We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

Vatican City, Nov 17, 2025 / 19:40 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV urged parishes to invest in liturgical formation, especially for lectors, while also encouraging people to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and calling for attention to be paid to popular piety.

While receiving participants in a course organized by the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of St. Anselm in Rome at the Apostolic Palace for diocesan liturgical pastoral workers, the Holy Father said that “in the dioceses and parishes there is a need for such formation” and encouraged the creation of “biblical and liturgical courses” in places where such formation programs are lacking.

Through such courses, the pope said the institute could help local churches and parish communities “to be formed by the word of God, explaining the texts of the weekday and feast day Lectionary.”

For the pope, it is important that the liturgy be “expression of a community that cares for its celebrations, prepares them, and lives them to the full.”

Regarding biblical formation combined with liturgical formation, he recommended that those in charge of liturgical ministry pay “particular attention” to those who proclaim the word of God.

Referring to lectors and those who regularly read the Scriptures, the Holy Father said that “basic biblical knowledge, clear diction, the ability to sing the responsorial psalm, as well as to compose prayers of the faithful for the community are important aspects that implement liturgical reform and help the people of God grow on their path.” 

“We are well aware that liturgical formation is one of the main themes of the entire conciliar and postconciliar journey,” Leo XIV stated.

In this regard, he affirmed that while “much progress has been made” there is still “a long way to go.” “Let us not tire: Let us enthusiastically resume the good initiatives inspired by the reform and, at the same time, seek new ways and new methods,” he urged.

The pope said the aim is “to foster the fruitful participation of the people of God as well as a dignified liturgy that is attentive to different sensibilities and sober in its solemnity.”

Among other things, he expressly asked the diocesan liturgy to promote the Liturgy of the Hours and to nurture the dimension of “popular piety.”

“Among the aspects linked to your service as directors, I would like to mention the promotion of the Liturgy of the Hours, care for popular piety, and attention to the celebratory dimension in the construction of new churches and the adaptation of existing ones,” he stated.

“In many parishes, then, there are also liturgical groups who must work in synergy with the diocesan commission,” the pope noted.

Parish liturgy committees

The Holy Father continued: “The experience of a group, even small but well motivated, that is concerned with the preparation of the liturgy is an expression of a community that cares for its celebrations, prepares them, and lives them to the full, in agreement with the parish priest.”

“In this way, we avoid delegating everything to him and leaving only a few people responsible for singing, proclaiming the word, and decorating the church,” he explained.

Similarly, he lamented that these parish groups “have dwindled to nothing, as if they had lost their identity.” Therefore, he called for a commitment to make “this area of Church life attractive again, capable of involving people who are competent or at least inclined to this type of service.”

He thus encouraged liturgical leaders to propose to parish priests “formation courses to start or consolidate liturgical groups in the parish, training their members and offering suggestions for their activities."

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Feast date: Nov 17

On Nov. 17, the Catholic Church celebrates the life and example of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a medieval noblewoman who responded to personal tragedy by embracing St. Francis' ideals of poverty and service. A patron of secular Franciscans, she is especially beloved to Germans, as well as the faithful of her native Hungary.

As the daughter of the Hungarian King Andrew II, Elizabeth had the responsibilities of royalty thrust upon her almost as soon as her short life began in 1207. While she was still very young, Elizabeth's father arranged for her to be married to a German nobleman, Ludwig of Thuringia.

The plan forced Elizabeth to separate from her parents while still a child. Adding to this sorrow was the murder of Elizabeth's mother Gertrude in 1213, which history ascribes to a conflict between her own German people and the Hungarian nobles. Elizabeth took a solemn view of life and death from that point on, and found consolation in prayer. Both tendencies drew some ire from her royal peers.

For a time, beginning in 1221, she was happily married. Ludwig, who had advanced to become one of the rulers of Thuringia, supported Elizabeth's efforts to live out the principles of the Gospel even within the royal court. She met with friars of the nascent Franciscan order during its founder's own lifetime, resolving to use her position as queen to advance their mission of charity.

Remarkably, Ludwig agreed with his wife's resolution, and the politically powerful couple embraced a life of remarkable generosity toward the poor. They had three children, two of whom went on to live as as members of the nobility, although one of them –her only son– died relatively young. The third eventually entered religious life and became abbess of a German convent.

In 1226, while Ludwig was attending to political affairs in Italy, Elizabeth took charge of distributing aid to victims of disease and flooding that struck Thuringia. She took charge of caring for the afflicted, even when this required giving up the royal family's own clothes and goods. Elizabeth arranged for a hospital to be built, and is said to have provided for the needs of nearly a thousand desperately poor people on a daily basis.

The next year, however, would put Elizabeth's faith to the test. Her husband had promised to assist the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sixth Crusade, but he died of illness en route to Jerusalem. Devastated by Ludwig's death, Elizabeth vowed never to remarry. Her children were sent away, and relatives heavily pressured her to break the vow.

Undeterred, Elizabeth used her remaining money to build another hospital, where she personally attended to the sick almost constantly. Sending away her servants, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis, seeking to emulate the example of its founder as closely as her responsibilities would allow. Near the end of her life, she lived in a small hut and spun her own clothes.

Working continually with the severely ill, Elizabeth became sick herself, dying of illness in November of 1231. After she died, miraculous healings soon began to occur at her grave near the hospital, and she was declared a saint only four years later.

Pope Benedict XVI has praised her as a “model for those in authority,” noting the continuity between her personal love for God, and her public work on behalf of the poor and sick.

Patronage: Bakers; beggars; brides; charitable societies; charitable workers; charities; countesses; death of children; exiles; falsely accused people; hoboes; homeless people; hospitals; in-law problems; lacemakers; lace workers; nursing homes; nursing services; people in exile; people ridiculed for their piety; Sisters of Mercy; tertiaries; Teutonic Knights; toothache; tramps; widows.

Representation: A queen distributing alms; woman wearing a crown and tending to beggars; woman wearing a crown, carrying a load of roses in her apron or mantle.

 

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Nov 17, 2025 / 16:58 pm (CNA).

The secretary of the Bangladesh Catholic Bishops’ Conference has criticized the death sentence given to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as unilateral and politically motivated, reaffirming the Church’s opposition to capital punishment.

Bishop Ponen Paul Kubi, CSC, of the Mymensingh Diocese, told CNA that the verdict handed down Nov. 17 by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal was “one-sided” and that “the accused had no lawyer and that the current government used political power to give this verdict.”

“The Catholic Church has never supported the death penalty,” Kubi said. “I think that even if Sheikh Hasina committed a crime, she should be punished in a way that is remedial.”

Describing the verdict as an abuse of power, Kubi added: “If we judge in a hurry and give a verdict as we wish, we are no longer living in civilization, we have gone back to the primitive era.”

The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal found Hasina, 78, guilty of crimes against humanity related to the deadly crackdown on student-led protests in July and August 2024. The court sentenced both Hasina and her former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, to death in absentia. Former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun was sentenced to five years in prison after turning state witness.

The 453-page verdict, broadcast live on state television beginning around 12:30 p.m. local time Monday, found Hasina guilty on three of five charges, including ordering the use of drones, helicopters, and lethal weapons against protesters, and failing to prevent mass killings.

Background to the uprising

In July 2024, student protests against job quotas escalated into a mass uprising that forced Hasina to flee to India on Aug. 5. A United Nations investigation team reported that at least 1,400 people were killed, though Bangladeshi activists believe the number exceeds 2,000.

Hasina has been living in exile in India since fleeing the country. In a statement released through her Awami League party on Facebook, she called the verdicts “distasteful, biased, and politically motivated,” claiming they were made by “a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.”

Divided public reaction

The verdict prompted sharply divided reactions across Bangladesh. While the banned Awami League held protest marches in several parts of the country, ordinary people held joy marches in most areas, including Dhaka, where sweets were distributed.

“We will be completely happy only when Sheikh Hasina comes to the country and is hanged,” Tarif Hasan, a Dhaka University student who participated in the celebration march, told CNA.

Professor Asif Nazrul, law adviser to the interim government, described the death sentence as “the greatest achievement in establishing justice” and called it “another victory day for the July Uprising.”

A public hearing on the case is scheduled to take place, and the interim government has formally requested India’s cooperation in extraditing Hasina to face the tribunal. National elections in Bangladesh are expected to be held in February.

CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 16:11 pm (CNA).

When Jessica Williams became pregnant with another man’s child while she and her husband were separated, her husband pressured her to abort the child.

As soon as she took the first abortion pill, mifepristone, she regretted it. 

“As a nurse, the reality of what I had done had hit me hard,” said Williams, who was nine weeks pregnant at the time. “Here I was working to save lives and about to take one of my own child’s lives.” 

But as a nurse, Williams knew that in spite of the pill cutting off the progesterone supply to her child, the baby might still be alive. She hadn’t yet taken the second pill, misoprostol, which would expel the child from her body.  

When she found a pregnancy center, First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas, staff immediately brought her in for an ultrasound.

“They provided a free ultrasound, and that moment changed everything,” she said. 

Her baby was still alive.

First Choice helped her through the abortion pill reversal process, a practice to reverse the effects of mifepristone soon after the woman takes the first abortion pill. 

Now, her daughter is a “healthy” and “thriving” 3-year-old, Williams said when she shared her story at a Nov. 17 online press conference.

Williams is one of many women who have received help from pregnancy resource centers. 

Pregnancy centers across the U.S. “provided over $452 million in total medical care, support and education services, and material goods in 2024,” according to a Nov. 17 report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute. 

Pregnancy centers saw a total of 1 million new patients last year, “which is the equivalent of each center serving a new client every day in 2024,” Karen Czarnecki, the head of Charlotte Lozier Institute, said during the press conference. 

During the press conference, Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called pregnancy centers the “beating heart” of pro-life movement.  

Pregnancy centers, Dannenfelser said, “are going to the roots of the problem” by providing support for mothers across the board, whether they are struggling with addiction, domestic abuse, homelessness, completing school, or any other challenge. 

Report debunks false claims about pregnancy centers 

Dannenfelser noted there are some claims “often unchecked in the media” that call pregnancy centers “fake clinics” or say they “don’t have licensed medical staff.”

“This is flat-out false,” Dannenfelser said. “Eight in 10 centers are providing free or low-cost medical services, staffed by over 10,000 medical professionals.” 

More than 80% of these centers provide ultrasound services, according to the report. Many of the centers also provide STD and STI testing and treatment, as well as abortion pill reversal, like in Williams’ experience. 

The report also found a 98% satisfaction rate among their clients — something Williams attested to.

“They greeted me gently and were nonjudgmental,” Williams said of the staff and volunteers at the pregnancy clinic she went to. “They provided a safe, calm space for me, emotionally, spiritually.”

“They gave me information and education without pushing me in any direction,” she continued. “They simply supported me in whatever path I chose.”

More than three years later, Williams still keeps up with the women at the clinic.

“I’m meeting with these ladies every month still,” Williams said. “They’re just a phone call, a text away, anything I need. I mean, we’re just almost becoming a family now.” 

Pregnancy centers also provide material, educational, and emotional support. For instance, 92% of centers offer material items to women in need. On average, each pregnancy center distributed six-packs of diapers and five baby outfits every day, according to the report. 

First Choice “provided diapers, material support, emotional and spiritual support groups, parenting resources, community connections, and just so much practical help in general,” Williams said. “It was a level of compassion that carried me through my entire pregnancy.” 

Offering material support is a growing effort in the pro-life movement. At pregnancy centers, material support has grown by more than 300% from 2019 to 2024.

Many pregnancy centers also offer a variety of other resources, including childbirth classes, breastfeeding consultations, and outreach to victims of human trafficking. 

“Even right now, they’re doing a monthly get-together — we get to network with other mamas,” Williams said. “We’re [able] to access any resources.”  

The majority of pregnancy centers also help support women who are recovering from abortions.

Williams said the women at the clinic “understood the pressure and fear” she was under to abort. Even after the reversal, her husband drove her to an abortion clinic when she was 16 weeks pregnant “to finish the job,” she said. 

“The clinic was on the same exact street [where] I saved my baby,” she said. “I couldn’t do it and demanded he take me home. I now know that the strategic location has also saved many other babies.” 

“They created a safe place for me to heal and feel supported,” she said of the clinic.

Archbishop Weisenburger encourages faith, participation after Archdiocese of Detroit announces two-year restructuring effort

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 17, 2025 / 15:41 pm (CNA).

Robert P. George, a Catholic academic focused on philosophy and law, resigned from his board position at the conservative Heritage Foundation on Nov. 17 after the think tank’s leader Kevin Roberts posted a video defending Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes.

In the interview, Carlson and Fuentes bonded over criticism of Israel, and Carlson pushed back on Fuentes for tying his criticisms of Israel to Jewish identity and blaming “organized Jewry” for the American support of Israel. Jewish organizations and some conservative and other political commentators argued that Carlson platformed Fuentes’ views and kept a friendly tone without adequately pushing back against antisemitic claims. Carlson allowed Fuentes to speak uninterrupted and challenged general blame levied against Jewish people but did not address each specific claim Fuentes made.

Roberts, who has since apologized, said in his initial video that he abhors “things that Nick Fuentes says” but urged debate instead of “canceling him.” He said Heritage would stay friends with Carlson and criticized the “venomous coalition” attacking Carlson.

In the video, Roberts said: “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemitic.” Roberts issued an apology for using the term “venomous coalition” amid accusations that it was an antisemitic trope and said Heritage would continue to fight antisemitism. 

George said in a Facebook post that he would resign from the board because Roberts did not fully retract his initial video when he issued an apology.  

“Kevin is a good man,” George said. “He made what he acknowledged was a serious mistake. Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes. What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake.”

George said he was saddened to leave Heritage and prays the think tank “will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal’ and ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.’”

“The anchor for the Heritage Foundation, and for our nation, and for every patriotic American is that creed,” he said. “It must always be that creed. If we hold fast to it even when expediency counsels compromising it, we cannot go wrong. If we abandon it, we sign the death certificate of republican government and ordered liberty.”

A spokesperson for Heritage said in a statement to CNA that George is “a good man,” thanked him for his time at Heritage, and looks forward to “opportunities to work together in the future.”

“Under the leadership of Dr. Roberts, Heritage remains resolute in building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish,” the statement read. “We are strong, growing, and more determined than ever to fight for our republic.”

Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the conservative Family Institute of Connecticut, said in response to George on Facebook that he disagrees with George’s decision to resign “when Heritage is trying to make amends and needs support of the adults in the room, lest it be tempted by the ancient evil about whose promotion Kevin Roberts was initially too sanguine.”

Wolfgang said the “continuing beatdown” on Roberts appears to be a proxy for the pre-Trump Republicans seeking to “take back the reins of the party from the Trumpers.” Though he told George, “I’m not saying that’s you,” he added that the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party and the “MAGA” wing should be unified in opposition to antisemitism.

The Oct. 27 interview of Fuentes by Carlson has more than 6.2 million views on YouTube. In the interview, Fuentes discussed Republican efforts to “cancel” him starting when he was 18 years old. Those efforts often focused on his criticism of Israel and derogatory comments toward Jewish people and other ethnic minorities.

Fuentes and Carlson agreed in criticism of Israeli military action in Gaza, opposition to American financial and logistic support to Israel, and objections to politicians receiving political donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Carlson objected when Fuentes said neoconservatism and advocacy for Israel was rooted in Jewish identity and blamed “organized Jewry” for wars. Carlson retorted that many supporters of Israel are Christian Zionists, like Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, and many Jewish Americans, such as Dave Smith, are critical of Israel.

In the interview, Carlson said collectively blaming Jewish people is “against my Christian faith” and “I just don’t believe that and I never will.”

The interview has fractured American conservatives. Some denounced Carlson for his friendly tone throughout the interview. Others noted his pushback against some of Fuentes’ views and the political relevance of Fuentes, who has a large fanbase among young conservative men.

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV sent a message Nov. 17 to participants in the meeting for “Building Communities that Protect Dignity,” promoted by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The Holy Father said that efforts to build communities where the dignity of minors and the most vulnerable is protected and promoted are a matter that he holds “deep in his heart.”

The pontiff explained that “dignity is a gift from God” and that it is not something obtained through merit or force but rather “a gift that precedes us: It is born from the loving gaze with which God has loved us individually and continues to love us.”

“In every human face, even when marked by weariness or pain, there is a reflection of the Creator’s goodness, a light that no darkness can extinguish,” he affirmed.

The pope thus emphasized that “by taking responsibility for the lives of others, we learn true freedom, the kind that does not dominate but serves, that does not possess but accompanies.”

“Consecrated life, an expression of the total gift of oneself to Christ, is called in a special way to be a welcoming home and a place of encounter and grace,” he underscored.

The pope therefore affirmed that “whoever follows the Lord on the path of chastity, poverty, and obedience discovers that authentic love is born from the recognition of one’s own limitations: from knowing that we are loved even in our weakness, and it is precisely this that enables us to love others with respect, tenderness, and a free heart.”

In this regard, he emphasized the purpose of the meeting: “to share experiences and paths taken in learning how to prevent all forms of abuse and how to be accountable, with truth and humility, for the processes of protection undertaken.”

He also urged the participants “to continue with this commitment so that communities become ever more examples of trust and dialogue, where every person is respected, listened to, and valued.”

“Where justice is lived with mercy, the wound is transformed into an opening for  grace,” the Holy Father said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 14:05 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced a restructuring process that will lead to church closures and parish mergers as a result of declining church attendance, its archbishop said.

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger announced in a letter over the weekend that due to a shrinking Catholic population in the archdiocese, a two-year restructuring process will see some parishes close while others will be collected into groupings called “pastorates,” led by one pastor and his team.

He said the “struggle to care for buildings and parish structures where there are very few people” is preventing the Church there to focus on “areas where the Church is growing.” 

Weisenburger said that currently there are 900,000 Catholics in the archdiocese, and fewer than half of those attend Mass regularly. Many parish buildings were constructed at a time when there were 1.5 million Catholics in the archdiocese.

Because of this, the archbishop said there are too many buildings to maintain and it has been “stretched too thinly to serve as well as we want.”

According to the archdiocese, there has been a “dramatic decline in baptisms, first Communions and confirmations, and a steady decline in marriages” since 2000. 

In 2010, 252 priests served the archdiocese. There are 224 today, and that number is expected to shrink by 40% in the next decade. In addition, the majority of active priests are over the age of 50. 

Three-quarters of parishes are also projected to shrink in the next five years, and currently 67% of parishes have fewer than 600 weekly Mass attendees. 

The archbishop encouraged his flock not to give in to “anxiety or despair” but said he believes “the situation we are facing is one that holds real and blessed opportunities. I believe with all my heart that God is inviting us to reimagine parish life, priestly ministry, and our mission.”

He said the restructuring will be guided by three pillars: “vibrant parishes,” “flourishing priests,” and “mission ready.”

The timeline for the restructuring began in March, when Weisenburger — who had just been installed as the sixth archbishop of Detroit — held 17 listening sessions across the archdiocese over several months. After data from the sessions was analyzed and he consulted with priests and other parish leaders, Weisenburger announced the restructuring on Nov. 16. Priests will meet in January 2026 to develop the pastorate models, and additional listening sessions in parishes will then take place.

The plan will be implemented beginning July 2027 through July of the following year.

In his letter, the archbishop told Detroit Catholics they can follow each step in the restructuring process in the Detroit Catholic, the archdiocese’s free online news source.

The archdiocese said 30 other dioceses across the United States are currently restructuring due to declines in numbers and participation. This month, the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, also announced a restructuring plan.

Dubuque Archbishop Thomas Zinkula said the restructuring was necessary due to “dramatic shifts in population, culture, and finances within our archdiocese. We are using only 37% of our church capacities each weekend. Since 2006, Mass attendance is down 46% throughout the archdiocese.”