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Gio Benitez, an ABC News anchor, was recently received into full communion with the Catholic Church with his “husband” at his side. This highly unorthodox confirmation Mass was conducted at the notoriously pro-gay Church of Saint Paul the Apostle, an historic landmark in Manhattan serving as the mother church of the Paulist Fathers, a liberal order of priests which is rapidly dying out. There were 85 Paulist priests in 2004; only 50 remained as of 2024.

Benitez reportedly received three sacraments of the Catholic Church in this service: baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. His “husband” – who was also Benitez’s sponsor for reception into the Catholic Church – received the Eucharist too. Several pastoral staff members, apparently priests and deacons, took part in the service.

NEW: Openly gay ABC News anchor Gio Benitez joins the Catholic church with his husband serving as his sponsor.

Benitez says his confirmation mass at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan was inspired by the late Pope Francis.

"My deepest gratitude to Fr. Eric… pic.twitter.com/04EUaCdrkZ

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 12, 2025

On his Facebook page, the day after this service, Benitez proclaimed to the world, “I found the Ark of the Covenant in my heart, stored there by the one who created me… exactly as I am.” Benitez has long used his platform at ABC News to strongly advocate against orthodox, biblical Christian teaching on marriage and human sexuality.

Church of Saint Paul the Apostle is in the archdiocese of New York City and therefore under the oversight of Timothy Cardinal Dolan, a typically faithful prelate.

The Daily Citizen asked the archdiocese if the pastoral staff of St. Paul the Apostle was acting outside or with the blessing of Cardinal Dolan and the archdiocese. There was no response by deadline.

This is an important question as the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is eminently clear on the biblical nature of sexuality and marriage in relation to the sacraments of the Catholic Church. It states,

Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament (CCC 2360).

The Catholic Church also esteems the procreative nature of natural marriage, which of course, same-sex relationships can never fulfill.

The spouses’ union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple’s spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family. The conjugal love of man and woman thus stands under the twofold obligation of fidelity and fecundity (CCC 2363).

This is why the Catechism and biblical teaching reject redefinitions of marriage as opposite-sex monogamy. It is also why “same-sex marriage” and homosexual activity are “acts of grave depravity” because they “do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementary” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism clearly states, “Under no circumstances can they be approved” (CCC 2357).

The pastoral task of leaders in the body of Christ is to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight” (1 Peter 5:1-2). Pastors are also called to equip the saints in biblical teaching, “building up the body of Christ,” not lead it into or turning a blind eye to clear heresy (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Let us pray for and call all pastors in Christ to faithfully teach and require an allegiance of all believers to the full, biblical instruction on human sexuality and marriage which represents His Bride.

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I recently ran and was elected to my local school board. Running for office was a learning experience in more ways than one, but there are three important lessons I learned on the campaign trail that will stay with me for life.  

When I first felt the nudge to step forward, I took time to talk to my family and pray about it. As a mother with sincere convictions, but no interest in being a career politician, I wanted to make sure the timing was right for my family. My husband and I have four children — two in high school and two in middle school. My family is the first and most important priority in my life after my faith in Jesus Christ.

As we began to discuss the idea, I was encouraged by my kids who said, “Mom, you are perfect for this job.” And “You should definitely do it. You could help a lot of families.” My husband reiterated the importance of teaching our kids what it looks like to live out our convictions and beliefs.

After careful consideration, my faith and my family were the determining factors in my decision to throw my hat into the ring and run for office.

From the beginning, I knew that if I was going to run, I would do so on my values — without apology, without compromise, and without trying to please everyone.

In particular, I was motivated by my beliefs that parental rights ought to be respected by every public school in America, school boards have a duty to protect the innocence of kids at school, my unwavering belief that girls’ sports is for girls, and that public schools need to get back to focusing on academic excellence instead of indoctrination.

I learned quickly that even in a small, rural community, I needed to be prepared to stand my ground.

Lesson 1: Never Apologize for Your Values

From the moment my name was announced as a candidate for school board, it became clear that for some voters, standing for biblical truth and a Christian worldview somehow disqualified me as a public servant. I unapologetically defended parental rights, rejected woke indoctrination in the classroom, and yes, I said girls’ sports is only for girls because it’s a matter of dignity, safety, respect and fairness. I didn’t take these positions because they were politically convenient, but because they are morally obvious.

A vocal minority of voters didn’t like those beliefs and targeted me on social media, calling me many names and attempting to discredit me. And you know what I learned? That’s okay.

When you run on conviction, you cannot soften your message. The world doesn’t need more politicians who change their positions based on public polling or critics. It needs more people willing to stand without flinching.

Lesson 2: Persevere in the Face of Adversity

During my campaign, sixteen of my banners were vandalized — slashed, stolen, and spray-painted with Nazi swastikas. Imagine that: defending the innocence of children gets you compared to a Nazi.

The attacks weren’t random. They were meant to intimidate me. To make me shrink back from my beliefs and to pressure me to be quiet. But instead of discouraging me, they lit a stronger fire inside of me to speak the truth.

Because when you stand for truth, evil will try to find a way to push back. But here’s the key: truth doesn’t retreat.

John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

I cleaned every sign that was vandalized. I kept knocking on doors. I kept showing up. And the people saw not only my resolve in the face of hate, but they also saw that the hate didn’t win.

Lesson 3: Stay Focused and Ignore the Distractions

Politics is full of noise — rumors, lies, and social media drama. They are all attempts to distract you from your purpose. I learned quickly that I couldn’t chase every attack or argue with every critic. My job was to stay laser-focused on my mission — protecting kids, defending families, and restoring excellence to public schools.

Whenever someone tried to drag me into negativity, I remembered why I ran in the first place: the students, the parents, and the future of my community. That clarity of purpose is what helped me cross the finish line.

A Challenge for Anyone Feeling the Call to Serve

If you are reading this and you feel even the slightest tug in your heart to step up and serve — do it.

Our communities need more people who will run on conviction, who don’t apologize for their values, who will persevere and who focus on what matters.

When good people stay silent, darkness advances. When one is willing to stand unapologetically for truth, others will find the courage to stand too. And that is how we will change our culture — that is how we will change our nation — one courageous step of faith at a time.

Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result.

For the past few decades now, marriage rates have plummeted. Those who are getting married are doing so much later in life. The entire Western world, including the United States, is facing an unprecedented birth dearth. And yet, many Christians and churches, including those who believe marriage is a created gift of God and pillar of civilization, are doing nothing different to elevate marriage and family in the hearts and minds of young people. It’s an example of what Einstein called “insanity.” 

Perhaps we might learn from a group of Chinese retirees recently covered in The Wall Street Journal.

Each weekend, in an ongoing effort to play matchmakers for their older children, these parents meet at a park, known as “the marriage market,” with photos and achievement stats of their kids. The goal is to help them find a spouse.  

The kids do not seem as concerned as their parents. As a 33-year-old single said, “My parents are more anxious than I am.”

They should be.

According to the article, in the U.S with over a billion people, only six million couples registered their marriages in 2024. The record low number, down 21% from the previous year, is another consequence of the one-child policy that China enforced for decades.   

America is likely not ready for arranged marriages. Most will not find marrying to save the economy a romantic enough notion. However, our young adults need help in the relationship department, too.  

First and foremost, they need help understanding what marriage is. The Bible describes it as a cornerstone of adulthood and society, but many young adults view it as more of a “capstone,” a personal thing to be tended to once everything else is accomplished. Christ calls the Church His bride, portraying marriage as a metaphor of eternal truth, but Hollywood and lifestyle magazines often portray it as a burden, an obstacle to true personal fulfillment. God created us for family, but young women have been widely told that unencumbered sexual freedom is the true path to fulfillment.

Another challenge is that young adults who are considering marriage often do not turn to parents or pastors for guidance. Rather, they rely on apps. According to a 2023 Pew Research study, 30% of adults said they had used a dating app. Fifty-three percent of those adults were aged 18 to 29, and 50% of college students said they have used an app to find a date. That’s in college … a place where young adults are face-to-face with more like-minded, similar-aged peers than at any other time in their lives. And, at least according to one article covering dating trends on campuses, dating apps are ruining romance.  

Though there is hopeful potential for marriage in the much-celebrated return of young people to church, it seems that guys and girls aren’t returning to the same ones. An X user recently posted,  

One of the toughest things about the Christian dating scene is that the women are all over at the baptist/nondenom mega church and the men are all at the most trad[itional] place they can find.  

With all of these obstacles in place, can Christians make dating for marriage great again? 

At the 2012 Wilberforce Weekend, Maggie Gallagher challenged us all to take seriously the task of matchmaking, turning our homes and churches into places where young Christian men and women can meet each other. This could be the Church’s moment to save marriage. But it will require us to break dramatically from social norms, to embrace the awkwardness inherent in such things, reject the narrative of self-centeredness, and well, be “weird.” 

Many young adults lack the worldview categories to grasp what it means that marriage is “good.” Inundated at every turn to look within, concepts such as “sacrificial love” or statements like “a central purpose of marriage is to have babies” sound bizarre. We must make them normal again. Guys also need to know it is ok to romance a girl, and girls need to know they are not a let-down to womankind if they allow a man to do such.  

While young men should be encouraged to go for the girl, they also need to hear, especially from older men, that this requires he is willing to lay down his life for her. Young women should be challenged to consider how the sexual revolution has lied to them. And they should be encouraged to say yes to the guy now, not later.  

In short, young adults need to hear, from someone other than Charlie Kirk, that marriage and babies are good gifts of God! The Church is in the best position to come alongside parents and make marriage and family plausible to them again. We may have to figure out how to get the “trad” men and “non denom” women in the same places, but if we can, we may find young adults more receptive to being set up with each other than we think.

It has been recently documented that “trans” identity and gender ideology are losing their deceptive grip on young adults in America. But this does not mean all concern over gender ideology is removed. Real Clear Politics features an important commentary on how state medical societies continue to demonstrate ideological capture to wokeness and the gender mind virus, thus crushing the scientific discipline of medicine.

However, good news continues to be uncovered regarding young people. Professor Jean Twenge, who has documented dramatic declines in “trans” identity among young American adults, also documents that identifying as “nonbinary” is also in free fall among teens. Twenge states, “The results were unambiguous.”

Across eighth, 10th and 12th graders, identifying as nonbinary plummeted between 2022 and 2024.” The graph in her article demonstrates the stark decline.

Twenge explains that the decline was largest and earliest among the youngest grades. “The decline was largest among eighth graders; identifying as nonbinary was cut in half between 2022 and 2024, with most of the decline between 2022 and 2023.” It happened a little later with 10^th graders, and 12^th graders saw their sharpest decline in 2024.

She explains, “This pattern is an almost perfect illustration of a generational shift, starting earliest among the youngest group and then moving up the age scale.”

The data Twenge is citing comes from the highly reputable and nationally representative 2024 Monitoring the Future research on American teenagers. It is conducted annually by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.

Twenge concludes, “With three nationally representative samples showing a decline in transgender or nonbinary identity since 2023, it’s clear things have shifted just in the last few years.”

Deceivers can only sustain a lie for so long. It seems the deception that a person can be anything other than male or female is losing its grip among young people. This is very heartening news. Now we just have to wait for leading medical professional associations to realize the truth and untangle themselves from the lies.

Image from Shutterstock.