We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

Feast date: Nov 20

Saint Bernward served as the thirteenth Bishop of Hildesheim, Germany during the middle of the tenth century. His grandfather was Athelbero, Count Palatine of Saxony. After having lost his parents, Bernward was sent to live with his uncle Volkmar, who was the Bishop of Utrecht. His uncle enlisted the assistance of Thangmar, the pious and well-educated director of the cathedral school at Heidelberg, the help with Bernward's education.

Under the instruction of Thangmar, Bernward made rapid progress in Christian piety as well as in the sciences. He became very proficient in mathematics, painting, architecture, and particularly in the manufacture of ecclesiastical vessels and ornaments made of silver and gold.

Saint Bernward completed his studies at Mainz, where he was then ordained a priest. In lieu of being placed in the diocese of his uncle, Bishop Volkmar, he chose to remain near his grandfather, Athelbero, to comfort him in his old age. Upon his grandfather’s death in 987, he became chaplain in the imperial court, and the Empress-Regent Theophano quickly appointed him to be tutor of her son Otto III, who was only six years old at the time. Bernward remained at the imperial court until 993, when he was elected Bishop of Hildesheim.

A man of extraordinary piety, he was deeply devoted to prayer as well as the practice of mortification, and his knowledge and practice of the arts were employed generously in the service of the Church.

Shortly before his death in 1022, he was vested in the Benedictine habit. He was canonized by Pope Celestine III in 1193.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

The Chinese Communist Party’s “ongoing assault against religious freedom” has national security implications for the U.S., according to co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).

Former Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, who served as ambassador at large for international religious freedom in the first Trump administration, told the commission Nov. 20 that the United States needs to treat China’s religious freedom violations as a national security threat. 

Brownback cited a report listing 10 Catholic bishops detained by the Chinese government. “Ten Catholic bishops,” he said with emphasis, adding: “Do people even know they’re in prison?” Brownback called for China to be sanctioned by the Trump administration, pointing out the regime “has not paid a dime” for its religious freedom violations despite having been designated a country of particular concern (CPC).

Bob Fu, ChinaAid founder and president, told the panel about his experience advocating for religious freedom in China since immigrating to the U.S, revealing that in 2020 his home in Texas was surrounded by Chinese Communist Party agents who threatened his family and children, threatening him to stop his ministry with ChinaAid.

Grace Jin Drexel, the daughter of Pastor Ezra Jin, who was arrested at an underground church last month, recalled her father’s detention, expressing concern for her father’s health and calling on the Chinese government to release him and fellow detainees immediately and unconditionally. 

Since 2018, Drexel’s father has been under an exit ban from China, separated from family in the U.S. for more than seven years, she said, noting his church grew to the largest it has ever been, reaching tens of thousands of people per year who are under persecution prior to his arrest. 

A bipartisan group of senators, including Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, are urging the Trump administration to act on behalf of Pastor Jin.

Adherents to underground churches in China are not trying to subvert the state, Drexel said, but rather are “merely asking to be free from the Communist Party” in the context of worship, where God is at the center. 

Drexel also recalled her own experience of transnational harassment for her advocacy on behalf of her father, saying she received a threatening phone call from someone pretending to be a U.S. federal agent and has been followed and harassed by the CCP throughout Washington, D.C. 

Visibly emotional, she said: “Do not signal defeat of this trampling of human rights with your silence.”

Testifying before the commission led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, other witnesses included Ismail “Ma Ju” Juma, a Hui Muslim human rights advocate, and Bhuchung Tsering, who leads the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Research and Monitoring Unit.

Protecting U.S. religious freedom

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, a member of the commission, emphasized the constitutional importance of religious freedom and the need for the U.S. to protect it. McGovern, who is Catholic, said the U.S. needs to protect religious freedom at home first for its position to carry real weight. 

He cited the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and its effect on the migrant community in the U.S. Catholic Church. He further cited the bishop of San Bernardino, who this past summer granted a Sunday Mass dispensation to migrants in his diocese who feared deportation. “

“Our voice would have more effect,” he said, “if the U.S. protected the religious freedom of people living in the U.S.”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The European Parliament and the United Nations have officially condemned the practice of surrogacy following reports of human rights violations against women and babies. 

Experts gathered on Nov. 19 for a meeting at the European Parliament that included U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International’s Carmen Correas, who discussed the harms of surrogacy on women and children, according to an ADF press release.

The event, “Surrogacy: An Ethical and Political Challenge for Europe,” followed the release of a landmark report by Alsalem that highlighted widespread human rights violations globally as a result of surrogacy. The event also came after a resolution that stated the EU “condemns the practice of surrogacy … [and] calls on the [EU] Commission to take measures to support ending this phenomenon.”

Italian European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party Member of the EU Parliament Paolo Inselvini said at the event it has become clear that “a determined European front exists, committed to stopping reproductive exploitation across the globe.” He further emphasized the EU’s commitment to “abandon all ambiguity” and designate surrogacy as “a universal crime.” 

“Surrogacy treats women and children as commodities,” Correas said. “The European Union has taken an important step in acknowledging its inherent harms. We urge policymakers to move swiftly toward a clear, coordinated legal prohibition that protects the dignity and rights of all involved.”

Alsalem’s report was based on nearly 120 submissions in addition to video consultations with 78 people including commissioning parents, surrogacy agencies, and surrogate mothers. Alsalem called for member states to establish a universal ban on surrogacy, criminalizing the practice in all its forms.

Through her consultative process, the U.N. expert found surrogate mothers, who are most often from low-income and vulnerable backgrounds, and their children increasingly endure physical, emotional, and financial exploitation as well as violence and human trafficking.

The report further highlighted the experience of surrogate mothers being pressured into abortions by commissioning parents, including beyond 12 weeks of gestation, “through coercive tactics such as financial incentives, threats of legal action, or the withdrawal of support to both the mother and baby.” This often occurs when the child is found to have a disability, the report said.

In cases where the surrogate becomes pregnant with multiple children at once, commissioning parents may “also enforce a selective reduction,” or the killing of one or more of the undesired babies in utero.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the United States:

Retired Army general, Notre Dame professor to serve as president of Belmont Abbey College

Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina announced that Jeffrey Talley, a retired three-star lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and former tenured professor at the University of Notre Dame, will serve as its new president.

In a Nov. 18 press release announcing the appointment, Talley said the school has a “unique opportunity” to “help young men and women get a rigorous academic experience in a faith-filled environment that’s strong in its Catholic identity so they can go forth in a world that’s become so challenging, so complex, so difficult.”

Talley will assume the position of the college’s 21st president on Jan. 2, 2026. The chair of Belmont Abbey College’s board of trustees, Charles Cornelio, said in the release that the appointment comes after a seven-month search. 

Talley “is a person of deep Catholic faith who understands the mission of the college and will live it,” Cornelio said, highlighting the general’s decades-long history as a Benedictine oblate. 

“Leaders who are balanced both morally and professionally are in greater need than ever before. For this purpose, Belmont Abbey College exists,” Talley said. “I thank God for the opportunity to become part of the Belmont Abbey College family, where together we can bear the light of Christ in the world today.”

Notre Dame professor attempts to distribute contraceptives, Plan B on campus

A professor of gender studies at the University of Notre Dame attempted to use university space to facilitate the distribution of contraceptives and Plan B, according to a Nov. 19 report published by the student-run paper the Irish Rover.

Pamela Butler, who is the director of undergraduate studies for the school’s gender studies department, has reportedly been reserving rooms in violation of university code for the group “Irish 4 Reproductive Health,” according to the Rover.

School guidelines grant the use of university buildings and grounds for “recognized student groups.” The “reproductive health” group — which stated in the report it was “not affiliated with the university in any official capacity” — has been distributing free “resource bags” with condoms, Plan B, and information on abortion services for students in the university’s DeBartolo Hall.

The group also openly advertises the distribution of contraception on Instagram as well as “workshops” hosted on campus on “exploring the principles of pro-choice Catholicism, how Catholic teaching supports reproductive justice, and how these ideas inform advocacy.”

Minnesota Catholic institutions, including schools and universities, hit by pension deficit

The pension fund covering multiple Catholic schools and universities across Minnesota has been hit by an $800 million deficit, threatening retirement resources for thousands of current and former workers.

The pension manager, Christian Brothers Services, is asking employers to make increased contributions to compensate for the massive shortfall, according to a report in the Minnesota Star Tribune, which cited “a big loss in a hedge fund that cratered a few years ago” in 2020 as reason for the deficit.

Christian Brothers Services is a nonprofit organization that operates a church pension plan, one that is not bound by federal pension regulations, meaning pensioners are not eligible for federal payouts if their plans fail, according to the IRS.

The Chicago-based organization manages the pensions of over 40 schools across the Dioceses of New Ulm, Crookston, and St. Cloud, as well as lay workers, and workers at St. Mary’s University in Winona and Minneapolis.

Two schools have since pulled from the plan, according to the local report, while two others are planning to do so.

Vatican City, Nov 20, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV traveled to Assisi on Thursday to meet with Italian bishops and pay homage to St. Francis in a visit marked by silence and prayer, part of the celebrations for the eighth centenary of the death of the “saint of the poor.”

According to Vatican News, the pontiff traveled from the Vatican by helicopter and arrived in the Italian city shortly after 8 a.m. local time. He landed at the Bastia Umbra stadium and from there traveled by car to the heart of Assisi, where St. Francis was born in 1182.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio adopted his name upon becoming pope, while it was St. John Paul II who named St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of ecology in 1979. 

Despite the rain and cold, a number of people waited for the Holy Father and greeted him with applause and cheers of “Long live the pope!”

His first stop was the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the burial place of the founder of the Franciscan order. Leo XIV was received by the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI by its Italian acronym), Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, and the custodian of the Sacro Convento (Franciscan friary) Friar Marco Moroni, who accompanied him to the crypt where the relics of St. Francis are kept.

Once in front of the tomb of the “Poverello” (“Little Poor Man”), the Holy Father paused for a few minutes in prayer. There he spoke his first public words of the day: “It is a blessing to be able to come to this sacred place today. We are approaching the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis; this occasion allows us to prepare to celebrate this great saint, humble and poor, while the world seeks signs of hope,” he said.

He also recalled the enduring legacy of St. Francis: “His witness continues to speak to us today, inviting us to keep hope alive and to look to the future with confidence.”

Afterward, Pope Leo XIV traveled to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Our Lady of the Angels) where he met with the bishops of the CEI, who are holding their 81st general assembly.

According to the Vatican Press Office, at the conclusion of the meeting with the bishops of the CEI, Pope Leo XIV traveled to the city of Montefalco, where he celebrated Mass in the monastery of the Augustinian nuns, which was erected in the 13th century.

It is one of the oldest and most significant spiritual centers in the Umbria region. It is linked to the figure of St. Clare of Montefalco (1268–1308), also known as St. Clare of the Cross, an Augustinian mystic whose contemplative life left a profound mark on the spiritual tradition of the Church. The pontiff had lunch there before returning to the Vatican by helicopter.

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

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will hold a historic live digital conversation with American teenagers at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) on Friday. The faithful across the globe can also tune in to watch the encounter.

The Holy Father will hold the digital discussion with young Catholics amid the Nov. 20–22 NCYC, hosted by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.

The pope will speak at 10:15 a.m. ET on Nov. 21 and enter into dialogue with a group of high school students.

People attending NCYC in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium can watch the encounter at the event, but others across the world are able to join online from homes, schools, and parishes.

The exchange will be broadcast via a livestream available on EWTN YouTube. Viewers can also watch through the EWTN app or on EWTN’s cable channel.

This marks the first time that a pope will directly engage with U.S. youth in a live digital encounter at NCYC. More than 40 teens have participated in the dialogue planning process, and five of them will get the chance to speak directly with the Holy Father.

For other news about the pope’s discussion and NCYC, the faithful can stay informed on CNA’s live updates page.

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference will feature prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers from Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis. Follow CNA’s live coverage of the event here.

Watch the historic discussion with Pope Leo XIV live from the Vatican on Friday, Nov. 21, starting at 8:45 a.m. ET on EWTN YouTube: