The Archdiocese of New York superintendent of schools announced the launch of a school renewal plan and the final results of a school viability study on June 4, 2025. /  Credit: alexkich/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

Archdiocese of New York Superintendent of Schools Sister Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, announced this week the launch of a school renewal plan and the final results of a school viability study.

On June 3, the archdiocese laid out the first part of the Elementary School Renewal Plan based on the results of the School Viability Study (SVS), which assessed every elementary school in the archdiocese between October 2024 and January 2025 in order “to ensure the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of Catholic education within the community.” 

The two-part school renewal plan, according to a press release, will evaluate four key areas for each school: mission and Catholic identity, governance and leadership, academic excellence, and operational vitality. The second part of the plan will be released in September.

“All schools, whether strong or in need of additional support, will work together with the archdiocese to implement these renewal efforts,” Walsh said. 

Schools will address each of the four focus points of the renewal plan by engaging in reflection and planning throughout the fall. If needed, schools will receive direct support from external consultants to help with future planning and will receive feedback and approval. 

“The renewal process is not always easy, but it brings with it the promise of transformation and growth,” Walsh said.

“Let us hold onto the promise of Revelation 21:5, trusting that God’s continual work of renewal and transformation is at the heart of everything we do,” she said. “Together, we will continue to nurture faith, knowledge, and community in our students, confident that God is with us as we move forward in this time of renewal.”

The SVS was conducted “across 77 parish and regional elementary schools along with two Archdiocese of New York Initiative campuses to assess their alignment with the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (NSBECS).”

Eighteen staff members from the Superintendent of Schools Office in the archdiocese visited the schools to hold conversations with each principal, gather data, observe, and then report on their findings. 

The study found that Catholic schools in the Bronx present a “diverse educational landscape, with schools experiencing varying levels of sustainability.” 

While “several schools are thriving, supported by strong finances, academic excellence, and active parish partnerships,” some other schools “were determined to be unsustainable and recommended for closure.”

In February, the archdiocese announced that Our Lady of Refuge and St. Lucy School in the Bronx and St. Mark the Evangelist in Manhattan would close at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. In May, the archdiocese shared that Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary School in Manhattan would close at the same time. 

“Parish-based schools are a particular strength in Manhattan,” the study reported. The area was found to have some of the highest-performing schools in the archdiocese. 

Ultimately, however, the two Manhattan schools were recommended for closure due to enrollment and financial considerations. 

“We understand the emotional impact these closures have on the students, families, and communities, and we trust in God’s providence to guide us to new opportunities,” Walsh said.

The Archdiocese of New York superintendent of schools announced the launch of a school renewal plan and the final results of a school viability study on June 4, 2025. /  Credit: alexkich/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

Archdiocese of New York Superintendent of Schools Sister Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, announced this week the launch of a school renewal plan and the final results of a school viability study.

On June 3, the archdiocese laid out the first part of the Elementary School Renewal Plan based on the results of the School Viability Study (SVS), which assessed every elementary school in the archdiocese between October 2024 and January 2025 in order “to ensure the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of Catholic education within the community.” 

The two-part school renewal plan, according to a press release, will evaluate four key areas for each school: mission and Catholic identity, governance and leadership, academic excellence, and operational vitality. The second part of the plan will be released in September.

“All schools, whether strong or in need of additional support, will work together with the archdiocese to implement these renewal efforts,” Walsh said. 

Schools will address each of the four focus points of the renewal plan by engaging in reflection and planning throughout the fall. If needed, schools will receive direct support from external consultants to help with future planning and will receive feedback and approval. 

“The renewal process is not always easy, but it brings with it the promise of transformation and growth,” Walsh said.

“Let us hold onto the promise of Revelation 21:5, trusting that God’s continual work of renewal and transformation is at the heart of everything we do,” she said. “Together, we will continue to nurture faith, knowledge, and community in our students, confident that God is with us as we move forward in this time of renewal.”

The SVS was conducted “across 77 parish and regional elementary schools along with two Archdiocese of New York Initiative campuses to assess their alignment with the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (NSBECS).”

Eighteen staff members from the Superintendent of Schools Office in the archdiocese visited the schools to hold conversations with each principal, gather data, observe, and then report on their findings. 

The study found that Catholic schools in the Bronx present a “diverse educational landscape, with schools experiencing varying levels of sustainability.” 

While “several schools are thriving, supported by strong finances, academic excellence, and active parish partnerships,” some other schools “were determined to be unsustainable and recommended for closure.”

In February, the archdiocese announced that Our Lady of Refuge and St. Lucy School in the Bronx and St. Mark the Evangelist in Manhattan would close at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. In May, the archdiocese shared that Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary School in Manhattan would close at the same time. 

“Parish-based schools are a particular strength in Manhattan,” the study reported. The area was found to have some of the highest-performing schools in the archdiocese. 

Ultimately, however, the two Manhattan schools were recommended for closure due to enrollment and financial considerations. 

“We understand the emotional impact these closures have on the students, families, and communities, and we trust in God’s providence to guide us to new opportunities,” Walsh said.

The Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion on Thursday, June 5, 2025, saying Wisconsin violated the First Amendment protections of Catholic Charities. / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously held that the state of Wisconsin had violated the First Amendment when it denied a tax exemption to a Catholic charity after claiming that the group’s charitable undertakings were not “primarily” religious.

The high court said in its Thursday decision that the First Amendment “mandates government neutrality between religions” and that the state had run afoul of that principle when it refused to extend the tax break to the Catholic Charities bureau operated out of the Diocese of Superior.

The state allows organizations “operated primarily for religious purposes” to be exempt from paying into the state’s unemployment system. But the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission had claimed that the Catholic charity was 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.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court had ruled last March against the Catholic charity. On Thursday, however, the Supreme Court reversed that order in a unanimous ruling.

“It is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the decision. “There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one.”

“When the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision of services, it imposes a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny,” she said.

“Because Wisconsin has transgressed that principle without the tailoring necessary to survive such scrutiny, the judgment of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is reversed,” she said.

The case “is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion,” Sotomayor added.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the Catholic charity is not a “distinct organization” separate from the Diocese of Superior where it is chartered.

The charity and its affiliates “are corporate entities that the diocese has created to carry out its religious mission,” Thomas wrote.

“Both the basic principles of church autonomy and the history of religious corporations establish that religious institutions are more than the corporate entities that they form,” he said.

“It follows that the government may not use such entities as a means of regulating the internal governance of religious institutions,” he wrote. 

Diocese of Superior Bishop James Powers on Thursday said the “heart of Catholic Charities’ ministry is Christ’s call to care for the least of our brothers and sisters, without condition and without exception.” 

“We’re grateful the court unanimously recognized that improving the human condition by serving the poor is part of our religious exercise and has allowed us to continue serving those in need throughout our diocese and beyond,” the bishop said.

The Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion on Thursday, June 5, 2025, saying Wisconsin violated the First Amendment protections of Catholic Charities. / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously held that the state of Wisconsin had violated the First Amendment when it denied a tax exemption to a Catholic charity after claiming that the group’s charitable undertakings were not “primarily” religious.

The high court said in its Thursday decision that the First Amendment “mandates government neutrality between religions” and that the state had run afoul of that principle when it refused to extend the tax break to the Catholic Charities bureau operated out of the Diocese of Superior.

The state allows organizations “operated primarily for religious purposes” to be exempt from paying into the state’s unemployment system. But the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission had claimed that the Catholic charity was 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.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court had ruled last March against the Catholic charity. On Thursday, however, the Supreme Court reversed that order in a unanimous ruling.

“It is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the decision. “There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one.”

“When the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision of services, it imposes a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny,” she said.

“Because Wisconsin has transgressed that principle without the tailoring necessary to survive such scrutiny, the judgment of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is reversed,” she said.

The case “is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion,” Sotomayor added.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the Catholic charity is not a “distinct organization” separate from the Diocese of Superior where it is chartered.

The charity and its affiliates “are corporate entities that the diocese has created to carry out its religious mission,” Thomas wrote.

“Both the basic principles of church autonomy and the history of religious corporations establish that religious institutions are more than the corporate entities that they form,” he said.

“It follows that the government may not use such entities as a means of regulating the internal governance of religious institutions,” he wrote. 

Diocese of Superior Bishop James Powers on Thursday said the “heart of Catholic Charities’ ministry is Christ’s call to care for the least of our brothers and sisters, without condition and without exception.” 

“We’re grateful the court unanimously recognized that improving the human condition by serving the poor is part of our religious exercise and has allowed us to continue serving those in need throughout our diocese and beyond,” the bishop said.

Steve Dorsey, U.S. head of communications and public affairs for the International Committee of the Red Cross, speaks about civilian suffering in Gaza with “EWTN News Nightly” host Erik Rosales on June 4, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”

CNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its 60-bed field hospital in Rafah, Gaza Strip, was nearly overwhelmed by a mass casualty event on Tuesday that brought 184 patients through its doors.

The aid group said Tuesday’s influx of patients was the highest the hospital has seen in one day since its opening more than a year ago. Nineteen of those patients were dead on arrival, and an additional eight died shortly thereafter, mostly from gunshot wounds. 

The same day, International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC that Palestinians have been stripped of their human dignity and international humanitarian law is being ignored, saying “humanity is failing” and the situation in Gaza is “worse than hell on earth.”

After responding to five mass casualty events in Gaza in the last week — four of them in the last 96 hours alone — the group is calling for the “respect and protection of civilians,” who should not have to confront danger when trying to reach humanitarian assistance. 

Steve Dorsey, the U.S. head of communications and public affairs at the Red Cross committee in Gaza, spoke with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Erik Rosales on Wednesday evening, telling him the situation in Gaza “is unbearable. We are at a breaking point.” 

Dorsey told Rosales that Tuesday’s mass casualty incident is the “latest illustration” of the Palestinian people’s desperation to access aid and relief, including food and medical care.

Those who survived Tuesday’s attack said they were trying to reach an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the aid organization backed by the U.S. and Israel and the only one currently allowed to operate in Gaza.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops fired on civilians who were “deviating from the designated access routes,” leading IDF to designate the distribution site as a “combat zone.”

The distribution site was closed on Wednesday for “update, organization, and efficiency improvements works,” according to IDF. It reopened on Thursday.

Distribution site closures have prevented the delivery of the former popemobile-turned-ambulance for children donated by Pope Francis before his death. 

According to Dorsey, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza are “entering a new dangerous time.” He told Rosales the Red Cross’ limited access to the region and dwindling supplies have forced them to shut down the majority of community kitchens that fed thousands of people a day. 

Millions of Palestinians are at risk for starvation, according to the United Nations. 

On June 4, the head of humanitarian relief at the U.N., Tom Fletcher, condemned IDF’s attacks on civilians who were “simply trying to eat.”

Fletcher also called for independent investigations into the attacks near aid distribution sites, urging Israel to allow more aid and relief into Gaza.

Pope Leo XIV in the first general audience of his pontificate last month appealed for an end to hostilities in Gaza and for the entrance of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

In addition to providing medical care and food, Dorsey said his organization has been rebuilding sanitation and water systems in the area.

The International Committee of the Red Cross serves as the custodian of the Geneva Conventions, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention, adopted in 1949 after the atrocities of World War II. 

It focuses on protections for civilians, including those in occupied territories, prohibiting acts like torture, collective punishment, and attacks on civilian infrastructure. It also mandates humane treatment for displaced persons, access to medical care, and the right to family communication.

Eighteen thousand pilgrims make their way to Chartres through the French fields at sunrise during the 2024 Paris to Chartres pilgrimage. / Credit: Notre-Dame de Chrétienté

Vatican City, Jun 5, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Organized by the French Notre-Dame de Chrétienté association, the three-day walking journey is set to take place this year from June 7–9.

Eighteen thousand pilgrims make their way to Chartres through the French fields at sunrise during the 2024 Paris to Chartres pilgrimage. / Credit: Notre-Dame de Chrétienté

Vatican City, Jun 5, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Over 19,000 young Catholics will walk from Paris to Chartres this weekend in what has become France’s largest traditional pilgrimage — but this year’s journey unfolds under unprecedented Vatican scrutiny.

Organized by the French Notre-Dame de Chrétienté association, the three-day walking journey — set to take place this year from June 7–9 from the French capital to the ancient cathedral — attracts thousands of pilgrims every year, many of them drawn by the Latin Mass.

While the pilgrimage saw a record turnout of around 18,000 participants in 2024 (up from 16,000 in 2023), this year’s registration filled up in just five days, with over 19,000 pilgrims signing up, a “record level of participation,” according to organizers.

The average age of pilgrims this year is 20 years old, according to the latest numbers. 

“The enthusiasm sparked by all the pilgrimage opportunities in France — especially those for young people — is a joy for the Church and a sign of its vitality,” the Bishops’ Conference of France (CEF) told Aleteia earlier this month.

Summoning those drawn by tradition, the pilgrimage helps pilgrims “to grow in faith and hope” by “bringing them back to basic fundamentals: prayer, the Eucharist, and penance” and to “encourage them to live out Christianity in their daily lives,” Notre-Dame de Chrétienté told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, last year. 

Changes to this year’s pilgrimage

The surge of young pilgrims and the rapid closure of registrations signal for many a vibrant faith among youth drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass, which is celebrated along the pilgrimage.

At the same time, the pilgrimage has been under heightened scrutiny since the publication of Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditiones Custodes that restricts and regulates the use of the Traditional Latin Mass, placing its celebration under the strict oversight of local bishops and the Holy See.

In December 2024, the French Catholic daily La Croix first reported that the pilgrimage was under Vatican review, as the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments believed that it was not adhering to current regulations for celebrating Mass as set out in the papal decree.

At the beginning of last month, Bishop Philippe Christory of Chartres asked that the organizers of the pilgrimage allow priests who wish to do so to celebrate Mass in the current rite within his diocese, even though the pilgrimage has traditionally maintained exclusive use of the old Mass.

In addition, “all priests have to celebrate the sacrament of penance according to the ritual reformed by the council,” according to a decree issued in the name of the Bishops’ Conference of France in consultation with the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

“It is not up to the Notre-Dame de Chrétienté association to limit the form of the rite within the territory of a diocese,” the bishop of Chartres told the French Press, citing Pope Benedict XVI in his letter to bishops accompanying the publication of Summorum Pontificum.

“[I]n order to experience full communion, the priests of the communities adhering to the former usage cannot, as a matter of principle, exclude celebrating according to the new books. The total exclusion of the new rite would not in fact be consistent with the recognition of its value and holiness,” the late pope wrote at the time. 

Restrictions on traditional pilgrimages worldwide

While it has not seen any further major modifications, the Notre-Dame de Chrétienté pilgrimage would not be the first “traditionalist” pilgrimage to face restrictions imposed by Rome. 

Since 2023, the annual Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage in Rome was denied permission to celebrate Holy Mass in the Tridentine rite in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In July 2024, the Vatican prohibited the celebration of the Latin Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga, which customarily takes place at the conclusion of the annual Nuestra Señora de la Cristiandad pilgrimage — a Spanish reproduction of the Paris-Chartres Pilgrimage.

Despite rumors that the Vatican might prohibit the closing Mass, as happened in Spain, the final Mass in Chartres, which will mark the cathedral’s millennium jubilee, remains confirmed.

This year, the solemn high Mass will be celebrated by the general chaplain of Notre-Dame de Chrétienté, Abbé Jean de Massia, FSSP. Christory will deliver the homily.

At the beginning of the closing Mass, Notre-Dame de Chrétienté will consecrate itself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of Christ’s apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in Paray-le-Monial. The pilgrims will be able to pass through the Holy Doors of the cathedral opened for its celebration and venerate the relic of the Virgin Mary’s veil.

In addition, Bishop Athanasius Schneider will celebrate the solemn high Mass on Pentecost Sunday along the road to Chartres. Further, 327 Latin masses are scheduled to take place in tents and fields throughout the pilgrimage. 

Eyes turned to Rome

Looking ahead, Christory has emphasized that any final decision rests with Rome, with the prelate stating that “if anyone is to decide anything, it is the pope.”

With the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, recently drawing attention for its proposed norms regarding the Latin liturgy, many eyes have turned to Rome, awaiting a clearer sense of where Pope Leo XIV stands on the future of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).

Many have taken note of Leo XIV’s constant calls for unity and the sense of openness to tradition and liturgical pluralism — at least toward other Catholic rites — that he conveys. 

“It would be a lie to say that we don’t have expectations for this new pontificate,” Philippe Darantière, president of the Notre-Dame de Chrétienté association, said at the press conference presenting the 2025 edition of the Chartres pilgrimage on May 12.

South loop area of Chicago. / Credit: Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago is using a lobbying firm that supports pro-abortion political candidates and lobbies for abortion providers, raising concerns that the relationship could amount to cooperation with evil by the charitable entity.

Since 2022, Catholic Charities of Chicago has contracted with Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies to lobby on its behalf before the State of Illinois. Cozen O’Connor is a national lobbying firm with offices in major cities across the country, including New York; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago.

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Cozen O’Connor donated $3,500 in 2024 to Personal PAC, a political action committee in Illinois that supports pro-choice candidates at the state and local levels. The firm donated $3,000 in 2023 and $3,500 in 2024, while an individual employee of the firm donated $1,000 in 2024 and an additional $1,000 in 2025 to the pro-abortion organization. 

Cozen O’Connor also gave $1,500 to Preckwinkle for President, the campaign fund for Cook County Board of Commissioners president and vocal abortion supporter Toni Preckwinkle. The firm also lobbies the state government on behalf of Rush University Medical Center, which performs abortions, according to a May 12 report by the Chicago Sun Times.

Catholic Charities of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Chicago, and Cozen O’Connor all declined to comment about the arrangement.

According to Cozen O’Connor’s website, the firm’s lobbyist assigned to the Catholic Charities of Chicago account is Patrick G. Martin, who is also a member of the Catholic Charities of Chicago Mercy Society and on its government advisory committee. According to public records, Martin himself does not appear to do any pro-abortion lobbying work.

Prior to hiring Cozen O’Connor, from 2016 to 2022, Catholic Charities of Chicago had employed Illinois lobbyist Nancy Kimme of Advantage Government Strategies. In 2019, Kimme, a pro-life Republican, brought on former Illinois Rep. Lou Lang, a Democrat, as a partner in the firm. While serving in the state Legislature, in 2017 Lang co-sponsored a bill that, among other things, removed language from state law describing an unborn child as a human being and allowed abortion to be covered by the state’s Medicaid program.

According to public records over the past five years, Lang also made multiple donations to Personal PAC.

Catholic Charities of Chicago is the official charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the third-largest city in the U.S., which is home to more than 2 million Catholics and is the birthplace of Pope Leo XIV. It operates with a budget of $180 million, according to its website, and has more than 1,200 employees, providing critical services that support children, families, and immigrants.

Catholic teaching on cooperation with evil

Catholic moral theology and the Church’s definitive teaching that human life is sacred from conception to natural death raise the question about whether it is considered cooperation with evil, and subsequently ethically problematic, for Catholic Charities to contract with a lobbying firm that supports abortion. 

Catholic moral theology distinguishes between formal and material cooperation with evil. Formal cooperation is when someone who participates in an immoral act intends the same evil as the main person carrying it out. Material cooperation, however, is when a person participates in an evil act without intending the evil. The Church teaches that formal cooperation is always wrong, while some forms of material cooperation may be considered permissible.

The Church further distinguishes between immediate and mediate material cooperation. Immediate cooperation is when a person is involved in the essence of the act, even though he or she does not intend it, and is not permissible. Mediate cooperation is when a person’s actions are not necessary to the sinful act and which can be either remote or proximate to the act. The Church teaches that some forms of mediate cooperation can be permissible if the intended good outweighs the evil.

“The first thing you have to ask is whether it is the intention of Catholic Charities to promote abortion,” Benedictine College moral theology professor John Rziha told CNA.

“If the intention is to promote abortion, it is formal cooperation and evil, and it’s always wrong,” he continued. “I don’t think that’s the case here.” 

The partnership between Catholic Charities and Cozen O’Connor, according to Rziha, is remote mediate material cooperation because Catholic Charities does not directly give its money to support abortion. In the context of the arrangement, Catholic Charities is significantly removed from the act of abortion itself.

“But that’s not the end of the diagnosis,” he said. 

According to Rziha, in this case the level of cooperation with evil is “pretty low,” and therefore “it wouldn’t take a huge good to outweigh it, even though it is a bad action.”

However, he continued, “it’s a legitimate question whether Catholic Charities is actually undermining what they’re doing by contributing to a culture which goes against what the Church teaches.” 

Morally permissible for a proportionally grave reason

The Catholic University of America moral theology professor John Grabowski told CNA that some cases of material cooperation can be morally permissible “if there is a proportionally grave reason to tolerate the cooperation with evil.” 

One factor Grabowski said could be “morally relevant” in terms of Catholic Charities of Chicago’s decision to engage Cozen O’Connor is that the Illinois state government is Democrat-controlled. 

“They might make a prudential judgment and say, ‘This firm has a much better chance of being effective in its lobbying because they have definite connections to the people who are in positions of power in state government,’” he explained.

Potential for scandal

Because Catholic Charities provides many health-care-related services, Rziha pointed to the USCCB’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, in which U.S. bishops call on Catholic health care providers to consider whether particular collaborative arrangements with non-Catholic institutions entail material collaboration with evil that would give rise to scandal or undermine the Church’s witness.

“The bishops, and I think they’re right about this, would say … Catholic Charities should come out and attempt to explain what’s going on if this is becoming scandalous,” he said. “Because if they’re not witnessing to the faith and transforming culture as Catholic Charities, then they’re actually not doing nearly as much good as they think they are.” 

Considering the issue, Rziha distinguished between direct scandal, when a person’s actions directly lead somebody else to do evil, and indirect scandal, when a person’s actions “contribute to a culture which is anti-Catholic or anti-Christian by its nature.”

Ultimately, Catholic Charities engaging a pro-abortion firm can be justified, according to Rziha, so long as the organization can overcome the issue of scandal and ensure that it is not undermining its pro-life witness. “I could understand,” he said, echoing Grabowski, that “this is a liberal state government: If [Catholic Charities] trusts this particular lobby firm, this may be the most effective way for it to lobby.”

However, he added, “I think that to address the issue of scandal, Catholic Charities should explain why they are choosing this firm and say that they are equivocally against abortion: ‘We work against it, and we’re trying to transform our culture by helping women to be empowered within the confines of Church teachings.’”

Illinois Right to Life’s position

As Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander sees it, however, Catholic Charities of Chicago has “a responsibility to due diligence” in selecting a lobbying firm that is aligned with the pro-life cause. 

Zander told CNA that Catholic Charities of Chicago CEO Sally Blount had personally assured her of her commitment to life issues when they met several years ago. “If I had the chance, I would encourage her to consider what that commitment looks like in action,” she added. 

“Catholic Charities serves pregnant women in need every day,” Zander said, adding: “We are failing them if we are contributing to the proliferation of abortion in our state in any capacity.”

South loop area of Chicago. / Credit: Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago is using a lobbying firm that supports pro-abortion political candidates and lobbies for abortion providers, raising concerns that the relationship could amount to cooperation with evil by the charitable entity.

Since 2022, Catholic Charities of Chicago has contracted with Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies to lobby on its behalf before the State of Illinois. Cozen O’Connor is a national lobbying firm with offices in major cities across the country, including New York; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago.

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Cozen O’Connor donated $3,500 in 2024 to Personal PAC, a political action committee in Illinois that supports pro-choice candidates at the state and local levels. The firm donated $3,000 in 2023 and $3,500 in 2024, while an individual employee of the firm donated $1,000 in 2024 and an additional $1,000 in 2025 to the pro-abortion organization. 

Cozen O’Connor also gave $1,500 to Preckwinkle for President, the campaign fund for Cook County Board of Commissioners president and vocal abortion supporter Toni Preckwinkle. The firm also lobbies the state government on behalf of Rush University Medical Center, which performs abortions, according to a May 12 report by the Chicago Sun Times.

Catholic Charities of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Chicago, and Cozen O’Connor all declined to comment about the arrangement.

According to Cozen O’Connor’s website, the firm’s lobbyist assigned to the Catholic Charities of Chicago account is Patrick G. Martin, who is also a member of the Catholic Charities of Chicago Mercy Society and on its government advisory committee. According to public records, Martin himself does not appear to do any pro-abortion lobbying work.

Prior to hiring Cozen O’Connor, from 2016 to 2022, Catholic Charities of Chicago had employed Illinois lobbyist Nancy Kimme of Advantage Government Strategies. In 2019, Kimme, a pro-life Republican, brought on former Illinois Rep. Lou Lang, a Democrat, as a partner in the firm. While serving in the state Legislature, in 2017 Lang co-sponsored a bill that, among other things, removed language from state law describing an unborn child as a human being and allowed abortion to be covered by the state’s Medicaid program.

According to public records over the past five years, Lang also made multiple donations to Personal PAC.

Catholic Charities of Chicago is the official charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the third-largest city in the U.S., which is home to more than 2 million Catholics and is the birthplace of Pope Leo XIV. It operates with a budget of $180 million, according to its website, and has more than 1,200 employees, providing critical services that support children, families, and immigrants.

Catholic teaching on cooperation with evil

Catholic moral theology and the Church’s definitive teaching that human life is sacred from conception to natural death raise the question about whether it is considered cooperation with evil, and subsequently ethically problematic, for Catholic Charities to contract with a lobbying firm that supports abortion. 

Catholic moral theology distinguishes between formal and material cooperation with evil. Formal cooperation is when someone who participates in an immoral act intends the same evil as the main person carrying it out. Material cooperation, however, is when a person participates in an evil act without intending the evil. The Church teaches that formal cooperation is always wrong, while some forms of material cooperation may be considered permissible.

The Church further distinguishes between immediate and mediate material cooperation. Immediate cooperation is when a person is involved in the essence of the act, even though he or she does not intend it, and is not permissible. Mediate cooperation is when a person’s actions are not necessary to the sinful act and which can be either remote or proximate to the act. The Church teaches that some forms of mediate cooperation can be permissible if the intended good outweighs the evil.

“The first thing you have to ask is whether it is the intention of Catholic Charities to promote abortion,” Benedictine College moral theology professor John Rziha told CNA.

“If the intention is to promote abortion, it is formal cooperation and evil, and it’s always wrong,” he continued. “I don’t think that’s the case here.” 

The partnership between Catholic Charities and Cozen O’Connor, according to Rziha, is remote mediate material cooperation because Catholic Charities does not directly give its money to support abortion. In the context of the arrangement, Catholic Charities is significantly removed from the act of abortion itself.

“But that’s not the end of the diagnosis,” he said. 

According to Rziha, in this case the level of cooperation with evil is “pretty low,” and therefore “it wouldn’t take a huge good to outweigh it, even though it is a bad action.”

However, he continued, “it’s a legitimate question whether Catholic Charities is actually undermining what they’re doing by contributing to a culture which goes against what the Church teaches.” 

Morally permissible for a proportionally grave reason

The Catholic University of America moral theology professor John Grabowski told CNA that some cases of material cooperation can be morally permissible “if there is a proportionally grave reason to tolerate the cooperation with evil.” 

One factor Grabowski said could be “morally relevant” in terms of Catholic Charities of Chicago’s decision to engage Cozen O’Connor is that the Illinois state government is Democrat-controlled. 

“They might make a prudential judgment and say, ‘This firm has a much better chance of being effective in its lobbying because they have definite connections to the people who are in positions of power in state government,’” he explained.

Potential for scandal

Because Catholic Charities provides many health-care-related services, Rziha pointed to the USCCB’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, in which U.S. bishops call on Catholic health care providers to consider whether particular collaborative arrangements with non-Catholic institutions entail material collaboration with evil that would give rise to scandal or undermine the Church’s witness.

“The bishops, and I think they’re right about this, would say … Catholic Charities should come out and attempt to explain what’s going on if this is becoming scandalous,” he said. “Because if they’re not witnessing to the faith and transforming culture as Catholic Charities, then they’re actually not doing nearly as much good as they think they are.” 

Considering the issue, Rziha distinguished between direct scandal, when a person’s actions directly lead somebody else to do evil, and indirect scandal, when a person’s actions “contribute to a culture which is anti-Catholic or anti-Christian by its nature.”

Ultimately, Catholic Charities engaging a pro-abortion firm can be justified, according to Rziha, so long as the organization can overcome the issue of scandal and ensure that it is not undermining its pro-life witness. “I could understand,” he said, echoing Grabowski, that “this is a liberal state government: If [Catholic Charities] trusts this particular lobby firm, this may be the most effective way for it to lobby.”

However, he added, “I think that to address the issue of scandal, Catholic Charities should explain why they are choosing this firm and say that they are equivocally against abortion: ‘We work against it, and we’re trying to transform our culture by helping women to be empowered within the confines of Church teachings.’”

Illinois Right to Life’s position

As Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander sees it, however, Catholic Charities of Chicago has “a responsibility to due diligence” in selecting a lobbying firm that is aligned with the pro-life cause. 

Zander told CNA that Catholic Charities of Chicago CEO Sally Blount had personally assured her of her commitment to life issues when they met several years ago. “If I had the chance, I would encourage her to consider what that commitment looks like in action,” she added. 

“Catholic Charities serves pregnant women in need every day,” Zander said, adding: “We are failing them if we are contributing to the proliferation of abortion in our state in any capacity.”

Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Bishop-elect Simon Peter Engurait. / Credit: Courtesy of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

Vatican City, Jun 5, 2025 / 08:54 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday named Uganda-born Father Simon Peter Engurait, a former business analyst who became a priest at age 41, to lead the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in southeastern Louisiana.

The 53-year-old priest, ordained for the diocese in 2013, has acted as diocesan administrator since the death of Bishop Mario Dorsonville in January 2024.

“While I am still shocked by the news that the Lord has asked me to be a bishop, I must admit that knowing the people of this diocese brings me great comfort in saying yes,” the bishop-elect said in a statement published to the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese’s website on June 5.

“South Louisiana is home, and I love the people here. It is a privilege to say yes to you as much as I am saying yes to God. I love you, and I consider it a great honor to serve you as your bishop,” he added.

Engurait, who was also the diocesan vicar general and served as pastor of St. Bridget Parish since 2017, was ordained a priest on May 25, 2013, after entering seminary in the diocese in 2007 at the age of 36.

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in southeastern Louisiana has an estimated 90,000 Catholics, around 38% of the total population of the territory.

The diocese has many foreign-born priests. The diocese’s most recent bishop, the late Dorsonville, was also born outside of the U.S., in Bogotá, Colombia.

Bishop-elect Engurait was born in Ngora in the eastern region of Uganda on Aug. 28, 1971. He is the seventh of 14 children, one of whom is a female religious in the Franciscan order and another a diocesan priest.

He was raised Catholic and attended both junior high and high school minor seminaries. He started major seminary before dropping out midway to pursue a bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration at Makerere University in Kampala.

After graduation, Engurait worked for 11 years for the government of Uganda in the department for the reform and divestiture of public enterprises. He later pursued a graduate degree in business administration in the Netherlands and went on to work in human resources, procurement, and business analysis, holding positions from entry level to management.

While in major seminary as a young man in Uganda, he had a life-changing encounter with the Catholic charismatic renewal, leading him to get involved and hold leadership positions in the movement.

Through the charismatic renewal, he met Bishop Sam Jacobs, then the bishop of Houma-Thibodaux (bishop emeritus since 2013), in 2003. After years of prayer and discernment, Engurait was accepted into seminary in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux by Jacobs in 2007.

Since his ordination in 2013, he has served as associate pastor in several parishes, including St. Bridget since 2017.

His various diocesan roles have included moderator of the curia and coordinator of Christian formation, vicar general for administration, and vicar general and moderator of the curia. He has also been a board member for Catholic Charities.

After the sudden death of Dorsonville on Jan. 19, 2024, Engurait was elected to administer the diocese until the appointment of a bishop. Bishop-elect Engurait will succeed Dorsonville as the diocese’s sixth bishop.