We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

CNA Staff, Jul 15, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Green Bay can close down a historic parish in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the Vatican has ruled, bringing an end to efforts by a small group of parishioners to prevent the permanent shuttering of the church.

The Apostolic Signatura, the highest court at the Holy See, ruled against parishioner efforts to save St. Boniface Church from closure. The ruling affirms Bishop David Ricken’s 2023 order relegating the parish building to “profane but not sordid use.”

“Planning for the disposition of the church, contents, and property is underway,” the diocese said in a statement announcing the Vatican’s decision.

“Please continue to pray for the parish and community,” the diocese added.

 

The order brings an end to a multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort to save St. Boniface from closure. The parish itself dates to the 1850s while the current building was constructed in 1886. 

Parishioners raised around $2 million to help bankroll a restoration of the parish. And last year advocates launched a GoFundMe to fund $8,000 worth of attorney’s fees for a canon lawyer to argue their case before the Holy See. 

John Maurer, a Manitowoc resident who helped lead the effort, told CNA last year that advocates had exhausted several avenues of appeal before seeking the ruling from the signatura. 

“We went to the Court of the Dicastery for the Clergy. They ruled in favor of Bishop Ricken’s decree,” he said at the time. “We then went to the Supreme Tribunal. They sided with the lower court.”

Reached on Tuesday, Maurer told CNA that the decision to abandon the parish’s “rich history and architectural grandeur” is “a huge mistake that will be regretted for decades to come.”

“There has been a huge outpouring of support for St. Boniface as many do recognize its significance and the importance of protecting our Catholic patrimony [and] reverencing God,” he said.

The only way to stop the church’s demise, he said, would be for Ricken to “realize the gravity of this long-lasting decision and to bring it to a stop and instead give it to an oratory to take care of.”

The parish church was originally built by German immigrants. Wisconsin welcomed tens of thousands of immigrants from Germany throughout the 19th century. 

Declining attendance saw the church merged with other parishes in 2005, though it was still used for some special observances and occasions. 

The last regularly scheduled Mass took place in the building in 2005, while the most recent Mass overall was held in 2013.

CNA Staff, Jul 15, 2025 / 13:23 pm (CNA).

A priest in the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, will serve seven years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of sex abuse.

Father Juan Carlos Garcia-Mendoza was indicted last year on several counts of sexual battery and other crimes, some of which involved children and some adults. The priest was charged with eight crimes in February 2024 and two more in June of that year.

The Diocese of Nashville said in the Nashville Catholic this week that Garcia had pleaded guilty to the February charges. Those crimes include “continuous sexual abuse of a child,” aggravated sexual battery, and “sexual battery by an authority figure.” 

In addition to the prison sentence, the priest will be listed in the state sex offender registry.

The diocese also indicated that he would be removed from the priesthood. Garcia “agreed not to contest laicization from the priesthood,” the statement said.

The Nashville Diocese said last year that it first learned of accusations against Garcia in November 2023 when “a teen in the parish had made a report of improper touching” involving the priest.

The diocese made a report to the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services; it also contracted with a former FBI agent to oversee the diocesan investigation into the claims.

The Vatican, meanwhile, was “informed and involved from the outset of this matter, directing the appropriate canonical processes,” the diocese said this week.

The Franklin Police Department on Monday confirmed the report of the guilty plea via a post on X.

“Thanks to our detectives and the District AG’s Office for their hard work on this case,” the police department said.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 15, 2025 / 12:53 pm (CNA).

With the Trump administration having “effectively achieved control of the border,” Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski is now urging the president and Congress to turn to expanding legal pathways for unlawfully present migrants who have committed no other crimes to obtain citizenship.

In a statement and interview with archdiocesan media, Wenski argued that the U.S. “faces labor shortages in many industries, including health care, service, and agriculture. Removing immigrant workers will only exacerbate these shortages.”

“Rather than spending billions to deport people who are already contributing positively to our nation’s well-being, it would be more financially sensible and more morally acceptable for Congress, working with the administration, to expand legal pathways for noncriminal migrants to adjust to a permanent legal status,” Wenski affirmed.

In an interview with La Voz Catolica, Wenski said that “what makes it cruel right now is the arbitrariness of this push to deport people who have already made a stake here — people who have put in sweat and effort to stay.”

“If the United States government has allowed them to remain for 10 or 20 years, you can imagine many have children who are American citizens, own homes, or have established businesses,” Wenski noted. “To simply tell them to ‘go back home’ — when there is no home back there, and their home is here — that’s what makes it cruel.”

Wenski also echoed Bishop Frank Dewane’s concerns about the new detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” which sits in Dewane’s neighboring Diocese of Venice, Florida.

Miami’s archbishop indicated that “from the moment this detention center opened, the archdiocese has requested access to provide religious services.” 

He said Deacon Edgardo Farías, director of the archdiocesan prison ministry, visited the site to inquire about when they could celebrate Mass but was told the mosquito situation was very bad and to come back later.

“We wish to ensure that chaplains and pastoral ministers can serve those in custody, to their benefit and that of the staff,” Wenski indicated. “We also raise concerns about the isolation of the detention facility, which is far from medical care centers, and the precariousness of the temporary ‘tent’ structures.”

In the interview, Wenski said if the Trump administration’s deportations are enforcement of current laws, then “the laws must be changed” by Congress, which has the authority to “rewrite, adjust, or fix the law.”

“The vast majority of those here without permanent status are honest, hardworking people who simply want a future of hope for their children and their families,” Wenski added.

Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and current fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, told CNA that Wenski’s call for a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally is a form of “amnesty,” which he noted “is one of those things the Trump administration said is off the table.”

Arthur, who is Catholic, said that current law already affords the types of accommodations for which the archbishop is advocating. For example, he said people can appeal a removal order on the basis that their deportation would cause “extremely unusual hardship” to members of their family who are American citizens.

He also argued that a pathway to citizenship would not address the labor shortage issues that Wenski raised. “There are both immigrant and non-immigrant visas that are available in order to accommodate those labor needs, but allowing individuals to remain in the United States unlawfully is unlikely to accommodate those labor needs,” Arthur contended.

Arthur also noted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement follows the Performance-Based National Detention Standards. In his experience as an immigration judge, he said immigration authorities have always “provided for pastoral care.”

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