Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Faustina Academy, a K–12 private school in Irving, Texas, bans social media use among its students, and parents have been totally supportive. / Credit: Faustina Academy

CNA Staff, Oct 30, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

As the harmful effects of smartphone use on children become more well known, one school in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is partnering with parents to enforce a no-social-media policy and witnessing students flourish as a result.

Faustina Academy, a K–12 private, independent Catholic school in Irving, Texas, asks parents to formally commit to a school policy of keeping their kids socia-media-free while enrolled. 

In addition to asking families to commit to prohibiting TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and CapCut, Faustina students have never been permitted to have phones with them during school hours. 

Student drivers must leave their phones in their cars during the school day and younger high school students who need a phone for after-school activities turn them in to the office in the morning and pick them up after school and can only take them out once they are off campus.

In the school’s early days, years before the smartphone’s launch, Christina Mehaffey, principal since the school’s founding in 2003, told CNA she paid attention to technology trends, researching MySpace and other early social-networking sites available on desktop or laptop computers.

She concluded the sites “opened doors to inappropriate material” such as pornography and violence and “tweaked the tech policy to be more restrictive” over the years by informally asking parents to keep their children off devices at home (they were never allowed to have phones during the school day). She also asked parents to limit their children’s video game time.

In 2017, after seeing the effects of years of smartphone use and social media apps on the children, Mehaffey began asking parents to prohibit social media use among students. 

She held two weeks of mandatory parent meetings for every grade level, discussing the harms of popular smartphone apps that were “drawing kids away from reality” and exposing them to “horrifying” content that was “right at their fingertips.” 

Mehaffey brought in an IT expert to explain to both parents and students that the app and smartphone creators “intentionally” made the devices and apps addictive because “they knew kids don’t have self-control; all for the sake of making money.”

The expert told parents that kids could easily access content so harmful it was “far beyond what anyone could even imagine,” Mehaffey said.  

“Parents were amazed” at what they learned, she said, and 100% were willing to verbally commit to keeping their children off social media. 

Mehaffey said it was necessary that every parent “get on board” in order to address the “collective action problem, the fear of missing out” that would be present among the students if every family did not have the same policy at home.

Speaking of the overwhelming support of the parents, Mehaffey told CNA that many parents even “asked me to just make a school-wide policy prohibiting social media so they would be relieved of the burden of having to enforce the rules. A few parents said: ‘Our lives will be easier if the school makes it a policy.’”

So, in 2022, the school’s official policy became “no social media use by Faustina students.”

“Every single parent signed on,” Mehaffey said. 

Heidi Maher, whose family has been at Faustina since 2020, told CNA her family already had a no-social-media policy, but when Mehaffey took the no-phone policy in school a step further and banned social media, “it was a huge blessing to me as a parent. It took that battle off the table. We have enough battles as parents. If no one else has social media, I don’t have to battle with my children.” 

At previous schools her children attended, Maher said “they weren’t willing to lay down the law on more controversial social issues and they weren’t being direct enough about what being Catholic means.”

“Kids are catechized on the playground,” Maher said. “Their peers, and what their peers’ families are doing, affect them, regardless of what their teachers say.”

“My kids have grown up in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in Dallas. But when it came to education, we wanted an orthodox Catholic school,” she said.

Since the policy change, Maher said she now sees a level of innocence in her children and their friends that she has not seen in a long time.

Jane Petres, who has two daughters at the school, agreed, telling CNA she appreciates raising her family among “mostly like-minded families” and school staff whom she can trust.

“The other parents here seem very ‘with it’ and proactive,” she said of Faustina. “You can ban everything in the world, but unless the parents are enforcing it, kids are still going to be exposed to harmful things.”

She said that at a previous school, an eighth-grade girl became involved with a 45-year-old man (who she thought was a teenage boy) through social media, and rather than recognizing the dangers and changing their policies, the school hushed it up. 

Every year, the school hosts parent orientations where Mehaffey tells them that “our purpose on earth is to get people to heaven. It has to be in everything we do; in our choices, friendships, our technology use, everything.”

“We want a school where everyone is on the same page, but we’re open to all,” Mehaffey said. “If someone comes in who isn’t Catholic, they have to commit to doing things the way the school does. Not only the technology policy but also prayers, the Mass, all of it. We’re going to teach the truth.”

Speaker Edward Sri gives a talk on Jan. 4, 2025, at SEEK25 in Salt Lake City. / Credit: Kate Quiñones/CNA

CNA Staff, Oct 29, 2025 / 16:59 pm (CNA).

The Fellowship of Catholic University Students’ (FOCUS) SEEK conference is set to take place in three cities for the first time in 2026. 

The conference will be held in Denver; Fort Worth, Texas; and Columbus, Ohio, from Jan. 1–5, 2026. The theme will be “To the Heights,” inspired by the recently canonized St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, who urged young people to pursue holiness, service, and live a life for Christ. 

“We are thrilled to bring SEEK 2026 to three cities this coming January,” said Curtis Martin, founder of FOCUS, in a press release.

SEEK attracted 17,274 paid participants at the flagship location in Salt Lake City in 2025.

“SEEK is more than just a conference — it’s an invitation to encounter Jesus Christ and to respond to his call in our lives. As St. Pier Giorgio reminds us, we are called to the heights — to live lives of holiness, joy, and mission. SEEK is a time for renewal, for community, and for reigniting our passion to share Christ with the world,” he added.

SEEK is designed to equip and inspire people from all walks of life — students, young adults, families, parishioners, and Church leaders — to grow in their faith, strengthen their relationship with God, and feel empowered to share the Gospel, organizers said. Over the five-day conference, attendees encounter Christ through prayer, adoration, daily Mass, faith-filled workshops, confession, praise and worship, and listening to inspiring speakers, organizers said. 

Speakers for this year’s conference include: Father Mike Schmitz; Scott Hahn; Sister Josephine Garrett, CSFN; Monsignor James Shea; Father Mark-Mary Ames, CFR; Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT; and Father Gregory Pine, OP, among others.

FOCUS is an international Catholic outreach organization that was founded in 1998. Serving more than 200 college campuses and more than 20 parish communities, FOCUS missionaries walk alongside students and parishioners on their faith journey. Through Bible studies, mission trips, conferences, mentorships, and partnerships with priests, bishops, and parishes, FOCUS missionaries work to spread the Gospel message around the world. 

Mar Awa III presents a Chicago Cubs jersey to Pope Leo XIV on Oct. 27, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 29, 2025 / 16:29 pm (CNA).

His Holiness Mar Awa III, Catholicos-patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, traveled to Rome this week to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Church’s declaration on building relations with non-Christian religions.

During his stay in the Eternal City, Mar Awa III, born David Royel to Assyrian immigrant parents, met Oct. 27 with Pope Leo XIV in a private audience. The two share the same hometown of Chicago.

During the meeting, the pope urged the two churches to seek “full communion,” proposing synodality as the path to achieving it.

However, it seems that this communion does not extend to the realm of sports.

The leader of the Assyrian Church is a fan of the Chicago Cubs, while the Roman pontiff supports their eternal rivals, the White Sox.

In his luggage, Mar Awa III made sure to include a Cubs jersey, which he presented to Pope Leo XIV as a gift at the end of his audience at the Vatican.

During the gift exchange, the Cubs fan wore a satisfied smile, while the Holy Father, with an expression of resignation, held up the dark blue jersey with the name “Leo” and the number 14 printed in red. 

Mar Awa III posted a photo of the moment on his Instagram profile, where he wrote: “During the exchange of gifts, I presented the pope with a customized Cubs jersey and hat (in honor of all our North Side Chicagoans). Needless to say, the pope loved the gift,“ he recounted with evident irony.

Pope Leo XIV has demonstrated his love for baseball on several occasions. During one of his usual tours through St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile before a general audience, he surprised onlookers by spontaneously joining a group of pilgrims in chanting “White Sox!”, making it clear which team he supports.

Chicago’s North Side Cubs have annually played the city’s South Side White Sox in the interleague “Crosstown Classic.” As of July of this year, the Cubs have an all-time edge of 77-75 over the White Sox since the series began, Yahoo News reported.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein speaks at a conference on the Šiluva Declaration in Šiluva, Lithuania, on Sept. 4, 2024. / Credit: Juozas Kamenskas

Šiluva, Lithuania, Oct 29, 2025 / 15:59 pm (CNA).

Twenty years after then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger warned of a “dictatorship of relativism” on the eve of his election as Pope Benedict XVI, his former secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, echoed that warning at a recent conference in Lithuania.

The former prefect of the papal household and longtime personal secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, Gänswein drew deeply on the late pontiff’s philosophy as he delivered the keynote address at this year’s conference, which brought together academics, civic leaders, public intellectuals, and clergy to discuss the principles of the 2021 Šiluva Declaration. 

The declaration advocates the defense of fundamental human rights, the fostering of virtue, and the promotion of societal common good. It recognizes the importance of a society built upon the pillars of truth, family values, human dignity, and faith in God and has since become a moral reference point for Catholic social thinkers in Lithuania.

Gänswein’s lecture offered a rich philosophical and theological reflection on faith, reason, and relativism, aspects that he described as a “constant theme in Ratzinger’s work.” The archbishop, who now serves as nuncio to the Baltic states, warned that when either faith or reason is diminished, that inevitably leads to “pathologies and the disintegration of the human person.”

This is the third such conference dedicated to reflecting on the Šiluva Declaration, published on Sept. 12, 2021, during the town’s annual Marian festival. Šiluva is the location of a Marian shrine dedicated to one of Europe’s earliest approved apparitions.

Archbishop Kęstutis Kėvalas delivered the conference’s opening remarks, urging vigilance against temptations to experiment with human nature and dignity. He also reminded attendees that the Marian shrine at Šiluva symbolizes fidelity to God’s order in creation. 

“The holy place of Šiluva invites respect for the order that the Creator has given to this world,” he said.

Gänswein said that in the face of today’s great challenges, such as technical thinking and globalization, the first step must be to recover the full scope of reason. He described true reason as inherently truthful, contrasting it with relativism, which he called “an expression of weak and narrow-minded thinking … based on the false pride of believing humans cannot recognize the truth and the false humility of refusing to accept it.” 

“The truth sets us free,” he added, referencing John 8:32 and noting that truth serves as the standard by which humans must measure themselves and that embracing it requires humility.

Gänswein concluded by warning that relativism — the defining mindset of modernity, which he described as “a creeping poison” — ultimately undermines human freedom. Driven by self-sufficiency and amplified by social media, relativism blinds people to truth and their ultimate purpose.

Humanity’s true goal, he affirmed, is “to come to the knowledge of the truth, which is God, and thus to attain eternal life.” His address was met with sustained applause.

The conference also featured a range of thought-provoking talks on Lithuania’s moral and political identity, the challenges of liberal democracy, post-Soviet societal changes, and the role of faith and family in public life. It concluded with a panel discussion on Europe’s moral direction, freedom of speech, and the renewal of Christian values in society.

Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius recalled Pope Leo XIV’s words that the Church “can never be exempted from the duty to speak the truth about man and the world, using, when necessary, even harsh language that may initially cause misunderstandings.” He stressed that all Christians, including those in public life, have a duty to defend the truth, which he described as “not an abstract idea but a path along which a person discovers true freedom.”

The conference was organized jointly by the Lithuanian civic group Laisvos visuomenės institutas (Institute of a Free Society), the Lithuanian Christian Workers’ Trade Union, and the Faculty of Catholic Theology at Vytautas Magnus University.

null / Credit: vmargineanu/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 15:29 pm (CNA).

A man accused of fatally stabbing a Nebraska Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to the murder of Father Stephen Gutgsell and other charges. 

Gutgsell, 65, died after deputies found him stabbed in December 2023. Gutgsell had been serving as the parish priest at St. John the Baptist Parish in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska. Deputies charged Kierre L. Williams in the attack that took place in the rectory next to the church. 

Williams filed a notice in December 2024 that he would argue he is not responsible for the murder by reason of insanity and filed a “not guilty” plea in February 2024. Williams changed his plea to “guilty” of murder, burglary, and weapons charges on Oct. 21.

“We are glad that Mr. Williams chose to hold himself accountable and not put Father Gutgsell’s family, relatives, friends, or this community through a trial,” Scott Vander Schaaf, a county prosecutor, said in a statement. 

Prosecutors decided early in the case that they would not pursue the death penalty. Williams faces life in prison without parole. Sentencing is set for Nov. 12.

On the day of the attack, Gutgsell called 911 early in the morning to report that a man had broken into the house and was in his kitchen with a knife. A deputy arrived and entered the parish rectory at around 5 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2023, according to an affidavit. 

The priest had “a severe laceration to his face and was bleeding profusely,” and Williams, then 43, was lying perpendicularly across Gutgsell’s chest, according to authorities. Officers identified more lacerations on his face, hands, and back. Gutgsell was then rushed to a hospital in Omaha, where he died.

Investigators have not found any connection between Williams and the priest in the small town of just 1,100 residents.

Former U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli. / Credit: DHSgov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 14:59 pm (CNA).

Catholics who do not gather for anti-enforcement rallies organized by high-ranking Catholic prelates are a “silent majority,” according to conservative Catholic immigration experts. 

As the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts continue to intensify, Catholics across the country have committed to observe days of prayer and public witness for migrants through efforts such as the One Church One Family initiative spearheaded by the western Jesuits. However, according to some conservative Catholic immigration experts, the number of Catholics who are opting out of such vigils are “a silent majority.”

The initiative calls on dioceses, parishes, schools, religious communities, and other Catholic institutions to host and promote “public actions that lift up the dignity of migrants,” such as “a vigil in front of a detention center, a prayer service at a place where migrants were publicly detained, or a rosary accompanying people who are going to immigration court hearings.” 

“I think that there are a large number of American Catholics who are supportive of what the president is doing with respect to immigration,” Center for Immigration Studies Resident Fellow in Law and Policy Andrew Arthur told CNA. “I think he received a majority of Catholic votes in the last election, depending on which poll you look at.”

Immigration enforcement, he pointed out, acted as a major touchstone of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. That Trump did not lean more heavily on this key issue in the 2020 campaign was also considered “one of the key failings” of his second White House attempt. 

While Catholics who oppose the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts have been forthright in their advocacy for migrants, organizing vigils, Eucharistic processions, and protests, Arthur observed that the demographic of Catholics who support the administration are “not a monolith” and do not organize demonstrations in the same way. 

“I don’t really know that there’s a huge Catholic enforcement group that I could point to,” he said in terms of open advocacy for enforcement. “But that’s more or less to be expected. In my mind, it’s the silent majority in this country.”

“One of the things that we see is that the Catholic Church, anecdotally, that we see that the Catholic Church, that especially younger Catholics are more conservative, and therefore, more in line with law enforcement, generally, and immigration enforcement, in particular,” he continued. “But there’s no reason to form a group to support what the administration is actually doing.” 

Regarding the concerns posed by many groups, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Arthur insisted that there is “nothing that Donald Trump or ICE or [border czar] Tom Homan, another good Catholic, are doing that is contrary to the laws that Congress has written.” Despite the widespread critical narrative, Arthur denied there being anything particularly exceptional or specific to the Trump administration’s approach to enforcement. 

“I have been involved in immigration and enforcement for 33 years and served under four different presidents, beginning with George H.W. Bush,” he said. “There’s nothing about immigration enforcement today [that’s different from enforcement] under H.W., Clinton, George W. Bush, or Barack Obama.”

‘This is what the law requires’

“This is what the law requires. This is what the agents are doing,” he continued, adding: “I think really the only exceptional part is the response that they’re receiving for it.”

Addressing concerns surrounding enforcement from a Catholic perspective, former U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli told CNA: “I am aware of the two basic points contained in the paragraph in the Catholic catechism on immigration: 1) Wealthier nations should be generous with their immigration policies; and 2) Migrants should respect the laws and customs of the nation to which they are emigrating.”

“I believe America is historically the most generous nation on Earth when it comes to inviting in people from all over the world, so we meet the first Catholic expectation,” he continued, adding: “However, an illegal alien by definition does not meet the second expectation found in the catechism, and thus the need on the part of America to enforce the law at a large scale.”   

Cuccinelli emphasized the need for America’s immigration system to work for Americans first as well as the economic pitfalls for poor working-class Americans of allowing large-scale “low-skill” illegal immigration.

In the end, Cuccinelli, who also previously served as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told CNA he hopes the Trump administration’s efforts to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law will prompt a return to “gradually move back to a legal immigration regime soon.” 

The director of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Center for Criminal Justice, Law, and Ethics, Charles Nemeth, also weighed in on the subject from a Catholic perspective, telling CNA: “If this be about justice, it is better to adopt the Aristotelian-Thomistic view that justice is about what is ‘due’ — nothing more and nothing less. Illegals commence their journey already in a faulted state — for they have jumped the line and disregarded our laws and traditions.”

In order for a society to be just, he said, it must look to the common good of the nation-state first rather than “the individualized needs or demands of those lacking a legal right to assimilate without the adherence to the rules and regulations that border entry calls for.”

Nemeth stated that the Biden administration’s “open-door policy” subverted the rights of U.S. citizens by permitting mass migration, which he said resulted in “a dramatic rise in crime and social unrest and made a comedy of the rule of law.” He further cited undocumented migrants’ access to benefits such as health care, food stamps, and education “while our own citizens are being crushed by the costs of the same services.”

“It is one thing to display compassion,” referencing Catholics who protest the administration’s enforcement efforts, “but quite another to undermine the social fabric of a society that allows special rules for special categories of inhabitants.”

U.S. Catholic bishops urged lawmakers on Oct. 28, 2025, to find a solution to end the government shutdown. / Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 14:21 pm (CNA).

Catholic bishops in the United States are urging federal lawmakers to find a solution that opens the government and saves the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“The U.S. bishops are deeply alarmed that essential programs that support the common good, such as SNAP, may be interrupted,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said in a statement on Oct. 28.

The government shutdown reached its 29th day on Oct. 29 as lawmakers negotiated over extending taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the Affordable Care Act and providing funding for a wall on the southern border, food assistance, and military pay. Most of the 2.9 million civilian federal workers are not receiving paychecks, and benefits for SNAP recipients will cease on Nov. 1 unless some action is taken to provide funding.

“This would be catastrophic for families and individuals who rely on SNAP to put food on the table and places the burdens of this shutdown most heavily on the poor and vulnerable of our nation, who are the least able to move forward,” Broglio said. “This consequence is unjust and unacceptable.”

About 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, and some Catholic charitable organizations have expressed concern that any halt to the program would be difficult to remedy with simply private charity.

“The U.S. bishops have consistently advocated for public policies that support those in need,” Broglio said. “I urgently plead with lawmakers and the administration to work in a bipartisan way to ensure that these lifesaving programs are funded and to pass a government funding bill to end the government shutdown as quickly as possible.”

Archbishop William Lori of the Archdiocese of Baltimore — the first American diocese — also issued a statement on Tuesday, reminding the people of Maryland that archdiocesan ministries “remain open and active, providing care and support across central and western Maryland.”

“I encourage anyone in need to reach out to these ministries without hesitation. No one should face this hardship alone,” the archbishop said.

Lori said shutdowns “have far-reaching consequences,” especially for “the most vulnerable among us — families living paycheck to paycheck, parents worried about feeding their children, and seniors already balancing the cost of medications and groceries.”

“When vital government services are interrupted or delayed, the result is more than an inconvenience — it can mean hunger, anxiety, and hardship for our brothers and sisters in need,” the archbishop said.

As of Wednesday, 25 states sued President Donald Trump’s administration over the possible halt to SNAP benefits. When asked about funding for SNAP on Wednesday, Trump said “we’re going to get it done.” No action has yet been taken.

A new stamp issued by the Irish postal service honors Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who saved 6,500 news in Rome during World War II. / Credit: An Post

Dublin, Ireland, Oct 29, 2025 / 13:51 pm (CNA).

The Irish postal service has released a new postage stamp marking the 100th anniversary of the ordination of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, savior of 6,500 Jews in Rome during World War II.

O’Flaherty used his position in the Roman Curia to hide fugitives from Nazi forces for the duration of their occupation of Rome from September 1943 to June 1944. It is estimated that he saved 6,500 Jews by hiding them in monasteries, convents, Vatican living quarters, and even Castel Gandolfo before smuggling them to safety.

Every evening, he stood in defiance of the Nazis, taking up his position in the half shadows on the steps at St. Peter’s. The German occupiers, unable to cross into neutral Vatican soil, could only watch in frustration and anger as O’Flaherty audaciously and courageously greeted a succession of fugitives.

To the Germans, O’Flaherty was elusive, enigmatic, and provocative, becoming the most wanted man in the Eternal City. He used disguise and subterfuge to move outside the Vatican at night, visiting those he helped. He was never apprehended.

Col. Herbert Kappler, the SS commander in Rome, mounted several unsuccessful attempts to abduct and murder O’Flaherty. Once, a Gestapo hit squad was reportedly apprehended in St. Peter’s Basilica by a team of four Swiss guards who, together with some Yugoslavian refugees, put manners on the Germans before ejecting them, disheveled and bruised, from Vatican territory.

Postwar, Kappler was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Ardeatine Massacre. O’Flaherty was his only visitor in the Gaeta prison outside Rome, calling every month. O’Flaherty baptized Kappler into the Catholic faith in 1959.

Gregory Peck stars as Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty in the 1983 movie “The Scarlet and the Black,” with Christopher Plummer featured as Kappler.

The Irish priest’s network was established without his ecclesiastical superiors’ permission, though Pope Pius XII eventually became aware that something was happening within the Vatican walls.

He earned the nickname “The Pimpernel of the Vatican” after the fictional character the Scarlet Pimpernel, a daring English aristocrat who rescued French nobles from the guillotine during the French Revolution using disguises and daring rescues.

O’Flaherty was born in County Cork, Ireland, and his family moved to Killarney, where his father was steward of Killarney Golf Club. There, the young O’Flaherty was a scratch handicap golfer. Following ordination in Rome in 1925, he served in Egypt, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Czechoslovakia as a Vatican diplomat before returning to Rome and a position in the Holy Office.

The “Dictionary of Irish Biography” says of O’Flaherty: “Despite his rough-edged demeanor, his skills at bridge and golf admitted him to the highest echelons of Roman society … After serving as secretary to the papal nuncio to Allied prisoner-of-war camps in northern Italy, O’Flaherty began to assist Jews, dissidents, deserting Italian soldiers, and others fleeing from the Italian fascist government.”

About 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lose those benefits Nov. 1. 2025, without enactment of a spending bill. / Credit: Jeff Bukowski/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 12:27 pm (CNA).

Catholic charitable groups that provide food to needy families are voicing concern about the expected stoppage of federal food assistance programs as the government shutdown continues.

The shutdown reached Day 29 on Oct. 29, and unless lawmakers come to an agreement by the end of the week or the executive branch finds a solution, 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lose those benefits.

Congress can solve the problem by either passing a stand-alone bill to fund SNAP or by passing a bill that funds the entire government. Without any action, those who would normally receive food stamps on the first of the month will not receive any benefits in their accounts on Nov. 1.

“I don’t think SNAP has been curtailed in previous government shutdowns,” Deacon Kevin Sartorius, the CEO of Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma, told CNA.

More than 685,000 Oklahomans receive SNAP benefits, which accounts for 17% of the state’s population — one of the highest rates of people on food assistance in the country. In eastern Oklahoma, the local Catholic Charities affiliate is the largest private provider of food assistance.

Sartorius explained that most people receiving SNAP benefits have jobs. He said their income is one means of obtaining food, and SNAP is the second source for low-income people. In eastern Oklahoma, he said “we’re the third” option to fall back on.

“We go from being the third level of support to the second [level of support] when SNAP disappears,” he said.

Sartorius said the impact is already being felt as some families prepare to potentially lose their SNAP benefits. Normally, in Tulsa, he said the Catholic Charities affiliate would serve about 175 families, but it increased to 205 last week and has now gone up to 292.

He noted that his organization will continue “loving the person who shows up and giving them food” but expressed concern that if SNAP is halted, that’s “an amazing amount of money that just disappeared overnight from people’s budgets.”

“We’re not going to be able to solve the problem independently, nor will any nonprofits, I don’t think,” Sartorius said.

“We cannot solve a very large system’s problem,” he added. “We can just care for the person who shows up today at our door.”

‘Hope we would all agree’

Rose Bak, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities of Oregon, told CNA that her affiliate primarily offers food to people in their affordable housing units, some of whom were previously homeless. She said most of them receive SNAP, and she has “heard a ton of concern” and “our clients and our residents are worried.”

She said most SNAP recipients are either working adults, children, or seniors, and “they don’t have a lot of options to get other funding.” In Oregon, about 18% of people receive SNAP benefits, which is also one of the highest rates in the nation.

Bak is also concerned that “a lot of people are confused” about what’s happening with SNAP at the moment and “weren’t understanding the notices” because they thought the notices were related to the upcoming changes to SNAP approved by Congress earlier this year. She said she is “really concerned about” some people not preparing properly due to misunderstanding.

In Oregon, she said the charity has “a little bit of food stockpiled for an emergency” and plans to be “releasing that food” if necessary but added: “We’re not going to be able to give people what they need” if the SNAP cessation lingers.

“I would hope we would all agree that people shouldn’t go hungry,” Bak said.

John Berry, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) in the United States, voiced concerns in a statement. SVDP is a Catholic nonprofit that helps feed needy families, among other charitable works.

Berry said “it is not our role to take sides in a political fight” but that “it is our role and our duty to speak on behalf of the friends and neighbors we serve.”

“Our most economically vulnerable brothers and sisters should not be forced to go without basic needs as a result of a partisan impasse, and it is time for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come together to ensure that the most marginalized among us will not abruptly lose critical benefits,” he said.

Berry urged the Department of Agriculture to “use every available mechanism, including the utilization of contingency reserves,” to ensure SNAP recipients can access food in November.

“It would be simply intolerable for people to unnecessarily go hungry as the shutdown heads into its second month,” he said.

As Father Emmanuel Nanabanyin Conduah (right) looks on, PennWest University Professor Miguel Olivas-Luján (left) delivers his paper “Retiring for Eternity: Planning Based on Social Science and Catholic Social Thought” during the 2025 annual conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. / Credit: Ken Oliver-Méndez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 10:08 am (CNA).

“Retiring for Eternity: Planning Based on Social Science and Catholic Social Thought” was among the topics the Society of Catholic Social Scientists examined during its 2025 annual conference, held Oct. 24–25 on the campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

In his presentation on the topic, Miguel Olivas-Luján, a professor of business at PennWest University, called for a transformative vision of retirement, one that “transcends conventional models of successful or active aging.”

“While secular frameworks emphasize health, financial stability, and social engagement, Catholic social teaching invites a deeper reflection on the spiritual dimensions of aging, particularly the preparation for eternal life,” Olivas-Luján pointed out.

Catholic retirement

In Catholic social teaching, Olivas-Luján explained, aging and retirement are not viewed as periods of decline but as opportunities for deepening solidarity within families, communities, and the Church. 

Recent developments in Catholic social teaching on aging include the work of Professor Peter Kevern, who in a 2018 paper identified the elderly as bearers of unique charisms — wisdom, memory, and interdependence — that substantially enrich both eccesial and civic communities.

The Catholic view on aging, Olivas-Luján continued, considers the spiritual, relational, and ethical contributions of older adults to be “indispensable to the flourishing of both Church and society.”

In his presentation, Olivas-Luján explained how the foundational principles of Catholic social thought affirm the inherent worth of older adults and their continued role in society. He cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which affirms the understanding that because of each person’s essential human dignity, for example, as individuals age their value remains constant, rooted in their divine origin and eternal destiny. 

Retirement is thus, in Olivas-Luján’s words, “an ideal time to accelerate the pace and intentionality toward this union with God, once work-related preoccupations no longer take the highest priority.”

Practical implications

For many older adults, Olivas-Luján noted, the end of a professional career can lead to feelings of isolation or a loss of direction. Catholic parishes and ministries, however, offer a unique and spiritually enriching environment that help retirees remain engaged, purposeful, and connected to their communities.

Through their ministries, volunteer opportunities, and social events, for example, parishes and organizations like the Knights of Columbus provide retirees with opportunities to continue contributing meaningfully. The Catholic Health Association has also documented how faith communities can help retirees maintain their physical, emotional, and spiritual health through holistic support systems that integrate prayer, service, and fellowship.

In addition, Olivas-Luján cited studies that show that seniors with strong spiritual engagement experience lower rates of depression and anxiety, and register greater life satisfaction and improved physical health. 

Nonetheless, the Church’s understanding of suffering in old age also reframes physical decline and existential questioning as pathways to grace and communion with Christ. The PennWest professor pointed out that from a Catholic perspective and specifically when viewed through the lens of redemptive suffering, “human pain, when united with trust in Christ’s redeeming passion, can contribute to personal sanctification and the salvation of others.”

Ultimately, as Olivas-Luján put it, retirement and aging are not problems to be solved but vocations to be lived, “a sacred season rich with opportunities for love, service, and spiritual flourishing.”