Authorities say the killer of 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty, raped and murdered in a Pennsylvania Catholic church 63 years ago, was identified in October 2025 as William Schrader, who died in 2002. / Credit: Courtesy of Bucks County District Attorney’s Office

CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 15:48 pm (CNA).

Authorities announced this week that the killer of 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty, raped and murdered in a Pennsylvania Catholic church 63 years ago, has finally been identified as William Schrader, who died in 2002.

The Bucks County Investigation Grand Jury found that Schrader is “definitively linked” to the murder “through the combination of decades-old evidence” and a recent breakthrough in the case, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

The breakthrough came last year when Pennsylvania State Police in November 2024 interviewed Schrader’s stepson, Robert Leblanc, who said Schrader “confessed to him on two separate occasions that he murdered a little girl in a Pennsylvania church.”

Schrader allegedly told his stepson he lured Carol Ann inside the church, raped her and “had to kill the girl in Bristol to keep her from talking.”

“We believe it may be the only rape and murder of a little girl in a church in the United States,” Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said at a news conference on Oct. 29.

In 1962, a witness reported seeing Schrader — who lived a block and a half from the church — outside the church around the time of the murder, and police initially questioned him, the district attorney’s office said.

Schrader failed a polygraph test and lied to investigators about his alibi, saying he had been at work at the time of the murder. He also provided a pubic hair sample, authorities said. 

Knowing he was under investigation, Schrader fled Pennsylvania and moved to Florida and then Texas, eventually settling in Louisiana.

The pubic hair was tested in 1993, and it showed “significant similarities” to hair found in Carol Ann’s hand, according to the district attorney. Of samples collected from 176 men over the years, 141 pubic hair samples were tested during the decadeslong investigation, and “all other individuals were eliminated,” officials said.

The grand jury’s findings, detailed in a 53-page report approved this week by Judge Raymond McHugh, identified Schrader as an “absolute predator” whose criminal history included assaults with deadly weapons in multiple states.  

According to the prosecutor, “Schrader’s life was marked by a pattern of violence and sexual violence, particularly against young, prepubescent, and adolescent females.”

The grand jury found that Schrader also “sexually abused nearly every female child he lived with or had access to, including his own biological daughter and granddaughters.”

He was convicted in 1985 in Louisiana for the death of 12-year-old Catherine Smith after he intentionally set fire to his own house, knowing she and her family were still inside.

On Oct. 22, 1962, Carol Ann, an avid reader excited to check out the next book in a mystery series she was reading, was riding her bike to the Bristol Borough Free Library to meet her friends, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. 

On her way, she had stopped to buy a soda and candy and was last seen alive outside of the doors to St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church in Bristol, where she was raped and strangled to death.

Her parents began to look for her when she did not return home for dinner. Her father found her body inside the church.

Carol Ann’s sister, Kay Dougherty, speaking at Wednesday’s news conference, expressed her gratitude to Vincent Faragalli, the Bristol police chief at the time of her sister’s murder, who kept a framed photograph of Carol Ann on his desk throughout his career to remind him of “a promise he made to seek justice for her.”

She also thanked Faragalli’s nephew, Mike Missanelli, a journalist who in 2024 produced a podcast that brought attention to the case. 

Doughterty said: “My parents both passed away without knowing on this earth who murdered their daughter. ... After so many decades of unknowing, this finding finally brings closure and a truth to a wound that never healed.”

“Our family lived without answers,” Dougherty said, crying, “and the uncertainty surrounding Carol’s death became a part of who we were, a shadow that touched every day of our lives.”

“Though I know nothing can bring Carol back,” Dougherty said, “we can finally let her rest in peace knowing that her story has been told, her truth revealed, and her memory honored.”

null / Credit: megaflopp/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 31, 2025 / 14:53 pm (CNA).

The Illinois State Senate passed a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state. 

The legislation, known as the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, would authorize medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults in Illinois if signed into law by Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The House passed the bill in May, and it stalled in the Senate during the regular session. It was taken up during the fall veto session, and senators passed it early in the morning of Oct. 31. Pritzker will have 60 days to decide whether to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law.

The bill would allow individuals to request and self-administer medication to end their lives. According to the bill, anyone requesting medically assisted suicide must be at least 18 years old, a resident of Illinois, and have a terminal disease with a prognosis of six months or less to live.

The bill also requires two verbal requests for the medication from the patient, with a five-day waiting period between the first and second request. The death certificates of individuals using physican-assisted suicide in the state would list the terminal disease as the cause of death, not suicide.

“Please continue to pray for vulnerable populations and for those who feel hopeless and are near end of life,” the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in the state, wrote in a post to the social media platform X.

“It is quite fitting that the forces of the culture of death in the Illinois General Assembly passed physician-assisted suicide on Oct. 31 — a day that, culturally, has become synonymous with glorifying death and evil,” said Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in a statement. “It’s also ironic that these pro-death legislators did it under the cloud of darkness at 2:54 a.m.”

“Doctors take an oath to do no harm. Now, they can prescribe death. There are documented cases of patients being denied treatment and instead offered life-ending drugs,” Paprocki said. “Individuals could also be coerced into taking the lethal drug.”

The bishop called for prayers for Pritzker to reject the legislation, as “physician-assisted suicide undermines the value of each person, especially the vulnerable, the poor, and those with disabilities.”

The anti-assisted-suicide group Patients Rights Action Fund called on Pritzker to veto the legislation.

“We encourage lawmakers to instead prioritize expanding access to mental health services, hospice care, and palliative support,” the advocacy group said in a statement. “Every patient deserves compassionate care and a full spectrum of options to live with dignity. The passage of SB 1950 introducing the use of lethal drugs in Illinois compromises that fundamental right. “

Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, strongly criticized the bill in May after it passed the House.

“I speak to this topic not only as a religious leader but also as one who has seen a parent die from a debilitating illness,” Cupich said, recalling his father’s death. Cupich urged Illinois to promote “compassionate care,” not assisted suicide. 

“There is a way to both honor the dignity of human life and provide compassionate care to those experiencing life-ending illness,” Cupich said. “Surely the Illinois Legislature should explore those options before making suicide one of the avenues available to the ill and distressed.” 

The Catholic Conference of Illinois also asked the governor to veto the bill and improve palliative care programs “that offer expert assessment and management of pain and other symptoms.”

“The Illinois General Assembly has put our state on a slippery path that jeopardizes the well-being of the poor and marginalized, especially those in the disability community and have foreseeable tragic consequences,” the conference said in a statement.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago describes artificial intelligence (AI) as Pope Leo XIV’s  “industrial revolution” at a Georgetown University forum Oct. 30, 2025. / Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA

Washington, D.C., Oct 31, 2025 / 14:17 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago described artificial intelligence (AI) as Pope Leo XIV’s “industrial revolution” at a Georgetown University forum Oct. 30.

The event, “Pope Leo XIV’s New Challenge and Moral Leadership on Poverty, Work, and Artificial Intelligence,” examined the impact of AI and the guidance provided by Catholic social teaching as a part of the university’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. 

“Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate began during what Pope Francis often called a change of effort, with major changes transforming our world, among them the rise of AI and the effects it would have on work and the economy, something Pope Leo has called another ‘industrial revolution,’” said Kim Daniels, the director of the initiative, at the event.

Discussing the impact of AI on society, Cupich said the “entry point” to discernment on the topic is whether or not it “creates the possibility of everyone having human flourishing.” 

“You accept that the economy belongs to everybody, then you have to be very careful of allowing the technologies to be used in a certain way that gives people more power and control over the economy than they should have,” Cupich said. “The economy should allow for the human flourishing of everyone. It’s like health care. Everyone has a right to health care.”

Panelists included Cecilia Flores, executive director of the Catholic Volunteer Network; Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO; Paul Almeida, dean and William R. Berkeley chair at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business; and the initiative’s founder, John Carr. 

Against the backdrop of the government shutdown and the resulting expected lapse in food assistance, with increasingly heightened political division, Carr said, “many poor and working people are falling further behind or just struggling to keep up.” 

“At the same time, a new elite is moving forward with new technology, new wealth, and new power,” he said, “some of it related to artificial intelligence with its possibilities and dangers for work, the economy, and our society.” 

Cupich, who was described by Daniels as a “close adviser to Pope Francis and now Pope Leo,” said: “I think the Holy Father has already indicated how the Church should respond and what he’s already done, namely to make sure that the inspiration of Rerum Novarum, which is about the defense of human dignity of the worker but also human dignity at large, should all begin with preferential option for the poor.”

Cupich emphasized the need to view the poor not as “subjects” but as “agents” who “have something to offer us,” and underscored Catholic social teaching as being at the heart of “who we are.”

Flores, who was part of a delegation that went to the Vatican last week to meet with Pope Leo for the World Meeting of Popular Movements, echoed this sentiment, saying: “I’m sure many of you have heard a lot of people say it’s the best-kept secret of the Catholic Church. I think that’s categorically untrue … This is who we are.”

Flores told CNA that the Gospel and Catholic social teaching requires Catholics to approach compassion for migrants without discernment. “There should be an element that does not need to be discerned because it’s a Gospel response,” she said. “I see a person that’s suffering, what does the Gospel require me to do? That shouldn’t have to be discerned.”

Electrical poles are down as a man bikes through the destroyed neighborhood of North Street following the passage of Hurricane Melissa in Black River, Jamaica, on Oct. 29, 2025. / Credit: Ricardo Makyn/Getty

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 31, 2025 / 13:31 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio this week called for “prayer and action” as Hurricane Melissa devastated the Caribbean region.

Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), urged Catholics in an Oct. 29 statement to pray for and support the people and communities affected by the Category 5 storm.

“Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history, has made landfall in Jamaica, had an impact in Haiti, and prompted the evacuation of hundreds of thousands in Cuba,” Broglio wrote.

With sustained winds of 185 miles per hour, Hurricane Melissa has swept through the region, causing destruction and claiming up to 50 lives since making landfall on Oct. 28.

“The Church accompanies, through prayer and action, all people who are suffering,” Broglio wrote. “I urge Catholics and all people of goodwill to join me in praying for the safety and protection of everyone, especially first responders, in these devastated areas.”

As effects of the hurricane expand, “families face severe risk of flooding, landslides, displacement, and infrastructure damage with little resources to respond,” Broglio wrote. “Our brothers and sisters in small island nations like Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti are the most vulnerable to the impact of such strong storms, often intensified by a warming climate.”

Jamaica has suffered the greatest impact. While the hurricane did not make direct landfall in Haiti, the storm has produced heavy rains that have led to flash flooding and landslides in many areas and blocked major national routes. 

“Let us stand in solidarity by supporting the efforts of organizations already on the ground such as Caritas Haiti, Caritas Cuba, and Caritas Antilles, as well as Catholic Relief Services (CRS), who are supplying essential, direct services and accompaniment to those in need,” Broglio wrote. 

The USCCB called on Catholics and people of goodwill to support “the urgent and ongoing relief efforts, and long-term recovery work of CRS.” The agency is providing “lifesaving support — including emergency shelter, clean water, and essential supplies — to families most at risk,” CRS reported.

The St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square are seen at sunset near the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans on April 10, 2010. / Credit: Graythen/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of New Orleans secured nearly unanimous approval for a $230 million bankruptcy settlement on Thursday, paving the way for payouts to over 650 victims after five years of contentious litigation in the nation’s second-oldest Catholic archdiocese.

The vote, which closed at midnight on Oct. 30, saw 99.63% of creditors — including hundreds of abuse survivors — endorse the plan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana, according to The Guardian.

Only the bondholder class, owed $30 million, opposed it, voting against the plan by a vote of 59 to 14, according to court documents. In 2017, bondholders lent the Church $40 million to help refinance parish debt and have been repaid only 25% of the outstanding balance. They have alleged fraud against the Church after it withheld promised interest payments. Legal experts say their “no” vote will not derail confirmation of the settlement, however. 

“Your honor, there is overwhelming support for this plan,” archdiocese attorney Mark Mintz said in court on Thursday. The plan required that two-thirds of voters approve it.

Final tallies of the votes will be filed next week, and a hearing before Judge Meredith Grabill is set for mid-November, potentially ending the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 case filed in May 2020 amid a flood of abuse claims.

In a statement to CNA, the archdiocese said: “Today we have the voting results of our proposed settlement and reorganization plan, which has been overwhelmingly approved by survivors and other creditors. We are grateful to the survivors who have voted in favor of moving forward with this plan and continue to pray that both the monetary settlement and the nonmonetary provisions provide each of them some path towards their healing and reconciliation.”

Archbishop Gregory Aymond originally told the Vatican in a letter that he thought he could settle abuse claims for around $7 million. The archdiocese has spent close to $50 million so far on legal fees alone.

The settlement going to abuse victims breaks down to $130 million in immediate cash from the archdiocese and affiliates, $20 million in promissory notes, $30 million from insurers, and up to $50 million more from property sales, including the Christopher Homes facilities, a property that has provided affordable housing and assisted living to low-income and senior citizens in the Gulf Coast area for the last 50 years.

Payout amounts to individual claimants will be determined by a point system negotiated by a committee of victims and administered by a trustee and an independent claims administrator appointed by the court. 

The point system is based on the type and nature of the alleged abuse. Additional points can be awarded for factors like participation in criminal prosecutions, pre-bankruptcy lawsuits, or leadership in victim efforts, while points may be reduced if the claimant was over 18 and consented to the contact. The impact of the alleged abuse on the victim’s behavior, academic achievement, mental health, faith, and family relationships can also adjust the score.

Abuse victim Richard Coon cast his vote on Monday. “I voted ‘yes’ to get Aymond out of town. I just think he’s been a horrible leader,” Coon said.

In September, Pope Leo XIV named Bishop James Checchio as coadjutor archbishop of New Orleans. Checchio has been working alongside Aymond and will replace him when he retires, which Aymond has said he plans to do when the bankruptcy case is resolved.

The $230 million deal is significantly higher than the initial $180 million proposal in May, which drew fire from attorneys like Richard Trahant, who criticized it for being “lowball.”

The initial settlement was “dead on arrival,” according to Trahant, who, along with other attorneys, urged his clients in May to hold out for a better offer, saying they deserved closer to $300 million, a figure similar to the $323 million paid out to about 600 claimants by the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York in 2024. 

“There is no amount of money that could ever make these survivors whole,” Trahant said in a statement Thursday.

In the Diocese of Rockville Centre bankruptcy settlement, attorneys reportedly collected about 30% of the $323 million, or approximately $96.9 million. Similarly, the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s $660 million settlement in 2007 saw attorneys receiving an estimated $165-$217.8 million, or 25%-33% of the payout.

The bankruptcy stemmed from explosive revelations in 2018, when the Archdiocese of New Orleans listed over 50 credibly accused priests. In 2021, the Louisiana Legislature eliminated the statute of limitations for civil actions related to the sexual abuse of minors. 

The new law allows victims to pursue civil damages indefinitely for abuse occurring on or after June 14, 1992, or where the victim was a minor as of June 14, 2021, with a three-year filing window (which ended June 14, 2024) for older cases.

The Diocese of Lafayette, along with the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Diocese of Baton Rouge, the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Catholic Charities, the Diocese of Lake Charles, and several other entities challenged the law’s constitutionality, arguing it violated due process, but the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld it in June 2024 in a 4-3 decision.

Critics argued the retroactive nature of the law risks unfairness to defendants unable to defend against decades-old abuse claims due to lost evidence and highlighted the potentially devastating financial impact.

A baby girl at Mary’s Comfort maternity home in Springfield, Virginia. / Credit: Courtesy of Mary’s Comfort

CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

After a homily inspired a group of parishioners to live out their pro-life beliefs and start a maternity home in Springfield, Virginia, for mothers with crisis pregnancies, one woman shared her experience working there.

Kathleen Moyer, president of the Mary’s Comfort Board of Directors and a dedicated volunteer, shared about what it is like to volunteer with the maternity home in an interview with CNA.

CNA: What inspired you to volunteer at the maternity home? How does your faith play a role in your volunteer work?

Moyer: My faith is at the core of my volunteerism and specifically my involvement in Mary’s Comfort. Let me explain: The call to serve others is one I take seriously as a Christian and Catholic. As for Mary’s Comfort, the initial inspiration for a small group of volunteers to take on the challenge of creating it came from my pastor at St. Bernadette, Father Don Rooney, who challenged the congregation to live out our pro-life beliefs. 

He noted that pregnant women in crisis — whether financial, physical, or otherwise — don’t really have a viable option to bring new life into this world. They need to know there is support out there. They need to be given a reason to hope. So, that’s how it all started. 

That was three years ago. I’m sometimes amazed by how far we’ve come. I want to be clear, though, that we welcome women of all backgrounds and creeds. We are fortunate to have donors and supporters from several faiths, as well as secular groups. Our volunteers are diverse, too. Many of us are Catholic, but certainly not all. I think it speaks volumes that it is an interfaith effort.

What would you say to a woman facing an unexpected pregnancy? What would you say to someone considering volunteering at a maternity clinic?  

Here’s what I would like to say to women facing unexpected pregnancies: We’re here for you. There is reason to hope. There are people who care. Mary’s Comfort is a safe haven where you can take a deep breath, regroup, reassess, and contemplate the future with a clear mind. Of course, there are other shelters for pregnant moms waiting to welcome you, too. You are not alone.

To those considering volunteering at a home for pregnant moms, I would say take the leap — you’ll never regret it. You might miss a rerun of your favorite TV show, have a little less time to read, or slow your ascent to becoming a pickleball pro, but I would ask you to stack any of those sacrifices against the joy of knowing you helped bring hope to someone desperately in need of it. 

Even more special, you may get the chance to play a role in welcoming a new life into this world. There are no words to describe the emotions that flooded over me the first time I held one of the babies born to a Mary’s Comfort mom. It’s powerful.

What is it like to be with these women as they choose life? Is there a particular moment that stands out to you?  

There isn’t just one single moment that stands out to me because there are so many important moments between the time our guests arrive and when we get to welcome new life into this world. For example, one of our guests walked into Mary’s Comfort for the first time and just cried. They were tears of joy. She said she never expected it to be so nice and welcoming. 

Another guest kept asking, “Why would you do this for me?” Their utter disbelief that strangers would care so deeply about them was striking. 

We helped another guest attend a class to achieve a higher level of certification and get a better job. When she passed the test, a collective cheer rang out among the volunteers. It was a small but critical milestone on the road to independence and self-sufficiency.

Of course, the crowning moment was when I met the first baby born to a Mary’s Comfort mom. As I said before, there are no words to describe the emotions that flooded over me. It’s powerful stuff.

What is it like to volunteer at a maternity home? What is a day or week in your life like? How do you balance volunteering with your other responsibilities? 

Volunteering at a home for pregnant moms is incredibly rewarding and also full of surprises — no two months have been the same. The needs and challenges each guest faces have been different, so we must be nimble and creative to provide the level of support needed to give them hope and confidence. 

Similarly, there is no typical week for me. I work a full-time job in addition to being president of the Mary’s Comfort board of directors and an active volunteer who jumps in when needed. 

If I had a message for those who might be thinking about volunteering but worry it would be too much with a full-time job, I’d say go for it! Many of our volunteers work full time and still find ways to contribute in very meaningful ways. As an all-volunteer-run charity, we are very flexible and, frankly, wouldn’t succeed without volunteers of many different backgrounds and stages in life — working and retired.

You asked how I balance volunteering and other parts of life. I guess my mindset is that volunteering is an important part of life if I’m living the life I believe I was called to live. But volunteering is not just about checking the box on a moral obligation, it’s about doing something that brings joy to others, and in this case, has played some small role in new life being welcomed into this world. 

It has brought new perspective and new joy to the rest of my life, so finding balance isn’t so hard.

If you could put your experience at Mary’s Comfort into one word, what would that word be and why?  

Grateful. Why? Because this experience has taught me to be grateful on so many levels: grateful for all the blessings in my life; grateful to work alongside such committed volunteers who just don’t give up no matter what challenges lie before us; grateful for the opportunity to serve others in this consequential way. 

Catholic actor Michael Iskander, who portrays King David in Prime Video’s “House of David.” / Credit: Francesca Fenton/EWTN News Screenshot

CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Michael Iskander, the actor who portrays King David in the hit Prime Video series “House of David,” announced earlier this year that he had converted to Catholicism. Born and raised as a Coptic Orthodox, he does not see his conversion as a rejection of his roots; instead, it is “answering a calling from God.”

The 24-year-old actor, who was born in Egypt but came to the United States as a child, sat down with CNA for an exclusive interview in October and spoke candidly about his recent conversion and faith. 

Iskander’s journey toward Catholicism started several years ago when he happened to stumble into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. Although tourists filled the historic cathedral, Iskander went in, sat down in a pew, put his head down, and felt “as if nothing existed.”

“I looked at the altar knowing that’s where the Eucharist lies and I’m like, ‘I want the Eucharist.’ And I remember feeling this moment of extreme holiness,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘This is where the Eucharist is.’ And I put my head down and I started weeping for an hour straight — not praying, nothing, just weeping. And it felt like nobody else was there except for me and God.”

He credited that day with planting the seed of his interest in Catholicism. From then on, he began attending Mass. As he learned more about King David in preparation for the show, that interest, which became a calling, kept growing. 

“I was like, ‘This is home, God is calling me here,’ and it just kept getting louder and louder and louder,” he said. 

After he finished filming Season 2 of “House of David,” Iskander got in contact with a priest in his area to go over questions he had about Catholicism. After a nearly two-hour conversation, he told the priest he wanted to convert. 

Because the Catholic Church recognizes sacraments from the Coptic Orthodox church as valid, Iskander took part in a profession of faith during a Mass for him held on Aug. 21. 

One part of the Mass in particular stood out to Iskander: when the priest read the responsorial psalm, which was Psalm 89 and included the verses that talk about the anointing of David. 

“He’s reading this and I’m thinking, ‘Father, thanks for setting that up. That’s very sweet. Thanks.’ And so he goes up for the homily and he goes, ‘So just in case you’re wondering, Michael, if I chose that for you, no. You happen to pick the day where this is the reading … so I think God is trying to speak to you and telling you that you are home,’” he recalled.

Iskander added: “It was just a beautiful day and I felt like I was home … It felt like the prodigal son who returned and his father accepted him with open arms.”

The Catholic actor said playing the role of King David has impacted his faith “in every way,” sharing that reading Scripture affects how he portrays the Jewish king. 

“​​I inform everything about David from Scripture and looking at not only his great moments but his tough moments,” he said. 

“The more you keep reading about him, the more the more we understand David; the more we ponder about the actions that he took, the more we understand his heart. He truly was a man who loved God with every part of his being,” Iskander added. “And just like all of us, we fall and we falter, but David is one who came back and recognized his mistakes and recognized his sins in front of God and asked for forgiveness and repented.”

The actor explained that one of the biggest ways his faith has been impacted is in learning why God chose David yet rejected Saul, reflecting on the humble heart of David and the prideful heart of Saul. 

“God chose David because of his humble heart. And a humble heart is a heart that’s willing to follow God. It’s a heart that’s willing to listen to him and do as he commands,” he said. “A prideful heart is going to choose my wants, my needs, my selfish desires over him. A selfish heart is going to place yourself even with God, which is what happened with Saul, [and is] ultimately why he was rejected.”

Iskander added: “Once that clicked, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s not about me. It’s about him. I need to follow him and I need to listen to his commandments and I need to put myself aside. I need to not think about myself.’ And really it’s freeing. It’s a freeing thing to just put yourself aside and live for Christ.”

“I think that’s the most beautiful thing, to put ourselves aside and to live for him. So, thinking about that and understanding that in my life, I just need to follow God and follow his commandments and follow what he wants for me,” he said.

Season 2 of "House of David" is streaming now on Prime Video with a Wonder Project subscription. 

Sister Allison Gliot, a Daughter of St. Paul, is the author of the “In Aeternum” series as well as other nonfiction and children’s books. She also works as an acquisitions editor for Pauline Books and Media. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Pauline Books and Media

CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When a religious sister felt inspired to write a Catholic vampire trilogy, she knew the inspiration came from Jesus — but she did not know if the other sisters would think she was “crazy.”

Vampire novels are not known for inspiring teens to become Eucharistic ministers, attend Eucharistic adoration, or discern religious life. But the “In Aeternum” series is different. The books aim to draw their fans to Christ.

After she felt Jesus “stir up the story idea,” Sister Allison Regina Gliot, a Daughter of St. Paul, got to writing.

“The nuns are going to think I’m crazy that I wrote a vampire book,” Gliot remembered telling Jesus in prayer.

But after the leap of faith, Gliot’s story has made it into print.

The “In Aeternum” trilogy begins with “The Curse He Chose,” which centers on Elizabeth, a Catholic teenager who gets caught up in a fight between vampires and is forced to go on the run with a vampire outcast named Christopher. The story continues in the second book, “The Light They Left” — announced Oct. 31 — which will be released on Jan. 2, 2026, by Pauline Books and Media, the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Why a vampire novel? 

The Daughters of St. Paul, also known as the “media nuns,” evangelize through media — from social media to storytelling to, apparently, young adult Catholic vampire books.

“There are a lot of teens and young adults who love fiction, who love supernatural fiction, who love urban fantasy and sci-fi stories,” Gliot said. “And so if we can provide a Catholic option, it can genuinely move them forward in their relationship with God and their relationship with the Church.” 

Besides being hugely popular among young adults — especially with the “Twilight” craze of the early 2000s — vampire novels have something else to offer. 

Classic vampire stories had explicitly Catholic elements, Gliot noted. In Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” for instance, the Eucharist, holy ground, and a crucifix all help protect against vampires.

Gliot, who grew up reading vampire stories, wondered: “Why did that get cut out?”

The “deep devotion” that the Daughters of St. Paul have for the Eucharist first drew her to the community. By interweaving spiritual realities throughout the novel, Gliot hoped her writing could support young readers in their faith regarding things like the Eucharist.

“By having characters like vampires who are super attuned to invisible spiritual realities, it helps readers see and realize that those realities are actually real,” she explained.

“Vampires are not real, but the Eucharist actually is Jesus,” she said.

Her books deal not only with vampires but also with having a relationship with God — and all the challenges that come with it.

The main character, Elizabeth, struggles with things that Gliot herself has wrestled with in her faith.

“One of the things that Elizabeth fears in showing her anger towards God is: What does that say about her?” Gliot said. “If some part of her hates God, is she going to run into the limits of God’s love? Or is God only helping her because she’s doing what he says?”

Meanwhile, the outcast vampire Christopher “has to learn how to experience” God’s love and forgiveness.

In the story, vampires have “rejected their humanity” to the point that they forget their human past. But in Book 2, Christopher’s memories start to come back.

“He struggles a lot with forgiving himself and struggles to accept forgiveness from others,” Gliot said. “And so accepting forgiveness from God is an even harder thing in some ways for him.”

The story has “organic Catholicism woven in,” she explained. The power of the sacraments and other theological elements are “all wrapped up into the action and the emotional stakes of what’s going on in the story.”

Several other sisters and a priest reviewed the manuscripts to make sure “that readers are not going to walk away with any misconceptions about Catholicism,” Gliot said. The book even includes a “fact or fiction” section at the end as a resource for readers.

The biggest theological idea that comes up in the series is that “God never gives up on us — that you are never so far gone or so far fallen that you can’t come back to him, but you have to make that choice to come back,” Gliot said.

“He’s there, he wants you, but it’s up to you to start taking those steps towards him and responding to that grace,” she said.

For future readers 

As she wrote, Gliot felt a call from Jesus to pray for her future readers. 

“What future readers?” she remembered asking herself. 

But she prayed anyway. 

When the first book came out, Gliot began to see these prayers coming to fruition. 

Readers have reached out to Gliot over social media and through handwritten letters “to share how much they love the book and cannot put it down and how they’re sharing it with all their friends,” she said. 

But what has moved her most is when readers have reached out saying that the book “changed their relationship with God” for the better. 

“I’ve had readers share that they have become Eucharistic ministers at their parish after reading my book or that they’ve started discerning religious life or going to daily Mass,” Gliot said. 

“God is present with the reader, just like he was present with me when I was working on the book,” she said.

WASHINGTON - “With the Administration signaling a severely limited continuation of this historically bipartisan program, we urge due consideration for all those who have long awaited their opportunity for relief,” said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration. Bishop Seitz’s remarks follow the Administration’s formal publication of the Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2026, which allows up to 7,500 refugees to be resettled over the next year. This is the lowest ceiling since the program was created by Congress in 1980. 

At the start of this year, over 100,000 people had already undergone extensive screening by the U.S. government and were conditionally approved for refugee status in the United States, including vulnerable children and those seeking to reunify with family members. However, on the first day of his second term, President Trump signed an executive order indefinitely suspending refugee resettlement. Since then, very few refugees have been permitted to travel to the United States as exceptions to the executive order, largely consistent with recent presidential actions prioritizing Afrikaners from South Africa under Executive Order 14204. 

Bishop Seitz’s full statement follows: 

“For over 45 years, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has been, and continues to be, a safe and secure legal pathway for people from around the world who meet the requirements for humanitarian protection. It is a vital mechanism through which our nation can exist as a beacon of hope for those facing persecution and promote respect for the sanctity of human life. What President Reagan said in 1981 about refugee policy being ‘an important part of our past and fundamental to our national interest’ very much rings true today. With the Administration signaling a severely limited continuation of this historically bipartisan program, we urge due consideration for all those who have long awaited their opportunity for relief. We also pray for the broad, indefinite suspension of refugee admissions to be lifted, and we implore the President to make the program available to those truly in need. 

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the disparate treatment of refugees currently taking place. As exemptions are considered, it is essential that they be applied consistently and without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or national origin, in accordance with longstanding domestic and international norms. Resettlement tainted by the perception of unjust discrimination is contrary to Catholic teaching and quintessential American values, grounded in our Constitution and refugee laws, including the equality of every person from the moment of their creation by God.”

Earlier this year, the USCCB announced that it would discontinue its role as a national resettlement agency. However, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the USCCB, emphasized that the decision would not mean the Catholic Church would be walking away from helping refugees and others, but rather, that the USCCB would find other ways to uphold the Gospel’s call to do what we can for the least among us.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV encouraged an international group of young adults to reach out to their peers and invite them to be active members of a parish community rather than trying to live their faith alone.

The pope met Oct. 31 with members of the International Youth Advisory Body, a group of 20 young adults from around the world who serve three-year terms as advisers to the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

The North American members are Sally Yasmine from the Archdiocese of Montreal and Wyatt Olivas from the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Pope Leo had a prepared speech for the group but handed them a copy of the text rather than reading it. 

"You know that in recent years many young people have approached the faith through social media, successful programs and popular online Christian witnesses," the pope wrote. "The danger is that a faith discovered online is limited to individual experiences, which may be intellectually and emotionally reassuring, but are never 'embodied.'"

The risk, he wrote, is that those spiritual experiences "remain 'disembodied,' detached from the 'ecclesial body,'" which is the church.

Another danger, he said, is that they are not lived "alongside others in real-life situations, relationships or sharing. All too often, social media algorithms merely create a sounding board for individuals, picking up on personal preferences and tastes, and 'sending them back' magnified and enriched with appealing proposals."

In that kind of digital echo chamber, he said, "everyone remains alone with themselves, prisoners of their own inclinations and projections."

Young people are essential members of the church, the pope said, especially a church that is striving to be "synodal," listening to all members, praying and discerning together and calling on each person to contribute their talents.

"Authentic synodality leads to mission," the pope wrote. And part of that is being involved so that the church understands "how to bring the Gospel to everyone." 

"All of this requires that you, young people, have open hearts, ready to listen both to the 'inspirations' of the Spirit and the deep 'aspirations' of each person," Pope Leo wrote.

"You must look beyond appearances in order to seek the true answers that give meaning to life.  You must have hearts that are open to God's call and not engrossed in your own plans and are willing to understand and sympathize before forming judgments."

Pope Leo asked the young people particularly to help the church "hear the voices of the weak, the poor and the lonely, refugees and those who struggle to integrate into society, or to access educational opportunities."

"All too often," he said, "these voices are drowned out by the noise of the powerful, the successful and those who live in 'exclusive' realities."

Being missionary, the pope wrote, "entails freedom from fear, because the Lord loves to call us to forge new paths. In this sense, as young people, you can be leaders of creativity and courage."