We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

CNA Staff, Jul 26, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Catholics in Nagasaki, Japan, have replaced a bell in a cathedral bell tower there almost exactly 80 years to the day after it was destroyed by the atomic blast that leveled most of the city at the end of World War II.

An international effort to fund the construction and installation of the bell at Urakami Cathedral raised $125,000 in just over a year, with the funds coming from over 600 individual donors, according to Williams College Professor James Nolan.

Nagasaki was one of the two Japanese cities, along with Hiroshima, largely destroyed by the U.S. atomic bombings at the close of World War II. The city was bombed on Aug. 9, 1945, marking the second and last time an atomic bomb was used as an act of war.

Nolan told CNA last year that parishioners at Urakami Cathedral managed to dig up one of the original bells after the bombing and save it; the bell was installed in the cathedral’s right bell tower after it was rebuilt in 1959.

The remaining bell, however, was destroyed, with the second rebuilt tower remaining empty for decades.

Nolan — a sociology professor who came to Nagasaki frequently while writing and researching a book about the local Catholic population’s response to the bombing — said a parishioner at the cathedral, Kojiro Moriuchi, remarked to him at one point that it would be “wonderful if American Catholics gave us the bell for the left tower,” leading the professor to help spearhead the effort to replace the instrument. 

For the professor, his own involvement in the project is personal. His grandfather served as the chief medical officer at the Los Alamos, New Mexico, facility where the atomic bomb was developed and later came with a survey team to both Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the bombs fell.

People “were keen to give, once they learned the story about Nagasaki,” Nolan told CNA this week.

“We reached our goal of $125,000 on July 15,” he said. The funds will pay off the cost of making the bell as well as transporting and installing it, he said. 

“It took about one year and four months to raise the funds. In the final tally there were a total of 628 individual donations,” Nolan said. 

Moriuchi spoke at the blessing ceremony on July 17 and “got a bit choked up,” Nolan said. 

Nagasaki Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura blessed the bell on that date and named it the “St. Kateri Bell of Hope,” according to the Associated Press.

The bell will be officially installed on Aug. 9, eight decades after the parish was leveled by the atomic bomb. Nolan said it will be rung at 11:02 a.m., the exact moment in 1945 when the bomb detonated around 1,600 feet west of the church. 

At the bombing location, a section of wall from the old, destroyed cathedral sits in Nagasaki Peace Park. At the rebuilt parish to the east, meanwhile, Nolan said he hopes the bell “will bear the fruit of fostering hope and peace and solidarity between American and Japanese Catholics.” 

In remarks delivered at the blessing ceremony this month, Nolan said American Catholics learning of the destruction wrought at Nagasaki “expressed sorrow, regret, sadness, and a wish for forgiveness and reconciliation.”

One person, he said, wrote to him: “May the ringing of these bells continue to remind the people of Nagasaki of our sorrow for what their people have endured and reassure them of ours and God’s love for them.”

Another said the bell’s donation was meant “to heal the wounds of this war and progress to world peace.”

Manila, Philippines, Jul 26, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Ernesto Escaler, a renowned Filipino businessman and the owner of Gourmet Farms Philippines, one of the most iconic restaurant brands in the country, is described as a man of few words but remarkable action.

His staff describe him as deeply low-key — someone who avoids attention and prefers not to speak about his philanthropy. But for the sake of this story, his friends and employees have allowed CNA a glimpse into his quiet, powerful mission.

Every year, he feeds over 3,000 prisoners across three major correctional facilities in the Philippines. He offers them dignity by employing them in planting vegetables, which Gourmet Farms then buys. He also supports the sick cared for by the Missionaries of Charity and Canossian Sisters on top of supporting various other seminaries, convents, and religious communities.

In 2024, Escaler achieved the extraordinary: He persuaded no less than the leader of the Philippines himself, President Bongbong Marcos, to consecrate the entire nation — and the presidential family — to Our Lady of Guadalupe, to whom Escaler is devoted.

He organized public recollections on divine mercy and Marian consecration in four major cities across the country and was instrumental in bringing to life a clergy retreat for 800 priests and 16 bishops.

More than a philanthropist, Escaler is an evangelist in the workplace, bringing the Gospel to his own staff. His entire company — and most of his 400 employees — is consecrated to Mary. One of his biggest priorities as a business owner is to provide spiritual formation to his own staff, providing recollections, booklets, and weekly access to prayer and the sacraments.

At the heart of his company lies a sanctuary — the Sanctuary of St. Joseph — which Escalar built on his 50th birthday 25 years ago.

“We are a consecrated company to Mama Mary. The entire Escaler Group of Companies is consecrated to her,” shared Ginny de Villa, executive director of the Escaler Group.

Escaler takes no credit.

“I am simply being used by Our Lady. It’s not my doing. None of this was planned,” he said. “I am just an instrument. I cannot claim credit for anything.”

Asked if he had any specific “conversion experience,” Escaler stated: “I’ve always grown up praying to Our Lord. We grew up as a very Catholic family … but the ‘a-ha’ moment for me was when I got introduced to Marian consecration and divine mercy.”

In 2017, Father Michael Gaitley, MIC — author of the bestselling book “33 Days to Morning Glory” — came to the Philippines to give a retreat for the Catholic bishops’ conference. Due to the priest’s dietary restrictions, he was housed at Gourmet Farms, where he met Escaler. The two quickly became friends, and Gaitley introduced Escaler to Marian consecration.

“I was taken by it,” Escaler said. The priest later invited Escaler to a pilgrimage in Poland, deepening his understanding of divine mercy and Our Lady’s mission.

“Our Blessed Mother came into this world with one mission: to bring people closer to Jesus. And when you consecrate yourself to her, what you’re doing is you’re giving her permission to use you for her mission. And what is her mission? To bring people to God. So I become an instrument of bringing people to God by virtue of my Marian consecration.” 

“There are many lukewarm Catholics today, each with their own struggles. But I believe Mama Mary can touch their hearts — through people like us, consecrated and willing to be used by her.”

“Look at the world today — war, terrorism, human trafficking, pedophilia — it’s clear Satan is at work. How do we fight back? With the rosary. With Marian consecration. We cannot fight evil on our own. It is Mary who will do the work, and she will use us as her instruments if we consecrate ourselves to her.” 

Consecration in the workplace

Escaler’s commitment to Marian consecration extends deeply into his company.

“It was through Escaler that I was introduced to Marian consecration. It’s powerful,” de Villa said. “If there are Catholics by convention, Marian consecration deepens that so you become Catholics by conviction.”

She added: “Mr. Escaler evangelizes not just through personal testimony but with history. He shared the story of the Battle of Lepanto and showed how Mama Mary was always there, guiding history toward Christ. Her goal is always to bring you closer to her Son and make you a saint in the process. It was gripping and life-changing.”

“The most powerful realization I had was that in Marian consecration, you let Mary take over your life. We are here in the world of business, in the world of control and managing people and situations. But consecration requires total surrender. And that surrender becomes your strength. You are now at her disposal — and it’s liberating.”

The company provides 33-day consecration booklets to staff, offers weekly Mass, First Friday devotions, and Marian feast-day celebrations.

“It’s part of the company culture espoused by Mr. Escaler — that spirituality, that God-centeredness, that devotion to Mama Mary and divine mercy,” de Villa said. “It’s in our DNA.”

A God-centered company

“Many people ask Mr. Escaler, ‘Why do you have a chapel in your business? Why a sanctuary in the middle of the farm?’” Joel Layug, head of human resources, told CNA. 

“Mr. Escaler always tells us, we are a farm. Our business is organic farming. We take care of nature and the environment. To whom else should we go but to the Author of nature? We must turn to the Creator. That’s why at the heart of our farm is this sanctuary.”

“He was very deliberate in calling this the Sanctuary of St. Joseph. He chose St. Joseph because it is through silence that God speaks. St. Joseph was the silent strength. In the whole Gospel, St. Joseph did not speak a single word, and yet he did the Father’s will. That’s the spirit of this place.”

Escaler added: “I built this 25 years ago as a birthday gift to God. It’s a retreat center for people to come and talk to him. And how do you talk to God? In silence, in nature. I don’t advertise it. It’s his sanctuary. I simply built it — and he invites whom he wills.”

Nationwide efforts

Escaler translates his religious piety into concrete works of mercy.

“He feeds prisoners in three major jails, helps the sick cared for by the Missionaries of Charity, and supports many religious communities, but he’s very low-key,” de Villa added. “And he’s very active in spreading Mama Mary’s devotion across the Philippines — especially Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

His greatest passion is to spread divine mercy and Marian consecration not just among his staff but throughout the nation.

“In 2023, Mr. Escaler invited Father Chris Alar, MIC, to give a retreat to 800 priests and 16 bishops,” Layug said. “He also brought Father Chris to the president to consecrate the Philippines to divine mercy.”

What began as a clergy retreat expanded to the laity. Public demand was so overwhelming that he organized events in four major cities. Within hours of opening registration, seats were fully booked.

“When I got Father Chris to say yes, I asked — why not open it to the laity too?” Escaler recounted. “We organized retreats in Quezon City, Alabang, Baguio, and Cavite. People asked, ‘How did you organize a retreat for 5,000 people?’”

“I didn’t invite them. I created the venue, the schedule. She — Mama Mary — invites whomever she wants. I’m just an instrument.”

He also organized a 4,000-person retreat in Davao with Gaitley in the past and personally gave Marian consecration talks in seminaries, convents, dioceses, and even to a group of Franciscans in England.

At 75, does he plan to continue? “Whenever it is needed,” he said. “And she [Mary] will decide when and where. I don’t plan it.”

How does he manage to do it all? His answer is as simple as it is profound: “I just live by example. There’s no other way to speak to people. You have to show them through action.”

Feast date: Jul 26

On July 26 the Roman Catholic Church commemorates the parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne. The couple's faith and perseverance brought them through the sorrow of childlessness, to the joy of conceiving and raising the immaculate and sinless woman who would give birth to Christ.

The New Testament contains no specific information about the lives of the Virgin Mary's parents, but other documents outside of the Biblical canon do provide some details. Although these writings are not considered authoritative in the same manner as the Bible, they outline some of the Church's traditional beliefs about Joachim, Anne and their daughter.

The “Protoevangelium of James,” which was probably put into its final written form in the early second century, describes Mary's father Joachim as a wealthy member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Joachim was deeply grieved, along with his wife Anne, by their childlessness. “He called to mind Abraham,” the early Christian writing says, “that in the last day God gave him a son Isaac.”

Joachim and Anne began to devote themselves to rigorous prayer and fasting, in isolation from one another and from society. They regarded their inability to conceive a child as a surpassing misfortune, and a sign of shame among the tribes of Israel.

As it turned out, however, the couple were to be blessed even more abundantly than Abraham and Sarah. An angel revealed this to Anne when he appeared to her and prophesied that all generations would honor their future child: “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.”

After Mary's birth, according to the Protoevangelium of James, Anne “made a sanctuary” in the infant girl's room, and “allowed nothing common or unclean” on account of the special holiness of the child. The same writing records that when she was one year old, her father “made a great feast, and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel.”

“And Joachim brought the child to the priests,” the account continues, “and they blessed her, saying: 'O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations' … And he brought her to the chief priests; and they blessed her, saying: 'O God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be forever.'”

The protoevangelium goes on to describe how Mary's parents, along with the temple priests, subsequently decided that she would be offered to God as a consecrated Virgin for the rest of her life, and enter a chaste marriage with the carpenter Joseph.

St. Joachim and St. Anne have been a part of the Church's liturgical calendar for many centuries. Devotion to their memory is particularly strong in the Eastern Catholic churches, where their intercession is invoked by the priest at the end of each Divine Liturgy. The Eastern churches, however, celebrate Sts. Joachim and Anne on a different date, Sept. 9.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 25, 2025 / 17:25 pm (CNA).

More than two dozen Planned Parenthood facilities across the country in recent months have announced plans to shut down amid funding concerns caused by new federal rules that prevent the abortion giant from receiving Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

As of Friday, July 25, the growing number of Planned Parenthood facility closures has reached at least 25, which span across 10 states. The most recent announcement came yesterday, July 24, with Planned Parenthood Mar Monte indicating its plan to shut down five facilities in northern California.

On July 4, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which put a one-year freeze on Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements for Planned Parenthood. The provision is being challenged in court, but a federal judge this week allowed the freeze to go into effect for most Planned Parenthood affiliates.

Some of Planned Parenthood’s facilities announced closures before the bill’s passage in anticipation of the funding cuts while others have begun announcing closures this week.

“We are heartbroken and outraged to have to close five of our health centers and sunset three crucial services,” Planned Parenthood Mar Monte wrote in an Instagram post.

In the post, the Planned Parenthood affiliate called the defunding provision “a back-door ban on abortion in reproductive freedom states.”

The affiliate will still operate 30 other abortion clinics in California and Nevada.

Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins referred to the news as “a win for babies in California,” a state she said is “a hub for late-term abortions,” in a statement on X.

Planned Parenthood affiliates are also shutting down four facilities in Iowa, four in Michigan, four in Minnesota, two in Ohio, two in Utah, one in Vermont, one in New York, one in Indiana, and one in Texas.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America stated on July 1 that the defunding provision could force the abortion network to shut down nearly 200 clinics, which is 60% of Planned Parenthood’s facilities.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement provided to CNA that Planned Parenthood should “look in the mirror for the reason their centers are shuttering.”

“Planned Parenthood’s focus is on abortions, gender transitions, and political spending — all while raking in hundreds of millions from taxpayers,” Dannenfelser said. “Many times they’ve been offered a path to keep their funding by dropping abortions, but they refuse. Meanwhile, they have no monopoly on health, as women already go to community health centers that provide much more comprehensive care and are more accessible, outnumbering Planned Parenthoods 15:1 nationwide.”

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, told CNA that “it should come as no surprise that Planned Parenthood is responding to the federal funding cutoff by closing some of its facilities,” noting that Planned Parenthood receives hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds annually.

New said Planned Parenthood closures “should be seen as a win for the pro-life movement.”

“Even those Planned Parenthood facilities that do not perform abortions still do abortion referrals,” New said. “Furthermore, when a Planned Parenthood closes, that means that there are fewer people who work for the abortion industry. Finally, Planned Parenthood's contraception and sex education programs create a more promiscuous culture that result in more abortions.”

Under long-standing federal law, Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements were not available for most abortions. But before the new law went into effect, Planned Parenthood was able to obtain reimbursements from those programs for non-abortive services.

According to Planned Parenthood’s annual report for July 2023 through June 2024, about 40% of the abortion network’s total revenue came from taxpayer money, a large portion of which was obtained through Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. Over that year, Planned Parenthood was given nearly $800 million in public funds.

In the Gospel reading for Sunday, July 27, 2025, Jesus gives his disciples the words that continue to shape the lives of his followers today: The "Our Father." In this homily reflection, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger digs into these words to help us better understand this treasured prayer.

Vatican City, Jul 25, 2025 / 16:23 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV in a message released Friday pointed out that Catholic migrants and refugees “can become missionaries of hope today in the countries that welcome them.”

“With their spiritual enthusiasm and vitality, they can help revitalize ecclesial communities that have become rigid and weighed down, where spiritual desertification is advancing at an alarming rate,” the pope noted July 25 in his message for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be celebrated Oct. 4–5, coinciding with the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of the Missions.

The pontiff focused his reflection on the link between Christian hope and migration and praised the faith with which immigrants “defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.”

“Many migrants, refugees, and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope. Indeed, they demonstrate this daily through their resilience and trust in God, as they face adversity while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development,” the pope noted in the statement.

He emphasized that their presence “should be recognized and appreciated as a true divine blessing, an opportunity to open oneself to the grace of God, who gives new energy and hope to his Church.”

The Holy Father pointed out that “in a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.”

“Migrants and refugees remind the Church of her pilgrim dimension, perpetually journeying toward her final homeland, sustained by a hope that is a theological virtue,” he added.

Thus, the pope called for hope for “a future of peace and of respect for the dignity of all” despite the “frightening scenarios” of “wars, violence, injustice, and extreme weather events.” 

Arms trade and current climate crisis

“The prospect of a renewed arms race and the development of new armaments, including nuclear weapons, the lack of consideration for the harmful effects of the ongoing climate crisis, and the impact of profound economic inequalities make the challenges of the present and the future increasingly demanding,” the pontiff noted in the message.

Pope Leo warned the Catholic Church against the temptation of “sedentarization” and, therefore, of ceasing to be a “civitas peregrine,” since as St. Augustine points out in “The City of God,” the people of God are “journeying toward the heavenly homeland,” because otherwise she ceases to be “in the world” and becomes “of the world.”

“This temptation was already present in the early Christian communities, so much so that the Apostle Paul had to remind the Church of Philippi that ‘our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself’ (Phil 3:20-21),” Leo XIV emphasized.

He also called for a move beyond individualism, which he defined as a “serious threat” to the “sharing of responsibilities, multilateral cooperation,” and “the pursuit of the common good.”

In this regard, he criticized the “widespread tendency to look after the interests of limited communities” and pointed out that there is “a clear analogy” between immigrants and “the experience of the people of Israel wandering in the desert, who faced every danger while trusting in the Lord’s protection.”

Finally, Pope Leo expressed his desire to entrust every migrant, and those who accompany them with generosity and compassion, “to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, comfort of migrants.”

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