Why the bishops are consecrating the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus June 9, 2026By Archbishop Thomas Wenski OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Commentary In linking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the bishops invite us to reflect with gratitude on the blessings God has bestowed on our nation but, at the same time, devotion to the Sacred Heart demands that we consider how we might foster truth, justice and charity in American life.
In Washington, National Eucharistic Pilgrimage includes national blessing, downtown procession June 8, 2026By Mark Zimmermann OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Eucharist, Feature, News, World News While flashy events are planned in the U.S. capital for the Independence Day weekend, a prayerful commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary unfolded June 5-6 as the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage came to Washington to renew and deepen faith in Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
Mother Cabrini: First U.S. citizen canonized a saint dedicated life to New York’s Italian immigrants June 6, 2026By Russell Shaw OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Commentary, Saints The heroic love of God and neighbor that motivated her was formally recognized in 1946 when Frances Cabrini was declared a saint. That made her the first U.S. citizen to be canonized — even though she remained, in the words of a historian, “Italian … to the very marrow of her bones.”
John Paul II and America June 3, 2026By George Weigel Syndicated Columnist Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Commentary, Feature, Saints, The Catholic Difference As America approaches its 250th birthday, it would do well to remember that the emblematic figure of the second half of the twentieth century had such high hopes for us: hopes that now seem a call to a national examination of conscience.
US bishops release prayer service commemorating immigrants, enslaved with call to action June 3, 2026By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, World News As the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary, the nation’s Catholic bishops have released a prayer service text commemorating its immigrants and refugees, as well as those trafficked under historic and modern forms of slavery in the U.S.
Father McGivney: Founder’s desire for charity built Knights of Columbus’ success May 30, 2026By Russell Shaw OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Commentary, Knights of Columbus In many ways, Father Michael J. McGivney was just one more of that band of hardworking Irish-American priests who spent themselves building up the church in America in the latter years of the 19th century. But in one truly extraordinary respect, he was unique: Before he was 30, Father McGivney had founded what was to become the largest Catholic men’s organization in the world: the Knights of Columbus.
Get ready for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s stops in the Archdiocese of Baltimore May 27, 2026By Catholic Review Staff Catholic Review Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Eucharist, Feature, Local News, News Catholics from across Maryland will have an opportunity this June to take part in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as it passes through the Archdiocese of Baltimore on its way from Florida, up the East Coast to Maine and then to Philadelphia as part of celebrations surrounding America’s 250th anniversary.
Radio Interview: From Russian prince to American frontier priest May 26, 2026By Catholic Review Staff Catholic Review Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, CR Radio, Feature, Local News, News, Radio Interview In the early years of the Catholic Church in the United States, few figures were as unlikely – or as fascinating – as Prince Demetrius Augustin Gallitzin. Born into Russian nobility with Catherine the Great as his godmother, Gallitzin became a Catholic priest on the American frontier, earning the title “Apostle of the Alleghenies.”
Flannery O’Connor: Southern writer made Catholic vision ‘apparent by shock’ May 23, 2026By Russell Shaw OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Commentary Flannery O’Connor was not an evangelist. She was an artist, one of the most gifted American fiction writers of the 20th century. But a profoundly Catholic theological vision informs her art, giving her stories resonance and depth that sound deep — and sometimes deeply disturbing — spiritual chords.
America 250 occasion to reflect on equality as a God-given right, Bishop Barron says May 18, 2026By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Feature, News, World News As the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, it should reflect on how the American understanding of equality is grounded in the belief that all people are equally children of God, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said May 17 at a prayer rally on the National Mall.
Cardinal Gibbons: Baltimore’s effective advocate for American Catholicism’s Americanization May 16, 2026By Russell Shaw OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Commentary In a long, fruitful career as leader of the American hierarchy, Cardinal Gibbons combined diplomacy, patriotism and a canny understanding of human nature in a manner that made him the most effective advocate before or since of the Americanization of American Catholicism. To him more than anyone, the Catholic Church owes both the advantages and the unintended consequences of assimilation into American secular culture.
Dorothy Day: Catholic Worker founder pioneered a faith-based alternative to secularist progressivism May 9, 2026By Russell Shaw OSV News Filed Under: America's 250th anniversary, Commentary Dorothy Day was co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement and longtime editor of the penny-a-copy newspaper of the same name. From the mid-1930s to the early 1980s, she preached radical Christianity and no less radical social activism to a sometimes appreciative, sometimes puzzled, sometimes angry audience of American Catholics.
