Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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A record number of converts intend to enter the Church at Easter in the Archdiocese of Dublin: 129, up exponentially from 14 in 2022.

Roughly half of the 129 converts are non-Christians; the others are non-Catholic Christians.

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In a February 24 letter to members of Congress, the chairmen of the US bishops’ Committees on Religious Liberty and Migration urged Congress to enact laws to ensure “respect for what are commonly referred to as sensitive locations, especially houses of worship, such that immigration enforcement efforts are avoided at or near these locations, absent exigent circumstances.”

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, and Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas, also called on Congress to ensure “consistent access to religious and pastoral services for all immigration detainees, subject only to reasonable limitations based on clear guidelines and uniform processes, regardless of a detention facility’s operator.”

Eighteen bishops “in border states and beyond” issued a brief text, “Recommended Reforms to Immigration Enforcement in the United States,” on February 24.

The recommended reforms include “the right to apply for asylum at the border should be honored,” “sensitive locations should be protected,” and “immigration enforcement should not focus on those who are contributing to the nation.”

Two former prefects of Vatican dicasteries urged the Society of Saint Pius X not to proceed with its plans to ordain bishops without papal approval.

“Can one who abandons the Chair of Peter still claim to be within the Church of Christ?” said Cardinal Robert Sarah, 80, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2014 to 2021.

“The only solution possible in conscience before God is for the Society of Saint Pius X ... to recognize our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV as the legitimate Pope not only in theory but also in practice, and to submit to his teaching authority and his primacy of jurisdiction without preconditions,” added Cardinal Gerhard Müller, 78, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017.

Rt. Rev. Stephen Conway, the Anglican bishop of Lincoln, England, was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a man.

The 68-year-old prelate, who has led the Anglican diocese since 2023, was previously bishop of Ramsbury (2006-10) and Ely (2010-23).

(The Catholic Church teaches that Anglican orders are invalid: in his 1896 apostolic letter Apostolicae Curae, Pope Leo XIII taught that “ordinations performed according to the Anglican Rite have been and are completely null and void.”)

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria elected Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso of Kaduna as its new president.

Archbishop Ndagoso, 66, was bishop of Maiduguri (2003-07) until his appointment as archbishop of Kaduna. Kaduna has been the site of recent anti-Christian violence, as attested by CWN reports (November 18, December 4, February 9).

The prelate succeeds Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri, who has completed a four-year term as conference president.

The nation of 243 million (map), the most populous in Africa and sixth most populous in the world, is 47% Muslim, 46% Christian (11% Catholic), and 7% ethnic religionist.

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) called upon the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, to appoint an EU coordinator against anti-Christian hatred.

COMECE drew attention to a resolution passed in January by the European Parliament. In the resolution, the lawmakers said that “while Christianity remains the most persecuted religion in the world today, with more than 380 million people affected, there is no European coordinator responsible for combating Christianophobia, even though a coordinator has been appointed to combat Islamophobia.”