WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions convened this fall to review grant requests for the 2025-2026 year. The subcommittee awarded more than $7.8 million in grants for 69 dioceses and eparchies. These grants are made possible through the generosity of the Catholic faithful to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, an annual collection taken in many U.S. dioceses.

Home mission dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies are found across the United States and its territories, many in regions with small Catholic populations in rural areas affected by economic hardship. Grants from the subcommittee help mission dioceses here in the U.S. support parish and diocesan operations, as well as ministries of evangelization, catechesis, and healing that grow and strengthen the Church.

“When parishioners contribute to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, they bring faith, hope and love where it is most needed, regardless the amount of their gift. Their gifts have a profound, positive impact on Catholics who face poverty or the isolation of being a small, minority faith,” said Bishop Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, chairman of the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions.

Among the recipients:

• The Diocese of Rapid City’s Standing Rock Reservation Ministry conducts home visitation and parish faith formation activities led by three Franciscan sisters and a priest who serve members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The ministry team cares for about 500 Catholics at four parishes on the 2.3 million acre reservation, while offering accompaniment and social support to 8,000 other residents of all faiths.
• The Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, received a grant for its Office of Deliverance Ministry to provide spiritual and emotional care for those who experience spiritual wounds and oppression by sin. This ministry receives more than 100 visits a month from people seeking spiritual liberation and healing through prayers of deliverance and the sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick.
• The Syro-Malankara Eparchy of St. Mary Queen of Peace traces its roots to the missionary work of St. Thomas the Apostle in India, but its 24 priests serve about 11,000 parishioners across the United States. Although the eparchy (the term for an Eastern Catholic diocese) has no paid lay staff, the grant empowers a wide range of ministry, including a youth summer camp, retreats, family conventions and vocational discernment.

“These stories reveal the wide range of spiritual and financial needs that the Catholic Home Missions Appeal addresses,” Bishop Zielinski said. “Parishioners in mission dioceses already give sacrificially from their limited means. My prayer is that their example of faith will inspire the rest of us dig deeper to help our neighbors carry out the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us.”

For more information on Catholic Home Missions, please see:https://www.usccb.org/committees/catholic-home-missions 

For those who have not yet donated but wish to support this work, #iGiveCatholic accepts funds for the Catholic Home Missions program.

###

WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Most Reverend W. Michael Mulvey, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, and has appointed Most Reverend Mario A. Avilés, CO, currently auxiliary bishop of Brownsville, as his successor. 

The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2025, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The Diocese of Corpus Christi is comprised of 10,951 square miles in the State of Texas and has a total population of 582,684, of which 209,726, are Catholic.

###

HARISSA, Lebanon (CNS) -- At a shrine topped by a 28-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV listened to stories of unshakable faith amid war, injustice and suffering.

The pope began Dec. 1 at the tomb of St. Charbel at the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, a place known for its atmosphere of silent prayer, especially in difficult moments.

Despite intermittent rain, thousands of people gathered along the road leading to the monastery, tossing rose petals or rice as a sign of welcome.

After entrusting the Catholics of Lebanon and the entire country to St. Charbel's care, Pope Leo went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa and listened, like St. Charbel often did, to the cries of people's hearts. 

Father Youhanna-Fouad Fahed, a married Maronite Catholic priest and pastor of a parish near the Syrian border, spoke first. His village welcomed Syrian refugees from the war that began in 2011 and was repeatedly struck by shelling from the Syrian side of the border. In December 2024, when the Syrian civil war officially ended, more refugees came.

"The collection bag during Sunday Mass revealed to me a first, silent cry: I noticed Syrian currency inside: It was an offering mingled with pain," Father Fahed told the pope.

"Alone, feeling my people's suffering smothered by fear, the misery concealed by the shame of asking for help, I went in search of them," the priest said. Some told him they had fled to protect their daughters from forced marriage, and many arrived in Lebanon hoping to eventually migrate to Europe, even if that meant "entrusting their dreams to migrant smugglers who stole their savings."

All Father Fahed asked of Pope Leo was a word of comfort so the people would not feel forgotten and alone.

Sister Dima Chebib is a member of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and director of a school in Baalbeck, which is considered by many to be a stronghold of the Hezbollah militia and has been struck repeatedly by Israeli shelling in the past year.

 

While many people fled the town, she said, the priests and religious of the Melkite Catholic diocese "decided to stay and welcome the refugee families -- Christian and Muslim -- who came seeking safety and peace. We shared bread, fear and hope. We lived together, prayed together and supported one another in fraternity and trust."

"In the heart of war," she told the pope, "I discovered the peace of Christ. And I give thanks to God for this grace of remaining, loving and serving to the end."

Loren Capobres, who came to Lebanon from the Philippines as a domestic worker and now works with Jesuit Refugee Service, described the people she helps as "people who had left everything behind -- broken not just by war, but by betrayal and abandonment."

Vincentian Father Charbel Fayad, a prison chaplain, told the pope of the repentance and conversion of prisoners who are amazed anyone cares enough to minister to them.

"Even in the darkness of the cells, the light of Christ never goes out," Father Fayad said.

Pope Leo responded to the testimonies by saying that just as for St. Charbel in the 19th century, so today "it is in being with Mary at the foot of Jesus' cross that our prayer -- that invisible bridge which unites hearts -- gives us the strength to continue to hope and work, even when surrounded by the sound of weapons and when the very necessities of daily life become a challenge."

Father Toni Elias, the Maronite pastor of Rmaych, near the Israeli border, did not speak to the pope, but told reporters, "We have basically been living in war for the past two, two and a half years but never without hope."

The visit of the pope, he said, is confirmation for believers that "what we have lived" -- the fear and the hope combined -- "has not been in vain."

Pope Leo's speech to government and civic leaders Nov. 30 had focused on the Lebanese people and did not mention Israel at all. But Father Elias said that was "beautiful" because peace and harmony among Muslims, Christians and Druze "are our roots, our culture. That is Lebanon."

Meeting the country's bishops, priests, religious and pastoral workers -- a crowd of about 2,000 people -- Pope Leo told them, "If we wish to build peace, we must anchor ourselves to heaven and, firmly set in that direction."

"Let us love without being afraid of losing those things which pass away and let us give without measure," the pope said. "From these roots, strong and deep like those of cedars, love grows and with God's help, concrete and lasting works of solidarity come to life."

Pope Leo was scheduled to end his morning with a private meeting with Catholic patriarchs from throughout the Middle East.
 

Annaya, Lebanon, Dec 1, 2025 / 03:37 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV began his second day in Lebanon on Monday with a deeply symbolic pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf, entrusting the country and the wider Middle East to the intercession of the saint whom many Lebanese, Christians and Muslims alike, invoke as the “heavenly physician.”

The pope traveled roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) by car from the apostolic nunciature in Harissa to the hilltop monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, where thousands of pilgrims come each year seeking healing and consolation. The monastery’s archives record nearly 30,000 miracles attributed to St. Charbel’s intercession, including many reported by Muslims, a sign, the pope noted, of Charbel’s unique place in Lebanon’s spiritual landscape.

Pope Leo prayed in silence at the saint’s tomb before being welcomed by Abbot Hady Mahfouz, superior general of the Lebanese Maronite Order. He then offered a reflection on St. Charbel’s enduring message.

“What does St. Charbel teach us today?” Pope Leo asked. Despite leaving behind no writings, he said, the hermit of Annaya continues to speak with surprising power. “The Holy Spirit formed him so that he could teach those who live without God how to pray, those immersed in noise how to be silent.” Charbel also teaches “those who live ostentatiously how to be modest, and those who seek riches how to be poor.”

This message, he added, is addressed to all Christians and “reminds us, bishops and ordained ministers, of the evangelical demands of our vocation.”

The pope described the saint’s intercession as “a river of mercy,” recalling in particular the monthly pilgrimage held every 22nd of the month in memory of a miracle granted to a woman named Nouhad El Chami, a devotion that still draws thousands.

Pope Leo prayed for unity within the Church and for peace in Lebanon and the Levant. “There is no peace without conversion of hearts,” he warned. As a sign of entrustment, he offered a lit lamp to the monastery, praying that Lebanon “may always walk in the light of Christ.” He concluded by reciting a prayer in French, asking God, through St. Charbel’s example, to grant the Lebanese people faith, inner silence, healing of body and soul, and renewed strength in trials.

Born Yousef Antoun Makhlouf in 1828 in the remote village of Bkaakafra, St. Charbel is one of the most beloved saints of the Maronite Church. Known from childhood for his devotion and simplicity, he entered the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1851, was ordained a priest in 1859, and later embraced a life of strict solitude at the Hermitage of Sts. Peter and Paul near Annaya.

For 23 years he lived in silence, fasting, and continuous prayer. After his death on Christmas Eve in 1898, reports of extraordinary signs around his tomb, including the incorrupt state of his body, drew global attention. He was beatified in 1965 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. Today he is venerated worldwide as a model of humility and a powerful intercessor for the sick.

St. Charbel’s tomb lies within the St. Maron Monastery, perched at 1,200 meters (three-fourths of a mile) above sea level. Founded by the Lebanese Maronite Order, the site grew significantly after Charbel’s beatification to accommodate the rising number of pilgrims. A larger church dedicated to the saint was inaugurated in 1974. The monks continue to welcome visitors and maintain the grounds, sustaining themselves through agricultural work, a balance of labor and prayer inspired by the saint they guard.

Pope Leo’s visit to Annaya, the first by any pontiff, reinforced the central message of his pilgrimage to Lebanon: a call to conversion, hope, and unity rooted in the spiritual heritage of a country longing for peace — and in the intercession of one of its most beloved saints.

Sister Mary Youssef, Secretary General of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross who run the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross in Lebanon, talks about the joy of the sisters in welcoming Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the medical center on December 2.

Read all

 

During a meeting with bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, Pope Leo XIV highlights coexistence, education, and support for migrants as concrete paths toward peace.

Read all

 

Despite the rain, crowds with flags and umbrellas welcome Pope Leo XIV at the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, the resting place of St. Charbel Makhlouf - "a saint that represents Lebanon."

Read all

 

On the second day of his Apostolic Visit to Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV visits the tomb of St. Charbel, saying he taught “prayer to those who live without God, silence to those who live amid noise ... and poverty to those who pursue riches.”

Read all

 

First Sunday of Advent Advent is the season of hope.  Advent is also about being aware.  Advent is the time to walk in the Light of the Lord. * Nugget from Fr. Maher

Beirut, Lebanon, Nov 30, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV urged Lebanon’s leaders to embrace tenacity, dialogue, and a renewed commitment to the common good during an address at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on Sunday, continuing his weeklong apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon.

The trip, focused on Christian unity, regional stability, and the Church’s mission in the Middle East, has taken the Holy Father from historic encounters in Istanbul to a nation still recovering from political crisis and the 2023–2024 war.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” the pope began, adding that peace “takes tenacity” and “perseverance to protect and nurture life.” His remarks came as Lebanon seeks stability after years of political paralysis, economic collapse, and the lingering trauma of regional conflict.

The Presidential Palace, overlooking Beirut and built in 1956, hosted its first papal address since Parliament elected Joseph Aoun on Jan. 9 as Lebanon’s 14th president after more than two years without a head of state. A Maronite Christian and career army officer born in Beirut in 1964, Aoun welcomed Pope Leo for a ceremony that included a traditional dabke dance and the planting of a “cedar of friendship” in the palace gardens alongside Vatican and Maronite Church leaders.

Pope Leo acknowledged the difficulty of governing “in circumstances that are highly complex, conflictual, and uncertain,” but praised the resilience of the Lebanese people. “You are a people who do not give up,” he said, noting the many who work for peace quietly each day.

He described Lebanon as “a community of communities, united by a common language: hope,” at a time when many parts of the world face rising pessimism, instability, and decisions made “to the detriment of the common good.” Despite the burden of crisis and what he called “an economy that kills,” he said Lebanon has repeatedly shown its capacity to “start again.”

The pope urged the country’s leaders to remain close to their people, emphasize the role of youth and civil society, and resist reducing national life to competing interests. “The common good is more than the sum of many interests,” he said.

Reconciliation, he stressed, is indispensable. Wounds — personal and collective — require time and courage to heal, he said, warning that without this process “we would remain stuck, each imprisoned by our own pain.” Dialogue, even amid misunderstandings, is “the path.”

Pope Leo spoke of the sorrow caused by emigration and the courage required to remain or return. He highlighted the contributions of women, whom he called uniquely gifted in “the work of peacemaking.”

Closing his address, the pope reminded Lebanon that peace is not only a human achievement but also a gift that shapes the heart and teaches people to “harmonize our steps with those of others.” Peace, he said, “is a desire and a vocation; it is a gift and a work in progress.”

Following the ceremony at Baabda, Pope Leo was scheduled to travel to Harissa, where he will stay at the Apostolic Nunciature. On Monday morning he will begin his day with a prayer visit to the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf at the Monastery of St. Maroun in Annaya.