Catholic Nutshell News: Wednesday 11/5/25
Topics include: ‘Jesus without Church’ paradox; Mass attendance falls; More on rejecting Mary as ‘co-redemptrix’; & Catholics react to frozen children (IVF) encased in jewelry
“Here was an almond tree in bloom before me”
Today's sources are the CRUX, Catholic Culture, National Catholic Register, Vatican News, The Pillar, Aleteia, and CNA. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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Catholic News Agency
Study explores ‘Jesus without Church’ paradox
By Tessa Gervasini, November 4, 2025
The number of people who believe their faith does not depend on attending Mass has increased as more Catholics are cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus, according ACS Technologies, a church management software and data analysis company, which investigated the trends in “American Beliefs Study: Religious Preferences and Practices.” The research revealed the percentage of Catholics who say they have a personal relationship with Jesus jumped from 61% in 2021 to 68% in 2025. There was also an increase in respondents who said belief in Jesus does not require participation in Mass, increasing from 68% to 71%. Nearly half of Catholic respondents reported irregular Mass attendance. The most common reasons people reported were that religion is too focused on money, COVID-19, religious people are too judgmental, and they do not trust religious leaders or organized religion.
Catholic News Agency
Mass attendance falls: New Jersey archdiocese to merge parishes
By Hannah Hiester, November 4, 2025
The Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, could consolidate several parishes as early as 2027 due to a priest shortage and declining Mass attendance. The Bergen Record reported that Maria Margiotta, the diocesan executive director of communications, said the mergers are the result of a diocesan review launched in June by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark. The archdiocese is now evaluating individual parishes’ perceptions of their “long-term sustainability.” A more concrete plan for the parishes’ future is expected by summer 2026. According to the Bergen Record, the archdiocese has closed 29 parishes since 1990 and shut down 15 Catholic schools since 2020. Margiotta said that “viable parishes may choose to merge beginning in 2027, based on readiness.”
Catholic Culture
Tanzania’s bishops denounce government oppression
By Federico Piana, November 4, 2025
Quoting a story from L’Osservatore Romano, the secretary-general of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference denounced “the systematic violation of fundamental human rights” in his nation, “through the kidnapping and killing of politicians and those who opposed the government.” The bishops there “called for national prayers and condemned the disappearances, kidnappings, and the abduction of politicians and other opposition party representatives,” said Father Charles Kitima. “The episcopal conference even wrote open letters condemning these acts and telling the government that it must sit at the negotiating table and engage in dialogue with the opposition political parties.” The East African nation of 67.5 million (map) is 56% Christian (22% Catholic), 33% Muslim, and 10% ethnic religionist.
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Aleteia
Further explanation on Vatican rejecting Mary as ‘co-redemptrix’
By Kathleen N. Hattrup, November 4, 2025
The recently released document, The Mother of the Faithful People of God, released by the Vatican, “responds to numerous requests and proposals that have reached the Holy See in recent decades.” It rejects the term “co-redemptrix,” saying “The main problem in interpreting those titles as applied to the Virgin Mary is how one should understand her association with Christ’s work of Redemption — that is, ‘what is the meaning of Mary’s unique cooperation in the plan of salvation?’” the document goes on to explain how the title “co-redemptrix” is problematic. And it warns against a false understanding of the term “mediatrix of all graces.” The Note draws heavily from the Church Fathers, various saints, and recent popes, and especially Scripture. The Note insists that titles for Mary cannot confuse Christ’s unique role. Scripture is clear: “the Incarnate Word’s role is exclusive and unique.”
The Pillar
Where is Pope Leo on reforming Opus Dei?
By JD Flynn & Edgar Beltrán, November 3, 2025
Opus Dei — “Work of God” — is an international Catholic institution founded in Spain in 1928 by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, who was canonized in 2002. The institution, originally a secular institute, was approved as the first and as yet only personal prelature in the Catholic Church in 1982 — a category created to accommodate it in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The personal prelature of Opus Dei has been undergoing a canonical reform for the past three years, following two motu proprios by Pope Francis calling for changes to its canonical structure. But while superiors of the Work, as it is informally known, handed in to the Holy See proposals for revisions to its statutes in June, there have been no official updates from the Vatican on how they have been received. But amid media rumors touting dramatic changes to the prelature’s structure, Vatican sources told The Pillar that there has been no definitive resolution, and that Pope Leo XIV has yet to weigh in on the future of the Church’s only personal prelature.
Vatican News
The Amazon nears the ‘point of no return’
By Alexandra Sirgant, November 4, 2025
The Amazon rainforest continues to edge closer to the “point of no return,” beyond which the effects of deforestation and global warming will become irreversible, said Jhan-Carlo Espinoza, a Franco-Peruvian researcher at the Institute of Research and Development (IRD). The Amazon spans nine countries — from the Brazilian rainforest to the Andean highlands of Peru and Bolivia, across Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. A treasure trove of biodiversity, the Amazon covers 6.9 million square kilometers and is home to more than 34 million people who depend on its natural resources and on the world’s most powerful river for their livelihoods. It is on the banks of the Amazon River’s mouth, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean — in the heart of Belém, northeastern Brazil — that the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) on climate change will take place from November 10 to 21. For deforestation, the tipping point is estimated at 40%.
Agenzia Fides
Seminarian dies at the hands of Nigerian kidnappers, another freed
By Agenzia Fides, November 5, 2025
One of the three seminarians, aged 15 to 16, who were kidnapped on July 10, Emmanuel Alabi, has died after the attack on the Minor Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Ivianokpodi, in the Diocese of Auchi, Edo State (southern Nigeria). One seminarian, Japhet Jesse, was released on July 18. A member of the security forces, Christopher Aweneghieme, was killed in the attack (see Fides, 12/7/2025). The third kidnapped seminarian, Joshua Aleobua, has just been released. “We are grateful to God for the safe release of Japhet Jesse much earlier and, most recently, Joshua Aleobua, who regained his freedom on 4 November,” the statement, signed by Father Linus Imoedemhe, Deputy Director of Social Communications for the Diocese of Auchi, reads. “However, with deep sorrow, we announce the passing of Seminarian Emmanuel Alabi, who lost his life in the course of the ordeal.”
National Catholic Register
Mayor-elect Mamdani of NY: Pro abortion & pro gender ideology
By Tyler Arnold/CNA, November 5, 2025
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who promotes gender ideology and abortion access, won his bid for mayor of New York City on Nov. 4, decisively defeating his two main opponents: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and talk show host Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani, set to be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2026, will be the city’s first Muslim mayor. Mamdani embraced gender ideology during his campaign, vowing to provide $65 million in tax funding for hormone therapy drugs and surgeries as a response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to strip federal funding from health care providers that provide such drugs and surgeries to children. He also intends to create “an office of LGBTQIA+ affairs” and declare New York City a sanctuary for “LGBTQIA+” people. His campaign supported abortion access, promising to double city tax funding for the city’s Abortion Access Hub. He has also vowed to “protect New Yorkers from” pro-life pregnancy centers, which he accused of spreading “false or deceptive information.”
From Loop & Agency to Pillar Post for 11/5/25
CatholicVote: Daily LOOP
Read daily news and political impact stories at the “LOOP”
Elections and politics matter. The LOOP gives you daily gems on the news that seek “to renew our country and culture.” CatholicVote’s advertised mission is “To inspire every Catholic in America to live out the truths of our faith in public life.”
WHAT YESTERDAY’S RESULTS MEAN AHEAD OF MIDTERMS - Many analysts view yesterday’s election results — including wins by Democrats Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City — as bellwethers of the challenges each major party will face heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
CHINA BACKS NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT AMID REPORTED GENOCIDE - The Chinese government declared its firm support for Nigeria’s leadership yesterday, warning against foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs just days after President Donald Trump threatened possible military action to stop the persecution of Christians in the African nation.
ADMIN REVIEWING ICE DETAINEE ACCESS TO SACRAMENTS - Federal officials are reviewing detainees’ access to the sacraments, Bishop Robert Barron said Nov. 4, after he raised concerns in response to reports that clergy were denied entry to bring the Eucharist to detainees at an ICE facility near Chicago.
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — November 5, 2025
The Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, and up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the happenings of the Holy See to anyone with internet access.
Amid loneliness crisis, ‘men need a mission,’ Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly says - Nov 5, 2025 - By Kate Quiñones - Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus said that young men are “lost” and need “purpose and mission.”
Mother of 6 brings child-centric vision to Lithuania’s justice ministry - Nov 5, 2025 - By Bryan Lawrence Gonsalves - Kristina Zamarytė-Sakavičienė, a mother of six and pro-life advocate, has been appointed Lithuania’s vice minister of justice, drawing praise from the country’s Catholic community..
Fact check: Does defunding abortion providers take primary care from patients? - Nov 4, 2025 - By Kate Quiñones - Abortion providers prioritize abortion over primary care, causing closures. Community health clinics across the country continue to offer care without providing abortions.
The Pillar
Pillar Post for Tuesday, 11/4/25
The Pillar offers a news summary and a capsule take on Catholic News. Here’s Ed. Condon’s analysis of the news from a few weeks ago in the Pillar Post:
The Pillar talked with Cardinal Victor Fernandez this morning about how the DDF’s doctrinal note came to be - Fernández said the document presented Nov. 4 was substantially the same as the version approved and voted upon by the DDF in March. The document’s presentation took place in the conference hall of the Jesuit Curia because “the document did not lend itself to dialogue between journalists and the dicastery.”
The bishops of Germany had an eventful last week - Cardinal Reinhard Marx was found in an independent report to have led a diocese marked by inadequate communication with law enforcement on abuse allegations, “old habits of ‘pastoral leniency’” toward perpetrators, and limited concrete assistance toward victims.
After the Chicago fire of October 8, 1871, Fr. Arnold Damen, SJ took to his knees in Holy Family, on the city’s West Side and promised to Our Lady of Perpetual Help that if she spared his church and his people from more anguish, he would light inside seven candles — to remain always lit as a sign of his devotion and gratitude— at his parish statue of her. He did, and seven candles have remained lit since then.
Nutshell reflections for 11/5/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection Audio - November 5, 2025
Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
The Obscure, Forgotten, and Undiscovered
‘Ideas often suggest themselves to us spontaneously’
By James K. Hanna, November 4, 2025
I’ve been diving deep into the journals of Thomas Merton and Jack Kerouac for a couple of years. Both were inveterate diarists. Between their journals, books, letters (many of which are in published book form), one wonders if these guys ever slept. Their journals are things they wanted to tell themselves, so why would one want to read their journals? The answer, for me, is found in an essay written by a young Harvard student, a sophomore, in 1834. It was titled “Shall We Keep Journals?” “As those pieces which the painter sketches for his own amusement in his leisure hours are often superior to his most elaborate productions, so it is that ideas often suggest themselves to us spontaneously, as it were, far surpassing in beauty those which arise in the mind upon applying ourselves to any particular subject.” That young Harvard student was Henry Thoreau.
CRUX
Leo XIV says he wants justice in Rupnik case
By Christopher R. Altieri, November 5, 2025
A journalist outside Castel Gandolfo asked Pope Leo XIV about the case of disgraced former Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik, who is credibly accused of abusing dozens of victims – most of them women religious – over a period of thirty years. He asked about the presence of Rupnik’s art in important churches and shrines around the world, including the Vatican, which victims have said are traumatic for them and for others, as well as scandalous. “Certainly,” Leo said, “in many places, it’s precisely because of the need to be sensitive to those who have presented cases of being victims, the artwork has been covered up.” Leo said he wants to see justice done in the Rupnik case. He noted that the cleric — a former Jesuit currently incardinated in the Koper diocese of his native Slovenia — is currently on trial under Church law. He added, “I know it’s very difficult for the victims to ask that they be patient.”
National Catholic Register
Catholics react to frozen children encased in necklaces and rings
By Alyssa Murphy, November 4, 2025
The Catholic Church has long condemned the IVF process and the production of these embryos. Still, those warnings have gone unheeded, and there are now an estimated 1 million frozen embryos in the U.S. alone — giving rise to profound and continuing moral dilemmas, including this disturbing fad of embryo jewelry that has been around since 2017. Lila Rose of Live Action recently brought attention to the “dystopian” bling. Catholic ethicist Aaron Kheriaty also reacted to these grim keepsakes, likening them to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. “Behold, our Brave New World of opulent, debonair nihilism. Human embryos encased in jewelry — a shiny memento of having created human beings in a lab and then destroyed them,” Kheriaty wrote on his X account. The U.K.-based company behind all of this, Blossom Keepsake, is confused about the real business of death it is involved in.
Catholic Exchange
A Polish crucifix invites us to forgive
By Paul Suski, November 5, 2025
In 1525, Jerzy Baryczka, a wealthy Warsaw merchant and alderman on his way back from Nuremberg, brought with him a Gothic crucifix of exceptional beauty to present to what is now St. John’s Archcathedral in Warsaw, Poland. The figure of Christ is life-sized, with real hair and a crown of thorns fashioned from blackthorn. His eyes are closed, his face gaunt, his cheeks sunken; the sculptor has captured the moment just after death. The statue was executed in accordance with medieval descriptions of Christ’s passion and death. Never in a million years did the maker imagine that, across centuries, children and the elderly, townsfolk and peasants, nobles and princes, priests and bishops, deputies and senators, kings and presidents—even two canonized metropolitans and two popes: Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II—would all bend the knee before this precious crucifix!
Image of Almonds by Monfocus from Pixabay
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