In a wealthy Asian city, a play asks why St. Clare of Assisi chose to own nothing
SINGAPORE — St. Clare of Assisi, as she appears on a church stage in Singapore this week, opens her story with a list of what her family owned. “We had money, we had servants ... we had horses,” she tells the audience. “We had everything, but for a girl like me, my life was already written for me.”
The line comes early in “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi,” performed Oct. 16 and 17 at the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, a Catholic parish in Bukit Batok in western Singapore served by Franciscan friars.
Presented by CANA, a faith-based community and cultural hub in Singapore, and Saint Max, the production is part of the celebrations of the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi, which the worldwide Franciscan family has held to mark 800 years since Francis died in October 1226.
Actress Sharda Harrison wrote the script and plays the role of Clare; according to the organizers, she also directed the show. Fra Rowland Yeo, OFM, a Franciscan friar, plays St. Francis, and the productionʼs poster says all proceeds go to the development office of the Franciscan friars.
An organizer from CANA who asked not to be named said that after a year of jubilee celebrations for Francis, the play was a fitting way to close the celebration with “the precious legacy of St. Clare.” The group turned to Harrison, the organizer said, because she had portrayed St. Thérèse of Lisieux for them in 2024 in “St. Thérèse: The Little Way,” a play she also wrote and directed.
Asked what audiences should take home, the organizer answered with a question: “Why is poverty a privilege? ... Why is this crazy lady Clare so resolved to live it?”
The second and last performance falls on Oct. 17, the United Nations' International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Medieval marriage, modern ‘swiping’
In a city-state where Catholics live alongside Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, and others, the script reaches for references from everyday modern life. When Clareʼs father looks for a husband for her, suitors appear on a large screen: Guido, Bernardo, and Silvestro, “my fatherʼs favorite.” Clare asks the audience to vote. “In your time ... you swipe right if you like the boy, and you swipe left if you donʼt like the boy,” she says.
The comedy gives way to the turning point of her life. Clare describes Francis as a merchantʼs son “born into wealth just like me.” She says: “I realized that I had everything, but I wanted none of it.” She slips out of her family home on Palm Sunday night, has her hair cut before Francis, and faces her furious father: “I belong to Christ now, Father.”
It is not a one-woman show. Other actors play Clareʼs companions and the early friars, and Clare pulls women from the audience into the story, choosing them as “sisters” and giving them vows as her community grows.
‘The right to possess nothing’
Poverty runs through the script. Clare recalls that her mother, Ortolana, “saw God everywhere, especially in the poor,” and adds: “They were not hidden like today.”
“This is what it means to live in the privilege of poverty,” she says, “to be given the right to possess nothing.” The world, she tells them, “did not understand. Not even the Church.”
The title of the play echoes Clareʼs letters to St. Agnes of Prague, a princess who, in the playʼs words, “decided to give up everything to become a poor lady.”
In welcoming remarks before the curtain, Fra Michael DʼCruz, OFM, the Franciscan friar overseeing the event for the parish, quoted those letters and described how the two saints, Clare and Francis, worked together. “Francis was the voice; Clare was the quiet powerhouse of prayer,” he said.
Near the end, Clare looks back on a life of refusals. “Perhaps saying no was never the whole point,” she says. “I had to learn how to say yes, yes to Christ, yes to poverty.”
After the cast took their bow on opening night, Harrison dropped Clareʼs Italian accent to thank those present “for wanting to be here to listen to Clareʼs story,” promising “a bigger, grander farewell” for the last night.
St. Clare died in 1253 at San Damiano, near Assisi, Italy, her home “for the next 40 years,” as she says in the script.
German bishops join initiative for ‘child-friendly’ artificial intelligence
The German Bishops' Conference has joined an initiative that aims to make artificial intelligence safe and suitable for children, citing Pope Leo XIVʼs call to defend human dignity in the age of AI.
The initiative, called “KI kindgerecht!” (“Child-friendly AI!”), also involves Germanyʼs biggest Protestant body and an association of childrenʼs websites.
“AI is already embedded in many digital applications,” said Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, who chairs the bishops' media commission, in a statement Oct. 14.
"With the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV gives the Church a clear mandate: In the age of artificial intelligence, we must defend human dignity — especially where children are easily exposed to danger."
The initiative “combines protection, participation, and responsibility, and makes clear that digital spaces must serve the good of the child,” he said.
Responsibility must not be “shifted onto parents alone,” Bätzing added. “Precisely because we know how vulnerable children are, we see it as our duty to act as advocates for this group in need of protection — in the digital space as well. Technology must serve the human person, not purely economic interests.”
The Church in Germany is working with academics, educators, and interested providers on a code of conduct for child-friendly interactive AI, built on five principles: safety by design, respect for childrenʼs rights, age-appropriate spaces for participation, data protection, and human review.
The bishops also said providers “must be obliged to comply with child-friendly standards” and called for lasting investment in media education so children, parents, and teachers can learn to use AI confidently.
Vatican sharpens focus
The German initiative comes as the Church globally wrestles with AI and the Vatican sharpens its own focus on minors online.
At its Sept. 28–Oct. 2 plenary assembly in Rome, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors examined how digital technologies, AI, and websites are used in the pastoral care of children and backed wider collaboration with international partners and Curia offices so that “the dignity, safety, and wellbeing of children remain at the heart of technological development and governance,” Vatican News reported.
In March, Pope Leo XIV warned: “We must not allow children to end up believing they can find in artificial intelligence chatbots their best friends or the oracle of all knowledge, dulling their intelligence and their capacity for relationships, and numbing their creativity and thinking.”
Receiving participants of a Rome conference on “The Dignity of Children and Adolescents in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” on Nov. 13, 2025, Leo also warned that “children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to manipulation through AI algorithms that can influence their decisions and preferences.”
In Magnifica Humanitas, the encyclical on artificial intelligence published May 25, the pope wrote that “online phenomena such as grooming, blackmail, and the sexual exploitation of minors are not uncommon, and are made more insidious by the use of fake profiles, algorithms that facilitate dangerous contact, and AI tools capable of manipulating images and videos.”
This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Catholic theologian challenges U.S. Senate candidate on abortion: ‘The Bible is not silent’
In an exchange that drew sharp responses from Catholic scholars and the local bishop, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico told University of Dallas theology professor Jodi Hunt that “the Bible is silent on the issue” of abortion during an Oct. 14 CNN/Jubilee town hall in Fort Worth.
Hunt pushed back, drawing applause when she said the Bible does address abortion, as one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not kill,” and that Catholics are insulted when it is suggested otherwise.
Following the exchange, Hunt told EWTN News she thinks Talarico was trying to appear as a “centrist” to undecided voters, or Republicans unhappy with the party, but she does not think he was convincing.
“While it’s important to look at the whole picture of a candidate when discerning who to vote for,” she said, “respect for human life must drive everything else,” she said.
Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson agreed, responding to the exchange on social media: “The right to life is the premier moral issue because all human rights depend upon the human person being alive. The right to life is the common ground for the morality of all issues considered in policies involving human dignity and the common good.”
“I’ve yet to see a candidate where I really have to think about it, where they’re pro-abortion but align with me on other issues,” Hunt added.
During the town hall, Talarico made a point of calling Pope Francis and Pope Leo “two of my favorite spiritual heroes” for being “consistently pro-life” on poverty, climate change, and war as well as abortion.
“I appreciate that he highlighted some of the social causes Catholics care about and mentioned the popes,” Hunt said. “But he was sidestepping. I thought it was a very politician-thing to do.”
Hunt said if she had the opportunity to push back more, she would have pressed him on how Catholics can trust he will do the right thing concerning climate change or the poor when he won’t defend the lives of the most vulnerable.
“If we can’t trust him to protect the most innocent among us, we can’t trust he’ll do anything he says,” Hunt explained.
Talarico went on to reframe abortion as “a public policy problem” rather than a moral issue, saying both sides share the goal of fewer “unplanned or unwanted pregnancies,” to be achieved through “scientifically valid sex education” and access to contraception, the use of which is intrinsically wrong, the Church teaches.
“If I believed that abortion was murder or that it was against the 10 Commandments, then of course I would be against it, but we can just agree to disagree,” he said.
Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas, told EWTN News she was “shocked at how deceptive he (Talarico) is.”
“He lies to Christians about their own beliefs, and he does it very smoothly,” Hanssen said. “He tried to put the idea that abortion is murder into the category of debatable belief. No one in their right mind thinks that abortion kills anything but a baby human. It’s not a statement of religious belief, it’s just a statement of science and biology.”
In the aftermath of the exchange, the University of Dallas beamed about how Hunt handled the moment.
“Dr. Hunt demonstrated how to stand firmly in oneʼs faith while engaging respectfully with those who hold different views,” the University said, adding that she “exemplifies UDʼs mission to form leading citizens who bring their convictions into the public square with courage, clarity, and respect.”
Catholic commentator Kathryn Jean Lopez also praised Hunt’s participation, saying that in the exchange with Talarico she “demonstrated what it means to be a responsible Catholic engaged in our political life.”
Pope Leo XIV cleared to leave hospital SSaturday aturday after successful surgery
Doctors have cleared Pope Leo XIV to leave the hospital; he will return to the Vatican on Saturday afternoon, according to the Vatican.
The pope’s personal physician Dr. Luigi Carbone and surgeon Dr. Stefano Margaritora said Oct. 17 that “based on the blood tests and chest X-ray performed this morning, and after evaluating his clinical condition, the Holy Father has been deemed fit to be discharged.”
The Vatican also announced that Leo would celebrate Mass at the hospital on Saturday before being discharged, and lead his Angelus at the Vatican on Sunday.
Leo announced during his Sunday Angelus on Oct. 11 that he would undergo surgery to remove a lung nodule. Doctors confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma after his surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Oct. 13.
Since his surgery and hospitalization, doctors and the Vatican have confirmed that the pontiff’s postoperative recovery is “progressing normally.” On Friday, the Vatican released photos of the pope celebrating Mass at the hospital, the first photos since his hospitalization.
Jesuit Refugee Service UK calls Catholic finance leaders to aid refugees
David Ryall, director of Jesuit Refugee Service UK, urged Catholics gathered for the Association of Provincial Bursars conference to walk in solidarity with refugees.
In his keynote speech, “Refugees and Migration in the U.K.: A Catholic Response to People Seeking Sanctuary,” Ryall underscored the important role those working for Catholic organizations play in helping to “turn generosity into something practical and sustainable,” according to an Oct. 13 report from Independent Catholic News.
Ryall further highlighted the importance of commitment to the preservation of human dignity and necessary reforms that should be made in the asylum system in the United Kingdom. The conference took place Oct. 5–7.
Priest in India arrested for molesting 5 minor boys
A Catholic priest in India has been arrested on charges of sexual assault against five minor boys.
Father Siprian Pinto of St. Vincent Ferrar Church at Valencia, Mangaluru, was arrested after one of the victims’ families filed a complaint at the Mangaluru South Police Station on Oct. 15, according to a report from The Hindu.
The victim alleged that Pinto touched him inappropriately on several occasions and that when he confided in four of his friends about the sexual assault, they said they experienced the same thing, the report said. The boy’s parents approached the bishop, who instructed them to file a complaint. An investigation is now underway, according to the report.
Maronite bishop appointed in Mexico
Father Milad Yaghi, a Lebanese priest serving in Houston, has been appointed by Pope Leo XIV as bishop of the Maronite Catholic community in Mexico, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Oct. 12.
Yaghi will serve in the Diocese of Our Lady of Martyrs of Lebanon in Mexico, and his episcopal ordination is scheduled for Feb. 2, 2027, in Harissa, Lebanon.
Yaghi was born in 1964 in the town of Shalifa Bekaa, Lebanon, and has served as a mentor for Christian youth in the country and as the personal secretary for the Maronite bishop of Our Lady of Lebanon in Los Angeles.
Father Elias Suleiman, superior general of the Lebanese Maronite Missionaries, expressed gratitude to Pope Leo XIV and to the Synod of the Maronite Bishops for choosing Yaghi to take care of the Mexican diocese.
Mauritius having ‘very difficult time’ amid violent unrest
Bishop Jean Michaël Durhône of the Diocese of Port-Louis in Mauritius has appealed for peace and nonviolence as the Indian Ocean island nation grapples with violent protests.
“I am a brother of Mauritius, a brother of the people of Rodrigues, and a brother and sister of everyone living in Mauritius, a country that is going through a very difficult time,” he said in a message on Oct. 13, ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, reported.
“We are witnessing a situation of suffering and anger,” he said of the unrest following demonstrations that erupted last week over water shortages and living costs and escalated after police shot and injured a 27-year-old woman on Oct. 9.
“We must take this situation seriously and ensure that people remain safe,” Durhône said. “There are many people of goodwill working for peace. We are trying to bring everyone together so that peace can return to the country, a peace built on a commitment to non-violence.”
Caritas conference in Cyprus highlights global survey on migrant children
Caritas Italy and Caritas Cyprus hosted a three-day meeting in Nicosia on “Migration in the Eastern Mediterranean: Challenges, Responsibilities, and European Perspectives,” with protection of migrant children as one of the event’s central themes.
“We believe migration policies must be accompanied by safe and legal pathways, as well as effective systems for reception and integration. Here in Cyprus, the need to look beyond borders — and not only political ones — could not be more evident,” Paolo Valente, deputy director of Caritas Italy, said in an Oct. 7 press release.
Cecilia Nicoletti of Caritas Internationalis presented a global survey of 73 Caritas organizations on the topic of migrant children, which found “many are under 14 and are fleeing conflict, violence, persecution and the effects of climate change, at a time when the principle of non-refoulement is increasingly disregarded,” according to the release. The conference also included sessions on migration routes, integration, and global migration.
Asia-Pacific Augustinians hold congress on digital evangelization
The Asia-Pacific Augustinian Conference (APAC) held its Mission Congress 2026 Oct. 5–11 on evangelizing in the digital age, missionary identity, and “interior tourism.”
The congress took place at the pastoral center of the Archdiocese of Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, according to a Licas News report. Joseph Đinh Đức Đạo, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Xuân Lộc, called participants to view digital tools as “secondary to the interior disposition of the evangelizer,” the report said. “If you do not have Christ in your heart, you cannot preach and share Him.”
Father Augustine Huyn Tran, OAD, prior of the Discalced Augustinian Saigon Community, called for missionaries to stay rooted in their spiritual heritage while also using technology to serve their efforts to carry out real-life conversions.
During the opening Mass of the congress, Father Andrew Batayola, OSA, president of APAC, encouraged delegates to practice “interior tourism” by exploring the depths of their hearts through deliberate spiritual journey.
Chaldean Catholics gather in Rome for special Mass
Chaldean Catholics from Iraq and communities around the world gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica for a Mass celebrated by Patriarch Paul III Nona.
With Aramaic hymns, traditional clothing, and Chaldean flags, the celebration brought together believers from different countries,” ACI MENA reported Oct. 15. In his homily, Nona emphasized that true Christian unity comes through Christ while respecting each community’s identity and traditions.
Chaldeans came to the event from Australia, Canada, the United States, and several European countries, as well as from Iraq, Egypt, and Syria.
Tanzanians urged to pray for founding president’s canonization
Bishop Lazarus Vitalis Msimbe of Morogoro, Tanzania, has presented Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere as a role model for leaders, urging intensified prayers for the canonization of the country’s first president.
“Let us continue praying for Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere,” he said in a homily on Oct. 11, ACI Africa reported. “Twenty-seven years have passed since his death, but the process of declaring him a saint has already begun.”
Nyerere, whose cause was initiated in 2005, served as prime minister of Tanganyika from 1961 to 1962 and as its president from 1962 to 1964. Following the union that established Tanzania in 1964, he became the East African nation’s first president, serving until 1985. He died in 1999 at the age of 77.
“Some leaders, when defending a position and encountering opposition, eventually back down. However, Mwalimu Nyerere did not retreat from upholding the principles he believed were right and essential for the countryʼs development,” the bishop said.
UK bishops merge 3 dioceses
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has concluded its consultation process with three dioceses merged at the request of Pope Leo XIV and the Dicastery for Bishops.
“The priests and deacons of the three dioceses engaged positively and constructively with the discussions about the possibility of a unified diocese being established by the Holy Father,” the bishops said in the conclusion of the consultative report on the merging of the Leeds, Middlesbrough, and Hallam Dioceses, released Oct. 14.
Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds said in the report that “the unification of the three dioceses would help to strengthen the mission of the local Church, support the work of evangelization more strategically, and provide greater opportunities to fulfill our responsibility to reach out to the poor and disadvantaged within our region.”
‘The Chosen’ releases official trailer for Season 6
“The Chosen” released its official trailer for Season 6 on Oct. 15. The upcoming season of the hit series focuses on the 24 hours of Good Friday — culminating in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Season 6 of “The Chosen” will include six episodes — the first three of which will debut on Nov. 15 on Prime Video, followed by the release of a weekly episode through Dec. 6.
The season finale will be a stand-alone theatrical release on March 12, 2027.
“It was painful to shoot, and it’s painful to contemplate,” Dallas Jenkins, creator of the show, wrote on the show’s Instagram account.
He added: “But if there’s one thing I want you to take away from this season, it’s that Jesus chose this path. He even tells the apostles he could be rescued from it if he wanted. He chose surrender and humility and sacrifice. Knowing that should make this story a little less painful.”
“Season 5 was the powder keg. In Season Six, it explodes,” he concluded.
The trailer depicts the moments leading up to Jesus’ scourging and crucifixion. The episodes will depict the events from the perspective of those who were close to Jesus and those who took part in his condemnation — the Pharisees speak of justice, the Romans of peace, and Jesus’ followers see it as a murder.
In a press release earlier this year, Jenkins said: “Everyone knows the basics of this part of the story, but not everyone knows the ‘why’ of the crucifixion and the extraordinary events of these 24 hours. We realized this not only deserved a season of television but a standalone full-length theatrical event as well. We wrote and filmed all of it with this in mind.”
The show’s star, actor Jonathan Roumie, has spoken about his experience portraying Jesus’ passion and crucifixion.
In an interview with EWTN News at ChosenCon on Feb. 20 he said: “For the first few months afterwards going to Mass — and even thinking about it now — I just get weepy. I get emotional. It’s hard. It’s left an indelible impression on me — mentally and emotionally sharing even just a percentage, a micron of a percentage, of the Lord’s passion; playing it and reenacting it has left me absolutely humbled and moved.”
The new trailer already has over 1 million views on YouTube in the 24 hours since its release.
Bishop: ‘Indiscriminate’ ICE raids incite anxiety, fear in California’s Central Valley
Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno, California, warned that immigration raids in California’s Central Valley are instilling “unrest, anxiety and even fear” in the community and that many of his priests are reporting that their parishes have been affected.
“Even if you have not been personally affected by the increased immigration enforcement in our region, many of those who sit alongside you in the pews have been affected, with some already having been detained,” wrote Brennan, whose diocese covers a large portion of the southern Central Valley.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have not announced any specific operations targeting California or its Central Valley. However, local media have reported a surge in enforcement in recent weeks.
In his pastoral letter, Brennan said pastors reported to him that “members of their congregations have been taken away abruptly and with little or no information coming from federal agents.” He said he has been in contact with priests and interfaith and advocacy partners about ways to “help, comfort and accompany our people” amid the reported surge.”
“It breaks my heart,” the bishop wrote. “... Many of those caught up in this recent immigration enforcement in our Valley are not strangers to us — they are family, neighbors, and parishioners who are being uprooted from the lives they have built over many years among us.”
‘Indiscriminate’ raids
Brennan noted that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted 216-5 to approve a special message that the bishops oppose “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” during the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly. He then expressed concern that Central Valley raids appear to be indiscriminate.
“These people are valued and beloved, they are part of the fabric of our community,” he said. “It is frightening to them and disturbing to us that these current operations seem to have taken on an indiscriminate nature with little regard for the dignity of the human person.”
“Our Church teaches that every human person possesses an inherent dignity,” the bishop continued. “This dignity is not granted by governments, economic status, citizenship, or legal documentation. It is given by God.”
A spokesperson for DHS did not confirm any specific operation targeting California.
“For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations,” the spokesperson said. “Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country including in California.”
The spokesperson defended ongoing immigration enforcement: “To most Americans our ICE officers are heroes as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists.”
The spokesperson provided a list of five people they labeled as “public safety threats” arrested in California, which included people convicted of vehicular manslaughter, aggravated assault with a gun, burglary, homicide, and selling drugs.
Church ‘will not be silent’
In his pastoral letter, Brennan said the Church “will not be silent” and “will accompany our vulnerable neighbors in concrete, sustained ways.”
“We will strive to be a loving presence in our society for our brothers and sisters,” Brennan said.
“Our parishes will be present to them for healing and comfort,” he said. “Accompaniment might take the shape of walking with families through long and complicated legal proceedings, showing up at immigration court, organizing transportation and childcare, and refusing to let anyone face this situation alone. We will speak up for them and will encourage one another to see this work of justice as a part of our baptismal call.”
Accompaniment might take the shape of walking with families through long and complicated legal proceedings, showing up at immigration court, organizing transportation and childcare, and refusing to let anyone face this situation alone. We will speak up for them and will encourage one another to see this work of justice as a part of our baptismal call.”
Bishop Joseph BrennanDiocese of Fresno, California
The bishop called for “real change and real reform,” saying “our country and our elected officials must do better,” calling for “tangible results that reflect meaningful and just immigration reform.”
“Until such reform is achieved, the dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters must remain in the forefront of whatever shape our efforts might take,” he wrote. “In the midst of those efforts, to be sure, we are navigating in a chaotic and emotionally charged time. I encourage the faithful to pray for one another and to act out of a spirit of communion in all things, bridging divisions and treating one another peacefully and with compassion.”
“We are in this together,” Brennan wrote. “God bless you and those you love, always and in every way.”
In wake of deadly shooting at Oregon elementary school, bishops call for prayer
Oregon’s Catholic bishops are urging prayer after a shooting Thursday at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, which left five people dead — including three young children — and two critically wounded.
According to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, a 16-year-old forced his way into the elementary school by shooting through locked doors before opening fire inside. The gunman killed three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, alongside a teacher before he was shot and killed at the scene by a bystander who had spotted him entering the building. A 7-year-old student and another teacher were rushed to a local hospital with critical injuries.
A teacher who was in a classroom on campus during the entire ordeal, Kathy Sheil Smith, spoke with CNN affiliate KPTV on Thursday night, saying of the students: “They were so afraid. The looks on their faces was really hard to see.”
Speaking to what occurred on the ground, she saw the shooter enter the school from her classroom window. After alerting the main office, she moved her students to a corner of the classroom to shelter in place. “Some kids were praying; some kids were consoling other kids,” Smith said.
As shots were heard across the school, she said some teachers imagined they wouldn’t make it out alive.
“I’m sure that every teacher at the school thought, ‘Today is the day that I am going to die,’” she said through tears.
The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of pastoral care and community support across the state, with hundreds attending a candelight vigil Thursday night.
“We expect that our schools are safe places for our children and all who pass through their doors. When a tragedy like this occurs, it shakes us to our core,” wrote Bishop Thomas Hennen of the Diocese of Baker — which encompasses the city of Bend — in a letter offering his “heartfelt prayers for those whose lives were taken in the shooting.”
Acknowledging the overwhelming wave of emotions confronting the city, Hennen pointed to faith, solidarity, and action as the path forward.
“It is only natural that we would be flooded with emotions at a time like this — shock, grief, fear, confusion, anger,” Hennen wrote. “Even as more is known about what happened, there are no adequate answers for why this happened. We can only mourn, support each other, and pledge ourselves to doing everything in our power to prevent such tragedies in the future.”
The prelate said the entire “Catholic community of central and eastern Oregon mourns with the families of the victims, the Silver Rail community and the city of Bend.”
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, emergency responders transported surviving students and staff by bus to a nearby church, where families and guardians were reunified with their loved ones.
Speaking at an evening media briefing, Krantz noted that law enforcement notified all victim families and that an active, thorough investigation remains underway.
Local officials and state leaders emphasized the need for communal healing, counseling, and mutual support in the days ahead.
“In the coming days, there will be opportunities to gather, including a community vigil tonight, to mourn together, honor those affected and those lost, and begin the difficult process of healing,” Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said.
At the state level, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek confirmed that the Department of Emergency Management is actively coordinating resources to assist the local community.
“We must come together and support each other, neighbor to neighbor, Oregonian to Oregonian,” Kotek said.
Crisis counselors have also been mobilized across the school district to help students and families.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of the Archdiocese of Portland also issued a statement, offering spiritual closeness to the grieving families and the broader community.
“No family should ever have to experience such fear and heartbreak. Please know that you are not alone,” Sample said. “I hold you close in prayer, and the Church stands with you in this time of sorrow.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Federal funding restored to Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has restored federal funding to the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley (CCRGV) after suspending it last year over concerns about the charity’s past recordkeeping for programs that provided services to asylum seekers and migrants.
In November 2025, the charity faced a potential six-year debarment based on concerns DHS identified after a review of CCRGV’s administration of several federal programs, including the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s Emergency Food and Shelter program and its Shelter and Services Program.
CCRGV received approximately $16.2 million in federal grant awards from the DHS for fiscal year 2024, its last funded cycle before the program ended. The money came through FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program in two rounds: $7,421,965 in the April 2024 and an additional $8,788,186 that September, according to figures released by Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, whose district includes part of the Rio Grande Valley.
Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of CCRGV, said in February 2025, however, that the organization left much of the fiscal year 2024 money undrawn as the number of migrants arriving at its McAllen respite center fell to nearly zero after President Trump took office.
In an interview with EWTN News, Pimentel said that after DHS had reviewed the organization’s records, “there was a percentage of incorrect data” that had been entered by staff who were “inputting, registering, and taking down [immigrants’] information.”
She said that previously, a large influx of immigrant families “were arriving on a daily basis,” and “100% of them were brought to us by the U.S. Border Patrol.”
DHS told EWTN News that it had found “deficiencies in grant-related recordkeeping, data accuracy, and internal controls,” including missed deadlines and inaccuracies in migrant intake data.
In a statement she made concerning the matter last November, Pimentel said: “I take very seriously every single dollar entrusted to us,” adding that CCRGV was “committed to compliance with federal grant requirements” and would “work expeditiously with DHS to resolve this matter.”
Pimentel, a sister of the Missionaries of Jesus, said that after a meeting with DHS this past spring, the federal agency “notified us that the debarment was lifted as long as we proceeded to follow through with our commitment to report how we were using the funding in the future” in order “to make sure that those errors would not happen again.”
DHS said the matter was resolved this past May through an administrative agreement that remains in effect for 36 months and requires CCRGV to “maintain enhanced compliance and oversight measures.”
“Failure to comply may result in further administrative action, including suspension or debarment,” DHS said.
In its November 2025 letter to CCRGV obtained by Fox News, DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzarra told Pimentel that “regardless of whether these problems stem from gross mismanagement or an affirmative intent to facilitate lawlessness, this pattern must end.”
Pimentel told EWTN News that “the good thing about funding being restored is that we receive funding for many reasons, not just for immigrants,” including “for emergency assistance for our communities, one of the poorest areas in the United States.”
She said that though the flow of immigrants has stopped, the agency still materially aids many individuals and families in the Rio Grande Valley.
“No matter how limited we are in resources, even when we can barely make it, we are still wanting to help our neighbor that is struggling,” Pimentel said. “Itʼs so important that you donʼt hold back from doing whatʼs good.”
Wisconsin voters to weigh ban on church closures in health emergencies
Voters in the Wisconsin midterm elections will decide whether to ban the local government from closing places of worship in a state of emergency, six years after a diocese threatened to sue over Mass restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ballot measure, titled “Prohibit Government Closure of Places of Worship During Emergencies Amendment (2026),” would alter Section 18 of Article I of Wisconsin’s state constitution to include the sentence: “nor shall the state or a political subdivision of the state order the closure of or forbid gatherings in places of worship in response to a state of emergency at the national, state, or local level, including an emergency related to public health.”
“Although the Wisconsin Catholic Conference did not take a position on the constitutional amendment, we discussed possible changes with the authors,” David Earleywine, executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, told EWTN News. Earleywine declined to elaborate on what changes were discussed.
“Religious liberty is the fundamental right to practice one’s faith openly without fear or coercion. Pope Leo XIV recently said that it is the ‘cornerstone of any just society,’” he said. “Freedom to gather for worship is only one important aspect of religious liberty and religious conduct, both of which extend beyond the four walls of a house of worship.”
The measure comes more than six years after the Diocese of Madison threatened to sue the local government of Dane County over its imposition of a 50-person cap on Mass attendance in 2020.
Bishop Donald Hying of Madison told EWTN News at the time that “as bishop, it is my duty to ensure that our sacraments are available to the Catholic faithful, while following best practices when it comes to public health.”
"Religious liberty enshrines freedom of conscience, the right to worship, and the right of religious organizations to serve the common good in the public square. A ballot initiative this fall speaks to that right,” Hying said in his Oct. 15 column in the Madison Catholic Herald.
Similarly, in an Oct. 2 video message on voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Hying addressed the ballot initiative, saying: "Thereʼs a ballot initiative in Wisconsin this year that speaks about the importance of the primacy for houses of worship to remain open during potential future pandemics.”
“We know that that right to worship, that religious liberty, is a foundational part of our Constitution but also our life as Christians,” Hying said. “The Mass for us is everything.”
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee declined requests for an interview or comment.