(OSV News) – A new study has been launched by The Catholic University of America to explore why some priests choose to exit their ministry within a few years of ordination.

“There is a perception among some bishops and other Catholic leaders that there has been an increase in the number of men leaving priestly ministry in their early years,” said university official Sara Perla. “We wanted to find out whether that has any basis in the numbers, and if so, what might be contributing to it.”

The university’s research initiative, funded by the Knights of Columbus, will “deepen understanding of the factors behind why Catholic priests decide to leave public ministry,” said lead researcher Brandon Vaidyanathan, professor of sociology at the university and director of its Institutional Flourishing Lab.

Stephen Cranney, data scientist and lecturer in the university’s global studies department, is also collaborating on the study, along with sociologists Maureen Day, visiting research fellow at Villanova University; Joseph Davis of the University of Virginia; and Caitlin Fitzgerald, a sociology doctoral student at the University of Notre Dame with previous experience in conducting several large-scale studies.

The survey — the results for which will be released sometime in the fall of 2027 — will combine quantitative and qualitative methods, with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University compiling the data set.

That anonymized data will include priests ordained for U.S. dioceses over the past 20 years, from 2006 to 2025.

Jesuit Father Thomas P. Gaunt, executive director of CARA, told OSV News that roughly 9,000 U.S. diocesan priests were ordained during that period — and tracking their current status to determine which have left the priesthood is a significant undertaking.

“We’ve got 9,000 names, and we have to figure out where every one of them is today,” he said.

Father Gaunt explained that his team is relying on open-source research, such as Google queries on individual priest names, in addition to checking against diocesan clergy lists and resources such as The Official Catholic Directory, an annual statistical overview of the U.S. Catholic Church endorsed for use by the nation’s bishops.

The open-source searches enable the CARA researchers to account for changes in priestly status — such as medical leave, death and temporary assignments elsewhere — that take place between directory and website updates, said Father Gaunt.

The process is a “one-by-one” inquiry, he said — and, he added, “the dilemma is being able to identify and then contact those who have left the priesthood.”

“When you make an inquiry with the diocese, very properly they come back and say, ‘It’s none of your business,'” due to “the privacy rights of the individual,” he explained.

A “whole mix” of reasons are cited by diocesan priests who have left their ministry, said Father Gaunt.

“There were those who realized, ‘This is not God’s calling; it’s a mistake,’ and they leave. And in a sense, they’re happy campers,” he said. “There are others who are embittered by (their experience with) the bishop. And then there are others who say, ‘Well, this was a traumatic part of my life, and I don’t want to revisit it.’ They’re not going to go there because it’s too difficult or painful; it’s not a moral issue or anything else.”

At the same time, several dozen former diocesan priests have already opted to be part of the qualitative portion of the study, which will entail “semi-structured” interviews that are “between 60 and 90 minutes” in length, said Vaidyanathan.

“We will look at all the following areas: background and call, formation and ordination, time in ministry, the emergence of doubts and decision to leave, and life after ministry,” he said.

Vaidyanathan clarified that the qualitative portion would focus on men ordained after 2000 and who “left public ministry with the knowledge of their bishop or religious superior within 10 years of ordination.”

The men are not required to have been formally laicized, he said.

In addition, he said, those who were removed from ministry by a canonical process, or who abandoned their ministry without the knowledge of their bishop or religious superior, are excluded from the study.

Perla noted the response to the study’s qualitative segment has been robust.

“Within a week, we received 61 responses to our call for participants,” she said. “This was more than we expected, and speaks to their willingness to share their experiences.”

Perla and Vaidyanathan said they hoped the research initiative would accomplish a number of aims.

“When someone leaves, it is important to ask questions, and to learn from it, for the benefit of the whole Church,” said Perla.

Vaidyanathan agreed, saying the study would also help “bishops and other Catholic leaders to identify and respond to warning signs.”

He added, “It will also help the Church understand the experiences of these men in their own words.”

Perla also pointed to the study’s potential to “enhance public appreciation for the priests who persevere in their vocations for the whole of life, when we honestly confront some of the challenges that they face.

“The faithful generally want to support their priests, and this study may provide us concrete ways to do so,” she said.

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV urged educators to recognize the challenges facing young people today, saying many struggle with “digital loneliness,” broken families and feeling “paralyzed by the fear of making mistakes” when performance-driven culture turns ruthless.

Addressing participants in the Vatican’s student ministry conference Oct. 22, the pope said many students may feel “anonymous” as they “walk the halls of our schools and universities.”

“How many students also face existential hardship: broken families, digital loneliness, feelings of inadequacy or fear in the face of a future that seems uncertain,” Pope Leo said.

He added that “quite a few young people today are virtually paralyzed by the fear of making mistakes, of not measuring up, of being misunderstood, or of failing to meet expectations.”

“We live in a performance-driven culture that constantly compares and ranks people, sometimes ruthlessly,” he said. “A misguided meritocracy ultimately fails to respect people. This is why many end up giving up before they even try.”

In light of these challenges, the pope said Catholic schools and universities must be “first and foremost a home,” where students feel known, welcomed and valued.

A welcoming environment, he said, is one in which someone “looks you in the eye, remembers your name, notices your absence, and rejoices at your return.”

“Beneath the armor that so many teenagers build around themselves to avoid suffering lies the desire to love and be loved,” the pope said.

“Pastoral ministry in schools and universities will be all the more fruitful the more it focuses on educating the heart — educating the heart in compassion, gratitude, and the ability to be moved by the suffering of others; educating it in praise and the longing for God,” he added.

The pope recommended service to the poor and volunteer work as experiences “where the heart learns to expand,” urging student ministers to help form young people “to become pioneers of a new way of living in the world.”

“Pastoral ministry in schools and universities is called to accompany the slow germination of thought, to teach discernment, and to encourage perseverance in the search for truth,” Pope Leo said.

He explained that in “a welcoming environment, students can express their deep desire to understand and to make sense of reality,” adding that “this is where the true vocation of schools and universities comes into play: the shared search for truth.”

“Courage springs from a covenant of trust: from the experience of someone who believes in you before you believe in yourself,” he said. “Jesus did not choose the Twelve because they were courageous; he called them and, through his trust in them, made them capable.”

The pope met with participants in the International Congress for Pastoral Care in Schools and Universities taking place at the Vatican Oct. 22-23. Organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the congress featured speakers from Haiti, Colombia, Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Spain, Lebanon and Zimbabwe. Discussions focused on cultivating interiority, technology, and educating for peace.

The final day of the conference Oct. 23 included discussion of how digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, are changing school environments. Many of the speeches from the congress are available online.

“Dear brothers and sisters, false teachers and deceptive messages promise to provide quick answers to young people’s questions,” Pope Leo said.

“You, however, have chosen to do something greater: to walk with them along the way, until they discover the gifts that God has already placed within them.”

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – The Vatican’s doctrine office published a new a document Oct. 22 on how to pass on the Christian faith in a time of “epochal change” marked by a “crisis in the intergenerational transmission of the Christian faith.”

The document, titled “Venite ad Me,” meaning “Come to Me” in Latin, was issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and signed by its prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández.

“Venite ad Me” was written in response to a request first made by the late Pope Francis toward the end of his life and was approved for publication by Pope Leo XIV during an Aug. 21 audience with Cardinal Fernandez and Msgr. Armando Matteo, the secretary for the dicastery’s doctrinal section.

The more than 25,000-word document is divided into eight chapters. It discusses “the crisis in the transmission of faith” amid cultural changes, the breakdown of the family, and new digital technologies, underlining the need to communicate the “kerygma,” or the essential proclamation of salvation offered by Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection.

While the impetus for the document came from his predecessor, the text also engages with ideas from Pope Leo’s first encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” on artificial intelligence.

The document explores the need for the Church to focus on evangelizing adults and catechizing children and teenagers in response to how in many parts of the world “ever fewer parents are fulfilling their responsibility to introduce their children to the living light of the Gospel message.”

The text also touches on the role of the liturgy, beauty and personal witness in passing on the faith and contains a number of personal testimonies ranging from a Colombian man who recounts escaping drug addiction and gang life through a Christian rehabilitation program to a Belgian who says he was struck by a prayer he came across on TikTok.

Described as “a set of considerations,” rather than a doctrinal note, the document asserts it was written to stimulate reflection in the Church and pastoral commitment regarding the transmission of the faith.

“The text examines a variety of points of view without, however, claiming to settle the matter, which remains open to further analysis and development. This means that these Considerations are not marked, as are other documents of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, by terminological precision and systematic treatment, but instead allow a more discursive style, as is especially evident in the section on personal testimonies mentioned above,” the text states in its introduction.

According to Vatican News, many bishops’ conferences contributed to the document, including by submitting the testimonies included in its final chapter.

The document identifies a “crisis in the intergenerational transmission of the Christian faith,” explaining that the family is the “first and most essential place for the transmission of the faith,” but adds that this transmission of the faith within families “has been interrupted in many parts of the world.”

“Venite ad Me” identifies the liturgy as a place where believers are formed from within and calls on pastors to “highlight the richness of the Catholic liturgical heritage.”

“The liturgy is living memory and tradition, generating and shaping Christians capable of bearing witness to the salvation they have encountered: by participating in liturgical prayer, one enters, in fact, into a history, into a shared memory that spans the centuries,” it says.

Noting that beauty can draw people to the faith, the text recommends that “special attention should be given to music,” not merely as “an aesthetic embellishment of celebrations but a missionary tool that works through attraction, making the glory of the Risen One perceptible especially where words struggle to reach.”

The document also highlights the role of the homily and discussed volunteer work as an opportunity to draw closer to the life of the Church. It includes a paragraph stressing the “need to expand opportunities for women to participate in the leadership of ecclesial processes,” noting that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has “studied this topic extensively and submitted its conclusions to the Holy Father through the Secretariat of the Synod.”

The document will serve as a starting point for thought by the International Theological Commission, who the text says will devote part of its work over the next five years to the cultural forms of transmitting the faith. Pope Leo appointed 24 new members to the International Theological Commission earlier in the week, just three days before “Venite ad Me” was published.

MILFORD – Knights of Columbus John Paul II Council 13935, serving Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph Parishes in Milford and Matamoras, will be hosting a Memorial for the Unborn on Sunday, Oct. 25, at Saint Patrick’s Community Hall in Milford.

The day’s events will include a memorial service at 4 p.m., followed by a free community dinner.

After the community dinner Ariel Toms, the director of Tri-State Family & Pregnancy Center, a pro-life pregnancy resource center, will speak about the work of the center and current programs and needs.

The memorial service will be officiated by Rev. Joseph Manarchuck and will include pro-life speaker Antonio Perito.

For more information, please visit www.kofc13935.org/memorial.

SCRANTON – Faithful from across the Diocese of Scranton are invited to participate in a joyful celebration as we honor the dedicated contributions of women and men in religious life during the annual Jubilee Mass for Women and Men Religious on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Mass will begin at 12:15 p.m., with the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, serving as the principal celebrant.

This special liturgy offers an opportunity to give thanks for the invaluable witness, service, and commitment of those who have devoted their lives to God through religious vocations. From teaching in Catholic schools to providing hospital ministry, prayer and pastoral ministry, women and men religious have had a tremendous impact on the life of the Church and the communities they serve.

Following the homily, all those in consecrated life will be invited to stand to renew their vows. This year, more than 2,010 years of consecrated life will be honored and remembered – which will be a powerful reminder of the ongoing importance of vocations to religious life – and our shared responsibility to pray for and support those who answer God’s call in such generous and selfless ways.

The importance of this witness continues today, as religious communities discern how best to serve the Church and respond to the needs of a changing world. In August, more than 1,300 leaders of women’s religious congregations and guests gathered in Orlando, Fla., for the annual assembly of Leadership Conference of Women Religious, marking its 70th anniversary. The gathering emphasized communion, collaboration and the continuing mission of religious life.

CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will broadcast the Mass live for those unable to attend in person and will provide a livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and across all Diocesan social media platforms.

2026 JUBILARIANS

SISTERS, SERVANTS OF THE IMMACULATE
HEART OF MARY (I.H.M.)

75 Years
Sister Joan Paskert, I.H.M.
Sister Gracette Baker, I.H.M.

70 Years
Sister Anne Mary Boslett, I.H.M.
Sister Regina Burns, I.H.M.
Sister Thomas Mary Dougherty, I.H.M.
Sister Daniel Mary Heisey, I.H.M.
Sister Ann Marie Lynott, I.H.M.
Sister Mary Ellen Malloy, I.H.M.
Sister Ritamary Mayan, I.H.M.
Sister Ann Eulaine McHale, I.H.M.
Sister Robert Mary Murphy, I.H.M.
Sister Elizabeth Mary Wallace, I.H.M.

60 Years
Sister Gail Cabral, I.H.M.
Sister Ann Barbara DiSiano, I.H.M.
Sister Mary Jo Gallagher, I.H.M.
Sister Kathryn Kurdziel, I.H.M.
Sister Francis Rose Lapitino, I.H.M.
Sister Anne Manion, I.H.M.
Sister Janet Milan, I.H.M.
Sister Mariette Quinn, I.H.M.
Sister Mary Rita Smith, I.H.M.
Sister Lorraine Studley, I.H.M.
Sister Lenore Thomas, I.H.M.

50 Years
Sister Mary Elaine Anderson, I.H.M.
Sister Janet Yurkanin, I.H.M.

 

SISTERS OF MERCY OF THE AMERICAS (R.S.M.)

75 Years
Sister Ruth Ann Fox, R.S.M.
Sister Jane Kelly, R.S.M.

70 Years
Sister Ann Turnbach, R.S.M.

60 Years
Sister Lucille Breslin, R.S.M.
Sister Patricia McDermott, R.S.M.
Sister Jean Messaros, R.S.M.

 

SCRANTON — Seven men in formation for the permanent diaconate in the Diocese of Scranton will take another important step in their journey of service to the Church when they are instituted as acolytes on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate the Rite of Institution of Acolyte at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The men to be instituted are William Chechel, Jeffrey R. Kovaleski, Thomas J. Krzan, Kevin J. Martin, Stephen O. Muntzenberger, Justo Paula-Martínez and Paul M. Zwolan.

The institution of acolytes represents an important milestone in the formation of men preparing for the permanent diaconate. Through this ministry, they are entrusted with assisting the priest and deacon at the altar, helping prepare the gifts for the celebration of the Eucharist and, when necessary, distributing Holy Communion as extraordinary ministers.

More than a liturgical responsibility, the ministry calls men to deepen their understanding of the Eucharist and the relationship between worship and service. As they continue their formation, the candidates are challenged to carry the spirit of Christ’s self-giving love beyond the church and into their families, parishes and communities.

Another member of the same diaconate formation class, Daniel Cosacchi, was instituted as an acolyte on May 17 at Madonna della Strada Chapel at the University of Scranton.

The faithful are invited to participate in this special celebration as the men continue their journey toward the permanent diaconate.

CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will broadcast the Rite of Institution of Acolyte live and provide a livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and across all Diocesan social media platforms.

(OSV News) – Doctors have confirmed Pope Leo XIV needs “no further treatment” following his Oct. 13 surgery for lung cancer.

In an Oct. 21 message, the Holy See Press Office announced that Drs. Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora said “the final histological examinations and molecular biology tests on the material removed” during the surgery confirmed the tumor was a “localized lung adenocarcinoma.”

The doctors said that “subsequent oncological evaluation confirmed that no further treatment is necessary.”

“This is really good news,” Dr. Nirmal Veeramachaneni, professor of cardiothoracic surgery at St. Louis University School of Medicine, told OSV News moments after the Vatican released the papal health update.

Although not part of the pope’s care team, Veeramachaneni — an oncology expert who also serves as medical director for lung cancer screening at SSM Health — said that based on his experience and the Holy See statement, Pope Leo’s prognosis seemed to be “excellent.”

Now, said Veeramachaneni, the pope will simply need “long-term radiographic follow-up to look for recurrence.”

Typically, he said, that entails a regular CT (computed tomography) scan, which uses multiple X-ray images to create a 3D composite of bones, organs and tissue.

He estimated the scanning intervals to range from “every six months” to “once a year for several years.”

Based on his own clinical and research experience, Veeramachaneni said the Vatican’s news was “actually what I was expecting” and “the most likely scenario.”

Veeramachaneni said that “the fact that they (Pope Leo’s medical team) proceeded straight to surgery told me a lot.”

“If they were concerned about the imaging, or if they thought this was a more advanced state of the disease, modern care would have meant chemotherapy up front,” he said.

The Vatican has not disclosed whether Pope Leo received any presurgical, or “neoadjuvant,” cancer treatment before entering Rome’s Gemelli Hospital Oct. 13 and undergoing a 90-minute video-assisted surgery that same day.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Oct. 14 that prior to surgery, Pope Leo had undergone several diagnostic procedures — a robotic bronchoscopy with biopsy, a chest CT scan with contrast and a PET scan — which indicated the need for the operation.

The pope announced after leading the Oct. 11 Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square that doctors had found a “small, localized nodule” in his lung and had recommended intervention.

Following the video-assisted surgery — which saw the removal of the lower lobe of the pope’s right lung — Carbone, the pope’s personal physician, and Margaritora, chief thoracic surgeon at Gemelli, “confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, as suspected by the preoperative tests.”

Veeramachaneni noted that cancer was at an “early stage.”

Chemotherapy would normally be advised “if this tumor was greater than four centimeters in size or the lymph nodes were involved,” he said.

“As part of a standard oncological examination, the surgeon would have either sampled or dissected out the lymph nodes that hug the central airway, as well as taking out the lymph nodes in the lobe itself,” he said.

Adenocarcinomas are cancers that begin in the glands lining the body’s organs, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Lung adenocarcinoma is “the most common subtype of lung cancer,” and “falls under the non-small cell category,” said Dr. Stephen Liu, associate professor of medicine, director of thoracic oncology and director of developmental therapeutics at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Almost 9 out of 10 lung cancers are of the non-small cell type, growing more slowly than its small cell counterpart, which typically attacks the airways and spreads rapidly, according to the National Foundation for Cancer Research.

Liu added that lung adenocarcinoma is also “the most common” type of lung cancer “in people without a strong smoking history.”

INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) – The people gathered for a dinner in Indianapolis Oct. 20 erupted into cheers and applause when Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, made the announcement: “I’m privileged to announce that in 2029, the 11th National Eucharistic Congress is going to be back here in Indianapolis.”

The dinner at the Omni Severin Hotel followed a Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis. Concelebrating were Bishop Cozzens and Bishop Timothy L. Doherty of Lafayette, Indiana, with Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson as principal celebrant.

“As we look toward the 11th National Eucharistic Congress in 2029, we do well to keep before us the continued outpouring of graces and blessings stemming from the National Eucharistic Revival that continues to bear fruit throughout the Church, local and universal,” Archbishop Thompson said in his homily.

Before announcing the location of the 2029 congress at the dinner, Bishop Cozzens, board chairman of National Eucharistic Congress Inc., spoke of the impact of the 10th congress, held in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024.

“Everywhere I go now, people tell me stories about how the congress impacted them,” he said. “I really want to say thank you to the people of Indianapolis and to your role in that.”

A press release announcing the 2029 congress identified specific impacts of the 2024 gathering, including “renewed participation” in Eucharistic adoration and confession, “greater reverence at Mass, increased confidence among clergy in preaching about the Real Presence, and growth in parish evangelization and service.”

The congress also has resulted in new adoration chapels opening, local Eucharistic initiatives flourishing, seminarian enrollment growing, new religious vocations and increasing numbers of people entering the Church, the release said.

To “really have an impact on the country,” Bishop Cozzens said the plan is to hold a National Eucharistic Congress every four years in various cities around the country.

In deciding where to hold the 2029 congress, several aspects were considered, he said. Among them were centrality, facilities, accessibility, hospitality and a proven ability to host national events.

“We looked at several potential hosts … but Indianapolis just came out on top again,” said Bishop Cozzens.

Of particular note was the “Hoosier hospitality here in Indianapolis and the way that you all welcomed the whole country here” in 2024, he said.

He also noted that returning to the city for the 2029 congress “really helps us to build on what we’ve done already. And it helps us in that way to do something that’s both bigger and better. … We expect it to be an event that will affect a generation of Catholics.”

Archbishop Thompson also shared his thoughts that evening on Indianapolis hosting the 2029 congress.

“We are grateful, we are honored to celebrate, to serve and to be the host,” he said after thanking Bishop Cozzens and the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. team “for all the great work that you do.”

Several speakers at the event noted the impact of the last congress, an impact Archbishop Thompson connected to the closing words of every Mass: “Go forth.”

He spoke of the “co-responsibility” of “every baptized person to take their role in that mission,” noting that the National Eucharistic Congress must “always be connected to service” and “has to be connected always with the larger Church.”

Archbishop Cozzens called the 2029 congress a “launching point” for two “great anniversaries for the Church.”

First is the 500th anniversary of the 1531 apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

“Because of the 9 million people who converted to the Catholic faith in the decade after she appeared, “she’s been declared the patroness of the new evangelization in our country,” he said.

“It’s part of why we chose the rose as the logo (for the next congress) with the Eucharist there at the center, because we want the congress actually to be a moment for us to devote to Mary and to teach us how to love the Eucharist,” said Bishop Cozzens.

He called the next major anniversary for the Church in 2033 “the great jubilee of our redemption,” when Christ was crucified and when the Church came into being at Pentecost.

“So, we want to help prepare the country for these two moments,” said Bishop Cozzens. “In 2029, you can think of it as a launching point for what we hope will have a great impact on the evangelization of the world.”

Seminarian Antonio Harbert is “really stoked” for that moment. The member of St. Joseph Parish in Shelbyville is a senior at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis.

He is a witness to the increase in seminarians noted in the press release.

The college seminary, which accepts men from the archdiocese and four other dioceses, had 18 new seminarians enroll this fall. Last year, there were 20 seminarians total at Bishop Simon Bruté.

“We’ve almost doubled in seminarians from last year to this,” Halbert told The Criterion, the archdiocesan newspaper. “I would say that fruit comes from the Eucharistic Congress.”

Hosting the 11th National Eucharistic Congress will take effort, Archbishop Thompson noted.

“Whether it’s time, talent or treasure, it takes a lot of people to make this happen,” he said, but he is “eager” to start the process.

The planning process is just beginning, with information such as specific dates, event speakers and more to come later.

(OSV News) – While six years separate the two most recent U.S. beatifications of Blessed Michael J. McGivney in 2020 and Blessed Fulton J. Sheen on Sept. 24, mere weeks pass before the next: five Franciscan friars known as the Georgia Martyrs on Oct. 31.

Cardinal Frank Leo of Toronto will celebrate the 11 a.m. beatification Mass, which will be livestreamed on social media channels and the diocesan website, diosav.org, as well as by EWTN.

Speaking about the Georgia Martyrs with OSV News, Cardinal Leo said, “We all have that same command from the Lord Jesus to go make disciples.”

“The Georgia Martyrs offered more than self-sacrifice,” he said. “They brought it to the next level in terms of self-gift. … It was a choice and a decision to make a gift to the Lord by becoming a gift to his people, who needed to know him and to live for him.”

In 1597, the Spanish Franciscans Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añón, Antonio de Badajoz and Francisco de Veráscola were ministering at five missions along the coast and barrier islands of present-day Georgia when they were killed out of hatred for the faith by a band of Indigenous men between Sept. 14-17.

The friars’ murders were prompted by Father de Corpa angering the heir to a Guale chiefdom, Juanillo, by telling him that as a baptized Christian, he could not follow his culture’s custom and take a second wife. Juanillo and his men killed the priest at a mission near the contemporary city of Eulonia, Georgia, before killing four of the other five Franciscan missionaries ministering in the area. The sixth friar, Francisco de Avila, was kidnapped and tortured for months before being set free. The incident is known as the 1597 Guale Uprising.

At the time, the Spaniards knew the wider coastal area as La Florida, home to the settlement of St. Augustine, established in 1565. By 1595, the friars had established five missions along the coast. Prior to their murders, the six Franciscans appear to have lived among the Guale and other indigenous peoples in peace, without a military presence, for two years.

About a month after the friars were killed, the governor of La Florida led an expedition to locate the martyred friars’ bodies. According to the Diocese of Savannah’s website on the martyrs, there is no record of Friar Francisco’s remains being found. The bodies of Friars Blas, Miguel and Antonio were found buried in shallow graves on St. Catherines Island. The men in the October 1597 expedition reburied them, with the exception of the severed head of Friar Miguel, which they took with them.

Less than a decade later, when Franciscans had returned to the coastline to evangelize, the friars’ bodies on St. Catherines Island were exhumed and brought to St. Augustine, but their whereabouts today are unknown. Some scholars speculate that Franciscans took the martyrs’ remains with them to Cuba when St. Augustine transferred to British rule in 1763.

Friar Pedro de Corpa was decapitated and his body was not found; the location of his skull is uncertain. A skull recovered at the Fort King George State Historical Site in Darien may belong to Friar Pedro or Father Francisco, and testing is underway to learn more about its origins.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage drew attention to the martyrs in May, as the nine perpetual pilgrims spent the third day of their pilgrimage in southern Georgia, walking in a Eucharistic procession at Fort King George, where Friar Francisco is believed to have been killed.

The five Franciscans’ martyrdom is “a reminder of how the Church has, over the centuries, continued to send out missionaries to all peoples, to all nations, to faraway places,” Father Pablo Migone, vicar for mission advancement for the Diocese of Savannah, said during that visit. “That is something we have done from the very beginning from the words of Jesus to the apostles.”

The Beatification Mass is not ticketed, and seats in the Savannah Convention Center are first come, first served. Doors for the liturgy open at 8 a.m. Oct. 31. The convention center will host the Georgia Martyr Museum between 8-10:30 a.m. and 1-2:30 p.m.

The Mass coincides with Halloween, the eve of All Saints’ Day. It also coincides with the Jubilee Year of their order’s founder, St. Francis of Assisi, which commemorates the 800th anniversary of his death.

On Nov. 1, Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving at 11:30 a.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, which will also be livestreamed at the cathedral’s website, savannahcathedral.org.

Reports from civil and religious leaders in the months and years after the Franciscans’ deaths reveal that the slain friars’ contemporaries saw them as martyrs. New research in the 20th century about the history of La Florida and the Georgia Martyrs bolstered efforts to move forward with a cause for their beatification.

With the support of the Order of Franciscans Minor, the Diocese of Savannah opened the cause for the martyrs’ canonization in February 1984 under Savannah’s Bishop Raymond W. Lessard, who died in 2016. In January 2025, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to formally recognize the five friars’ martyrdom “in hatred of the faith.”

Alongside the sainthood cause for the five Georgia martyrs is a separate cause for the Martyrs of La Florida Missions, which encompasses 58 people martyred in the region between 1549 and 1715. Known as Antonio Inija and Companions, Servants of God, their collective cause officially opened Oct. 12, 2015, and includes Dominican, Franciscan and Jesuit priests; lay men and women; and children, including an unborn child.

(OSV News) – The Synod on Synodality – a three-year (2021-2024), world-and-Church-wide process of listening and dialogue initiated by Pope Francis — is marking two years since its conclusion.

But – as its coordinators quickly qualify – the synodal process, backed by Pope Leo XIV, isn’t over yet.

So where does it stand?

“We have to implement the outcomes, and we have to celebrate them as well — so that’s the phase we’re in,” Auxiliary Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt of Hartford, Connecticut, told OSV News. He is chair of the Synod Implementation and Evaluation Task Force at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For those who haven’t followed along, here’s a quick review (by the Leadership Roundtable, a nonprofit promoting transparent and accountable leadership in the Church): “Pope Francis wants to hear from the whole Church about what is happening in local parishes. He and the bishops would like to know what individuals think we should all be doing to help make our parishes better. The way he has proposed doing this is a synodal process.”

Worldwide diocesan consultations, listening sessions and discernment processes with clergy, religious and laity followed; these were synthesized to identify common themes, after which synod delegates convened in Rome to discuss findings.

The process culminated with a final document.

“In 2028, the whole Church will celebrate the signs of emergence of the changes and developments on synodality — from the diocesan Church, then the national, then continental, and then the world Church. This is what we’re going to do,” Bishop Betancourt explained.

“But it’s just celebrating what is emerging, not really what is being finished — because that’s not going to happen,” he stressed. “We cannot refer to this synod as something that is finished, and we’re done with it.”

The vision of synodality — a Greek word for “walking together” meant to embrace both lay and clerical accompaniment, shared responsibility for mission, joint dialogue and discernment — is intended as a “way of being Church” versus an event or program, or even a multi-year progression of the same.

“Synodality is a spiritual journey — more than a structure; more than a way of governing or doing things; it is a way of living,” said Bishop Betancourt.

“So now, Pope Leo is looking into how things are going; coming along,” the bishop continued. “He acknowledges that in some parts of the world synodality is kicking in (in) a way that is really good … almost everybody’s on board … (but) there’s other places that they’re still in the early stages of formation, figuring out what synodality is — and then trying just to get on board with it.”

That “getting on board” has not been universal.

Various prelates and ecclesial commentators have criticized the process, lamenting an “undefined synodality” and a “democracy of the baptized,” while others objected to the apparent dilution of clerical leadership and the specter of endless rounds of consultation.

“There’s a spectrum of where dioceses are, but we knew this was going to happen — that’s just the reality of adopting anything that’s new or different,” commented Julia McStravog, associate director of planning and synodality in the USCCB’s Office of the General Secretary.

“But I can tell you, having accompanied the dioceses starting in 2021 … there has been a lot of what may not feel like big ‘in your face’ changes,” she said, “but these subtle ways in which they’re approaching their work that does emphasize the spiritual and pastoral aspects Bishop Betancourt talked about.”

“So across the dioceses,” McStravog continued, “you see pastoral councils are being formed in different ways. You see parish councils are being formed in different ways. The bishops are leading and interacting with and consulting with their councils in new ways, and they’re using synodal methodologies and synodal techniques in order to make really big decisions in the dioceses.”

“The bishops,” she added, “are really adopting the style and mode to engage in a consultative process with the people that they shepherd.”

McStravog admitted it’s a work in progress.

“It’s not perfect and it’s not everyone — it’s not 100% of people 100% of the time,” she reflected. “But again, from the outset, this is a journey. And it’s going to take a long time to spiritually form a billion Catholics throughout the world.”

McStravog further notes her own title now includes “synodality” — and that diocesan positions are cropping up with the same.

The shift has been from planning to proactivity — taking the next steps from discussing synodality to actually implementing and integrating it.

“I have seen it in conversation with the brother bishops,” shared Bishop Betancourt. “When this happened, it caught us — let’s say — kind of by surprise.”

But then, he said, “we started doing things.”

And for those who might still hesitate, Bishop Betancourt offers clarity: “Synodality is not about change — it’s about mission and evangelization.”

“Pope Leo already says that resistance is part of the change; it’s part of the process,” the bishop noted. “But what he wants for all of us, specifically, is that we adjust … He actually wants — and this is something that he mentioned during the summer, in our meeting with him in Rome — to preserve that communion; that we have to adjust; that we have to be patient.”

The synod’s final document — officially part of Pope Francis’ magisterium — made no formal changes to Church governance, but at their twice-annual plenary sessions, in June and November, McStravog said, the U.S. bishops now engage in fraternal dialogue.

“Yes, we’re encouraging and helping the bishops in their dioceses,” she noted, “but as a body, they, too, are practicing consultation and doing deep listening and synodal work together.”

Diocesan assemblies are scheduled for spring 2027.

“The reflection at every level — diocese, national, continental, worldwide — would be, what signs of synodality are emerging in our local churches?” Bishop Betancourt explained. “What can we share that is happening in our own local churches? And then, how can we celebrate that, and keep that journey going?”

“I think,” he continued, “that the Holy Father appreciates the work of synodality that has happened already in the United States. … All these things that we have done — even if many of us haven’t been aware that we were doing synodality.”

And the mission for the U.S. Church now, at this stage of synodality?

“How can we bring Jesus?” declared Bishop Betancourt.

“It’s the call to the new evangelization that Saint John Paul II asked us to do, but now it’s in a more concrete way, in the journey of synodality. How are we, with synodality, going to bring Jesus from the parishes to the world?”

And that mission is not just for the ordained.

“It’s the process of conversion of each one of us — as missionary disciples,” Bishop Betancourt emphasized. “Having that strong relationship with Jesus, deepening our relationship with Jesus — and then going out, beginning with our parishes, and then to the rest of the world.”

“We do what we can, right?” he reflected. “This is a slow process. This is a journey — but we will get there.”