Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, albeit not a democratic nation-state, has one of the most long-standing voting traditions in the world. When a pope dies, their successor is chosen by election. However, only a few Catholics—the cardinals of the church—participate. And the Catholic magisterium teaches that even though humans vote, it’s the Holy Spirit guiding the process. […]

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Tens of thousands of young pilgrims, who took part in Jubilee of Teenagers festivities from April 25-27, 2025, were also present at the Divine Mercy Mass dedicated to the late pontiff. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is launching a new initiative this summer to address the crisis of disaffiliation among young people in the Church through a proactive missionary “lab” program. 

“The impetus behind it is really giving tools to young people who notice things and have great ideas about how to respond to needs or opportunities in their community, and giving it a structure that allows them to practice listening, practice prayerful discernment, and implement whatever project they’re working on,” the archdiocese’s coordinator of missionary discipleship, Rena Black, told CNA. 

“When a young person is the driving force behind something, that lights a fire under people in a way that nothing else can,” she said. “So we’re trying to harness that a little bit.” 

According to Black, the Archdiocesan Youth Missionary Protagonism Lab (AYMP Lab) will serve as a “space of experimentation to discover something new” and will consist of gathering up to 10 teams of two to four young people and one to two adults from across the archdiocese who will meet monthly to work through the stages of designing projects that fill a need in their communities. 

Young people in these teams will also be assisted by their parishes and other adult mentors as they carry out their projects. 

Participation will include a special missionary discipleship training as well as monthly “synodal-style advising” among the teams via Zoom, according to the website. 

While most of the program’s meetings will take place remotely, Black emphasized that young people will “not just be passive recipients” but rather “actively engaging in the process of giving and receiving feedback to one another, sharing things they’ve learned, and things that have come up in their own prayer and reflection that might be relevant to others and other projects.” 

The purpose of the meetings, Black said, is to accompany the teams in a “synodal” style process, rather than a merely instructional one, and to incentivize young people to spearhead the initiatives while providing necessary guidance and feedback. 

The teams will also partake in an in-person retreat and send-off liturgy at the end of the program. 

The AYMP Lab was partially inspired by a program in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia called the Youth Co-Leadership Protagonism Initiative, as well as by the work carried out by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.

Black emphasized the importance of bringing “the wisdom of prayerful design thinking into the process” and listening to the needs of the community as a key component of the program. 

Black said that to date she has received applications from “a handful” of teams but is hoping to draw in even more, particularly from underserved areas in the archdiocese. 

The program has received about $6,500 in grants from the Mark D. Pacione Foundation to kickstart its local efforts, Black said, although she said she hopes to secure more funding as the program grows.

“That’s part of my hope,” she said, “that we prepare them not just for the local micro grant but give them skills to be able to apply for even more funding.”

Groups of teens are currently invited to apply with their adult mentors to participate in the program until the application deadline on May 19.

“Special consideration will be given to applicant teams from communities without full-time paid youth ministry staff as well as teams who represent urban, rural, and culturally-shared pastorates,” the site notes. 

“It’s a wild time in our archdiocese right now,” Black said, noting the lowering of the confirmation age and the loss of its Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, who has been appointed to serve as bishop of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island. The archdiocese has also been bankrupt since 2023 following an influx of civil lawsuits that came after a state law passed ending the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases, some of which stretched back decades. 

“It’s the time where we’re going, ‘Holy Spirit, tell us what comes next,’” Black said, “and the Church is telling us, ‘Don’t forget to listen to young people’ in that question of what comes next, because they’re the churches now, but they are also the Church of the future.” 

“So if we fail to listen to them now,” she concluded, “we are not preparing for the future.”

Tens of thousands of young pilgrims, who took part in Jubilee of Teenagers festivities from April 25-27, 2025, were also present at the Divine Mercy Mass dedicated to the late pontiff. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is launching a new initiative this summer to address the crisis of disaffiliation among young people in the Church through a proactive missionary “lab” program. 

“The impetus behind it is really giving tools to young people who notice things and have great ideas about how to respond to needs or opportunities in their community, and giving it a structure that allows them to practice listening, practice prayerful discernment, and implement whatever project they’re working on,” the archdiocese’s coordinator of missionary discipleship, Rena Black, told CNA. 

“When a young person is the driving force behind something, that lights a fire under people in a way that nothing else can,” she said. “So we’re trying to harness that a little bit.” 

According to Black, the Archdiocesan Youth Missionary Protagonism Lab (AYMP Lab) will serve as a “space of experimentation to discover something new” and will consist of gathering up to 10 teams of two to four young people and one to two adults from across the archdiocese who will meet monthly to work through the stages of designing projects that fill a need in their communities. 

Young people in these teams will also be assisted by their parishes and other adult mentors as they carry out their projects. 

Participation will include a special missionary discipleship training as well as monthly “synodal-style advising” among the teams via Zoom, according to the website. 

While most of the program’s meetings will take place remotely, Black emphasized that young people will “not just be passive recipients” but rather “actively engaging in the process of giving and receiving feedback to one another, sharing things they’ve learned, and things that have come up in their own prayer and reflection that might be relevant to others and other projects.” 

The purpose of the meetings, Black said, is to accompany the teams in a “synodal” style process, rather than a merely instructional one, and to incentivize young people to spearhead the initiatives while providing necessary guidance and feedback. 

The teams will also partake in an in-person retreat and send-off liturgy at the end of the program. 

The AYMP Lab was partially inspired by a program in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia called the Youth Co-Leadership Protagonism Initiative, as well as by the work carried out by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.

Black emphasized the importance of bringing “the wisdom of prayerful design thinking into the process” and listening to the needs of the community as a key component of the program. 

Black said that to date she has received applications from “a handful” of teams but is hoping to draw in even more, particularly from underserved areas in the archdiocese. 

The program has received about $6,500 in grants from the Mark D. Pacione Foundation to kickstart its local efforts, Black said, although she said she hopes to secure more funding as the program grows.

“That’s part of my hope,” she said, “that we prepare them not just for the local micro grant but give them skills to be able to apply for even more funding.”

Groups of teens are currently invited to apply with their adult mentors to participate in the program until the application deadline on May 19.

“Special consideration will be given to applicant teams from communities without full-time paid youth ministry staff as well as teams who represent urban, rural, and culturally-shared pastorates,” the site notes. 

“It’s a wild time in our archdiocese right now,” Black said, noting the lowering of the confirmation age and the loss of its Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, who has been appointed to serve as bishop of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island. The archdiocese has also been bankrupt since 2023 following an influx of civil lawsuits that came after a state law passed ending the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases, some of which stretched back decades. 

“It’s the time where we’re going, ‘Holy Spirit, tell us what comes next,’” Black said, “and the Church is telling us, ‘Don’t forget to listen to young people’ in that question of what comes next, because they’re the churches now, but they are also the Church of the future.” 

“So if we fail to listen to them now,” she concluded, “we are not preparing for the future.”

Midwinter Swimmers The Innocence Mission (Bella Union, 2024) Sometimes an album comes along so seemingly unconcerned with popularity and trends that it startles with its artistic sincerity. Midwinter Swimmers is just such an album. Like a stroll through a gallery where each painting enriches the others, the effect of these songs is immersive: They both […]

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As the Catholic Church elects a new pope, a cardinal reminded his fellow electors that true Christian leadership begins not in control, but in surrender to mystery.

"We so often feel like masters of God, perfect knowers of the truth, while we are only pilgrims to whom the Word has been given," said Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, former prefect of Dicastery for Eastern Churches, during a memorial Mass for Pope Francis May 2.

In his homily, the Italian cardinal warned against reducing God to human categories, pointing to the idea deeply rooted in Eastern Christianity that God is ultimately beyond comprehension. "Contemplation of the incomprehensible," he said, reminds believers that even the greatest theologians -- like St. Thomas Aquinas in the West -- could speak only of what God is not, rather than define what God is.

Cardinal Gugerotti celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Basilica with cardinals and representatives from the Eastern Churces on the seventh day of the "novendiali" -- nine days of mourning for Pope Francis marked by Masses.

Calling on the church to remain attentive to the cries of creation and of suffering humanity, Cardinal Gugerotti lamented that "creation and the human person seem to have so little value today."

Some parts of the church however, such as in Africa, are attentive to the beauty of creation around them, "because new life is for their peoples an inestimable value."

He described creation as a "companion on the journey of humanity" and recalled how Pope Francis often insisted that caring for the earth and for the poor are inseparable tasks. Creation "asks for solidarity from the human race," the cardinal said, "so that it may be respected and healed."

Reflecting on the legacy of Pope Francis, he said the late pope "taught us to gather the cry of violated life, to assume it and present it to the Father, but also to work to concretely alleviate the pain that this cry evokes."

At times, he said, a wounded humanity struggles even to voice its need for God. 

"This desperate humanity, in its cry, finds it difficult to express prayer and invocation to the God of life," the cardinal said. In such moments, the Holy Spirit gives voice to what the human heart cannot articulate, transforming "our rocky silences and unexpressed tears into an invocation to our God with inexpressible groanings."

Cardinal Gugerotti said this interior prayer -- silent but powerful -- must guide the church through its mourning and discernment. "In this Eucharist we intend to join, as we can and know how, the inexpressible groaning of the Spirit that cries out to God what is pleasing to him," he said.

The cardinal also praised the witness of Eastern Catholic communities present at the Mass, many of whom have faced persecution, war or exile. Though diminished in number, he said, "they remain firmly attached to a sense of catholicity that does not exclude but indeed implies the recognition of their specificity."

Their liturgical and spiritual traditions, he noted, "enrich the church with the variety of their experiences, their cultures, but above all their very rich spirituality."

As the cardinals prepare to enter the conclave May 7, Cardinal Gugerotti closed his homily by invoking the Holy Spirit through a 10th-century Eastern prayer by St. Symeon the New Theologian:

"Come, true light; come, eternal life; come, hidden mystery, so that, seeing you forever I, who am dead, may live."

- - -

Reporting by CNS Rome is made possible by the Catholic Communication Campaign. Give to the CCC at: https://bit.ly/CCC-give

ROME (CNS) -- The rules and rituals for the election of a new pope say that immediately after his election, he goes into the sacristy of the Sistine Chapel and puts on "the garments that are appropriate to him."

That's all that is written.

For more than 100 year that meant that the Gammarelli family's clerical tailor shop near the Pantheon in Rome had already sent to the Vatican three white wool cassocks -- large, medium and small -- with an attached capelet.

But Lorenzo Gammarelli, who now runs the shop with three cousins, told Agence France-Presse April 24 that they will not be sending the customary three cassocks to the Vatican ahead of the conclave scheduled to begin May 7.

"We were told by the Vatican that they have taken care of it," he told AFP, explaining that he believes the vestments for the new pope would "be those of the previous conclaves, because each time we made three robes, and they used only one."

Not receiving an order has not stopped Raniero Mancinelli, though. 

From his tailor and religious goods shop in the Borgo Pio, near the Vatican, he told Catholic News Service May 2 that he has sewn vestments for Pope Francis, Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II, and he was preparing the set of three -- small, medium and large -- just in case.

He is sizing for the next pope's girth, not height, he said, because when the new pope appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica no one will notice how long the cassock is. "Later, the right size will be made."

Mancinelli said he would deliver the lightweight wool cassocks, with appropriately calibrated sashes and white zucchettos, or skullcaps, to the Vatican liturgy office before the conclave begins.

He's been a tailor for some 70 years, since he was 15 years old.

The tailor said he once tried to persuade Pope Francis to let him make a pair of white or cream-colored trousers, since the pope's black slacks were often visible beneath his cassock, especially in bright sunlight. "But he told me he was fine with the way it was." 

Mancinelli is one of the few people working near the Vatican who is not thinking about which cardinal might be elected.

When he is sewing, he said, he does not have a specific person in mind and is not "dreaming" of who might wear his garment.

"I do my work with passion, I like it, and I concentrate on the work, not the person," he said, adding that focus is especially important when handling papal garments because they are white and easy to stain.

Because the three garments were not an order, Mancinelli said they will be a gift, one he is offering "very gladly because serving the church is a great honor for me."
 

New pope clothes: Small, medium or large?

On Borgo Pio, the cobblestoned street just outside the Vatican, shops are full of clerical clothing. But one tailor is focused on something more specific: white cassocks for the next pope.

St. Athanasius. / Credit: Public domain

CNA Staff, May 2, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church on May 2 honors St. Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth-century bishop known as “the father of orthodoxy” for his dedication to the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. Athanasius played a key role at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 and defended the Nicene Creed throughout his life.

This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which was convened during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in 325.

St. Athanasius was born to Christian parents living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 296. His parents took great care to have their son educated, and his talents came to the attention of a local priest who was later canonized — St. Alexander of Alexandria. The priest and future saint tutored Athanasius in theology and eventually appointed him as an assistant.

Around the age of 19, Athanasius spent a formative period in the Egyptian desert as a disciple of St. Anthony in his monastic community. Returning to Alexandria, he was ordained a deacon in 319 and resumed his assistance to Alexander, who had become a bishop. The Catholic Church, newly recognized by the Roman Empire, was already encountering a new series of dangers from within.

The most serious threat to the fourth-century Church came from a priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus could not have existed eternally as God prior to his historical incarnation as a man. According to Arius, Jesus was the highest of created beings and could be considered “divine” only by analogy. Arians professed a belief in Jesus’ “divinity” but meant only that he was God's greatest creature.

Opponents of Arianism brought forth numerous Scriptures that taught Christ’s eternal preexistence and his identity as God. Nonetheless, many Greek-speaking Christians found it intellectually easier to believe in Jesus as a created demigod than to accept the mystery of a Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. By 325, the controversy was dividing the Church and unsettling the Roman Empire.

Nicaea

In that year, Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea to examine and judge Arius’ doctrine in light of apostolic tradition. It reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching on Christ’s full deity and established the Nicene Creed as an authoritative statement of faith. The remainder of Athanasius’ life was a constant struggle to uphold the council’s teaching about Christ.

Near the end of St. Alexander’s life, he insisted that Athanasius succeed him as the bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius took on the position just as Emperor Constantine, despite having convoked the Council of Nicaea, decided to relax its condemnation of Arius and his supporters. Athanasius continually refused to admit Arius to Communion, however, despite the urgings of the emperor.

A number of Arians spent the next several decades attempting to manipulate bishops, emperors, and popes to move against Athanasius — particularly through the use of false accusations. Athanasius was accused of theft, murder, assault, and even of causing a famine by interfering with food shipments.

Arius became ill and died in 336, but his heresy continued to live. Under the rule of the three emperors that followed Constantine, and particularly under the rule of the strongly Arian Constantius, Athanasius was driven into exile at least five times for insisting on the Nicene Creed as the Church’s authoritative rule of faith. 

Athanasius received the support of several popes and spent a portion of his exile in Rome. However, the Emperor Constantius did succeed in coercing one pope, Liberius, into condemning Athanasius by having him kidnapped, threatened with death, and sent away from Rome for two years. The pope eventually managed to return to Rome, where he again proclaimed Athanasius’ orthodoxy.

Constantius went so far as to send troops to attack his clergy and congregations. Neither these measures nor direct attempts to assassinate the bishop succeeded in silencing him. However, they frequently made it difficult for him to remain in his diocese. He enjoyed some respite after Constantius’ death in 361 but was later persecuted by Emperor Julian the Apostate, who sought to revive paganism.

In 369, Athanasius managed to convene an assembly of 90 bishops in Alexandria for the sake of warning the Church in Africa against the continuing threat of Arianism. He died in 373 and was vindicated by a more comprehensive rejection of Arianism at the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381 at Constantinople.

St. Gregory Nazianzen, who presided over part of that council, described St. Athanasius as “the true pillar of the Church” whose “life and conduct were the rule of bishops and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith.”

This story was first published on May 1, 2011, and has been updated.

St. Athanasius. / Credit: Public domain

CNA Staff, May 2, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church on May 2 honors St. Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth-century bishop known as “the father of orthodoxy” for his dedication to the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. Athanasius played a key role at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 and defended the Nicene Creed throughout his life.

This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which was convened during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in 325.

St. Athanasius was born to Christian parents living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 296. His parents took great care to have their son educated, and his talents came to the attention of a local priest who was later canonized — St. Alexander of Alexandria. The priest and future saint tutored Athanasius in theology and eventually appointed him as an assistant.

Around the age of 19, Athanasius spent a formative period in the Egyptian desert as a disciple of St. Anthony in his monastic community. Returning to Alexandria, he was ordained a deacon in 319 and resumed his assistance to Alexander, who had become a bishop. The Catholic Church, newly recognized by the Roman Empire, was already encountering a new series of dangers from within.

The most serious threat to the fourth-century Church came from a priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus could not have existed eternally as God prior to his historical incarnation as a man. According to Arius, Jesus was the highest of created beings and could be considered “divine” only by analogy. Arians professed a belief in Jesus’ “divinity” but meant only that he was God's greatest creature.

Opponents of Arianism brought forth numerous Scriptures that taught Christ’s eternal preexistence and his identity as God. Nonetheless, many Greek-speaking Christians found it intellectually easier to believe in Jesus as a created demigod than to accept the mystery of a Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. By 325, the controversy was dividing the Church and unsettling the Roman Empire.

Nicaea

In that year, Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea to examine and judge Arius’ doctrine in light of apostolic tradition. It reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching on Christ’s full deity and established the Nicene Creed as an authoritative statement of faith. The remainder of Athanasius’ life was a constant struggle to uphold the council’s teaching about Christ.

Near the end of St. Alexander’s life, he insisted that Athanasius succeed him as the bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius took on the position just as Emperor Constantine, despite having convoked the Council of Nicaea, decided to relax its condemnation of Arius and his supporters. Athanasius continually refused to admit Arius to Communion, however, despite the urgings of the emperor.

A number of Arians spent the next several decades attempting to manipulate bishops, emperors, and popes to move against Athanasius — particularly through the use of false accusations. Athanasius was accused of theft, murder, assault, and even of causing a famine by interfering with food shipments.

Arius became ill and died in 336, but his heresy continued to live. Under the rule of the three emperors that followed Constantine, and particularly under the rule of the strongly Arian Constantius, Athanasius was driven into exile at least five times for insisting on the Nicene Creed as the Church’s authoritative rule of faith. 

Athanasius received the support of several popes and spent a portion of his exile in Rome. However, the Emperor Constantius did succeed in coercing one pope, Liberius, into condemning Athanasius by having him kidnapped, threatened with death, and sent away from Rome for two years. The pope eventually managed to return to Rome, where he again proclaimed Athanasius’ orthodoxy.

Constantius went so far as to send troops to attack his clergy and congregations. Neither these measures nor direct attempts to assassinate the bishop succeeded in silencing him. However, they frequently made it difficult for him to remain in his diocese. He enjoyed some respite after Constantius’ death in 361 but was later persecuted by Emperor Julian the Apostate, who sought to revive paganism.

In 369, Athanasius managed to convene an assembly of 90 bishops in Alexandria for the sake of warning the Church in Africa against the continuing threat of Arianism. He died in 373 and was vindicated by a more comprehensive rejection of Arianism at the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381 at Constantinople.

St. Gregory Nazianzen, who presided over part of that council, described St. Athanasius as “the true pillar of the Church” whose “life and conduct were the rule of bishops and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith.”

This story was first published on May 1, 2011, and has been updated.

It is another reminder of the concreteness of the Resurrection…but it’s also a reminder of the practicality of love. This Sunday’s Gospel story is one of my favorites (John 21:1-14). The Apostles have returned to Galilee and decide to go fishing. I’ve heard some homilists criticize them for returning to their former way of life, but it […]

The post Come, Have Breakfast appeared first on Integrated Catholic Life™.

A Daily Quote to Inspire Your Catholic Faith For of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker? How could men be reasonable beings if they had no knowledge of the Word and Reason of the Father, through Whom they had received their being?  – Saint Athanasius, On the Incarnation […]

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