St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church

U.S. Vice President JD Vance participates in a fireside chat with Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Nov. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

Vice President JD Vance called border security “humanitarian” in response to comments from Pope Leo XIV about immigration policy in the United States.

“Border security is not just good for American citizens,” Vance said in an interview with Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle on Nov. 20. “It is the humanitarian thing to do for the entire world.”

Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 18 asked Americans to listen to U.S. bishops’ message opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and urged humane treatment of migrants.

“No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter,” the pope said.

Vance said he has followed the Holy Father’s comments closely as “a devout Catholic.”

“You may not know it, judging purely from the comments of some people on social media, but the Catholic Church’s views on this are actually quite clear,” Vance said.

“It’s that, yes, you must treat immigrants humanely,” Vance said. “On the other hand, every nation has the right to control its borders. And obviously, how you strike that balance is very important, but there’s a lot of room there to actually control your own borders for the sake of your own people.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) special message affirmed that countries have a “responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “the more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner.” 

U.S. bishops said they lamented the conditions in detention centers and lack of access to pastoral care. Bishops also said they “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.”

Vance said “open borders” do not promote “[human] dignity, even of the illegal migrants themselves,” and cited drug and sex trafficking.

“When you empower the cartels and when you empower the human traffickers, whether in the United States or anywhere else, you’re empowering the very worst people in the world,” Vance said.

“My priority, my charge is to look after the people of the United States of America, and you cannot do that if you’re flooding the country with a ton of illegal immigrants and the drugs and the crime that they bring,” Vance said.

Research consistently shows that immigrants do not commit more crimes than U.S.-born people and are actually less likely to commit crimes. Stanford University economist Ran Abramitzky found that since the 1960s, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people.

A study by the libertarian Cato Institute that reviewed more than a decade of data found that immigrants, including those who enter the country illegally, have a lower crime rate than the native-born population.

For example, in 2023, the incarceration rate for native-born Americans was 1,221 for every 100,000 people. For legal immigrants, it was 319 for every 100,000, and for immigrants in the country illegally, it was 613 for every 100,000.

“Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation,” the U.S. bishops said.

The National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) meets in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium starting Nov. 20, 2025. / Credit: Robin Marchant/Getty Images

Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 20, 2025 / 11:34 am (CNA).

The National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) meets in Indianapolis for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service for Catholic teenagers.

The 2025 theme is “I Am,” and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and be empowered for discipleship. 

NCYC was created by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM), an organization committed to advancing the field of pastoral ministry to young people in the United States. Founded with the support of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the organization works to strengthen those who accompany young people as they encounter and follow Jesus Christ. 

The conference, from Nov. 20–22, will feature Catholic speakers, daily Mass and adoration, music and worship, breakout groups and workshops, and interactive exhibits with games, vendors, meetups, and live radio shows.

Attendees will also hear from the conference’s two emcees, Gian Gamboa​ and Sister Elfie Del Rosario, FMA. Gamboa​ is a Catholic speaker and musician who helps young people develop a personal relationship with Jesus so they can experience the fullness of the Catholic faith. 

Del Rosario, who has become known as “The Happy Nun,” is a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, or Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco. She joined the Salesian Sisters in 2009 and serves as the vocations director for the eastern U.S. province. Passionate about engaging with youth, she shares encouragement to bring them closer to Jesus.

Digital encounter with Pope Leo XIV

Attendees can attend Mass on Nov. 20 and start to check out the interactive exhibits and stadium setup. 

Friday will feature the main attraction of the 2025 conference — a digital encounter with Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo will hold a 45-minute dialogue with young people from across the United States in Lucas Oil Stadium at 10:15 a.m. ET. A livestream of the discussion will be available on EWTN YouTube.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, is expected to attend NCYC along with several bishops including keynote speaker Bishop Joseph Espaillat, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York. Other keynote addresses will be from author and missionary Meg Hunter-Kilmer and Sister Miriam James Heidland of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, host of the podcast “Abiding Together.”

Themed exhibits based on the sacraments will be available throughout the weekend and will include interactive projects and acts of service. Vendors tailored to the young audience will be present including Motherboards, a Catholic skateboarding company, and Catalyst Catholic, a ministry helping young disciples, that will help lead a service project aimed to aid the homeless population. 

Breakout sessions and workshops will start Friday and go through Saturday. Students will hear from and hold discussions with missionaries, social media personalities, and musicians.

Teens will talk about family life, social media, discovering God’s calling, and discernment. Sessions also will target an adult audience for ministry leaders and chaperones including discussions on mental health and handling burnout. 

To conclude the conference, attendees plan to gather for a closing Mass on Saturday evening.

St. Joseph Cathedral, Buffalo, New York. / Credit: CiEll/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2025 / 10:40 am (CNA).

Advocates in New York state are petitioning a Catholic foundation there to help fund major pension shortages and church preservation efforts as well as to help support victims of clergy sex abuse.

In a Nov. 13 letter to the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation in New York City, representatives of the group Save Our Buffalo Churches, sexual abuse victims, and pensioners of the former St. Clare’s Hospital asked the foundation to help the three communities with the “profound hardship” they are experiencing.

Numerous parishes in Buffalo have been fighting diocesan-mandated closures and mergers over the past year. Hundreds of former workers of St. Clare’s, meanwhile, saw their pensions reduced or eliminated starting in 2018 due to major shortfalls. The hospital itself closed about a decade before.

Abuse victims, meanwhile, have “been locked in a legal morass, denied the long-term healing resources and institutional acknowledgment of the harm they endured,” the letter said.

The foundation arose in 2018 after the Diocese of Brooklyn sold the health insurer Fidelis Care. The organization, whose roughly $3.2 billion in assets came from that sale, is named after Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American recognized as a saint, who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The letter noted that Cabrini “devoted her life to the people others overlooked,” including immigrants and the poor.

“Guided by that legacy, we ask the foundation to explore emergency relief, stabilization funds, and community support initiatives” to help fund the three groups.

The letter-writers asked for a meeting with foundation leaders “to explore potential pathways for assistance aligned with both the foundation’s mission and the pressing needs of survivors, pensioners, and parish communities.”

Mary Pruski, who leads the Save Our Buffalo Churches group, told CNA that advocates in New York City would be following up with the foundation this week.

“This is a complex project and will bring much peace and healing across [New York state],” she said.

Pensioners with St. Clare’s Hospital are currently in the midst of a lawsuit brought by New York state against the Diocese of Albany for what the state attorney general’s office says was “[failure] to adequately fund, manage, and protect hospital employees’ hard-earned pensions.”

The prosecutor’s office alleges that the diocese “[failed] to take adequate measures” to secure the pension fund, including “failing to make any annual contributions to the pension for all but two years from 2000 to 2019 and hiding the collapse of the pension plan from former hospital workers who were vested in the plan.”

Parishioners in Buffalo, meanwhile, have challenged the diocesan parish merger and closure plan, with advocates securing a reprieve against the diocese at the state Supreme Court in July.

The state high court ultimately tossed the lawsuit out in September, ruling that the court had no jurisdiction over the dispute.

null / Credit: OlegRi/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

After pushback from investors, Microsoft has signed a statement agreeing not to discriminate against religious or conservative nonprofit groups seeking a discount the tech giant offers to other nonprofits.

On Oct. 10, Microsoft and Boyer Research, a group of shareholders represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal group, signed the agreement. News of the agreement was published on Nov. 14.

The shareholders had planned to put forth a proposal asking Microsoft on Dec. 5 at its annual meeting for a report on the company’s discounting practices, according to Bloomberg News.   

The shareholders agreed not to move forward with the proposal after Microsoft signed the agreement, which stated that nonprofits no longer needed to affirm a nondiscrimination attestation. The company also said a categorical ban on pregnancy centers would be removed.

In a statement to CNA on Nov. 19, Microsoft said: “The broad and diverse array of nonprofits is one of America’s great strengths, and the purpose of this nonprofit program is to provide discounts to a broad group of organizations that qualify as nonprofits under the federal tax code. We don’t think it’s desirable to pick and choose among these organizations based on ideological orientation. In this instance, we found that a small number of organizations that should have been eligible for these discounts were not receiving them. We’ve fixed this and those organizations are now eligible.”

ADF attorney Alexandra Gaiser, who represented the shareholders, told CNA that the legal group and some pregnancy centers they represent are now in “wait-and-see mode.”

She said since the agreement was signed, one pregnancy center has applied for the discount and been denied, but “a couple have received the nonprofit discount.”

“We are looking forward to seeing more nonprofits get the discount,” Gaiser said.

Microsoft is not the only corporation alleged to have discriminatory practices against faith-based or conservative groups that ADF has contended with.

ADF filed two federal lawsuits this year, one against California-based software company Asana and the other against OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT, who both agreed in settlements to give previously withheld nonprofit discounts to Holy Sexuality, a Christian nonprofit group that makes videos and courses that teach about biblical principles on human sexuality.

In the settlements, both tech companies said they would remove barriers to the discounts for religious organizations, according to ADF.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier shared a letter he sent to Microsoft on social media on Nov. 3 in which he said the state might take legal action against the company if discriminatory practices against religious groups continued.

St. Patrick as depicted in Martin Scorsese’s “The Saints.” / Credit: Fox Nation

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The second season of Martin Scorsese’s docudrama series “The Saints” premiered on Fox Nation on Nov. 16. The series highlights the extraordinary lives of men and women who embodied their faith and became saints in the Catholic Church. The new season includes episodes on St. Patrick, St. Peter, St. Thomas Becket, and St. Carlo Acutis.

Created by Matti Leshem and developed by Scorsese, himself a Catholic, the show’s new episodes will be released weekly from Nov. 16 to Dec. 7. The first season included episodes on St. Mary Magdalene, St. Moses the Black, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Joan of Arc, St. John the Baptist, and St. Sebastian.

Leshem, who co-founded a production company focused on Jewish history and Judeo-Christian dialogue, spoke to CNA in an interview about the inspiration behind the series and how his own Jewish faith has been impacted by diving into the lives of Catholic saints.

The filmmaker shared that he was introduced to the lives of the saints from a young age and was “really moved by them.”

From the ages of 10 to 15 Leshem attended a Catholic school in Copenhagen that was run by Assumptionist nuns. Despite his father being an Israeli ambassador and having a Jewish school available to them, his father “prized education over all things … and he sent me to a Catholic school because that was the best school.”

“I was really exposed to all those stories and I was really taken with it … And I think in adulthood, as I kind of became a filmmaker and told different stories, I thought these are incredible stories of humanity, the story of the saints, and what is it like to be someone who’s actually willing, in many cases, to die for the thing you believe in,” he said.

He added: “I also felt that there was a strong need at this moment, especially, to tell stories about faith. And that really is where the inspiration came from.”

Leshem explained that he believes a series like this is needed right now because “social media has really fragmented society in every way — spiritually, politically, I think especially for young people — I think we’re kind of suffering a spiritual crisis.”

“It’s really been a struggle for young people who are constantly being faced with the comparative ego on social media and this is a time for people to go inwards and to try to find their faith, and the great monotheistic faith traditions are really the thing that we’ve always gone back to time and time again,” he shared.

One saint who will be featured in the second season who Leshem believes is a relatable figure for many today is St. Carlo Acutis — the first millennial saint who was canonized on Sept. 7.

“I think what’s beautiful about Carlo is that he was a regular teenager in some ways, but he also had this deep, spiritual connection from a very early age. He knew that his relationship with Christ was very special,” Leshem shared.

The filmmaker recalled going to Assisi to visit the body of Acutis at the Sanctuary of the Renunciation and witnessing hundreds upon hundreds of schoolchildren lined up to see the beloved saint.

“It was an incredible experience to see that,” he added. “So, we wanted to tell the story of a relevant, modern saint. And I do think that Carlo is a really good example of that resurgence of faith that I hope that we’re seeing.”

In regard to how his Jewish faith has been impacted by delving into the life of Catholics saints, Leshem said: “I feel privileged to be having the most important conversation I think there is to have every single day because I work in the world of saints.”

“I revere the saints and I understand their holiness,” he added.

He pointed out that “a lot of our saints are Jews” — referencing Sts. Peter and Paul, for example —  and with this in mind he tries “to bring a kind of authenticity from my own tradition around that.”

“For me, I’m very comfortable living in a world where I understand the covenant of Judaism and I understand the expression of Christ’s message. It just all feels like a continuum,” he said.

As for what he hopes viewers will take away from the series, Leshem said: “I want believers to be reignited in their faith and I want every atheist that watches the series to be interested and to kind of lean towards the ability — everybody needs to believe in something. I think it’s really hard to be a believer, but I think it’s much harder to be an atheist. And so I am hoping that our series inspires everyone wherever they are on the spectrum of belief.”

Editor’s notes: Due to the content and context of the saints’ stories, including graphic violence and gory details of war, the series is recommended for an adult audience. Additionally, each episode ends with a short discussion between three panelists: Jesuit priest Father James Martin, author and poet Mary Karr, and author and senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs Paul Elie.

Police vehicles surround the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Oct. 31, 2025, in Broadview, Illinois. / Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images

Long Island, New York, Nov 19, 2025 / 18:38 pm (CNA).

A coalition of Catholic faith leaders filed suit Nov. 19 to seek access to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois, where clergy have been denied entry to distribute Communion.

The complaint alleged that ICE’s refusal to allow clergy to pray with detainees or offer Communion violates the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Catholic spiritual leaders attempted to bring Communion to detainees at the ICE facility Nov. 1 after making formal requests to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, and officials denied entry.

“Despite the long history of religious access to the Broadview detention center established through the persistence and perseverance of the late Sister JoAnn Persch, RSM, and Sister Pat Murphy, RSM, recent months have brought shifting, contradictory, and often opaque communication from DHS and ICE officials. Faced with this lack of honesty and transparency, we were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit,” said Michael N. Okińczyc-Cruz, executive director of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, in a statement.  

Asked Nov. 17 whether it would take a judge’s order to get Communion to detainees at the Broadview facility, Nate Madden, DHS principal deputy assistant secretary for communications, told CNA: “I will not engage in hypotheticals about Broadview’s policies.” He suggested faith leaders contact ICE for entry. 

“What we say is that all religious leaders and religious people who want to come and take pastoral care, and they want to take Communion or Bible studies or anything like that, to come into our detention facilities, they can reach out to ICE,” Madden said. 

Federal court continues review of ICE facility

In another case, a Chicago-based federal judge postponed a hearing scheduled for Nov. 19 to assess whether ICE had improved living conditions for migrants detained at the suburban Broadview facility.

As reports of the number of people held at the facility sharply dropped this month, Judge Robert W. Gettleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said he would conduct a hearing on conditions at the facility in December.

Earlier this month, Gettleman issued a temporary restraining order directing DHS and ICE to improve living conditions at Broadview. Detainees alleged they were being held for several days in squalid conditions, with clogged, overflowing toilets, poor-quality food, inadequate sleeping arrangements, and a lack of access to basic hygiene supplies. On Nov. 5, Gettleman — appointed to the bench in 1994 by President Bill Clinton — ordered that all detainees be provided with soap, towels, toilet paper, oral hygiene products (including toothbrushes and toothpaste), and menstrual products.

His Nov. 5 order further specified: “Defendants shall provide each detainee with at least three full meals per day that meet the U.S. recommended dietary allowance … Defendants shall provide each detainee with a bottle of potable water with each meal and bottled water upon request free of charge.” The court also directed that paperwork provided to detainees “should include an accompanying Spanish translation.”

DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin responded to the lawsuit by noting that Broadview is technically a “field office,” not a “detention facility.” She said religious organizations are welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities.

Class action status

In a significant development for the plaintiffs, Gettleman this week granted the detainees’ request to proceed as a class action. The decision could allow the named plaintiffs to represent not only themselves but also potentially hundreds of current and future migrants processed at Broadview.

On Nov. 13, the ACLU of Illinois — one of the legal groups representing the detainees alongside the MacArthur Justice Center and the Chicago office of Eimer Stahl — said they had completed an inspection of the Broadview facility.

“We are grateful that the court gave us an opportunity to inspect the Broadview facility,” the group said. “We remain committed to ensuring that any detainees at Broadview are treated with dignity, have access to counsel, and are provided due process.”

Religious accommodations not addressed

Gettleman did not address detainee complaints concerning a lack of religious accommodations at Broadview, including the ability to receive holy Communion. The lawsuit alleges that detainees have been unconstitutionally denied access to clergy and faith leaders “who have provided religious services at Broadview for years but are now denied the ability to provide pastoral care under defendants’ command.”

“For many years, faith leaders and members of the clergy … provided pastoral care to individuals detained inside Broadview,” the detainees’ lawyers told the court. “Now, no one is allowed inside Broadview. Faith leaders seeking to provide religious services are blocked from providing Communion and spiritual support to detainees, even from outside.”

Catholic leaders in Chicago attempted to minister to detainees at Broadview on Nov. 1. Auxiliary Bishop José María García-Maldonado and others were not admitted, despite requesting access weeks in advance and attempting to follow DHS guidelines.

Pope Leo XIV said earlier this month that the spiritual needs of migrants in detention must be taken seriously by government authorities. “I would certainly invite the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people,” he said. “Many times, they’ve been separated from their families for a good amount of time. No one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to.”

U.S. bishops likewise issued a special message Nov. 12 calling for the human dignity of migrants to be respected.

Sister of Mercy JoAnn Persch, a longtime immigrant rights advocate, died on Nov. 14, 2025, at age 91. / Credit: Kathleen Murphy/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 19, 2025 / 17:48 pm (CNA).

Longtime immigrant rights advocate Sister JoAnn Persch died on Nov. 14 at age 91.

Two weeks before her death, Persch attempted to bring Communion to detainees at the Broadview, Illinois, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility where for decades the Sisters of Mercy ministered to migrants and refugees. Officials denied her entry.

Persch and Sister Pat Murphy were founding members of the Su Casa Catholic Worker House in Chicago, serving refugees from Central America who were survivors of war, torture, and political persecution. From 1997 until 2002, the pair ministered at Casa Notre Dame in Chicago, a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence or recovering from addiction.

Beginning in January 2007, the two sisters attended prayer vigils every Friday morning outside the Broadview ICE facility where they encountered migrants scheduled for deportation and followed Murphy’s advice that “prayer is powerful, but you also have to put your body on the line.”

Through perseverance, Persch said she gained entry to the ICE facility during those years despite initial repeated refusals from government officials.

“Our motto is peacefully, respectfully, but never take no for an answer, so we kept working with ICE,” Persch said Nov. 1. “Finally, we got inside.”

‘It was so traumatic’

Persch said eventually she was allowed to ride the buses to the airport with detainees after working with ICE. The sisters took down names of detainees and their families’ phone numbers.

“Then we’d spend the morning at home calling the families,” Persch said.

“We always worked with the families,” Persch said. “It was so traumatic. But then we were finally able to go in, helping families, meeting those being deported, listening to them, talking, praying.”

“We had a good relationship with ICE. We’d talk to each other,” Persch said.

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, said: “These nuns were often the last to see these immigrants before they embarked on their life-changing journeys. Sister JoAnn’s passing is the end of a life of kindness and caring. But it is more. It is a reminder and a challenge to each of us to welcome the stranger and choose kindness over hate and fear.”

Because of relentless advocacy on behalf of migrants and refugees, including lobbying for a law to provide spiritual care for migrants in state detention facilities, the two sisters were affectionately nicknamed “Rabble” and “Rouser” by friends and fellow advocates.

In 2018, U.S. Capitol Police arrested the pair during the Catholic Day of Action for Action for Dreamers in Washington, D.C., a nonviolent civil disobedience protest in support of immigrants.

Persch’s advocacy also won media attention such as from comedian and political commentator Samantha Bee on her television show, “Full Frontal.”

Looking for housing

In 2022, the two nuns cofounded Catherine’s Caring Cause in response to a request to help a family seeking asylum, a mother from Sierra Leone with five children, to resettle in the Chicago area. Catherine’s Caring Cause, named in honor of Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, assists refugee families in finding shelter and providing basic necessities.

On Nov. 1, Persch said the organization had found homes for 15 families living in cars and they were looking for housing for a 16th.

Persch entered the Sisters of Mercy in Des Plaines, Illinois, 73 years ago. A native of Milwaukee, she earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics from St. Xavier College (now University) in Chicago and a master’s in religious education from Loyola University. Persch professed her perpetual vows on Aug. 16, 1958.

Sister Susan Sanders, president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, said: “How will it be when we will miss JoAnn’s clear voice — quiet, insistent, regular, and respectful — about the new and daily injustices being perpetrated on already-suffering people? How will it be when we will miss her incisive questions, like those she posed to prison guards about why it would be unsafe to offer the Eucharist to imprisoned immigrants?”

“The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” a $5 million, 10,000-square-foot museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California opened to visitors on Nov. 19, 2025. / Credit: Everett Johnson, Diocese of Orange

Los Angeles, California, Nov 19, 2025 / 16:53 pm (CNA).

“The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” a $5 million, 10,000-square-foot museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California, opened to visitors Wednesday.  

The museum is presented by Papaian Studios in partnership with the Diocese of Orange and Othonia Inc., an international team of specialists dedicated to exploring and sharing the mystery of the Shroud of Turin.

The 90-minute experience introduces visitors to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, with a special focus on the Shroud of Turin, which many believe to be the burial cloth of Christ.

Inspired by the advanced technology incorporated in “Van Gogh Exhibition: The Immersive Experience” and the “Immersive King Tut,” the museum features 360-degree projection-room theaters as well as shroud replicas, interactive kiosks, a life-sized corpus, and a variety of artwork.  

Jason Pearson of FiveHive Studios, which offers AI special effects and animation services, is a Catholic convert who worked with Othonia, a team of shroud specialists, to design the museum.  Among his movie credits is Mel Gibson’s 2004 “The Passion of the Christ.” He has long had an interest in the shroud and has been a volunteer guide at the Shroud Center of Southern California located at the Santiago Retreat Center, also in the Diocese of Orange.

“Using technology on display like that of the Van Gogh or King Tut exhibits, we’re doing things that have never been done before,” Pearson told CNA. “Whether it be Jesus walking on water or through the streets of Jerusalem, or in the tomb at the moment of the Resurrection, we make use of sound and projections so that the visitor feels like he’s going back into a time machine and experiencing these things himself.”

The museum is designed for everyone, Pearson continued, even those who have no religious background at all. 

Located on the second floor of the campus’ Richard H. Pickup Cultural Center, the museum has three theater rooms. Using surround sound and images, including on the floor, the first room introduces the visitor to the person of Jesus Christ through presentation of 12 stories from his life, but each one is selected to show Christ’s connection to the supernatural (e.g. the Transfiguration). The next introduces the visitor to the shroud itself, including proof of its authenticity and what it tells us about the sufferings of Christ. The third is devoted to the Resurrection leading the viewer to ponder a pointed question: Who do you believe the man on the shroud is?

The third theater exits into the museum area, which includes displays of reproductions of items that were part of the passion of Christ, including a flagellum (whip), the crown of thorns and nails, as well as a reproduction of what the tomb of Christ might have looked like.

Other exhibits include an AI presentation of Secondo Pia (1855–1941) who, while photographing the shroud in 1898, discovered that its negative image offered a clearer image of the man on the shroud with a detail in his face that could not been seen by the naked eye. Another traces the history of the iconography of Christ, demonstrating how accurate, when comparing it to the shroud image, many of the icons were. And, one compares the Sudarium of Oviedo, or the facial cloth that covered Christ’s face after his death, to the image on the shroud.

Pearson hopes that the museum will be a prototype for additional shroud museums in different regions of the country. Inquiries have been made about establishing shroud museums from places as far away as Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

One portion of the museum is dedicated to the science of the shroud, and two kiosks allow visitors to ask questions of a digital Father Robert Spitzer, who has extensively researched the shroud over the past 20 years. Spitzer, who has an office at Christ Cathedral, noted that he was pleased with the museum’s opening. “It gets the pedagogy right, it’s biblically accurate, and they tell me the visual imagery is amazing.” (Spitzer has gone blind in recent years.)

He continued: “And while we welcome anyone, we especially hope many young people will come to learn about the shroud and lead many to come to know more deeply the person of Jesus Christ.”

Nora Creech is on the leadership team of Othonia and helped develop content for the museum. “We want people to come with an open mind, explore, and ask questions. We want them to ask, ‘Who is the man of the shroud?’” she said.

One special target group of the museum, Creech said, is younger people, “many of whom have not been brought up with knowledge of who Jesus is. That is why we seek first to introduce people to Jesus so that they will become interested in his burial shroud.”

Pearson agreed and related the story of two young women who visited the Shroud Center and began weeping, asking: “Why hasn’t anyone told us about him?”

But while the shroud is important in showing us what Jesus suffered, Creech continued, we also need the Church and the Scriptures “to learn why he suffered.”

Orange Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer, who played a key role in bringing the museum to Christ Cathedral, noted that his favorite feature was the reproduction of the crown of thorns, which, contrary to most artistic renditions, was actually shaped like a helmet or cap. He continued: “I’ve been impressed with the entire exhibition. It is very engaging, and I believe it will be an important tool in helping visitors come to know Christ better.”

Also among those excited to see the opening of the museum was Gus Accetta, a physician who has devoted much of his free time to studying the shroud. In 1996, he founded the Shroud Center in Huntington Beach, since relocated to the Santiago Retreat Center and welcoming 25,000 visitors annually.

“It’s a wonderful exhibit,” he said. It not only looks at the shroud but the whole life of Christ, of which the shroud is just a part.”

The Shroud of Turin experience will be on display at Christ Cathedral at least through 2030. The museum is located on Christ Cathedral campus, 12141 Lewis St., Garden Grove, California, a few miles away from Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center. For more information, visit the website www.theshroudexperience.com.

St. Patrick Cathedral in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina. / Credit: Diocese of Charlotte

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 19, 2025 / 16:23 pm (CNA).

Bishop Michael T. Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte issued a Mass dispensation for any person who fears he or she may be subject to deportation and called for a day of prayer and fasting for migrants as immigration enforcement ramps up throughout North Carolina.

The bishop published the statement on Nov. 18 telling those “who are afraid to come to church” out of fear they could be deported “are not obligated to attend Mass.” These conditions, he said, are “circumstances beyond your control.”

Martin said the Church has always taught that the normal Sunday Mass obligation does not apply when a person cannot attend due to situations he or she does not control.

“I encourage you to take consolation in Jesus’ refrain when the disciples were in the boat being swamped by stormy seas: ‘Do not be afraid!’ (Mt 14:27),” Martin added. “Your brothers and sisters are praying with you, and on your behalf, to God who desires our citizenship together in heaven and longs to see us live in harmony with each other on earth.”

The diocesan statement comes after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched Operation Charlotte’s Web late last week, which escalated immigration enforcement in North Carolina.

Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, said in a statement that the operation was launched to “ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed” and said “Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors.”

DHS announced more than 130 arrests from the operation as of Nov. 17. A DHS spokesperson said the operation is “removing the worst of the worst.” The department published the names of 11 detainees, which it alleged included known gang members and people charged with assault, larceny, intoxicated driving, and other crimes.

President Donald Trump’s administration eliminated guidelines that previously treated churches as “sensitive locations” for immigration enforcement in January.

Nate Madden, principal deputy assistant secretary for communications at DHS, told CNA on Nov. 17 that “when we are pursuing the worst of the worst” who have criminal histories, some suspects “run to places where they think they will be able to evade law enforcement or where they think that law enforcement will be afraid to pursue them because of the appearance.”

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement to CNA in July that enforcement in houses of worship would be “extremely rare” and “our officers use discretion.” She said officers still need approval from a secondary supervisor before taking action at a church.

Nov. 21: Day of prayer and fasting for migrants

In the diocesan statement, Martin asked his diocese to observe a day of prayer and fasting on Friday, Nov. 21, in solidarity with migrants around the world.

The bishop asked people to contact loved ones at risk of deportation to “assure them of our love and care for them” and asked Catholics to contact lawmakers in both parties to encourage them to pass immigration reform that adheres to the common good.

He also asked people not to vilify federal agents.

“While I have no words to practically address the fear and uncertainty that many are feeling with the increased presence of federal immigration officials in the Charlotte metro area, I want to call upon all Catholics and people of goodwill to give witness to the message of Jesus,” Martin said.

“Our faith teaches us to come to the aid of the poor, marginalized, and most vulnerable,” the bishop continued. “‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ (Mt 25:35).”

Martin is currently in Rome and said yesterday that he planned to meet with Pope Leo XIV today and ask him to pray for the people of the diocese and migrants, “especially during this challenging time.”

“Please be assured that we will get through this together, if we focus our attention on the only one, Jesus Christ, who can save us all,” Martin said.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a special message on Nov. 12 at its Fall Plenary Assembly that affirmed: “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” More than 95% of bishops approved the message, with 216 voting in favor, just five voting against, and three abstaining.

Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 18 urged Americans to listen to the message from the nation’s bishops.

“When people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least — and there’s been some violence, unfortunately — I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” Leo said.

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CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2025 / 12:23 pm (CNA).

The Maine State Supreme Court is considering whether to give a mother the right to take her daughter to church amid a dispute between the mother and her daughter’s father. 

Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Florida-based legal group, said in a press release that the Portland District Court ruled it was “psychologically unsafe” for Emily Bickford to take her 12-year-old daughter to a Christian church called Calvary Chapel in the Portland area.

The girl’s father, Matthew Bradeen, had objected to his daughter’s being taken to the institution; in a broad order, the state district court had awarded him “the right to make final decisions regarding [the daughter’s] participation in other churches and religious organizations” as well.  

The ruling “completely stripped” Bickford of the right to make decisions over her daughter’s religious upbringing, Liberty Counsel said in a filing with the state Supreme Court. 

Bradeen is “demonstrably and openly hostile” to his daughter receiving instruction about the Bible, the filing said, and has evinced “wholesale objections to the Old Testament and the New Testament.” 

Precedent elsewhere, the filing said, holds that the “religious beliefs of one parent cannot be the basis for preferring one parent over the other” in custody disputes. 

News Center Maine reported that Bradeen was reportedly moved to seek the custody order when his daughter “started having severe panic attacks and [exhibiting] alarming psychological signs” after she began attending the church, including allegedly “leaving notes around the house that said ‘the rapture is coming.’”

Attorney Michelle King argued that precedent says courts “don’t have to wait for it to be so severe that a child suffers irreparable emotional harm” before issuing a custody order in such disputes.

Liberty Counsel, meanwhile, asked the state Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s order.

The district court decision is “a direct infringement on [Bickford’s] right to direct the religious upbringing of her child,” the group said.

Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said the court order violates the First Amendment.

“The breadth of this court order is breathtaking because it even prohibits contact with the Bible, religious literature, or religious philosophy,” he alleged in the group’s press release. “The custody order cannot prohibit Bickford from taking her daughter to church. The implications of this order pose a serious threat to religious freedom.”

Bickford, meanwhile, told reporters after the state Supreme Court ruling that the dispute “affects not only our family but the families of all Christian children.”