Vatican revokes multiple parish fund transfers in Buffalo Diocese amid disputed merger plan
Multiple parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, are celebrating after the Vatican said they would not have to contribute disputed amounts of cash into the diocesan abuse settlement plan.
Save Our Buffalo Churches said in an April 30 press release that the Dicastery for the Clergy had revoked multiple “assessment allocation decrees” levied by Bishop Michael Fisher amid the diocesan “Road to Renewal” plan.
That plan, first announced in 2024, moved to close and/or merge around a third of the dioceseʼs parishes, driven in part by priest shortages and declining attendance.
Save Our Buffalo Churches has protested against the plan since its inception, winning several victories at the Vatican regarding the closures. The Vatican had said it would also examine the dioceseʼs assessment plan that levied significant cash requirements on closing and merging parishes to pay into the diocesan abuse settlement.
In its April 30 press statement, Save Our Buffalo Churches said that eight parish groups had received word from the Vatican that Fisherʼs assessment decrees had been revoked.
Several other parishes were awaiting word from the Vatican on their own appeals. The parish group said it “fully expects” those parishes to receive similar decrees.
The parish preservation group said that the Vatican in its decrees cited canon law violations regarding parish fund procurement “as well as the amounts and methods undertaken to procure those monies.”
“The amounts assessed, as well as the allocation procedures themselves, are wholly unsupported by canon law,” the group claimed, stating the diocese has engaged in a “significant lack of adherence” to both canon law and nonprofit religious corporation law.
In a statement on April 30, the Buffalo Diocese said that the Vaticanʼs decisions “affect only those parishes that appealed their determined contribution levels” to the diocesan abuse settlement. The settlement plan itself will continue unaffected, the diocese said.
The diocese disputed the groupʼs claim that the Vatican had ordered the funds transferred “back” to the parishes.
“It is important to note that no parish funds have ever left the possession or administration of parishes,” the statement said. “Parish funds designated for the settlement have been segregated into a separate account administered by the parish until which time they will be turned over to fulfill [the abuse settlement].”
The diocese pointed to Fisherʼs decision in March to have the diocese contribute an extra $10 million to the abuse settlement fund while lightening the contribution requirements for some parishes. The April 30 statement also denied a claim by the parish group that contribution amounts above $15,000 must be approved by the Vatican.
“The bishop has every intention to abide by the rulings of the offices of the Holy See, as he has confirmed repeatedly,” the diocese said. “Several parishes have prevailed in their appeals to the bishop’s decree that they merge with another parish or close. Bishop Fisher has accepted those determinations and will continue to monitor those parishes for their ability to be self-sustaining and viable.”
The parish advocates had sought civil relief last year by taking their case against the Buffalo Diocese all the way to the New York Supreme Court. That court tossed the lawsuit out in September 2025, citing a long-standing “prohibition against court involvement in the governance and administration of a hierarchal church.”
It is unclear if the Vaticanʼs decrees will affect any civil disputes still active in the New York court system, though the Buffalo parish group indicated on April 30 that advocates may pursue more court action in light of the Vaticanʼs rulings.
“[Save Our Buffalo Churches] now looks forward to the effect these decisions will have on the current civil proceedings,” the group said. “The victims must receive their settlement, but from legal sources.”
Lawsuit before Supreme Court seeks to force U.S. bishops to return ‘millions’ of papal donations
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a lawsuit involving what one Catholic claims is the Churchʼs misleading representation of an ancient papal offering.
In January, lawyers for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) asked the Supreme Court to consider the case, which was originally brought by Rhode Island resident David OʼConnell against the bishops over the Peterʼs Pence offering.
Peterʼs Pence, variants of which date back centuries to around at least the early Middle Ages, is an annual donation the USCCB describes as “a gesture of solidarity” with the popeʼs charitable undertakings.
The donation is geared toward “humanitarian initiatives and social promotion projects, as well [as] the support of the Holy See,” according to the bishops.
OʼConnell filed a class action suit against the bishops in January 2020, alleging that the prelates had misled Catholics about the nature of the donation. He claimed he had been led to believe that the offering was strictly for emergency assistance to victims of war and poverty but that he subsequently found out it was used in part to “defray Vatican administrative expenses.”
The U.S. bishops argued in court that the suit should be dismissed on the grounds of the “church autonomy doctrine,” a long-standing principle in U.S. case law that bars the government from exercising control over internal church decisions.
Yet a district court and an appeals court both ruled against the bishops, leading lawyers with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who represent the bishops, to appeal to the Supreme Court in January over the matter.
Daniel Blomberg, the vice president of Becket and a senior attorney there, told EWTN News on April 30 that popes have been using the Peterʼs Pence fund for centuries to “carry out the ministry of the Church in a variety of different ways.”
The plaintiff in the suit, however, contends that he “heard something during Mass” that “made him think that his offering to Peterʼs Pence would only go to one purpose and no others,” Blomberg said.
“He not only wants his own offering back, but he also wants the offerings returned for millions of other Catholics around the country,” he said.
Blomberg said both of the lower courts ruled against the bishops on the grounds that the case could be decided under “neutral principles of law” that do not implicate the First Amendment. But he described the demands sought by the lawsuit as “wildly unconstitutional.”
The plaintiff “wants the courts to tell the Catholic Church how to talk about Peter’s Pence and how to preach about Peter’s Pence,” he said.
Multiple religious advocates have come out in favor of the bishops in the dispute. A coalition of organizations including the Thomas More Society, the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, and several other groups filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court in January arguing that their respective religious beliefs involve “matters of internal governance that must be protected from government entwinement.”
In another amicus filing to the Supreme Court in March, John Garvey, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, said the lawsuit “requires courts to resolve inherently religious questions about church polity, doctrine, and governance.”
The suit would force the court to “decide for itself who within the Church controls (or who can control) the contents of homilies, whether a particular homily is inconsistent with Catholic teaching about Peter’s Pence, what a reasonable parishioner should believe about Catholic doctrine, and — most importantly — how donated funds should be administered by the pope,” Garvey argued.
The suit “effectively invites a civil court to second guess the pope — the successor of St. Peter — on directing Peter’s Pence toward keeping the lights on in St. Peter’s itself,” Garvey wrote.
Blomberg, meanwhile, said the bishops expect to hear from the Supreme Court in the next month or so.
“We’re in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to ask them to put the First Amendment first, not last, and to treat it as the threshold of the case,” he said.
“We want the court to not force the Church to go through years of litigation just to determine that the First Amendment applies here,” he added.
Advanced technology recovers 42 lost pages of ancient New Testament manuscript
An international team of scholars led by Professor Garrick V. Allen of the University of Glasgow in Scotland has successfully recovered 42 lost pages of one of the most important New Testament manuscripts, known as Codex H.
The universityʼs College of Arts and Humanities announced April 24 that the codex, a sixth-century copy of St. Paul’s epistles, had been partially lost after being disassembled in the 13th century at the Great Lavra Monastery, located on Mount Athos in northern Greece.
Its pages were repurposed as binding material and flyleaves in other books, causing fragments of the manuscript to become scattered across libraries in various European countries.
“The breakthrough came from an important starting point: We knew that at one point, the manuscript was re-inked. The chemicals in the new ink caused ‘offset’ damage to facing pages, essentially creating a mirror image of the text on the opposite leaf, sometimes leaving traces several pages deep barely visible to the naked eye but very clear with latest imaging techniques,” explained Allen, as quoted by the University of Glasgow.
Thanks to a technique called multispectral imaging, researchers were able to recover texts that no longer physically exist.
This allowed them “to retrieve multiple pages of information from every single physical page,” the expert added. To ensure historical accuracy, the team also turned to radiocarbon dating analyses conducted in Paris, confirming the parchmentʼs origin in the sixth century.
Although the recovered texts contain passages already known from the Pauline epistles, the discovery offers new clues regarding how the New Testament was transmitted and understood in antiquity. In Allen’s words: “Given that Codex H is such an important witness to our understanding of Christian Scripture, to have discovered any new evidence, let alone this quantity, of what it originally looked like is nothing short of monumental.”
Among the key findings are ancient lists of chapters considered the oldest known for St. Paul’s epistles, which differ notably from the current division of these texts. Furthermore, the fragments reveal how sixth-century scribes corrected and annotated sacred texts, as well as the medieval practice of reusing and repurposing manuscripts once they fell into disrepair.
The project was made possible thanks to funding from the Templeton Religion Trust and the U.K.’s Arts and Humanities Research Council in collaboration with the Great Lavra Monastery.
A printed edition of Codex H will be published shortly, while a digital version is already available to the public for the first time in centuries.
As highlighted by the University of Glasgow, this discovery not only recovers a portion of an ancient manuscript but also provides a better understanding of the living history of the transmission of the Bible throughout the centuries.
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.
U.S. bishops urge Congress to reject IVF mandate, citing harm to embryos and conscience rights
Catholic bishops are asking lawmakers to reject legislation that would mandate insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment that violates Catholic teachings on life and human reproduction.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sent a letter to Congress on April 29 laying out concerns with the bill (H.R. 8119), which its sponsor, Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, named Helping to Optimize Patients’ Experience (HOPE) with Fertility Services Act.
Under the bill, which has support from 18 Republicans and Democrats, insurance companies would face civil penalties of $100 per day if they offer plans that exclude coverage of IVF. The text does not clearly show any exemptions for religious employers, even though IVF is opposed by both the USCCB and the Southern Baptist Convention.
In the letter, the bishops express concern about the loss of embryonic human life integral to the IVF process, stating that, as practiced in the U.S., it “represents a relatively unregulated industry that creates hundreds of thousands or even millions of preborn children who will be interminably frozen, expended in attempts to place them within a mother, or discarded and killed (often in a selective, eugenic manner).”
“In addition to such mass death, IVF poses health risks to both women and the children who are born as a result of it,” the letter states. “IVF also commodifies human beings, including children and, in many cases, donors or surrogates. This, furthermore, disregards the right of children to be conceived naturally, free from technological manipulation, by their own married mother and father.”
The bishops in their letter also expressed religious freedom concerns. They note that supporters claim that putting the mandate in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) would prevent it from impacting religious employers.
“The fact is many religious employers that are otherwise exempt from ERISA, however, choose to provide their employees’ health insurance under ERISA anyway precisely because ERISA’s preemption of state law allows them to avoid having their consciences violated by state-level insurance requirements (including for IVF),” the bishops state.
“A mandate within ERISA would therefore place these employers in a new bind between its requirements and those of problematic state laws,” they said. “At the same time, certain other religious employers’ plans, such as those of independent religious schools, may not qualify as ‘church plans’ exempt from ERISA in the first place.”
The bishops showed concern that an insurance mandate could lead to a problem similar to “the well-known legal saga of the Little Sisters of the Poor in fending off the ‘contraceptive mandate.’”
“Any new health coverage mandate is very likely to ignite years of painful litigation for both charitable, faith-based employer organizations as well as private, for-profit employers who are people of faith,” they warn.
In the letter, the bishops express grief for “the growing number of families suffering infertility” but advocate for “life-affirming” fertility treatments that seek to address the root cause of infertility as opposed to creating human embryos in a lab. These treatments are often called restorative reproductive medicine.
“The profound desire of couples to have children is both good and natural,” they said. “When this is frustrated by an experience of infertility, holistic and individualized restorative approaches to fertility care exist that can often help identify and successfully address the root causes.”
“As pastors, we see the suffering that infertility can cause and the deep desire of couples to grow their family,” the bishops said. “We strongly encourage licit means of easing this suffering, both medically and emotionally.”
The letter is signed by Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, chair of the USCCB Committee for Religious Liberty; Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; and Bishop Edward J. Burns, chair of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth.
“Infertility impacts millions of families and it doesn’t discriminate. It can affect anyone who wants to start or grow a family,” bill cosponsor Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, said in a statement. “I know firsthand. Thanks to IVF, my husband and I conceived our twins, now both healthy young adults. But after enduring that struggle, I’ve fought to expand insurance coverage for the prohibitively costly fertility treatments that can make this only accessible to the very few who can afford it.”
Bill sponsor Nunn and cosponsors did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the bishops’ concerns.
Diocese of Oakland announces closure of 13 parishes amid declining resources
The Diocese of Oakland, California, will shutter 13 churches across the East Bay as part of a restructuring effort driven by shrinking congregations, a severe priest shortage, and mounting financial pressures.
Bishop Michael Barber described the move as a necessary next step in an April 28 letter describing the diocese’s Mission Alignment Process (MAP), an initiative begun in 2021 “to address a growing gap between the mission of the Church and the operational realities” of mounting challenges.
“The status quo is not sustainable nor is it serving God’s people,” Barber stated. “We must focus on the activities that foster prayerful celebrations of the Mass, prioritize works of mercy, and form missionary disciples.”
He pointed to long-term trends that include falling Mass attendance, reduced sacramental participation, and declining Catholic school enrollment.
These challenges are compounded by the diocese’s record-low number of priests serving its roughly 80 parishes, along with an aging clergy and persistent budget shortfalls at churches and diocesan schools.
The parishes slated for closure include Mary Help of Christians in Oakland, Our Lady of Guadalupe at Blacow Road in Fremont, Our Lady of Lourdes in Oakland, Sacred Heart in Oakland, St. Albert the Great in Alameda, St. Andrew Kim Korean Pastoral Center in Oakland, St. Augustine in Oakland, St. Barnabas in Alameda, St. Paschal Baylon in Oakland, St. Patrick in Oakland, St. Rose of Lima in Crockett, St. Stephen in Walnut Creek, and Transfiguration in Castro Valley.
Barber acknowledged the emotional toll of the decision, saying: “I deeply understand the sacrifice this will require. We cannot allow nostalgia and sentimentality to hold back the message of the Gospel. While we love our local church building, the church has never been solely a building. The church has always been a people called by God and united in faith. The faith of our people will continue, just in a different place and with new people.”
The bishop said that as he has “full responsibility for the pastoral care of every Catholic in our diocese,” he is making it a “priority to ensure all affected parishioners are welcomed at a nearby parish.”
“I make a heartfelt plea to the ‘receiving’ parishes to open your hearts wide to your fellow Catholics who will be joining you,” he said. “Love them, make room for them not only in the pew alongside you but in the activities of your parish. Welcome them as your own, for we are all one as Christ’s body.”
The restructuring occurs as the diocese faces significant legal and financial difficulties. In response to hundreds of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by clergy members, the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2023 to manage claims through a unified court process and reach settlements.
Catholic bishops warn against failure of nuclear treaty, urge renewed push for disarmament
Catholic bishops from the United States and Japan cautioned that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is at risk of collapse and urged world leaders to renew commitments to disarmament.
“May you all help lead this suffering world to the promised land of a world free of nuclear weapons,” wrote five bishops whose dioceses were shaped by nuclear weapons, either as the birthplace of the bomb, a deployment hub, or the site of atomic devastation. The bishops issued the statement April 27 on the convening of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s 11th review conference.
“For 56 years the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has acted as the cornerstone of nuclear weapons nonproliferation,” said Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle; Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki, Japan; Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki, Japan; Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama of Hiroshima, Japan.
The bishops represent the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, an international Catholic coalition formed in 2023 by the bishops of Seattle, Santa Fe, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki to promote nuclear disarmament and protect life from all nuclear harm. It was established on the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The bishops described the NPT as “now badly frayed, perhaps even in danger of collapsing,” citing “the never-ending refusal of the nuclear weapons states to enter into serious negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament.” They further noted that the past two NPT review conferences “have utterly failed to outline any concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament.”
“Clearly the nuclear threats are escalating,” they said. “The brutal practice of might makes right is ascendant, arms control treaties are gone, and we are sliding backwards with massive modernization programs to keep nuclear weapons forever.”
We fervently hope and pray for a favorable outcome that genuinely leads to nuclear disarmament. However, if past is prologue, that outcome is unlikely.”
American and Japanese bishopsPartnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons
The bishops said nuclear states that have failed to disarm on the basis of deterrence are guilty of “deflect[ing] the blame from their own possession of immoral, genocidal weapons.”
“One must ask, why is it that Russia and the United States have always rejected the minimal deterrence of just a few hundred nuclear warheads in order to keep thousands of warheads for nuclear war-fighting?” the bishops said. “Why is it that all nine nuclear weapons powers are now spending enormous sums on so-called ‘modernization’ programs to keep nuclear weapons forever?”
The NPT calls for a review of the treaty’s operation every five years, a provision in place since 2000. The ongoing April 27 to May 22 conference was scheduled for 2026 following COVID-19-related delays to the review cycle, according to the conference’s website.
“We wish all of you at this Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference the very best of luck,” the bishops said. “We fervently hope and pray for a favorable outcome that genuinely leads to nuclear disarmament. However, if past is prologue, that outcome is unlikely.”
Our Lady of Christendom pilgrimage takes place in Italy for the sanctification of souls
The three-day Our Lady of Christendom Pilgrimage (NSC, by its Italian acronym), an initiative of young people seeking the “sanctification of souls” through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, offering prayers, sacrifices, and acts of penance, recently took place in Italy for the first time.
The purpose of NSC Italy is to offer a way to grow spiritually centered on prayer, sacramental life, and fellowship, fostering a personal relationship with God and a sense of belonging to the Church.
These young people, who attend the Traditional Latin Mass and do not belong to any religious organization or community, also seek to contribute to the restoration of the spirit of Christendom and to rekindle the faith within a contemporary context marked by secularization, by offering opportunities where Christianity can be rediscovered in a living, concrete, and shared manner.
Giacomo Mollo, an Italian and one of the organizers, explained to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that the idea for organizing a pilgrimage in Italy came from his participation in the one held in Spain, whose route goes from Oviedo to the shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga.
“After that long, three-day trek spent with many other traditionalist Catholic youths following in the footsteps of the heroes of the Reconquista [the liberation of Spain from Muslim control], and blessed by the holy Mass, we decided that this beautiful form of evangelization, the pilgrimage of faith, which for millennia has converted Catholics throughout Europe, should also be held in Italy, and particularly in Rome,” he explained.
Mollo, together with his friend Nicolò Toppi, launched the initiative with the support of a large group of young volunteers and priests.
The pilgrimage, held April 25–27, brought together 160 people, including laypeople, priests, and seminarians hailing from countries such as France, Spain, Argentina, Ireland, England, Hungary, Mexico, the United States, and Portugal.
“The experience was truly beautiful,” Mollo related. “Beyond the smooth execution, we traversed magnificent places, remarkable both for their scenic beauty and for their spiritual significance for Catholics.”
A route laden with meaning
The pilgrimage set out from the papal basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome and proceeded to St. John Lateran, passing in front of the “Quo Vadis” church and traversing the Old Appian Way until reaching Castel Gandolfo square, surrounding the papal residence.
The pilgrims visited the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano, to whom Pope Leo XIV has a special devotion, and attended Mass at the Colonna Castle, the birthplace of Pope Martin V.
Their destination was Subiaco, where Mass was offered at St. Scholastica Church, concluding with a visit to the cave where St. Benedict, the primary patron saint of Europe, developed his rule and laid the foundations of Western monasticism.
“All of this combined with the penitential meaning of the journey, the universality of the Church demonstrated by the participation of pilgrims from many parts of the world, and the communion of faith experienced while participating in the holy Mass according to the ‘Usus Antiquior’ [older or ancient usage] of the Roman rite, filled us all with an unimaginable sense of gratitude, beauty, and faith,” Mollo highlighted.
Currently, organizers are working on next yearʼs pilgrimage, as they expect a larger number of pilgrims.
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.
Prosecutors say Oklahoma deacon stole more than $1.4 million from Tulsa parish
Federal prosecutors say a deacon at a Tulsa, Oklahoma-area Catholic parish stole nearly $1.5 million from the church over a period of several months in 2025.
Charging documents obtained by EWTN News allege that Deacon John Sommer engaged in a scheme to use parish funds for “personal interests” from March to October of that year.
The documents do not identify the parish in question, referring to it only as “the church,” though local Tulsa news reports identified it as Christ the King Parish just outside of the city center. An archived version of the parishʼs website lists Sommer as a deacon there.
The charging documents, filed in U.S. District Court by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, state that Sommer served as both business manager and parish manager at the church, where he was “primarily responsible for the administrative and financial functions” of the parish.
He was authorized to initiate financial transactions of up to $30,000 per day, the prosecutors said. Over the months that he allegedly perpetrated the scheme, he carried out dozens of unauthorized transfers that ultimately totaled about $1.4 million, according to the U.S. attorneyʼs office.
The deacon further allegedly “altered the churchʼs accounting records” to make it appear as if the transfers were legitimate.
The documents state that Sommer, if convicted, will forfeit the money to the U.S. government. He could face up to decades in prison according to the statutes under which he is charged.
The parish told local news outlets that most of the money had been recovered via insurance.
The Diocese of Tulsa says on its website that Sommer is on a “leave of absence.” The deaconʼs LinkedIn page says he took the role of the parishʼs business manager in 2011.
Bishops announce shrine honoring Father Augustine Tolton
The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois announced plans to create The Shrine for Father Augustine Tolton, the first Black Catholic priest born in the U.S. whose priesthood is fully verified in Church and civil records.
Bishops, shrine organizers, city officials, and the faithful gathered at St. Boniface Church in Quincy, Illinois, on April 29 to announce the shrine will be a holy site of the first recognized Black priest in the United States and will offer pilgrims an opportunity to learn about his life and pray where he prayed.
“This is an extraordinary moment not only for our area but for the Catholic Church in our country,” Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield said.
The shrine will be located at the closed St. Boniface Church, which was built on the site of Tolton’s first solemn high Mass in Quincy, making it a fitting site for a shrine dedicated to his life and growing legacy.
“To restore St. Boniface as a shrine dedicated to Father Tolton means preserving sacred history while creating a living place of prayer, hope, and renewal — all tied to a holy priest whose life is an example of authentic discipleship of Christ," Paprocki said. "This shrine will place Quincy firmly on the spiritual map for pilgrims seeking inspiration, healing, and deeper faith."
Honoring Toltonʼs life that shows the faithful we “can do extraordinary things and live a heroic Christian life,” Paprocki said.
The shrine will be a sacred place where pilgrims can pray for Tolton’s intercession and attend daily Mass. It is intended for all the faithful’s prayers, but especially for seminarians and priests, for patience, reconciliation, and harmony, and all that Tolton endured in his life, organizers said.
Father Tolton
Tolton, whose first name is sometimes rendered as Augustine, Augustus, or August, was born into slavery in 1854, but in 1862, his mother and siblings made an escape across the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois, eventually settling in Quincy. There, he attended St. Peter’s Catholic School and discerned a call to the priesthood.
Despite his calling, no American seminary would accept him as a Black man. He chose to leave and go to Rome to study where he was later ordained a priest. Though he believed he would serve in Africa, he was instead sent back to Quincy.
“Father Tolton overcame the odds of slavery, prejudice, and racism to become a humble priest and someone after whom we should model our lives,” Paprocki said.
Known for his powerful preaching and singing, Tolton ministered in Quincy for several years before later transferring to Chicago. He died on July 9, 1897, at the age of 43 and is buried at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Quincy.
Bishop Joseph Perry, retired auxiliary bishop of Chicago and past vice president of the board of the National Black Catholic Congress, is leading the cause for the canonization of Tolton.
The cause was formally opened in 2010 by the Archdiocese of Chicago and on June 12, 2019, Pope Francis declared him “venerable.” The cause is now focused on documenting a miracle attributed to Tolton’s intercession.
“Father Tolton’s own struggles pose a shining example of how to grapple with disappointment, protracted disappointments that constrain our lives, as well as how to endure when endurance may appear illogical,” Perry said at the event. “In the end, his faith, hope, and love were found intact.”
Fundraising efforts
The Quincy-based Committee for the Shrine for Father Augustine Tolton estimates that the church building will require $5 million in renovations, plus an additional $5 million to $7 million for campus expansion and continued care.
“This shrine will only be possible through the generosity of the faithful,” Father Steven Arisman, chair of the Committee for The Shrine for Father Augustine Tolton, said.
“I encourage Catholics everywhere to prayerfully consider supporting this project. By helping build this shrine, you are helping preserve Father Tolton’s legacy and offering future generations a place where hearts can be lifted to God and lives transformed by grace," he said.
Central Minnesota diocese to merge 131 parishes into 48 parish groups
Citing priest shortages and a dwindling Catholic population, the Diocese of Saint Cloud in central Minnesota is merging 131 parishes into 48 parish groups.
The merger, reportedly the most drastic reduction of Catholic parishes in Minnesota history, will affect many parishioners in the area.
The diocese has only 62 priests for its original 131 parishes. While across the U.S., the ratio of priest to parish is 1:1, in Saint Cloud, it is 1:2.4, according to the diocese’s numbers.
The Diocese of Saint Cloud is home to about 120,000 Catholics and spans 16 counties in central Minnesota. As a reference point, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., is home to five times as many Catholics and has 140 parishes. The Diocese of Phoenix — one of the fastest-growing dioceses in the U.S. — has 94 parishes and 2 million Catholics.
Similar restructuring has taken place in other U.S. dioceses, both large and small, including in the archdioceses of Dubuque, Iowa; St. Louis; Detroit; and Seattle.
Bishop Patrick Neary, who took leadership partway through the planning of the reorganization in 2023, said the reorganization “is rooted in a desire to strengthen the mission of our parishes and to ensure that our diocese remains vibrant and sustainable for generations to come.”
“This moment invites us to look honestly at our realities, our demographics, our resources, and the needs of our people — and to respond with faith, creativity, and courage," Neary told EWTN News.
Brenda Kresky, director of pastoral planning for the Diocese of Saint Cloud, said there are “many factors that are prompting a restructuring process." Namely, she cited declining Catholic attendance, financial sustainability concerns, and a lack of priests.
While the population in the Diocese of Saint Cloud has grown by 7% since 2019, the number of Catholic parishioners in the diocese has decreased by nearly the same percentage.
Mass attendance, weddings, baptisms, first Communions, and confirmations have all declined significantly since 2010, according to the diocese’s numbers.
“Four out of 5 parishes are operating with a consistent budget deficit from annual giving,” Kresky noted.
Why are there fewer active Catholic parishioners?
Kresky noted that “there are many interconnected reasons for the decline in Catholic participation.”
At a parish level, there are "challenges around engagement,” Kresky said.
“In our largely rural diocese, many communities are small and deeply rooted, which is a great strength, but can also make it difficult for newcomers or younger families to feel fully included,” Kresky said. “Change can be hard, especially when long‑held traditions and roles are closely tied to personal identity and resistance to new approaches can unintentionally create barriers that leave some feeling disconnected from parish life.”
She also noted that “many rural areas across the diocese are seeing population decline and aging communities as people move toward urban centers.”
“At the same time, families are smaller than in past generations, which has a long‑term impact on parish participation and vitality,” Kresky noted.
“Some Catholics are turning to other Christian communities that emphasize strong relationships, engaging worship, and openness about faith,” Kresky said. “This shift highlights a broader desire for meaningful community and relevant faith experiences, prompting many Catholic parishes to examine how they connect with and engage people today.”
“Many of these trends reflected across the Diocese of Saint Cloud are also seen across the country,” Kresky said.
“Broader cultural shifts have played a role as society has become increasingly secular; many people no longer see organized religion as central or necessary in their lives,” Kresky said. “We see a rise in those who describe themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious,’ along with a gradual erosion of faith practice and a perception that the Church is less relevant to daily life than it once was.”
Kresky also noted “the lasting impact of the clergy sexual abuse crisis,” citing abuse claims in the Diocese of Saint Cloud.
“The abuse itself, as well as failures in leadership and accountability, deeply damaged trust in the Church,” Kresky said. “Our diocese entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2020 related to more than 70 abuse claims, and the consequences of that history continue to affect participation, confidence, and engagement today.”
Kresky also cited a “growing disconnect between some Catholics and Church teaching.”
“For a variety of reasons, individuals may struggle with or disagree with teachings on issues such as marriage, sexuality, social questions, or family life,” Kresky said. ”In many cases, people drift away quietly, sometimes due to disagreement and sometimes due to misunderstanding or lack of formation around what the Church teaches and why.”
A December 2025 Pew Research study found that leading reasons for U.S. adults leaving the Catholic Church included not believing in the Church’s teaching, scandals involving religious leaders, and being unhappy with teachings on social and political issues.
Other top reasons U.S. adults cited were that the faith was simply not important to their own lives, or their spiritual needs were not being met.
Pew Research also found that Gen Z is the least church-attending generation in American history, with only 17% attending weekly.
How is the Church responding?
The Diocese of Saint Cloud’s response is more than just merging parishes, according to Kresky.
The merger is a part of a larger pastoral planning initiative named “All Things New.”
“While restructuring is one visible outcome of the process, the broader goal is renewal — strengthening parish life by helping communities focus more intentionally on evangelization, discipleship, leadership development, and stewardship,” Kresky said.
The parish merges is a major step in an initiative that began more than a decade ago.
The bishop will lead a diocesan-wide prayer service on Sunday, May 3, at 7 p.m. local time to pray for unity for the newly-merged parishes, according to the pastoral planning website.
"My hope is that this process will renew our sense of unity and deepen our commitment to being a missionary Church,” Neary said.
“I believe the Holy Spirit is guiding us toward a future where our communities are more connected, our ministries more focused, and our parishes better equipped to form disciples,” Neary continued.
The diocese hopes to “help parishes move from a mindset of simply maintaining aging structures to becoming vibrant centers of faith where people are welcomed, accompanied, formed, and sent forth in mission,” according to Kresky.
“This includes supporting parishes in developing stronger leadership teams, fostering collaboration across churches, and using resources — human, spiritual, and financial — more effectively so ministry can flourish rather than merely survive,” Kresky said.
“Our hope is that, through this pastoral process, parish life will become more sustainable, more welcoming, and more mission‑focused,” Kresky said.
“While the process includes difficult decisions and real experiences of loss, the diocese’s long‑term vision is one of hope: that the Church in central Minnesota will be well positioned to serve future generations with vitality, authenticity, and faithfulness to the Gospel," Kresky said.
“While change is never easy, I am confident that God is doing something new in our midst, and I am grateful for the openness and trust our people have shown as we walk this path together,” Neary added.