St. James the Less Catholic Parish

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks to attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. / Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:34 pm (CNA).

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt this week signed an executive order instructing state officials to ensure Oklahoma’s laws are “the most robust” in the nation at protecting religious freedom, with the governor also criticizing the state attorney general for attempting to block a proposed Catholic charter school there.

The order, announced on Monday, initiates a review of various state laws and policies to ensure they comply with religious freedom protections enshrined in both the U.S. Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.

The directive explicitly targets several state laws, including one requiring charter schools to be “nonsectarian” in their operations.

The order comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court began considering a proposed Oklahoma school that could be the nation’s first publicly-funded religious charter school. 

Oklahoma’s St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was approved by the state charter school board to open in 2023, but state Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the charter school board, arguing the charter school’s existence would constitute state support of a religion.

The ongoing litigation has since reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the landmark decision could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S.

Drummond criticized the governor’s religious freedom order this week, citing concerns that taxpayers could be forced to support other religious institutions. 

“Gov. Stitt has been clear that he supports our tax dollars funding radical Muslim schools teaching sharia law, and I couldn’t disagree with him more,” Drummond said in a March 31 statement. 

“If a taxpayer-funded religious charter school is allowed to open in Oklahoma, it will only be a matter of time before taxpayers are funding schools dedicated to sharia law, Wicca indoctrination, scientology instruction — even the Church of Satan,” he alleged. 

“As a devoted Christian and a strong supporter of religious liberty, I can tell you that the only way to protect religious liberty is for the state not to sponsor any religion at all — just like our Founding Fathers intended,” Drummond continued.

Stitt in his executive order explicitly criticized what he calls Drummond’s “apparent hostility to religious liberty.”

“By filing lawsuits seeking to prevent the nation’s first religious charter school [from] opening its doors, Oklahoma’s attorney general has fought against Oklahomans’ religious liberty with a zeal and aggressiveness that suggests animosity towards religion and religious liberty,” Stitt wrote.

Stitt’s executive order further requires that state officials not restrict access to public programs on the basis of a person’s or entity’s religious nature.

The executive order instructs “that no individual or entity shall be excluded from participation in, or denied access to, any public benefit, program, or funding solely on the basis of their religious character or affiliation or intended religious use of such benefits.”

“Religious freedom is foundational to our way of life in Oklahoma,” Stitt said this week. “It’s not a privilege handed out by the government — it’s a God-given right that the government must protect.”

“We will not stand by while faith-based organizations — including faith-based schools — are pushed to the sidelines by activist bureaucrats or hostile politicians,” he said.

An EF2 tornado in the early hours of March 31, 2025, in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, tore off the roof of the St. Peter Parish catechism building. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Debbie LaFleur

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:01 pm (CNA).

A Louisiana parish suffered major damage to its property after a tornado passed through during the early hours of Monday morning.

Debbie LaFleur, secretary of St. Peter Catholic Church in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, told CNA the roof of the parish catechism building was torn off and that several fallen tree limbs fell onto the rectory, causing the above-ground structure to shift on its pillars. The rectory and catechism building were built in 1950 and 1970, respectively. 

The catwalk between the rectory and the church, a carport, and the awning over a handicap ramp will all need to be replaced, LaFleur said. She also noted that several of the parish’s “very old” oak trees had been damaged or fallen down and that several headstones in its cemetery had been knocked down as well.

The only building that did not suffer any damage on account of the category EF2 tornado was the church itself. 

“The church was not touched,” LaFleur stated. “Father Jude [Halphen] says that our saints, our relics, helped protect us.” 

St. Peter’s church houses numerous relics, including those of Blessed Carlos Acutis, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Acutis is set to be canonized at the end of this month. 

Originally built in 1950, the church was renovated last year. Among repairs, the parish brought in a new altar from Belgium. The parish is also currently working to put up altar rails, which LaFleur said came from a now-shuttered church in Harlem. 

“Pray for us that we can rebuild and get through this with little stress,” LaFleur said.

“Our parishioners are great parishioners,” she added. “They came out and they cleaned up the mess, so that by 4 o’clock [Monday] afternoon, it was clean.” 

The parish is currently waiting on structural engineers to assess the full damage to the property and the potential cost for needed repairs.

null / Credit: ElenaR/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 11:35 am (CNA).

A former bookkeeper at two New Jersey Catholic parishes has been accused of stealing nearly $300,000 from the two churches over the course of several years. 

Morris County, New Jersey, Prosecutor Robert Carroll’s office said in a Friday press release that Melissa Rivera had been charged with “theft in connection to her former role as bookkeeper” in the parishes of Our Lady of the Mountain and Our Lady of Good Counsel, both located in Morris County. 

Rivera was accused of stealing $292,728 from both parishes, the prosecutor’s office said. She was allegedly creating fake checks at both parishes and then depositing them to her bank accounts. 

The alleged thefts occurred between May 2018 and May 2024, the press release said. Rivera was charged with multiple counts of theft and forgery. 

After being charged she was “released pending future court proceedings,” according to the press release. The county financial crimes unit contributed to the case, the prosecutor said. 

Several Catholic officials have faced prosecution and jail time in recent years over thefts from their respective parishes. 

A bookkeeper at a Florida Catholic parish was sentenced in November 2024 to more than two years of federal prison after stealing nearly $900,000 from the church at which she managed financial records. 

In July 2024, meanwhile, a priest in Missouri pleaded guilty to stealing $300,000 from a church at which he was pastor for nearly a decade.

That same month, a former Catholic parish employee in Alabama pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her church in order to send money to TikTok content creators. 

And in May 2024 a former employee at a Tampa, Florida, Catholic church pleaded guilty to stealing more than three-quarters of a million dollars from the parish while employed there.

On April 2, 2025, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its “Based on a True Saint” series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, “The Boy from Milan,” focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis. / Credit: The Augustine Institute

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On April 2, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its “Based on a True Saint” series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, “The Boy from Milan,” focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis.

The film aims to help viewers get to know the Church’s first millennial saint better and show how an ordinary teenager with a deep love for God and other people can became a saint. 

The documentary includes interviews with three individuals who knew Acutis personally: his mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis; his high school religion teacher at Leone XIII Institute in Milan, Fabrizio Zaggia; and Dr. Mercedes Arguello, Acutis’ pediatric oncologist at San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.

Emily Mentock, executive producer of “The Boy from Milan” and co-founder of Digital Continent — the production company that worked in partnership with the Augustine Institute — spoke to CNA about the inspiration behind the film and why she believes Acutis is resonating with so many people around the world.

She explained that Acutis was the inspiration behind the “Based on a True Saint” series in the first place. The first documentary in the series was about Blessed Solanus Casey. In each film in the series, the goal is to answer the question “Is holiness possible today?”

“I was thinking of Carlo and the way he is presented to the world when we came up with the idea for the series as a whole because I just kept hearing how I should care about the saint because he’s a millennial like me and played video games, but that doesn’t tell me anything about the path to holiness,” Mentock shared. “So, I was really just grateful for the opportunity to dive deeper into his story and hear from people who really knew him, not just about him, what he was really like on a daily basis.”

Mentock said she believes Acutis’ popularity stems from the fact that “he’s relevant, he lived in our time,” and this gives people “hope for believing that we can also maybe achieve holiness.”

“Sometimes you look around at our world today and wonder, is this [holiness] really possible? And Carlo shows us that it is, absolutely,” she added.

While filming and getting to know Acutis better, Mentock came to admire his love for life and how “he looked at life as his field to put into practice the teachings of Jesus.”

She also pointed out how all of the individuals shown in the film were greatly impacted by knowing Acutis personally, especially Arguello, his pediatric oncologist, who found strength in Acutis’ testimony when she herself received a cancer diagnosis. 

“It never ceases to amaze me that it was so evident how they were living differently and in a different relationship with God because of how Carlo had helped them turn toward God,” she said.

Mentock said she hopes the film will leave viewers inspired by Acutis’ “daily holiness.”

“I think that Carlo can inspire anyone, but I do think that he especially is a gift for young, young people today to look around and say, it doesn’t matter if you’re 10 years old, 12 years old, 14 years old — you can go out and make a difference, live your life boldly for the Lord, and Carlo’s a great example for that,” she said.

EWTN has also released a documentary on Acutis titled “I Am With You,” which can be seen on EWTN On Demand.

null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 31, 2025 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

Several U.S. Supreme Court justices across ideological lines during oral arguments Monday morning expressed concerns about a Wisconsin agency’s refusal to legally recognize a Catholic charity — run by the Diocese of Superior — as a religious organization.

The dispute between Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) and the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC) will determine whether the charity is required to pay taxes into the state’s unemployment system or whether the organization can enroll workers in the Church-run unemployment system and avoid the tax.

State law allows organizations “operated primarily for religious purposes” to qualify for the tax exemption if it provides its own unemployment system. Yet, the LIRC asserts that CCB is not operated primarily for a religious purpose because it offers charitable services to people of all faiths and does not focus its efforts on converting the people it serves to Catholicism.

Religious freedom advocates have warned that the denial of CCB’s recognition as a religious entity could have a ripple effect that leads to the denial of other legal rights afforded to religious organizations, such as exemptions from mandates that conflict with an organization’s religious beliefs.

Justices challenge Wisconsin’s position

Colin Roth, assistant attorney general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, told the justices during the March 31 oral arguments that CCB functions similar to a secular charity because of the lack of proselytization — a position that was challenged by justices who were appointed by both major political parties.

When justices repeatedly pressed Roth to give examples of what sort of “proselytization” would qualify CCB for an exemption, he suggested that asking patrons to “please repent” or “please join our religion” while delivering services would likely be sufficient.

In a more specific example, Roth said instructing a patron to say the Lord’s Prayer with a worker or volunteer while receiving food at a soup kitchen would add the proselytization component.

“That type of job function is tethered to religious doctrine,” Roth said.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Catholic, asked Roth why expressing the statement “we believe deeply in the corporal works of mercy” wouldn’t be sufficient, adding: “Why is there a difference?”

Roth acknowledged that charity is essential to the Catholic faith but said the corporal works of mercy are “not expressing or inculcating religious doctrine.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is Catholic, and Justice Elena Kagan, who is Jewish, both emphasized that proselytization is not a component of all religious acts and not even part of some religions.

Barrett noted that many sects of Judaism do not “have that as a component” and the standard supported by Wisconsin “will inevitably exclude certain religions.” Kagan agreed, saying it is “fundamental” that the government does not “treat some religions better than other religions” but that Wisconsin’s standard “puts the state on the side of some religions.”

“Why are we treating some religions better than others based on that element of religious doctrine?” Kagan asked.

Roth defended Wisconsin’s position, arguing that it is not just “proselytization” that would make an organization eligible for a tax exemption here, but also if it engages in “worship” or “religious education.” 

“These are ‘ors,’” Roth said. “These are not ‘ands.’”

However, Roth emphasized that simply showing that an act is motivated by religion “does not render you eligible for the exemption.”

Eric Rassbach, a vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, represented CCB at the Supreme Court. 

“Wisconsin draws distinctions along theological lines — something that this court has repeatedly forbidden,” he argued.

Rassbach said the standard supported by Wisconsin would force CCB to operate its charity in an “almost coercive way” by “using [food and services] to influence people, to take advantage of people, and to exploit them.” He argued the religious exemption was denied because “they serve non-Catholics, they hire non-Catholics, and because they do not proselytize.”

“Mother Teresa might not qualify,” Rassbach said.

Where does the line get drawn?

Although the justices appeared unified in their concerns about Wisconsin’s narrow interpretation for what qualifies as a “religious purpose,” they also raised numerous questions about where the line should be drawn on what does qualify as a “religious purpose.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is a nondenominational Protestant, raised the question of whether such exemptions would extend to a for-profit vegan restaurant launched by a minister in a religion that opposes the consumption of meat.

Barrett similarly raised the possibility of a religious institution requesting tax exemptions for the creation of a for-profit business to raise money to benefit its members or other people, asserting it “is essential to its religious mission.”

Some of the justices also expressed a need to differentiate between a religious motivation and a philosophical motivation and to have an understanding of what constitutes religion and religious belief.

Rassbach expressed some sympathy for those concerns, saying that his position was not for “limitless exemptions” without any standards. He suggested that the test should be for courts to determine whether something is motivated by a “duty that we owe and the means of discharging it.”

Barrett stated that one of the problems for the court is “figuring out what the line is.”

Pope Francis on March 31, 2025, appointed Bishop Michael McGovern of Belleville, Illinois, to lead the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska. / Credit: Archdiocese of Omaha

Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2025 / 10:03 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Monday appointed Bishop Michael McGovern of Belleville, Illinois, to lead the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, after he accepted the resignation of Omaha Archbishop George Lucas.

McGovern, 60, has led the Diocese of Belleville since April 2020. The Chicago native will be installed as archbishop of Omaha in the Cathedral of St. Cecilia on May 7.

He succeeds Lucas, who submitted his resignation when he turned 75 in June 2024 as required by canon law. Lucas has led the Archdiocese of Omaha since 2009.

McGovern is the youngest child of a large Catholic family. He grew up in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, where he attended Christ the King Parish and grammar school and was an altar server.

He was ordained a priest in 1994, and in 2020 he was named bishop of Belleville, Illinois.

The archbishop-designate of Omaha is a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Since 2021, he has served as the state chaplain for the Illinois Knights of Columbus.

In 2022, the Diocese of Belleville announced it would sell the historic mansion that had served as the bishop’s residence for over 70 years, with the majority of the proceeds being used for a diocesan maternity fund for expectant mothers.

“I hope to live more simply and, as a pastor, I believe the proceeds from the sale of the home can be better used in helping pregnant mothers in need, assisting families seeking a Catholic education, and providing programs for our youth,” McGovern said about the decision to sell the property.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 31, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently sent a letter to federal senators and representatives urging them to defund Planned Parenthood and stop taxpayer money from funding services such as abortions and transgender procedures that “gravely violate human dignity.”

Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron and Toledo, Ohio, Bishop Daniel Thomas, the chairmen of the USCCB’s marriage and pro-life committees, respectively, wrote the letter last Thursday to “affirm our support for stopping taxpayer funding of the abortion and ‘gender transition’ industries.”

The letter was sent following the announcement that the Trump administration plans to freeze millions of taxpayer dollars from subsidizing abortion services via the federal Title X program.

The bishops addressed the senators on the same day hundreds of pro-life advocates went to Capitol Hill to urge Congress to cut the “funding of the abortion industry in the budget reconciliation process,” the prelates said.

“Necessary, long-standing, and historically bipartisan policies like the Hyde Amendment help prevent public funding for elective abortions themselves,” the bishops said, citing the decades-old rule that forbids federal funding of most abortions.

“Yet Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S. at over 390,000 preborn children killed per year (about 40% of the total), still receives nearly $700 million annually — about a third of its revenue — from taxpayers,” they noted.

The letter further argued that federal funds to Planned Parenthood must be cut not just to limit abortion but also the gender ideology the organization promotes.  

Planned Parenthood is “the nation’s ‘second-largest provider of hormone therapy’ for patients attempting ‘gender transition,’” the bishops said. 

“The off-label use of hormones and puberty blockers has proven to be a lucrative billion-dollar business in an ever-growing market,” they wrote. “Planned Parenthood offers ‘gender transition’ services at nearly 450 clinics across the nation, surpassing the number of its locations that perform abortions.”

Planned Parenthood itself has admitted that most of these patients leave their first visit with a hormone prescription, the bishops noted.

“As the rate of these destructive services has dramatically increased, so too has government funding,” the bishops said. They asked Congress to put the money toward supporting families in need rather than helping harmful services be carried out.

“As you consider how to best steward taxpayer resources in the weeks ahead, we call upon you to stop funding abortion and ‘gender transition’ industries that gravely violate human dignity. Instead, we urge you to prioritize the needs of struggling families so they can flourish,” the bishops said.

Panelists discuss the connection between Catholicism and feminism at a recent Notre Dame conference. From left to right, Rachel Coleman, Deborah Savage, Leah Libresco Sargeant, Erika Bachiochi, Melissa Moschella, Helen Alvare, Abigail Favale, and Angela Franks. / Credit: Jonathan Liedl/National Catholic Register

South Bend, Ind., Mar 31, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Should Catholics identify as “feminists?” A panel of prominent female Catholic thinkers explored the question at a recent conference at the University of Notre Dame dedicated to the Church’s teaching on women, with some speakers embracing the strategic use of the term while others expressed uncertainty.

Those in favor of using the feminist label described it as rhetorical tool for finding common ground with non-Catholic women who might support practices like abortion and contraception but are nonetheless open to pursuing what is good for women.

“It has an instrumental use if we want to establish that we are both on the side of addressing the needs of women,” said Helen Alvaré, a legal scholar and Church leader who has advocated for the need for a “new feminism.”

Philosopher Melissa Moschella offered a similar perspective, encouraging attendees, which included religious sisters and nursing mothers, to call themselves feminists if doing so is useful with a particular audience, “and if it’s not, don’t.”

Abigail Favale, a theologian and the conference’s organizer, said that although she uses the term strategically to connect with various audiences, she is “very ambivalent” about whether Catholics should continue speaking positively about feminism.

Part of that is due to how opposed mainstream secular feminism has become to several important elements of Church teaching, but Favale also cited her own personal experience as a reason for concern.

Raised an evangelical, Favale began identifying as a feminist in college while reading feminist literature and theology. Initially, she said, she engaged with the arguments grounded in her faith but soon found herself “adapting Christianity to secular feminism.”

“It switched so subtly, almost without a conscious decision,” Favale shared, noting that she has seen something similar with Christian students she has taught who strongly associate themselves with feminism.

But other panelists suggested that there is value in Catholics appropriating the feminist label precisely because of the rise of so-called “red pilled” anti-feminist views, including among Catholics. These views, speakers argued, not only reject secular feminism but also recent magisterial teaching on the dignity of women.

“We have to defend women’s full rights and dignity,” said legal scholar Erika Bachiochi, who has argued that 19th-century feminism was motivated by Christian principles. “We have to tell young women today, ‘I’m with you, not with them.’”

And although “trad wife” influences are popular with young Catholic women right now, theologian Angela Franks said staking out a Catholic feminism now will be important in the event of widespread disillusionment with the anti-feminist turn.

“There’s going to be a backlash, and those women or their kids are going to be right back in the radical feminist camp” unless an alternative is provided, Franks said.

Whether the term “feminism” is employed or not, all panelists at Notre Dame agreed about the value of the Church’s ongoing focus on the unique mission of women and the need to promote justice for women in society.

“Women are equal in dignity, and they need specific advocacy because they are different,” said writer and policy analyst Leah Libresco Sargent, who added that the world treats women “like defective men.”

Another point of agreement was on the evangelical value of women embracing their femininity. Theologian Rachel Coleman underscored the importance of “living a joyful Catholic life and being happy you are a woman,” while Deborah Savage, director of the Institute for Men and Women at Franciscan University of Steubenville, encouraged attendees to “not apologize” for being women and to be proud of the gifts they “bring to the table.”

The panel took place in the aftermath of a somewhat contentious exchange of views on the merits of “Catholic feminism” in the Wall Street Journal. 

The debate was kicked off on March 13 when Bachiochi wrote a piece describing St. John Paul II as a “feminist pope.” Carrie Gress, who like Bachiochi is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, responded on March 20 that John Paul II’s teaching on women has nothing to do with feminist ideology, while Margaret McCarthy, a theologian at the John Paul II Institute, wrote a March 24 letter arguing the Bachiochi had reduced the Polish pontiff to “sound bites.”

At Notre Dame, the panel discussion brought to a close the three-day conference, which was titled “True Genuis: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture.” Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of John Paul II’s 1995 “Letter to Women,” the conference explored topics like “The Female Body and the Culture of Life” and “The Feminine Genius and Catholic History.” Perspectives on complementarity between the sexes and the development of the Church’s doctrine on women were also presented.

Participants in the closing panel also discussed other topics like the importance of women receiving education about their bodies and turning to Mary as a model of femininity and a protective mediator. They also addressed challenges like the rise of gender ideology, social norms that suggest children are oppressive, and anxiety over body image.

The thinkers also spoke about the need for Catholic women to have good mentors and draw inspiration from female saints throughout the Church’s history, from mystics to mothers, foundresses to theologians.

“We need to open up this world of holy women who lived radical lives of service to the Church,” Favale said. “We need a lot of different models of holy femininity.”

Catholic Charities USA President Kerry Alys Robinson. / Credit: Catholic Charities USA

CNA Staff, Mar 30, 2025 / 09:02 am (CNA).

Catholic Charities USA President Kerry Alys Robinson will receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2025 Laetare Medal, the university announced on Sunday, with the school bestowing the prestigous award for her “boundless compassion” and “faith-filled service” at the helm of the national charity. 

Established in 1883 and granted annually, the school’s Laetare Medal is named after the fourth Sunday of Lent, “Laetare Sunday,” the date on which its recipient is announced. It is “the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics,” the school says. 

It is awarded to an American Catholic “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church, and enriched the heritage of humanity.”

Robinson joined the national Catholic charity organization as president and chief executive officer in 2023. She previously served as the founding executive director of Leadership Roundtable, a group that brings together clergy and laity to address the Church’s abuse crisis. 

“I have always loved the Church and held its potential in the highest esteem,” Robinson said on Sunday. “The Church’s explicit religious mission has formed the person I am.”

She noted that Catholic Charities is “the largest humanitarian network in the world” and described herself as “forever committed to its health and vitality.”

The award comes as Catholic Charities affiliates in states around the country have been struggling to maintain services and retain staff amid major budget cuts by the Trump administration. 

Multiple Catholic Charities agencies have been forced to lay off workers and roll back programs amid the budget cuts. Catholic Charities Fort Worth, meanwhile, sued the federal government at the beginning of March after the Trump administration froze tens of millions of dollars in grants for refugee services in Texas. The charity subsquently dropped the lawsuit after the Trump administration began paying out its grants again. 

In January, Robinson herself called on the White House to rethink its decision to slash aid budgets, arguing that Catholic Charities agencies provide “vital services” nationwide including “food pantries for those who can’t afford groceries, child care programs for low-income families, meal deliveries for homebound seniors, job training resources for veterans,” and other programs. 

Notre Dame President Father Robert Dowd, CSC, said in a statement on Sunday that Robinson has “dedicated her career to serving the Church, standing in solidarity with those on the margins so that they may experience the abundant love of God.”

Robinson “inspires us all to dedicate our lives more fully to answering the Gospel call,” he said. 

Past recipients of the Laetare Medal include Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day, novelist Walker Percy, actor Martin Sheen, and Civil War general William Rosecrans, the latter known in part for his execution of the Middle Tennessee campaign in 1863. 

Robinson is scheduled to receive the award at Notre Dame’s commencement ceremony on May 18. Adm. Christopher Grady, a Notre Dame alumnus and the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will give the commencement address, a choice that has stirred controversy on and off campus because of the university’s history of inviting the president or vice president to deliver the address.

The proposed restoration of the frontage of the Basilica of Sainte Anne de Détroit. / Credit: Pulte Family Charitable Foundation

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

A major U.S.-based initiative is providing tens of millions of dollars to Catholic parishes and organizations across the country to “restore and endow” Catholic communities around the country “for generations to come.”

The Pulte Family Charitable Foundation earlier this month announced the launch of the Catholic Initiative, described in a press release by the organization as “an innovative, Vatican-approved funding model” to help ensure the continuation of Catholic properties and parishes.

The unique model is “the first of its kind in the world in faith-based fundraising, one that “shifts ownership of church buildings and campuses to a newly created nonprofit organization” created solely for that purpose, the foundation said.

Kevin Doyle, the chief operating officer of the foundation, told CNA in an interview that the initiative plans to start with five projects, all of which share “some similarities” with each other. 

“We’re investing with organizations or parishes or schools where there is already a vibrant community, strong leadership, a strong ethos around the place, and where the community being served from our investment is under-resourced and underserved,” he said. 

The first major project for the initiative is the Basilica of Sainte Anne de Détroit, a historic parish in that city that dates back to the late 19th century. It is among the oldest continually operated Catholic parishes in the United States. 

Doyle said the effort will be “probably about a three-year project.” 

“One aim is to restore this historic basilica,” he said. “We’re not calling it a ‘renovation,’ we’re calling it a ‘restoration,’ to bring back to life what is already a spectacular design.”

“We’ll be restoring the stained glass, fixing the pews, and restoring and modernizing the infrastructure itself,” he said, stressing that the architectural form of the building would not be altered.

“We’re also trying to create more of a campus feel on the property,” he said. “We’re building a plaza out front of the parish and creating more of a campus alongside the basilica with green space and walkways.”

“We want this to be a place where both Catholics and the local non-Catholic community will want to come multiple times a week, and not just for Mass,” he said.

The initiative is further investing in the historic Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart in Chicago. Similar to the Detroit basilica, the school dates to the late 19th century; it was founded by the Sisters of Christian Charity. 

“There’s a real opportunity for the school, like St. Anne’s, to become more of a community hub,” Doyle said. 

The program is also offering an endowment for Bulldog Catholic, Father Mike Schmitz’s youth ministry at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, that offers Mass, the sacraments and fellowship to Catholic students there. Schmitz is on the initiative’s board of advisers; the ministry is “dedicated to forming and inspiring the next generation of young Catholics,” the foundation said. 

“Other projects are planned,” Doyle said, adding that the foundation will wait for further endowments before it launches any more restoration and support programs. 

He said the first wave of projects includes a mix of recipients who requested the foundation’s support as well as recipients whom the foundation reached out to. 

In the future “we will have a process and selection criteria that we utilize to prioritize which ones to support,” Doyle said, though “we are probably a couple years away from launching that.”

The foundation is further backing some innovative housing initiatives, he noted. Among them are a southern Florida housing development for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities and an affordable rental housing development in Immokalee, Florida, for the region’s low socioeconomic population.

All told, the foundation’s housing and Catholic initiatives so far have totaled more than $100 million in commitments.

Regarding the Catholic program, Doyle said earlier this month that the initiative is working at “pioneering a new model of investing in vibrant churches, schools, and parishes in underserved communities, ensuring their long-term sustainability.” 

“This model frees religious leaders and Catholic educators from their financial burdens,” he said, “and allows them to focus on their true mission: serving their parishioners and students.”