1+ week, 1+ day ago (1042+ words) Teenagers piled into the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday in Indianapolis to start the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC)." Young Catholics from across the country have traveled to Indianapolis to take part in NCYC for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service. The 2025 theme is "I Am," and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and form discipleship." On the evening of Nov. 20 exhibits opened to help students gain a deeper understanding of the sacraments and to encourage them to interact with one another. Teens with themed hats packed into the convention center and began to exchange the caps as a way to meet new people at the start of the weekend. The interactive exhibits opened Thursday night with themes based on the seven sacraments. Aaron Frazita, the director of the interactive…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (254+ words) " Leading ongoing diocesan programs in marriage preparation, NFP education, and pro-life activities such as "Walking with Moms in Need" and "Project Rachel." " Developing and implementing new initiatives based on the pastoral vision of the Catholic Church as expressed in Church documents such as the USCCB Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities, USCCB Standards for Diocesan NFP Ministry, Vatican documents on marriage preparation, and the pastoral priorities of the Bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte. " Supporting the ministry of clergy by providing resources, training, and consultation for pastoral efforts in the areas of marriage, NFP, and pro-life activities. " Assisting diocesan and parish staff and volunteers in developing programming in these areas. " Using contemporary means of communication such as web sites, email newsletters, and social media to evangelize and share pastoral resources. " Building collaborative community relationships - including ecumenical relationships - with individuals and organizations…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (1012+ words) The foundation seeks to create employment for poor and educated unemployed youth via skills training, educational support, and research. On the 37th anniversary of his death, Bangladesh's Christian community honored an American Holy Cross priest and microcredit pioneer who transformed their economic future " Father Charles Joseph Young, whose cooperative credit union has grown from 50 members and barely any money in 1955 to 46,000 members with $122.6 million in capital today. On Nov. 14, the country's most respected cooperative, the Christian Cooperative Credit Union Ltd., Dhaka " known as Dhaka Credit " and other cooperatives marked Young's death anniversary with events including tributes at his grave, a Mass, and public discussions on his life and impact. "If Dhaka Credit had not stood by me today, I would not have been a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur," said 45-year-old Shukli Kubi, a Garo tribal mother of two. Kubi, originally from…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (183+ words) Follow this page for all the live updates. The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference will feature prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers from Nov. 2022 in Indianapolis. Follow CNA's live coverage of the event here. Watch the historic discussion with Pope Leo XIV live from the Vatican on Friday, Nov. 21, starting at 8:45 a.m. ET on EWTN YouTube. Megan Garcia said her faith has given her strength to speak out about her ordeal in the hope of protecting children from the risks posed by new AI chatbots. The Jubilee Year of Hope began on Dec. 24, 2024, and will conclude on Jan. 6, 2026, with the closing of the Holy Door. Vance said he has followed the Holy Father's comments closely as 'a devout Catholic.' Musical preferences offer fleeting glimpses into the interior lives behind the white cassock where memory, culture, and prayer converge. Creative present…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (1316+ words) Parishioners at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Newark, New Jersey, have the opportunity to pray before holy earthly remains every day. Visitors are also welcome. In mid-October, a relic of St. Frances Cabrini traveled from Newark, New Jersey, to Rome. The keeper of the sacred item was Eric Lavin, who was invited by friends to an audience with Pope Leo XIV. Before All Saints" Day celebrated the heavenly "Cloud of Witnesses," as St. Paul calls saints in his Letter to the Hebrews, Lavin told the Register that parishioners at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Newark, New Jersey, are surrounded by these saints in their relics every day. The parish has more than 600 sacred relics, ranging from Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary, and St. Dominic, to Sts. Anthony Marie Claret, Pius V, Gemma Galgani and Dominic…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago (655+ words) The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, which trace their roots to a group of Bavarian immigrants who traveled to Milwaukee in 1849, announced the transfer last month. A Wisconsin religious community says it has completed the first known instance of a Catholic group returning land to a Native American tribe, hailing it as a move made in the "spirit of relationship and healing." The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration announced the transfer in an Oct. 31 news release on its website. The community is located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, near the state's border with Minnesota. The sisters had purchased the land from a private seller in 1966 and used the property for its Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center, located about four hours northeast of La Crosse. The sisters said they sold the property to the tribe for $30,000, the exact amount for which they paid…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (413+ words) Father Dowd emphasized that the school's Catholic mission "guides and informs all that we do and how we work together.' The University of Notre Dame has reinstated "Catholic Mission" among its staff values after it opted to drop the language in an effort to reprogram the school's Catholic identity as overarching. In a Nov. 21 staff announcement, Notre Dame's president, Holy Cross Father Robert Dowd, said commitment to the school's Catholic mission was referenced in the preamble to the new four staff values announced at a town hall meeting last week "as a way to show its overarching importance." "Catholic Mission" is now listed first in the university's staff values, with the description: "Be a force for good and help to advance Notre Dame's mission to be the leading global Catholic research university." Father Dowd emphasized that the school's Catholic mission…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago (1450+ words) How a Catholic movement saved a village and spread across Africa. Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of articles based on the author's recent reporting trip to Africa. Previous articles looked at the Catholic Church's presence in Cameroon and Togo. Miracle in the Forest is a documentary describing Mary Health of Africa hospital in Fontem, Cameroon, the first little town in Africa planted by Lubich at the request of a local missionary bishop. She came to inaugurate it in 1966. "Focolare saved me and my village," recounted Cameroon-born Nkem Khumbah, a mathematician and director at the African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi. "They opened a hospital when tsetse flies were killing children. The mortality rate was astronomical. I was born in 1968. My mother had eight children, and we all survived," said Khumbah. The movement in Fontem has influenced…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago (1663+ words) ANALYSIS: Six months into Pope Leo XIV's pontificate, the USCCB meets to elect a new president and address challenges posed by AI and immigration. It may not be an official agenda item. But a top priority for the U.S. bishops at their fall meeting next week in Baltimore may well be to get off on the right foot with Pope Leo XIV. Elected in May, Leo's papacy comes after a complicated 12-year relationship between his predecessor, Pope Francis, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The two parties were widely viewed to be out of sync, with the USCCB facing criticism for downplaying papal priorities and Francis regularly bypassing conference leadership for key appointments. The Nov. 10-13 gathering will be the first business meeting for the bishops' conference under the first American pope, and it may offer something of a reset for U.S.-Vatican…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (937+ words) Marking Veterans Day, a glimpse into a Catholic women's ministry in nearly 220 global locations that helps support military families. Chatter about which books are used for first Communion prep in Korea fills one corner of the room. Just a few feet away, several Catholic ladies discuss how post-Mass fellowship is done in North Carolina. The fact that both these conversations happen on a U.S. Army post religious center located in Germany is not extraordinary for a particular group of Catholic women. The Catholic Women of the Chapel (CWOC) are independent chapel-based groups that serve their local military communities under the guidance of a Catholic chaplain. Each CWOC is connected through the Military Council of Catholic Women (MCCW), composing a truly international network of Catholic women either serving in, or connected to, the U.S. armed forces. The MCCW is a nonprofit subsidiary organization…...