Sending forth the participants of the 13th National Black Catholic Congress at their July 23 closing Mass in the Washington, D.C., area, Bishop John H. Ricard offered them an admonition that he said he learned from his days as a youth camping in the woods – “Don’t let the fire go out!”

The African National Eucharistic Congress allows Africa-born Catholics in the diaspora to do something that would have been nearly impossible to do in their homelands: to meet their fellow African Catholics and learn about their cultures while growing in the Lord’s love.

As local Catholics and faithful worldwide prepare to mark the July 27 second anniversary of the feast day of St. Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite priest and martyr credited with appealing to God for a miraculous cure in the Diocese of Palm Beach, people are taking notice of the extraordinary courage he demonstrated in opposing Nazi oppression in his homeland of the Netherlands.

Two U.S. archbishops are leading a “Pilgrimage of Peace” to Japan, hoping to promote global nuclear disarmament.

At a July 22 Unity Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C,. for the fourth African National Eucharistic Congress, Cardinal Wilton Gregory urged congress participants to work for justice, to care for others and to protect the environment.

In a Ukrainian village some 50 miles outside Kyiv, a retired music teacher became an unlikely catechist — and lifesaver — as Russian troops brutally attacked several residents.

Calling the Eucharist “an incredible gift that the Lord has given us,” Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory said July 22 that the Most Blessed Sacrament unites all Catholics “no matter our language, liturgical style, or cultural expressions.”

Celebrating the opening Mass for the National Black Catholic Congress meeting in the Washington, D.C., area on July 21, Cardinal Wilton Gregory emphasized the important role of visionaries in building a better world.

Addressing an estimated 3,000 African American Catholics from 80 dioceses across the United States gathered for Congress XIII of the National Black Catholic Congress in the Washington, D.C., area from July 20-23, Cardinal Wilton Gregory welcomed them to “a family reunion,” and encouraged them to center their lives on the Eucharist in order to bring Christ’s love and hope to the world.

The coalition, known as CHIRLA — along with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Central American Resource Center, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, city and county officials — had been meeting since 2022 to prepare for these exact scenarios.