By TIFFANY STANLEY

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — They are a day away from becoming Catholic priests, rehearsing for their ordination Mass under the gothic cathedral’s arches.

Related Articles

‘Rust’ crew settles lawsuit against film producers and Alec Baldwin in fatal shooting

Big banks all pass the Federal Reserve’s stress tests, but the tests were less vigorous this year

Federal judge denies OpenAI bid to keep deleting data amid Daily News copyright lawsuit

Masked immigration officers aren’t always telling SoCal police about raids. Some fear it’s creating ‘dangerous situations’

California governor sues Fox News over alleged defamation in story about call with Trump

It’s a balmy Friday afternoon in June, and they are practicing where to stand, when to kneel. The weekend’s rituals will be the culmination of six years of seminary and a lifetime of discernment.

There are so many of them — more than their diocese has ordained at one time in nearly 30 years — that it’s a challenge to fit the whole group in front of the altar.

Their bishop likes to call them “the 12.” Like the 12 apostles of Jesus, their number has become a mantra and a prayer. It offers hope there can still be joy and renewal in a church riven by division, crises and abuse.

Among the group there are engineers, a tech company founder and two future military chaplains. They range in age from 28 to 56. Most are U.S.-born, but some trace their roots to faraway countries with a strong Catholic presence: Cameroon, Mexico, Peru, Haiti.

They are entering the priesthood at an exciting time, just as the first U.S.-born pope begins his papacy. Yet, there remains an acute shortage of clergy like them. In the U.S., the number of priests has declined by more than 40% since 1970, according to CARA, a research center affiliated with Georgetown University.

During their final year of seminary, these 12 men have served as transitional deacons, offering baptisms, homilies and promising to live in obedience and celibacy. “We’ve already made the promises that are, I guess, ‘the scariest,’” said the Rev. Ricky Malebranche, one of the ordinands.

Soon they will be entrusted with more sacraments. As ordained priests, they will work at parishes around northern Virginia, with the ability to consecrate the Eucharist, hear confessions and anoint the sick.

For now, they shuffle side to side until they can fit in a row. Carefully they lie down to practice the act of prostration — arguably the most dramatic moment during an ordination ceremony. Elbows bent, hands cradling their heads, the men press their faces to the cold, marble floor.

It’s a position of vulnerability that signals absolute surrender.

“We’re laying before the Lord,” the Rev. Mike Sampson, an ordinand, explained before the rehearsal. “We’re laying our lives down.”

Searching for something more

While neighboring dioceses have shuttered parishes and face dire budget shortfalls, the Diocese of Arlington is opening new churches. Its finances are solid.

This year’s class of new priests is the second largest in the diocese’s 50-year history. The reasons behind that success “are a little bit mysterious,” said the Rev. Michael Isenberg, the diocese’s outgoing vocations director.

He points to one factor helping the recruiting pool: vibrant parishes, full of young professionals drawn to jobs around Washington, D.C.

Sampson, 42, was a government lawyer and raised a Protestant before he was baptized as a Catholic in 2013. Six years later, he enrolled in seminary to become a priest.

The Rev. Tim Banach, 31, worked as a consultant in the same office complex as Sampson. “I enjoyed the work I was doing, but there was something more that I desired.”

“I had the dream job,” said the Rev. Alfredo Tuesta, 40, who earned a doctorate in engineering and was working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory when he felt called to the priesthood. “I had the job that I had trained many years to achieve — and it wasn’t enough.”

At a Sunday family dinner two weeks before ordination, Malebranche’s father, Jacques, talked up these “12 great guys.”

“This kid already had two master’s degrees,” he said, pointing to his son Ricky, 37, who worked as a counselor and coach at a Catholic high school before seminary.

“They had good lives. When they say they received a call, they mean it,” he said. “They gave up a lot, and this is not easy.”

A higher barrier to entry

Prospective priests undergo a rigorous screening process.

“This is going to sound crazy, but they’re normal,” said the Rev. Donald J. Planty Jr., who mentored several of this year’s ordinands. “They can talk to anyone.”

In the wake of the clergy sex-abuse crisis, there is a greater emphasis on applicants’ psychological health and emotional well-being. They go before an admissions board that includes women and laypeople, and as ordinands, meet with abuse survivors.

They ultimately answer to Bishop Michael Burbidge, the diocese’s avuncular prelate.

“A thing that has changed for the positive in the church is that bishops really know their men,” said Burbidge, who calls, texts and meets with seminarians regularly. “When I was in seminary, there was no expectation that you would know the bishop.”

Politically and theologically, young U.S. priests are more likely to identify as conservative or moderate than their clerical elders who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s, according to a 2023 report from the Catholic Project at Catholic University.

For these men in Virginia, the rightward tilt of the U.S. Catholic Church is not a deciding factor in their priesthoods. They have pledged, though, to uphold the church’s teachings, which remain conservative on issues such as gender identity, sexual orientation, contraception and abortion.

“I look at the young adults in our parishes, growing up in a world where in many ways the sacred has been removed,” Burbidge said. “They’re looking for something more. ‘Give me beauty. Give me truth. Give me clarity.’ I see that in young adults in our church, and these men are products of that.”

The sacrifices of priestly life

For many of the men, priesthood means forgoing dreams of an ordinary family life.

“I thought I was going to be a great dad and have a wonderful family,” Malebranche recalled. “And I was like, ‘Lord, why would you not want that for me?’”

For many, there’s a grieving process in letting go of that vision, even for deeply Catholic families.

“Every parent wants grandkids,” said Banach, whose career change initially surprised his supportive Catholic parents. Priests give up biological children, he said, but are privileged to raise “spiritual children.”

His fellow ordinand Malebranche ministers to families out of what he calls a “deep love of my own for a family.”

Two weeks before ordination, Malebranche channeled that love into a baptism conducted in Spanish, the parents’ native tongue.

He was nervous beforehand. A gregarious, gifted speaker, he is less confident in Spanish — though it’s necessary in a diocese where nearly half the parishioners are Latino.

“It was a beautiful ceremony,” Gloria Marquez told him after, beaming and holding her 9-month-old. She said she and her husband had tried for nearly 20 years to have a baby.

Malebranche teared up, grateful to be part of the longed-for moment.

He wants the Catholic Church to be welcoming, especially for those who have been hurt. “I really just want to make Catholicism warm,” he said.

Like all the ordinands, he is very aware that in his clerical garb, he represents the church and the presence of Jesus.

“I have to be on every time I’m in this collar,” Malebranche said. “That is a fitting weight for the gift of the priesthood, but it is a weight nonetheless.”

A new chapter

Ordination-day morning had the nervous energy of a wedding, an apt parallel for the impending commitment and pageantry. Anxious parents took their places in pews alongside friends and family who traveled from around the world to witness the ceremony.

The evening would bring receptions in honor of the new priests, who would then have two weeks off before their new ministry assignments began.

Sampson was going to Italy with a priest friend. Banach was hiking part of the Appalachian Trail with a small kit for the Eucharist in his pack. Tuesta was flying to Lima, Peru, his birthplace, to celebrate with family.

Malebranche planned to visit loved ones in his native Virginia. “I’m kind of looking to show off,” he said, laughing. “I’ll have my confessional stole on me at all times.”

When their ordination Mass got underway, it was standing room only, with more than 1,200 well-wishers crowded into the cathedral.

As part of the three-hour service, nearly 200 priests lined up to embrace and welcome into the fold their new brothers, now cloaked in ivory and blue robes.

At the close of Mass, they walked down the aisle to cheers and applause, and the 12 priests were sent out, like the apostles who had come before them.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By CHINEDU ASADU, MATTHEW LEE and ELLEN KNICKMEYER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on Friday signed a peace deal facilitated by the U.S. to help end the decadeslong deadly fighting in eastern Congo while helping the U.S. government and American companies gain access to critical minerals in the region.

Related Articles

Senate rejects effort to restrain Trump on Iran as GOP backs his strikes on nuclear sites

High court ruling on injunctions could imperil many court orders blocking the Trump administration

The Senate is working to put Trump’s big bill back on track but hurdles remain

Guatemala’s president denies new asylum deal with US

Trump tells Iran’s supreme leader: ‘You got beat to hell’

“Today, the violence and destruction comes to an end, and the entire region begins a new chapter of hope and opportunity, harmony, prosperity and peace,” President Donald Trump told the foreign ministers of the two countries at a White House meeting.

The agreement was signed earlier at the State Department’s Treaty Room beneath a portrait of Colin Powell, the first African American to hold the job of top U.S. diplomat. There, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “an important moment after 30 years of war.”

The Central African nation of Congo has been wracked by conflict with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent backed by Rwanda, that has killed millions since the 1990s.

While the deal is seen as a turning point, analysts don’t believe it will quickly end the fighting because the most prominent armed group says it does not apply to it. Many Congolese see it mainly as an opportunity for the U.S. to acquire critical minerals needed for much of the world’s technology after their government reached out to Trump for support in fighting the rebels.

Trump has pushed to gain access to such minerals at a time when the United States and China are actively competing for influence in Africa.

Congo and Rwanda send top diplomats to sign

Congo’s Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner invoked the millions of victims of the conflict in signing the agreement with Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe. Both expressed optimism but stressed significant work still to do to end the fighting.

“Some wounds will heal, but they will never fully disappear,” Wagner said. “Those who have suffered the most are watching. They are expecting this agreement to be respected, and we cannot fail them.”

Nduhungirehe noted the “great deal of uncertainty” because previous agreements were not put in place.

“There is no doubt that the road ahead will not be easy,” he said. “But with the continued support of the United States and other partners, we believe that a turning point has been reached.”

They, along with Rubio, lauded the support of the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar in facilitating the agreement, which Doha has been working on for months at the request of the U.S. and others.

The agreement has provisions on territorial integrity, prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups.

Asked in the Oval Office about violations of the agreement, Trump said he didn’t think that would happen but also warned of “very severe penalties, financial and otherwise,” if it did.

The peace deal is not likely to quickly end the conflict

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group is the most prominent armed group in the conflict, and its major advance early this year left bodies on the streets. With 7 million people displaced in Congo, the United Nations has called it “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”

Congo hopes the U.S. will provide it with the security support needed to fight the rebels and possibly get them to withdraw from the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, and from the entire region where Rwanda is estimated to have up to 4,000 troops. Rwanda has said that it’s defending its territorial interests and not supporting M23.

M23 rebels have suggested that the agreement won’t be binding for them. The rebel group hasn’t been directly involved in the planned peace deal, although it has been part of other ongoing peace talks.

Corneille Nangaa, leader of Congo River Alliance — known by its French acronym AFC — which includes M23, told The Associated Press in March that direct peace talks with Congo can only be held if the country acknowledges their grievances and that “anything regarding us which are done without us, it’s against us.”

An M23 spokesperson, Oscar Balinda, echoed that to the AP this week.

Nduhungirehe pointed to separate talks happening in Qatar that are meant to get both Congo and the M23 rebels to agree among themselves how they will end the fighting. He also said Rwanda agreed to lift its “defensive measures.” It was not clear if he meant withdrawing the troops that Rwanda has said are defending its territorial interests.

Rwanda also has been accused of exploiting eastern Congo’s minerals, used in smartphones, advanced fighter jets and much more. Rwanda has denied any involvement, while analysts say that might make it difficult for Rwanda not to be involved in the region.

The deal is at the heart of the U.S. government’s push to counter China in Africa. For many years, Chinese companies have been a key player in Congo’s minerals sector. Chinese cobalt refineries, which account for a majority of the global supply, rely heavily on Congo.

What the US role looks like in ending the conflict

Analysts say the U.S. government’s commitment might depend on how much access it has to the minerals being discussed under separate negotiations between the American and Congolese governments.

The mostly untapped minerals are estimated to be worth as much as $24 trillion by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol, called the deal a “major turning point” but said it could “in no way eliminate all the issues of the conflict.”

“The current draft agreement ignores war crimes and justice for victims by imposing a partnership between the victim and the aggressor,” he said. “This seems like a trigger-happy proposition and cannot establish lasting peace without justice and reparation.”

In Congo’s North Kivu province, the hardest hit by the fighting, some believe that the peace deal will help resolve the violence but warn justice must still be served for an enduring peace.

“I don’t think the Americans should be trusted 100%,” said Hope Muhinuka, an activist from the province. “It is up to us to capitalize on all we have now as an opportunity.”

The conflict can be traced to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where Hutu militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million ethnic Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa, Indigenous people. When Tutsi-led forces fought back, nearly 2 million Hutus crossed into Congo, fearing reprisals.

Rwandan authorities have accused the Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide and alleged that elements of the Congolese army protected them. They have argued that the militias formed by a small fraction of the Hutus are a threat to Rwanda’s Tutsi population.

Since then, the ongoing conflict in east Congo has killed 6 million people, in attacks, famines and unchecked disease outbreaks stemming from the fighting.

Asadu reported from Dakar, Senegal. AP writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Justin Kabumba in Goma, Congo, and Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali, Rwanda, contributed to this report.

An 84-game season is coming to the NHL as part of an extension of the collective bargaining agreement that has been tentatively agreed to by the league and the Players’ Association.

They announced a memorandum of understanding Friday in Los Angeles before the first round of the draft. It still needs to be ratified by the Board of Governors and the full NHLPA membership.

Two games are being added to the regular season, the maximum length of contracts players can sign is being shortened and a salary cap will be implemented in the playoffs for the first time, two people told the Associated Press on Thursday.

The NHL and NHLPA began negotiations in earnest this spring after agreeing at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February to jointly hold a World Cup of Hockey in 2028. With revenue breaking records annually and the cap increasing exponentially in the coming years, Commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Marty Walsh voiced optimism about reaching an agreement quickly. There were no disagreements on a host of major issues like in previous bargaining talks.

“There’s been tremendous growth, and what’s ahead is spectacular on many fronts,” said Toronto’s John Tavares, who’s going into his 17th season. “The predictability of things goes a long way, I think, for everyone in the sport. It’s great to have that partnership and how collaborative it’s been.”

The extension through 2030 provides the sport extended labor peace since the last lockout in 2012-13, which shortened that season to 48 games. Here is what is changing:

Longer schedule

The season will expand from 82 to 84 games beginning in 2026-27, making the season 1,344 total games. It’s expected exhibition play will shrink to four games apiece for the NHL’s 32 teams.

The additions would be played within divisions, evening out the schedule to ensure four showdowns each season between rivals such as Toronto and Boston, Dallas and Colorado and Washington and Pittsburgh. Currently, there is a rotation that has some division opponents facing off only three times a season.

The NHL experimented with an 84-game schedule in 1992-93 and ’93-94, when each team added a pair of neutral site games.

Shorter contracts

Since 2013, players have been able to re-sign with their own team for up to eight years and sign with another for up to seven. Under the new CBA, each would be reduced by a year.

Top players, given the injury risks in the sport, have preferred the longest contracts possible. The same goes for general managers, eager to keep talent in the fold as long as possible. Nathan MacKinnon, Sebastian Aho, Leon Draisaitl, Juuse Saros, Travis Konecny, Mathew Barzal and, as recently as March, Mikko Rantanen are all among the top players who have signed lucrative eight-year deals.

“I guess that could be a rarity now,” said Trent Frederic, who on Friday signed an eight-year contract to remain with the Oilers. “Eight years is better than seven. It’s good to lock in before that changes.”

Playoff salary cap

Currently, teams with players on long-term injured reserve can exceed the salary cap by roughly the amount of the players’ salaries until the playoffs begin.

Several times over the past decade, Stanley Cup contenders have used LTIR to activate players at the start of or early in the playoffs after they missed some or all of the regular season.

Florida did so with Matthew Tkachuk before winning the second of back-to-back titles, Vegas has done it with Mark Stone on multiple occasions, Tampa Bay with Nikita Kucherov and Chicago with Patrick Kane.

The rule has been criticized as an unfair loophole, a way to stockpile talent and then add even more for the postseason. After he and Carolina were eliminated by the Lightning in 2021, Dougie Hamilton quipped that the Hurricanes “lost to a team that’s $18 million over the cap.” Tampa Bay went back to back, and players wore T-shirts with that saying on it during their Cup celebration.

That will no longer be possible, though it’s not exactly clear how it will work.

Related Articles

NHL Draft: After ‘boring’ 1st round, things should get interesting for Wild

NHL Draft: Woodbury native Logan Hensler ready to write next chapter

Wild ship Freddy Gaudreau to Seattle for a draft pick

NHL Draft 2025: What Wild fans need to know

Greg Cronin named new Iowa Wild head coach

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and SUDHIN THANAWALA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday limiting federal judges from issuing nationwide injunctions threatens to upend numerous lawsuits that have led to orders blocking Trump administration policies.

Related Articles

The Senate is working to put Trump’s big bill back on track but hurdles remain

Guatemala’s president denies new asylum deal with US

Trump tells Iran’s supreme leader: ‘You got beat to hell’

Trump administration ends legal protections for half-million Haitians who now face deportations

University of Virginia president resigns under Trump administration pressure on DEI, AP source says

Between the start of the new administration and mid-May, judges issued roughly 40 nationwide injunctions against the White House on topics including federal funding, elections rules and diversity and equity considerations. Attorneys involved in some of those cases are vowing to keep fighting, noting the high court left open other legal paths that could have broad nationwide effect.

Here’s a look at some of the decisions that could be impacted:

Birthright citizenship

Multiple federal judges have issued nationwide injunctions blocking President Donald Trump’s order denying citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally or temporarily. The high court’s decision Friday came in a lawsuit over that order, but the justices left unclear whether the restrictions on birthright citizenship could soon take effect in parts of the country.

Opponents went back to court within hours of the opinion, using a legal path the court left open to file class-action lawsuits that could have nationwide effect.

Election rules

On June 13, U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper in Massachusetts blocked Trump’s attempt to overhaul elections in the U.S. An executive order the Republican president issued in March sought to compel officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote for federal elections, accept only mailed ballots received by Election Day and condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the new ballot deadline.

California was one of the plaintiffs in that suit. The office of the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said in an email it was assessing the effect of Friday’s Supreme Court decision on all of the state’s litigation.

Legal aid for migrants

A federal judge in California in April blocked the administration from cutting off funding for legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children. The administration has appealed.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in San Francisco said there was “no practical way” to limit the scope of the injunction by party or by geography.

“Indeed, as discussed with the Government’s declarants at the preliminary injunction hearing, there exists only one contract for the provision of the subject funding, and it applies to direct legal services nationwide,” Martinez-Olguin wrote.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Adina Appelbaum, program director for the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said she didn’t think the Supreme Court’s decision would significantly affect her case.

But she blasted it, saying the high court had “turned its back on its role to protect the people,” including immigrants.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

A federal judge in February largely blocked sweeping executive orders that sought to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore granted a preliminary injunction preventing the administration from terminating or changing federal contracts it considers equity-related.

An appeals court later put the decision on hold. Attorneys for the group Democracy Forward represented plaintiffs in the case.

The group’s president and CEO, Skye Perryman, said she was disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling, calling it another barrier to seeking relief in court. But she also said it was limited and could keep at least some decisions blocking the Trump administration in place.

Transgender care

A federal judge in February stopped the administration from withholding federal funds from health care facilities that provide gender-affirming care to patients under the age of 19.

Explaining his reasoning for a nationwide injunction, U.S. District Judge Brendan Abell Hurson in Maryland said a “piecemeal approach is not appropriate in this case.”

“Significant confusion would result from preventing agencies from conditioning funding on certain medical institutions, while allowing conditional funding to persist as to other medical institutions,” he wrote.

An appeal in the case was on hold as the Supreme Court considered similar issues about minors and transgender health care. The high court last week upheld a Tennessee law banning key health care treatments for transgender youth.

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc., was one of the attorneys who secured Hurson’s ruling. He said the plaintiffs’ lawyers were still evaluating the possible impact of the Supreme Court’s decision, but he believed the high court recognized that “systematic, universal relief is sometimes appropriate.”

Federal cuts

In May, a judge in Rhode Island blocked an executive order that sought to dismantle federal agencies supporting libraries, museums, minority businesses and parties in labor disputes.

The administration has appealed.

Rhode Island was a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The state’s attorney general, Peter F. Neronha, said in a statement Friday he would “continue to pull every available legal lever to ensure that Americans, all Americans, are protected from the progressively dangerous whims of this President.”

Thanawala reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Lindsay Whitehurst, Christina Cassidy in Atlanta and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho contributed to this report.