Peter Feuerherd

If you ask parishioners of Holy Communion Church, "they will say they are Roman Catholic," says their pastor, James Radloff, whose 2014 suspension from priestly ministry sparked the split from the local Catholic parish.

NCR talks to three Catholics who have gone through the coronavirus journey and who had some advice for the hundreds of thousands more who will be taking the same trip. 

As in-person Masses were eliminated and parishioners lose their income, there has been a renewed effort among church fundraisers directed at supporting the parish, the bulwark of Catholic life.

With its cathedral parking lot Masses, the Las Cruces Diocese is one of the outliers. Even in states where governors have loosened restrictions, many Catholic dioceses are holding back on large-scale gatherings.

Msgr. Raymond Roden knows the sorrows in Queens' Corona neighborhood. The pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church counts some 10,000 parishioners; right now, he can't count everyone who has died from the coronavirus.

Easter Mass took place at St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Church in Boone, North Carolina. A parishioner told NCR that the Mass included 22 people, more than the 10 worshipers allowed during the current pandemic.

During this pandemic, "millions of Americans are forced to be hermits and live a monastic life," says the spirituality author. And, in their isolation, many will face what fourth-century desert monks described as acedia.

It's the end of a long shift as a hospital chaplain in Queens, New York, and Fr. Radu Titonea's voice while talking on the phone March 30 is a little raspy. He lets out a mild cough.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has emerged for many as the voice of reason and integrity as the nation confronts the coronavirus. He's also an alumnus of Regis High School in New York City.

Frank D'Amore, director of the local group for LGBT Catholics, said that despite the archdiocesan mandate, Dignity Detroit will continue. "We're not having liturgy because of the virus. But we are alive and well."

In Mexico, Brazil, Honduras and El Salvador, as well as many other Latino countries, much of church life has focused around small groups who gather for Bible study, reflection and prayer.

Lay Catholic Voices for Change sent a letter to the bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, saying that the church's own recommendations in its report on Bransfield's financial and sexual misconduct have been ignored.

The influx of Puerto Ricans, largely Catholics and Democrats, to Central Florida, is part of a state with complicated politics. The Miami area of South Florida reflects a more Democratic tilt, too, with its mix of transplanted New Yorkers and Latinos, but these voters are offset by Republican growth in other areas.

In today's Manhattan, the original Catholic Worker facilities are surrounded by towers that rent one-bedroom apartments for $4,000 a month, and Catholic Worker centers in South Bend, Indiana, and Philadelphia are also learning to adapt to changes.

2020 election: These parishioners of St. Ambrose in Grosse Pointe Park, a Democrat-leaning suburb in the highly contested state of Michigan, worry that Christian faith has been co-opted into Republican Party politics.

One of the demands of the protestors is for direct elections for the Hong Kong government. As part of a worldwide church and with a small but significant presence in the city, at 5% of the total population of more than 7 million, Hong Kong Catholics are right in the middle of it.

From the editor: How NCR chose Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a public Catholic, as our Newsmaker of the Year

A new pastor's arrival set off disputes over issues such as the role of creativity in liturgical rites and the future of St. Francis Kitchen, the outreach to the homeless long affiliated with the parish.

U.S. bishops' conference officials drew up a plan to address sex abuse that was a ploy, deliberately circumventing Vatican authority, according to a new Pope Francis biography by Austen Ivereigh.

Though Pope Francis remains popular with Catholics in the pew, a well-funded opposition comprised largely of ecclesial elites are fighting his agenda, said Austen Ivereigh in a talk at Fordham University to promote his latest book.