Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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The Christian Brothers Oceania Province announced that it will “inevitably come to an end” as it disburses its assets to sexual abuse victims.

The province comprises residences in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. The Christian Brothers began to work in Australia in 1843; the current average age of its members is 80.

In 2014, a royal commission examined abuse in Christian Brothers institutions in Australia. The province said it has already paid “in excess of $480 million” to abuse victims.

Stating that Pope Leo has not modified Traditionis Custodes, the bishop of Owensboro, Kentucky, instructed a priest to cease offering Mass in the extraordinary form at the end of the month.

Bishop William Medley asked the priest to “obtain the appropriate Missal of Paul VI in Latin” and added, “I will grant the singular permission to offer this Mass ad orientem.”

Speaking at a conference at the Angelicum, Cardinal George Koovakad, the prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, said that brotherhood is not a utopian ideal, even amid “crimes against humanity, wars, violence, conflicts, divisions, discrimination and hatred in various parts of the world.”

Cardinal Koovakad called on Europeans to have the “conviction that cultural, religious, and social diversity is a human richness and not a threat.”

“The more we, people of different religious traditions meet and exchange views while respecting the uniqueness of each other’s contexts, traditions, and religions, the more we will grow not only in fraternal love and mutual esteem, but also in our commitment to work and contribute together for the good of all in society,” he added.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations praised the ministry of deacons as the bishops’ conference released its annual survey on the permanent diaconate (CWN coverage).

“Deacons continue to bring a spirit of renewal and encouragement to the missionary ministry of the Church through their service in the liturgy and works of charity expressed in everyday life,” said Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York. “With nearly 15,000 active deacons in ministry in 2025, the permanent diaconate plays a vital role in bringing the Gospel to life through their witness as icons of Christ the Servant.”

The Vatican newspaper published a reflection by American author Elizabeth Strout on Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo’s encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.

L’Osservatore Romano explained that the contribution by Strout, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, is part of a series of reflections by “people who do not belong to—or have no close ties with—the Catholic Church.”

“How heartening it was to read the words of the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas by Leo XIV; and how grateful I am to this leader of kindness for explaining to us—and even warning us—what it means to be human, not only now but also for future generations,” Strout began. “How grateful I am for his sincerity and his insights. Especially at this moment in history when, with a faltering step, our poor world draws ever closer to a terrifying and potentially catastrophic place.”

Last October, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration sold their two-acre Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in Wisconsin to the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Ojibwe people for its 1966 purchase price of $30,000, well below the market value of $2.6 million.

In a new article, U.S. Catholic described the transaction as “the first instance of Catholics in the United States returning land to the original Indigenous tribes in the name of reparations.”

“We dived into the aspects of what has happened to the Indigenous people, all of the treaties, and our part in the boarding school that was part of their forced assimilation and losing their culture, as well as our white dominance,” said Sister Sue Ernster, the religious institute’s president.

“There are opportunities for us to disrupt the current system with all the adversarial energy,” Sister Ernster added. “Hopefully, the intergenerational trauma can start to dissipate. It’s a real opportunity for others to see there is another way.”

In a statement for the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision (CWN coverage), the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities warned that the “victory of the Dobbs decision risks being undone by the massive influx of abortion pills.”

“While the Dobbs decision gave states the freedom to pass pro-life laws and protect preborn children, these laws are now being undermined,” said Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio. He added that the Food and Drug Administration “has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing abortion pills to be prescribed in telemed appointments and sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb.”

After calling for prayer and action, Bishop Thomas concluded:

On this Anniversary of the Dobbs decision, we praise God for the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade, and we beg the intercession of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in building a culture of life.