We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

For over two years, the people of Sudan have been subjected to a civil war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions of people. The children are paying the highest price.

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The 4th International Kitesurf Race known as the "Zanzibar Cup" is set to take place from 30-31 August 2025 with registration underway until 10 August latest. The international regatta in Tanzania aims to promote the best in sportsmanship and fraternity.

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Ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s visit and celebration of Mass on Sunday, the parish priest of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo shares the excitement and faith of his parishioners.

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Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, speaks to Vatican News about Pope Leo XIV’s invitation to develop a pastoral approach to peace in all Dioceses.

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Pope Leo XIV invites members of several religious congregations holding their General Chapters to take part in the "marvelous adventure" of following Christ more closely.

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Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank, speaks to Vatican News about the organisation’s support for war-torn Ukraine – from financing repairs to energy infrastructure to helping farmers increase their yields.

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As the Church celebrates the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, Father John Luke Gregory, OFM, reflects on the theme, "Who is my neighbour? A call to compassion in challenging times".

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Boston, Mass., Jul 11, 2025 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

A Catholic flight attendant who says United Airlines fired him after he endorsed Catholic teachings on marriage and gender identity while talking with a co-worker can proceed with his lawsuit against his union for not standing up for him, a federal judge has ruled.

The flight attendant, Ruben Sanchez, of Anchorage, Alaska, claims the airline investigated his extensive social media posts only after receiving what he describes as “baseless accusations” arising from a red-eye flight conversation in May 2023 — and that when the company came up with nothing that violated its social media policy, it terminated him anyway.

Sanchez filed the lawsuit in January against United Airlines and the union he belonged to while working for the airline, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

In court papers, he claims the airline violated his right to express his religious beliefs and discriminated against him because of his age, which was 52 at the time of the firing two years ago. He said he had served as “a loyal United flight attendant” for almost 28 years.

Sanchez’s complaint says that when he met with a United investigator online in June 2023 to discuss the accusations against him, the investigator “reacted negatively when Sanchez explained the religious basis for his beliefs” and that his union representative “did nothing to support him.”

After United fired him, the union told Sanchez it would not represent him in arbitration unless he came up with the union’s portion of the cost and hired his own lawyer, according to court documents.

In March, lawyers for the union filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Sanchez’s complaint made “insufficient allegations of fact to plausibly suggest that the union’s decision was covertly based on age or religious animus” and that federal law governing fair representation by a union bars such a lawsuit.

The union’s lawyers also argued that the union refused to represent Sanchez in arbitration because of “a lack of success in other cases in which flight attendants were fired related to their social media activities.”

The judge disagreed with the union’s arguments for dismissal, saying that Sanchez presented sufficient evidence to pursue his claim that the union acted arbitrarily in not representing him in arbitration.

Judge Christina Snyder, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, also wrote in her decision, dated June 30, that Sanchez established a “prima facie case” that the union discriminated against him because of his age and religion — meaning that on first impression, his claim is plausible based on the evidence he has presented so far. The case would likely proceed toward a jury trial unless the union appeals the judge’s ruling or the parties settle.

Lawyers for United Airlines have not responded to Sanchez’s claims in court filings so far. The judge has extended the deadline for doing so until Aug. 1. A spokesman for United Airlines contacted by CNA declined comment. 

CNA contacted a lawyer who is representing the union in the court case and a spokesman for the union but did not hear back by publication deadline.

His case, meanwhile, has apparently caught the eye of officials at the social media giant X.

“Sanchez’s lawsuit is being supported by X Corp.,” Sanchez’s lawyers said in a written statement published Thursday on the law firm’s website, referring to the company that owns the social media platform called X, previously known as Twitter from 2006 until July 2023. A spokesman for X could not be reached for comment Friday.

What did he do? 

Sanchez, who is also a member of the Alaska Air National Guard, was a last-minute replacement flight attendant on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Cleveland on May 30, 2023. To stay awake overnight he engaged in a quiet conversation with a fellow flight attendant, according to court papers.

“Sanchez and his colleague discussed their working conditions and everyday life. As they were both Catholic, their discussion turned to Catholic theology and then, with United’s ‘Pride Month’ activities set to start on June 1, Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality,” Sanchez’s complaint states.

A few days later, a user on what was then Twitter complained to the airline through its own Twitter account about Sanchez’s remarks, claiming that he overheard the two flight attendants during the flight — though Sanchez’s lawyers say in court papers that the unnamed person, who had sparred with Sanchez on social media before, was not on the flight.

The Twitter user claimed that Sanchez “openly hates Black people and is anti-trans,” according to court papers.

During a subsequent meeting with an investigator from United, Sanchez denied making any racial comments, according to his complaint. Asked about an accusation that he is “anti-trans,” Sanchez “discussed his conversation with a co-worker during which they discussed Church teachings on marriage being between a man and a woman and that a person is unable to change his/her sex.” 

“Sanchez also noted that even though he is a gay male, he agrees with the Church’s teaching,” the complaint states, adding: “The in-flight conversation was in low voices in the galley away from all passengers and no passenger reported any issues.”

During a subsequent investigation of his social media posts, United highlighted 35 of more than 140,000 posts “and accused Sanchez of lacking dignity, respect, professionalism, and responsibility on X when Sanchez was off duty,” according to the complaint.

But Sanchez’s complaint says United had never previously complained about his social media posts, which date back to 2010, even though several members of mid-level and senior management followed him online.

Sanchez says in the complaint that he suspects his age was a factor in the firing because United prefers younger flight attendants and features them in its advertising and because “United has a history of targeting older flight attendants to terminate them for minor violations.”

Sanchez also argues in court papers that United Airlines treated him differently from other employees, including firing him for personal social media posts stating his opinions on politics, social matters, and religion while retaining other United employees for more problematic social media posts, including a female flight attendant who chided some United customers as “drunks” who “drink like camels” and a female flight attendant who posted sexually provocative images of herself in a United uniform.

The flight attendant who posted images of herself was eventually fired, but only because she failed to delete a single image that depicted her in a United uniform, Sanchez’s complaint states.

“Sanchez was interrogated and investigated for his social media posts because of his age, religion, and political beliefs, while his co-workers who were younger or held different religious and political beliefs were not similarly,” Sanchez’s complaint states. 

“The termination of Sanchez’s employment served as an implicit warning and message to United’s other employees that the expression of views departing from liberal perspectives on race, political figures, the transgender movement, and public health issues would not be tolerated,” Sanchez’s lawyers wrote in the January complaint. 

Another case 

Sanchez says his case wasn’t the first time the union walked away from religious members who clashed with their employer over human sexuality.

In May 2022, two flight attendants who identify as Christian, Marley Brown and Lacey Smith, filed a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and the union, saying they were fired for posting comments opposing the Equality Act, a bill filed in Congress in 2021 that sought to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in federal civil rights law and to limit religious-freedom defenses against claims arising from it.

The airline had posted on an intra-company website its support for the Equality Act bill and had invited employees to post their own comments on it, according to Brown and Smith’s subsequent lawsuit. But when the women posted comments challenging the bill and the company’s support for it, the company took down their comments and subsequently fired them, the lawsuit states.

The union didn’t advocate for the women vigorously, according to the complaint. At one point, the complaint states, a union representative told Brown “that if she punched someone in the face on an airplane and it was captured on video, it would not be possible to offer much defense,” likening her opposition to proposed legislation on religious grounds to physical assault.

In May 2024, Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, dismissed the lawsuit. But the two women have appealed.

Oral arguments in the Alaska Airlines case are scheduled for Friday, Aug. 22, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.

A spokesman for Alaska Airlines contacted by CNA declined comment.

CNA Staff, Jul 11, 2025 / 17:43 pm (CNA).

Parishioners in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, won a reprieve on Friday when the state Supreme Court instituted a temporary halt on payments the diocese has required of parishes in order to fund its clergy abuse settlement amid a Vatican-moderated dispute over parish mergers. 

The complicated case stems from a group of parishes who object to the diocese’s requirement that they pay huge portions of cash into the diocese’s $150 million clergy abuse settlement even as they wait for the Vatican to hear their appeal concerning a diocesan merger plan. 

The Diocese of Buffalo, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020 amid the large number of abuse claims, announced last month that its parishes would be required to pay up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” by July 15 to help fund the settlement for abuse victims. 

The amount a parish must pay is calculated by its cash reserves. Parishes with less than $250,000 in unrestricted cash must pay 10% of that amount, while parishes with more than $3 million will be required to pay 75%. 

Parishes that are closing or merging, meanwhile, must pay 80% of their cash. 

Bishop Michael Fisher called the required contributions “necessary to bring to a close this painful chapter of our diocese and achieve a level of restitution that is owed” to victims of sexual abuse. 

Temporary payment would ‘fatally destroy’ parishes

Yet in their lawsuit, filed this month at the New York State Supreme Court, a group of parishioners representing several parishes in the diocese argued that ongoing litigation with the Vatican over the closure of their churches preempts their payment into the diocesan plan next week.

The Vatican earlier this year granted the parishes a stay on their pending mergers, suspending the diocese’s closure plans “for the duration” of the Vatican’s review of the cases.

The parishes represented in the suit, including Blessed Sacrament in Tonawanda and St. Bernadette Church of Orchard Park, have all been slated for closure or merging under the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” plan, meaning they will be required to pay the 80% rate into the diocesan settlement. 

The diocese said in June that parishes who are appealing their closure to the Vatican will nevertheless have to pay the 80% rate, though if the appeal is successful the parish “will be returned the difference” between the 80% rate and the proper rate based on their cash reserves. 

In their lawsuit, the parishioners said that having to pay the higher rate by next week “would be catastrophic and likely would … fatally destroy the parishes.” 

Having to turn over 80% of their cash for the duration of the appeal would bring “irreparable harm” to the parishes insofar as they would “be unable to adequately function and serve [their] community.”

Mary Pruski, a spokeswoman for the church preservation group Save Our Buffalo Churches, told CNA on Friday that attorneys for both the parishioners and the diocese agreed at the state Supreme Court to allow the diocese more time to respond to the lawsuit. 

Judge John DelMonte issued an injunction against any payments going to the settlement fund while the diocese continues to develop a response, Pruski told CNA. The deadline is Aug. 6, she said. 

Pruski said the injunction only covers the parishes represented in the suit, though she said advocates are working to bring other parishes on board to avoid having to pay into the fund by next week.

“There are more parishes that can’t be protected because they’re not in the lawsuit,” she told CNA. “We’re going to get it done.”

The Diocese of Buffalo declined to comment on the case on Friday. “As a matter of long-standing policy and legal prudence, the Diocese of Buffalo does not comment on pending litigation,” diocesan spokesman Joe Martone told CNA via email.

“This policy is in place to protect the integrity of the legal process, ensure fairness to all parties involved, and maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information,” he added.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling comes amid widespread Catholic parish closures and mergers around the country.

Dioceses in Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, and elsewhere have all undertaken major restructuring plans in recent years amid priest shortages, declining attendance, and rising costs, with some parishes costing more to keep open than they do to close. 

Parishioners in numerous dioceses have mounted appeals to the Vatican over parish closures, with the Vatican in some cases putting mergers on hold while the Holy See considers the cases. 

In some instances parishioners have been creative with efforts to save parishes from closure. In Manitowoc, Wisconsin, last year a group of Catholics launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay a canon lawyer to represent the church before the Vatican.

In the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, last year, meanwhile, a group of parishioners managed to purchase a historic church from the diocese and preserve it as a chapel and place of worship.

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 11, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

After raising Lazarus from the dead, the Lord Jesus “no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim” (Jn 11:54). 

Ephraim is today known as Taybeh. In addition to being the only entirely Christian village in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, it is also known for its beer.

This small village has been under recent attack by Israeli settlers with the aim of “undermining the dignity of its residents and the sanctity of its sacred land,” according to a statement from the pastors of the three local Christian churches.

Priests from the Latin, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite Greek Catholic churches reported July 8 that Israeli settlers have set fires in Taybeh, damaging historic buildings and essential crops and instilling fear among residents.

Father Bashar Fawadleh, the Latin rite pastor in Taybeh since 2021, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, about the current situation. Although he does not speak Spanish, he has a special connection to Latin America: His mother was born in Valencia, Venezuela, but at age 16 returned to her family’s homeland.

Between 250 and 300 people remain in Taybeh, while many of the town’s previous inhabitants have emigrated. Those who have decided to stay depend primarily on harvesting olives from which they produce extra virgin olive oil for export.

Since the attacks began, the workers have been terrified of going to work the land because they have been attacked so many times. 

Fawadleh knows the situation very well because he was born in the small village of Aboud, near Ramallah. He says that, even before his appointment as pastor in 2021, he had never seen attacks of this magnitude.

“Their main goal is to occupy more land. To tell us: This land is for us, not for you. They do this to steal everything from the land. They also want to encourage us to leave this country, to leave the land of Taybeh. They do this to instill fear in the people,” he said.

“We are a peaceful people; we don’t cause trouble, we don’t have weapons, we don’t have anyone to cause problems, difficulties, or restrictions,” the parish priest added.

Since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the situation in Taybeh has worsened dramatically. Unemployment affects a large portion of its residents, who, being Palestinians, are prohibited from entering Jerusalem, about an hour’s drive south, where many worked.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is trying to alleviate the suffering by providing basic necessities and cash assistance so the people of Taybeh can pay for basic services and their school and university tuition. However, Fawadleh said, that’s not enough.

“What we need now is to end this war, this conflict, to pray for peace, to seek peace, and to pray for justice, so that the fruit of justice may be peace,” he said.

Despite the attacks and suffering in Taybeh, the community still maintains its hope, joy, and happiness, “because we are Christians, and our hope and faith are in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the empty tomb,” Fawadleh said.

The priest asks all people, regardless of their religion, to join in prayer to save the town.

He also called for pressure on the governments involved in the conflicts in the Holy Land “to stop these attacks and open all checkpoints and military barriers in the West Bank.”

‘Come and see’

He also asked all people of goodwill to “come and see” the reality of Taybeh, echoing Jesus’ first words to the apostles Andrew and John. “You can come and see it and stay in our homes,” said  Fawadleh, also emphasizing the importance of tourism for the people.

“We are living stones. You must visit us to encourage us to stay, to encourage us to be present in our land, because this is the land of Jesus’ homeland,” the priest said.

This is the uniqueness of Taybeh, which formed its identity after Jesus’ visit 2,000 years ago. “When he visited us, he instilled in our hearts that we are his disciples, that is, we are Christians. So we must preserve our culture, our traditions, our Church, and the first flame of Christianity that rose up in Jerusalem,” he said.

Then, all the pilgrims who go to see what is happening in Taybeh, Fawadleh continued, “will be able to return and tell the truth” about what the people need.

The heads of the Christian Churches of the Holy Land are scheduled to visit Taybeh on Monday, July 14, as an expression of  their solidarity and closeness.

According to the local parish priest, this is a great joy and a clear sign that the Lord has not abandoned the small village. “Jesus would ask us to stay and be present in our land,” he said. Upon their arrival, the leaders will pray together for peace in the ancient Church of St. George.

“Here in Taybeh, we seek peace and pray for peace for everyone, not only for Palestine, but for all the nations and countries of the world. When we have unity and love one another, we can hear the voice of God,” he concluded.

You can read the full letter from the Taybeh parish priests here.

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