Catholic religious community faces 'inevitable' end in Australia as it moves to settle abuse claims
A Catholic religious community in Melbourne, Australia says it will be forced to close after nearly two centuries as it moves to settle a large number of abuse claims brought against it.
Christian Brothers Oceania Province said on June 22 it was proposing a plan to facilitate the “orderly distribution of our remaining property, funds and other assets” to victims of abuse by congregation members.
The organization said in a press release that “some members” of the congregation had caused “enormous harm through their criminal sexual abuse of children.”
The group said it is facing a “pivotal moment” in which a “very difficult financial position” led it to propose the distribution scheme. Either through that scheme or through “liquidation,” the group said its Oceania province would “inevitably come to an end.”
The congregation has multiple chapters on every continent except Antartica and has faced numerous sexual abuse allegations elsewhere. The Oceania province includes congregations in Australia, New Zealand, and Papa New Guinea.
The organization said that over roughly the past 45 years it has already made payments to abuse victims “in excess of $480 million.” Yet in the past decade the number of claims against the organization has “accelerated,” leading the group to propose the distribution scheme.
If the proposal does not receive court approval, the congregation said, then it will “have no option but to enter liquidation.”
“In both cases,” the group said, the Oceania province will “cease to exist.”
The organization’s press release noted that it is “financially and canonically distinct” from the “broader Catholic Church,” meaning it has “no ability to compel other Catholic institutions” to help with the financial payout.
The province’s assets include approximately 36 properties throughout Australia with a total value of about $216 million, the group said.
The proposed distribution scheme would also account for the future care of the remaining brothers in the province, the congregation said. A total of 176 brothers are still living throughout the province with an average age of 80 years.
The interests of the abuse victims “remain our highest priority,” the congregation said.
The congregation first established a presence in Australia 183 years ago, in 1843, the group said, and while it argued that there is “much to be proud of” in its work, its history of sex abuse is “shameful and painful.”
“It is a truth we do not resile from, and it is this which has brought us to this point today,” the group said.
The Congregation of Christian Brothers was founded in 1802 by Edmund Ignatius Rice in Waterford, Ireland. It was formally recognized by the Holy See in 1820.
Mexico confronts its taboo history: Exhibit spotlights Cristero War against religious persecution
Throughout 2026, a museum in Puebla, Mexico, is hosting the exhibition “When Faith Challenged Power,” which depicts the history of the Cristero War, a popular uprising against religious persecution in Mexico that frequently goes unmentioned in education and public discourse.
Marking the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict, also known as the La Cristiada, the exhibition on display at the museum at the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP by its Spanish acronym) aims to highlight “everything involved in the defense of religious freedom” in early 20th-century Mexico, and how Mexicans “decided to defend something that was important to them.”
Mariana Cruz Ugarte, coordinator of the UPAEP Museum, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that the exhibition presents “a reflection that seems very pertinent both today and always: what is important to us, and why is it worth defending?”
A war Mexico rarely talks about
Although tensions between the Church and the Mexican state were rooted in the anticlerical 1917 Constitution, the Cristero War erupted in 1926 when the so-called “Law on Tolerance of Religious Worship” or the “Calles Law,” named after then president Plutarco Elías Calles, went into effect in July of that year.
The regulations promoted and enforced by Calles severely restricted religious freedom, banning public worship outside of churches, prohibiting religious attire, dissolving religious orders, and deporting foreign priests.
Faced with the restrictions, Mexican bishops decided to suspend religious services. Tensions with the authorities escalated, and groups of Catholic faithful across various parts of Mexico spontaneously took up arms against federal repression.
Many of these men and women faced persecution while shouting “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”) — a rallying cry that gave rise to the name by which they would become known: the “Cristeros.”
“There is talk of more than 250,000 deaths in the Cristero War resulting from the armed conflict,” noted Cruz, pointing out that despite the magnitude of that war, it is a “little-known” event.
In Mexico, she said, the War of Independence in the first half of the 19th century and the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s are “very deeply ingrained” in our minds, yet the Cristero War is “a moment in our history that little is said about.”
“That’s why it is important” to remember this war, she said, for “when we forget these lessons, which cost our nation dearly in blood, we risk the possibility that it could happen again, that it could continue to occur in other ways.”
Furthermore, she emphasized, “even though this happened long ago, it helps us reflect on the importance of dialogue versus a response that descends into violence.”
An exhibition that seeks to surprise
The immersive exhibition invites visitors to witness the private lives and concerns of the Cristeros “as if we were observing it ourselves,” and to see “how peopleʼs lives changed” due to the war.
“That really adds to the element of surprise, because people don’t imagine the characters speaking,” noted Cruz, pointing out how visitors approaching certain areas of the exhibition are startled by sounds recreating the lives of persecuted Catholics.
In this way, it feels as though “they are living their lives and we are spying on them,” even witnessing the “fear” experienced by those who “decided to defend something that was important to them.”
“We wanted to surprise people,” she emphasized, noting that this is “an exhibition that differs greatly from what we have traditionally presented at the UPAEP Museum.”
In one area of the exhibition, two women can be heard conversing in hushed tones. “We are seeing these women making flags that they’re going to donate to the Cristero army,” the museum coordinator explained.
Then, one makes one’s way in the dead of night to the center of a village, where the church stands closed and guarded by the federal army.
There, “we approach very discreetly so as not to interrupt what is taking place, the way people continued to live out their faith in secret, inside their homes, in the early hours of the morning,” she added.
Inside one of the “houses” recreated by the exhibition, another exchange can be heard: “The priest is celebrating Mass, and they ask him to please lower his voice so they won’t be discovered,” Cruz explained.
“We seek to stir emotions but also to engage the senses,” she said, noting that visitors “can even smell the grass in the village center.”
The exhibition is further enriched by authentic Cristero artifacts ranging from flags and photographs to clothes and even weapons used by those who took up arms against the Mexican governmentʼs repression.
The UPAEP Museum coordinator emphasized that the exhibition aims to foster “reflection on peaceful coexistence,” as well as “the importance of dialogue, always as a means to facilitate and reach conflict resolution.”
However, a key point, she noted, is “the importance of getting involved and staying informed about what is happening in political life.”
“One thing we can see is that political decisions affect people’s lives,” she said, pointing out that such decisions “transform even our everyday lives, the way we are accustomed to living them.”
This can be especially relevant when “it seems there are young people today who do not feel particularly compelled” to pay attention to these developments.
The exhibition at the UPAEP Museum is open to the public free of charge and will remain open until Jan. 16, 2027.
Instagram post
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Vatican rejects German bishops’ request for lay homilies at Mass
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has rejected a request by the German Bishops’ Conference to allow lay faithful, in exceptional circumstances, to preach the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.
The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments communicated the decision in a letter dated June 17 addressed to Bishop Heiner Wilmer, president of the German Bishops’ Conference.
In the letter, released by the Vatican on June 23, the dicastery said it is “not possible to grant the indult requested” on March 30 which would have allowed a duly designated layperson to preach in place of the homily.
Although the dicastery — which oversees most matters related to the Catholic Church’s liturgy and the ritual of the sacraments — expressed appreciation for the pastoral motivations behind the request, it emphasized that current norms do not allow for exceptions on this point.
“The reservation of the homily to a priest or deacon is not a merely disciplinary norm, but derives from the very nature of the liturgy,” the dicastery said.
The letter noted that the homily “constitutes an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word,” is “intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel,” and “represents an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the sacrament of holy orders.”
The dicastery also stressed that the “proclamation of the Word within the liturgical celebration is inseparable from the mission received sacramentally and from the unity that links the Word and the Sacrament in the eucharistic celebration.”
The letter underlined the need to strengthen the formation of clergy, pointing to “the importance of promoting the ongoing formation of ordained ministers, so that the homily may fully express its pastoral and spiritual efficacy.”
Finally, the dicastery recalled that the Church’s current discipline already provides other possibilities for lay faithful to preach.
“There are numerous forms of proclamation of the Word and preaching that can be entrusted to the lay faithful outside the homily and outside the celebration of the Eucharist,” the dicastery said, noting that such preaching must always be carried out in accordance with canon law and the proper nature of those forms of announcing the Gospel.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Cambodia's Buddhist leaders honor Catholic bishop for decades of cooperation
Cambodia’s Buddhist leadership has conferred a high honorary title on the Catholic bishop of Phnom Penh, recognizing decades of cooperation between Buddhist and Christian communities in a country where the Catholic Church remains a small minority.
Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, received the title “Akka Mahāupāsakabuddhasāsanūpatthambhakr,” roughly translated as “Elder Great Lay Supporter and Upholder of the Buddha’s Dispensation,” during a ceremony on June 13, 2026, at Wat Botum Vatey in the Cambodian capital.
The title was conferred by Supreme Patriarch Nun Nget of Cambodia’s Mohanikaya Buddhist order and presented at a ceremony presided over by Venerable Khim Sorn, the order’s third deputy supreme patriarch.
The honor builds on a distinction Schmitthaeusler received in 2022, when Cambodia’s Buddhist leadership named him a “Maha Upasaka,” recognizing his support for Buddhist communities and his role in promoting dialogue and cooperation between Cambodia’s Buddhist majority and its small Catholic minority.
At the time, Buddhist leaders cited joint development projects, educational initiatives, and efforts to strengthen social cohesion. The new title represents a higher level of recognition from the country’s Buddhist establishment.
Speaking at the ceremony, Khim Sorn pointed to Cambodia’s constitutional framework, which recognizes Buddhism as the state religion while protecting religious freedom.
He said the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia clearly stipulates that Buddhism is the state religion, but “it also guarantees complete freedom of religious belief without coercion” and promotes religious harmony, peaceful coexistence, and mutual respect among the different religions.
Buddhist leaders said the recognition reflected Schmitthaeusler’s long involvement in educational, humanitarian, and community-development initiatives carried out in cooperation with Buddhist institutions.
For Schmitthaeusler, the award marked another chapter in a relationship that began more than two decades ago. “This is a profoundly meaningful event for me as a Catholic bishop,” he said.
The French-born missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society traced that relationship to his years as a parish priest in Takeo province, where Catholics and Buddhists worked together on local development projects.
Among them was the construction of a road linking a Catholic community and a nearby pagoda, an initiative he said helped lay the groundwork for deeper cooperation.
Over the years, that collaboration expanded into education and social services. Schmitthaeusler noted that he supported the establishment of a primary school at Wat Ang Montrey, where students study Pali, Sanskrit, and other academic subjects.
The prelate also highlighted joint humanitarian efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and assistance provided to displaced families during recent tensions along the Cambodia-Thailand border.
“Receiving the status of Akka Mahāupāsakabuddhasāsanūpatthambhakr today is a moment of profound recognition of how the Catholic Church and Buddhism walk hand-in-hand for the common good of our people and our country,” he said.
Schmitthaeusler also cited recent dialogue initiatives involving Buddhist and Christian leaders from Cambodia and across Asia focused on peacebuilding and reconciliation.
“We know that when Cambodia is full of peace, it radiates a positive influence to the rest of the world,” he said. “This is a powerful signal: when religions journey together, the world will witness true peace,” he added.
A small Church rebuilt after the Khmer Rouge
Theravada Buddhism is practiced by the vast majority of Cambodia’s roughly 18 million people. The Catholic Church numbers about 20,000 faithful across one apostolic vicariate and two apostolic prefectures.
The Catholic Church was nearly wiped out during the Khmer Rouge era, when religious communities were persecuted and most church buildings were destroyed.
Since public religious life resumed in the early 1990s, the Catholic Church has gradually rebuilt through education, health care, social services, and pastoral ministry, becoming a small but visible presence in Cambodian society.
UK bishops welcome child safety but cautious on social media ban for under 16
Catholic bishops across the United Kingdom say they need to see more legislative detail before supporting government proposals to ban social media for youth under 16.
On June 15, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Liz Kendall announced to the House of Commons that the government "will ban social media companies providing their services to under 16s.”
Kendall said that the UK would be following the same model as Australia, which was the first country in the world to ban social media for youth under 16. The UK ban is due to come into effect early next year.
In an email response to EWTN News on June 17 regarding whether bishops of England and Wales support the proposed ban, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference for England and Wales said: “Until the government publishes further details it’s hard to give a yes or no answer.”
But Bishop John Arnold, the lead bishop for communications for the conference, “is very keen to ensure that the safety and protection of the dignity of young people online is a central concern for all,” the statement said.
In a separate email to EWTN News, Bishop Arnold wrote that the “safety of children and young people in the digital world is paramount. Young people face many pressures today, which are often exacerbated by unrealistic and harmful material which they have accessed online.”
“When it comes to the responsible and appropriate use of technology, the protection of children and young people is a shared responsibility among parents, schools, government and society,” he said.
“I urge all people to work together to protect and place the dignity of the human person, especially children, the young and vulnerable, at the center of technological and legislative developments,” the bishop said.
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, meanwhile, said it would “prefer not to comment directly on the specific policy issue, but rather give a considered response to the noble principles behind online safety measures.”
“The bishops support the introduction of any new measures which increase online safety for children and young people,” the conference said.
"We have a responsibility to ensure that children and young people are protected from harmful and age-inappropriate content, and from online environments that can negatively affect their wellbeing, relationships and healthy development,” the statement continued.
The UK governmentʼs proposal includes banning youth usage of platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and X. They do not intend for messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal to be included in the ban.
Livestreamers and strangers being able to contact children will also be restricted for those under‑16 on other online services like gaming.
“Who should take responsibility?”
Edwin Fawcett, a Catholic psychotherapist based in England and Wales, is also unsure about the benefits and drawbacks of the proposal.
“At this point the toll taken on mental and emotional health by social media, especially for developing brains, is virtually undisputed. Who should take responsibility for young peopleʼs formation and education?” he told EWTN News.
“The Churchʼs wise answer: parents. Yet in a busy, driven and fragmented society the tsunami of digital hyper-reality is almost impossible to avoid or withstand,” he said.
Fawcett argued that there is “a pandemic of relational wounds and deficits in the real world” which “has set the stage for widespread mental health issues, which are being activated and worsened by addictive online behavior — behavior chosen in an attempt to anesthetize the same wounds.”
He continued: “Whether the ban is designed to support the rights and responsibilities of the family is hard to say. But letʼs pray that a deep renewal of family life, communities and culture will begin filling the void which social media has falsely promised to do — a void which may now be exposed by the incoming ban.”
Lucy Marsh, a spokeswoman for the Family Education Trust — a secular research body which supports traditional family values — said that the ban has not been sufficiently “thought through.”
“Children should not have unsupervised access to social media, but the government’s rushed plan to ban under-16s from using certain platforms is the wrong way to go about it,” she told EWTN News.
“Rather than educating parents on how to restrict their child’s access to the internet and raising awareness about why young children should not have smartphones, the government is trying to introduce digital ID via the back door. This means using facial recognition and biometrics which involve giving even more information to tech companies. In the name of protecting children, those children will be under even more surveillance.”
The government “should focus on ensuring tech companies make phones for children which cannot access social media apps, including WhatsApp, which is used by predatory adults to share pornography and groom children,” she said.
International Widows’ Day: How Jesus and St. Augustine show Church’s concern for widowed women
Widows have a place of privilege and special care in the Judeo-Christian tradition, according to biblical texts. On International Widows’ Day, annually observed on June 23, the Church has the opportunity to honor these women who, throughout the ages, have meaningfully supported their families and communities after the loss of their spouses.
Widows in Scripture
In St. Lukeʼs Gospel, Jesus’ encounters with widows began in his infancy, when he was presented in the Temple of Jerusalem, and continued into the years of his public ministry as a teacher and healer.
These various meetings recorded in the Gospel highlighted the strength of a widow’s faith and prayer before God, as well as Jesus’ particular compassion for her needs and well-being.
Anna, the 87-year-old widow who “worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer,” recognized the divinity of Jesus when Mary and Joseph brought him into the Temple.
According to Luke, Anna was a prophetess and one of the first women to praise Jesus as the Messiah. She “spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”
When Jesus saw the widow of Naim mourning the death of her only son, accompanied by others, during the funeral procession, the Gospel said Our Lord was “moved with pity” when he saw her tears.
Without being asked to perform a miracle, Jesus approached the widow without hesitation, raised her only son back to life from the dead and “gave him to his mother.”
Before dying on the cross, Jesus entrusted the care of his own widowed mother, Mary, to the "disciple whom he loved.”
“He said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son,’” St. John wrote. “Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
In the Acts of the Apostles, the evangelist Luke also sheds light on how certain ministries were formed to support widows in the early Church.
The ministry of deacons was established by the Twelve Apostles to resolve the dispute among their Hebrew and Greek disciples regarding the care of widows, as outlined in Acts 6.
St. Luke also mentions how these women supported the various spiritual and material needs of the first Christian communities.
In Acts 9, Peter promptly visited the widows of Joppa who mourned the death of their friend Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, who was “completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.”
“When he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs where all the widows came to him weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks that Dorcas had made while she was with them,” the evangelist wrote.
After kneeling down and praying beside her, Peter “raised her up” and “presented her alive” to her Church community.
St. Augustine’s letter to a Roman widow
According to Augustinian Father Kolawole Chabi, the Church’s concern and reverence for widows continued over the centuries, exemplified in St. Augustine’s letter to Proba written in A.D. 412.
The Roman noblewoman’s supplication to St. Augustine led him to write an ancient treatise on Christian prayer that remains relevant today, the professor at Rome’s Patristic Institute Augustinianum told EWTN News.
“The letter to Proba spoke of continuous praying,” Chabi said in an April 27 interview. “Augustine said that inasmuch as you continue desiring God, you are praying. Your prayer stops when your desire for God stops.”
In the bishop of Hippo’s written response to the Roman noblewoman, he praised the widows mentioned in the Gospel whose ceaseless prayers were heard and heeded by God and encouraged her to continue living a pious life for the benefit of her family and community.
“[Proba] became, also, a leading figure in the Christianization of the Roman aristocracy,” Chabi told EWTN News.
Before becoming a prominent Church leader, Augustine owed his own widowed mother St. Monica for his conversion. Through her persistent prayers and example of holiness, he was baptized by St. Ambrose during the Easter Vigil in A.D. 387 at the age of 32.
St. Monica continues to be a popular Catholic patron for married women, mothers, and widows.
Widows’ ministries in the Church today
From ancient times to the present day, widows continue to have a significant apostolic role and place of care in Catholic archdioceses around the world.
Among several widows’ groups formed within the Church, the Order of Widows (Ordo Viduarum) has seen a recent revival in parts of the U.S.
Carlotta Stricker, assistant servant leader for the Widows of Prayer, spoke to EWTN News about the unique vocation and how women who have lost their husbands are keeping the faith.
“As a Widow of Prayer, we live our lives with God as our focus,” she explained. “Responsibilities include daily Mass, Eucharist, rosary, adoration, Liturgy of the Hours (morning and evening), and Divine Mercy Chaplet. All other forms of prayers and spiritual reading are encouraged.”
“In spite of our promise and vows, we are still mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers and still have an active role in our families lives,” she said.
Pakistani court acquits blind Catholic man in blasphemy case
Christians and rights advocates in Pakistan have welcomed the acquittal of a blind Catholic man who spent nearly 10 months in jail on a blasphemy charge carrying a mandatory death sentence.
A sessions court in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, on June 22 cleared 49-year-old Nadeem Masih, who is blind by birth, of charges under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which criminalizes insults against the Prophet Muhammad.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Saad Salman Khan dismissed the case after finding insufficient evidence to support the prosecution’s allegations.
Masih had been in custody since August 2025. His family alleges the accusation stemmed from a dispute with contractors at Nawaz Sharif Park, where he earned a living operating a weighing scale for visitors. The family said the contractors harassed him and demanded money.
Fearing reprisals, relatives have since moved to a shelter and were unavailable for comment.
Defense attorney Javed Sahotra said the prosecution’s own evidence undermined its case.
“The police report stated they received information about the alleged blasphemy at 11 p.m., although the park closes at 9 p.m. Two prosecution witnesses also gave statements that raised serious questions about the allegations,” he told EWTN News.
Sahotra said imprisonment had been especially difficult for Masih because of his disability.
“He spent 10 distressing months in prison. Simple daily tasks such as using the toilet and obtaining food were major challenges,” the lawyer said.
“The case demonstrates how vulnerable people can become entangled in serious criminal accusations. Even a poor blind man was not spared.”
Blasphemy remains one of Pakistan’s most sensitive issues and has frequently triggered mob violence against religious minorities, including attacks on homes and places of worship.
According to the annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 812 people were imprisoned on blasphemy-related charges in Punjab during 2025, including 796 men, 15 women, and one juvenile.
Christian advocacy groups say eight Christians, including two women, were acquitted or granted bail in blasphemy cases during the first half of 2025, all in Punjab province.
Over the past five years, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) has helped secure the acquittal of 15 people accused of blasphemy — 10 Christians and five Muslims, including three women.
Anjum James Paul, a CSI partner who helped coordinate legal and financial support for Masih’s family, attributed many acquittals to careful legal preparation.
“We maintain a low profile during such trials because of the sensitivity of these cases,” Paul said.
“One of the lawyers representing Masih is a Hafiz-e-Quran [a person who has memorized the entire Quran]. Having Muslim lawyers on defense teams can help reduce pressure because some district bar associations discourage lawyers from taking blasphemy cases.”
Paul also called for authorities to implement court directives requiring the involvement of qualified religious scholars and senior police officers in preliminary blasphemy investigations.
A support group formed by families affected by alleged false blasphemy accusations welcomed the verdict in a social media statement issued hours after the ruling.
The Voice of the Victims of Blasphemy Business Group described the acquittal as a rare example of a lower court dismissing a blasphemy case and expressed hope that courts were becoming less vulnerable to public pressure in such cases.
The group alleged that Masih had been falsely accused following a dispute with park management and said the verdict offered encouragement to other families fighting blasphemy allegations.
Bishop Burbidge approves FSSP Latin Mass chaplaincy in Arlington, Virginia diocese
Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia approved a chaplaincy to serve Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in accordance with the Missale Romanum of 1962.
The “Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory,” announced June 19, will be officially established on July 1. According to the diocesan announcement, the chaplaincy is being formed “to serve the needs of those who attend Mass and receive other sacraments in the Extraordinary Form.”
The chaplaincy will be led by two priests from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) appointed from Front Royal, Virginia, about 70 miles west of Washington, D.C.: Father Jonathan Romanoski and Father John Audino.
“As a Chaplaincy, rather than a parish, this agreement allows for Fr. Romanoski and Fr. Audino to live the fraternity that is part of the FSSP charism and to serve primarily in Front Royal while periodically assisting elsewhere in the diocese,” the diocesan statement read.
According to the diocese, the chaplaincy formalizes an arrangement that had already been in place, as an FSSP priest has been assisting Arlington clergy. It does not add more locations for the TLM.
Access to baptism, confirmation, and matrimony in the traditional form remain available only to those “who have a particular pastoral connection to the community and who participate regularly in this form of the liturgy with the consent of the local pastor and the local ordinary,” in line with the current rules, according to the diocese.
“The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is grateful to His Excellency, Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, for establishing the Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory to serve the needs of those who attend the traditional form of the Latin Liturgy beginning on July 1, 2026,” Father Daniel Powers, the provincial secretary of FSSP’s North American Province, said in a statement to EWTN News.
“We are looking forward to working in the Diocese of Arlington and serving the faithful there,” he said.
Noah Peters, a board member and the president emeritus of The Arlington Latin Mass Society (ALMS), expressed “sincere appreciation” to the bishop on behalf of the society for entrusting a chaplaincy to the two priests.
“ALMS believes that this is an enormously positive step that will help ensure access to the traditional sacraments: baptisms, matrimony, confirmation, and the rites for the sick,” he told EWTN News. “We pray for Bishop Burbidge, the FSSP priests, and all the faithful, and we pray that this chaplaincy will be the seed from which broader access to the treasures of Traditional Catholicism grows.”
Arlington, like many dioceses globally, faced Latin Mass restrictions over the past few years, in line with the rules set in Pope Francis’s 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which limited access to the older form of the Mass. However, the pontiff granted FSSP, which will lead the chaplaincy in the diocese, an exemption from those rules.
FSSP was founded in 1988 by priests who broke away from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), when then-Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who led SSPX, defied the Holy See by appointing bishops without papal approval and faced excommunication. FSSP was founded to maintain those liturgical traditions while remaining loyal to the papacy.
In Arlington — where the TLM remains popular, especially among young adults — Burbidge secured dispensations approved by the Holy See for three parishes and five non-parish church locations when Traditionis Custodes went into effect. These were temporary dispensations, but have been extended and remain in place.
This is still a reduction in locations for the diocese, which had 21 locations that offered the TLM prior to the motu proprio. Some Arlington locations also saw an influx of worshipers from the neighboring Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., which limited access to three locations — one in the city itself and two in Maryland.
In March, Pope Leo XIV described divisions surrounding liturgical unity as “a painful wound” in the church.
In his communication with French bishops, Leo encouraged concrete solutions, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that allow for “the generous inclusion” of Catholics attached to the TLM “in respect for the directions desired by the Second Vatican Council in matters of liturgy.”
Leo has not issued far-reaching documents related to the TLM, nor has he changed any of the rules established under Francis. He did, however, approve Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke’s celebration of the TLM last year at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Archbishop Wenski, Ohio bishops call for action on Haitian TPS
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami and bishops across Ohio are calling for extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians living in the United States and are urging a more permanent solution to care for refugees.
In April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation, H.R. 1689, that would extend TPS for Haitians for three more years, which is “a critical lifeline for those desperate to avoid returning to the chaos on the island nation,” Wenski said in a column for the Archdiocese of Miami. Senate consideration is next.
TPS is an immigration status granted to eligible foreign nationals from designated countries that are unsafe to return to due to ongoing conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.
In 2025, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem terminated the TPS designation for migrants from Syria, Haiti, and other countries.
To combat the termination, the bill, which needs Senate approval to take effect, would provide “a reprieve to the more than 350,000 Haitians who today live and work legally in the United States under the protection of TPS,” Wenski said.
“Every single day, I see the human consequences of often unintended public policy decisions that result in chronic uncertainty, fear, and the disruption of families and entire communities. It’s up to the Senate now to vote ‘yes’ on extending TPS protections for Haitians,” he said.
Wenski said Haiti “remains a country on the brink,” noting the “widespread gang violence and kidnapping, a rampant cholera epidemic, and spreading food insecurity.”
“The lack of functioning state institutions has resulted in a general breakdown of security, with attacks on women and children becoming commonplace,” he said.
“It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions” and it would “exacerbate Haiti’s ongoing humanitarian crisis,” Wenski said.
Haitians in the U.S. “are hard workers filling jobs that, were it not for them, would go unfilled,” Wenski said. “The sudden expulsion of Haitian TPS holders would have devastating consequences for our nation’s economy.”
Wenski said he understands that “‘temporary’ should mean temporary,” but “without any other workable alternative, TPS is what’s available.”
It is “an imperfect tool,” and “cannot substitute for the hard work of immigration reform that Congress has to undertake sooner or later,” he said.
Senate passage of the bill would “give Haitians a reprieve” and “lawmakers time to explore more durable, more workable solutions.”
Ohio bishops ‘deeply grieved’ by situation of Haitian neighbors
The Ohio bishops similarly spoke out on the matter, calling the situation “a moral and social failure unfolding before our eyes.”
The Catholic Conference of Ohio released a statement on June 22 urging action as the bishops are “deeply grieved by the situation of our Haitian neighbors in Ohio.”
Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the U.S., “we recall the great declarations in our founding documents to establish a free country where people can flourish,” the bishops wrote. “Therefore, as proud and faithful citizens of the United States, we need to take responsibility to support the common good of our country and to love our neighbors as ourselves.”
The bishops “have witnessed the upstanding lives Haitian families have built in Ohio.”
“They work hard, support their families, worship God regularly, and seek to live in peace. Now, they await the U.S. Supreme Courtʼs decision, likely on technical grounds, on whether TPS will continue,” they said.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the governmentʼs effort to end TPS as lower courts previously blocked the termination after determining the administration’s process for ending the protections was unlawful.
The court heard oral arguments in April and is expected to make a decision in the coming months on whether the Trump administration can end the TPS program for Haitian and Syrian nationals.
The bishops "find no moral justification for terminating their [TPS] without an alternative way to adjust their immigration status,” they said.
While the bishops affirmed “the nation’s right and responsibility to regulate immigration and protect its borders,” they said the U.S. “has continued to fail in its attempts to achieve comprehensive reform of our immigration policy.”
“We should have the political and social will to establish and maintain an orderly immigration process while providing a place in the U.S. for those fleeing violence or severe economic hardship,” they said.
The bishops called on Catholics in Ohio and all people of goodwill “to pray for America at 250 years and to reflect on our responsibility as citizens and followers of Jesus Christ.”
Religious Freedom Week kicks off in the U.S.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is inviting dioceses across the U.S. to join in observing Religious Freedom Week through prayer, reflection, and action.
“Religious freedom allows the Church, and all religious communities, to live out their faith in public and to serve the good of all,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website says. Religious Freedom Week in the U.S. begins each year on June 22, the feast of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher.
This year, Catholics are invited to pray, reflect, and act on the following intentions: political and anti-religious violence, immigration enforcement, Africa, gender ideology, religious discrimination, parental choice in education, federal grants, and Nicaragua.
Each day, the U.S. bishops ask Catholics to pray for the day’s intention in a specific way, offer a brief reflection on how Catholics should think about the issue, and provide suggestions on concrete actions Catholics can take to improve religious freedom in that particular area.
So far, the dioceses of Arlington, Kalamazoo, Savannah, Toledo, and the Archdiocese of Miami have posted information about the week on their websites.
In a statement on the week’s patrons, the USCCB praised More and Fisher for exemplifying “faithful citizenship,” and expressed hope that “their example continue to illuminate the path for us, as we seek to faithfully serve our Church and country.’
“It is good to love one’s country, but ultimate loyalty is due only to Christ and his kingdom,” the USCCB said. “They never rose up to incite rebellion or foment revolution. They were no traitors. But when the law of the king came into conflict with the law of Christ, they submitted to Christ. These men gave their lives for the freedom of the Church and for freedom of conscience. They bear witness to the truth that no government can make a claim on a person’s soul.”