Saint Paul Catholic Parish, Athens

Crittenton Hospital Medical Center in Rochester, Michigan belongs to the network of Ascension Health facilities in 19 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Denver Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 19:13 pm (CNA).

Ascension Health, the largest chain of Catholic hospitals in the U.S., is investigating a cyberattack, according to a May 9 press release. 

“On Wednesday, May 8, we detected unusual activity on select technology network systems, which we now believe is due to a cybersecurity event,” Ascension indicated. “At this time we continue to investigate the situation.”

The cyberattack had affected “access to some systems” and caused “disruption to clinical operations,” the press release noted. 

The impact of the cyberattack is not yet clear, and Ascension — the fourth-largest hospital chain in the U.S. — is working to determine whether patients’ data was stolen. 

“Together, we are working to fully investigate what information, if any, may have been affected by the situation,” the release stated. “Should we determine that any sensitive information was affected, we will notify and support those individuals in accordance with all relevant regulatory and legal guidelines.”

The hospital chain has notified the authorities and is working with a third-party expert, Mandiant, to “assist in the investigation and remediation process,” but whether any sensitive information was stolen is unknown.

“We responded immediately, initiated our investigation and activated our remediation efforts,” the release noted. “Access to some systems have been interrupted as this process continues.”

Ascension noted that it is working to minimize any disruption to its clinical operations.

“Our care teams are trained for these kinds of disruptions and have initiated procedures to ensure patient care delivery continues to be safe and as minimally impacted as possible,” the statement read. “There has been a disruption to clinical operations, and we continue to assess the impact and duration of the disruption.”

This is not the first health organization to experience cyberattacks in recent weeks. UnitedHealth Group in April paid ransom to protect its patient data after a February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. 

With a deeply rooted Catholic legacy, Ascension credits its foundation to several religious orders that came together to sponsor its beginnings, including the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Nazareth, and three other religious groups. There are now 140 Ascension hospitals in the U.S., and Ascension provided $2.2 billion in care to people living in poverty in the fiscal year 2023, according to its website.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry addresses young pilgrims to the March for Life from his Nebraska district outside the U.S. Capitol in January 2019. / Credit: Christine Rousselle/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Federal prosecutors have refiled charges against pro-life former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry in relation to allegations that he made false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) amid an investigation into allegedly illegal campaign donations received by his 2016 campaign. 

Fortenberry was indicted on one count of falsifying and concealing material facts and one count of making false statements. He is accused of lying to the federal agents about his campaign receiving $30,000 in illegal campaign donations from a foreign national. 

The federal indictment accuses the former congressman of taking the money despite knowing that the donor was a foreign national and that receiving the money would violate the law. 

Fortenberry had previously been tried and convicted of these same crimes in March 2022, but the conviction was overturned in December 2023 after an appellate court ruled that he had been charged in an improper venue. Although he was tried in Los Angeles, the court ruled that he should have been tried in Washington, D.C., or Nebraska. 

The new charges were filed in Washington, D.C. 

Under the previous conviction, Fortenberry did not receive prison time but only probation and community service. 

Chad Kolton, a spokesperson for Fortenberry, said in a statement that the “case should never have been brought in the first place, and it shouldn’t have been pursued again,” according to Nebraska Public Media.

“The man the Biden Justice Department is about to spend massive amounts of time and money prosecuting for a second time,” Kolton said, “was described by the District Court judge in his previous trial as ‘by all accounts … a man of exceptional character. And when I say “by all accounts,” I don’t mean simply based upon one-sided submissions on the part of the defense. I mean by all accounts, including the evidence that was presented by the government at trial.’”

“This is a disgraceful misuse of prosecutorial power and an egregious waste of resources at the time when the Justice Department is letting actual crime run rampant,” Kolton added. 

Fortenberry is a former Republican lawmaker from Nebraska from 2005 until 2022; he resigned one week after his conviction. He had an A+ rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and introduced the Care for Her Act in 2021, which would have facilitated support to women who face unplanned pregnancies. He also co-signed a congressional amicus brief that urged the United States Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The former lawmaker represented Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District and was replaced by current Republican Rep. Mike Flood during a special election.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Chavez Day event at Union Station on March 30, 2024, in Los Angeles. / Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 17:25 pm (CNA).

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has endorsed completely unrestricted abortion “even if it’s full term.” 

“My belief is that we should leave it to the woman, we shouldn’t have government involved,” Kennedy said on an episode of “The Sage Steele Show” aired on Wednesday. 

Steele, who is a Catholic, pressed Kennedy further on whether he holds this position for the entirety of pregnancy, saying that “as a Catholic that definitely is a concern with many practicing Catholics.” 

Kennedy responded by confirming that he would leave the decision to the pregnant woman “even if it’s full term.” 

“I don’t think it’s ever OK,” Kennedy added. “I think we should do everything in our power to make sure that never happens, everything that we can do. But I think ultimately, nobody sets out to do that and there are always some kind of extenuating circumstances that would make a mother make that kind of choice, a terrible, terrible choice which is, you know, you can’t overstate how bad that is, but ultimately, I think we have to trust the woman.” 

He admitted that he believes “there is a very good argument that the state has an interest in protecting a fully formed fetus,” but went on to say: “I come down to the fact that I don’t trust the state and I think we need to trust the woman.” 

Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, a tech entrepreneur and health activist, meanwhile, was surprised by this stance, saying in another episode of “The Sage Steele Show” that unrestricted abortion until birth “is not Bobby’s position as I understand it.”

“My understanding is that he absolutely believes in limits on abortion, and we’ve talked about this,” Shanahan said, adding: “I don’t know where that came from.”

Stefanie Spear, a spokesperson for Kennedy’s campaign, confirmed with CNA that though Kennedy believes “late-term abortions are horrifying,” he “believes the mother has the final say, and moral responsibility, in such decisions.” 

Spear also confirmed that if elected president, Kennedy, like Biden, would support efforts to “codify” Roe v. Wade by passing a federal law to overrule state pro-life measures.

She said that this legislation “is needed to protect body autonomy.”

She added that Kennedy is “committed to reducing the abortion rate by supporting mothers and families and implementing universally affordable childcare.” 

Kennedy’s independent run has attracted a considerable amount of traction. Among Kennedy, Trump, and Biden, Kennedy is the only candidate to have a positive favorability rating. In terms of national support, he is currently polling at 10.1%, well behind former President Donald Trump, who leads at 41.3%, and incumbent President Joe Biden, who is polling at 40.7%, according to the latest poll by 538. 

A Catholic and the nephew of the first Catholic president in U.S. history, Kennedy has said that his relationship with God is “the centerpiece of my life.” 

In an interview with EWTN in April, Kennedy said that he believes “every abortion is a tragedy” and proposed a plan to subsidize day care “to make sure that no American mother ever has an abortion of a child that she wants to bring to term because she’s worried about her financial capacity to raise that child.”

“I would like to maximize choice but also minimize the number of abortions that occur every year,” Kennedy said.

He also said he would not reverse the Biden administration’s approval of expanding access to the abortion pill in stores like CVS and Walgreens. However, he added that “we ought to know what the side effects are, what the risks are, [and] what the benefits [are].”

This article was updated on May 10, 2024.

Notre Dame University. / Credit: Matt B. via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

CNA Staff, May 9, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

As anti-Israel protests sweep the nation, 17 protesters were arrested last week at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, for trespassing in violation of the university’s code of conduct as part of an anti-Israel protest. 

Colleges across the U.S. have seen classes canceled or made remote with some top universities canceling graduations in response to the anti-Israel protests and encampments. President Joe Biden condemned the “ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world” on Wednesday in an address on Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

Notre Dame joined the ranks of colleges such as the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and Columbia University in New York where student protests have been rampant. Protests at Notre Dame began at the end of April and continued this week, with a rally on Sunday just off campus. 

Protests have continued despite the arrests of 17 students on May 2 at about 10 p.m. in the pouring rain, according to the local newspaper The Observer. Earlier that day, students had attempted to establish an encampment on campus, but Notre Dame police confiscated the tent. After being asked to leave by school administrators, police arrested the students for criminal trespassing. Most students were released shortly with court dates set for June 28, though three protesters charged with resisting arrest had hearings on May 3. 

Days after the arrests, protesters gathered in front of the Notre Dame campus on May 5 at the cross-section of Notre Dame Avenue and Angela Boulevard for an “All eyes on Palestine rally” organized by the organization “Occupation Free ND.” 

Occupation Free ND published its “demands,” asking the university for the “disclosure of invested fund[s] accompanied by genuine efforts towards divestment from weapons manufacturing companies” as well as requesting “Academic Boycott and Ethical Engagement with Universities in Israel” in a post on X. The post also recommended that protesters wear face masks and cover any identifying tattoos and jewelry to the rally. 

Footage by local news station 16WNDU showed protesters holding signs that had slogans such as, “Ceasefire now,” “We’re a Catholic University funded by blood money,” and “Free Palestine.” 

These protests began at the end of April during the celebration of Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins’ retirement. 

Protesters demanded transparency from the university on its investments in military contractor companies, that it reevaluate the university’s ties to Israeli universities, and that the university alter a 1969 rule that requires protests receive approval from the administration in addition to other regulations, according to a statement by Occupation Free ND on X. 

They also called for revoking a “15-minute protest rule,” which was designed in the wake of disruptive protests in the 1960s to prevent protests from impinging on regular campus activity, according to the university’s website.

While Notre Dame has prevented the protests from intervening with school activities, the same cannot be said for other elite colleges and universities.

UCLA announced the cancellation of its largest graduation ceremony last week, while Columbia has reverted to online classes in addition to canceling graduation earlier this week. This has had its greatest impact on the students of the Class of 2024, many of whom lost their high school graduations in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notre Dame did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

The St. John Paul II matching rosary and necklace bundle from Abundantly Yours. / Credit: Courtesy of Abundantly Yours

CNA Staff, May 9, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

With Mother’s Day just around the corner it’s time to find that special gift that tells the moms in your life just how much they mean to you. And what better way to do that than to support businesses run by Catholic mothers themselves? This year we’ve selected a handful of these shops and put together a list of great gift ideas.

The Little Rose Shop

Inspired by St. John Paul II’s letter to artists, The Little Rose Shop brings faith into everyday life. Each item has been intentionally designed by the shop’s owner, Raquel Rose, with the hope of building up every woman’s domestic church. This shop offers great gifts for the mom in your life who loves to decorate with faith-inspired items. You can find beautiful prints, wall rosaries, blankets, candles, and even fabric and DIY kits any craftsy mom would love. 

Mother and Home Market

As the name of this shop suggests, it’s a one-stop-shop for “all things mom.” At Mother and Home Market you can find just about anything a Catholic mother would love to receive on Mother’s Day including jewelry, home decor, journals and stationeries, drinkware, and even cookie molds. You can also find gifts for expectant mothers such as Catholic birthing affirmation cards and a Fiat diaper bag.

Founded by Stephanie Weinert, this shop is “inspiring heaven in your home and grace in your motherhood with theologically rich, heirloom quality goods and gifts.” Especially for Mother’s Day, Mother and Home has a wide range of gifts mom would love including the Marian Market Basket and Scarf, and the Zelie apron and mother and child matching aprons are the perfect gift for the moms who love spending time in the kitchen.

Abundantly Yours

Whitney Haahr is the Catholic mom and founder of Abundantly Yours, a shop whose goal is to point others closer to Christ. She grew up making rosaries with her grandmother and this sparked her idea to start her own shop of handmade rosaries, along with other products such as jewelry, coffee sleeves, and apparel. This Mother’s Day Abundantly Yours is offering saint bundles, which include a matching rosary and necklace. The saints featured in the bundles are St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Padre Pio, and St. John Paul II.

Be a Heart 

Striving to offer “hope to the hopeless and bring light into the shadows,” Be a Heart designs products for all stages of life. The company started as a simple blog, but through promptings of the Holy Spirit, Erica Campbell, the company’s founder, felt called to design her own products. The new Our Lady Belt Bag is a great gift for a mom on the go. The bag features a gold Marian cross and a Marian blue lining. It’s easily adjustable and lightweight, making it a great choice for carrying all the daily essentials. 

Santa Clara Design

If a mom in your life loves to decorate her house with Catholic art then look no further than Santa Clara Design. This Catholic business has gorgeous prints that will add the beauty of God to any room in the house. Lauren Gulde, a mother of five, runs her shop from her home and prides herself in offering affordable ways to create sacred spaces no matter where we live.

As St. Teresa of Calcutta said, “Motherhood is the gift of God to women.” This Mother’s Day, let’s give mom something that will truly show her what a blessing she is.

This article was first published in May 2023 and has been updated.

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. / Credit: Peter Pinedo/CNA

CNA Staff, May 9, 2024 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of San Antonio says Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller “deeply regrets” that some recent social media posts on the war in Gaza, several of which were deleted Thursday, have “caused confusion and misunderstanding.”

In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, García-Sillar expressed solidarity with Palestinians while also appearing to conflate the Jewish people with the state of Israel. 

“Jewish brothers and sisters stop killing Palestinians. STOP!” the archbishop wrote in one now-deleted post. 

In another post, now deleted, García-Sillar wrote: “Antisemitism is condemned. To save the Palestinians is our hope.”

“As we pray & are in solidarity with the Palestinians, does not mean antisemitism,” García-Sillar wrote in one of the posts, which as of Thursday remains on his X page. 

“Peace is the goal. It is insane to try to get Hamas killing thousands of people & leading many people to starvation. That region is part of salvation history. It is hard to see it in an endless war.”

Archdiocesan spokesman Jordan McMorrough told CNA Thursday that García-Sillar “has consistently called for an end to violence in Gaza and around the world.” He also noted that the archbishop has engaged in outreach to local Jewish communities. 

“Archbishop Gustavo has preached strongly and emphatically against antisemitism through the years, including many public statements in the media abhorring antisemitic acts,” McMorrough said. 

“Archbishop Gustavo invites everyone to join him in praying for healing for all those who have been harmed and injured in this devastating conflict, and for the repose of the souls of those who have died so tragically.”

Following the lead of Pope Francis, the bishops of the United States as a whole, as well as numerous individual U.S. bishops, have called for peace amid Israel’s now seven-month-old war in Gaza. 

Attorney General of Massachusetts Andrea Joy Campbell speaks onstage during the pro-abortion EMILYs List's 2023 Pre-Oscars Breakfast at on March 7, 2023, in Beverly Hills, California. / Credit: Araya Doheny/Getty Images for EMILYs List

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

A group of at least 17 Democratic attorneys general has formed a “reproductive rights working group” to expand abortion access and crack down on pregnancy resource centers across the country, according to reporting by The 19th, a pro-abortion news source. 

The group is being led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell. She said on Thursday that the group will serve as a “united effort” to “protect access to abortion across our country.” 

In an interview with The 19th, Campbell said that the group held its first meeting this week and had 17 state attorneys general in attendance. She said they plan to use member attorney general offices’ resources to advance “reproductive health care.” 

“Every office has different resources and human capital,” she told The 19th. “If we come together across offices in this coalition and working group, we can make sure everyone has what we need as we take on this collective fight.”

Campbell said the group will be prioritizing the use of abortion “shield laws.” These laws provide legal protection to doctors and other entities that provide abortions or mail abortion pills to women in states where they are banned.

Chemical abortion pills now account for 63% of all U.S. abortions. The two-pill regimen works by a pregnant woman first ingesting mifepristone, which cuts off nutrient flow to her unborn baby, and then ingesting misoprostol, which expels the dead child.

Over half of the states in the U.S. have restrictions on chemical abortion pills, while some states — such as Texas, North Carolina, and Arizona — have prohibited mailing the drugs altogether. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, several states have passed so-called abortion “shield” laws. These laws vary in their extent and methods, but Massachusetts’ law is the only one to expressly protect chemical abortion providers from prosecution “regardless of the patient’s location.” 

Campbell and the other attorneys general in the group would like to increase the number and scope of these laws. 

She also explained that the group is aiming to increase regulation of pregnancy resource centers, like how New York Attorney General Letitia James recently did in her state. 

On May 6, James sued Heartbeat International, one of the largest pregnancy center networks in the world, and 11 other New York pregnancy centers. James is claiming that Heartbeat and the other centers are endangering and misleading women by promoting “abortion reversal” pills. 

In response, Heartbeat International has sued the New York attorney general and said that they are being “unfairly singled out” solely because they offer alternatives to abortion. 

Besides cracking down on pregnancy centers, The 19th said, the Democratic attorneys general group also plans to help attorneys general establish “reproductive justice units” within their offices to focus on providing legal expertise regarding abortion. 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about Florida’s new six-week abortion ban during an event at the Prime Osborn Convention Center on May 1, 2024, in Jacksonville, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 11:17 am (CNA).

Just six months from Election Day, the Biden-Harris administration is ramping up its campaign rhetoric and going all in on abortion.

Here’s what is going on with abortion throughout the country. 

Vice President Harris calls pro-life laws ‘immoral’ 

Over the last several weeks Vice President Kamala Harris has been touting the Biden administration’s support for unrestricted abortion on her “Reproductive Freedoms Tour.” 

At a stop in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Harris slammed states such as Texas whose pro-life laws do not allow exceptions for abortion in cases of rape and incest. 

“The idea that these so-called leaders would say even no exception for rape or incest, to say to a survivor of a crime of violence to their body, of violation to their body, that you a survivor of that don’t have a right to make a decision about what happens to your body next, that’s immoral,” Harris said.  

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff also made headlines last week when he held an event with Men4Choice in Atlanta to encourage men to advocate for abortion. 

“This is an issue of fairness to women. Women are dying,” Emhoff told NBC News. “These freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women.”

Both Harris and President Joe Biden continue to project confidence that Americans will turn out en masse to vote in favor of abortion. 

“Momentum is on our side,” Harris said at a tour stop in Jacksonville, Florida, last week. “Since Roe was overturned, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot the people of America voted for freedom.” 

New York throws out abortion amendment

On Tuesday, New York Supreme Court Judge Daniel Doyle ruled that a referendum to enshrine a right to abortion in the state’s constitution cannot appear on the ballot in November because supporters did not follow the proper procedure laid out in the state constitution. 

The text of the proposed “Equal Rights Amendment” avoids the use of the word “abortion” but was widely seen as creating a constitutional protection for women to access abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. 

“The constitution is the supreme will of the people,” Doyle said in his ruling. 

“This court cannot condone the actions taken by the Legislature in derogation of the expressed will of the people,” Doyle continued. “The Legislature’s vote … prior to receiving the opinion of the attorney general frustrated the deliberative process intended by the people in [the state constitution].”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a post on X that she intends to appeal the ruling.

Similar abortion amendments will be on the ballot in Florida, Maryland, and as many as 11 other states.

California sees sharp rise in abortions after Roe overturn

California saw a sharp increase in abortion numbers last year, with 178,300 unborn babies killed in the state in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

An increase of about 24,360 — or 16% — from 2020, this is a 10-year high for abortions in one year, according to Yahoo News. 

This comes in the first full year since the overturn of Roe v. Wade and after California further expanded abortion laws and made it easier for out-of-state women to enter to obtain abortions. 

According to Guttmacher, 5,160 out-of-state women obtained abortions in California in 2023. Though a high number, this is still well behind other states such as Illinois, which in 2023 had 36,810 out-of-state abortions, and North Carolina, which had 15,910. 

Missouri governor to defund Planned Parenthood

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced that he will sign a bill to defund Medicaid reimbursements for abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood. 

Passed by the majority-Republican state Legislature on April 25, the bill states that “no public funds shall be expended to any abortion facility, or affiliate thereof.” 

The bill also states that “any taxpayer, as well as the attorney general, shall have standing to bring a cause of action in any court or administrative agency of competent jurisdiction to enforce these provisions.” 

Abortion is only legal in cases when the mother’s life is at risk in Missouri. However, a ballot proposal legalizing abortion through viability has reached enough signatures to be included on the November ballot. 

After Parson signs the bill, the law will go into effect on Aug. 28.

Dainelys Soto, Genesis Contreras, and Daniel Soto, who arrived from Venezuela after crossing the U.S. border from Mexico, wait for dinner at a hotel provided by the Annunciation House on Sept. 22, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

CNA Staff, May 9, 2024 / 10:44 am (CNA).

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed an injunction against a Catholic nonprofit group in the state, accusing it of “systemic criminal conduct” for allegedly facilitating illegal border crossings from Mexico. 

Paxton announced the filing in a press release on his website, accusing Annunciation House in El Paso of facilitating “illegal border crossings” and of concealing “illegally present aliens from law enforcement.”

Located just a few thousand feet from the U.S.-Mexico border, Annunciation House says on its website that it serves “migrant, refugee, and economically vulnerable peoples of the border region,” primarily through “several houses of hospitality” in the region.

The group was launched in the late 1970s as a Catholic ministry that quickly became “a house of hospitality for the homeless poor,” primarily illegal immigrants. 

Paxton has been targeting Annunciation House for months, alleging that the organization has been facilitating illegal immigration. In February he filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit, asking the District Court of El Paso County to revoke the organization’s nonprofit registration and prohibit it from continuing to operate in Texas.

The district court rejected that petition in March, claiming that Paxton was seeking the closure “without regard to due process or fair play.”

On Wednesday, the attorney general claimed to have “reviewed and obtained sworn testimony” indicating that the nonprofit is engaging in illegal immigration activities.

Paxton said the group’s “own sworn testimony” as part of ongoing legal proceedings show that Annunciation House “knowingly shelters illegal aliens” and “even goes into Mexico to retrieve aliens who[m] border patrol denied.”

The Catholic group further “conceals those people in its shelters from law enforcement,” Paxton’s office alleged.

“Any [nongovernmental organization] facilitating the unlawful entry of illegal aliens into Texas is undermining the rule of law and potentially jeopardizing the safety and well-being of our citizens,” Paxton said in the press release. 

In the filing, Paxton’s office said Annunciation House “has forfeited its right to do business in this state and its registration and certificate of formation must be revoked and terminated.”

Annunciation House could not be reached for comment on Thursday morning. Attorneys representing the nonprofit were also unavailable for comment on Thursday. 

In February the organization had called Paxton’s efforts “illegal, immoral, and anti-faith,” arguing that the attorney general’s office “considers it a crime for a Catholic organization to provide shelter to refugees.”

“If the work that Annunciation House conducts is illegal — so too is the work of our local hospitals, schools, and food banks,” the group said. 

The Ascension of Jesus Christ. Giotto di Bondone, 1305. / Credit: Public domain

National Catholic Register, May 9, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Christ’s ascension is meant to help us to grow to full stature in Christ as we respond to his confidence in making us his missionaries, together with the Holy Spirit, to renew the face of the earth.

The celebration of the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is an annual opportunity for us not only to focus on heaven, where the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us (Jn 14:1-6) and on the joy that “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the human heart conceived,” which “God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9; Is 64:4), but also on the implications Jesus’ return to the Father means for each of his followers. 

Jesus could have stayed on earth until the end of time as the Good Shepherd, crisscrossing the globe after every lost sheep, saving them one by one. As he ascended, however, he placed his own mission in our hands, commanding us to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). 

He took the training wheels off our discipleship and removed any excuses we might have to pass the buck of sharing and spreading the faith. “You will be my witnesses,” he told us, “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 

His confidence and trust in us, despite all our weaknesses, is astonishing. He wanted to incorporate us into — actually entrust to us — his mission of the redemption of the world. 

But he didn’t leave us orphans (cf. Jn 14:18). 

St. Luke gives us a beautiful image and detail, that Jesus “led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven” (Lk 24:50-51).

Jesus departed in the very act of blessing us. Pope Benedict in his trilogy “Jesus of Nazareth” commented on how the risen Jesus in heaven is perpetually blessing us. 

“Jesus departs in the act of blessing,” he states. “He goes while blessing, and he remains in that gesture of blessing. His hands remain, stretched out over this world … [which] expresses Jesus’ continuing relationship to his disciples, to the world. … That is why the disciples could return home from Bethany rejoicing. In faith we know that Jesus holds his hands stretched out in blessing over us. That is the lasting motive of Christian joy.” 

Jesus is continuously blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens (cf. Eph 1:3). He’s seeking to transform us into his incarnate benediction of the world. 

The great manifestation of that blessing is the descent of the Holy Spirit, for whose renewed coming we pray in the annual decenarium from the 40th to 50th days of Easter. St. Luke recalls Jesus’ words: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). That’s the power, the blessing, that came down upon the Church on Pentecost.  

During the Last Supper, Jesus said something startling: “I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7). He was describing the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit’s presence as a blessing even greater than his own. That’s what the Church, huddling around the Blessed Virgin Mary, incessantly begs for after the Ascension.

The Holy Spirit helps us to fulfill, and not shirk, the awe-inspiring responsibility Christ has given us. This is the duty to give witness that Christ is alive, that he is the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection, and the Life, that he came to give us life to the full, so that his joy may be in us and our joy may be complete; he came to give and leave us the peace of his kingdom in a war-torn world; he came to help us and others to change our lives, to believe wholeheartedly in the Good News, and to follow him, so that where he is we also may be and so that we might recognize that God the Father loves us just as much as he loves Jesus (cf. Jn 14:6; 11:25; 10:10; 15:11; 14:27; Mk 1:15; Jn 16:27; 15:9). 

That’s a message and a mission that many no longer easily receive. 

Whether they think erroneously that science has disproven faith, or the problem of evil has refuted the possibility of a good God, or the clergy sex-abuse scandals have invalidated the Church’s witness, or the frigidity with which so many secularized Christians live their faith has revealed its incapacity to inspire, or a score of other possible reasons people cite to deaden the appeal of Christian faith and life, it’s clear that proclaiming the Gospel effectively to every creature is challenging work — but so was trying to convince down-to-earth first-century pagans and Jews that a crucified carpenter had not only risen from the dead but was the Savior of the world. The same blessing of the Holy Spirit that made their joint witness fruitful desires to give tandem testimony with us. 

One of the most effective ways to do so is through charity. 

Back in 1985, the future Pope Benedict XVI gave a radio address in which he focused on the “delightfully naïve pictures” of the Ascension in which the disciples are looking upward as Jesus is passing through the clouds and all we see are Jesus’ feet, the same feet the women wanted to grasp onto after the Resurrection. Cardinal Ratzinger commented that we need to recognize his feet and reverence them in disguise in the feet around us as we follow Christ’s example of washing the feet of others just as he cleansed the apostles’ feet in the Upper Room. 

“The true ascent of mankind,” he stated, “takes place precisely when a man learns to turn in humility to another person, bowing deeply at his feet in the position of one who would wash the feet of the other. It is only in the humility that knows how to bow down that can raise a person up.” 

In order to ascend, we need first to descend humbly in acts of corporal and spiritual works of mercy, including passing on the faith to those who don’t know it or who reject what they mistakenly believe it to be. 

Christ’s ascension is meant to lead us on an exodus not merely in the future, but here and now: an exodus from the self toward God and others, a journey from fear to trust, a passover from the flat earth of a world without God to the multidimensional reality of Christ’s kingdom. 

Christ’s ascension is meant to lift up our hearts as it helps us to drop to our knees. It is meant to help us to grow to full stature in Christ as we respond to his confidence in making us his missionaries, together with the Holy Spirit, to renew the face of the earth. It is meant to fill us, even now, with lasting joy.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.