The National Shrine of St. John Neumann at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia. | Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jan 5, 2026 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Every Jan. 5 the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Neumann, … […]
Arthur Brooks gives a keynote address at SEEK 2026 on Jan. 4, 2026. | Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA
Jan 4, 2026 / 23:20 pm (CNA).
New York Times bestselling author and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks encouraged attendees at SEEK 2026 to resist the temptation as missionaries to “fight fire with fire.”
In his Jan. 4 keynote speech in Columbus, Ohio, Brooks said the world “is not just a cold world,” but “a world that attacks you.” In this context, he said, it can be challenging not to fight back.
However, he said, “your job isn’t to win arguments, it’s to win a soul.”
Brooks teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Business and has written multiple books on finding happiness and meaning in life, including From Strength to Strength and Build the Life You Want, which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey. He also writes a column in The Atlantic called “How to Build a Life.”
Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Denver and Fort Worth, Texas for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by FOCUS.
“The spirit of the missionary will take you into the heart of a culture war,” Brooks said. “And in that culture war, you won’t win with violence…as you can win with love.” Brooks recounted his experience giving a talk in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2014, for an audience he said was “a very ideologically oriented group.”
According to Brooks, he was the only speaker out of the 15 present who was not a presidential candidate. He said that during his address, he told his audience, “You’ve been hearing from political candidates who want your vote. And what they’re telling you is that you’re right and the people who disagree with you are stupid people and hate America, but I want you to remember something. Those people, they’re your neighbors, and they’re your family…It’s not that they hate America, it’s that they disagree with you.”
When acting as a missionary, he said, the goal is to persuade people. “If you want to persuade them, you can’t do that with hatred, because nobody has ever been insulted into agreement,” Brooks said.
Brooks concluded by telling about a retreat center that he and his wife, Esther, visit when they give marriage preparation. Inside the chapel of the retreat center, he said, there is a sign over the door to exit the chapel that reads, “You are now entering mission territory.”
“So as you leave this beautiful, beautiful gathering tomorrow, the signs on the door of your hotel or this conference facility, any place that you find yourself as you leave this city, and effectively for the last time tomorrow, is that you’re entering mission territory,” Brooks said. “Let’s set the world on fire together.”
Katie Tangeman, a sophomore at Northwest Missouri State University, said she came away from Brooks’ talk motivated to “just take a step back whenever I’m feeling frustrated or annoyed with somebody, or if they’re attacking me, to just see them as a beloved son or daughter of God and approach them with love instead of the contempt and hate that [Brooks] was talking about.”
“Because that’s not being a good Christian,” she added.
“I want to say the biggest thing I took away from Arthur Brooks’ talk tonight, his keynote speech, [is] that you can change the trajectory of how a conversation goes by battling it with kindness in a way,” said Andrew Stuart, an agricultural business major, also at Northwest Missouri State.
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Trevor Williams delivers against the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park on May 2, 2023. | Credit: Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images.
Jan 4, 2026 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
Catholic college athletes at… […]
Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the recitation of the Angelus on January 4, 2026. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jan 4, 2026 / 10:20 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV said Christian hope “is not based on optimistic forecasts or human calculations,” but on God’s decision to share humanity’s path so that no one is alone on life’s journey.
Speaking Jan. 4 from the window of the Apostolic Palace to hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square despite the rain, the pope said the foundation of Christian hope is “God’s Incarnation,” pointing to the day’s Gospel reading from the Prologue of St. John: “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (Jn 1:14).
On the Second Sunday after Christmas, before reciting the Angelus, Leo urged believers to rethink their faith and avoid an abstract or distant spirituality. “He is not a distant deity in a perfect heaven above us, but a God who is nearby and inhabits our fragile earth, who becomes present in the faces of our brothers and sisters, and reveals himself in the circumstances of daily life,” he said.
The pope also underscored that the Incarnation calls for a concrete and consistent commitment, including examining whether one’s spirituality and the ways faith is expressed are “truly incarnate.” “God has become flesh; therefore, there is no authentic worship of God without care for humanity,” he said, linking Christian faith to solidarity with those who suffer.
After the Angelus, Leo reiterated his closeness to those affected by the New Year’s Eve fire in a bar in the Alpine town of Crans-Montana, Switzerland, where young people had been celebrating. Swiss authorities have confirmed at least 40 dead and about 115 injured, many of them seriously.
“I wish to express once again my closeness to those suffering as a result of the tragedy in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and to assure them of my prayers for the young people who died, for the injured, and for their families,” the pope said.
He also said he was following developments in Venezuela “with deep concern,” and that “the good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration.” His remarks came a day after news of the U.S. capture and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The pope urged that the country’s sovereignty and rule of law be guaranteed.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been adapted by CNA.
Credit: JCDH/Shutterstock.
Jan 4, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).
With the signing of the law that recognizes that “the human being in gestation or the unborn child is a natural person,” Puerto Rico concluded 2025 with historic achievements in the defen… […]
Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the recitation of the Angelus on January 4, 2026. In his message after the prayer, the pope called for respecting Venezuela’s sovereignty and constitution following the capture by U.S. forces of the country’s President Nicolás Maduro. / Screenshot: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jan 4, 2026 / 06:51 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV expressed deep concern over the situation in Venezuela and called for the country’s national sovereignty to be fully respected, one day after a U.S. operation ended with the capture and arrest of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“With a heart full of concern I follow the evolution of the situation in Venezuela,” the pope said, underscoring that “the good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail above any other consideration.”
At the end of the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV spoke about the situation in Venezuela, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States under President Donald Trump. “With a heart full of concern I follow the developments… the good of the beloved Venezuelan people must… pic.twitter.com/81BlY0Sv4A
— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) January 4, 2026
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the recitation of the Angelus, Leo XIV insisted on the need to “overcome violence” and called for “embarking on paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the country’s sovereignty.”
The Holy Father also pointed to the importance of “ensuring the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution” and of “respecting the human and civil rights of each and every person.”
He further urged working together to “build a serene future of collaboration, stability, and concordia.”
The pontiff emphasized that this effort must be carried out “with special attention to the poorest, who suffer because of the difficult economic situation.”
Finally, the pope invited Catholics to unite in prayer for Venezuela, entrusting this intention “to the intercession of Our Lady of Coromoto and of Saints José Gregorio Hernández and Sister Carmen Rendiles,” canonized last year.
The pope’s remarks come at a moment of maximum political and international tension for Venezuela following the capture of President Maduro and his wife, and Maduro’s imminent prosecution on U.S. soil on drug trafficking charges.
Hours earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said a second wave of attacks was planned if forces in the country offered resistance. “We are going to govern Venezuela until there is a safe transition,” he said at a press conference.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice has ordered that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assume the presidency due to Maduro’s “forced absence.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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