Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

null / Credit: Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 23, 2025 / 18:43 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is investigating a Michigan health care provider for allegedly firing a medical professional who refused to participate in sex reassignment surgeries.

According to the June 20 announcement, HHS is investigating the unnamed health care group for allegedly firing a medical professional after she requested religious accommodations in order not to assist in sex trait modification procedures or use pronouns that do not align with biology — practices she said she opposes due to her religious beliefs.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which handles enforcement of health care conscience protections, initiated the investigation under conscience protection laws known as the “Church Amendments,” according to the press release.

The Church Amendments are a series of laws that protect people from discrimination in health care by the government or groups that receive government funding based on their exercise of religious beliefs or moral convictions.

Though the group under investigation remained unnamed by the HHS, the release described it as an “an organizational health care provider” within a “major health system” in Michigan.

The investigation comes amid renewed efforts by the current administration to enforce conscience protections.

HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during his confirmation hearing, said he would investigate conscience rights, and last month the department began a review of a hospital following reports that the hospital had denied ultrasound technicians exemptions from participating in abortions. This month’s investigation is the third in a series of HHS conscience freedom investigations.

OCR Director Paula M. Stannard said the office “is committed to enforcing federal conscience laws in health care.”

“Health care workers should be able to practice both their professions and their faith,” Stannard said in a statement.

In addition to renewed federal interest in conscience protections, the state of Idaho recently passed legislation to bolster religious freedom protections for doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals when they object to performing certain procedures or providing certain services.

Bishop Robert Barron responded on June 22, 2025, to criticism of a talk he gave at the first meeting of President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission in Washington, D.C. / Credit: “EWTN News in Depth”/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 23, 2025 / 18:13 pm (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron responded to backlash against his participation in the President Donald Trump-initiated Religious Liberty Commission, which held its first hearing in Washington, D.C., last week.

In a social media post on June 22, Barron responded to claims made in a recent article by Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Karen Tolkkinen that he “advocates erasing the boundaries between church and state.”

Barron called the piece “a rather silly article” and “a gross mischaracterization of my position.”

During the Religion Liberty Commission hearing in Washington, D.C., last week, Barron echoed Pope Benedict XVI’s warning against the “dictatorship of relativism” encroaching on American society and encouraged religious people to become more involved in the public square.

Barron encouraged people of faith to enter the public sphere, telling those gathered at the hearing: “Congress will make no laws preventing it, so let’s invade that space.”

Tolkkinen took issue with this, describing Barron’s encouragement as “unnecessarily militant” and religion’s “comeback in American civic life” as “difficult to understand” at a time “where Americans increasingly don’t practice religion.”

“If the bishop gets his way and religion once again permeates civic life in America, let’s hope that everyone’s rights are robustly protected,” she wrote.

In his response to Tolkkinen, Barron pointed out that while the First Amendment to the Constitution prevents Congress from establishing a national religion — a position Barron agrees with — the second clause in the amendment bars Congress from interfering with the free exercise of religion.

“The First Amendment to the Constitution does indeed say that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, and I completely support this,” the bishop said. “Though there can never be an official American religion, there can indeed be expressions of religion in the public space and in civic life.”

Barron concluded his post by saying: “What [Tolkkinen] and her colleagues fear the most are confident and assertive religious people who refuse to stay sequestered in private. So I say: Fight hard against any formal establishment of religion, but fight just as hard for the right to exercise religion in the public space.”

West Virginia Rep. Riley Moore responded to Barron’s post on X, writing: “Bishop Barron is spot on. Forcing faith out of the public square has been disastrous for the West.” A practicing Catholic, Moore had invited Barron to attend Trump’s State of the Union Address in March.

“Christianity is first and foremost an encounter with Jesus, but it also has moral, ethical, cultural, and — yes — political implications that built Western civilization,” the House member added.

The Texas capitol building, where Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on June 21, 2025, that requires public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. / Credit: BLundin via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 23, 2025 / 17:43 pm (CNA).

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

The legislation requires that a “durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” be hung in each Texas public elementary or secondary school classroom.

Under the law, which Abbott signed on June 21, the display of the commandments cannot include “any additional content.” Each copy must be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall, must be in a “conspicuous” location in the classroom, and must have a “typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.”

The law notes that schools are not required to purchase the copies using district funds but stipulates that schools “must accept any offer of a privately donated poster or framed copy” that meets the specific requirements.

The bill, sponsored by Texas Sen. Phil King, passed in the Senate on March 19 with a 20-11 vote. It was then brought to the House of Representatives by state Rep. Candy Noble and passed on May 25 with a 82-46 vote.

“The focus of this bill is to look at what is historically important to our nation educationally and judicially,” Noble said upon its passage in the House.

The Senate gave final approval on May 28 with a 21-10 vote.

The Texas law comes after similar legislation was passed in Louisiana and Arkansas. The Louisiana law was blocked, however, when a federal appeals court ruled that it was unconstitutional, and the Arkansas law is being challenged in federal court.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced it will sue Texas over the new law and will be joined by the ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The groups contend the law is “blatantly unconstitutional” and their aim is “to stop this violation of students’ and parents’ First Amendment rights.”

Some Christian and Jewish faith leaders sent a letter to lawmakers in March opposing the legislation. They stated that “government oversteps its authority when it dictates an official state-approved version of any religious text.”

The Texas law includes legal protections for schools to combat lawsuits and backlash. According to the law, the attorney general will defend any school facing legal action over compliance with the law and the state will cover any “expenses, costs, judgments, or settlements.”

The law provides specific wording of the Ten Commandments that all schools must use, starting with the words “I AM the LORD thy God.” 

The commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai are used as an ethical foundation by many faiths including Catholicism and other forms of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 

The law will officially go into effect in Texas on Sept. 1 as the new school year begins.

The bill 10 is one of more than 600 signed by Abbott during the 89th regular legislative session. He also signed another bill that “allows schools to adopt a policy allowing students and employees to participate in daily, voluntary period of prayer and reading of religious texts.”

Purple stole and confessional. / Credit: Roman023_photography/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 23, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Washington over its recent law mandating that priests must violate the seal of confession if child abuse is learned about during the sacrament of reconciliation.

The DOJ in a press release announcing the lawsuit filed on June 23 said the Washington law “violates the free exercise of religion for all Catholics.”

“The seal of confidentiality is ... the lifeblood of confession. Without it, the free exercise of the Catholic religion, i.e., the apostolic duties performed by the Catholic priest to the benefit of Catholic parishioners, cannot take place,” the DOJ wrote in the brief.

On May 3, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed into law Senate Bill 5375, which goes into effect July 27 and requires priests to disclose child abuse they learn about in confession. However, it exempts other professionals such as nurses and therapists from mandatory disclosure.

Priests who fail to report abuse learned in confession could face up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. Ferguson, a Catholic, defended the measure in May, saying he is “very familiar” with confession but deemed the law “important legislation” to protect children.

In a May 5 letter to Ferguson, the assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, informed him that the DOJ would be investigating the newly passed law and required the state to preserve all records and communications related to the bill. 

Dhillon characterized the new law as a “legislative attack on the Catholic Church and its sacrament of confession, a religious practice ordained by the Catholic Church dating back to the Church’s origins.”

The bishops of the Archdiocese of Seattle and the dioceses of Spokane and Yakima filed a lawsuit May 29 challenging the law, arguing that it violates the free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment by infringing on the sacred seal of confession. The suit also claims the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment as well as the Washington Constitution.

In the bishops’ lawsuit, filed in federal district court, they emphasized the Catholic Church’s commitment to child protection while defending the inviolability of the confessional seal. 

“Consistent with the Roman Catholic Church’s efforts to eradicate the societal scourge of child abuse, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and the dioceses of Yakima and Spokane have each adopted and implemented within their respective dioceses policies that go further in the protection of children than the current requirements of Washington law on reporting child abuse and neglect,” their lawsuit stated. 

It noted that these policies mandate reporting suspected abuse by Church personnel, including clergy, except when information is learned solely in confession, which is protected by “more than 2,000 years of Church doctrine.”

Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly in a statement in May vowed that clergy would not break the seal of confession, even if it meant jail time. “I want to assure you that your shepherds, bishops, and priests are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail,” Daly said in his message to the faithful. “The sacrament of penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane.”

Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne echoed this stance, citing canon law, which forbids priests from betraying a penitent’s confession under penalty of excommunication. Etienne referenced St. Peter’s words in Acts 5:29 — “We must obey God rather than men.”

Leaders of various Orthodox churches joined Washington’s Catholic bishops in their own lawsuit against the state, saying in the lawsuit filed June 16 that Orthodox priests, like Catholic ones, “have a strict religious duty to maintain the absolute confidentiality” of information disclosed in confession. 

Their suit continued: “Violating this mandatory religious obligation is a canonical crime and a grave sin, with severe consequences for the offending priest, including removal from the priesthood.” 

Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile at the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square for Mass on Pentecost Sunday on June 8, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 23, 2025 / 16:43 pm (CNA).

More than 6,000 seminarians, bishops, and priests from five continents are in Rome this week to celebrate their jubilee as part of the Holy Year 2025.

According to the Dicastery for Evangelization, the program, which runs June 23–27, includes prayer, catechesis, concerts, jubilee pilgrimages, Masses, and various meetings with Pope Leo XIV.

A welcome event for the seminarians took place Monday at St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica at 5 p.m. local time. A community rosary and a concert by Rome’s diocesan choir and the “Fideles et Amati” orchestra, conducted by Monsignor Marco Frisina, were also held.

On Tuesday, the seminarians are scheduled to make the pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s at 8 a.m. local time. In addition, at 11 a.m., they will hear a catechesis by Pope Leo XIV in what will be his first official meeting with seminarians from around the world. The day will conclude with Masses in a number of languages at 6 p.m. in 10 churches in central Rome offered by various bishops.

Bishops’ day: Communion and faith

June 25 marks the Jubilee of Bishops. The prelates have come, according to data from the Dicastery for Evangelization, from nearly 50 countries, including Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, the United States, and the Philippines.

At 10:30 a.m., the bishops will concelebrate Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, as the main celebrant. Pope Leo XIV will then offer a special catechesis to the prelates, concluding with a joint profession of faith above the tomb of the Apostle Peter.

That same afternoon, the Jubilee of Priests will begin with several catecheses organized by language groups, given by bishops in 12 churches in central Rome.

On June 26, priests will participate in a jubilee Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica celebrated by Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. the priests are scheduled to make pilgrimages to the Holy Doors of the four major basilicas. The day will culminate with a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica presided over by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, with testimonies from a seminarian, a bishop, and a priest.

Priestly ordinations at jubilee closing

The week will culminate on June 27, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a Mass to be celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Basilica.

During the Mass, the pope will ordain 31 new priests from around the world from Italy, India, Sri Lanka, Romania, the Central African Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Cameroon, Angola, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, South Korea, Mexico, Uganda, Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

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

Thousands took to the streets in Cork, Ireland, on Sunday June 22, 2025, to participate in the city’s 99th consecutive annual Eucharistic procession in Ireland’s second-largest city. / Credit: Brian Lougheed

Dublin, Ireland, Jun 23, 2025 / 16:12 pm (CNA).

Thousands of the faithful took to the streets of Cork, Ireland, on Sunday to participate in the city’s 99th consecutive annual Eucharistic procession in Ireland’s second-largest city.

The procession was led by the Butter Exchange Band and Bishop Fintan Gavin, bishop of Cork and Ross, beginning from the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Anne, with the final prayer and Benediction taking place at the National Monument on Grand Parade on a specially constructed platform.

“What a blessing it is to gather here at the heart of our city in faith, in prayer, and in hope, in the presence of one another. This procession was born from a longing for unity after division, for peace after civil conflict. It was a public act of faith,” Gavin said to all those gathered. 

“As we stand here on the threshold of the 100th year, let us be the generation that not only keeps the tradition but rekindles the fire of faith in our time. The procession we’ve just made through the streets is a living testimony to something the world needs to know more than ever: That God has not abandoned us. That in the Eucharist, we are not alone.”

Explaining the background to the procession, Father Marius O’Reilly, one of the priests of the Cork Cathedral Family of Parishes, told CNA: “The idea of taking the procession through the streets of Cork emerged in the years after the War of Independence and the Civil War in a bid to heal division. That first procession in the Cork city streets took place on June 6, 1926, where tens of thousands of people participated.”

The Irish Civil War raged between June 1922 and May 1923, following Ireland’s War of Independence from Britain. It was marked by savage brutality against both pro and anti-treaty factions, as families, parishes, and entire communities became bitterly divided by wounds that lingered for decades. 

Individuals and groups from across the city and county were part of the celebration including Catholic Girl Guides, The Guides and Scouts Europe, Youth 2000, Parish Eucharistic groups throughout the diocese, children preparing to make their first holy Communion, and the Indian Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Brazilian, African, Polish, Croatian, Ukrainian, and Brazilian communities.

Gavin thanked the people of Cork who turned out in the thousands. 

“We are most grateful for such a huge turnout. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has worked in the background to make today what it was. A busy year ahead as we now prepare for the centenary next year!”

Among the attendees was Dr. Jim Clair from Cork, who told CNA: “I have been going to the Cork Eucharistic procession over the last 40 years. I find it an incredibly moving and uplifting experience. It is great to see it starting to grow over the last few years.”

Helen Gillen, also from the city, said: “It reminds me of that line from the hymn ‘Faith of Our Fathers’ LIVING still… Corpus Christi is the body and blood of Jesus still living, still breathing, still supporting and sustaining us. Our faith has been passed down through generations. We carry our faith and share it on to future generations. We unite in walking with our Savior through our streets of Cork city in his honor.”

The most notable innovation in this year’s procession was the decision to move the final prayer and Benediction back out onto the streets to a specially constructed platform at the National Monument on Grand Parade to accommodate the large numbers that couldn’t be accommodated in the cathedral.

null / Credit: muratart/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Jun 23, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has endorsed a report calling for reforms to alleviate the global debt crisis affecting billions of people in developing countries.

The document, titled “The Jubilee Report: A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Creating the Financial Foundations for a Sustainable People-Centered Global Economy,” was presented at the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on June 20 as one of the main initiatives of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

Supported by Pope Leo XIV, the publication is the work of the Jubilee Commission created by Pope Francis in June 2024 in order to find a way to carry out sovereign debt restructuring based on ethical principles. Thirty international economic experts were on the commission, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former Argentine Economy Minister Martín Guzmán.

$97 trillion in global public debt

According to data maintained by the U.N., global public debt reached $97 trillion in 2023, an increase of $5.6 trillion compared with 2022.

The document reports that more than 50 developing countries already allocate more than 10% of their tax revenues to interest payments, a dynamic that diverts financial resources from vital sectors such as health, education, and climate resilience (the capacity to respond to climate change or extreme weather events.)

“The debt crisis that is suffocating the global financial system is also fueling a development crisis,” the report states.

It proposes a series of measures and recommendations to transform the international financial system into an instrument of justice and sustainability. These include the creation of an international bankruptcy mechanism for sovereign countries similar to those that exist for private companies; an end to government bailouts for private investors; and the provision of bridge loans and short-term financial support for countries in crisis.

Foreign debt forgiveness, St. John Paul II’s legacy

The initiative is part of the spirit of the jubilee year, traditionally associated with mercy and debt forgiveness. In fact, in the 2024 papal bull Spes Non Confundit, Pope Francis expressly asked governments to show clemency by extraordinary measures, such as forgiving the external (foreign) debt of poor countries.

The June 20 report recaptures the spirit of the Jubilee of the Year 2000, when in 1997, St. John Paul II initiated a truly global movement based on the Church’s social teaching that called for debt relief for the poorest countries. That call gave rise to the “Jubilee 2000” campaign, which collected millions of signatures around the world and mobilized religious communities of all traditions. Thanks to this movement, more than $100 billion in debt was canceled.

“Global finance must serve people and the planet — not punish the poorest to protect profits,” the report concludes.

Presentation at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

The report was presented June 20 at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences during a day dedicated to discussions about how reforms to international financial systems could move toward a truly people-centered system.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University and honorary fellow of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, issued a forceful call to “curb the abuses of large private creditors.”

“Normally, we talk about shared responsibility between creditors and debtors, but I would say there is greater responsibility on the part of creditors. These are voluntary transactions. No one has forced creditors to lend money, and they are supposed to be the experts in risk analysis,” he stated in his remarks.

Reducing interest rates with multilateral development banks

The economist was particularly critical of BlackRock and other large funds, which, he said, encourage a type of high-risk lending that ends in crises.

He therefore advocated strengthening the role of multilateral development banks, which can provide loans at lower rates, something that “would help reduce interest rates and make debt sustainable.”

Within the framework of the international meeting on debt, social justice, and development held at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences headquarters, Caritas International representative Alfonso Apicella urged that the technical debate on debt never lose sight of the people most affected.

“We’re here to talk about sustainable growth, but the real question is: sustainable growth for whom? That’s the question we’re asked time and again by communities when we launch campaigns like ‘Turn Debt Into Hope,’” he explained.

Speaking on behalf of the global network of 162 organizations that make up Caritas, Apicella emphasized that the discourse on “sustainability” runs the risk of becoming an empty slogan if its inclusive focus isn’t made explicit: “We have to talk about sustainable growth for all, not just a few. And we must always remember this, especially when we speak from a technical perspective, because behind every figure there are people who experience these realities firsthand.”

A change in the narrative on debt

Apicella also focused on the need to change the narrative on debt: “We must frame this fight for debt justice as a win-win situation. If we work for the poor, policymakers must understand that they will also benefit.”

Professor Kevin Gallagher, director of the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University, pointed to international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund that have forced poor countries to “prematurely open their capital accounts.”

However, he also acknowledged the internal responsibility of many developing countries that, as the report notes, “have borrowed too much and invested too little.”

In any case, he made it clear that while “debt relief is essential,” it is also necessary to propose viable implementation measures within the current international environment that transform the financial system.

“We have already learned from the last jubilee debt forgiveness in 2009 that debt relief without reforms to the international financial architecture will only lead us to repeat this whole process. It’s a shame that we are in this situation again. Let us not repeat the same mistakes,” Gallagher said.

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

Director Dallas Jenkins (left) and Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in the wildly successful TV series “The Chosen,” speak with journalists during a press conference on June 23, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 23, 2025 / 13:41 pm (CNA).

“The Chosen” actor Jonathan Roumie said Monday coming to the Vatican is a “humbling honor” and a confirmation for him of the TV show’s continued mission of bringing Jesus Christ to the world.

Roumie, other “The Chosen” castmates, and series creator and director Dallas Jenkins are at the Vatican this week after having just wrapped up three weeks of filming in southern Italy for the Crucifixion scenes of Season 6, out next year.

“The fact we’re here now, sitting at the Vatican… is a testament to, I think, how God wants to continue to further this mission to bring more people to Jesus and to bring Jesus to them,” Roumie, who plays Jesus in the wildly successful TV series on the Gospels, said during a press conference at the Vatican on June 23.

Season 5, Episode 4, “The Same Coin,” will be streamed at the Vatican’s Filmoteca theater on the afternoon of June 23 in anticipation of the entire season being available for streaming in Italy in July.

Roumie will also present Pope Leo XIV with a gift from “The Chosen” during the Wednesday general audience on June 25, a meeting he said would be “extraordinary for so many reasons.”

“When [Pope Leo XIV] was elected, I wept, because I never thought I’d see an American pope in my lifetime,” the Catholic actor said. To get “to communicate to him in our native language this week is just something I never thought I would see in my life.”

Series director Jenkins, an evangelical Protestant, said it was “a tremendous honor” to be at the Vatican. He added that being surrounded by the beautiful art of Rome and the Vatican reminded him how much he wants the show to make the events and people depicted in religious artwork feel real to viewers.

“Jesus is more than a painting, and the church is more than just a building,” he said. “Jesus and the apostles were not just stained-glass windows, but Jesus became man … and these men and women actually lived and actually had a relationship with Jesus … something we can have today.”

Roumie and Jenkins were joined at the Vatican press conference by Elizabeth Tabish (Mary Magdalene), George Xanthis (John the Apostle), and Vanessa Benavente (Mother Mary).

They all talked about the emotional impact of getting to portray their characters, in their humanity and their growth, across five seasons so far.

Roumie said that “in the process of making this show, we didn’t know we would ever go beyond four episodes of the first season.”

“And then to fast forward seven years, and thousands of stories later about how this show has been used by God to change people’s lives — and in some unique, distinct cases, to save people’s lives — humbling doesn’t even come close to describing the understanding of that, the feeling of that: It’s profound,” he added.

The cast and crew on June 22 finished filming Jesus’ crucifixion in Matera in the Italian region of Basilicata, the same location used for Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”

Jenkins called the three weeks “the most challenging and difficult we had in filming,” requiring him to surrender everything to Christ.

Roumie noted that since starting the show, many people have asked him if he was looking forward to getting to the Crucifixion scenes, but he would answer, “I can’t think about that, I can’t think about the cross, because we’re not there yet.”

He preferred to stay in the present, concentrating on Jesus’ active, public ministry, and the intimacy between Jesus and his followers. “And if there was anyone in the whole history of the world who was present at all times, it was Jesus Christ,” the actor said.

Talking about Season 5, which is focused on the events of Holy Week, is a welcome break from the intensity of the past three weeks of filming, Jenkins told journalists.

The show’s latest season features some of the most well-known scenes in Scripture, he said, including Judas’ betrayal, when Jesus flips tables in the Temple, the triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, and, most importantly, the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist.

The director said he hopes the season will provide an “opportunity for many new viewers to come to the show because they recognize these famous moments.”

SENT founder John Cannon speaks at the September 2024 SENT Summit. / Credit: Carollynn Anne/Courtesy of SENT

National Catholic Register, Jun 23, 2025 / 13:06 pm (CNA).

Have an innovative idea for a Catholic-minded startup or ministry?

The SENT Summit may be just what you need to pitch your plan.

The summit is part of SENT Ventures’ broader vision to foster Catholic entrepreneurship in the secular world — fostering faith-driven entrepreneurship and innovation.

SENT Ventures’ fourth annual SENT Summit, to be held Sept. 8–11, expects to draw nearly 400 founders, investors, philanthropists, and nonprofit directors to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Now the largest U.S. gathering dedicated to “Spirit-led” Catholic enterprise, the summit pairs conventional business programming — keynotes, small-group breakouts, and sector-specific workshops — with daily Mass, adoration, and evening socials.

The format, organizers say, is meant to keep questions of capital and mission in the same conversation, showing how Catholic social teaching can guide decisions from product design to personnel policy.

A highlight for early-stage founders will be the summit’s third annual SENT “Pitch Competition.” Five finalists, selected on criteria including Catholic values alignment, market timing, and current traction, will present to a panel of venture capitalists and angel investors for the chance to receive a $10,000 grant and more than $50,000 in prizes, including business services. A previous winner, Presidio Healthcare, a pro-life insurance startup and the first of its kind, went on to raise $4 million in seed funding after its SENT appearance.

The deadline this year to apply for the Pitch Competition is July 25. 

Running alongside the startup track, the “Mission Showcase” offers emerging apostolates a similar platform. Up to five ministries will receive a $1,500 cash grant and paid ticket as well as stage time before major Catholic philanthropists. Past presenters range from MetaSaint — a Roblox-based catechetical game that has logged 300,000 users, with Roblox itself having 70 million daily users — to Forge, an Iowa-based men’s formation network that has since expanded across the Midwest and is endorsed by such Catholic figures as theologian Scott Hahn, Super Bowl champion Matt Birk, and New York Times bestselling author Leonard Sax.

The deadline to apply for the Mission Showcase is July 18.

Even those not selected to present should benefit, however, from the world-class coaching and application process, which helps sharpen mission and model.

Attendance has nearly doubled every year since SENT held its inaugural summit in 2022, forcing the first-ever registration cap this year. SENT founder John Cannon told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, this is because SENT “tries to run world-class events with deep Catholic spirituality — this includes starting every day with Mass and adoration, access to confession, inviting the top entrepreneurial leaders as speakers and presenters, and a strong culture of trying to lift others up.” 

As a former Carmelite monk for seven years before he was called back into the world of business, Cannon holds the firm conviction that business can — in fact, should — be both professionally excellent and integrally Catholic.

The summit is part of a wider SENT Ventures ecosystem that offers year-round masterminds to provide advisement, regional meetups, and mentorship circles aimed at Catholic professionals in startup culture. Cannon’s 2024 white paper “Entrepreneurs of the Spirit” illustrates that lay-led innovation has historically driven periods of great Church renewal — and today should be no different.

SENT’s organizers are showing year over year that their unique showcase of business strategizing and the silence of prayer resonates with Catholic leaders who view entrepreneurship as a vocation as well as a career. There is a great need in the Church to tell more stories of Catholics building businesses and apostolates outside traditional Church institutions.

“It’s not just another conference — it’s a thriving community,” Cannon said. “People often come to get some particular business value or make connections, which happens, but what stays with them is the friendship, the formation, and the sense that they’re not building alone.”

How you can apply

Send a query today.

How you can support sent

SENT Ventures is also actively seeking sponsors to scale these efforts.  

There are three main sponsorship opportunities:

— General summit sponsorship for brand visibility across the entire event

— Pitch Competition sponsorship to support high-growth Catholic startups

— Mission Showcase sponsorship to assist apostolates tackling pastoral and cultural challenges 

Interested parties are encouraged to reach out to Mary at Mary@sentventures.com.

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

In Knock, Ireland, on Sunday June 22, 2025, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh urged the people of Ireland to “feel inspired and courageous” by the renewed consecration to the Sacred Heart. / Credit: Sean Flynn/Irish Catholic Bishops Conference

Dublin, Ireland, Jun 23, 2025 / 12:36 pm (CNA).

Ireland was reconsecrated to the Sacred Heart on Sunday in the town of Knock on the feast of Corpus Christi. Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, who presided at the events, urged the people of Ireland to “feel inspired and courageous” by the renewed consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

“Do not be afraid — today’s consecration will give you a new heart — a heart of love that can in turn give fresh heart to our troubled world.”

Ahead of the consecration, Martin received an apostolic blessing from Pope Leo XIV, a “pledge of joy and peace” for all who were present.

The archbishop told the faithful in Knock Basilica not to be surprised if they felt a call to go out and confront those “weighty evils that are pressing on the Church of God throughout the world” and “the many dangers encompassing and threatening ourselves near home.”

Ireland was previously consecrated to the Sacred Heart on Passion Sunday in 1873, and for decades afterward, the people of Ireland held a particular devotion to it with the image of the Sacred Heart, commonplace in virtually every Irish home.

Martin spoke to the desire to reconsecrate the country and its people now. 

“We are living in a time of great need for God — for faith, for hope, and for love. Our age presents many challenges to our faith, to our families, and indeed to the deepest core of our humanity. But as a pilgrim people filled with great love and hope in this jubilee year of graces, while recalling the the promises of the Sacred Heart made known 350 years ago to St. Margaret Mary, we have chosen to renew the consecration of our country to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as its secure refuge from all dangers — visible and invisible.”

“Today we desire to consecrate to the most Sacred Heart: ourselves, our home, our family, our parish, and Ireland our country. We ask the Sacred Heart to have mercy on our suffering world in which he chose to dwell as one of us, to pour out the treasures of his light and love so that, as our late Pope Francis put it, the world may regain the most important and most necessary thing of all — its heart.”

Pointing to the consecration over 150 years ago, Martin said in his homily: “There are many weighty evils, my dear people, pressing on the Church of God throughout the world, and there are many dangers encompassing and threatening ourselves near home. The spirit of irreligion and infidelity is growing strong every day.”

He added: “These words are not mine. They are in fact taken from the pastoral letter of the Irish bishops sent on Passion Sunday 1873 to announce their intention to consecrate Ireland to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sadly, in many ways the bishops’ words relate to the circumstances of today.”

The archbishop continued: “With God’s help today’s consecration will motivate us to radiate the light of faith, hope, and love, especially to the poor, the suffering, and those who are most in need. It will set us on fire with the Holy Spirit, it will lift up our hearts, and give us like St. Thérèse “a thirst for souls.”

On display at the consecration Mass were four pilgrim Sacred Heart statues blessed by Pope Francis at the Vatican symbolizing Ireland’s historic four provinces. Ahead of the consecration, the pilgrim statues were brought to parishes throughout Ireland, accompanied by Father Shane Gallagher, Father John Mockler, Dom Basil Mary McCabe, and Father Shane Sullivan.

Prior to the Mass of consecration, Father Richard Gibbons, rector and parish priest of Knock Shrine, welcomed the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Claude la Colombière, and Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart to the basilica where they were venerated by the congregation.

One of the keynote speakers at the reconsecration event, Jesuit Father Bernard McGuckian, explained to CNA the historical context for the consecration and Ireland’s devotion to the Sacred Heart.

“The date of consecration at Knock is exactly 350 years since Our Lord spoke to St. Margaret Mary in 1675. In 1873, what happened in Ireland was the people all assembled in their parishes, and the consecration was done parish by parish on Passion Sunday, March 30. It was a unique activity. Ireland had been terribly affected by the penal laws and decimated by famine. One of the promises to Margaret Mary was that those who put up a picture of the Sacred Heart in their homes would be blessed. In Ireland for decades practically every Catholic home would have had a Sacred Heart picture,” he said.

McGuckian detailed the incredible efforts in promoting the devotion in the 19th and early 20th century, in particular by Jesuit Father James Cullen, who as director of the Apostleship of Prayer inspired the countrywide devotion to the Sacred Heart, founded the Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart and established the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association.