News - May 2026 RSS Feed

On May 15,1891, Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical entitled Rerum Novarum, which provided the foundation for modern Roman Catholic social teaching. It set forth the late nineteenth century Catholic position on social justice, especially in relation to problems and issues caused by the Industrial Revolution. Pope Leo XIII also asserted in Rerum Novarum the church’s right to make pronouncements on social issues as they relate to social questions. Rerum Novarum is considered by many to be the first social encyclical, a pastoral letter that addresses a specific social issue. Many popes of the 20th and 21st century have issued encyclicals that expand on the teaching of Rerum Novarum. Here is a list of the social encyclicals issued in the twentieth and:

In the summer of 1997, I was a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington. James Cardinal Hickey, who was the Archbishop of Washington at that time, used to take the archdiocesan seminarians on a daylong tour of Southern Maryland. That summer Cardinal Hickey and his seminarians visited several parishes in Saint Mary’s County. The last church we visited that day was St. John’s in Hollywood. Cardinal Hickey was the principal celebrant at Mass there with the Pastor, Msgr. Martin P. Harris and the Associate Pastor, Father Gary R. Studniewski. After Mass the parishioners of St. John’s treated us to a fabulous picnic organized by Laverne Schaefer and Betty Johnson. Toward the end of the picnic, Father Gary announced that he was going to be an Army Chaplain and that one of the seminarians at the picnic was likely going to take his place as the Associate Pastor of St. John’s, Hollywood. I was one of four men scheduled for ordination in 1998. I turned to my classmate, David Werning, and said to him, “Well it is 50/50, that it is one of us.” A year later I found out that I was going to succeed him as the Associate Pastor in Hollywood. Once I arrived, Fr. Gary stayed for three weeks before he was to report for a duty in Chaplains’ School. Msgr. Francis Glenn, former long-time Pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Butler, and a mentor to me, died about two weeks after I arrived in Hollywood. Fr. Gary covered for me so that I could concelebrate at Msgr. Glenn’s Funeral Mass. I remain very grateful for that kindness.

On Friday, May 1, 2026, Robert Cardinal McElroy held a press conference at the archdiocesan pastoral center in which he announced that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington would be getting two new auxiliary bishops. one is Bishop--elect Gary Studniewski, and the other is Bishop-elect Robert Boxie. Cardinal McElroy also mentioned that Bishop Roy Campbell, who is currently an Archdiocese of Washington Auxiliary Bishop, will be retiring and that Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, also an Archdiocese of Washington Auxiliary Bishop, has been named the new Bishop of Wheeling Charleston WV. Bishop Mark Brennan, currently Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, will be retiring. Many here will remember that Bishop Brennan was, for many years, Pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish, in Gaithersburg.