Catholic Standard

Despite a personal appeal from Pope Leo XIV, the Society of St. Pius X went ahead July 1 with the unauthorized consecration of four new bishops at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland, with the Mass broadcasted live and thousands of faithful attending. The pope warned in his letter dated June 29 – the feast of Saints Peter and Paul – that the move would cause a formal schism and deprive followers of lawful, and in some cases valid, access to the sacraments.

As Haitian Catholics often do in challenging times and in everyday life, they turned to Mary. The Haitian Catholic Community of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Mass on June 28 celebrating the feast day of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the patroness of Haiti, unfolded three days after a Supreme Court ruling that paved the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

The recent decision of the Supreme Court allowing the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians marks a decisive legal moment. Yet it is not the final word. The final word now belongs to conscience. It belongs to the United States Senate. For Catholics, legality and morality are not always synonymous. A court may determine what the law permits. But elected leaders must still ask what justice, mercy, and the common good require. This is precisely the moment before us.

Five Catholic bishops from the United States-Mexico border region led a day of pastoral accompaniment in Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico, June 26 as the United States approaches its 250th birthday as a nation. “We are here as shepherds of the Church,” said Bishop James A. Misko of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, prior to celebrating Mass inside Nogales, Arizona’s historic Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, less than a half mile from the international border. He was joined by Bishop John P.

Special Masses to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States of America will be on July 5 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle and on July 4 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, July 5 at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, 1725 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. Cardinal Robert W.

Pope Leo XIV has called on all Christians to work together toward the celebration of 2033, when the Catholic Church will mark an extraordinary Jubilee Year commemorating 2,000 years since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Looking at the origins of Catholicism in the 50 states, consider Maryland, founded as a haven for English Catholics, the scattered communities of Virginia, the Carolinas and what would become West Virginia and how Catholic life developed under very different conditions. The result is not a single story but a landscape of promise and restriction, where early hopes for religious freedom gave way to long periods of marginal existence before taking firmer root in the 19th century.

For Americans reflecting on the nation’s history during its 250th birthday, the word “pioneer” might conjure up images of settlers’ covered wagons trundling into the wilderness; buckskin-clad explorers mapping lands unseen by European eyes; or homesteaders eking out a lonely and challenging existence in an unforgiving terrain. It’s rarer, however, to immediately think of the priests who were also among them as the United States expanded ever westward.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship on June 30, finding the order violated the 14th Amendment. A cornerstone of his efforts to restrict immigration, the ruling comes as a loss for Trump, who even attended oral arguments in the case, Trump v. Barbara, in person, marking the first time a sitting president has done so, according to records from the high court and the nonprofit Supreme Court Historical Society.

Scripture Reflection for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Zeccariah 9:9-10 Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14 Romans 8:9, 11-13 Matthew 11:25-30 In an age when it seems everyone wants to have more, be more, say more, achieve more, we’re introduced this week to another idea that some might consider radical. It’s about the virtue of less. This Gospel celebrates humility and “the little ones.” Looked at another way: We’re reminded that there is greatness in smallness. Sometimes, less is more.