We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

In the Gospel reading for Sunday, July 13, 2025, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. In this homily reflection, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger offers a new way of seeing one of the Gospels' most treasured stories.

Feast date: Jul 12

Born in Florence, Italy, around the year 993, John was born into a noble family, and led a predictably frivolous life as a youth, being concerned only with the pursuit of vain amusements and romantic intrigues.

However, when he was still a young man, his elder brother Hugh was murdered, and John was so overtaken with grief that he vowed to avenge him. His only desire was to find the murderer and kill him.

One day – it was Good Friday - as he was riding through the town, John spotted his brother’s murderer and drew his sword to kill him. The man fell to his knees and begged for mercy.  At this instant John had a vision of Christ on the Cross, and powerfully moved by the example of the love of Christ who forgave His enemies, and he did the same.

After this encounter, he went straight to a monastery and begged to join.  As a sign of his earnest desire, he shaved off all his hair. The abbot, who had been reluctant to admit John because he feared the displeasure of his influential father, agreed and John lived in the monastery for a few years before moving on to find a more solitary and strict life.

Discovering that many of the orders that he had looked into joining were tainted with the corruption that was rampant in the Church at the time, he decided that God was calling him to found something new.

On a plot of land east of Florence called Vallombrosa, together with men who were equally committed to a more austere and stricter following of the Rule of St. Benedict, he founded a humble monastery devoted to contemplation and prayer and care of the poor and sick.

Renowned for his humility, holiness of life, and his wisdom – he refused any office of privilege, and declined to receive holy orders of any kind – he was often consulted by popes.

John died at the age of 80, in 1073, and was canonized in 1193.

The Vallombrosan Benedictines are still existent today, mainly in the region of Tuscany and Lombardy, and number a handful of monasteries.

CNA Newsroom, 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 of 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 of 2025 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 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 of 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 of 2025, 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 web site, referring to the company that owns the social media platform called X, previously known as Twitter from 2006 until July of 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 of 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 of 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 Ninth 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 $3,000,000 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 Saint 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 August 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 an 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 good will 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.

ACI Africa, Jul 11, 2025 / 15:06 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has erected a new Catholic diocese in Kenya and appointed its first bishop. 

The Holy See Press Office announced July 10 that the Diocese of Kapsabet will be the 28th Episcopal See in Kenya, carved out from the country’s Eldoret diocese, and Bishop John Kiplimo Lelei will be its first bishop. 

Lelei has been serving as an auxiliary bishop of Eldoret, the diocese in which he was born.

The newly established diocese becomes the eighth suffragan diocese of the Kisumu archdiocese, alongside Bungoma, Eldoret, Homa Bay, Kakamega, Kisii, Kitale, and Lodwar. 

According to July 2025 statistics from the Vatican, the Kapsabet diocese measures approximately 1,115 miles, with 313,655 Catholics representing 35.4 percent of the total population of the diocese.

The Diocese of Kapsabet, which covers Kenya’s Nandi County, will have 36 parishes and 52 priests — 44 of them diocesan and eight members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL). St. Peter’s Catholic parish in the township of Kapsabet will be the diocese’s cathedral.

The new bishop of Kapsabet

Bishop John Kiplimo Lelei, born in August 1958, was ordained a priest for the Eldoret diocese in October 1985 after completing his philosophical and theological studies at St. Augustine's Mabanga Senior Seminary in Kenya’s Bungoma diocese, and St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Nairobi.

As a priest, Lelei served in various capacities, including as a parish priest and a college dean. He holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Vienna in Austria and has served as rector at St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, and lecturer at the Pastoral Institute of Gaba in Eldoret under the auspices of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) and at St. Matthias Mulumba Tindinyo Senior Seminary, among other priestly duties.

Lelei, who has been serving as vicar general in the Eldoret diocese, was consecrated a bishop in May 2024 and assigned the Titular See of Mons in Numidia, from which he has been freed since being appointed bishop of Kapsabet. 

Speaking to journalists on July 10 shortly after his appointment, Lelei said he felt both joy and apprehension because of what’s involved in taking on the responsibilities of a diocese.

“This is not my work alone; it is the work of the people, and I will serve alongside the priests and the faithful,” he said.

The new bishop lauded the people of God in the Kenyan region for their faith, which he said is manifested in the increasing number of Christians. 

“Faith is deepening, and we can see the fruits in the many priests, women and men religious, and baptized believers,” he said.

As he prepares to lead the new diocese, Lelei urged unity and collaboration. 

“The new Diocese of Kapsabet is a gift born from the prayers, perseverance, and faith of the Christians of Kapsabet; a faith that has been evident for years,” he said.

This article was originally published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA. 

Youth from area Catholic, non-Catholic schools spend time in Michigan's Thumb learning about conditions for farm workers

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 11, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed.

Malawi getting ready for first-ever Eucharistic Congress 

Plans are underway for the first ever Eucharistic Congress to take place in Malawi, a country in southeast Africa, according to ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner.

The Congress, called “Eucharist: Source and Summit of Pilgrims of Hope,” will take place Aug. 5-9 as a part of the Malawi Conference of Catholic Bishops (MCCB)’s efforts to “renew faith” and foster “ecclesial communion” as Catholics there celebrate the ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope. 

MCCB National Pastoral Coordinator ​​Father Joseph Sikwese said the event, held in the country’s Lilongwe archdiocese, will “be a profound moment of spiritual renewal for the Church in Malawi.”

Angola bishops denounce persecution of catechists

Catholic bishops in Angola are fighting back against the persecution of catechists accused of witchcraft, urging the government to address failing social infrastructure in remote parts of the country according to ACI Africa. 

Catechists in the Diocese of Benguela have been the subject of “alarming acts of persecution…particularly in areas where belief in witchcraft remains widespread,” Bishop António Francisco Jaca said, adding: “They are accused by their own communities of being sorcerers and subjected to trials with no legal basis. No one has the right to take justice into their own hands.” 

Youth meeting in Ankawa, Iraq launches with focus on vocations

The Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil launched the eighth edition of the “Ankawa Youth Meeting 2025” this week, bringing together more than 600 young Christians from across Iraq, CNA’s Arabic language news partner, ACI Mena, reports.

The event called “I Will Give You Shepherds” opened at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul where Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda welcomed participants. 

Over three days, attendees will take part in a program designed to help them discern their personal call, whether to priesthood, religious life, or lay ministry. Since its inception in 2018, the Ankawa Youth Meeting has become Iraq’s largest Christian youth gathering, fostering solidarity and faith at a time of ongoing challenges.

Syria’s Catholic schools seek united voice amid crisis

Catholic school leaders from across Syria gathered for the first time this week at the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate in Damascus, in a meeting convened by Patriarch Youssef Absi and supported by French officials, according to an ACI Mena report. 

The gathering addressed pressing challenges facing Catholic education in the country — from security concerns and economic hardship to preserving curricula and values. Participants voiced the need to form a national association of Catholic schools to strengthen advocacy and cooperation with the state.

Father Fadi Najjar of Aleppo highlighted in the report the pioneering work already underway in his city, where nine Catholic schools operate under a newly formed local association. Discussions also focused on improving infrastructure, providing teacher training, and reclaiming schools confiscated decades ago, while reinforcing Syria’s francophone heritage. 

Restored Dominican monastery reawakens in Mosul

The iconic Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Hour in Mosul has officially reopened after extensive restoration led by UNESCO, symbolizing resilience and spiritual revival for Iraq’s Christians, ACI Mena reported. 

The monastery, famous for its clock tower and historic church dating back to the 19th century, was left severely damaged by ISIS during its brutal occupation of the city. A special ceremony earlier this year handed the restored site back to the Dominican friars, with local faithful already resuming prayers and liturgies.

Bavarian judge orders the removal of a crucifix from high school gym 

The Bavarian Administrative Court has ordered the removal of a crucifix from the main entrance of the Hallertau Gymnasium in Wolnzach, Upper Bavaria. Two students requested its removal, citing the legal right to not belong to any religion, CNA Deutsche reported on Thursday. 

“The plaintiffs were forcibly and repeatedly confronted with the crucifix because of compulsory schooling and with regard to its positioning without (reasonable) alternative possibility,” the court said in a press release following the decision, adding that “The large crucifix was placed in a very exposed place and was characterized by a figurative representation of the corpse of Jesus.”

Camillian order launches rehab center in Georgia 

The Camillians, or the Order of St. Camillus, in Georgia — a country in the Caucasus region on the coast of the Black Sea — has launched the St. Camilus Rehabilitation Center in Kutaisi, the second-largest populated city in the country, dedicated to serving those in need, including children with special needs and their families, according to a report from Agenzia Fidez. 

The center will provide a broad range of services, including therapy, psychological support, and educational activities to the community, according to Fidez, “where resources are scarce and poverty is widespread.” 

The Camillians, also known as “Ministers of the Sick,” are a religious order founded in 1586 by Italian priest St. Camillus de Lellis.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 11, 2025 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

As the Trump administration grapples with potentially conflicting immigration enforcement and economic policy goals affecting the agricultural sector, Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas is raising his voice on behalf of the country’s migrant farm workers.

The plight of migrant workers “should be one of great concern to all Catholics, and we should be committed to recognizing the importance of their work and to upholding their God-given dignity,” Cahill, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees, and Travelers, told CNA. 

Cahill is set to become chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration at the end of this November’s plenary session. 

“Undocumented farmworkers labor tirelessly in American fields, orchards, and other settings, playing a key role in our food supply chain,” he continued, emphasizing that Catholics “are called to accompany [migrant workers] as we simultaneously advocate for reforms to our immigration system that benefit both our economy and all those who labor within it.”

Both President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said this week that the administration would not be granting “amnesty” to migrant farm workers, but the president has also indicated several times that his administration plans to grant a “temporary pass” for certain laborers in the country illegally. 

According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 47% of U.S. agricultural workers are unauthorized immigrants.

The bishop’s comments come after Rollins specifically stated on July 8 that “there will be no amnesty” for migrant farm workers in the U.S. illegally. 

“Mass deportations will continue, but in a strategic way,” Rollins said. "Ultimately, the answer on this is automation, also some reform within the current governing structure,” she said, referring to current visa programs for farm workers.

At a July 3 rally in Iowa, Trump said that he and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem plan to “sort of put the farmers in charge” of migrant labor in the agricultural sector. 

“Now, serious radical right people, who I also happen to like a lot, they may not be quite as happy but they’ll understand,” Trump said. 

"If a farmer’s willing to vouch for these people,” the president said of migrant workers in the country without legal status, “Kristi, I think we’re going to have to just say that’s going to be good, right?" he continued, “because we don’t want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms."

At a cabinet meeting this week, Trump also echoed Rollins, saying: “We’ve got to give the farmers the people they need, but we’re not talking amnesty.” 

Trump insisted that “what we’re doing is getting rid of criminals” and hinted at the administration’s plans to overhaul existing H2 visa programs, which allow employers to bring foreign nationals to the U.S to fill certain jobs in agriculture and hospitality, among other sectors.

At the same meeting, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said her department is spearheading those efforts.

In an interview earlier this year, Rollins had indicated that once the border has been “locked down” and the country has “real border security” then “I think we can begin to pivot into ‘How do we fix this for the long term?, what does the labor look like and how do we ensure our farmers have what they need to do what they need to do?’”

“You can’t even begin to talk about real reform in your immigration system until you have locked the border down and you have real border security,” Rollins said.

Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida is also among those speaking out against mass, indiscriminate deportations. 

Dewane said President Trump’s recent remarks about farmworkers reflect what he called “a growing recognition that many, indeed most immigrants, even those who are not lawfully present, are not dangerous but peaceful, law-abiding, and hardworking contributors to our communities and to our economy.” 

The Florida bishop called for “serious reforms” of the country’s immigration system that “preserve safety and the integrity of our borders, as well as to accommodate needs for labor” and family stability.

Dewane’s statement included a link to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement earlier this year that calls for enforcement measures to “focus on those who present genuine risks and dangers to society, particularly efforts to reduce gang activity, stem the flow of drugs, and end human trafficking” while calling for the provision of “legal processes for longtime residents and other undocumented immigrants to regularize their status.”