Apologies for burdening your inbox with a non- Pillar Post email, but lucky for you this is not a money pitch either.

This is Jack, the former intern, freelancer, and, according to Ed, The Pillar’s “resident young and cool person” and , I write to share a simple message with The Pillar community — Thank you.

This “thank you” comes as a bittersweet goodbye to The Pillar community — I am stepping away from newswriting, for at least a year, to begin the propadeutic year of seminary formation. (Please pray for me!)

As I prayed about what I wanted to write, the Lord kept drawing me back to gratitude and to share the defining lesson I learned from my time as a journalist. But mostly to gratitude.

For three years, as a college student, I’ve been writing feature and news stories for The Pillar. Often, it still seems crazy that I was able to travel the world, granted access to bishops, priests, and lay leaders, and have my work published by such a fine online publication.

Yet here I am, and none of it would have been possible without you, our readers.

So, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for reading my articles. Thank you to those who sent me messages and pitches. Thank you for the uplifting, encouraging comments, and even for the critical comments that highlighted weaknesses and helped me strengthen my craft.

Thank you to all the people that I have met and interviewed through reporting out the many stories, and to all the Pillar readers that have approached me in the field and the wonderful conversations that have followed.

Thank you to the paying subscribers, who fund the reporting trips I’ve made, the ones that made for the most exciting, formative college career imaginable and delivered high quality (hopefully) journalism.

But most of all, thank you for supporting me in a mission that taught me so much about the Church, the Christian life, one that provided lasting friendships, and helped me grow in my own spiritual life immensely.

—
Four years ago, as I was trying to enter the journalism business — a future boss offered me the chance to become famous, to become “somebody,” promising that if I worked for that news outlet, then by the time I graduated college, I would be an editor, and the entire Catholic world would know who I am.

To any naïve college freshman, raised in the social media era, that sounded like a sweet deal.

So I signed on.

(No, it was not for The Pillar.)

Growing up within the social media landscape, AI revolution, and the COVID years where everything happened on your phone; becoming internet famous appeared to be the pinnacle of success.

Even for a Catholic kid such as myself, the lure of internet stardom was tempting — especially Catholic internet stardom.

Everywhere I looked, I saw young Catholic celebrities popping up, with their massive online followings, throngs of kids attending their talks, or hounding their booths at conferences.

That’s the life, I thought.

If I want to become a great evangelist and have an impact on the Church, then I MUST become a Catholic celebrity, I reasoned.

Only then, will I prove myself to God and to the Church.

Oh, and that stardom will make me feel important and good about myself — that’s a nice benefit, I thought.

That early job, and the pursuit of that stardom, turned unsurprisingly into a disappointment, as my editors wanted quick write-up stories, effectively copied from other outlets, they emphasized that stories were to first have a “conservative” angle, then a “Catholic” one, with clickbaity headlines, and offered limited opportunities for on the ground reporting.

Months after joining, I began to dislike that job. So, I quit.

Freelancing opportunities began popping up with the National Catholic Register, OSV News, America Magazine, and The Pillar, which I eagerly took, and through which the Lord opened a plethora of incredible doors to travel and interview faith-filled Catholics from all walks of life — from Cardinals of the Catholic Church to Rose, an old Filipino lady in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Quickly, my naïve view of the Church began to broaden, and I realized there’s a lot more to the Church than the latest celebrity priest talk, Matt Fradd podcast, or whatever trends the hip Catholic influencers were pushing.

There are people in the trenches sharing the love of Christ, who want to share that love with everybody they meet — in person.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Tim Glemkowski, and Jason Shanks taught me that “if you hold up Jesus, people will come.”

Speaking of the Eucharistic Revival, The Airstream Sisters (Daughters of Divine Love) showed that what you experience at a national level, becomes very effective if shared locally.

There were the Catholics in San Angelo Texas, a small Texas oil town who couldn’t contain their joy as they talked about the joy of welcoming the National Eucharistic Revival to their small Texas town in the summer of 2025.

A 24-hour pilgrimage to the March for Life taught me that life done in community is so much better than any post could capture.

Jim, Bill, and Harold, from Fairbanks Alaska, taught me the importance of the coffee social hour (or three) after daily Mass, even when it is -30 Fahrenheit outside.

Their vicar general — Father Robert Fath — and other Alaskan priests spoke openly and shared the joy and hardship of being a priest on America’s last frontier, from riding snowmobiles from parish to parish, to bringing the sacraments to the most remote regions.

Last, there is Eddie Cotter, the 65 -year old youth minister in central, Ohio, taught me that the most impactful work in the Church doesn’t happen on social media or on a huge stage, it’s in the trenches of parish life, making soup for 30 kids every Wednesday night, inviting them to go deeper with the Lord.

Now, Eddie’s a charismatic, friendly guy with lots of wisdom, fit for the internet. So naturally, I asked why he hasn’t tried to start a podcast or be a professional speaker.

His reply meant a lot: “I’m not leaving the trenches anytime soon, I love it too much.”

That quote, and the image of being in the trenches for Christ, has stuck with me ever since.

Traveling to Alaska in December and then meeting Eddie this past March proved to be capstone moments for my reporting experience.

There’s nothing sexy or flashy about Fairbanks, Alaska or central Ohio — definitely nothing social media worthy. But in the frontier and heartland of America, I met men and women committed to evangelization, dedicated to working hard for the salvation of souls in unglamorous climates, far from cameras and influencers.

These people love Jesus and want to share that love with others — they are not doing it for the likes or views.

My Pillar reporting trips clearly defined many of the themes that have been percolating in the background of stories that I have been seeking to tell over the past four years.

The lesson — albeit a seemingly simple one — is one that a freshman me, and now a college graduate me, could stand to hear time and time again: the Church is not lived online, rather it is a physical tangible Church, at the service of man, for the salvation of man.

In other words, I need to remind myself that being a Catholic influencer ain’t what life is about.

Do many of them do great work? Yes, absolutely and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and interviewing many of them, like Fr. Mike Schmitz.

But there are already plenty of content and creators out there flooding social media and plenty of journalists are writing about it.

Instead, the Lord introduced me to the folks in the trenches, the people getting their hands dirty, the folks committed day in and day out to introducing people to Jesus Christ through offering the sacraments in small Alaskan villages, organizing diocesean wide Eucharistic congresses in West Texas, or cooking soup for a bunch of teenagers at 65 years old.

Those are the stories and interviews that motivated me and inspired me to fall more deeply in love with Christ and to go into the trenches at my own parish and in my own dioceses. Those are the stories that will stick with me wherever the Lord will lead me.

So, thank you for allowing me to meet those people, hear their stories and share them with you. It has been an incredible gift, one that continues to bear much fruit in my life. A gift that I am incredibly grateful for.

Please pray for me as I make my way to seminary, and know of my prayers for you!

Yours in Christ,
Jack Figge

Editors note:

Jack has been an extroardinary gift to The Pillar, and we’ll be praying for him as he enters seminary formation. We hope to work with more young people like Jack — to give them the opportunity to learn serious and faithful Catholic journalism, to travel the Church, and to encounter Christ in his people.

Here’s a simple truth: Paying Pillar subscribers help make that happen. If you’re willing to pitch in, we can do more of that work — work we can all be proud of. We appreciate you. And most of all, we ask you to join us in praying for Jack.

Subscribe now

In Christ,

Ed and JD

Share

Are you a paying subscriber?

1. Visit pillarcatholic.com/listen on your phone

2. Check the top right corner of the webpage to ensure you are logged into your Substack account.

3. Tap ‘set up podcast’ next to The Pillar TL;DR

Having issues? Email our producer Kate at kolivera@pillarcatholic.com

Show notes:

‘God gave the …

Read more

In a preamble to the new document, which was issued only in Italian July 31, Leo XIV explained that the constitutional framework of Vatican City State needed to be updated “to take into account new requirements of governance and several important legislative changes introduced over recent years.”

He said that the new version of the Fundamental Law confirmed and integrated the changes.

The Fundamental Law of Vatican City State was first issued by Pope Pius XI in 1929, following the state’s creation under the Lateran Treaty, signed by Italy and the Holy See.

Pope St. John Paul II promulgated a new version of the Fundamental Law in 2000, which was revised by Pope Francis in 2023.

The new text, which goes into effect immediately, consists of 25 articles, one more than in the previous version.

The latest document has a new Article 16, which specifies the duties of the president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, Vatican City’s legislative body under the authority of the pope. The Pontifical Commission’s president also serves as president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Vatican City’s executive governing body.

The updated Article 16 says: “The President of the Governorate ensures the governance of the State, oversees the executive function and the implementation of laws and other normative acts, issues the directives necessary for the general organization of the State, determines the administrative policies and personnel management policies, and coordinates the bodies of the Governorate.”

It adds: “The President, who is assisted by the Secretary General and, where appointed, by the Vice Secretary General, may delegate certain executive functions to the Secretary General and the Vice Secretary General.”

Highlighting the change, a July 31 report by Vatican News said: “Concerning the executive function, the new law confirms the role of the Governorate, whose organizational structure contributes to the proper mission of the State and serves the Successor of Peter, to whom it is directly accountable.”

“At the same time, it further clarifies the responsibilities of the President and the Secretary General, as well as their collaborative relationship. It also underscores the institutional nature of the office of the Secretary General, thereby indicating that the role may be entrusted to more than one person.”

Vatican News also pointed to an alteration in the wording of the section concerning judicial functions.

The 2023 version (Article 21, paragraph 1) said: “Judicial authority is exercised, in the name of the Supreme Pontiff, by the bodies established in accordance with the judicial system and by other bodies to which the law grants jurisdiction in specific matters.”

The 2026 document (Article 22, paragraph 1) says: “Judicial authority is exercised, in the name of the Supreme Pontiff, for adjudicative functions by the Tribunal, the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Cassation; and for investigative and prosecutorial functions by the Office of the Promoter of Justice. The legal status of the judicial bodies is established by the Law on the Judicial System.”

Vatican News commented: “As regards the judicial function, Article 22, paragraph 1, expressly reaffirms that the Law establishes the legal framework governing the judicial bodies of the Judicial System. Thanks to the significant reforms introduced in recent years, that law fully guarantees the proper administration of justice.”

Another difference between the 2023 and 2026 texts is found in Article 8, which previously said that the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State was composed solely of cardinals. The new version notes that the Pontifical Commission consists of “cardinals and other members.”

This reflects a development that occurred on Feb. 15, 2025, when Pope Francis appointed Sr. Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E., as president of the Pontifical Commission and the Governorate of Vatican City State.

Pope Leo XIV updated the text of Article 8 in an apostolic letter issued motu proprio (on his own initiative) on Nov. 21, 2025 to acknowledge that non-cardinals can serve in the post.

Petrini is currently assisted by two secretaries general, the Italian Archbishop Emilio Nappa and the Italian lawyer Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi.

In the new document’s preamble, Pope Leo XIV said that the Fundamental Law served as “the foundation and reference point for every other norm and regulation” in Vatican City State.

He wrote that the law’s existence “reaffirms the singular distinctiveness and autonomy of the Vatican legal order, as well as the role of the Governorate, which contributes to the State’s own mission and is at the service of the Successor of Peter, to whom it answers directly.”

He added: “As in the past, the exercise of all resulting power over the territory defined by the Lateran Treaty, and over the buildings and areas where institutions of the State or the Holy See operate and where personal and functional guarantees and immunities are in force under international law, is conferred upon the governing bodies and upon those who, in various positions of responsibility and animated by a true ecclesial spirit, carry out their service for the State on a stable basis.”

Vatican City State, the world’s smallest independent state, is an enclave surrounded by the city of Rome. It covers an area of around 120 acres (49 hectares) and has roughly 700 citizens, roughly 70% of whom are resident in the territory.

The new version of the Fundamental Law, like the 2023 version, has three annexes. The first sets out the specifications of the Vatican City State flag, which is one of only two national flags that are officially square, alongside that of Switzerland.

The second annex presents the official coat of arms of Vatican City State, which is distinct from the Holy See’s coats of arms, and the third shows the state’s official seal.

Subscribe now

Hey everybody,

Just a reminder that Ed is on vacation, and I’m JD. Further, Michelle is away, and I’ve sent Luke home early after a long day toiling in the salt mines. So the copy editing of this newsletter might be substandard. Bear with me. It’s summertime.

With that said, today’s the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and you’re reading The Friday Pillar Post.

Because you’re reading the Pillar Post, I assume you already know about St. Ignatius, and I don’t need to rehash much about him here. And yesterday was the feast of Blessed Solanus Casey, but I’m guessing you already know about him, or you’ve read about him at The Pillar a few times.

But I bet you don’t know about St. Elin of Skövde, who is the decidedly-less-famous undercard saint of the day — it’s her feast, but she’s clearly not the main event.

Elin needs better promoters though — she should be much more famous than she is. Her story is remarkable.

She lived in southwest Sweden in the 1100s. She was probably noble, and she was rich. Her dad was rich, and then her husband was rich. He died a few years after they married, leaving her with a young daughter, and maybe other children.

But Elin didn’t remarry. Instead, she put her wealth in service to the Gospel — she set up works of mercy for the poor, and she helped build several churches. One of those churches was in a place called Götone. The story says that when that church was built, she insisted on a portico between the church and its baptistry. She told the builders that God would provide the relics of a saint to be placed there.

He did. This is how:

In the early 1160s, Elin went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. By then, her daughter was grown and married. And while Elin was traveling, her son-in-law was killed by his own servants. When they were caught, they said that Elin had put them up to the murder.

There were no witnesses. She had no trial. Instead, when she returned to Sweden, she was killed by her son-in-law’s relatives, who found her in Götone and stabbed her to death.

Even when she died, few believed that the accusation against her was true. She suffered the consequence for it unjustly. And then people began praying for her intercession. Some reported miracles.

Elin was canonized just years after her death — and pilgrims continued reporting miracles at her tomb for centuries.

She was falsely accused, and she died over a lie. Any of us who has been misunderstood, gossiped about, or falsely accused could use her intercession.

Leave a comment

The news

Ten years ago this week, Pope Francis created a diocese for Syro Malabar Catholics in Great Britain.

As the eparchy reflects on that milestone, The Pillar interviewed Bishop Joseph Srampickal, who says that the Eastern Catholic Church he leads is not just for ethnically Indian Catholics living in Britain. Instead, he said that “the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Great Britain ... can play a significant role in the revival of the Catholic Church.”

How? Well, he says, “by witnessing to the richness of our Eastern Christian tradition, we have the potential to contribute to a new evangelization and offer a distinctive spiritual witness to the Church in Great Britain.”

Here’s the story.

—
It’s still summertime. (And too early for all the back-to-school emails I’ve been getting this week.)

But summer is, for many Catholic families, the time for camps and conferences and other spiritual “mountaintop” experiences. After that comes real life — and spiritual mountaintops are often followed by spiritual valleys.

So the question for parishes, and even for families, is how to support young people after they’ve come down from the mountain, so to speak. And for insight on that, The Pillar talked with veteran youth leader Eddie Cotter, who is one of the most interesting people we know.

Here’s what he had to say.

—
Brazil has more Catholics than any other country in the world. So it’s not surprising that it’s producing a striking number of potential 21st-century saints.

Meet some of the most interesting, right here.

—
A Polish man has been identified as the main suspect of a vandalization and desecration of the Medjugorje shrine in Bosnia on July 28.

Security camera footage showed a man dousing the altar of Saint James Parish in the Bosnian town of Medjugorje with a flammable liquid and setting it on fire during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

According to local media, police in the nearby town of Citluk received reports early the same morning that several statues of Our Lady had been vandalized, covering her face with black graffiti and with messages such as “Medjugorje is a deception,” “Only Jesus,” and blasphemous phrases.

Here’s the story — along with a little reminder on what the Church actually has to say about Medjugorje.

—
Pope Leo XIV approved this week the practical union of two Irish dioceses under a single bishop. The dioceses are the fourth set in the country to be united in persona episcopi in recent years, signifying the impact of declining religious practice in Ireland.

—

Before his summer vacation ended this week, Pope Leo made a little road trip pilgrimage with his brother, to the Shrine of the Most Holy Trinity in Vallepietra, and to an important Benedictine cave at Subiaco.

Turns out those places are pretty cool. Read all about ‘em.

—
As the Ukrainian Catholic Church continues to form Catholics more than four years after the country was first invaded by Russia, there are signs that Pope Leo may be considering a long-awaited change of status for the second-largest Eastern Catholic Church in the world.

Is it possible that Pope Leo is preparing to recognize the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church as a patriarch?

Yes. It is possible. Read about it here.

In celebration of Archbishop Sheen’s approaching beatification, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry cordially invites you to a conference October 23rd – 25th reflecting on his total witness: his life, his thought, and his holiness. All who know and love Fulton Sheen are welcome to attend; a special invitation is extended to those who seek to learn more about him. Learn more here!

Next, Pope Leo XIV appointed on July 25 seven new members to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest canonical court of appeal including the first three non-bishops ever appointed as members of the tribunal.

Two of the appointments are American bishops: Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Bishop Edward Lohse of Kalamazoo.

The appointment of Cordileone, especially, should be taken as a very significant pick from Pope Leo. Vatican sources have told The Pillar in recent years what Vatican observers probably surmised — that Cordileone spent much of the Francis papacy out of step with elements of the curial zeitgeist in Rome, and not always well received in Rome as a result — especially after the archbishop’s 2022 decision to prohibit Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi from reception of the Holy Communion.

Cordileone’s appointment to the Signature signals that Leo does not intend to be hidebound to the personal politics of the Francis papacy. It is, in short, the sort of move which communicates just how much water has now passed under the bridge.

Here’s a news report.

—
Like many US dioceses, the Archdiocese of Detroit is going through a parish consolidation process.

In the preparation, the archdiocese has posted an uncommonly detailed set of presentations — one for each parish in the archdiocese — providing the data diocesan leaders are assessing as they make these decisions about the closure or merger of parishes.

So Brendan Hodge dove into the numbers. They offer some interesting insights.

—
And finally in the news, check out a profile of the Vatican’s Madre di Misericordia clinic, which aims to serve Rome’s poorest patients, and to do so while conveying their dignity.

“Some of these people may fear judgmental stares and rejection that further wounds their dignity. For these people, our clinic represents a place they can access free of charge, without needing a referral, and where they can be certain to find qualified people who will welcome them with open arms and outstretched hands. Anyone in need who comes to us is welcome—a brother, a sister. That is enough,” Archbishop Luís Marín de San Martín told The Pillar.

“Our doctors welcome them warmly, listen to them, and are there for them. The poor are at the heart of their service. This is because they see Christ in their faces, and by healing them, they heal Christ. Many of those who come to us need to talk, to share their story. Although it would be desirable for this same welcoming attitude toward the most vulnerable to be present in all healthcare facilities and institutions, I believe we must start with ourselves.”

Read about it here.

Share

Cupich, subsidiarity and synodality

Cardinal Blase Cupich gave this week an interview to a news portal of the German bishops’ conference, in which some remarks came as a surprise to American observers of the cardinal.

Speaking about authority in the life of the Church, Cupich touched on the topics of solidatity and subsidiarity. And — speaking to German Catholcis — he warned that leaders “must be careful to remain united during this time and not allow a situation to arise in which a bishops’ conference takes a path that violates the unity of the whole Church.”

The remarks are significant because I would not have expected even the penumbra of a correction from Cupich of the German “synodal way,” and yet, there it was, in plain text, for all who have eyes to read.

I’m not sure how the warning will be taken in Germany, or in Rome, where it was more likely meant to be heard.

But however that shakes out, I’m struck by a different claim from Cupich in the interview, one which repeats a common misunderstanding of Catholic social teaching — but most commonly, a misunderstanding associated with the American political right, inside and outside the Church.

It is important, Cupich told German Catholics, that in the life of the Church “we respect the principle of subsidiarity.”

“This means that decisions should be made at the lowest possible level before Rome or a higher authority intervenes.”

This is a uniquely American spin on subsidiarity — the idea that the “lowest possible level” should always solve the problem first.

But it’s not actually how the Church views subsidiarity. Drawing from Pius XI, the Catechism explains that subsidiarity means: “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.”

In other words, communities of lower orders have certain functions, and those should be allowed for, even supported. But communities of higher orders have certain functions, too.

This distinction is not just abstract. It means that “lower order” community of an episcopal conference — not a natural or divinely ordered community, by the way, but a creature of positive law — should fulfill its functions, as delineated in the law, while the universal Church, guided and led by Peter, should fulfill its own.

Subsidiarity is not localism-at-all-costs, or a preferential option for close-by dictators or demagogues — either in the Church or in civil society.

Real subsidiarity means knowing what each sphere of society is for — its telos — and then ensuring the proper ordering of social spheres, so that each can do the thing for which it exists.

If we don’t get that right, we’ll get a lot of ecclesial questions wrong, and a lot of civic ones too? Don’t believe me? Well, ask yourself how synodality got off the rails — when it did — and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

Leave a comment

Papal house parties

Pope Leo received at the Vatican today punk rock icon Patti Smith today, in a moment that seemed to be pretty exciting for both of them.

The pope’s getting picked on a little bit, because Patti Smith is apparently pro-abortion, but, if you ask me, the pontiff is and should be allowed to meet with people who disagree with Catholic doctrine — in fact, that strikes me as a crucial part of the job for anyone entrusted with the great commission. In fact, that’s how the great commission actually happens.

Smith is also controversial to some because she has some 1970s lyrics critical of organized religion, though since 2014, she’s been at the Vatican a few times, once playing a Vatican Christmas concert for Pope Francis and the Vatican’s employees.

I don’t know anything about Patti Smith, because I don’t pay a lot of attention to rock icons in general, but I’m glad for the pope that he seems to regularly invite to his office people from sports, culture, or the arts whom he admires or just appreciates.

There are not a lot of actual perks to the papacy, if you ask me, but one is that you can summon nearly anyone you want to a meeting, and they’ll come.

So if you become pope, here are my suggestions for making the most of your invitatory power:

—Invite the rock stars you like. Invite the athletes you like. Basically, if there’s anyone you’ve ever wanted an autograph from, invite them to the Apostolic Palace.

But don’t have them just sit at your desk and talk. That’s a waste.

Read more

I’m Luke Coppen and I aim to guide you each weekday morning to the most interesting Catholic news and commentary.

The next Starting Seven will be on Monday, Aug. 17, due to a vacation break.

Read more

Catholic bishops in Florida repeat their call for an abolition of the death penalty. Bosnian authorities arrest a …

Read more

On July 28, 2016, the Argentine pope named Fr. Joseph Srampickal as the first bishop of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Great Britain, based in Preston, a city with a deep Catholic history in northwestern England.

Srampickal, who was then vice-rector of Rome’s Pontifical Urban College for the Propagation of the Faith, was consecrated as a bishop Oct. 9 at the Preston North End soccer stadium at a ceremony attended by almost 10,000 people.

In the decade that followed, he sought to establish the eparchy on a firm footing, founding parishes, missions, and proposed missions (communities in formation) across Britain, to serve Syro-Malabar Catholics who migrated from India and the British-born generations that followed.

With their own eparchy, Syro-Malabar Catholics have gained a new prominence within the wider Catholic community. In a country where Catholic gatherings are often relatively small, they have turned up in their thousands on pilgrimages to the national Marian shrine of Walsingham and at Handhoosa, the annual Syro-Malabar youth gathering.

In an email interview with The Pillar, Srampickal described the eparchy’s birth and evolution, the joys and challenges of its first 10 years, and how Syro-Malabar Catholics can help to evangelize Britain.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The Syro-Malabar eparchy of Great Britain celebrated its 10th anniversary July 28. Could you explain the background to its creation, and why Church authorities decided the time was right to establish it?

For several decades, Syro-Malabar Catholics have migrated to Great Britain, with migration increasing significantly over the past 20 years. Before the eparchy’s establishment, our faithful were welcomed with great generosity into their local Latin Catholic parishes, for which we remain deeply grateful. They received generous pastoral care and were able to participate fully in the sacramental life of the Church.

However, as the Syro-Malabar community continued to grow, it gradually became apparent that this arrangement, though pastorally generous, was not enough to preserve the distinct identity and heritage of our Church. Many, especially those of the second generation, were growing up with little awareness of their Eastern Catholic heritage, the richness of the East Syriac tradition, and the unique identity of the Syro-Malabar Church.

During this period, the pastoral care of the faithful was provided in various ways. Syro-Malabar priests studying in Great Britain, priests serving primarily in Latin dioceses, and a small number of priests dedicated to the Syro-Malabar communities regularly traveled across the country to celebrate the Holy Qurbana (Mass) and administer the sacraments. Their generosity and sacrifice laid the foundations for the growth of the community. Nevertheless, as you can imagine, within this arrangement it was not possible to provide comprehensive pastoral care or to establish stable parish communities.

The Catholic Church has consistently taught that the Eastern Catholic Churches have both the right and the duty to preserve their own liturgical, spiritual, theological, and canonical traditions. The Second Vatican Council expressed this clearly in [the 1964 decree] Orientalium ecclesiarum 6: “All members of the Eastern rites should know and be convinced that they can and should always preserve their legitimate liturgical rite and their established way of life, [...] Besides, they should attain to an ever greater knowledge and a more exact use of them, and, if in their regard they have fallen short owing to contingencies of times and persons, they should take steps to return to their ancestral traditions.”

The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches discerned the need for a dedicated ecclesiastical structure to care for the growing Syro-Malabar community in Great Britain. The eparchy’s establishment was therefore not simply an administrative decision; it was a pastoral response to ensure that our faithful could live, celebrate, and hand on their own ecclesial tradition while remaining fully integrated within the communion of the universal Catholic Church.

This vision was beautifully articulated by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the then Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, in a [March 9, 2020] letter to me: “The mind of the Church when erecting an ecclesiastical circumscription outside the traditional territory is to assist the Eastern Catholic faithful belonging to their respective eparchy to grow in their sense of identification with their sui iuris [autonomous] Church by participating in their proper ecclesial life. This is the mission entrusted to you by Pope Francis for the Syro-Malabar faithful, so that their precious liturgical, theological, spiritual, disciplinary, and cultural heritage may flourish also in Great Britain.”

This statement captures the very purpose of the eparchy. Its mission is not simply to provide the Holy Qurbana in another language, but to foster a living Syro-Malabar Church in Great Britain: one in which the faithful can worship according to their own liturgical tradition, grow in their ecclesial identity, and pass on the rich spiritual, theological, canonical, and cultural heritage of their Church to future generations. In doing so, the eparchy also enriches the wider Catholic Church through the distinctive gifts of the East Syriac tradition.

What are your strongest memories of your consecration as the eparchy’s first bishop, and what vision did you have for the new eparchy?

What struck me most was the sheer number of people who had gathered in the stadium — nearly 10,000, as I was later told. Seeing so many people waiting with such eager anticipation brought to mind the words of Mt 9:36: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Two memories from that day remain especially vivid. The first was the rain — which I have since realized is something of a hallmark of Great Britain. The second was the sight of two doves circling above the stadium during the ordination. At the time, I could not help but see them as a symbol of God’s blessing upon the sacred event taking place.

I was deeply moved by the devotion of the Syro-Malabar faithful, who had traveled from across Great Britain and endured the cold, the wind, and the rain in order to be present for the ordination.

That day also strengthened my own vision of the priesthood: to be a shepherd for the people entrusted to my care and to help them live out their identity as Syro-Malabar Catholics in a Western context. That, after all, is precisely why I was sent and what I believe to be the will of the universal Church.

How has the eparchy developed over its first decade?

The eparchy’s development over the past decade has been guided by two successive five-year pastoral plans. The first, implemented during the initial five years, focused on building our community and gathering our faithful into one vibrant and functional ecclesial body. To achieve this, each year was dedicated to a particular group within the Church: children, youth, married couples, family units, and parishes.

The second five-year pastoral plan sought to help the eparchy and its faithful discover, appreciate, and live the Syro-Malabar heritage in a more concrete way. Accordingly, each year was devoted to a different dimension of our tradition, enabling our faithful to experience the richness of their heritage through the study and practice of the liturgy, theology, spirituality, discipline, and culture.

Over the past decade, we have also witnessed remarkable structural growth, made possible by the grace and guidance of Isho M’shiha [Jesus Christ in Syriac]. Seven new parishes have been erected, together with 72 missions and 31 proposed missions.

Today, more than 80 priests minister to our communities stretching from Inverness to Plymouth.

We have also established a pastoral house at Maryvale and a retreat center at Darlington, providing places where the entire eparchy can gather for formation, fellowship, and worship. In addition, a number of dedicated apostolates now serve the diverse needs of our faithful, including youth, altar servers, catechists, liturgy, and other pastoral ministries.

Looking back over these 10 years, what gives me the greatest joy is the profound impact the eparchy has had on our young people. The vast majority of our missions now have active chapters of the Syro-Malabar Youth Movement. Through these local units, together with regional and eparchial gatherings, we are able to provide our young people with a close-knit community that strengthens their faith through the witness and friendship of their peers.

I firmly believe that catechesis alone is not enough. Young people also need opportunities to form holy friendships that will support and sustain them in a culture increasingly hostile to Christian values.

My greatest joy is seeing the eparchy bear lasting spiritual fruit in the lives of its youth. The number of vocations with which Isho M’shiha has blessed the eparchy over the past decade speaks eloquently of the work He is accomplishing among our young people. I have had the privilege of ordaining two priests. We currently have five seminarians, one professed to the consecrated religious life, and four others in formation. These are clear signs of God’s abundant blessing upon our eparchy.

By God’s grace, we have also been able to provide pastoral care even to relatively small and remote communities, including those in Inverness, Scotland, and on the Isle of Wight. Knowing that we are able to help Syro-Malabar Catholics grow in their Oriental Catholic tradition through the regular celebration of the Holy Qurbana (Holy Mass) and catechesis, regardless of the size of their community, fills me with profound gratitude to the Lord.

Nevertheless, the eparchy has faced considerable challenges, particularly during its early years. One of the greatest obstacles has been the lack of permanent infrastructure where our communities could gather and celebrate the Holy Qurbana. This has inevitably limited the eparchy’s growth and its ability to provide comprehensive pastoral care to its faithful.

Language has presented another significant challenge. While many first-generation migrants naturally prefer Malayalam, the native language of Kerala, in the liturgy, the second generation is generally more comfortable worshiping in English.

Recognizing this pastoral reality, the eparchy has sought to implement a gradual transition toward greater use of English in the liturgy, while continuing to respect the linguistic heritage of the first generation. We are convinced that this approach will better serve future generations and enable them to participate more fully in the liturgical life of the Church.

How has the eparchy helped families preserve their Syro-Malabar identity while also becoming part of the local Church and wider British society?

Through commissions such as the Bible Apostolate and Catechism, we have been able to pass on the traditions, teachings and values of the Syro-Malabar Church to the younger generation, ensuring that their faith remains strong across generations.

This is achieved through almost all parishes, missions and proposed missions, which run regular Sunday School programs. Children from Year 1 to Year 12 [Grades 1-12] take part in a sophisticated catechetical program that supports families in sharing their faith.

In addition, every year the eparchy holds the Bible Kalotsavam (Bible Festival), where children, youth and adults participate in numerous faith-centered events including the Suvara Bible Quiz. Competitions range from painting and sketching to Margam Kali, a traditional dance form that originated among the Nazranis of Kerala. Participants compete at the local mission level before progressing to the regional and eparchial levels, where crowds of around 5,000 gather.

Syriac hymn competitions held under the leadership of the Women’s Forum help our women to learn the ancient and liturgical hymns.

Since 2023, the eparchy has also held an annual Urha (The Way) Quiz, which follows a similar format and further supports families in understanding the hallmarks of belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church.

At the same time, we have tried our very best to maintain the collaboration with the wider Catholic community through initiatives such as WeBelieve and Adoremus, helping Syro-Malabar Catholics to connect with the local Church and contribute to the mission of the Body of Christ. The collaborative efforts of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and similarly in Scotland, have allowed our families to feel at home away from home.

The witness of our families has been one of the greatest means of integrating into British society. I take great joy in visiting many homes during my pastoral visits and sharing in their profound faith. Many of our migrants have contributed immensely to the healthcare sector, strengthening the NHS and wider society while demonstrating their commitment to serving others. I am confident that our second-generation migrants will continue to enter a wider range of professions and remain steadfast in their faith.

How have the Handhoosa events helped to engage young Syro-Malabar Catholics, and what have you learned from them about the faith of the younger generation?

Handhoosa, meaning “Happiness,” is our annual youth gathering that has helped engage young Syro-Malabar Catholics across Great Britain by bringing them together to grow in their liturgical identity and build a strong sense of community.

Many who begin their faith journey through Catechism continue by joining the Youth Apostolate. From these events, I have learned that young people value authentic relationships and opportunities to actively live out their faith. Through participation in unit-, regional- and eparchial-level activities, they have embraced the scope and breadth of the eparchy. They form meaningful friendships across the eparchy, consequently enabling them to live out and share their faith boldly in schools, universities and workplaces.

The establishment of more than 90 local Syro-Malabar Youth Movement units has been a remarkable blessing for the eparchy. By inviting young people to organize prayer meetings, lead the choir, and take on various other responsibilities, they are not simply participating in parish life. They are becoming missionary disciples.

As St. Paul reminds us, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Cor 12:12). This spirit of unity and participation helps young people recognize that each has a unique role to play in building up the Body of M’shiha.

Leave a comment

Have there been any pastoral needs that have proved especially difficult to meet?

One of the greatest pastoral challenges I have encountered has been the eparchy’s geographical spread. While having a pastoral center in a central location such as Birmingham has been a great blessing, I am also mindful of the challenges faced by families and communities living at the furthest ends of the country. For some, distance can make it difficult to access regular pastoral support, participate in parish activities and feel fully connected to the wider eparchy.

As the eparchy continues to grow, I recognize the increasing need for more dedicated places of worship. Many communities are currently dependent on shared spaces or rented facilities, where limitations on availability, timing and resources can sometimes restrict their ability to gather freely and develop a strong parish life. Having churches and suitable places of worship of their own would provide communities with a greater sense of belonging and create a stable environment where faith, fellowship and pastoral care can flourish.

Another important pastoral need is the availability of more full-time parish priests who can journey closely with our communities. As Pope Francis reminds us, “a good shepherd smells like the sheep.” This calls us to ensure that our priests are not only ministers of the sacraments but also companions who know the joys, struggles and everyday realities of the faithful entrusted to their care. Having priests who are fully present within communities would greatly strengthen pastoral outreach, nurture families in their faith and help the eparchy respond more effectively to the needs of its growing faithful.

Despite these challenges, I remain filled with hope and gratitude for the dedication of our priests, religious, families and communities. These challenges also present opportunities for us to deepen our commitment to one another and continue building a vibrant Syro-Malabar Church in Great Britain.

In what ways has the eparchy enriched the wider Catholic Church in Great Britain over the past decade? And do you think the eparchy has a role to play in the evangelization of the country as a whole?

Over the past decade, the eparchy has enriched the Catholic Church in Great Britain through the reverent celebration of the Holy Qurbana, the faithful proclamation of the Word of God, and by fostering life-changing encounters with M’shiha. By the grace of Almighty God, the eparchy has nurtured communities that are first evangelized and then sent forth as missionary disciples to evangelize others.

The witness of our faithful, especially those serving in the health sector, has become a living proclamation of the Gospel. Through their care for the sick and vulnerable, they reveal the healing presence of M’shiha and bear witness to His love in places where hope is most needed.

I firmly believe that the eparchy has a vital role to play in the evangelization of Great Britain. By sharing the richness of our liturgical tradition, our missionary spirit, and our joyful witness to M’shiha, we can help renew faith, inspire vocations, strengthen families, and build vibrant Christian communities. As we continue to look to the future, I pray that the Ruha d’Qudsha [Holy Spirit] will use our witness to bring many more people to know, love, and follow M’shiha.

Do you still encounter misunderstandings among Latin Catholics about the Syro-Malabar Church or the role of the eparchy?

My experience has been that the vast majority of Latin Catholics are welcoming, generous, and open to the Syro-Malabar Church. Their hospitality reflects the catholicity of the Church, where different traditions enrich one another in communion.

Where misunderstandings do arise, they are usually not due to reluctance but to a lack of awareness. Some are unfamiliar with the nature of the Syro-Malabar Church as a sui iuris Church and may not fully understand its traditions, structures, or the canonical role of the eparchy. At times, this can lead to practices that do not fully respect the rights and discipline of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

As Orientalium ecclesiarum 6 reminds us, those engaged in ministry should be formed in the knowledge, respect, and appreciation of the rites, discipline, history, and spirituality of the Eastern Churches. Continued dialogue, collaboration, and mutual learning will strengthen communion and help us witness more fully to the richness of the universal Church.

What are your priorities and hopes for the eparchy over the next decade?

I strongly believe that the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Great Britain, by fulfilling the mission entrusted to us by Isho M’shiha through His vicar in Rome, can play a significant role in the revival of the Catholic Church in Great Britain.

Unlike many ethnic communities within the Catholic Church in Great Britain, our eparchy enables its faithful to belong to a particular Church with its own liturgy, theology, spirituality and canonical discipline. By witnessing to the richness of our Eastern Christian tradition, we have the potential to contribute to a new evangelization and offer a distinctive spiritual witness to the Church in Great Britain.

To achieve this, the Syro-Malabar Church in Great Britain must gradually move beyond an exclusively Malayalam-speaking identity. Our aim is to make English the principal language of the liturgy, catechesis and the wider pastoral life of the eparchy, while remaining fully faithful to our Syro-Malabar heritage. The fostering of abundant local vocations will be essential to achieving this vision.

One of our principal priorities for the coming years will be to address the infrastructural challenges facing our eparchy, particularly the lack of churches and parish halls owned by our community. Dependence on shared facilities limits our ability to flourish and to live out our ecclesial heritage fully. The establishment of our own parishes and churches will greatly strengthen our mission and enable us to fulfill more effectively the purpose for which this eparchy was established.

Our catechetical program, which provides a structured 12-year formation for children and young people up to the age of 17, has served our community well. Likewise, our pastoral organizations have successfully encouraged the active participation of the laity in the life and mission of the eparchy, ensuring that their gifts and voices contribute to the growth of our Church.

In the years ahead, I hope to embrace the motto, “Evangelized to evangelize.” Having received the gift of faith, we must now become its joyful witnesses. We will encourage every member of the Syro-Malabar faithful to share the Gospel confidently in their families, workplaces, schools and every sphere of daily life, so that our eparchy may not only preserve the faith but also become an instrument of its growth throughout Great Britain.

The best way I can summarize the past decade in the life of the eparchy is with the words of 1 Cor 3:6: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” Over these years, the eparchy and its faithful have worked tirelessly to fulfill the mission entrusted to us. Yet, as St. Paul reminds us elsewhere, “Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor 15:10). Whatever has been achieved during this past decade has ultimately been the work of God’s grace, guiding and sustaining our efforts.

Subscribe now

I’m Luke Coppen and I aim to guide you each weekday morning to the most interesting Catholic news and commentary.

Read more

Security camera footage showed a man dousing the altar of Saint James Parish in the Bosnian town of Medjugorje with a flammable liquid and setting it on fire during the early hours of Tuesday morning. The same day, several pictures circulated on social media showing statues of Our Lady vandalized with blasphemous graffiti.

Bosnian police identified and arrested Bartłomiej Włodzimierz Krakowiak, a Polish national, as the main suspect in the vandalism the same day as the attack. According to Bosnian media, Krakowiak went on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in 2017 after being diagnosed with depression.

According to local media, police in the nearby town of Citluk received reports in the early morning of July 28 that several statues of Our Lady had been vandalized, covering her face with black graffiti and with messages such as “Medjugorje is a deception,” “Only Jesus,” and blasphemous phrases.

Police also found a banner with the first names of the six alleged visionaries of Medjugorje with a message in Polish saying “they are fraudsters, I have evidence.”

The local parish put out a statement the same day saying: “it is with great sadness that we received the news of the act of vandalism that damaged the prayer areas in our parish. We immediately began cleaning and repairing the damage so that all areas would be properly prepared for the prayer again.”

“We thank all those who, with their work and selfless help, participate in ensuring that the sanctuary remains a place of encounter with God, a place of peace, and a place where the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, is honored,” it adds.

The parish invited Catholics to pray, fast, and forgive after the blasphemous attack.

“In a special way, we invite all faithful to respond to this event in the way that Our Lady has been teaching us for over forty years in Medjugorje: with prayer, fasting, and forgiveness. We pray for the conversion of the hearts of those who committed this act, that the Lord may touch them with His grace and lead them on the path of goodness.”

“We also pray for peace in the hearts of all people. Our Lady constantly invites us to be carriers of peace. May this event encourage us to take her invitation even more seriously: not to return evil for evil, but to witness love, forgiveness, and hope with our lives,” the statement says.

The statement emphasized that ordinary devotional activities at the shrine would not stop.

“The shrine remains open to all pilgrims. The prayer program is taking place regularly, and all the spaces are being rapidly cleaned and prepared so that they can once again be a place of prayer and encounter with the Lord through the intercession of the Queen of Peace.”

Thousands of young people are expected to attend the Medjugorje’s International Youth Festival on Aug. 1-6. Local media reported that the Franciscan community in charge of the shrine said that they’re not expecting any changes to the schedule and that the parish will be ready to receive the pilgrims by then.

Subscribe now

—

An estimated 50 million people have visited the village of Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, since June 24, 1981, when six youngsters reported seeing an apparition of a woman bathed in brilliant light.

The six — Ivan Dragičević, Ivanka Ivanković, Jakov Čolo, Marija Pavlović, Mirjana Dragičević, and Vicka Ivanković — identified the figure as the Gospa (“Lady” in Croatian).

They said the Gospa referred to herself as the “Queen of Peace” and shared messages calling for prayer, conversion, and fasting, which are reported to continue to this day.

After decades of investigation and assessment of the visionaries’ claims, in 2024 the Vatican doctrine office offered a cautiously positive assessment of the alleged Marian messages emanating from Medjugorje, authorizing the local bishop to issue a declaration of “nihil obstat” (“nothing stands in the way”).

According to the DDF’s note, “the nihil obstat indicates that the faithful can receive a positive encouragement for their Christian life through this spiritual proposal, and it authorizes public acts of devotion.”

The DDF was careful, though, to distinguish between the positive acts of popular piety which had developed around the site, which the Vatican affirmed, and the supernatural claims of the visionaries, on which it returned no endorsement: “Evaluating the abundant and widespread fruits, which are so beautiful and positive, does not imply that the alleged supernatural events are declared authentic.”

“Instead, it only highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful ‘in the midst’ of this spiritual phenomenon of Medjugorje. For this reason, all are invited to appreciate and share the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal.”

“Moreover, the positive assessment that most of the messages of Medjugorje are edifying does not imply a declaration that they have a direct supernatural origin. Consequently, when referring to ‘messages’ from Our Lady, one should always bear in mind that they are ‘alleged messages.’”

The dicastery’s note said “the time has come to conclude a long and complex history that has surrounded the spiritual phenomena of Medjugorje,” acknowledging that “bishops, theologians, commissions, and analysts” had expressed contrasting opinions.

The DDF also “strongly advised” that “pilgrimages are not made to meet with alleged visionaries but to have an encounter with Mary, the Queen of Peace.”

Subscribe now

Among the fruits associated with the shrine, the dicastery highlighted vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and “genuine conversions of people who had been far from God and the Church.”

The note said the “central aspects” of the Medjugorje messages included an emphasis on peace, Christocentrism (the centrality of Jesus), the call to conversion, prayer, fasting, the Mass, and sacramental confession.

“However, a few messages stray from these positive and edifying contents and even seem to go so far as to contradict them. As a result, one should be attentive lest these few confused elements overshadow the beauty of the whole.”

In conclusion, the note said its observations created the conditions “to proceed with the determination of a nihil obstat.”

“Through the nihil obstat about a spiritual event, the faithful ‘are authorized to give it their adherence in a prudent manner,’” it explained.

“While this does not imply a declaration of the supernatural character of the phenomenon in question — and recalling that the faithful are not obliged to believe in it — the nihil obstat indicates that the faithful can receive a positive encouragement for their Christian life through this spiritual proposal, and it authorizes public acts of devotion.”

“Such a determination is possible insofar as many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God.”

Subscribe now

The Vatican announced July 29 that Bishop Gerard Nash, who has led the Diocese of Ferns since 2021, would also serve as the Bishop of Ossory, uniting the neighboring dioceses in persona episcopi (in the person of the bishop).

Share

Nash, who is 67, will oversee both dioceses, though they remain juridically separate. He has served as the apostolic administrator of the Ossory diocese since Jan. 25, 2026.

Ferns and Ossory are the fourth set of Irish dioceses to be united in persona episcopi, but the previous three sets were in the Ecclesiastical Province of Tuam in the West of Ireland.

The July 29 announcement marks the first in persona episcopi union in the Ecclesiastical Province of Dublin, indicating that the consolidation process is not limited to a single geographical area of Ireland.

Commenting on his appointment, Nash said: “This amalgamation of dioceses has begun in the West of Ireland and will continue in the rest of our country as opportunity allows.”

The Catholic Church in Ireland has 26 dioceses divided into four ecclesiastical provinces, serving roughly 4.3 million Catholics. Until now, diocesan restructuring has been limited to the Ecclesiastical Province of Tuam, which covers a largely rural area with a relatively small population.

The wave of in persona episcopi appointments in the ecclesiastical province began in February 2022, when Bishop Michael Duignan of Clonfert was also appointed Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh, and Kilfenora, a neighboring diocese.

In February 2025, Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin was also named Bishop of Achonry, where he had served as apostolic administrator since April 2024.

In February 2026, Archbishop Francis Duffy of Tuam was also appointed Bishop of Killala, uniting the neighboring dioceses in persona episcopi.

The Diocese of Ferns, which dates back to the seventh century, served 110,593 Catholics in 2023, according to the catholic-hierarchy.org website. The Diocese of Ossory, which traces its origins to the sixth century, encompassed 81,832 Catholics in 2023. Bishop Nash is therefore responsible for more than 192,000 Catholics in total, following the latest in persona episcopi union.

Welcoming the change July 29, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin said: “In consultation with the apostolic nuncio, who had met members of faithful and of the clergy and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, the Holy Father has determined that appointing Bishop Nash as Bishop of Ossory, and uniting the dioceses of Ossory and Ferns in the person and ministry of the new bishop, is a good way for both dioceses to embrace the challenge of bringing the Good News of Christ to new generations of Irish people.”

“This development allows both dioceses to preserve their individual identities while having the same bishop. It also allows for consultative bodies, such as the Ossory council of priests, to be established and vacant offices — such as that of vicar general — to be filled.”

The Leinster Express, a newspaper serving Ireland’s County Laois, reported July 29 that there was discontent in the Ossory diocese at its recent rapid succession of bishops.

Leave a comment

The diocese was led by Bishop Séamus Freeman, S.A.C., from 2007 to 2016. He was succeeded in 2018 by Bishop Dermot Farrell, who left two years later when he was named Archbishop of Dublin.

Farrell’s successor was Bishop Niall Coll, who moved on in 2025, after less than three years in the post, to lead the Diocese of Raphoe.

Bishop Nash is therefore the Ossory diocese’s fourth bishop in the past decade.

Nash suggested that structural changes in the Irish Church allowed “real roles of responsibility and authority to be offered to lay people to build up the local Christian community.”

Referring to the union in persona episcopi of the Ferns and Ossory dioceses, he said: “One of the possible collaborations between both dioceses will be in the area of vocations to priesthood and religious life. Both dioceses are working hard at this very important task and already some very good prospects for the diocesan priesthood are emerging. There are certainly green shoots visible.”

“Our dioceses will not survive without the Sacraments and to be sustainable we will need to provide our own priests who will work collaboratively with a wide range of trained lay ministers to bring the Gospel to young and old, the sick and the well, and to welcome those who are searching for answers.”

Pope Leo XIV accepted July 11 the resignation for age reasons of Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor, the apostolic nuncio to Ireland. It is not known when the Argentine archbishop’s successor will be appointed.

Montemayor, who served as nuncio to Ireland for just over three years, suggested in April 2024 that the union of dioceses in persona episcopi in the Ecclesiastical Province of Tuam could be a step on the way to full mergers.

“If this process evolves still further, the associated dioceses may then merge fully under their bishop, and, in this way, the six dioceses in the Province of Tuam will eventually become three,” he said.

Similar diocesan consolidation processes are underway in England, Wales, and Scotland.

The Vatican has raised the possibility of a merger of England’s Leeds, Middlesbrough, and Hallam dioceses.

The Holy See has also asked Scotland’s bishops to consider whether the current division into eight dioceses is still suitable.

In 2024, the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the Diocese of Menevia — two of the three dioceses in Wales — officially merged two years after they were united in persona episcopi.

Subscribe now

After experiencing powerful spiritual moments from jampacked summers of Steubenville Conferences, LifeTeen and summer camps, or even parish pilgrimages and mission trips to far flung locales, some teenagers find the spiritual “high” of the summer doesn’t keep up with the day-to-day grind of regular life.

Youth ministers call it the “spiritual crash,” and few of them are surprised when it happens.

But what can be done to help kids develop their spiritual lives, build for the long-term from powerful “one-shot” experiences?

Eddie Cotter is familiar with the notorious spiritual crash.

For the past 35 years, he has worked as a youth minister, attending many camps and conferences along the way. (He’s also a former rock musician, member of an Irish band and the Rockefeller Center Santa Claus.) He is the assistant director of youth ministry at St. Patrick Parish in Columbus, Ohio and the executive director of the Dead Theologians Society, an international apostolate providing youth ministers with resources to host weekly youth group events that focus on the lives of saints, Eucharistic adoration, and the rosary.

Over those years, Cotter has worked to mitigate the lasting effects of the spiritual crash — and worked to successfully integrate kids into ongoing youth groups after intense spiritual summers. Part of that work led to building and launching the Dead Theologians Society, whose meetings aim at what Cotter dubs “spiritual maintenance” — helping teens to persist along in their spiritual life.

Spiritual maintenance is essential to successfully fostering teens’ spiritual lives after intense summers, Cotter told The Pillar. And, he said, it requires intentionality, invitation, and endurance.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Subscribe now

Eddie, there are plenty of events each summer in the Catholic landscape which leave teens with a kind of “spiritual high.”

The “conference” approach to evangelization and formation is often criticized. And yet such events do tend to be inspirational, right?

So many of them do great things and I think they are important and they serve a great purpose. They help catapult young people into real conversion, or to have some very strong spiritual highs and consolations.

Part of the reason why they’re successful is one, you have some very holy, faithful people who run them and volunteer for them. I think that’s an important ingredient.

[Such events] also provide the opportunity for young people to unplug from the world for several days, sometimes it can be for a week or more. That allows time to pray, to put distractions aside, to be able to hear the voice of God in their life, and receive those promptings.

It’s a radical departure from being so immersed in the world that it’s something that’s different, it’s unique, it’s exciting, it’s profound.

Why does this work in youth ministry?

First, at these events, young people are with their friends or it is an opportunity to meet other young people on fire for their faith, often for the first time, which I think provides a level of excitement and genuine interest.

Then, many of these camps and events are serving up many treasures of the Catholic faith with Mass, adoration, catechetical talks and some music with ime to pray.

Also, these camps and weekends are often a little more rigorous — whether it’s listening to lots of talks or something like that where the teens are investing, they’re putting skin in the game. It’s almost like they’re walking up the mountain and it can be kind of long and hard so they feel the reward more.

All these factors combined form a great buffet of Catholicism for young people where through the course of the mass and sacraments and all these things the Holy Spirit can really, really touch their hearts.

I love the analogy of climbing a mountain. Are there any dangers or temptations with these “mountaintop moments?”

For some young people that come from solidly Catholic families and they’re used to practicing their faith and they’re already solidly Catholic, these experiences can be great icing on an already solidly Catholic cake.

Then there are some who might be Catholic minimalists from Catholic minimalist families. And I think for them, taking the time to get infused with a tremendous Catholic experience is wonderful. They, though, are at a little higher risk of becoming a little disillusioned when those powerful moments are not maintained, especially when they come back to the routines, the distractions and the temptations of life.

Then there are young people who go to Catholic high schools but come from homes that are non-practicing. For some of these young people, big events might become a first time “wow!” experience, and that could be a real spiritual high — it could be even a conversion.

But if they go back home and the families, the friends, even parents, if that’s not supported, if it’s even ridiculed or mocked or undermined, I think then that can really stamp out the flame

What do teenagers experience after “mountaintop moments?”

Most people don’t have the Saul of Tarsus experience. I do know of a few radical conversions [from such events] which have lasted for decades but I think that’s more the exception rather than a rule.

Young people, afterwards, often think “Wow, that was a great experience, but was it even real?” or, “Wow, was my feeling genuine? Was it authentic? Was I just kind of riding a spiritual high?”

Even if they felt like it was real, but they go back and there’s nothing to keep the fires burning at the parish level, at the home level, at the school level — then they can start to feel a sense of guilt: “I was sincere there and now I’ve fallen back” or “maybe I’m not doing this right.”

That conflict can be a bit crushing.

Thus, there’s a critical need for spiritual maintenance, because in life we need maintenance for good things, whether it’s physical activity, mental activity, or with spiritual things.

The experiences that so many of the young people have could definitely be very genuine. But then I think it’s critical that parishes either have things like Dead Theologians Society or similar, which is why we founded the apostolate to keep the fires burning.

Parish-based youth ministry programs struggle to keep kids engaged after “mountain moments? Why do you think many young people fall away after big faith moments?

Primarily it is the influence of the world of worldly things, i.e technology, pornography, drinking, money etc.

But this challenge also shows that evil does exist.

Spiritually, evil wants to destroy your high. They want to destroy your faith. So it does anything to minimize the impact of a good Catholic experience. The world invests zillions of dollars and they never stop trying to win the souls of young people.

We’re in a spiritual war. And I think when we realize that, then we need to get the resources, spend the money, do what we have to do to help combat the negative influences that are out there.

You keep reiterating that spiritual maintenance is key. What can parishes do to promote spiritual maintenance as soon as the bus arrives back from camp, so to speak? What should be the week one strategy?

It’s great for teens to be greeted by those who support them; whether it’s their parents or family members, the youth minister, the priests at the parish, someone needs to be there to welcome them back, congratulate them, and show them that they are proud of the teens.

Over the next week, they need to have a moment to process what just happened — it could be a 15-minute or an hour, “Hey, let’s all meet in the church or something. How was your experience? Talk about it. Let’s give you some strategies to keep this going. “

The youth minister needs to give some reality checks emphasizing, “Don’t feel bad if this high you’re on starts to subside a little bit.” But encouragement is important.

What about a long-term strategy?

Every parish should have something that meets regularly, that’s grounded in total Catholic faith, it is good to have programs that aren’t just flash in the pan events.

Whether it meets once a week or twice a month at a minimum, consistency is key. Programs that meet maybe just once a month have a hard time building community and momentum.

Consistency and frequency is really important because of all the distractions, and the amount of hours in a young person’s life spent doing things that aren’t Catholic and maybe are even anti-Catholic, it’s a lot. So the more frequency we can provide for them with hours spent doing Catholic things, the better.

If you have regular meetings a young person can be connected with a solid Catholic group of friends and around great formation, then they’re more equipped when they go to college to maintain the faith.

The key is to have a faithful youth ministry team, a holy, vibrant youth minister, a holy priest who’s supportive, a core team that’s dedicated and can help provide outreach.

Successful strategies that I’ve found in my own life are the practice of going with other core team members to events that a teen is participating in.

Attend a teen’s sporting events or plays or concerts, to support them and show that you really do care.

It can be a good witness and it doesn’t have to be loud and obnoxious but it can just be a very genuine demonstration that we care about them in their life outside of the church.

We need to go to the teens’ turf and not just have them only come to our turf.

Then when they do come to our turf, let’s give them something that’s solid and inspiring and truthful.

At these conferences and camps, you’re with friends, you’re with a lot of other young teenagers, passionate about the faith, lots of flashing lights, great speakers.

Big summer conferences and camps can be flashy — highly produced liturgies, major speakers, etc. How do you make a normal Sunday youth group appealing, when you don’t have a Father Mike Schmitz type on the stage? Or any stage at all?

The key is that these conferences and retreats share a responsibility to prepare the young people for when they go back to their day-to-day lives.

They need to let them know: “Hey, what you experienced here isn’t going to last every day. But the most important thing are that you can receive the same Jesus in the Eucharist when you go home, which is the source in the summit of our life.:

Emphasizing the essentials and preparing them, that it’s not always going to be a great buffet at the end. It’s not always going to be the greatest speaker, but Jesus will still be there. That’s why it is necessary to plug them into Jesus and the Eucharist at these conferences.

Is there anything that youth ministers or group leaders can do during big retreats to help their teenagers prepare for when they return to the parish?

Before the young people go, there should be the opportunity for the youth minister to address these issues, to let them know a little bit what to expect and to encourage them by saying, “Be all in on this. And when you come back, we will be here for you. “

By doing that, you help them manage their expectations at the beginning and at the end. And when they come back, you can let them know what you experienced is real. It doesn’t happen all the time. Just like a wedding day and a reception is very real, but it’s not going to be like that every day.

—
Spiritual maintenance is a wonderful thing and it must connect people into the sacramental life of the church, but it has to be substance over style.

If youth ministry or other organizations emphasize style over substance, then the young person could become addicted to the style. And then sometimes if they liked the style — whether it was the music, the food, the comfortable chairs or whatever — then they may seek out a church with that style versus the substance. There can be a danger of some young people even leaving a Catholic church if they don’t realize what they’re leaving.

They go for the style. They want the camaraderie, the hospitality, the donuts. It is incumbent that we must, must, must plug the young people into the sacramental life of the church, that all the other things can be moments of great icing, but you have to have that solid Catholic cake.

It’s the solid food that helps them realize the non-fading beauty of the Church and the sacraments.

These conferences, these camps, these moments are beautiful, they’re profound, they’re real. Youth ministers and all those involved in these events should let teens know that when you leave from here, embrace with enthusiasm a mission. Sometimes mission can be hard, but it’s always worth it.

Subscribe now

I’m Luke Coppen and I seek to guide you each weekday morning to the most interesting Catholic news and commentary.

Read more

Among the figures whose causes are progressing is Padre Léo, who established a network of houses supporting people addicted to drugs and alcohol. The Dehonian priest died in 2007, at the age of 45. His reputation for holiness was so strong that his beatification cause opened in 2020.

This month, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints recognized the validity of the diocesan phase of Padre Léo’s beatification cause — another step in the long journey toward canonization.

Padre Léo is joined on the path by several fellow countrymen, some better known than others. Here is a quick, though not exhaustive, rundown of the candidates. All died after 2000, meaning their reputations for holiness have emerged within living memory.

Many 21st-century sainthood candidates were born outside Brazil but made their homes there, often as missionaries. To keep this overview manageable, this article focuses solely on those who were Brazilian-born.

The Servants of God

Waldir Lopes de Castro (1931-2001) didn’t see much of the 21st century. He nevertheless left a powerful impression on his contemporaries in Marco, a municipality in the northeastern state of Ceará, where he served as pastor for the last 37 years of his life.

Locals were struck by the long line of people who would gather outside his parish house seeking help. Monsenhor Waldir, as he was popularly known, was especially devoted to the town’s poorest people. He died on Dec. 22, 2001, at the age of 70, after being struck by a car while on his morning walk.

Gilberto Maria Defina (1925-2004) also showed an exceptional sensitivity toward the needy, which he combined with a reputation for miracle-working. The son of Italian immigrants grew up in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. As a child, he had a dream of Christ on the Cross that stayed with him for the rest of his life. He entered the Claretians and was ordained a priest in 1950.

Defina’s greatest institutional legacy was founding the Fraternidade dos Salvistas in the Diocese of Santo Amaro, dedicated to nurturing new priestly vocations.

Luciano Pedro Mendes de Almeida (1930-2006) was an outspoken defender of human rights who also sought to enhance the lives of the elderly and people with disabilities. A Jesuit priest, he was named an auxiliary bishop of São Paulo at the age of 45. In 1988, he was appointed the Archbishop of Mariana, Minas Gerais, a role that he combined with serving as president of the Brazilian bishops’ conference. His cause opened in 2014.

Léo Tarcísio Gonçalves Pereira (1961-2007) was a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal who felt called to the priesthood and was ordained as a Dehonian in 1990. Padre Léo, as he came to be known throughout Brazil, founded the Bethânia Community in 1995. The community offered free shelter to people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, those living with HIV, and abandoned children. A gifted and lively preacher, he began treatment for cancer in April 2006 and died months later.

Marcelo Henrique Câmara (1979-2008) also died well before his time. Marcelinho, as he was known, was a bright young man who embarked on a promising legal career. In 1997, he had a life-changing spiritual experience during a retreat organized by the Brazilian Movimento de Emaús. He was drawn to Opus Dei, attracted by its emphasis on the sanctification of work, and became a supernumerary member in 2006.

After concluding his legal studies, he became a public prosecutor in Santa Catarina, establishing a reputation for both charity and rigor. He was diagnosed with leukemia and died at the age of 28.

Zilda Arns Neumann (1934-2010) was an accomplished public figure whose life was cut short by an earthquake in Haiti, where she was on a humanitarian mission. She was the sister of Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, the Archbishop of São Paulo from 1970 to 1998. Her best-known work was founding Pastoral da Criança, an organization that today operates one of the world’s largest community-based child health and nutrition programs.

Maria da Luz Teixeira de Carvalho (1922-2013) was a religious sister and reputed visionary from Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco. After entering religious life, she dedicated herself to education and service to the poor, including work with Indigenous communities.

Irmã Adélia, as she was known, reported experiencing Marian apparitions as a child in 1936 but kept the experience private for decades. She spoke about it after being diagnosed with cancer in 1985 and later reported that she was cured after returning to the site of the apparitions. She died at the age of 90 after a long respiratory illness.

Leave a comment

The Venerables

Maria Luiza Rezende Marques (1915-2005) was a Discalced Carmelite who is known in English as Tereza Margarida of the Heart of Mary. After joining the order, she helped to establish a new convent in Três Pontas, Minas Gerais, where she became a sought-after spiritual director. She was known affectionately as nossa mãe (“our mother”) to those who received her wise counsel. She died at the convent at the age of 89. She was recognized as Venerable in 2023.

Aloísio Sebastião Boeing (1913-2006) was born into a German Catholic family in Brazil’s southern Santa Catarina state. He entered the Dehonians and earned a reputation as a diligent novice master. Novices were not the only ones who sought out his advice. It was said that he would work through the night, offering spiritual guidance to individuals and families in person and over the phone. When he sensed he was close to death in 2006, he told those he loved: “You will find me in the Eucharist.” He was also recognized as Venerable in 2023.

Guido Schäffer (1974-2009) has arguably the highest profile of Brazil’s 21st-century canonization candidates. The doctor-turned-seminarian was known for his love of surfing, as well as his care for the poor of Rio de Janeiro. When he was seemingly in the prime of his life, he was struck in the back of the head by a surfboard while out in the waves and drowned. He was declared Venerable in 2023.

Subscribe now

The appointments by Leo also marked the conclusion of the five-year terms for Cardinals Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R., of Newark and Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect emeritus of the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the only two non-canonist members of the tribunal.

Share

The appointments and departures appear to close a practice by Pope Francis to appoint non-canon lawyers to the Signatura, while instead bringing in the first full members who are legal experts but not bishops.

Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone of San Francisco; Bishop Krzysztof Nitkiewicz of Sandomierz; Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary emeritus of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts; Bishop Edward M. Lohse of Kalamazoo; Fr. Eduardo Baura, professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross; and Msgr. Gianpaolo Montini and Fr. Ulrich Rhode, S.J., professors at the Gregorian University were all appointed as new members of the tribunal.

Although Pope Benedict XVI changed the tribunal’s law in 2008 to permit non-bishops as members, neither he nor Pope Francis exercised the provision.

The Vatican did not immediately clarify which existing members’ terms had expired, fueling speculation and prompting mistaken reports that Pope Leo had dismissed all members Francis appointed to the tribunal in 2021.

What actually happened with the Apostolic Signatura? The Pillar takes a look.

Who is being replaced?

While Pope Leo XIV became the first modern pope to appoint non-bishops to the Signatura, he did not continue Pope Francis’ practice of appointing non-canon lawyers to the tribunal, passing the seats of Cardinals Tobin and Müller to canonists at the conclusion of their five-year terms.

In 2017, Francis appointed Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona and Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo, who were not canon lawyers, to the Apostolic Signatura. In 2021, he appointed Tobin and Müller.

Menichelli died in 2025 and Omella previously stepped down from the court.

The Holy See press office bulletin typically announces only new appointments without identifying which existing members have had their terms renewed or extended. Members are instead notified privately by letter, either thanking them for their service or informing them their terms have been extended for another five years, until they turn 80, or that they were confirmed until their terms expire.

Complicating matters further, while cardinals must step down from other dicasteries at 80, the Signatura’s governing law contains no retirement age provision, making it difficult to determine which members had been replaced until publication of the Annuario Pontificio.

For example, Cardinals Leonardo Sandri and Giuseppe Versaldi are still members of the Signatura despite both being 82 years old.

While the online version of the Annuario Pontificio is updated almost immediately, it doesn’t provide information about which members were renewed for a full term, confirmed in their current terms, or renewed until their 80th birthday.

Responding to questions from The Pillar, the Holy See press office said that all the new members but Arrieta were appointed for a full five-year term, while Arrieta – who turned 75 in April – was appointed until his 80th birthday.

The two sole non-canonists in the tribunal, Tobin and Müller, did not have their terms renewed by Leo, along with Archbishop Fernando Monteiro Guimaraes, military ordinary emeritus of Brazil, Bishop Christoph Hegge, auxiliary bishop of Münster, and Bishop Mark Leonard Bartchak, bishop of Altoona-Johnstown.

Cardinals Giuseppe Versaldi, Leonardo Sandri, and Raymond Leo Burke, together with Bishop Jan Hendriks of Haarlem-Amsterdam, were confirmed for the balance of their current terms, which are due to expire between 2027 and 2028.

Cardinal James Harvey, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and Bishop Celso Morga, emeritus bishop of Mérida-Badajoz in Spain, were confirmed until their 80th birthdays.

Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops; Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest; Archbishop Cyril Vasil’, S.J. of Košice for Byzantine-rite Catholics; Archbishop Stanislav Zvolenský of Bratislava; Bishop Dominicus Meier, O.S.B. of Osnabrück; Bishop Ryszard Kasyna of Pelplin; Bishop Andrea Migliavacca of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro; Bishop Egidio Miragoli of Mondovì; Bishop Pierantonio Pavanello of Adria-Rovigo were all confirmed for another five-year term.

Who was appointed?

Pope Leo XIV appointed seven new members to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura on July 25.

The list includes two American bishops: San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Bishop Edward Lohse, Bishop of Kalamazoo.

Cordileone has been the Archbishop of San Francisco since 2012 and has significant canonical experience, including having served as an assistant in the Signatura between 1995 and 2002, when he became an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of San Diego.

Lohse was ordained in the Diocese of Erie in 1989. After serving in various diocesan posts, he worked in the then-Congregation for the Clergy between 2010 and 2015, receiving a doctorate of canon law from the Gregorian University, before returning to Erie to work in the chancery and becoming Bishop of Kalamazoo in 2023.

The pope also appointed Polish Bishop Krzysztof Nitkiewicz of Sandomierz who previously taught canon law at the Białystok seminary. He went on to work in the Dicastery for Eastern Churches in 1992, becoming its undersecretary in 2002. He was appointed bishop of Sandomierz in 2009.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, one of the Vatican’s most renowned and longest-serving canon lawyers, was also named by Leo to the Signatura on Saturday. Arrieta served for nearly 20 years as secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts until his retirement this June after turning 75 years old in April.

Ordained as a priest of Opus Dei in 1977, he was the founding dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the University of the Holy Cross between 1984 and 1993 and then from 1995 and 1999. He also served as the dean of the Institute of Canon Law Saint Pius X in Venice between 2003 and 2008, and between 2004 and 2019 he was a canon prelate of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

He has also previously served as legal secretary of the Apostolic Signatura and judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the Vatican City State and as consultant of several dicasteries.

He currently serves as coordinator of the General Secretariat of the Synod’s commission to review the Code of Canons of Eastern Churches.

While the Apostolic Signatura could in theory have non-bishops as members since 2008, Leo is the first pope to exercise the option, naming three non-bishops as members of the tribunal: Fr. Eduardo Baura, Fr. Ulrich Rhode, S.J., and Msgr. Gianpaolo Montini.

Baura, also a priest of Opus Dei, succeeded Arrieta as dean of canon law of the University of the Holy Cross between 1999 and 2007 and currently teaches canon law at the same university and at the Institute of Canon Law Saint Pius X in Venice.

Rhode is a professor of canon law at the Gregorian University and was dean of the canonical faculty between 2019 and 2025.

He has also served as a consultant for the Dicastery for Culture and Education; Laity, Family and Life, and Legislative Texts. He had been an expert consultant of the Apostolic Signatura since 2021.

Montini is one of the preeminent experts in the Signatura’s procedures and an emeritus professor of the Gregorian University’s faculty of canon law and has taught canon law at various universities and seminaries in Italy. He also served as judge at the Lombard regional ecclesiastical tribunal between 1988 and 2000.

He worked as a referendary between 1990 and 1995, substitute defender of the bond between 2000 and 2004, substitute promoter of justice between 2004–2008, and promoter of justice between 2008 and 2019.

What is the Apostolic Signatura?

The Apostolic Signatura functions as the Church’s final court of appeal, both for canonical matters and in some cases in the civil courts of Vatican City. It is the court which hears cases appealing decisions or decrees from almost all Vatican departments treating all categories of Church life, though appeals.

Among the few exceptions to this are disciplinary cases concerning crimes reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has its own Supreme Apostolic Tribunal delegated by the pope to handle especially sensitive criminal matters concerning crimes against the faith and sacraments.

The bulk of the Signatura’s caseload concerns appeals regarding the exercise of ecclesiastical governance through executive authority. If, for example, an individual or group with legal standing appeals against an act of governance placed by a diocesan bishop, that case is referred to the relevant Vatican department, usually the Dicastery for Clergy. Following the dicastery’s decision, either party from the original appeal can then make further, final, recourse to the Signatura.

The Apostolic Signatura also functions as a final court of appeal for cases decided by the Roman Rota, the Vatican appeals court for judicial processes throughout the global Church’s canonical system.

However, the Signatura does not rehear cases appealed from the Rota on the merits of the case — only procedural questions are considered. The court decides whether the Rota followed the rules of a proper trial, not whether its decision, if it did follow the rules, was a good one.

If procedural law wasn’t followed, the Signatura can vacate a Rotal decision and order a new hearing, but it cannot retry the case itself on the merits.

The Signatura’s decisions often primarily treat questions of administrative procedure and legal process, and rule on the proper exercise of authority in the Church. Members of the tribunal are, therefore, often appointed in recognition of their technical expertise in the practice of canon law.

Subscribe now

Located just steps from the security lines where tourists and pilgrims wait to enter St. Peter’s Basilica, the entrance to the clinic is modest enough that a passerby could easily mistake it for a small office, or not notice it at all.

But since its inauguration at the behest of Pope Francis in 2016, the clinic has progressively expanded its services and today it serves around 2,000 patients per month – mostly people living in the streets of Rome – free of charge, with a group of almost 120 medical professionals working in the clinic as volunteers.

“We have about 60 to 70 patients per day, some days when we have many specialties available we reach 100 or 110, but the monthly average is around 2,000 patients, although there are months in which we have 3,000 patients,” Dr. Massimo Ralli, director of the clinic since 2021, told The Pillar.

The clinic was inaugurated in 2016, during the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

“There was a small room used for pilgrims when there was a medical emergency, and then the old post office was renovated to inaugurate a proper clinic, which was finally done in January 2019,” Ralli, who was also appointed undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity on June 30, added.

Subscribe now

San Martino, a second clinic with two additional rooms adjacent to the Madre di Misericordia clinic, was inaugurated by Pope Leo in November 2025.

Archbishop Luís Marín de San Martín, OSA, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, which is in charge of the clinic, told The Pillar that Pope Francis was moved by a desire to help people who had a difficulty in accessing healthcare services.

“These are primarily homeless people, who are often undocumented and therefore unable to access health care. Although we know that health care is legally guaranteed for everyone in Italy, for these individuals it is often limited to the management of medical emergencies, while primary care, diagnostic tests, rehabilitation, and the provision of medications are frequently denied to them,” Marín said.

Marín de San Martín said the clinic’s service is inspired by the Gospel story of the Good Samaritan.

“It is important to reflect on the figure of the Good Samaritan who, upon encountering a brother in distress, ‘approached [him], poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him.’ (Lk 10:33–34). We must never forget that in the flesh of the poor, we touch the flesh of Christ.”

“It was this vision of faith—even before any charitable initiative—that gave rise to the clinic as a concrete expression of a Church that is a mother and bends down to embrace her most wounded children,” Marín added.

Ralli said that, although Italy guarantees hospital care for all, some people still face obstacles when trying to access certain healthcare services.

“When a patient comes here, in many cases these are people who have no documents, no Italian health card, and do not know how to get medical care. Approximately 40% of our patients are Italians and 60% are foreigners. Many do not know how to be assisted. We know that anyone on the national territory can go to the emergency room, and they’re treated, but we also try to give that person an embrace, we try to take care of them. We welcome them,” Ralli said.

While non-emergency services are covered by Italy’s healthcare system for patients with Italian healthcare assistance, even those enrolled in assistance programs are often required to pay a co-payment that, though modest for many, can represent a significant burden for the poor.

“Many people, even if they are poor, do not have an exemption for the co-payment in all cases. That may happen for missing documents or other bureaucratic issues. So, even if a medical visit costs just 20 euros, for them that can be the difference between eating or going to the doctor. The same happens with medicines, even if someone is enrolled in the healthcare system, they have to pay for basic medicines such as Ibuprofen, so we help them with this as a form of direct charity,” Ralli added.

Marín added that sometimes the barriers to healthcare access are not legal but social.

“Some of these people may fear judgmental stares and rejection that further wounds their dignity. For these people, our clinic represents a place they can access free of charge, without needing a referral, and where they can be certain to find qualified people who will welcome them with open arms and outstretched hands. Anyone in need who comes to us is welcome—a brother, a sister. That is enough,” the archbishop said.

“Our doctors welcome them warmly, listen to them, and are there for them. The poor are at the heart of their service. This is because they see Christ in their faces, and by healing them, they heal Christ. Many of those who come to us need to talk, to share their story. Although it would be desirable for this same welcoming attitude toward the most vulnerable to be present in all healthcare facilities and institutions, I believe we must start with ourselves,” he added.

Dr. Ralli told The Pillar that it is essential for the clinic to operate at the same standard as other Italian healthcare facilities, offering patients not only medical care but also a concrete expression of their dignity.

“Patients arrive and undergo a registration process as in any hospital, they’re asked what they need and if they’re not registered in the system, we register them. Then, they get a ticket with their name, what needs to be done, and their time of arrival.”

“For example, if someone has an x-Ray, they get their report on a CD and in a folder. It may not seem like much, but it’s important to restore dignity to people also through these gestures: the person feels listened to and cared for” Ralli added.

The doctors in the clinic seem to live by Ralli’s words. The patients call the doctors by their first names, and make jokes with them. As Ralli tours the clinic, patients stop him to ask questions, and he listens attentively, looking them in the eye.

Ralli added that treating mostly poor, homeless people is no excuse for providing sub-standard care.

Subscribe now

“We must do everything in the best possible way for the poor. A simple example: the doctors’ coats arrive ironed and clean every day. The doctor takes the coat, uses it and then puts it to be washed. The same coat is not used every day. These are small details, but they restore dignity to the person, and this matters a great deal to us,” Ralli told The Pillar while changing the exam table paper in one of the clinic’s offices after an appointment.

While the clinic has over 120 volunteers and covers nearly every single medical specialty, the physical space is small, which means that scheduling the visits of specialists each month is a logistical operation in itself.

“Some of our doctors are retired physicians who come here as volunteers, others are doctors in active service, nurses, technicians and pharmacists that make some of their time available for us,” he said. “Every day, we have five or six doctors on duty, and the calendar is made public on the website.”

“A lot of people come here by word of mouth, but others come redirected from parishes, so the parish staff can always access the schedule and tell people when they’re supposed to come. Parishes work as our meeting point, as our bridge to the poor. While sometimes they go to parishes looking for food or financial support, in many cases, there’s also a health problem, so the parish priest himself becomes the bridge.”

Ralli said that, in fact, they have more doctors and medical professionals asking to come as volunteers than available slots each month and sometimes have doctors sharing a room to see their patients.

“Often we have more doctors asking to come on a given day than we have available spaces. So we ask them to take turns sharing a room, so as not to take away from a poor person the opportunity to have that visit. We keep order, but we try not to lose any possibility of care,” he added.

When Ralli says that nearly every single specialty and fundamental service is covered in the clinic, it’s not an overstatement.

The clinic conducts blood tests which are processed by the Vatican State’s Directorate of Health and Hygiene. “They can do all the necessary analyses, even the more difficult or specific analyses can be done in three or four days,” Ralli added.

“There are also many pregnant women who are taken care of in the Santa Marta Dispensary. They assist many pregnant women who have been in Italy for a short time, less than three months, in which they cannot get a health card while they regularize their paperwork, but pregnancy doesn’t wait for regularization, so the dispensary brings the women here and we can do all the tests necessary to accompany them.”

Ralli said the clinic also offers dental care and ophthalmological services.

“Dental care is also very important because people living in the streets only think of their teeth when they hurt. And you know how much a toothache hurts, so imagine how it is to be on the street in that kind of pain and without being able to buy medicine. We have dentists and technicians who come to make an assessment and make prosthesis if needed.”

“This is essential because someone without teeth cannot eat properly, cannot smile or present themselves well. Imagine a 30-year-old person who is trying to get a job but has no teeth, how can that person feel confident in presenting himself publicly?” Ralli added.

The clinic also has a special collaboration with a foundation which provides eyeglasses for patients who need them.

“There are a lot of patients that come asking for eyeglasses. We have seen people with five or six degrees of myopia who didn’t have glasses. It is impossible to reintegrate into work and society if you can’t even see what’s in front of you,” he said.

“We have ophthalmologists come here every week and conduct eye exams. We also have a collaboration with the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, which donated very advanced instruments to us. Thanks to the collaboration, an optician comes twice a month with all the frames so that the patient can choose their frame as you would do in an optical shop. They can come to collect them a week later,” Ralli added as he showed one pair of eyeglasses they had recently received for a patient. “They are beautiful glasses, like the ones you would choose for yourself.”

On November 16, 2025, during the jubilee of the poor, the San Martino clinic was inaugurated, where now X-Rays tests are conducted.

“We were able to do several diagnostic tests: electrocardiograms, spirometries, audiometric tests, eye exams, and ultrasounds. We had the issue of X-rays, but since the new clinic was open now we can do radiology tests, and we now also have this space so that more doctors can come and see patients when it’s not being used for X-rays,” Ralli said.

“This space is often used for oncology, we have an oncologist come every week and do assessment, blood tests, screenings, everything that is needed. And if there’s a diagnosis made, we accompany and guide them so that they’re able to get the care they need in the Italian healthcare system,” he added.

As Ralli speaks, one theme repeatedly emerges — a theme that also surfaces often in conversations and interviews with Archbishop Marín de San Martín: concrete charity.

“The location of this place is very symbolic, we’re right under the Holy Father’s window, so it feels like the Church is embracing these people in its own home. It’s under the colonnata, which is almost like two arms outstretched to embrace the poor that come to us.”

“It’s all concrete charity. It’s one thing to give two euros to a person on the street with back pain. That’s charity, of course, but it’s a completely different thing to tell them, ‘come, a doctor will see you and help you,’ it’s about giving you a concrete, direct solution to an issue you have.”

Archbishop Marín de San Martín agrees.

“True charity is not a theory, it’s concrete practice. It’s born from God. As the famous and ancient antiphon says, ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. God is present every time someone tends their hand to a needy person or sits down by a suffering person to listen to them. This is not a merely metaphoric present, but sacramental. The poor, the suffering person, is locus theologicus, a source of theological reflection and encounter with God.”

“We cannot bear witness to the Gospel without living it out in concrete acts of charity; we cannot truly celebrate the Eucharist unless we encounter Christ in our brother or sister who is suffering,” he added.

Subscribe now

For both Marín de San Marín and Ralli, the work of the clinic is profoundly spiritual.

“There’s a social aspect, but we’re not an NGO,” Ralli said. “This is a Christian work of charity, and that permeates everything, including the way the doctors here take care of people. It’s not a mere doctor-patient relationship, the doctor here is motivated by making himself available by welcoming and listening to the patient.”

“There are many people who came here with absolutely nothing, completely lost, but with the help they received, not only the healthcare, but the accompaniment, the word of encouragement, they were able to take their lives back into their own hands, and faith helps a great deal.”

“The charity our volunteers share is not mere philanthropy,” said Marín, “it’s all for free, without looking at the clock or asking for anything in return. And many of them get this strength out of prayer and the Eucharist. Their charity is a prolongation of what they receive in the altar, it’s the love of Christ that identifies us as Christians.”

Ralli said that while the clinic doesn’t offer any specific spiritual assistance, there is a group of 12 deacons who work in the dicastery to provide that kind of accompaniment.

“The deacons work at the listening desk, in which people come asking for all kinds of help, not only healthcare, but financial assistance or simply someone that listens to them, or for spiritual accompaniment. So the deacons serve as a first contact, as a welcoming presence.”

“Saint Augustine said that Christ is present in the poor, so accompanying them and caring for them is not a mere act of charity, but an encounter with Him,” Marín added. “God’s way necessarily leads through the way of those in need, whatever their need may be: whether it be bread or the Word. The option for the poor is the concrete face of love.”

“Deep inside, the Christian person opts for the poor because he opts for Christ. If we exercise charity by looking at the eyes of the one who suffers, we return to them their dignity. The place where the poor are cared for becomes a site of sacramental encounter with Christ, where we enter into a relationship with the suffering Jesus. In this way, this service is not only human but also a profoundly spiritual act,” Marín added.

Ralli explained that it mostly functions financially through donations.

“We have many donors. This is a beautiful thing, because charity is always beautiful, and beauty attracts those who want to collaborate. Charity is a chain: I see what you are doing and I want to help you, by donating, by doing a fundraiser, by donating an instrument,” Ralli says.

“Every instrument in the clinic was donated. For example, the new ultrasound machine, which arrived a few months ago, was donated by the President of Malta during a visit to the Holy Father. Instead of bringing any other gift, the president wanted to make a gift for the poor,” he added.

The first patient to use the ultrasound machine was an unexpected surprise.

“This machine weighs about 440 pounds so instead of bringing it up to the Apostolic Palace so that the pope could see it, they brought it directly to the clinic and we started using it. Turns out, the first patient to come that morning to have an ultrasound was a lady from Chiclayo,” Ralli said.

“So, afterward, we took the picture and the president was able to present the picture and tell the story to the Holy Father during the audience,” he added.

“Ambassadors usually come and meet with the prefect and ask how they can help and sometimes we ask for equipment for the clinic. The radiology equipment was also donated by an institution that also contributed to the expenses for the renovation of the San Martino clinic. We recently received a probe for an ultrasound machine for endovaginal and endocavitary exams that was bought through a fundraiser by a local association”, he said.

Ralli also said that medications are one of the clinic’s most significant expenses, but they’re able to receive many through the intercession of the Banco Farmaceutico, an Italian foundation.

While they’re able to provide their services with donations, Ralli says the clinic also makes an effort not to waste money by overlapping its services with the Italian public healthcare system.

“We care for everyone, but we try to avoid overlapping with medicines. If one of our patients is enrolled in the Italian healthcare system and has a legal exemption, they can receive medicines, even expensive medicines for free. Just to name one example, if you have diabetes, you can get insulin for free,” he said.

“So, we’re careful to avoid paying for a medicine someone can get free of charge at a pharmacy. It would not make sense to spend i.e.100 euros on a medicine if that person can get it by going to the pharmacy.”

Ralli says he’s aware that in many cases people don’t know they have the right to get these medicines for free or are too afraid to ask.

“That happens often. In that case we assess the situation: we explain that the person can have the exemption that allows them to get the medicine for free, we accompany the person, we help. We have many general practitioners who collaborate with us to sign off on the exceptions. Naturally, these are not procedures that can be completed in five minutes; so in the meantime we accompany the person, support the person and provide the care he or she needs until he or she can exercise that right in Italy,” Ralli added.

The clinic has grown progressively with each passing year, both in space and in the variety of services it offers. Asked if he sees the clinic growing in the future, Archbishop Marín de San Martín said that “it’s not only desirable, but necessary.”

“Our clinic has grown enormously in the last few years, going from a handful of doctors that kept the clinic open once a week, to 120 volunteers today and 2,000 patients per month. We trust in God’s providence, that continues acting through the generous heart of so many benefactors,” he said.

“Our first step forward, however, lies in faithfulness to the Gospel and in communion with the Lord, who sustains the volunteers’ service each day. As part of this process, we will also seek out the appropriate opportunities for our service—with interest, patience, and perseverance,” Marín concluded.

Subscribe now

Share

This episode of Sunday School is brought to you by SDS Accent Services, supporting priests and seminarians with accent services and vocal improvement, to help them convey the deposit of faith and administer the sacraments to those entrusted to their spiritual care.

To learn more, visit sdsaccent.com.

Subscribe now

Already read the readings? Skip ahead to 6:00.

Reading 1 - Isaiah 55: 1-3

Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-16, 17-18

Reading 2 - Romans 8: 35, 37-39

Gospel - Matthew 14: 13-21

I’m Luke Coppen and I aim to guide you each weekday morning to the most interesting Catholic news and commentary.

Read more

Fr. Michael Mary Sim, F.SS.R., the founder of the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Transalpine Redemptorists), was excommunicated, dismissed from his ecclesiastical office as superior of the community, and forbidden to offer Mass and other sacraments, Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen announced July 25.

Leave a comment

In Church law, excommunication is defined as a “medicinal” penalty that is intended to inspire the offender to seek reconciliation, rather than as a merely punitive measure.

In a statement, Gilbert explained that the penalties were a consequence of Fr. Michael Mary’s adoption of sedevacantism, the position that the popes since Vatican Council II were illegitimate.

Gilbert said the situation was compounded by the priest’s July 25 episcopal consecration without papal mandate on the privately owned island of Papa Stronsay, which is part of the Orkney archipelago off Scotland’s northeastern coast.

The Canadian sedevacantist Bishop Pierre Roy served as the principal consecrator at the live-streamed ceremony. The co-consecrators were Brazilian Bishop Rodrigo Henrique Ribeiro da Silva and Spanish Bishop Fernando Altamira Alaníz, who also hold sedevacantist views. All three men trace their episcopal lineage back to the Vietnamese Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục.

Fr. Michael Mary was the primary signatory of the community’s May 2 declaration that referred to postconciliar popes as “papal pretenders.” The document had a total of 28 signatories, indicating the overall size of the group that has inhabited the island since 1999.

In his July 25 statement, Bishop Gilbert said: “For some time now the Diocese of Aberdeen has been pursuing a canonical process against the Rector Major of the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, Fr. Michael Mary Sim.”

“This religious community is principally based on the island of Papa Stronsay, Orkney, within the Diocese of Aberdeen and is subject to the oversight of the bishop. The action of the diocese was occasioned by various statements issuing from the community and especially by its adoption, spearheaded by Fr. Michael Mary, of the position known as ‘sedevacantist.’”

“This position affirms that our Holy Father Leo XIV is not a true pope, and that neither he nor the bishops in communion with him are to be recognized. At the same time, statements were made and actions taken calling into doubt the validity of ordinations in the post-conciliar rites.”

“Further affirmations posed an opposition between an ‘old’ and ‘new’ Church. All of this is instinctively repugnant to the Catholic sense of the faith, exposes those involved to ecclesiastical penalties and, unless repudiated, separates them from the communion of the Catholic Church.”

Gilbert announced the diocese’s judgment following the completion of its canonical process.

“Regrettably, I find Fr. Michael Mary guilty of the charges brought against him, most notably that of schism. He is therefore declared to be excommunicated, dismissed from ecclesiastical office, and prohibited from the celebration of Mass or the other sacraments,” he said.

“In accordance with the relevant canonical norms, the competent dicasteries of the Roman curia have been kept informed of the steps taken by the diocese. In the event of a sincere change of heart on his part and the making of reparation, these penalties may be lifted.”

Gilbert added: “More recently, Fr. Michael Mary has sought ordination from sedevacantist bishops, who have no permission from myself to act within the diocese and do not have the required papal mandate. The ceremony they conducted July 25 compounds the situation and exposes Fr. Michael Mary and those who take part to a further range of canonical penalties. This is a clear break with the Church.”

“By means of these events, the congregation and its now deposed superior have removed themselves from the communion of the Catholic Church, and the faithful of the diocese should have no dealings with them.”

“On her part, the Church urgently invites those involved to repent and to return to that union which they once enjoyed. The Church, who is the Mother of us all, will welcome them warmly.”

The Transalpine Redemptorists — who are distinct from the Redemptorists, the worldwide congregation established by St. Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century — emerged in 1988 from the orbit of the Society of St. Pius X. Members combine a devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass with the spirituality of St. Alphonsus.

After Pope Benedict XVI expanded access to the Traditional Latin Mass, the Transalpine Redemptorists were reconciled with the Holy See in 2008. Gilbert erected the community as a clerical religious institute of diocesan right in 2012.

But in October 2025, the group issued an open letter declaring that it rejected several major documents issued under Pope Francis. Gilbert responded by saying that the positions expressed in the letter were “incompatible with the Catholic sense of the Church’s unity.”

After the Transalpine Redemptorists announced the illicit episcopal consecration of Fr. Michael Mary, the bishop issued a statement describing the act as “unlawful and a grave act of disobedience, separating those taking part from communion with the Catholic Church.”

On the last weekend before the ceremony, Gilbert asked priests across the Aberdeen diocese to celebrate Masses using prayers for the Unity of the Church, an option in the Roman Missal’s section for “Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions.”

In a pastoral letter read out in churches July 18-19, the bishop lamented the impact of the episcopal consecration without papal mandate on Church unity.

Fr. Michael Mary sought to justify the community’s trajectory in his first sermon following his illicit episcopal consecration, delivered July 26.

The 72-year-old, who was born in New Zealand, said the Transalpine Redemptorists had “tried our best” to fit in with the wider Catholic Church but discovered irreconcilable differences.

“Whether they are guilty in their souls, nobody knows and we do not foment against them. But we know, for ourselves, we’re happy to be away from their clutches. And whatever species they are, we find ourselves to be a different species,” he said.

“We pray for them and I’m sure that in their own way, they are praying for us.”

He argued that the Catholic Church had changed its way of praying, resulting in a change of belief, citing the saying lex orandi, lex credendi. As examples of changes, he cited guitars, folk music, and overhead projectors at Masses, as well as receiving Holy Communion in the hand.

Leave a comment

He also commented on Bishop Gilbert’s recent decision to expand access to Traditional Latin Masses in the Aberdeen diocese. The Masses were originally offered weekly by members of the Transalpine Redemptorists at the Church of Our Lady of the Garioch and St. John the Evangelist in Fetternear, a hamlet in Aberdeenshire. Following the community’s drift toward sedevacantism, a diocesan priest presided at the Masses. They are now offered every Sunday at the non-parochial church by Transalpine Redemptorist priests who have distanced themselves from the community.

Fr. Michael Mary argued that the expansion was “political” and “nothing to do with true, sincere love of the sheep.”

He added: “What a great blessing it is to be out, to be out of a false hierarchy that is perverting the faith.”

Fr. Michael Mary had not responded by press time to a request to comment on Bishop Gilbert’s July 25 statement.

Bishop Gilbert declined a July 27 request for comment.

Subscribe now

In the preparation, the archdiocese has posted a detailed set of presentations (one for each parish in the archdiocese) providing the data diocesan leaders are assessing as they make these decisions about the closure or merger of parishes.

The documents provide interesting insights into some hard realities of Catholic life in the Archdiocese of Detroit — much of which is likely similar to the circumstances in other U.S. dioceses, especially in traditional heartlands of American Catholicism.

Leave a comment

—
Detroit’s archdiocesan parish presentations note that “our diocese is growing older, not younger,” pointing to the fact that funerals are now more common than baptisms in the archdiocese.

Detroit’s reputation for post-industrial urban flight might seem to suggest that the archdiocese’s situation is uniquely dire, and connected to total population decline in the region.

But the facts don’t quite bear that out.

In terms of total population, the population of the Archdiocese of Detroit has actually slightly grown from 2000 to 2024, from 4.3 million residents to 4.4 million.

At the same time, the number of parochially registered Catholics has declined, from 1.4 mlilion in 2000 to currently about 900,000, according to the archdiocesan date.

The ratio of funerals to baptisms is often taken as a measure of the demographic health of a local church, with churches that have more funerals than baptisms seen as in decline. The Archdiocese of Detroit had 1.2 funerals for each infant baptism in 2019 — showing an archdiocese in demographic decline.

But in that respect, Detroit is actually only one of 58 dioceses in the US where funerals outnumbered infant baptisms in 2019, the most recent year for which consistent data was available.

Within the Archdiocese of Detroit itself, there is a great deal of parish variation on the baptism-to-funeral ratio.

Of the 209 parishes in the archdiocese, 75 had more baptisms than funerals in 2024.

In those 75 parishes, average weekly Mass attendance was 917, while for the other 127 parishes the average weekly Mass attendance was 569.

Forty-seven archdiocesan parishes had more than three funerals per baptism, and those parishes trended even lower in Mass attendance, averaging just 408 Catholics in the pews each Sunday.

Seven parishes had no baptisms at all, and those averaged only 102 Catholics in attendance at Mass each week.

Mass attendance data is collected in near every U.S. diocese, but seldom published or made available to the public. Instead,most published data about how often Catholics actually attend Mass is derived from surveys. The problem with such survey data, many researchers suspect, is that respondents are thought likely to overestimate how frequently they actually go to church — telling researchers how often they intend to go or how often they would like to go rather, than how frequently they actually attend.

Still, recent surveys have shown that about 30% of US Catholics say that they attend Mass at least once a week.

But collected archdiocesan data suggests that actual numbers in the Archdiocese of Detroit are much lower.

In the presentations on the demographics of the archdiocese, Mass attendance data shows that the number of Catholics attending Mass in a given week is equal to 14% to 17% of the number of registered Catholics in the archdiocese.

Mass attendance as a percentage of registered Catholics in the archdiocese is not falling over time, but the number of registered Catholics has been steadily declining, and that is reflected in a decreasing number of Catholics in pews each week.

That decline leaves the archdioceses’ pews mostly empty. Given the number of seats available in churches, and the number of Masses celebrated each weekend, the archdiocese could currently accommodate just under half a million Mass-goers. With only 139,088 of Catholics showing up on an average Sunday, that’s a lot of empty seats.

But of course, it’s not the seats themselves that become a problem. The true constraint is the number of priests available to celebrate Mass. Since 2010, Detroit has averaged about four ordinations per year.

That number is well below the required replacement rate of ordinations in the diocese needed to keep pace with retirements. And although the archdiocese currently has 224 active diocesan priests, only 116 – slightly more than half – are under the age of 60.

The archdiocese projects that by 2034, the number of active diocesan priests will fall to 134.

Presently, there are 639 Masses being celebrated in the archdiocese each weekend — almost three Masses per diocesan priest. Though some Masses are celebrated by members of religious orders, the demands for priests incardinated in the diocese are obviously increasing.

In fact, without a reduction in the number of Masses being celebrated, most Detroit priests would be in 10 years celebrating about five Masses a weekend.

With fewer than 30% of seats currently full, and the number of Mass attendees continuing to fall by 4% per year, it’s clear why the archdiocese sees a need to cut down on the number of Masses offered, and even the number of parishes within its boundaries.

There’s also a financial burden to maintaining a larger number of sparsely attended parishes. The average parish with fewer than 250 weekly Mass-goers had expenses in the 2024/2025 fiscal year amounting to $3442 per Mass-goer.

For parishes with more than 1,000 people attending a Sunday Mass on an average weekend, the parish expenses per Mass-goer are significantly lower — $2447.

People who attend small parishes do make up the difference, in part, by contributing more to their parishes, financially. In the parishes with fewer than 250 Mass-goers on the average weekend, annual collections per Mass-goer were $1,342. For parishes with more than 1,000 attendees each weekend, annual collections were only $921 per Mass-goer.

But the higher contribution amount in smaller parishes is not enough to cover the greater expenses.

Even after the other sources of income which parishes use to fill the gap (such as renting out buildings, fundraising, and school/religious ed tuition) the average parish with fewer than 250 weekly attendees ran at a $10,297 deficit in the 2024/2025 fiscal year.

Parishes with 250 to 999 attendees averaged $65,625 in positive annual cash flow and those with 1,000+ averaged $189k.

For parishes with aging buildings requiring preventative maintenance, positive cashflow on at operational basis is often essential to keeping a roof, literally, overhead.

—
The problems Detroit faces are not unique to Detroit: declining numbers of priests, larger numbers of aging and increasingly empty church buildings, and the community and financial difficulties of merging parishes with many years of history behind them.

The Detroit data indicates the scope of ecclesiastical challenges typical in the Northeast and Midwest today: evangelizing the 85% of Catholics not typically attending Sunday Mass, and doing so with less: fewer church buildings, fewer priests, and less money.

Subscribe now