Young people were among the crowds gathered in downtown Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 4, 2024, for the Ohio March for Life, the first such gathering to be held in the state since Ohio voters approved a sweeping constitutional amendment to expand abortion. / Credit: Rachel del Guidice
CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2024 / 17:55 pm (CNA).
Crowds of people gathered in downtown Columbus, Ohio, today for the Ohio March for Life, the first such gathering to be held in the state since Ohio voters approved a sweeping constitutional amendment to expand abortion.
Photos and videos posted on social media show marchers holding handmade signs on the theme “With Every Woman, for Every Child,” which mirrors the theme for the annual national March for Life that took place in January in Washington, D.C. The organizers of the national march — which bills itself as the world’s largest annual human rights demonstration — have also been focusing on developing state-level pro-life marches in recent years.
Speakers at this year’s Ohio march included Bishop Robert Pipta of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma and Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue.
Kevin Jorrey, director of the Diocese of Toledo’s Office for Life and Justice, told local news outlet The Blade that local communities, including churches, must be there for the most vulnerable, including young mothers.
“No matter what happens legislatively, politically, we’re out here to stand up and stand for life,” he told The Blade. “We get to be the voice for the voiceless, no matter what the political landscape is.”
Attendance figures for this year’s march have not yet been released; at last year’s march in Columbus, 5,000 people were expected.
The new constitutional amendment in Ohio, passed late last year, added a new section to the Ohio Bill of Rights in the state constitution that guarantees that “every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decision,” including, but not limited to “abortion.” Although the amendment’s language allows the state to impose some restrictions “after fetal viability,” the amendment does not establish a clear cutoff for when viability occurs.
The measure was approved by voters in Ohio by a margin of about 13 points on Nov. 7, 2023.
The Ohio Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops, had strongly opposed the amendment. The “no” campaign also received financial backing from both the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, and the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, Ohio.
Ohio has been a battleground state for abortion for the past several years. Notably, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019 signed a “heartbeat” abortion law that was later blocked in court. The state also briefly had a six-week abortion ban on the books after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which was blocked by a federal judge in October 2022.
Abortions ticked up in Ohio in 2023 compared with 2022, according to a new report from the Ohio Health Department. According to the report, the total number of abortions in Ohio in 2023 was 22,000, an increase from the 2022 number but relatively on par with abortion numbers in the state over the last 10 years. The majority — 63% — of those abortions were performed on women who were fewer than nine weeks pregnant.
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The Right Rev. Richard Pain, who served as the Anglican Bishop of Monmouth, will join the Catholic Church on Sunday, July 2, 2023. / Credit: Keith Moseley, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Legatus President Stephen Henley is pictured here speaking at the organization’s 2025 annual conference last month in Naples, Florida. / Credit: Courtesy of Legatus
Miami, Fla., Mar 13, 2025 / 07:20 am (CNA).
In today’s culture, often hostile to expressions of faith, many Catholics struggle with how to hold true to their values within the workplace. That’s why, in 1987, Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan started the Catholic organization Legatus.
From the Latin word for “ambassador,” Legatus aims to empower Catholic presidents, CEOs, and managing partners to become what St. Paul coined “ambassadors for Christ,” explained Stephen Henley, president of Legatus.
Offering peer support groups, networking, speakers, pilgrimages, and an annual international summit, Legatus’s goal is to “inspire members to live out their faith in all aspects of their life.” There are currently about 90 Legatus chapters in North America.
Chapter meetings are held once a month, providing the opportunity for members and their spouses to participate in confession and Mass, the recitation of the rosary, a cocktail reception dinner, and a speaker’s presentation.
“All of this is to help fortify the members’ marriage, the peer support group, the networking of this group, and then embolden them to go out and live their faith,” said Henley. “Tom felt that if we can bring together these Catholic CEOs, how much more can we change society with these people that have high impact and high influence?”
In interviews with Catholic News Agency, Hawkins, Dean Abela, and Henley covered three tips for bringing the Catholic worldview into the workplace.
Commit to your priorities
Dean Andrew Abela’s Catholic faith wasn’t always as important to him as it is now. As a teenager, he even stopped practicing.
“I came back in my mid-20s, funnily enough, while I was in business school,” he recalled. As a student in 1991, he encountered Pope John Paul II’s new encyclical letter Centesimus Annus, and the pope’s reflection on economics changed the trajectory of his life.
“Just a few months after, I returned to the Church,” he said. “When I reverted to the faith, I wanted to know what my newly rediscovered Catholic faith meant for a life in business.”
Andrew Abela is dean of the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. Credit: Legatus
After working for companies including Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and the Corporate Executive Board, in 2002 Dean Abela eventually began teaching at the Catholic University of America. He is also a consultant to Fortune 100 corporations.
“The reason I left business and switched to academia was that I wanted to dedicate myself full-time to studying questions about what it means to be a faithful Catholic in the workplace,” he explained.
A member of Legatus since 2000, Dean Abela mentioned that members can follow what the organization terms a “spiritual plan” to attend daily Mass, recite the rosary daily, and do monthly confession.
Known as Tres Magna, or the “Big Three,” this plan was inspired by Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula, who “attributed the perfect season to him going to daily Mass,” explained Stephen Henley. “Tom [Monaghan] thought, well, if he can go, there’s no reason why I can’t go.”
“Daily Mass, daily rosary, and monthly confession will align your life and priorities,” added Henley.
Find a supportive community
When Kristan Hawkins first encountered Legatus, she was not a Catholic. Hawkins was raised an Evangelical. After Students for Life’s 2006 launch, she began speaking at Legatus events.
In 2014, Hawkins decided to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, “a pilgrimage Legatus had sponsored.” “I was the only Protestant there,” she recalled. “I decided there that I was going to enter RCIA.”
She became a full-fledged member of Legatus soon after becoming Catholic.
“As a pro-life activist who starts a pro-life organization, I want to save babies, I want to end abortion, I want to help as many families and women. You don’t start a non-profit because you’re necessarily a great business leader or have all these skills. You started this non-profit, this mission, because you want to see this mission accomplished,” Hawkins said. “For me, that’s one of the powerful benefits of being in Legatus, is having friends and mentors who were successful in the for-profit world who I can call on and ask questions.”
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins. Credit: Legatus
“It’s very powerful and important to have those relationships. For me, in the work I’m doing, it’s a constant spiritual attack,” she added. “One of the best things about Legatus is I can call any of my Legatus friends at any moment, and they’ll be there for you. They know the power of the work we do and the resistance we face.”
Dean Abela also finds a sense of community in Legatus and also strives to build a supportive Catholic community at the Catholic University of America.
“We share with students the principles of Catholic social doctrine, things like human dignity and solidarity, and try to embed these principles into all of our classes,” he explained. “We’re also increasingly trying to give them opportunities to practice different virtues as part of their studies and schoolwork.”
For instance, Dean Abela explained, “To teach graduate students about decision-making, we go through a couple of survivor simulations, where you crash land in the north of Canada and you have to decide what you’re going to do. We have them go through decision-making exercises explicitly practicing the virtue of prudence or practical wisdom, the habit of making wise decisions. We break apart the components of practical wisdom, which include things like alertness, preparedness, and reasoning, and we have them try to exercise those as part of the decision-making process.”
These skills built in the classroom can be applied not only in business, but also in students’ personal lives.
Model the behavior you expect from others and celebrate your co-workers’ integrity
For Henley, giving authentic witness to the Catholic faith in the workplace can start with a simple “hello.”
“First, live the golden rule,” he said. “When you’re walking down the hall, say hello to the janitor, to the executive, and to everyone in between. It matters a lot.”
He added: “Another practical thing: take the opportunity to pray before meals. If you’re going on business lunches, you’ll be surprised at how many people say, ‘Yeah of course, let’s pray.’ It’s more common than not for people to pray before meals. The fact that you’re doing it shows that you’re a bold leader and that you’re spiritual.”
Dean Abela agrees that these types of habits make all the difference, and were the subject of the presentation he made of his book Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life last month during the 2025 Legatus Summit.
“The main focus of the book is understanding that things like diligence, honesty, and resilience are not genetic characteristics. They are habits that anyone can acquire through practice,” Dean Abela explained. “Companies can focus on one of the most important virtues and give employees opportunities to practice those virtues.”
For instance, Dean Abela explained the GrowVirtue App, an AI-driven app “based on the work of the book,” which organizations can use to evaluate which virtues their company has already made a habit of, which virtues they might target, and tips for how to make progress.
“The important thing is that the company would choose a virtue that they think would be directly beneficial to the company right now,” said Dean Abela. “Although personal results are private, the whole company can see what employees as a whole are weakest in. So, if you’re trying to grow in customer service, you might encourage the virtue of friendship or friendliness.”
Dean Abela discussed the value of recognizing virtue both inside and outside the company.
“See examples in action or read about examples,” he suggested. “You can have employees watch videos or you can share articles that demonstrate examples of a particular virtue in action. And you can make sure senior folks are role models for junior employees.”
“Most importantly, give the employees the opportunity to practice the virtues, and give feedback,” he added. “When companies give awards, they tend to do this more with core values. They should shift to core virtues and give it to people who are exemplars of that virtue.”
Ultimately, the goal for Catholics is to live authentic lives that draw others to Christ.
“Stay true to who you are, don’t give in,” said Hawkins. “They’ll know you by your fruits. I think that’s very important. You don’t have to work in the pro-life movement or specifically in an apostolate to be a good Catholic, a faithful Christian in the workplace. You can do that in any job, in any position you have – in McDonald’s or in a Fortune 500 company.”
Washington D.C., Mar 23, 2020 / 11:33 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of New Orleans has tested positive for coronavirus. He is the first U.S. bishop known to have tested positive for the virus, which is now a global pandemic.
“Recently, I had very mild symptoms, which included fever only. Out of an abundance of caution, I took the Coronavirus test which came back positive,” Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced March 23.
“I have notified those with whom I have been in close proximity. Needless to say, I have self-quarantined in order to be responsible and not affect others. I will use this quiet time for additional prayer and sacrifice for all those seriously affected by the virus,” the archbishop wrote.
“I pray to get well soon and continue ministry. In the meantime, I will be present through Facebook and the archdiocesan website with reflection on this crisis and God’s healing power. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us! Blessed Seelos, pray for us!”
Aymond, 70, has been Archbishop of New Orleans since 2009. He was previously Bishop of Austin and an auxiliary bishop in the New Orleans archdiocese.
At least 5 U.S. priests are known to have the virus, and on Friday, an Franciscan friar and deacon became the first U.S. cleric known to have died of the virus.
More than 366,000 people have contracted COVID-19 as of Monday morning. More than 16,000 people have died and 101,000 have recovered from the disease so far.
A priest in the Diocese of Yakima, Washington was the first U.S. priest known to be diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 15, and a second Yakima priest was announced to have the virus March 23. Fr. Stephen Planning, SJ, president of DC’s Gonzaga College High School, announced last week he also has the virus. Two priests in the Diocese of Brooklyn were also diagnosed with the virus last week.
In Italy, more than 60 priests have died from the virus. On Monday, Avvenire, the newspaper owned by the Italian bishops conference, published the names of 51 diocesan priests who died after contracting COVID-19, and noted that religious communities in Italy had also reported nine coronavirus related deaths.
At least one Italian bishop is known to be recovering from the virus.
The majority of the deceased were over the age of 70 years old, and some of these priests had underlying health conditions.
The youngest priest to die from COVID-19 in Italy was Fr. Paolo Camminati, who died in the hospital on March 21 at age 53.
Every Latin rite diocese in the United States has suspended the public celebration of Mass, and church buildings remain closed to the public in many places, with weddings, funerals and confirmations all indefinitely suspended.
Several states have brought emergency measures to combat the spread of the virus, with California, New York and Maryland acting to close non-essential businesses and encourage people to remain in their homes. Before he was diagnosed with the virus, Aymond called for a “Day of Prayer and Fasting” to take place March 27 in his archdiocese.
“Please spend additional time in prayer seeking God’s healing and compassion in this crisis. Also, we can fast from whatever we wish. Say to the Lord as we are hungry – I hunger for you more than I hunger for food, social media, spending time with others, etc,” Aymond wrote March 19.
“Be assured of my prayers daily and a remembrance at Mass. God is faithful and, in his time, and his way we will come to experience healing and peace. We must wait patiently which is no easy task,” the archbishop added.
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