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The Golden Rule and the crisis of Black Catholic belonging in the church

The Golden Rule is not optional. It is a command of Jesus — a way of life that calls us beyond words into witness. But if that is true, then we must also ask a more difficult question: What happens when we do not live it?

The answer is not abstract. It is visible all around us. We see it in empty pews. We hear it in the testimonies of those who have quietly walked away. We feel it in the silence of those who remain but no longer engage. This is not simply a participation issue. It is a crisis of belonging.

The absence of the Golden Rule does not always appear as rejection. More often, it reveals itself through subtle patterns of exclusion. It is felt when culture is tolerated but not embraced, when voices are heard but not valued, and when presence is allowed but belonging is not fully extended.

For many Black Catholics, this reality is deeply familiar. To love the church and yet feel the need to adjust in order to fit in is a tension that cannot be dismissed. It is lived. And over time, that tension becomes fatigue; not a loss of faith, but a loss of connection.

We often ask why people are leaving the church, especially young people. The answers we offer tend to focus on secularization, culture or generational change. But we must be honest: Many are not leaving because they no longer believe, but because they no longer feel seen. They are leaving because the church they encounter does not always reflect the dignity it proclaims.

The Golden Rule exposes this disconnect. It reveals the gap between what we teach and how we live.

If the Golden Rule is essential, then so is belonging. From the beginning, we were created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). In Christ, we are called into communion, into a Body where every member matters.

St. Paul reminds us that when one part suffers, the entire Body suffers (1 Corinthians 12:26). This is not mere symbolic language; it is a theological reality. When people experience exclusion in the church, the church itself is diminished.

We often speak of inclusion as a goal, but inclusion is only the beginning. Inclusion says: « You may enter. » Belonging says: « You are part of this. » The difference matters, because a church that includes but does not transform will continue to lose those it claims to welcome.

Black Catholic spirituality offers a powerful witness in this moment. It is a faith that has endured exclusion yet remained rooted; a faith expressed through movement, music and communal prayer; a faith that refuses to separate joy from struggle. This is not simply cultural expression. It is theological witness. It is what it looks like when the Golden Rule is lived — not in theory, but in practice.

If we are serious about renewal, then we must move beyond asking how to bring people back. We must ask: What kind of church are we inviting them back to? The Golden Rule demands more than hospitality. It demands accountability. It calls us to examine how we welcome, how we listen, how we lead, and how we love. Because the crisis before us is not about numbers. It is about whether people can truly say: « I am not just here. I belong. »

To be truly Catholic is to be universal — not in theory, but in lived reality. And that means creating a church where no one has to leave parts of themselves at the door in order to enter. The Golden Rule is not optional. Neither is belonging.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

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Vie de l'église

Podcast: Jack Cohen-Joppa on chronicling 100,000 acts against nuclear war

This week marks the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For my part, I plan to join the vigil for nuclear disarmament at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, where the U.S. tests missiles by shooting them off across the Pacific Ocean to practice for nuclear warfare. 

With the trillion dollars spent to « modernize » the nation’s nuclear weapons, they are currently preparing to replace the Minuteman III ICBM fleet with the newly developed LGM-35A Sentinel. Like the Pentagon, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Pantex, and many other places, in light of the nonviolent Jesus, it should immediately close.

On this week’s episode of « The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast, » I’ll speak with Jack Cohen-Joppa, who along with his wife, Felice, has published The Nuclear Resister newspaper since 1980. With over 200 issues, they have chronicled over 100,000 anti-nuclear and anti-war civil disobedience actions and related prosecutions covering thousands of activists, and encouraged support for the women and men jailed and imprisoned for such nonviolent actions.

Their publication has tracked every public action that involved crossing a line against war and nuclear weapons, that is, every campaign, every local and regional grassroot effort, and the rise and fall of national movements. When you open its pages or study their website, you discover a whole world of peace activism that few know about, a lifetime of steadfast resistance in campaigns at the Pentagon, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Nevada National Security Site, the Trident submarine bases and the Plowshares movement.

« We face a nuclear threat now that is comparable with the threat we faced during the Cold War, » Jack Cohen-Joppa said. « Our challenge is to continue to delegitimize and stigmatize the building of nuclear weapons. I am in touch with the people who believe that hope is a verb and take action. We believe that this is work worth doing. » 

Listen to the full episode here.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

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Catholisisme

God’s Poverty, Our Treasure

(Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time-Year A; This homily was given on August 1 & 2, 2026 at Saint Augustine Church in Providence, Rhode Island; See Isaiah 55:1-3 and Matthew 14:13-21)  

Seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through prayer

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Vie de l'église

After SSPX schism, some Catholics urge greater access to the older Latin Mass

Every week, Bill Guelker, 78, travels 30 miles each way to attend an older Latin Mass celebrated in the woods by a retired priest.

Before Traditionis Custodes, the 2021 guidance from Pope Francis that restricted the older liturgy, Guelker was attending Little Flower parish in St. Louis, Missouri, but then that Mass was canceled, he said.

For Guelker, staying put was not an option after Little Flower switched to the more contemporary English-language liturgy, approved in the wake of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which aimed to modernize the church.

« I accept that it’s a valid Mass, but it’s a pathetic Mass, said Guelker, who said he attends the older Latin Mass not because of nostalgia, but because the text is « much better and much more helpful in understanding the sacraments.”

Guelker is one of over a million U.S. Catholics who attend the older Latin Mass every week, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey that found 2% of U.S. Catholics attend the liturgy, sometimes known as the traditional Latin Mass, weekly.

Catholics like Guelker surmount considerable obstacles and disapproval from the Catholic hierarchy to attend the older Latin Mass, often inspired by their devotion to tradition. The older Latin Mass has a different structure and different text for some prayers. It is celebrated in Latin with the priest standing with his back to the people

Francis directed bishops to personally oversee and restrict the older liturgy to a select few churches largely because he was concerned that attendees were rejecting the modernizing reforms of Vatican II, which included the Mass said in the local vernacular languages and a declaration that all people deserve religious liberty from coercion rather than pushes to follow Catholicism. With a new pope and a recent schism by a traditionalist group, some Catholics had been hoping there might be an opening for the older Latin Mass to expand.

But in an interview released July 29, after several weeks of some U.S. voices calling for greater access to the older Latin liturgy to turn the church back toward unity, the cardinal who leads the Vatican’s liturgy office said that Pope Leo XIV would not be expanding access to the older Latin Mass.

Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, told The Tablet, « No, Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum, » referring to Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 teaching, which had expanded access to the older Latin Mass.

In the previous weeks, allies of the older Latin Mass community had called for expanded access in the wake of the recent schism brought on by the ordination of four bishops without papal approval by the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX. The Vatican announced July 2 that the bishops, priests and all lay Catholics who « adhere formally » to the group are excommunicated.

On a podcast released July 28, Portland, Oregon, Archbishop Alexander Sample said he had warned in feedback to the Vatican before the 2021 restrictions: « If you want to see division, put more restrictions on this Mass within the church. »

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who has long advocated for reinvigorating traditions that he believes will make liturgy more reverent and beautiful, wrote on X on July 10 that « easier access to the Traditional form of the Mass » and « sincere and honest dialogue » would help address a « growing lack of trust » that was manifest in the SSPX ordinations and, ultimately, help the faithful find « spiritual nourishment » that is in communion with Rome.

Still, many U.S. bishops are not jumping to implement Cordileone’s proposal. Many bishops who have SSPX chapels within their diocesan boundaries recently issued letters warning the faithful not to risk excommunication by participating in SSPX’s « illicit » sacraments. The letters also assured them they are welcome within Catholic churches in communion with Rome, but only some bishops pointed SSPX attendees toward older Latin Masses in their dioceses. 

One notable exception was U.S. bishops’ conference President Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, who is often considered, like Sample and Cordileone, to be in the relatively more conservative wing of the conference. 

But many bishops have spent the past five years restricting the older Latin Mass in their dioceses, following the Traditionis Custodes guidance from Francis.

Charlotte, North Carolina, Bishop Michael Martin alluded to those concerns in his own letter. It included a frequently asked questions section that asserted that Catholics must accept Vatican II and the Mass that came after it, while also assuring former SSPX attendees they would not be « judged or treated harshly » as they seek communion with Rome. Martin faced blowback last year for restricting the older Latin Mass from four parishes to just one.

SSPX, which says approximately 25,000 lay people attend its chapels in the U.S., represents just a fraction of the Catholics in the U.S. who attend the older Latin Mass. In the Pew survey, 13% of U.S. Catholics said they have attended the pre-Vatican II liturgy at least once in the past five years.

Guelker, who now runs a website dedicated to resources for the liturgy called extraordinaryform.org, grew up before the Second Vatican Council attending the older Latin Mass — up to twice a day in grade school. But when the new Mass was introduced, sometimes called the Novus Ordo, he never adjusted. « I tried for two years to come to terms with the Novus Ordo, but I just found myself coming home angry, so I stopped going to Mass and confession for about 15 years, » he said.

He now understands that period before he found the older Latin Mass again in 1985 through a St. John Henry Newman quote warning against changing liturgy because, for many people, « their faith will not bear transplanting. » Guelker said, « That is exactly what happened to me. »

These days, many attendees of the older Latin Mass don’t carry the tradition from childhood. Max Bonici, a 41-year-old lawyer in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, was inspired while he was in college by then-Pope Benedict to become dedicated to the older Latin Mass. 

Benedict’s 2007 teaching in Summorum Pontificum helped Bonici to push through what was « difficult » about the older Latin Mass and « feel that connection with the ages. »

« It gave me a framework to deepen my prayer life, my Bible reading. I started living the liturgical life naturally by going to the traditional Latin Mass, » said Bonici, who had previously attended the post-Vatican II liturgy in Latin.

Bonici goes to his local parish in the Diocese of Arlington, where parishioners can — and do — attend both the pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II Mass. He prefers the older Latin Mass but will attend the newer liturgy, which he said is celebrated « reverently, » if it makes the most sense for his schedule.

« We have a great unity and peace and friendship and charity in our parish among all the different types of Masses. It’s the same altar, the same Eucharist, the same priest, » Bonici said. « I think that’s exactly what Pope Benedict was going for. »

Still he thinks Traditionis Custodes is « a grave error. » Bonici wondered that maybe his story would be different if he had been « kicked out » out of his parish after the restrictions were passed.

« I hope the people who do things very differently than me, » said Bonici, referring to Catholics who prefer more contemporary styles of worship, « I hope that they are never treated as poorly as the people who want the traditional Latin Mass were treated. »

Bonici’s bishop, Michael Burbidge, encouraged people « attached » to the SSPX to attend the older Latin Mass at any of the eight locations where it is offered in the diocese.

While he said he wasn’t familiar with SSPX’s « internal issues, » Bonici said Cordileone had « good insights. » He said, « The bishops lose credibility if they’re seen as stopping people from going to Mass, stopping people from praying. »

Guelker agreed that Cordileone was « absolutely correct. » He elaborated that he thought for the average lay faithful, the theology behind Vatican II is not the crux of the issue. 

« Most of the people going to the Latin Mass today don’t really know or care what Vatican II says, » said Guelker. « It’s not a motivator for them. »

Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist who interviewed the SSPX founder, told Catholic News Service that the founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, had told him that, even if the pre-Vatican II liturgy had been restored, his core concerns centered on Vatican II’s teaching on religious liberty and the Catholic Church’s move to cooperate with other religions. 

« I believe a key point here is they want the pope to agree with them that the other religions are ‘the work of the devil,’  » Introvigne told Catholic News Service, and that the public activity of non-Catholic believers « should be prohibited by the state. »

Peter Kwasniewski, a former leader at Wyoming Catholic College, where he taught theology and music, told RNS that, while he thought expanded access to the older Latin Mass would help satisfy hunger for « more richly reverent liturgy, » that would not be enough to draw SSPX attendees back to communion with Rome.

« We must remember that those who attend the SSPX are looking for an entirely traditional parish life — all the sacraments, not just the Mass, plus orthodox preaching and catechism, » said Kwasniewski, who now writes a column called « Tradition & Sanity. » He continued in an email to RNS, « It seems to me that dioceses would really need to provide all that in order to meet the legitimate needs of tradition-hungry souls. »

He called for Leo to revoke Traditionis Custodes and for bishops to invite traditionalist groups into their dioceses. « The fear of and skepticism toward tradition must end. This is not a Catholic attitude or mentality, and its perdurance only harms the Church’s mission, » Kwasniewski said.

Whether Leo will hold to Roche’s words remains to be seen, but some Catholics did see a signal in his July 25 appointment of Cordileone to the Vatican’s highest court, alongside other canon lawyers who have expressed openness to traditionalists. But Francis, too, appointed traditionalist critics to the court, while maintaining the restrictions that have weighed on attendees of the older Latin Mass.

Like other attendees of the older Latin Mass, Kwasniewski argued that the liturgy creates unity and that attending had been personally « transformative. » The liturgy « stirred up my wonder, multiplied my questions, slaked a contemplative thirst that I hardly knew existed, plunged me into one of the greatest sources of theology and spirituality — suddenly many things I had read from the great saints began to make sense, because I was reconnected with the rite they worshiped in, » he wrote.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

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Court shields women religious from NY assisted suicide law

A federal judge July 30 temporarily shielded four orders of women religious and Catholic healthcare ministries from enforcement of a New York state law allowing physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide.

The Catholic entities — the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict and the Little Sisters of the Poor — sued the state July 17, arguing the law would require them to facilitate such deaths for their patients in violation of their faith.

« Families entrust their loved ones to us because they know our homes will be places of tenderness, dignity, and faithful care, » Mother Mary Rose Heery, prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said in a July 31 statement. « We are grateful that we can continue honoring that trust and remain beside every resident until the very end. »

U.S. District Judge Anne Naracci’s temporary restraining order also sets an Aug. 20 deadline for New York Attorney General Letitia James to respond to the emergency motion.

James’ office did not immediately respond to OSV News’ request for comment.

Supporters of physician-assisted suicide argue the practice protects the autonomy of suffering or terminally ill individuals in their final days. Opponents argue the practice disregards the dignity of human life and leaves those who are ill or dying vulnerable to coercion, among other concerns.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly condemns the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide as « morally unacceptable » and a violation of the Fifth Commandment, « You shall not kill. »

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Democrat, who is Catholic, signed the Medical Aid in Dying Act in February, arguing she had « secured » guardrails during the legislative process that ensured the « integrity of patient decision and preparedness of medical institutions. » The state’s Catholic bishops were among those who objected to the law, which authorizes terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live to seek physician-assisted suicide.

« Forcing Catholic nuns to participate in suicide — and robbing New Yorkers of the choice to receive faithful, life-affirming care — is both unlawful and unjust, » Mark Rienzi, president of Becket, a religious liberty law firm, and the lead attorney for the healthcare ministries, said in a July 31 statement.

« This agreement protects the sisters and those they care for while we fight to end New York’s suicide mandate for good, » he said.

Bishop John Barres of Rockville Centre, New York, said in a statement issued through Becket, « This agreement is an important first step towards protecting religious freedom.

« New York cannot force the Church to answer suffering with suicide or abandon the sick and dying when they need care most, » he said. « Until our legal fight is resolved, this temporary agreement keeps our ministries free to serve every patient according to the Gospel. We continue to proclaim that every human life is sacred and worthy of love until its natural end. »

Also on July 31, the New York State Catholic Conference submitted a public comment to the state’s Department of Health calling The Medical Aid in Dying Act « the most significant — and misguided — piece of public health legislation in many years. »

They argued that the state’s proposed regulations implementing the law fail to « provide adequate oversight of the practice of MAID, » and fail to « resolve flaws in the conscience protection provisions in the MAID law. »

The Catholic entities’ lawsuit against the assisted suicide law is among several lawsuits from Catholic nuns against recent Empire State laws.

Earlier this year, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who operate a 42-bed palliative care program for the dying poor, challenged a law implementing requirements on gender identity accommodations for nursing home residents.

New York is one of 13 states, as well as the District of Columbia, that have legalized assisted suicide. The state’s law is scheduled to go into effect Aug. 5.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

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Israeli strike damages Christian-run hospital in Gaza

The Catholic Near East Welfare Association-Pontifical Mission in Lebanon and Syria reported that an Israeli airstrike on a residential apartment directly adjacent to CNEWA-supported Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the center of Gaza City damaged hospital facilities late July 29.

The strike shattered windows and doors inside the hospital and damaged an elevator serving the diagnostic center. Although the hospital was not directly hit, staff said the strike caused fear among patients and medical workers.

« There was also a significant psychological impact on our medical teams, » said Mousa Ayad, a manager at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

Ayad said the hospital is located less than a mile from the so-called « Yellow Line, » the Israeli-controlled area inside Gaza established after the October 2025 ceasefire.

« The repeated explosions create confusion among medical staff and place additional psychological pressure on patients, » he said.

Asked whether the hospital could become a target, Ayad said no one can anticipate where the next strike will fall.

« This is war, and no one knows where the next danger will be. But given the hospital’s humanitarian and medical role, we do not believe that the hospital is the intended target, » Ayad added.

He said despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s health sector has seen little recovery.

« The situation has not improved significantly. Hospitals continue to face shortages of medical supplies, equipment and essential consumables, » he said. « Thousands of patients remain on waiting lists for surgery, while many others still need to travel outside Gaza for specialized treatment. »

The Israeli military has been ordering residents to leave entire residential areas before airstrikes, without Gazans being told which building will be targeted. The warnings often cover neighborhoods containing dozens of residential buildings and displacement shelters, leaving residents uncertain about where the strike will occur and creating widespread fear and panic.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, told CNEWA that « the policy forces entire communities to flee without knowing whether their own homes are at risk. »

« When entire residential blocks receive evacuation orders, people leave in fear without knowing which building will be targeted. In many cases, a single strike destroys not only the intended building but also neighboring homes as a result of Israel’s use of high-explosive missiles, leaving dozens of families without shelter, » Basal said.

The strike near Al-Ahli Arab Hospital comes as local emergency officials report a noticeable increase in attacks on multistory residential buildings.

Basal said the July 29 strike was especially dangerous because it occurred next to both a functioning hospital and a site sheltering displaced people.

He said Civil Defense crews were unable to immediately reach the location because responders feared a second strike.

« The fire burned for more than 15 minutes before our crews could move in, » Basal said. « We continue to work with severe shortages of firefighting vehicles, water tankers and fuel, making every emergency response more difficult. »

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, nearly 1,200 Palestinians have been killed, and about 3,900 injured since the ceasefire came into effect in October 2025.

Meanwhile, Israel has continued expanding the area under its military control inside Gaza.

Reuters recently reported that Israeli forces now control roughly 64% of the territory, compared with what was arranged at the time of the ceasefire, then about 53%. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel intends to expand its control to about 70% of the strip.

Separately, satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press shows Israeli forces have constructed an extensive system of sand barriers and military positions stretching more than 14 miles inside Gaza along parts of the buffer zone, reinforcing what analysts describe as a deeper and more permanent military presence.

For many health workers, the immediate concern remains much closer to home.

« The sound of the explosion brought back memories of the darkest days of the war, » Ayad said. « Even after more than nine months of the ceasefire, the war’s impact is still present in every part of daily life. »

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

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Is there a Catholic form of populism?

Last week, I asked if the protests against building AI data centers marked the beginnings of a populism of the left. In the course of the editing process, an interesting question arose: Is there a specifically Catholic form of populism?

Let’s start by explaining what we mean by populism. It is a political category with no particular content. Liberalism has come to mean many things, but each of those things derives from a desire to build a society that protects certain visions of human freedom. Conservatism usually refers to a political platform that stipulates certain human goods should be immune from tinkering by free individuals or by democratic societies. Catholic social doctrine does not fit neatly into either ideology. Its approach was rooted in pre-modern ideas about society drawn from natural law and biblical witness, whereas both liberalism and conservatism are products of modernity.

Populism only means anti-elite. And elites change over time and place.

In colonial American history, populism and indeed democracy itself were viewed with suspicion by some. It is no coincidence that the Founding Father who worried most about the dangers of democratic mobs and populist uprisings was John Adams, whose conversion to deism was complete by the time of the revolution but who retained for all his years a dark, Calvinistic view of human nature.  

As Catholics became politically involved in the 19th century, they turned to the Democratic Party because it was the party most in opposition to the moneyed interest and Catholics were poor. The Democrats also were keen to enlist Catholic immigrants in building up local political machines. Local influence did not yet translate into national influence. Al Smith could win elections first in New York City and then in New York state, even though his Catholicism proved an insuperable hurdle when he ran for president in 1928.

Catholics were a significant part of the New Deal coalition assembled by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which had a strong populist quality, and that coalition saved capitalism from the capitalists. FDR understood that the economy had to serve the best interests of the people, not just the rich, and that government oversight and regulation were necessary to assert the sovereignty of the people in the economic sphere. He did not aim to eliminate the market economy, only to regulate it. He was not an ideologue; FDR’s pragmatism was one of his strongest political traits. But he was an idealist who thought big when the political class was thinking small.

As Catholics became affluent in the postwar era, they remained churchgoing and Democrat-voting until the late ’60s when they moved to the suburbs and the rise of the cultural left alienated them. Catholics had long been placed in two categories: practicing or lapsed. Their assimilation into U.S. culture was complete with the emergence of liberal and conservative Catholics, upper middle-class Catholics and working-class Catholics, Democrat, and Republican Catholics. Catholics found themselves on both sides of the diploma divide. How this was affected by internal ecclesial issues is a topic for another day.

In the U.S., as throughout the Western, industrialized world, the deregulation of capital, the financialization of the economy, the liberalization of global trade and the deindustrialization of many local economies in the 1980s resulted in increased income inequality. Instead of an economy in which all people were doing better, especially those at the bottom of the economic pay scale, millions of working-class people now found themselves surrounded by decay: The factory closed, the shops and restaurants that catered to the workers closed, many people emigrated, all creating a downward spiral for many communities. In once largely Catholic, blue-collar cities like Fall River, Massachusetts or Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, or Detroit, Michigan, the only growth industry was narcotics. Identity politics, driven by academics, began to eclipse class-based politics. The Clinton years replaced the moral rigor of Catholic social doctrine and New Deal solidarity with a meritocratic creed that implied the elites’ success was the result of their own hard work. Thus, those on the downside of the economy must be to blame for their predicament. Remember « deplorables »? Hopelessness led to anger. Donald Trump figured out how to harness that anger, as did Nigel Farage in the U.K., Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France. 

The Catholic Church roots its social doctrine in the dignity of the human person. While it favors no particular political or economic systems qua systems, it has a strong affinity with liberal democracy’s embrace of rights that defend that dignity and an equally strong affinity for conservatism’s organic understanding of human society which also defends that dignity. So, Catholics agree with liberals on the need to restrain the power of the business class, the rights of workers, and the need to fight racism, while Catholics agree with conservatives that abortion and euthanasia are wrong because they deny the dignity of the unborn and the elderly and inform. The Catholic measuring stick is not liberal vs. conservative, but what advances human dignity and what threatens that dignity. 

The Catholic measuring stick does not necessarily favor populist objectives over elite ones. Populism usually has an angry edge to it, and Catholicism always favors a more irenic approach. Still, insofar as Catholic social doctrine focuses on the dignity of the person, and populism seeks to give voice to the people whose dignity is threatened by elite power, there is a natural sympathy between the two. Elites can sometimes be right, and Catholicism does not insist on rejecting any opinion on account of who supports it. But there is no natural affinity with elites, quite the opposite. The preferential option for the poor is almost always a preferential option against a country’s elites.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

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An AI data center is being built on my grandma’s garden

When my grandma sold her house last year, she did not know the purchaser. Now her land and the surrounding 672 acres belong to the developer Vantage, who is building an AI data center that costs $15 billion.

Growing up, my grandma’s house was a sacred place to celebrate Christmas. She prepared a delicious meal for all the family to enjoy: liver pate, mushroom croustades and, my favorite, moon cookies. As a child, when it came time to open presents I was often asked to hand each gift to its recipient. It was a joy to search under the magical tree, full of handmade ornaments, its branches coated with ivory soap to look like snow. Grandma’s tree was brightly lit and placed beside the window so that those driving by on Highland Drive could see, and smile. 

My grandma had lived on that land since 1988. It is where I learned to mow the lawn and how to plant flowers and herbs in the garden. We often saw wildlife there; deer, turkeys, chipmunks and geese. I loved the afternoons spent in the yard, staring out in the distance toward Lake Michigan, watching the birds fly by.

Vantage’s data center project is based in my hometown of Port Washington, Wisconsin, a city known for its historic lighthouse on Lake Michigan. Meanwhile, Vantage is calling their project the « Lighthouse » campus, « inspired by the iconic Port Washington lighthouse » as a « guiding light in data center design. »

Once, I was in Port Washington with a friend who was visiting for the first time. As we drove down a hill they saw the lake and, astonished, gasped, « That’s not a lake, that’s the ocean! » Each of our realities is profoundly shaped by our perception. The landscapes we encounter help us learn what is a hill and what is a mountain. They teach us what it means to live in the world, and how we ought to treat the land and the neighbors we share it with.

What do data centers teach us about our relationship to one another? To the earth? 

Midwestern comedian Charlie Berens said that data centers « have been replacing farms and forests all over Wisconsin. » In a viral video critiquing the data center in Port Washington, he listed the many negative effects that it will bring to the town: destroy the land, take water from farmers, pollute the great lakes, lower property values because of light and sound pollution and increase power bills. Residents are not happy.

Midwest Environmental Advocates recently announced they are suing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, stating that they did not complete an environmental impact statement before approving this project. Francesca Hong, the leading candidate for Governor in Wisconsin, announced that she would put a moratorium on all new data center construction. While this particular project is moving forward, the issue of data centers is not going away. 

As Catholics and people of goodwill, we should critically examine whether data centers, and the broad usage of artificial intelligence, are enhancing or diminishing our human dignity. 

Womanist theologian Melanie Harris reminds us that in order to resist injustice we must spend time remembering the land. Harris writes about « eco-memory, » a term that « refers to the collective and individual memory of the earth and speaks to our continuing relationship with the planet. » Harris’ work has inspired me to be committed to memory, and to learning from and loving the land, especially where it is being damaged and forgotten. 

In his recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo lifts up the concern of human dignity in light of increasing technological advances. He states that we are facing a decision; either to create a world where « the dignity of every person is safeguarded [and] justice is promoted » or to create an « inhumane and more unjust world. » He goes on to directly confront AI and caution us to realize that « technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, are not neutral, for they can either foster participation and justice or exacerbate inequality, control and exclusion. »

He also reminds us to think of the physical impact of utilizing AI while reminding us that data centers are not neutral. He states: « Current AI systems require enormous amounts of energy and water … which requires an extensive network of machines, cables, data centers and energy-intensive infrastructure … It is essential to develop more sustainable technological solutions. »

At the heart of the encyclical is the question: Are our technologies leading to further flourishing of the human person, or are they diminishing our humanity and stripping our dignity? 

It’s hard to describe the feeling I have, deep in my gut, when I think about what is happening to the land. Concrete is being poured over what was once farmland. Land once traveled by bicyclists and monarch butterflies alike is becoming a place to store data and help train AI. The noise and light pollution is disrupting residents, and animals are being forced to find new places to traverse. 

In the depths of grief, we must reckon with the reality that what once was, is no longer. How can I hold my love for a place gone by alongside my anger over its desecration? 

In the backyard of my grandma’s house once stood a garden. She split her time inside and out, taking care of both people and plants. She loved to tend to the growing buds, then pick the grown flowers and put together beautiful bouquets to sell at our church’s farmers market. This garden was a place where memories were created and relationships fostered. This is where I learned who God is. 

The status quo says AI is the future and data centers are inevitable and necessary. But I will continue to practice eco-memory. I will recall and speak of the land on Highland Drive, drawing on everything it taught me in order to resist.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

Catégories
Vie de l'église

As a migrant bishop in Peru, Leo made immigration advocacy a priority in his diocese

What began as a quiet, methodical but slow-moving pontificate was jolted awake when Pope Leo XIV called the treatment of immigrants in the United States under the Trump administration « inhuman » in response to questions from reporters.

Since that moment four months after being elected pope, Leo has repeatedly shown himself willing to stick his neck out and speak with particular force in defense of migrants — two of his trips outside of Rome, to Spain’s Canary Islands and the Italian island of Lampedusa, have been explicitly tied to drawing attention to the plight of migrants. 

But before placing himself firmly within the church’s tradition of migrant advocacy, strongly reinvigorated by his predecessor Pope Francis, Leo confronted his own migration crisis in the rural diocese of Chiclayo in northern Peru where he was a bishop from 2014 to 2023.

By 2017, following years of food shortages, lack of medical supplies and hyperinflation, 1.5 million Venezuelans had fled their country and traveled to neighboring nations, often on foot, in pursuit of a better life. After passing through Colombia and Ecuador, thousands of migrants reached Chiclayo en route to the Peruvian capital of Lima, and some opted to stay throughout the surrounding region of Lambayeque.

After a large wave of arrivals in 2017, groups of migrants stood out in Chiclayo, a city of approximately 700,000. Various volunteers with the local diocese told the National Catholic Reporter that when migrant families sleeping in the city’s central square became a mainstay, the church realized it was beyond time to act. 

At the time, the diocese already had a human mobility and trafficking ministry, which primarily accompanied women in prostitution and organized campaigns against human trafficking. But as more migrants arrived, Bishop Robert Prevost asked diocesan volunteers to broaden the ministry’s work.

Yolanda Díaz, the coordinator of what became the diocese’s human mobility commission, recalled that as a bishop, the future pope « didn’t tell us, ‘do this or do that,’ but rather he told us to go and see what could be done. » 

The commission eventually brought together approximately 14 people, including lay volunteers and members of different religious congregations operating throughout the diocese, to ramp up its activities and engage with Chiclayo’s migrant population more directly. 

Listening to migrants and forging legal pathways

At the same time, the local Caritas, the diocese’s charitable arm, was providing immediate relief to migrants who arrived in Chiclayo with virtually nothing, helping to arrange healthcare, provide food and find housing options. 

Together, the commission and Caritas worked to identify approximately 30 leaders within the Venezuelan community who could act as go-betweens for the migrant community and the commission. The commission began by asking the representatives of the migrant community what the diocese could do to assist them.

« Counter to what we originally thought, which was that they were going to ask for food, for clothes and housing, they told us, ‘first regularize our migratory situation, because we are living in fear,' » Díaz said. 

Augusto Ramírez, the head of the commission’s legalization efforts, told NCR that « a migrant with an irregular status cannot have access to work, cannot have access to housing, to healthcare, their kids do not have access to education. »

The commission relayed that information back to Prevost, who asked what he could do to help. Díaz recalled that the commission asked him to get in touch with the local immigration office directly. 

Prevost called the head of the regional immigration office and asked them to work with the diocesan human mobility commission to provide information on how they could normalize the status for Chiclayo’s migrants.

Eventually, the commission split the diocese into 14 zones and helped designate a representative among the migrant community within each zone, who they helped train to pass important information to their communities.

The commission and migrant leaders would organize meetings in each zone where representatives from the migration offices would come to provide information about how to normalize their migration status. 

« We didn’t have to go to the immigration [office], the immigration [office] came to us; that was all thanks to Prevost’s efforts, » Díaz said. « He acted as a mediator. He wasn’t involved in every detail with us; he delegated things to us, trusted us, and did his part by making the connection with the authorities. »

While representatives from the immigration office came to Chiclayo’s migrant communities to provide information, migrants had to submit their paperwork in person at the branch of the Peruvian government’s foreign affairs office in Trujillo, about four hours away by car. 

Prevost reached out to the foreign affairs office and had them agree to set aside specific time windows to handle cases for migrants coming from Chiclayo. The commission then organized transport to take groups of migrants to Trujillo during those periods to file their claims.  

Ramírez recalled that at the height of their efforts, buses took between 100-200 people to Trujillo up to three times a week where they received designated attention and were able to submit their documentation without waiting in line. 

For those who had some official documents, such as a passport, members of the commission helped request temporary residence permits. For those with nothing, they helped file asylum claims. 

In those appointments, asylum applicants were also given documents that allowed them to freely travel throughout the country and to get a job, which were important steps in fully normalizing their situation and integrating into Peruvian society. 

Yet the bureaucratic fees for submitting that paperwork, and the transportation to and from the appointments, was a large expense. 

To help with those efforts, the human mobility commission began sending proposals to aid organizations, such as Save the Children and the German governmental development agency, GIZ, which Prevost signed partnerships with in order to fund the diocese’s work on migration.

« The human mobility commission did not count with the resources to do these things because we are not an NGO, but these allies did, and through them we were able to put together projects to begin working on normalizing the migration [statuses] ourselves, » Ramírez said. « Monsignor [Prevost] was very willing to do that. The bridges he was building made that possible, it allowed us to complete all those procedures and regularize their situation. »

Though thousands of migrants would continue south toward Lima, Ramírez said that through the church’s assistance many migrants in Chiclayo have been able to put together a stable life.

« Of the 4,000 or so families we still have in the Lambayeque region, many of them have a home, many of their children can study without a problem, many of them have access to the public healthcare system, » he said. 

A church working toward integration

Beyond accompanying migrants through the migration process, the commission also worked to integrate migrants into local community life and structures, such as the healthcare system.

Díaz, the commission coordinator, told NCR that many migrant women who were close to giving birth had been denied treatment at hospitals because they did not have identification showing their enrollment in the public healthcare system. The human mobility commission engaged with the region’s governmental ombudsman office which intervened on their behalf and insisted that migrants must be given care. 

The commission managed to get various hospitals’ social assistance offices, which subsidizes treatment for poor Peruvians, to apply similar discounts to migrants who were not enrolled in the healthcare system. The remaining sums would be paid by the diocese, its charitable arm Caritas or another NGO liaising with the church, such as Save the Children. 

Additionally, members of the human mobility commission underscored that more than supporting migrants through charitable efforts, Prevost supported migrants by being their public advocate.

Díaz recalled sharing with Prevost the comments members of the human mobility commission heard from locals in Chiclayo who called migrants lazy and accused them of using their children to beg since they did not want to work.

« In his homilies, [Prevost] would encourage us in our work. He would talk about mercy. He would say, ‘I am a migrant,’ and he would speak about it, giving witness to his own experience as a migrant, » she told NCR. « He would describe what life was like for a migrant here and say how important it is that we speak out, that Jesus was a migrant, and we were happy because we had such strong support from him. »

Ramírez, the other member of the commission, said that in some parts of the diocese the commission organized « sensibility campaigns » throughout the diocese where volunteers, along with migrants, would go into towns to clean the streets and pick up trash to show that they were active members of the community. 

« The church, led by Prevost, looked far beyond welfare. It saw welfare as something to be coordinated with the state, » he said. « The church was more concerned with the human element. »

Among the migrant community, « some were [Catholic] faithful, some were nonbelievers, some were members of other churches, » Diaz recalled. 

« We weren’t trying to convert people through our work, that wasn’t our goal. Our goal was to stand with a people who were suffering, to ensure that their rights were respected, and if that served as a testimony to them of a church that reached out to them unconditionally — that was the testimony we wanted to share, » she said. « I think Msgr. [Prevost] also shared that mentality. » 

The National Catholic Reporter’s Rome Bureau is made possible in part by the generosity of Joan and Bob McGrath.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer

Catégories
Vie de l'église

The Catholic Church transcends history, but also lives in the thick of it

Much of the discussion about the relationship of the church to the culture is shaped by ideological leanings one way or another. I discussed this recently in a column about the relationship of pastoral theology to moral theology. Even when ideology is not at stake, the church lives in history, even while its foundations and its eschatological future transcend history.

The degree to which the church is shaped by the times in which it finds itself has been brought home vividly to me recently. I have been engaged in some research of the history of my parish church here in Connecticut in anticipation of our 150th anniversary next year. There are two histories of Catholicism in Connecticut: Fr. James H. O’Donnell’s 1900 History of the Diocese of Hartford and Msgr. Thomas Duggan’s 1930 The Catholic Church in Connecticut.

Both books tell the story of Bishop William Tyler, the first bishop of Hartford, and specifically of his declining health. O’Connell writes: « The Seventh Provincial Council of Baltimore, which convened on May 5, 1849, also saw Bishop Tyler in attendance; but on this occasion he brought with him a certificate from his attending physician that his health was in a precarious condition. » Both historians report that the provincial council petitioned the Holy See for a coadjutor bishop to assist the ailing Tyler and recommended Bishop Bernard O’Reilly, vicar general of the diocese of Buffalo, for the post.

What’s missing? There was no nuncio or apostolic delegate to the United States at the time. When Baltimore remained the only archdiocese in the country, and provincial councils were held with some regularity, the bishops wrote to the Holy See to request the erection of new dioceses and to recommend candidates for the episcopacy. What is more, as both historians detail, all correspondence with the Holy See was still sent through the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith because the U.S. was still considered mission territory. It was the Propaganda Fide, not the Consistorial Congregation, forerunner of today’s Dicastery for Bishops, that made the final recommendations to the pope.

What is not missing? No bishop was going to be consecrated without receiving a mandate from the pope. Despite the relative independence of the 19th century church in the United States from Vatican oversight, it was inconceivable that they would consecrate a bishop without the pope’s consent. The now former Catholics in the SSPX should reflect on that fact a bit.

Duggan continues the tale of Bishop Tyler’s declining health. « Although the first Bishop of Hartford had asked for a coadjutor in the spring of 1849, it was not till the autumn of 1850 that the announcement of the appointment was made, » he writes. « Pope Pius XI was in exile in Gaeta in the Kingdom of Naples while the [Baltimore] Council was in session, and it took some time for the news of Bishop Tyler’s death to reach the Pontiff; so that when the appointment was made, it was not a coadjutor but a successor that was needed. As the election gave Bishop O’Reilly the right of succession he immediately assumed control of the Diocese of Hartford. »

The phrase « Pope Pius IX was in exile in Gaeta » jumps off the page! The revolutions that swept Europe in 1848 had not spared Rome and the pope had to flee for his own safety. Thanks be to God, let us hope those days are behind us.

There is something more significant in the timing. In 1849, the delay in transmitting requests for new bishops and the appointments in return were not only hampered by the politics of the day. Telegraphs were quite new and there was as yet no transatlantic cable to transmit them. The fastest way to get a message from the New World to the Old was via steamship, and they typically took at least 10 days to make the ocean crossing. It was not until 1858, when Queen Victoria sent a telegram to President James Buchanan over the first transatlantic cable, that communications between the Catholic Church in the U.S. and the papacy could be quickened. Even then, when Pope Pius X died in 1914 and again when Pope Benedict XV died in 1922, the American cardinals did not arrive in time to join the conclave electing a new pope.

Today, if Pope Leo XIV has a question about the U.S. church, he can consult with his aides in the Vatican, but he can also pick up his cell phone and call an American prelate to ascertain their opinion on any given issue. Emails have replaced letter packets on steamboats. Any Roman official can, with a few clicks on his computer, find much of the information he or she needs about the population or demographics or history of any diocese anywhere in the world. U.S. cardinals fly to Rome regularly to meet with the different dicasteries of which they are members or before which they have important business.

The victory of ultramontanism in the late 19th century, highlighted by the decrees of the First Vatican Council affirming papal primacy, jurisdiction and infallibility, led to a concentration of ecclesial authority in Rome. The appointment of the first apostolic delegate to the U.S. in 1893 increased Roman oversight of the U.S. church. But more than the conciliar decrees and the delegation, the advent of new information technologies and faster travel were critical to the increased authority the Holy See exercises over the universal church.

This concentration of authority may not be permanent. Yes, it is inconceivable that there will be a time when a bishop can be legitimately consecrated without a papal mandate. But just as the manner of recommending bishops changed with the arrival of a nuncio, it could change in the future with different methods of consultation, as foreseen in the synod’s Study Group 7 report. Intermediate authorities are desperately needed if the Vatican is not to be overwhelmed and perhaps reviving the powers of the metropolitan archbishops might make sense, or endowing a country’s episcopal conference with greater decision-making authority.

The Lord Jesus promised he would be with his church until the end of the world. That was not a promise to free us from history. The church will always have to orient itself to the times in which it lives, for better or worse.

Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer