Traditional Latin Mass successfully coexists with the Church remaining faithful to the Pope and Rome

 

As Pope Leo faces traditionalists’ schism, a Minnesota church merges old customs with fidelity

By:  GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO

July 3, 2026

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — With incense wafting to an elevated pulpit and 13 altar boys looking on, the priest at the Church of Saint Agnes preached about merging old Catholic customs with fidelity to the Vatican this week — as Pope Leo XIV tackled a major challenge from a traditionalist breakaway group.

“Our Catholic faith is a living tradition, and there is a difference between being rooted and being stuck,” the Rev. John Ubel said in homilies Sunday at English-language and Latin Masses.

Since the Second Vatican Council modernized the liturgy more than 60 years ago, celebrating Mass in the traditional Latin Rite that preceded those reforms has become a lightning rod of the theological, cultural and increasingly partisan divides among Catholics.

The conflict made global headlines when Leo declared Thursday that one traditionalist group — the Society of St. Pius X, founded to reject the Council’s reforms and celebrate exclusively the old Latin Mass — had formally broken with the Catholic Church.

The Vatican excommunicated the SSPX bishops and priests and warned its thousands of faithful after the society consecrated four men as bishops in defiance of Leo.

While the Latin Rite was not the cause of the rift, the acrimony and the lingering suspicion that all those who like it are ultraconservative rebels is an open wound at Saint Agnes, which isn’t affiliated with SSPX and has the church’s permission to celebrate Mass in Latin.

“For all who are attached to Tradition, I pray that they seek to maintain full ecclesial communion with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV,” Ubel said Thursday.

A congregation continues to pray for unity

Saint Agnes, a historic church founded for German-speaking immigrants in what’s now a diverse, central neighborhood in Minnesota’s capital, offers one traditional Latin Mass per weekend, with the archbishop’s permission. It also has a modern version of the Mass in Latin and four in English.

“I believe that Saint Agnes is an example where the different forms of Latin Mass, and English, peacefully coexist, and, in many ways, I think it’s a model for how the church can respect various liturgical traditions and do so in full charity,” Ubel said in Sunday’s homilies.

Peter Draganowski, a 15-year-old incoming sophomore at Saint Agnes’ school, has been an altar boy at both English and Latin services for years. He prefers the latter despite the extra preparations and rituals.

“It’s really not hard, it just has a lot more moving parts,” he said in the parish hall as hot dogs and doughnuts were served after Sunday’s first English Mass. “The sacred mysteries deserve that beauty.”

The archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bernard Hebda, expressed hope that local Catholics who had been attending SSPX chapels would now turn to approved services.

“We are blessed that the same traditional Eucharistic liturgy beloved by those who have worshiped with the SSPX in the past continues to be celebrated in six locations throughout the Archdiocese,” Hebda said in a statement. “I am confident that those who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass could find a home here.”

Latin Mass supporters are a small but vocal group

In addition to being celebrated in Latin, the old rite Mass diverges from standard services in other ways: The prayers are different and longer, the priest celebrates at the altar with his back to the congregation, and Communion is given out only on the recipient’s tongue, instead of in the hand, while kneeling at the altar rail. The priests also wear shorter “Roman-style” vestments and a black biretta hat.

Very few U.S. Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass in the “extraordinary form” that predates the Vatican II reforms of the 1960s, according to Stephen Cranney, a lecturer at Catholic University of America in Washington, and co-author of an upcoming book on the Latin Mass in the United States.

He estimates that 510 such Masses are celebrated on Sundays in the United States, where there are more than 16,000 active parishes. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate said they don’t track the data.

Most American Catholics he surveyed who like this Mass say they do so because of the elaborate esthetics, the deeper sense of reverence, and the continuity with centuries of tradition, Cranney said. Only a small percentage said they oppose the Vatican II reforms, let alone support defying the pope, he added.

But the challenge has remained over the decades for popes that the threat of schism, or a rupture within the church, might lurk behind a preference for a more solemn liturgy.

“How do you … try to be accommodating to the people who might prefer the traditional Latin Mass while not giving fuel to the fire of people that want to split off?” Cranney said.

Two popes have taken different approaches

Leo’s two predecessors tried different approaches. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI upheld the validity of the Latin Rite and urged priests to offer such a Mass if their parishioners demanded it.

But Pope Francis cracked down on the practice in 2021-23, requiring individual bishops to give their approval for celebrating the traditional Mass and to determine if the faithful who wanted it had accepted the Vatican II reforms. He also restricted the use of parish churches for these services.

Francis said he acted because the old Mass had become a source of division in the church — although Vatican documents leaked last year after his death suggested most bishops actually had expressed general satisfaction with the practice.

Last fall, Leo allowed a U.S. cardinal to celebrate the old Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, which many traditionalists saw as an encouraging sign.

In the year since his election, Leo has spoken often of the need for unity. On Tuesday, before the SSPX consecrations, he again pleaded with the society not to proceed. Once they did, however, the Vatican warned the faithful to stop going to the society’s Masses, declaring “those who adhere formally” to the society are considered themselves schismatic and excommunicated.

“Not a competition” – Minnesota traditional Catholics hope to model a way forward

Parishioners at Saint Agnes said they were saddened by the schism and would continue to pray for a united church.

Nell O’Leary Alt, who grew up in the parish, said her family attends both Latin Masses, as well as English services.

As a mother of five children aged 5 to 16, she joked that she initially found the silent moments of the traditional Latin Mass intimidating, with nothing to cover the fussing and giggling of her growing family in the pews.

But they love the Latin worship: “It’s the same the saints knew all through the ages.”

Tom Graff, another “cradle Catholic” at the church who chants in the choir, said he’s drawn to the rites’ solemnity. But this week’s events highlight the importance of what he teaches his four children, about not falling into the trap of believing one form of worship is superior to another.

“I can appreciate both the ordinary and the extraordinary forms of Latin Mass, and Schubert’s Tantum Ergo as well as On Eagle’s Wings,” Graff said, referring to a centuries-old and a modern Christian hymn. “It’s about the holy sacrifice of Mass, regardless of the parish or the type of liturgy.”

Ubel believes having multiple Mass options is about inclusion rather than division.

“It’s not a competition to see who’s more Catholic,” he said.

USCCB President calls for Holy Hour in wake of the violence in Minneapolis

Catholic bishops' conference president calls for Holy Hour after Minneapolis DHS killings

(RNS) — ‘The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel,’ wrote Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley.

People gather during a vigil for 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was killed by U.S. immigration agents earlier in the day, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Aleja Hertzler-McCain

January 28, 2026

(RNS) — Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called for bishops and priests in Catholic churches across the country to hold a Holy Hour of prayer for peace as killings by federal agents have caused national concern about the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort. 

Elected to lead the bishops’ conference in November, Coakley made his most robust remarks thus far on the impact of the administration’s agenda in the Wednesday (Jan. 28) statement, signaling growing discomfort among Catholic leaders with current immigration policy and Department of Homeland Security tactics in carrying it out. In the past week, the archbishops of Los Angeles and Minneapolis have also spoken out.

“The recent killing of two people by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and that of a detained man in Texas, are just a few of the tragic examples of the violence that represent failures in our society to respect the dignity of every human life,” Coakley wrote, referring to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos while he was detained in a facility near El Paso. Lunas Campos’ death, after agents held him down and he stopped breathing, has been ruled a homicide. “We mourn this loss of life and deplore the indifference and injustice it represents.”

The suggested Holy Hour will involve prayer in front of the Eucharist, often also called the Blessed Sacrament, in which Catholics believe Jesus is present in the consecrated bread and wine.

Coakley called on Catholics to pray “for reconciliation where there is division, for justice where there are violations of fundamental rights, and for consolation for all who feel overwhelmed by fear or loss,” whether they gather in a parish or chapel or pray privately.

“The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel,” he wrote.

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A relatively conservative member of the bishops’ conference, Coakley serves as an ecclesiastical adviser to the Napa Institute, an influential group of conservative Catholics whose co-founder last year called the Trump administration “the most Christian I’ve ever seen.” On Jan. 12, Coakley met with President Donald Trump, marking the first time a USCCB president had met with a U.S. president in nearly a decade. Two days later, the administration proposed a change to a current rule that requires foreign priests and other religious workers on an R-1 visa to leave the U.S. for a year before it will be renewed.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Jan. 12, 2026. (Official White House Photo)

In Wednesday’s statement, Coakley praised Catholics and other “people of good will” for working for peace and justice. “While proper laws must be respected, works of mercy, peacefully assembling, and caring for those in your community are signs of hope, and they build peace more surely than anger or despair ever could,” he wrote.

On Tuesday, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the country’s largest archdiocese, called for Congress to pass bipartisan immigration reform through the Dignity Act, which was first introduced in the House in 2022. “Right now our government seems to be treating undocumented immigrants — men, women, and children — as if they have no rights,” Gomez said in a statement. “The root cause of the current crisis is the country’s broken immigration system.”

Saying that U.S. residents’ “rights do not depend on the decisions of government officials or law enforcement officers; we do not lose our rights based on the color of our skin, or the language we speak, or for not having the proper documents,” Gomez argued that lawmakers should limit deportations to “violent criminals or those guilty of other serious offenses” and that it is not in the national interest to deport people who contribute “to the good of our society.”

He objected to the many deportations that leave children without their parents. “Surely, we can find another way to hold these men and women accountable for breaking our laws,” he wrote.

Gomez’s advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform echoed an op-ed by St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda that appeared earlier in The Wall Street Journal, though Hebda lauded 2013 immigration reform legislation that ultimately failed, while Gomez specifically pointed to the Dignity Act, which has also been supported by prominent Latino evangelical groups.

While providing support for border enforcement, the Dignity Act would require asylum cases to be decided within 60 days and provide “humanitarian campuses” managed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the border where asylum-seekers would await their court dates. It would also allow immigrants without legal status who have been in the country at least five years to earn legal status by paying a fine, passing a criminal background check and being employed or going to school.

Gomez wrote: “There is much to improve in this legislation, but it is a genuine, good-faith starting point. And we need to start somewhere. And we need to start now.”

The Los Angeles archbishop noted Congress has not yet held hearings on the Dignity Act, but “I hope that changes soon.”

Gomez, who in a 2021 speech called “new social justice movements” “pseudo-religious,” described the current conflicts arising from immigration enforcement as involving “all sides.”

“I hope all sides in this conflict — federal authorities, city and state officials, and those protesting the enforcement actions — will take a step back in the interests of the common good,” he wrote. “We are caught in a dangerous pattern of angry rhetoric, provocations, and violence. It needs to stop.”

Some U.S. prelates have put the responsibility for recent violence more squarely on federal agents. Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, called for members of Congress to vote against a bill that includes new funding for the Department of Homeland Security. El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz wrote that the U.S. had become “a bully state.”

Each bishop is confronting unique immigration conditions in his own diocese, potentially shaping how each responds. Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski held a press conference Tuesday with several Catholic and secular groups to warn against the planned expiration of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians on Feb. 3. Miami has a significant Haitian population.

“We should not force Haitians into a crisis in Haiti, or create a crisis here forcing them out of their jobs,” Wenski said. “They’re not violating the laws, they’re documented.”

So far, beyond their November statement opposing the “indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the Catholic bishops’ organized response to Trump’s immigration policy has been relatively decentralized and their rhetorical approaches have varied. And with Coakley weighing in and offering nationwide action that can be taken by each parish, it remains to be seen whether the bishops’ approaches will converge. He expressed hope that the Holy Hours held across the U.S. would be “a moment of renewal for our hearts and for our nation.”

“Entrusting our fears and hopes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us ask the Lord to make us instruments of his peace and witnesses to the inherent dignity of every person,” Coakley wrote. “Let us pray together, confident that God hears the cry of his people and remains close to all who seek him.”

Cardinal Parolin comments on Minnesota violence, Trump's Board of Peace, Greenland and more

 

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, at Lumsa University in Rome 

Vatican

• Pietro Parolin
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Cardinal Parolin: Violence in Minneapolis is unacceptable

Cardinal Secretary of Stato Pietro Parolin speaks to journalists about the climate of tension in Minnesota, the Holy See’s position on the 'Board of Peace', and diplomatic talks on Greenland.

By Antonella Palermo

“The position of the Holy See is always to avoid any kind of violence, obviously, and therefore we cannot accept episodes of this kind. That is our position, as you know”.

Those were the words of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, responding to questions from journalists concerning Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ operations in Minnesota, United States, which have resulted in the death of two US citizens.

“Difficulties, problems, and contradictions must be resolved in other ways,” added the Secretary of State, aligning himself with an earlier statement from the U.S. bishops, and describing the situation as “unacceptable.”

Cardinal Parolin was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the “Ethics and Economy” meeting organized by LUMSA University in Rome.

Board of Peace: there are “problematic apects"

The Secretary of State then also commented on the open letter sent to him yesterday by the Network of Priests Against Genocide, which urges the Holy See not to be part of the 'Board of Peace' currently being set up under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.

He was asked whether the Vatican had made a decision on whether or not to participate: “One always has to respond after a while… let us think about it for a moment,” Cardinal Parolin replied, adding that he understands the concern.

He then reiterated what he had told the press days earlier on the same issue, specifying that “faced with this proposal, there were indeed problematic points that needed to be taken into consideration and that would then be evaluated in view of a response. The response has not yet been given, but I believe one cannot forget the problematic aspects of this plan.”

Cardinal Parolin was also asked about the risk that ICE agents might come to Italy during the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo. “Yes, yes, I have read the news," he said, "but I know there is also controversy surrounding it. Let’s not enter into that controversy".

Greenland: moving toward a solution

Cardinal Parolin, who returned a couple of days from Denmark for celebrations marking the ninth-century St. Ansgar, confirmed that he met, as planned, with Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who detailed the situation regarding Greenland.

“He told me about his contacts in Washington, which were very much appreciated. I then heard comments as well, especially from Lutheran bishops and other people, saying that Danish public opinion was very pleased with the positions taken,” the Secretary of State said.

“Without going into details, I believe we are moving toward a solution, an agreement. I don’t know the precise terms,” he emphasized, “but it seemed to me that the foreign minister was quite positive following these dialogues that have taken place. Let us hope it is so.”

“Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”: understanding the workers’ crisis

A journalist then asked for clarification regarding the “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, a hospital founded by St. Pio of Pietrelcina which is owned by the Holy See, in San Giovanni Rotondo in southern Italy.

The reporter highlighted the hospital’s deficit and the acute crisis affecting its workers. “We are trying in every possible way to resolve the problem and help the hospital emerge from the difficulties it is facing,” Cardinal Parolin replied.

Regarding criticism over a lack of financial transparency, he promised to consult the chairman of the board of directors to “ask for more information,” reiterating his commitment to addressing the workers’ concerns.

She survived that horrific school Mass shooting; finally Sophia comes home

 

Prayers Answered: Annunciation Shooting Survivor Sophia Forchas Finally Comes Home

'Each step she takes is a living testament to the boundless grace of God and the miraculous power of prayer.'

Shooting survivor Sophia Forchas in a photo before the incident and then posing with neurosurgeon Dr. Walt Galicich at Gilette Children’s Hospital on a very happy day as she goes home to be with her family. (photo: Forchas Family / Forchas Family )

Alyssa Murphy October 24, 2025

Twelve-year-old Sophia Forchas is finally home — after spending 57 days in the hospital with severe injuries sustained from the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis during the first school Mass of the year that claimed the lives of two students. 

Sophia received a fond farewell outside the hospital on Oct. 23. 

In a statement posted to the family’s GoFundMe page, Sophia’s parents, Tom and Amy Forchas, wrote: “Today marks one of the most extraordinary days of our lives! Our beloved daughter, Sophia, is coming home!!”

Speaking with gratitude for the team of doctors that worked diligently to save their daughter, the couple wrote, “We thank you from the depths of our hearts. We will never forget your world-class care that sustained her. Your commitment carried us through.”

Sophia still has a long road ahead with “outpatient therapy,” but her parents said that “our hearts are filled with indescribable joy as we witness her speech improving daily, her personality shining through once more, and her ability to walk, swim, and even dribble a basketball. Each step she takes is a living testament to the boundless grace of God and the miraculous power of prayer.”

In a news conference Sept. 5, neurosurgeon Dr. Walt Galicich of Hennepin County Medical Center told reporters that in treating Sophia’s injuries he would attempt to “go through the normal brain to get there” and potentially cause more damage. Given the pressure in her brain, Sophia’s survival was extremely low. 

The neurosurgeon led a team in performing a decompressive craniectomy, which removed the left half of her skull to allow the pressure in her brain to be relieved.

“If you had told me at this juncture that, 10 days later, we’d be standing here with any ray of hope, I would have said, ‘It would take a miracle,’” Galicich said tearfully to reporters back in September.

Sophia’s mother, who works as a pediatric nurse in the critical care unit at the hospital where the victims were taken, had no idea that it was her child’s school that had been attacked that fateful day. She initially had no idea that one of the three patients was her own daughter.

Sophia’s younger brother also witnessed the school shooting that day; and by the grace of God, he was left unscathed, though he is still suffering from the trauma, given the horrific event and his sister’s dire injuries.

After Sophia’s 57-day stint in the hospital, Galicich gave his young patient a big hug as she walked out of the Hennepin County Medical Center to cheers and applause from her family and classmates. Even the city’s police chief was present, taking her on a ride through the city in a stretch limo to mark the occasion. 

Speaking to The Minneapolis Star Tribune, Police Chief Brian O’Hara called Sophia’s homecoming “nothing short of a miracle.”

Ecstatic parents Tom and Amy also noted how crucial prayer was in their daughter’s healing, writing in their statement, “Those prayers came from family, friends, and countless souls around the world; many of whom have never met Sophia, yet lifted her spirit with unconditional love. Your prayers have been a wellspring of comfort, hope, and healing for our entire family. We are certain that God heard every single one.”

The Forchases expressed condolences to the families who lost their children during the shooting, saying, “We continue to pray for those whose lives were tragically lost on that heartbreaking day. May their memory be eternal.”

“We also hold close those who were injured and bear lasting scars, and the families and loved ones forever changed,” the Forchas continued. “May God grant healing, consolation and His peace to all who grieve. To those whose hearts are hardened in despair, may the grace of the All-Holy Spirit soften them. We pray that the Trinity fill the world with compassion and love.”

Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman, assassinated this weekend, was a Catholic Sunday School teacher

 

Minnesota lawmaker who once taught Catholic Sunday school shot and killed in apparent ‘politically-motivated assassination’

written by Joe Ruff 

Portrait of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman, in this undated handout photo. The state representative and her husband were shot and killed early morning June 14 in what appears to be a targeted attack against state lawmakers. Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were targeted by the same shooter and are alive after undergoing surgery. Officials said at a news conference that the suspect is at large and there is a manhunt underway. (OSV News photo/ Minnesota House of Representatives, handout via Reuters)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (OSV News) — Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman, who once taught Sunday school at St. Timothy in Blaine, Minnesota, and was a speaker of the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed in their home early June 14 in what Gov. Tim Walz said “appears to be a politically motivated assassination.”

Before the Hortmans were killed, Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were each shot multiple times in nearby Champlin. They underwent surgery and Walz said he was “cautiously optimistic” they would survive.

Father Joseph Whalen, pastor of St. Timothy, said the Hortman family had been part of the parish community and Melissa Hortman at one point had volunteered in the children’s faith formation program.

“We mourn the tragic deaths of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the grievous injuries sustained by Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette,” Father Whalen said in a statement posted June 14 on the parish website. “Our parish community feels deeply this loss and we offer our prayerful support and condolences to the Hortman and Hoffman families.”

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis issued a statement calling for prayers for those killed and injured and for law enforcement, and for civility in all discourse.  

“I ask all people of goodwill to join me in prayer for the repose of the souls of Minnesota House Speaker-Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, along with prayers of recovery for Senator John Hoffman and his wife,” the archbishop said. 

“I also ask you to pray for the members of law enforcement who are putting themselves at risk hunting down the person, or people, who inflicted this violence and terrorized communities,” he continued. “There is absolutely no reason for someone to commit such senseless violence on anyone, particularly those who are involved in public service”.

Police first responded at about 2 a.m. June 14 to a report of Hoffman and his wife being shot. Out of caution, police checked on the Hortmans and confronted the suspect, who was impersonating a police officer and driving what appeared to be a police SUV with emergency lights. They exchanged gunfire, the gunman retreated into the home and fled on foot out a back door, officials said. 

A manhunt for the suspect was underway with multiple law enforcement agencies involved, including Brooklyn Park police, the FBI, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. 

At a June 14 news conference, Walz said the state has lost a great leader and “I lost one of the dearest of friends.” 

Jason Adkins, executive director and general counsel of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, said in a June 14 statement that he was “deeply saddened and angered by the cold-blooded assassination” of Hortman and her husband and the attempted murder of Hoffman and his wife.

“Serving in a position of leadership requires making difficult choices and sticking to one’s word, while not abandoning one’s principles. I can personally attest from working with Representative Hortman that she was such a leader,” he said. “We disagreed on key issues but still found opportunities to collaborate and solve difficult problems that mattered to Minnesotans generally and Catholics, specifically. We will be praying for the repose of her soul.” 

“Senator Hoffman is a champion of vulnerable people in our communities and is a person of deep conviction. He is also a friend. Minnesota cannot afford to lose his presence in state government and our staff is praying fervently for him and for his family,” Adkins continued.

In his June 14 statement, Archbishop Hebda said that “it is wrong for our elected representatives to have to live in fear of violence and we must do everything in our power to regain a sense of civility in our discourse, especially when we disagree”, adding that “we cannot maintain our representative republic if our lawmakers fear violence for themselves and their family members.” 

“The Catholic bishops of Minnesota and I met annually with Speaker-Emerita Hortman and I knew her to be an honorable public servant. Although we disagreed on some issues, we worked collaboratively to find common ground on others in pursuit of the common good,” Archbishop Hebda said in his statement. 

“Senator Hoffman is always generous with his time, as well, meeting with the bishops whenever they are at the Capitol. He is a strong advocate for the most vulnerable, and Minnesota continues to need his leadership,” the archbishop wrote.

Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman, to right of Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and other bishops of Minnesota during one of the bishops’ annual advocacy days. The state representative and her husband were shot and killed early morning June 14, 2025, in what appears to be a targeted attack against state lawmakers. (OSV News photo/courtesy of Minnesota Catholic Conference)

In the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s statement, Adkins said, “Resorting to violence in public life is never acceptable and begets more violence. Unfortunately, we, as a society, have increasingly embraced violence as a means of solving problems because we have lost a sense of the dignity of every human person created in the image and likeness of God.

“Until we recover a deeper sense of our common humanity and fraternity,” he continued, “we will continue to see the collapse of both civic discourse and the ability of our political process to mediate conflict and achieve the common good.”

A manifesto was found in the suspect’s vehicle that identified “many lawmakers and other officials,” said Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley, at the June 14 news conference with Walz and other officials. The Associated Press cited sources as identifying the suspect as 57-year-old Vance Boelter. 

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Minnesota State Patrol urged people not to attend planned “No Kings” rallies at the State Capitol and other sites across Minnesota “out of an abundance of caution.” The June 14 rallies were billed as a national day of peaceful protest against the Trump administration.  

“At this time of fear and uncertainty, we need to rely even more on our loving God and that begins with prayer — both privately and communally,” Archbishop Hebda’s statement concluded. “May the Prince of Peace lead us away from such senseless violence”. 

Joe Ruff is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Two American women get USCCB approval for promoting cause for Sainthood

 

Sainthood causes for Benedictine sister

and disabilities education advocate get 

US bishops’ approval

Gertrude Agnes Barber is pictured with children in an undated photo in Erie, Pa. Barber founded the Barber National Institute for adults and children with intellectual disabilities and behavioral health challenges. Her cause for canonization was presented during the Fall Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops held Nov. 11-14, 2024. (OSV News photo/CNS file, courtesy Barber National Institute)

Sister Annella Zervas, a professed religious of the Order of St. Benedict, is pictured in this undated photo. Her cause for canonization was presented to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 12, 2024. (OSV News photo/courtesy of The Sister Annella Zervas, OSB, Guild)

(OSV News) — In 1918, when Benedictines in Minnesota gave Anna Cordelia Zervas her religious name, Sister Mary Annella, her mother reacted with surprise.

“But there is no St. Annella,” she is reported to have said. Her daughter replied: “Then I shall have to be the first one!”

Sister Annella’s response may prove truer than she could have possibly known, as a cause for her canonization was presented to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 12. A separate cause for Gertrude Agnes Barber, a Pennsylvania educator committed to serving children and adults with learning disabilities, was also brought forward for the bishops’ consultation.

During their fall plenary assembly in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops voted 206 to 7, with 11 abstentions, to support the local advancement of Sister Annella’s cause, and 2015 to 6, with 19 abstentions, to support the same for Barber’s cause.

Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, Sister Annella’s home diocese, introduced Sister Annella’s cause, while Bishop Edward M. Lohse of Kalamazoo, Michigan, introduced Barber’s cause on behalf of Bishop Lawrence T. Persico of Erie, Pennsylvania.

The two women died 74 years apart — Sister Annella in 1926 after suffering horribly from a rare skin condition, and Barber in 2000, after becoming a national leader and advocate in her field. Postulators for both causes are currently gathering information locally about the two women with plans to prepare a “positio” for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican.

In the Diocese of Crookston, where Sister Annella’s cause for canonization is being investigated, sources are primarily historical, whereas for Barber’s cause in the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, people who knew her in life are contributing their memories.

Sister Annella was born in 1900 in Moorhead, Minnesota, a growing town along the North Dakota border. She was a devout child, and, according to a biography, “demonstrated a spiritual maturity that set her apart from her peers.” In 1915, a teenaged Zervas gained her pastor’s approval and encouragement to enter the Benedictine convent in St. Joseph, Minnesota. She entered as a postulant that year, and four years later she professed her first vows. After her final vows in 1922, she was assigned to teach music and serve as an organist in Bismarck, North Dakota.

A short time later, itchy and swelling skin and hair loss — to the point where her visiting parents did not recognize her — led her to seek medical treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The disease progressed, and her parents brought her home to Moorhead in the fall of 1924.

“Despite her severe physical suffering, which included violent chills, high temperatures, and painful attacks of itching, scratching, and weeping, her mental faculties always remained intact,” according to a biography. “The pus-like discharge from the skin disease had a sharp, biting, and decayed odor. Her frail body exfoliated between a pint and a quart a day of skin. At one point, she existed on almost no food.”

Despite her suffering, Sister Annella remained cheerful, and amid fits of pain, she prayed. “Yes, Lord, send me more pain, but give me strength to bear it,” she reportedly said. She only asked for God’s will to be done. She died on the vigil of the Assumption, Aug. 14, 1926. After a funeral Mass in Moorhead, her remains were buried 160 miles southeast at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph.

Shortly after her death, reports of cures attributed to Sister Annella’s intercession began to circulate, and local devotion to her persisted for decades. However, it took one man’s mysterious encounter and dogged determination to revive contemporary interest in the holy woman.

Patrick Norton, a devout Catholic and paint contractor in central Minnesota, was working on a replica of the Lourdes’ grotto in the cemetery of St. Joseph’s Monastery on Oct. 7, 2010 — the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary — when he said a sister in full habit approached and began a conversation. After talking a short time, she said goodbye and “disappeared,” he recalled. She never told him his name, but he was struck by her large blue eyes. He later recognized the sister as Sister Annella, and he made it his mission to spread her story.

Sister Annella’s suffering “reminds me of the passion of our Lord,” said Norton, 62, who was cared for as an orphaned infant by Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity in then-Bombay, India, before being adopted as a teen into a Connecticut family. After trying to gain traction for Sister Annella’s cause for years, he believes “God opened every door” to make it possible to move forward at this time.

In October 2023, Bishop Cozzens announced to a group of Catholics devoted to the nun that he was beginning an inquiry into her life that could lead to a cause for Sister Annella’s canonization. The effort is led by canon lawyers Amanda Zurface, the cause’s postulator, and Msgr. David Baumgartner, president of the newly formed Sister Annella Guild. The guild is charged with advancing Sister Annella’s cause.

More consultation is needed before Bishop Cozzens officially opens a cause, Zurface told OSV News. However, Sister Annella’s “life was a testament to heroic virtue, and it offers us a profound witness of how suffering can be transformed into an offering of love for Christ and his church,” Msgr. Baumgartner said.

Speaking to the bishops Nov. 12, Bishop Cozzens called Sister Annella an “apostle of suffering for our day.”

“Many people have expressed that her witness to the value of suffering has helped them embrace their own suffering with faith in God’s goodness,” he said. “Sister Annella is a true teacher of our Catholic faith, witnessing that each person, regardless of their struggle, has great dignity and is created for intimacy with God. And she teaches us that God is our truest friend, and our vocations are good even when they take a different path than we might expect.”

While those who knew Sister Annella in life have since died, memories of Gertrude Barber are still fresh for those with whom she worked and cared. Born 11 years after Sister Annella in Erie, Pennsylvania, Barber grew up in a large Catholic family, attended Penn State University and began a teaching career in the Erie School District in 1931. She eventually became a school psychologist, where her job included turning students away from the school because of their intellectual disabilities.

“She was deeply affected as she saw parents face the agony of either keeping their children at home without access to an education or sending them away to a distant institution where they would be segregated from the world,” states a short biography circulated by leaders of her canonization cause. “Dr. Barber was determined to find another way.”

Her deep faith and view of all as children of God led Barber to begin a decades-long crusade to educate children with special needs. In 1952, she opened a classroom in Erie for students with intellectual disabilities, which expanded to meet the needs of other students with special needs as well as adults. She founded the Dr. Gertrude A. Barber Center, which included services for people with intellectual disabilities at every life stage, and her work received significant educational, civic and religious recognition. In 1990, at age 78, she traveled to Washington to witness the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Barber’s cause officially opened in 2019, and she is now titled a “servant of God.” “So many people have been inspired by her, and that’s what’s motivated all of this — you look at the life of somebody like Gertrude, who followed Christ so closely in her mission,” Msgr. Tom McSweeney, a priest of the Diocese of Erie and the cause’s postulator, told OSV News.

As the executive vice president of what is now named the Barber National Institute, Maureen Barber-Carey carries on her aunt’s legacy. She recalls Barber’s work as driven by her deep faith. She noted that Barber once gave her one of her jackets, and pinned to the inside of the sleeve was a prayer.

“She truly believed she was a servant of God, and she was doing God’s work on earth,” Barber-Carey said. “It was to have persons with disabilities acknowledged — that they were children of God, just as a person without a disability is, and as a child of God, they deserve every right to have every opportunity to be the best they can possibly be.”

Erie Mayor Joe Schember warmly recalls Barber’s work with his daughter, Jodi, who is now 39. “She did seem holy to me,” Schember, a Catholic, said of Barber. “She was a very open person, a very friendly person.”

Speaking to his fellow bishops Nov. 12, Bishop Lohse said that Barber’s “life and witness call us to remember and honor the presence of Christ, even in the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters, and to see reflected in them the beauty of a loving Creator.”

After the “positio” for each woman is sent to Rome, it is to be reviewed and sent to the pope for a decree of heroic virtues. If the pope grants that decree, the person is given the title “venerable.”

In general, for a cause to proceed to beatification, a confirmed miracle must be attributed to the venerable’s intercession. A second miracle must be confirmed before a person is canonized.

“Especially in this time, people are longing for God,” said Norton, Sister Annella’s longtime promoter. “These saints can bring souls to God. Not just one, not just two, but thousands and millions.”

Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.