St. Clement Catholic Parish

null / Credit: Pormezz/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 9, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

An agreement between the Virginia attorney general’s office and two Christian counselors will limit that state’s enforcement of a so-called “conversion therapy” ban for minors, a law that restricts the way counselors can interact with patients on issues related to transgenderism and sexual orientation.

Under the agreement, the state will allow a patient under the age of 18 with gender dysphoria to receive “talk therapy” that helps the patient conform his or her self-perceived “gender identity” to his or her biological sex. It will also allow a minor to receive “talk therapy” intended to align his or her sexual orientation toward attraction to the opposite sex.

Counselors who provide this type of therapy based on religious beliefs will not face disciplinary action for providing the therapy sessions to patients who request it, according to the agreement.

“This court action fixes a constitutional problem with the existing law by allowing talk therapy between willing counselors and willing patients, including those struggling with gender dysphoria,” Shaun Kenney, a spokesperson for the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, said in a statement provided to CNA.

“Talk therapy with voluntary participants was punishable before this judgment was entered,” Kenney added. “This result — which merely permits talk therapy within the standards of care while preserving the remainder of the law — respects the religious liberty and free speech rights of both counselors and patients.”

The agreement effectively limits enforcement of the statewide ban. Under a 2020 law signed by former Gov. Ralph Northam, counselors could have faced disciplinary action from regulatory boards if they provided the prohibited therapy, even if the patient had expressly requested it.

State law defines “conversion therapy” as any “practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” This includes “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.”

The agreement, approved in the Henrico County Circuit Court, notes that the two counselors who challenged the ban in court — John and Janet Raymond — provide Christian counseling that integrates their religious beliefs in therapy sessions. The agreement states this includes “voluntary conversations, prayer, and written materials such as Scripture.”

Because their Christian faith includes a belief that “a person’s behaviors or gender expressions should be consistent with that person’s biological sex” and a belief that “sexual or romantic attractions or feelings should not be directed toward persons of the same sex,” the agreement affirms that the therapy is protected under the state’s constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

The Founding Freedoms Law Center, which represented the two Christian counselors in court, called the agreement a “major victory” and stated that the ban is “effectively dead” in Virginia.

“With this court order, every counselor in Virginia will now be able to speak freely, truthfully, and candidly with clients who are seeking to have those critical conversations about their identity and to hear faith-based insights from trusted professionals,” the law center’s statement read.

“This is a major victory for free speech, religious freedom, and parental rights in Virginia,” the statement added.

Jennifer Morse, the president of the pro-family Ruth Institute, told CNA she believes this legal victory is essentially about free speech, and added that the bans exist because “activists would prefer that no one try to change, because if enough people try, sooner or later, at least some of them will succeed.”

“The strategic purpose of these bans is to protect the fiction that people are ‘born gay’ and can never change and that ‘sexual orientation’ is an innate immutable trait, comparable to race or eye color or left-handedness,” she said.

“If people start saying ‘I don’t want to be gay. I’m not convinced I was born this way, can I find someone who will talk to me about that?’ enough of them would change enough to disprove these crucial assumptions that underlie the ideology of the committed LGBT activists,” Morse added.

In March, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors. That lawsuit, which could set nationwide precedent, focuses on similar arguments about religious freedom and free speech.

Anton Krecic, founder of Seven Weeks Coffee. / Credit: Screen capture “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly”/Seven Weeks Coffee

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Seven Weeks Coffee, an American, pro-life coffee brand, announced July 7 that it has now donated $1 million to pro-life organizations.

Founded in 2021 by Anton Krecic, the coffee company has combined direct-trade specialty coffee with pro-life values. Ten percent of the profit of each coffee bag sold is donated to pro-life organizations, specifically pregnancy resource centers.

“When my wife and I founded Seven Weeks Coffee, the skeptics doubted Americans would support a values-based company. They were wrong,” Krecic said in a press release. “We are so blessed to have gone on this journey with our customers, raising money for pro-life causes.”

During its time in business, Seven Weeks Coffee has donated to over 1,000 pregnancy resource centers in all 50 states, paid for ultrasounds for pregnant mothers in unwanted pregnancies, and estimates that it has helped save over 9,000 lives.

Women from across the country have written to the pro-life coffee company thanking it for its support.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t know what to do. I was scared, alone, and abortion felt like the only option. But the pregnancy center offered me a free ultrasound — and I saw my baby’s heartbeat. That changed everything,” one mother wrote to Seven Weeks Coffee after the company paid for her ultrasound.

In an interview with “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” in 2023, Krecic discussed how he originally wanted to work in politics but ended up running a coffee company instead. He explained that he moved to Washington, D.C., “with a passion just to get involved in the political process” but that he also has always had “a very big heart for the pro-life movement.”

After visiting a pregnancy care center several years ago, the experience made a lasting impact on him, which led to his idea to start a pro-life coffee company.

“There really was no pro-life coffee company around that I really saw making a kind of a national impact … I was like, ‘There’s a mission here and there’s an impact that we can have,’” he recalled.

While trying to come up with a name for the business, Krecic’s wife asked him when a baby in utero was the size of a coffee bean. After doing some research, Krecic found that a baby in utero is the size of a coffee bean at seven weeks. Additionally, this is also when a baby’s heartbeat is clearly detectable during an ultrasound.

“So I was like, ‘That is the name. That’s what we’re going to call the company,’” he recalled.

In its first year alone, 2022 — which was also the year Roe v. Wade was overturned — Seven Weeks Coffee donated over $50,000 to more than 250 pregnancy resource centers.

“God has blessed us more than we could have ever imagined,” Krecic said.

Camp Mystic alumnae sing songs after a memorial service on July 7, 2025, for the young campers who perished in floods last week. / Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Houston, Texas, Jul 8, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).

The faith communities of the Texas Hill Country flood victims are rallying in support of the families with Masses, rosaries, and memorial services. 

The Fourth of July flood disaster near the central Texas town of Kerrville, where the Guadalupe River rose 35 feet in the early morning hours, has claimed over 100 lives so far, including more than 30 young children, with many more still unaccounted for.

Especially affected was Camp Mystic, the 100-year-old Christian girls’ camp in Hunt, Texas. At least 27 campers there perished, with several more, including a counselor, not yet recovered.

Over the last few days, schools and churches in Houston, where many current and former Camp Mystic families reside, have held prayer services and Masses for the victims and their families.

In an email, Father Sean Horrigan, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, asked the community for prayers for the family of Anna Margaret Bellows, 8, a parishioner who was one of the 27 girls who died in the flood.

He said funeral details were forthcoming.

St. John Vianney Church held a memorial Mass on Monday, July 7, for Molly DeWitt, another of the young girls who passed away.

A filled-to-overflowing memorial service for Camp Mystic families took place on July 7 at the Church of St. John the Divine, an Episcopal church with deep ties to the camp. Buried there is Anne Eastland Spears, former Camp Mystic chairman of the board and mother of camp director Dick Eastland, who lost his life while rescuing campers from the flood.

The ministers spoke of Jesus’ love for his children, especially when they suffer. St. John’s rector, Rev. Leigh Spruill, encouraged those in mourning to “have hope. Keep talking to God … He may seem absent now, but he hears everything and he is present.”

Youth ministry director Rev. Sutton Lowe referred to the Gospel story of Jairus and his little girl, who died and whom Jesus raised from the dead. 

“When we die, Jesus is there to touch us and say ‘arise,’ and there is new life beyond our imagining,” he said.

Rev. Libby Garfield told mourners that “there is a path forward that is lined with the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.”

After the service, Camp Mystic alumnae of all ages gathered on the lawn north of the church, forming a large circle in the grass and singing camp songs, many of which were Christian hymns. 

Ashley Emshoff, an alumna who spoke to CNA after the memorial, told CNA that the camp forges bonds between campers that are lifelong and are “as strong as family.” 

Mystic alumna and St. John parishioner Alafair Hotze told CNA the Eastland family, who run the camp, became like family to generations of campers.

Emshoff and Hotze said that many Camp Mystic alumnae are so eager for their daughters to become part of the Mystic community that they write to the camp as soon as they find out they are pregnant with girls. The Eastlands respond with a Camp Mystic infant onesie for their newborn and a letter of congratulations (along with a place on the waitlist). 

Hotze said that Dick Eastland’s death, while tragic, aligned perfectly with the man he was: “He taught us to be selfless and love as Christ loves,” Hotze said.

“He died as he had lived,” Hotze said: “Giving his life for those he loved.”

A Planned Parenthood facility in Minneapolis. / Credit: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2025 / 14:24 pm (CNA).

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the government’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood by ordering President Donald Trump’s administration to continue funding to the nation’s largest abortion provider for at least the next 14 days.

The court order, signed by Judge Indira Talwani, partially halts a provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that would have cut off Medicaid reimbursements for certain organizations that perform abortions. Trump signed the bill on Friday, July 4, after it passed both chambers of Congress with support from most Republicans and no Democrats.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America sued the administration just three days after Trump signed the bill into law and asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement against the organization while its litigation continues. Talwani signed the order on the same day.

In a statement shortly after the order was signed, Planned Parenthood thanked the judge for acting quickly “to block this unconstitutional law attacking Planned Parenthood providers and patients.”

According to the statement, Planned Parenthood staffers had “been forced to turn away patients who use Medicaid to get basic sexual and reproductive health care.”

The lawsuit asserts the defunding effort targets Planned Parenthood “for punishment” and that even though the organization isn’t singled out by name, it is “the target of the law.” 

It claims the bill denies Planned Parenthood equal protection under the law and that the network has been targeted because of “its unique role in providing abortions and advocating for abortion rights and access across the country.”

In a statement provided to CNA, a White House official did not get into specific legal arguments but stated that the provision to defund organizations that perform abortion is in line with public opinion.

“The Trump administration is ending the forced use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion — a commonsense position that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with,” the official said.

Katie Glenn Daniel, the director of legal affairs and policy counsel at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNA that Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit is “brazen defiance of elected leaders, both the president and Congress, who had every right to act on the will of the people to stop forced taxpayer funding of Big Abortion.”

“Before the ink was even dry on President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, abortion giant Planned Parenthood ran to court to protect their cash flow of over $2 million a day from American taxpayers, and an activist federal judge obliged by ordering the spigot turned back on,” Glenn Daniel added.

Glenn Daniel thanked the Trump administration for “standing firm on principle” and accused Planned Parenthood of trying to “run out the clock and rake in every last tax dollar they can.”

“We’re confident [the Trump administration] will prevail and the abortion industry’s last-ditch money grab will fail,” she said.

Under long-standing federal law, taxpayer money cannot be used to fund most abortions. Federal funds have historically still covered non-abortive services at abortion clinics through Medicaid reimbursements.

Planned Parenthood’s annual report for July 2023 to June 2024 disclosed that the abortion network received nearly $800 million in taxpayer funding in that period, which accounted for almost 40% of its total revenue. A large portion of these funds come from state and federal Medicaid reimbursements.

Pro-life organizations for decades have urged the federal government and state governments to end all taxpayer funds for organizations that perform abortions. The legislation signed by Trump halts federal Medicaid reimbursements to those organizations for one year, but activists hope to make the policy shift permanent.

The issue came before the Supreme Court in its last term after South Carolina halted state-level Medicaid reimbursement funding for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic facilities. Two patients who received non-abortive services at those facilities sued the state, claiming that the policy violated their right to receive services at the provider of their choosing.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with South Carolina, finding that the patients did not have a legal right to sue. However, the current case against the federal government is distinctly different because the abortion network — rather than the patients — filed the lawsuit on different grounds.

A sign outside the Internal Revenue Service building in downtown Washington, D.C. / Credit: Rob Crandall/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2025 / 13:54 pm (CNA).

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this week backed off a decades-old rule first established during the Eisenhower administration, declaring for the first time since the 1950s that churches and other nonprofits can openly endorse political candidates without risking their tax-exempt status.

The order resolves a lawsuit launched in August 2024 by a coalition of religious broadcasters, one that challenged the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which says that 501(c)(3) nonprofits may not “participate in or intervene in” political campaigns.

Advocates have argued that the rule shields the nonprofit industry from caustic politics. The National Religious Broadcasters, meanwhile, said in its suit that the tax rule punished churches by “silenc[ing] their speech while providing no realistic alternative for operating in any other fashion.”

In a filing on Monday with the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas, the IRS agreed with the religious broadcasters in that “communications internal to a house of worship, between the house of worship and its congregation, in connection with religious services” do not run afoul of the amendment’s prohibition on “participating in” campaigns.

The rule “imposes a substantial burden on plaintiffs’ free exercise of religion,” the filing states.

The document points to numerous nonprofits that are allowed to opine on political candidacies even as churches remain barred from doing so. The Johnson Amendment is “not a neutral rule of general applicability,” it says.

Religious entities “cannot fulfill their spiritual duties to teach the full counsel of the Word of God if they fail to address such issues and to inform their listeners how the views of various political candidates compare to the Bible’s position on such matters,” it states.

The Monday filing asked the court to accept the agreement, which will bar the IRS from enforcing the rule. The court accepted the decision shortly after its filing.

The National Religious Broadcasters did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump said at the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast that he aspired to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution."

When proposed in 1954, the Johnson Amendment was passed with no debate, according to the congressional record.

A 2017 effort in the House of Representatives to repeal the amendment died at committee.

“Humility marches” are prayerful citywide Eucharistic processions and public acts of reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Philippines. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Humilitas for the Sacred Heart; public domain

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2025 / 12:29 pm (CNA).

Hundreds of young Catholics across the Philippines gathered in June for public acts of penance and prayer, participating in what organizers called “humility marches” in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Raven Castañeda told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, that he witnessed an LGBT “pride” event at his Catholic school, Ateneo de Davao University.

“I could not understand how it was possible for a Catholic university to allow an event that promotes vice and pushes for an ideology that is contrary to the truths of our faith,” he said.

After Castañeda saw the event he went to the school’s Our Lady of the Assumption Chapel and prayed. At that point, he said he was moved by the Spirit to take a vow: “I will publicly wave the banner of his most humble and most Sacred Heart to remind people that in his heart is the love that saves.”

Castañeda helped lead volunteers door to door to different parishes to promote their event to reclaim the LGBT-centric “pride month” for God. Young volunteers have coordinated with parishes across the country to organize similar marches and Eucharistic processions, the Register reported.

Catholic groups including the Missionary Families of Christ, Singles for Christ, Youth for Christ, Pro-Life Philippines, and the Philippine Social Conservative Movement joined efforts to promote and support the marches.

In some cases, former “pride” marchers have joined the humility marches. One attendee, Xyril — who previously identified as a lesbian — told the Register that she converted to the Catholic faith from Protestantism amid her feelings of “emptiness.” 

After seeing a vision of a “glowing heart of Jesus” during transubstantiation, the experience moved her toward the Catholic Church.

She characterized the humility marches as “reverent and sacred,” adding that it felt like a “homecoming to the heart of Christ.”

Leo, another attendee, told the Register: “I used to struggle with sexual sins, and even try to excuse it or justify it, telling myself it’s not really wrong because ‘everyone’s doing it anyway.’”

“But then I realized that’s what pride is. Pride says, ‘I will follow my own will, make my own rules, redefine gender, marriage, and sexuality the way I want it’ — rather than following God’s will and God’s design for sexuality. It’s ‘My will be done’ not ‘Thy will be done.’”

“Jesus must be Lord over every aspect of my life — including my sexuality — [or] else he is not Lord at all,” Leo told the Register.

Father Joel Jason, a Filipino priest who promotes St. John Paul II’s theology of the body teachings, told the Register that pride is the product of original sin. 

“Pride says, ‘I am not a creature; I am my own creator.’ It is the original sin of the first man and woman that separated them from God,” the priest said. 

After the march, youths signed a promise statement that reads: “We are the young Church of the Philippines. We are committed to promote and grow in our devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Eucharist; to walk with the poor, finding ways to serve them and champion their cause — for, in them, we see the Sacred Heart; to build a society where truth reigns and is guided by Christ’s teachings; and to evangelize boldly, even when it’s uncomfortable, strengthening communities that are formed in the orthodox Catholic faith.” 

Organizers told the Register they plan to continue expanding the event annually and hope it will encourage more young Filipinos to live lives of humility, reparation, and faithfulness to Church teachings.

(Left to right) Bishop Dennis Walsh of Davenport, Iowa; St. Ambrose University President Amy Novak; Mount Mercy University President Todd Olson; and Conference for Mercy Higher Education Executive Director Julia Cavallo at the June 27, 2025, Milestone Celebration. / Credit: Zyon Velázquez/St. Ambrose University

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Two Midwest Catholic universities are merging in the hopes of making Catholic education more accessible — a “proactive” step amid decreasing enrollment numbers across the nation.

The small, historic institutions — St. Ambrose University in Davenport and Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids — have both had a presence in eastern Iowa for more than a century.

In what St. Ambrose University President Amy Novak called a “defining moment,” St. Ambrose has become the parent organization of Mount Mercy, according to a recent press release.

The plan, Mount Mercy media representative Taryn DeBoard explained, is a “proactive” one — not a reaction to financial challenges.

“Both institutions are currently in good financial standing and bring strong offerings to the partnership,” DeBoard told CNA, citing the universities’ “strong endowments, minimal debt, and wonderful community connections.”

Mount Mercy University President Todd Olson said this first step ensures the universities can “begin investing in a future that empowers our students, faculty, staff, and alumni communities across both universities.”

“Together, we are stronger, and together, we will be able to serve our missions in even more transformative ways,” Olson said in a June 27 statement. 

“By joining together, we are honoring the founding missions of both institutions while also building something more adaptive, more sustainable, and more student-centered,” Novak added.

The change takes place amid a national trend of decreasing enrollment, which has affected colleges of all sizes across the country — though some Catholic colleges have continued to grow in spite of the trend, as previously reported by CNA.

When the two presidents met to discuss challenges facing Catholic higher education in the region, they decided to address them through “collaboration rather than competition,” according to DeBoard.

“It was critical that this combination started from a point of strength and not from a point of desperation,” DeBoard said.

With this recent development, the universities look ahead to becoming fully integrated by mid-2026.

To preserve the character of the original institutions, not everything will be merged. For instance, the two universities will merge library systems but won’t combine sports teams. 

A big priority lies in preserving the unique Catholic identities of the two colleges. 

Leaders considered “Catholic roots” to be “extremely important” as the two colleges considered merging, DeBoard said.

“This combination is about specifically preserving Catholic higher education,” DeBoard noted. 

St. Ambrose — named for the Church father St. Ambrose of Milan — is a diocesan university, while Mount Mercy was “founded on the philosophies and teachings of the Sisters of Mercy,” DeBoard explained.  

“While we both have different foundations, we have found that we are much more alike than we are different, driven by similar missions, visions, and values,” she said. 

Throughout the merger, DeBoard said it is critical that the colleges “keep the foundation and values of each respective school at the forefront.”

Catholic leaders tied to the universities commended the decision, which was first announced in 2024.

The Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids encouraged the colleges “to continue to preserve the nearly 100-year-old legacy of the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids,” while the archbishop of Dubuque also expressed his support for the “innovative spirit of cooperation.” 

DeBoard noted that the “new shared mission” will incorporate “aspects of both the diocesan and Mercy charisms.” 

Both the Diocese of Davenport and the Sisters of Mercy will be represented on the board of trustees, DeBoard said. 

“Our shared Catholic identity will remain the foundation, but the opportunities to collaborate, innovate, and serve even more students, especially those historically underrepresented in higher education, are what excite me most,” Novak said.

DeBoard said he hopes they will be a “model” for other Catholic colleges.

“We hope other institutions will look at this model and consider exploring similar partnerships as a way to sustain Catholic higher education for many years to come,” DeBoard said.

Austin Baron at the “American Ninja Warrior”course filming for Season 17 of the show. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Austin Baron

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

At just 19 years old, Austin Baron is taking college classes, competing on sports reality television, making handmade dog toys, and raising tens of thousands of dollars to feed the hungry. How does he do it all? According to him, it’s all thanks to “the gifts God’s given” him.

Baron is a rising sophomore at the University of Notre Dame and the founder of Knot Perfect, a nonprofit that has provided more than 100,000 meals to children and families across the globe. He is now using his participation on NBC’s reality television show “American Ninja Warrior” to help expand his outreach.

Discovering his mission

Baron was first moved to feed the hungry when he was 12 years old and volunteered at his parish, St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn, Virginia, to pack meals for Cross Catholic Outreach’s food distribution ministry You(th) vs. Hunger. 

“I learned that a billion people go to bed hungry each night,” Baron told CNA. “The meals I was packing with my own hands would be the only food for someone else to eat.”

“That really inspired me to want to do something to help them. Billion is a big number, and I decided that I wanted to start collecting donations because that would be a way that we could pack more meals and feed more people.”

Baron began collecting donations and gave them to a number of organizations that help provide meals but primarily to You(th) vs. Hunger. In order to “excite people and to encourage them to donate,” he said, he decided to turn it into a fun experience by giving those who donated a handmade dog toy.

“I love animals — especially dogs,” Baron said. “And around the same time that I wanted to start feeding the hungry, I started making dog toys. I watched videos to learn how to make them.” Since then, Baron has made more than 1,500 knotted dog toys.

Around the time of the pandemic, it became more challenging for Baron to collect cash donations, so at 16 years old, with the help of his parents and brothers, Baron turned his project into a nonprofit that could collect online donations. He named the organization Knot Perfect to represent both the knotted toys and the imperfect world where hunger is an issue across the globe.

Using ‘American Ninja Warrior’ to feed the hungry 

After starting Knot Perfect, Baron had an inspiring rock-climbing experience that sparked his next big move.

“I went rock climbing on a cliff over the Atlantic Ocean, and I really had a wonderful experience doing that. And then ... around the same time I was doing that, I started watching ‘[American] Ninja Warrior.’” 

“American Ninja Warrior” is a sports-competition reality show that features athletes from around the country who compete on “the most difficult obstacle courses.” Participants compete for the fastest time and race to get a “button push” — pressing the buzzer at the end of the course indicating they completed the obstacle without falling off. 

After watching the series, Baron “went to a ‘Ninja Warrior’ gym to train and to try the obstacles that were on the show, and [I] just really fell in love with the sport, and especially the ninja community.”

“Everyone was super supportive, even though we’re all competing against each other on the course. Everyone helps each other and shares their tips and encourages them on all the obstacles … then a friend suggested that I apply for the show.”

“I didn’t know if I was going to get in,” Baron said. “[But] I feel like God really blessed me with the opportunity to be on the show and to use it to advocate for an end to world hunger and to encourage other people to do good in the world.”

Baron heard back that he was accepted for Season 15 of the show. In 2023, he participated and made it to the semifinal round. (Approximately 40,000 of the meals provided by Knot Perfect were a direct result of Baron’s appearance on “American Ninja Warrior.”)

Baron was invited to rejoin the show for Season 17, which is taking place in Las Vegas this summer. So far he has been a fierce competitor, hitting his first buzzer on the June 2 episode, which advanced him to the upcoming July 14 semifinals.

Wearing a shirt that says “Ninja Fighting Hunger” on the episode, Baron said he is “dedicating [his] summer to being the hands and feet of Christ for the 1 billion people around the world who go to bed hungry each night.” 

Knot Perfect’s next steps

As much as Baron enjoys the course and community of “American Ninja Warrior,” he said, “The whole reason I go on the show is to advocate for world hunger … As a result of being on the season this year, we’re trying to pack our 1-millionth meal as a community in northern Virginia. It’s our 10-year anniversary of packing meals, and we have a big goal of hitting that million-meal mark.”

The anniversary marks a milestone for You(th) vs. Hunger, and Baron said he hopes “American Ninja Warrior” can help the Catholic community reach its goal, as a donation of just $10 allows the organization to feed 30 people.

“My mission of feeding the hungry, starting a nonprofit, and then going to the University of Notre Dame and competing on [‘American Ninja Warrior’], I just felt that God has really blessed me with this opportunity,” Baron said. “I felt his hands, him walking me, and helping me throughout it.”

As he heads into his sophomore year, Baron will continue to study business analytics to continue his nonprofit and its mission after he graduates. He recently received two grants totaling $1,650 to help him reach his donation goals. 

He was also selected as the Virginia Young Man of the Year by the Knights of Columbus in 2024 for his work. But he gives all the credit to God. 

“I’m so grateful to God for the gifts he’s given me and to use it to do something good for other people. I couldn’t have done any of this without him,” Baron said. “It’s him, not me. I’m so grateful to him for that.”

Mourners gather in the Church of the Holy Cross in Qassaa, Damascus, for the funeral of many who lost their lives in a terrorist attack at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria’s capital on Sunday, June 22, 2025. / Credit: Mohammad Al-Rifai/ACI MENA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 7, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).

Allies of the new Syrian government and other non-state actors have continued violence and discrimination against Christians, Druze, and Shia Muslims, according to a new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Syrian rebels, many of whom were affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024. The report notes that HTS members, many of whom were foreign fighters, engaged in mass killings and other forms of persecution against religious minorities during the overthrow of Assad and have continued violations after taking control of the government.

Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, commanded HTS during the revolution. He was also previously a member of al-Qaeda. In addition to HTS, the report also noted that members of Turkish-backed political opposition and militias (TSOs) and other organizations that engaged in mass killings and religious liberty violations have been welcomed into high-ranking positions in the new Syrian government.

Despite these developments, the new Syrian government has vowed to protect religious liberty as it sets up its new government. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to work with the new leadership and has lifted sanctions and removed HTS’ designation as a terrorist organization.

The USCIRF is encouraging the Trump administration to impose conditions on sanction removals that require improvements in religious liberty. The report also encourages the U.S. government to impose targeted sanctions on people and organizations that continue violations of religious liberty. 

USCIRF Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi told CNA that the commission’s primary concern for Syria’s Christians and other religious minorities is “that the transitional authorities’ actual policies and actions match their claims of supporting a religiously inclusive future for the country.”

“The U.S. administration must condition its lifting of sanctions with clear measures so that the emerging government fully abandons its extremist past, extends equal protection to all religious minorities, and enshrines comprehensive religious freedom into Syria’s laws and institutions,” Elsanousi said.

Religious persecution and killings

The most egregious violence after the new government took control was waged against Alawite Muslims — a Shia sect to which Assad and many of his allies belonged — and against Druze — an Abrahamic religion that is separate from Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

According to the report, unidentified rebels burned the homes of civilian Alawites in Latakia and waged an arson attack against an Alawite shrine in Aleppo last December. It also notes that men who may have been affiliated with the new government executed Alawites and members of the Twelver Shia sect in the Hama province.

The report notes in January and February, HTS loyalists conducted “door-to-door interrogations and select executions” of Alawite Muslims around the Mediterranean coast. In March, the report adds, “the murders escalated to full-blown sectarian massacres” of Alawites in Latakia and Tartus based on allegations of “pro-Assad remnants.”

“Tallies put the confirmed death toll at between 1,700 and 2,246, with the caveat that the actual numbers might be much higher,” the report states.

The report references additional reports of civilian massacres of Alawites “with no known links to the Assad regime” during that time frame. It states that persecutions against Alawites seem to have decreased since March but that as recently as May, there were reports of fighters who may have been affiliated with the government kidnapping Alawites.

Additionally, “a new wave of killings” against Druze began in April, according to the report. This includes “militant Islamist” supporters of the new government killing 134 people in a suburb of Damascus that month.

In March, Syriac Orthodox Christians who lived near the anti-Alawite violence reported that the Christian death toll was “three people,” but other persecutions against Christians took place.

“Islamist militia members regularly intimidated and taunted Christians at checkpoints and looted the homes of Christians with no known links to the Assad regime,” the report states.

The report notes that the new government has retained many HTS fighters, including “the most militant violators of religious freedom during the Syrian civil war,” within the military. People who are associated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) hold high positions in the government as well.

For example, intelligence chief Anas Khattab is a former al-Qaeda commander. Abu Hatem Shaqra, who was given a high-level military position, personally participated in executions and other forms of religious persecution “such as recruitment of ISIS members and trafficking of Yazidi women and girls into sexual and domestic slavery,” according to the report.

The future of Syria

In spite of these religious liberty violations, the report notes that the new government has stated its intent to be “inclusive of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.”

The new government has taken credit for thwarting a planned ISIS attack against a Shia shrine and denounced an ISIS attack that killed 25 worshippers at Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus. It also held a one-day conference to speak with representatives of minority religions.

Alternatively, the new government intends to maintain HTS control for a transitional five-year period. It also notes that after the conference with the minority religions, the government expressed its intent to enshrine Islamic jurisprudence as “the major source of legislation.” After the conference, it notes that the government only expressed its intent to safeguard Christians, Muslims, and Jews, but not other religions.

“The recent bombing of the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus and massacres earlier this year targeting Alawis in Syria’s coastal areas serve as tragic reminders that these communities remain under serious threat of violence,” Elsanousi said.

Jeff King, the president of International Christian Concern, told CNA the report “exposes the failure of Syria’s transitional government … to protect its Christian minority.”

“This illegitimate regime, composed of rebranded al-Qaeda and ISIS operatives, has done little to curb radical Islam’s campaign to eradicate Christianity in Syria,” he said. King called the bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus, which killed 25 Christians, “a stark example” of “ongoing persecution enabled by the government’s inaction or complicity.”

“The Catholic community worldwide must advocate for Syria’s dwindling Christian population, which is now a fraction of its prewar size, and press the international community to reject the legitimacy of this jihadist-led government and demand robust protections for religious minorities,” King emphasized.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller speaks to the press after the memorial Mass for the Guadalupe River flood victims on July 6, 2025. / Credit: Sophie Abuzeid

Houston, Texas, Jul 7, 2025 / 17:17 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders and government officials on Monday continued to issue statements of solidarity and support to victims of the catastrophic flash flooding in the Texas Hill Country over the weekend. 

The death toll rose to 94 Monday afternoon, according to county officials, with Camp Mystic, the girls’ Christian camp devastated on July 4, confirming that 27 girls have perished, while 10 girls and a counselor from the camp are still unaccounted for.

Notre Dame Catholic Church in Kerrville held a memorial Mass for the flood victims on Sunday. Afterward, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller told CNA the Church is “listening to the cry of all those who suffer, and their cry is not falling on deaf ears.”

He said that “pain and sorrow and death do not have the last word”; rather, “goodness, truth, love, and care [do], and hope never dies.” 

The Mass had already been scheduled as the installation Mass for the parish’s new pastor, Father Scott Janysek.

In his first homily as pastor at Notre Dame, Janysek said in a time of crisis, “there is only one community. Whether we’re Catholic or Protestant … at this time, boundaries do not exist. We are one community, and we are all hurting.”

“We are one Church,” Janysek continued. He asked the congregation: “What does Catholic mean?”

“Universal!” they responded eagerly.

“Yes, it means universal. It’s a description of what we are. We are the universal Church. We are one community.”

Janysek spoke of the two young girls who attended St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas who drowned and were found with their hands clasped together 15 miles from where they had been staying, saying: “We are connected to the Church in Dallas… We are connected to all the churches across our state. We hurt with them.”

Archbishop Joe S. Vasquez of Galveston-Houston released a statement on July 5 saying the archdiocese joined the Archdiocese of San Antonio in “praying for those affected by the recent severe flooding” and asking for God’s protection over and comfort for the victims, their families, and first responders.

He continued: “We entrust the souls of those who passed to the mercy of our heavenly Father, and we seek the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, imploring her assistance in the rescue of those still missing.”

Father Norm Ermis, pastor at St. Peter Catholic Church in Boerne, a town about 40 miles from Kerrville, said at the Mass on Sunday that the parish would be informed of how it could help flood victims in the coming week.

Ermis said he spends a lot of time on the Guadalupe River and was grieving with all who had lost loved ones.

San Antonio resident Bridie Chaudoir told CNA that she had almost sent her daughter to Camp Mystic in July, but she decided in the end to send her in August. Had she attended in July, she would have been in the Bubble Inn cabin, which was washed away by the swiftly moving floodwaters and whose occupants are all believed to have perished.

Chaudoir’s sons and nephews were rescued from Camp La Junta, also located in Hunt. Her son, Henry, 12, told CNA he prayed a decade of the rosary, the guardian angel prayer, and the St. Michael prayer the night before the flood.

She told CNA the Camp Mystic community’s response to its grieving members has been “overwhelmingly beautiful.” 

Gov. Greg Abbott declared Sunday, July 6, as a day of prayer for the victims. President Donald Trump declared Kerr County a federal disaster area on July 6, and the White House Faith Office issued a statement that evening, saying on social media: “May God wrap his loving arms around all of those in Texas. Psalm 34:18: ‘The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.’”