgery.

Authorities said they engaged the suspect at Hortman’s home, but the alleged killer was able to escape on foot. Police reportedly discovered a list of possible additional targets in the suspect’s car, including state Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.

A manhunt for the killer was still underway on Saturday afternoon.

‘We must do everything in our power to regain a sense of civility’

On Saturday, St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda in a statement called on “all people of goodwill to join me in prayer for the repose of the souls of Minnesota House Speaker-Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, along with prayers of recovery for Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.”

“I also ask you to pray for the members of law enforcement who are putting themselves at risk hunting down the person, or people, who inflicted this violence and terrorized communities,” the archbishop said. “There is absolutely no reason for someone to commit such senseless violence on anyone, particularly those who are involved in public service.”

Hebda described Hortman as “an honorable public servant” who met regularly with the Catholic bishops of the state.

“Although we disagreed on some issues, we worked collaboratively to find common ground on others in pursuit of the common good,” he said.

Hoffman, meanwhile, “is always generous with his time, as well, meeting with the bishops whenever they are at the Capitol. He is a strong advocate for the most vulnerable, and Minnesota continues to need his leadership.”

“At this time of fear and uncertainty, we need to rely even more on our loving God and that begins with prayer — both privately and communally,” the archbishop said.

Also on Saturday, Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, said he was “deeply saddened and angered” by the shootings and killings, describing Hortman as a collaborative lawmaker and Hoffman as “a champion of vulnerable people” and “a friend.”

“Resorting to violence in public life is never acceptable and begets more violence,” he said. “Unfortunately, we, as a society, have increasingly embraced violence as a means of solving problems because we have lost a sense of the dignity of every human person created in the image and likeness of God.”

“Until we recover a deeper sense of our common humanity and fraternity, we will continue to see the collapse of both civic discourse and the ability of our political process to mediate conflict and achieve the common good,” Adkins said.

In a statement on Saturday, Gov. Tim Walz said: “We are not a country that settles our differences at gunpoint.”

“We have demonstrated again and again in our state that it is possible to peacefully disagree, that our state is strengthened by civil public debate. We must stand united against all forms of violence — and I call on everyone to join me in that commitment,” he said.

The front door of 212 E. 141st Place, the childhood home of Pope Leo XIV, in Dolton, Illinois. / Credit: EWTN News

CNA Staff, Jun 14, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A small home in Dolton, Illinois, was on the market for $199,000 until a former inhabitant of the house became the pope. Now the humble 1,050-square-foot home just south of Chicago could go for more than a million dollars.

The three-bedroom brick structure with a spacious backyard was home to Pope Leo XIV — then Robert Prevost — during the pontiff’s childhood. Now, 212 E. 141st Place has become a piece of papal history as the home of the first-ever American pope. 

A private auction for the home, which is being held online, will close bidding on June 18.

Pope Leo’s childhood home is marked by a rosary hanging on the red door as well as a crowd of visitors in the yard. The home is only a 15-minute walk from the parish that the pope attended, the former St. Mary of the Assumption, which has since fallen into disrepair. 

The Cape Cod-style home, built in 1949, sold in May 2024 for $66,000. Leo’s family had owned the home for about 40 years, from the year Leo was born in 1955 up to his time as a missionary in Peru in 1996.

Officer Latonya Ruffin, who has been stationed in front of the house to keep an eye on the property, said it’s “an honor to do this.” 

“It’s an honor just to be here,” Ruffin told “EWTN News In Depth” reporter Mark Irons. “People come out, and they love him. They love this man.”

Peter Kamish, a Catholic from Chicago visiting the pope’s childhood home, said that he is “proud” to know that the first American pope came from the city.  

“I’m very proud of it,” he said, expressing hope that “maybe, the pope will come to Chicago.”

The current owner of the property, a real estate investor not related to the pope, had initially listed the home for just under $200,000. But when the new pope was announced to the world, the owner and his real estate agent withdrew the property from its public listing. 

The owner’s agent, a realtor named Steve Budzik, said he believes the home will sell at a very high price point. 

“I’ve talked to a lot of people every time I’m at the property, and everybody has pretty much told me that they think it will sell for over a million dollars,” Budzik said.

But what will happen to the home of Pope Leo XIV after it is sold? 

The village of Dolton is interested in turning it into a historic site. According to Budzik, the Archdiocese of Chicago is working with the village as well. Dolton officials say they could acquire the property by eminent domain if auction negotiations fall through.

“I think making it a museum would be very nice for Dolton,” Ruffin said.

When asked if the Vatican was interested, Budzik’s reply was brief.

“No comment,” he said. 

In the same week that the auction will conclude — and the fate of Leo’s historic home will be decided — a celebration will kick off at Rate Field in Chicago to honor Pope Leo. 

At the event at the Chicago White Sox’s home stadium, Pope Leo, a lifelong White Sox fan, is set to deliver a “special video message” on June 14 to the world’s youth.

Deacons gather in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in February. The number of deacons in the U.S. has declined year over year, according to a recent report, June 13, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 14, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The number of ordinations of permanent deacons in the United States has decreased by nearly 200 from 2023 to 2024, according to a recent survey.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University published the survey results in its 2025 report “A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate in 2024.” 

According to the report, 587 men were ordained to the permanent diaconate in 2023, but in 2024, the number fell to 393.

The report was created in collaboration with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.

The study surveyed ordained permanent deacons who intend to remain deacons, excluding transitional deacons (those who will be ordained to the priesthood).

Conducted from February to May 2025, the survey received responses from 138 archdioceses/dioceses and two archeparchies with bishops and eparchs that belong to the USCCB and maintain an active office of deacons.

The overall response rate was 76%, with a higher response rate among archdioceses/dioceses (78%) than archeparchies/eparchies (22%). 

“With the release of this survey, I ask for continued prayers for deacons and for an increase in vocations to the permanent diaconate within the United States,” said Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.  

Estimated numbers of U.S. deacons 

Since the report did not have a 100% response rate, CARA cannot confirm the exact number of deacons, but it estimated that there were about 20,212 permanent deacons in the U.S. in 2024. This includes approximately 20,022 in the Latin rite and 189 in the Eastern rite. 

CARA estimated that about 11,503 permanent deacons were in active ministry in 2024. Including those that did not respond, it is estimated that there are a total of 13,864 active deacons.

During 2024, 393 permanent deacons were ordained, 545 deacons retired from active ministry, and another 361 deacons passed away. 

CARA reported that there “are not enough new permanent deacons being ordained to make up for the numbers who are retiring from active ministry and dying each year.”

Of the respondents, the Archdiocese of Chicago had the highest number of permanent deacons (848). The others with the largest numbers included the archdioceses of Atlanta (385), New York (369), San Antonio (361), and Galveston-Houston (316). 

The Diocese of Rapid City, South Dakota, had the lowest total number of permanent deacons in 2024 with 43. The others with the fewest deacons were the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky (77), the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota (63), the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota (94), and the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma (105). 

Characteristics of U.S. deacons

The report found that the large majority of active deacons are currently married (93%). A small number are widowers (4%), and even fewer have never been married (2%).

Almost all of the active deacons (96%) reported that they are at least 50 years old: 18% are in their 50s, 41% are in their 60s, and 38% are 70 or older.

Nearly all responding dioceses and eparchies (96%) have a minimum age of acceptance into permanent diaconate, which on average is 32 years old. Three in five (58%) have a mandatory age for retirement, which is 75 years old on average.

The study found that most active deacons are non-Hispanic and white (74%). The rest of the respondents reported to be Hispanic or Latino (20%), Asian or Pacific Islander (3%), or Black (2%). 

More than half (66%) of active permanent deacons have a college degree, 15% of whom also hold a graduate degree in a field related to religion or ministry. About 16% of the deacons had only a high school diploma or GED.

Among permanent deacons who are financially compensated for ministry, 10% are entrusted with the pastoral care of one or more parishes. About 24% work in other parish ministerial positions including religious education or youth ministry, and 18% work in non-ministerial parish positions such as administration, business, or finance.

Academic and post-ordination programs

Almost all of the responding dioceses and eparchies (98%) have a director of the diaconate or a person with a similar title to oversee the ministry — 43% of whom are employed full time.

Nine in 10 dioceses and eparchies (92%) have an active ministry formation program for their deacons. Of these, 27% offer a program in Spanish. Of those that do not have a formation program, 30% are planning to begin one in the next two years.

The majority of the responding dioceses and eparchies (90%) require deacons to take part in post-ordination formation, requiring a median of 20 hours annually. Specifically, 91% of Latin-rite dioceses require continued formation, but none of the Eastern-rite eparchies do.

The McCoppin family (from left): Alyssa, Courteney, James, Rhys, and Kelly, poses for a photo after entering the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil on April 8, 2023, at Sacred Heart Church in Manassas. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the McCoppin family

Locust Grove, Virginia, Jun 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

High school can be tough, but on rare occasions it can be a place of grace. It was for the McCoppin family, and especially for eldest daughter Kelly, who just graduated from Saint John Paul the Great High School in Potomac Shores, Virginia. 

According to Kelly’s mother, Courteney McCoppin, Kelly started out attending public school but due to a variety of social factors, coupled with the deaths of two grandparents, she sank into depression.

“Her freshman year in public school was just awful. She was spiraling,” Courteney said. “I knew we had to get her out.”

A friend recommended Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School, which is led by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. Courteney remembers going to the website and being so impressed that she quickly signed up for a tour.

“It was a beacon of light,” she said. They enrolled Kelly and that summer she tried out for cheerleading. The opportunity for a fresh start was exciting, but there were still some reservations about the Catholic environment. 

“Kelly said to me, ‘What if I become Catholic?’” Courteney shared with The Arlington Catholic Herald. “At the time, I was still in a position of being anti-Catholic. My mom, who had died, was Jewish and my dad was agnostic. Both became atheists later in life.”

Courtney’s father-in-law, on the other hand, had been Catholic. Before he passed away, he used every opportunity he could to teach the children about the faith.

“Every night when we would visit, our grandpa would pray with us,” Kelly said. “He taught us the Our Father and Hail Mary. My sister Alyssa was the one who would pray the rosary with him and go to Mass with him.”

As Kelly started her first year at Saint John Paul the Great, Courteney said she didn’t care if her daughter became Catholic. In her mind, anything was better than what they had left behind. As soon as Kelly got to Saint John Paul the Great she became interested in the faith. 

“It was in my human persons class when we were studying Aquinas. It was his causation argument that really confirmed everything for me,” Kelly said. 

“It was the logical explanation.” 

She began to go to the chapel, meet with Father Christopher F. Tipton, the school’s chaplain, and attend “Evenings with Jesus” events at the school. She then asked her family if they could start going to Mass on Sundays.

“While Kelly was opening up to the faith I was on my own journey,” Courteney said. “I read her human person textbook as well as the book, ‘A Song for Nagasaki’ [by Paul Glynn]. I felt a strong connection to the author and I just got swept up.”

That December, on the last Sunday before Christmas, the family agreed to go to church at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Manassas. They’ve continued attending since. 

“Everything just fell into place,” Courteney said. “That January in 2023 the parish set up an RCIA program customized for our whole family. We entered into the Church at the Easter Vigil, April 8, 2023. I was baptized and confirmed with Kelly, Alyssa, and our son, Rhys. My husband, James, was confirmed because he was already baptized.”

The McCoppin family is grateful for the role Saint John Paul the Great High School played in their faith journey, especially Kelly, who just graduated in May. 

“I think John Paul the Great is the best school in the country and the bioethics program is so beautiful,” Kelly said. “We have so many incredible opportunities and the teachers care so much.” 

Kelly plans to attend Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, this fall with the intent of studying Spanish and nursing. 

This story was first published by The Arlington Catholic Herald on June 5, 2025. It has been adapted by CNA and is reprinted here with permission.

Volunteers and staff with Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley assist Latin American and Haitian migrants at a migrant shelter in McAllen, Texas. / Credit: Peter Pinedo/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 13, 2025 / 18:09 pm (CNA).

The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security and Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability have announced the launch of an investigation into more than 200 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including two major Catholic nonprofits, that provided taxpayer-funded services to migrants during the Biden administration. 

Catholic Charities USA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are among those named in the investigation. According to a June 11 press release, the probe will investigate whether the NGOs “used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity” by migrants who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration.

All the NGOs named in the investigation have been sent a letter requesting that they fill out a survey. The letter also expresses concern that some of the NGOs continue to actively advise “illegal aliens on how to avoid and impede law enforcement officials, which can only be seen as an attempt to undermine the work of the federal government.”

“The chairmen request each NGO complete a survey that includes questions on the government grants, contracts, and disbursements they have received; any lawsuits against the U.S. federal government they are petitioning; amicus briefs they have filed in any lawsuit brought against the U.S. federal government; any legal service, translation service, transportation, housing, sheltering, or any other form of assistance provided to illegal immigrants or unaccompanied alien children since January 2021; and more,” the press release stated. 

USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi told CNA that “we have received the questionnaire and will respond.” 

“For over 45 years the USCCB has entered into agreements with the federal government to serve groups of people specifically authorized by the federal government to receive assistance,” Noguchi said. She added that “this included refugees, people granted asylum, unaccompanied children, victims of human trafficking, and Afghans who assisted the U.S. military abroad.” 

The investigation comes after the USCCB announced in April that it would not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government on migration and refugee services, which had been ongoing for nearly half of a century. The USCCB began phasing out its programs shortly after.

The Biden administration provided the USCCB with more than $100 million annually, which the bishops allocated to affiliated Catholic nongovernmental organizations, according to the USCCB’s audited financial statements. In recent years, federal funding covered more than 95% of the bishops’ spending on the programs.

Other non-Catholic NGOs named as subjects of the probe include the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), and the Haitian Bridge Alliance.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan stands at the altar during Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on May 26, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 13, 2025 / 15:39 pm (CNA).

The number of adults in the U.S. who believe religion is experiencing a resurgence in America has gone up significantly, recent polling has found.

“Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults believe religion is increasing its influence in American life, similar to the 35% measured in December but up from 20% a year ago,” the latest Gallup poll reads.

Gallup conducts polling on religious influence at least twice per year as part of an effort to gauge “U.S. religious attitudes and behavior.” 

Last year, 75% of adults said they believed religion was losing its influence on American society. While the majority of Americans still maintain this belief, according to the poll, that number has come down to 59%. 

“These recent shifts represent a departure from the trend over the past 15 years that has generally seen larger percentages of Americans saying religious influence is decreasing rather than increasing,” the Gallup poll noted.

Republican presidential victory, first American pope possible factors

In its analysis of the recent positive trend regarding religion, Gallup noted the election of U.S.-born Pope Leo XIV on May 8 as having taken place during its most recent May 1–18 survey period. 

However, it pointed out that the pope’s election took place several months after the earlier spike in December. 

More likely, Gallup said in its analysis, is the possibility that “the change in religious attitudes is a reaction to the Republican sweep of the federal government in last fall’s elections.” 

The polling outfit noted that a similar spike had occurred after Republicans won Congress for the first time in 40 years in 1994, but not in the more recent GOP victories in 2000, 2010, and 2016. 

Gallup also observed that two of the most recent low points of confidence in religion’s increase — 18% in 2009 and 16% in 2021 — were both “the first readings after Democrats won control of the federal government.” 

Polling also found that although all major subgroups “are significantly more likely to believe that religious influence is increasing,” Republicans showed the largest increase of any subgroup, jumping from 11% to 35%. 

Democratic and liberal respondents, in comparison, jumped nine points from 32% to 41%, while independents increased from 21% to 31%. 

“These results suggest that election outcomes, under certain circumstances, may shape Americans’ perceptions of religion’s influence by making the connection between politics and religion more prominent,” Gallup stated. 

According to Gallup, the U.S. has experienced numerous spikes in reports of increased religious sentiments, particularly after certain major events in recent decades. 

One of “most notable” increases Gallup said it recorded took place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when 71% of Americans polled in December 2001 said they believed religious influence was going up. 

This was up from 39% in February that same year and was the highest recorded number since Gallup began its recordings in 1957. 

Another surge in religiosity was recorded amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when the number jumped from 19% in December 2019 to 38% in April 2020. This number was the highest recorded since 2006.

Elizabeth Woning of the Changed Movement speaks at a gathering of ex-LGBTQ advocates and other members of the movement on the steps of the California state capitol to rally against counseling restrictions. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Changed Movement

CNA Staff, Jun 13, 2025 / 14:39 pm (CNA).

When Ken Williams was 17 years old, he struggled with suicidal ideation because he was torn — he was a Christian, but he also had same-sex attraction.

“My faith convictions were that God wanted me to live a life not including those letters [LGBTQ],” he said at a press conference on Thursday where he and many others shared their testimonies on the steps of the California state capitol. 

When his church and family helped connect him with a Christian psychologist, Williams started his path to healing. He went on to meet with the counselor weekly for five years. 

“I was never suicidal after that,” he said. “I got to know God as the one who forgives and has grace for my struggles.” 

Williams gathered together with others at the rally to oppose legislation regulating counseling and therapy for youth who struggle with same-sex attraction — a hot-button issue that is currently being deliberated by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Through his relationship with God — and with the support of a good counselor — Williams recovered from the LGBTQ lifestyle after more than a decade of wrestling with same-sex attraction. 

“I moved on years later, quite a few years later, fell in love with this beautiful girl,” he said. “We’ve been married for almost 19 years. I have four children — it’s incredible what God has done in my life.”

Williams went on to co-found a ministry known as the Changed Movement, an international community of people who no longer identify as LGBTQ and have been changed through their relationship with Christ. 

But under recent legislation that has been pushed in California and other states, Williams’ therapist could have been committing a crime by encouraging him to follow not his sexual desires but his faith. 

‘Conversion therapy’ or counseling freedom?

The phrase “conversion therapy” is a highly politicized term with dark implications. Members of the Changed Movement, along with other like-minded ministries, say it doesn’t represent what they do.

Joe Dallas, an ex-gay activist turned pastoral counselor who works with men and women “who are committed, devout Christians and also are experiencing attractions to the same sex,” described those who seek out such counseling: “There’s a conflict between their sexual desires and their beliefs.” 

“They choose to prioritize their beliefs,” he said at the press conference in Sacramento on Thursday morning, which was organized by the Changed Movement and the California Family Council.

Dallas said he supports people being able to “seek out people who share their worldview and will help them pursue their goals,” but he is aware that a growing number of people oppose this for LGBTQ people.

“They would look at what we do as something they call — rather sinisterly — conversion therapy,” Dallas explained.

California is the first state to have implemented laws banning so-called “conversion therapy,” though many other states have since followed suit. In total, 27 states ban or restrict what they call “conversion therapy for minors.”

Jennifer Roback Morse, a Catholic economist and founder of the interfaith pro-family coalition the Ruth Institute, said “counseling freedom” is fundamental because “we’re affirming a truth about what it means to be human in the first place.”

“When you have a thought or a feeling, you have a choice about what meaning to assign that feeling,” Morse said. “You have a choice about what behavior to engage in, and you have a choice about how to understand yourself and what label you do or do not pin upon yourself.”

These laws can limit what therapists can say during therapy, requiring therapists to affirm LGBTQ inclinations or transgender ideology, even if the patient does not want that. 

Counseling bans are currently before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Chiles v. Salazar, a landmark case that could make bans on so-called conversion therapy unconstitutional. 

Wayne Blakely, a Christian and an advocate for the Changed Movement who formerly identified as gay, said that so-called conversion therapy isn’t what people make it out to be. 

He noted that there are “so many people, members of many Christian congregations, who only know the lies as it relates to conversion therapy.” 

“But there are actually counselors out there, around the world, wanting to engage you if you desire to engage with Jesus Christ, and they will lead you and help you walk with Jesus,” Blakely said.

The Changed Movement is one of several groups that has ardently opposed “conversion therapy” legislation. They gathered this week to celebrate the June 12 anniversary of the failure of a 2018 California bill that would have deemed their efforts and stories “fraudulent,” according to speakers at the event. 

They also gathered to bring awareness to the reality that some LGBTQ people leave the lifestyle to follow Christ — but to do so, they often need the support of counseling. 

“We just need space to be able to follow our own convictions,” Williams said.

One phrase was repeated by several Changed members as they shared their testimonies: “We exist.”