FRISCO — Over a thousand youth from the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, plus hundreds of chaperones and volunteers, filled the Embassy Suites by Hilton Dallas Frisco Hotel & Convention Center with the buzz of worship and fellowship during this year’s Dallas Catholic Youth Conference, Feb. 16-18.

Perhaps the four most impactful words Barbara Landregan has said in her life are “It’s not your fault.” She has said those words many times over the 14 years she was director of the Safe Environment Program for the Dallas Diocese, up until her retirement in December.

When hundreds of young Catholics converge on Frisco later this month, it will mark the much-anticipated return of a weekend of fellowship and faith sidelined since 2020 because of the pandemic.

There is an adage in one of the Nigerian languages (Hausa) that says “Zumunci a kafa ta ke,” translated directly as “fellowship (or relationship) is on the foot.” This means that true fellowship is shown through physical presence. This adage reminds us of the need for demonstrating fellowship or relationship through physical visitation, which is even more important in today’s world, where physical presence is often replaced by media technology. In our busy world there is a tendency to neglect the need for physical visitation with family members and friends. Of course, COVID-19 is a setback to our physical presence at this time, but even without COVID our world and all its demands have, at least to some degree, forced many people into a life of individualism and separatism. Many of us explain why we are unable to be with family and friends with the simple excuse that we are too busy.

On Feb. 15, the final catechetical session concluded. This represented the end of one phase of the diocesan synodal process and the beginning of another. On March 26, the first public listening session will take place. Because these terms might be unclear, I thought it would be helpful to distinguish between the two and provide more information about these upcoming listening sessions.

Pope Francis said his heart was “broken” by the war in Ukraine, and he pleaded again, “Silence the weapons!”

From staff reports On March 1, 2022, Bishop Edward J. Burns announced updates to the Phase 3 Decree outlining the…

Pope Francis said the Vatican “is ready to do everything to put itself at the service of peace” in Ukraine.

A curious pattern of exile is evident in the endings of several Old Testament books. After God promises Abram the land of Canaan, the patriarch must immediately flee to Egypt because of a famine (Genesis 12); his descendants, the sons of Jacob, repeat the expedition for the same reason (Genesis 42-47).

The Catholic Church needs women, especially women saints, who have shown throughout history an unwavering dedication to God and to caring for their brothers and sisters, Pope Francis said.

Lent is a good time to ask God’s help in throwing off any spiritual “drowsiness” that dulls a person’s prayer life and attentiveness to the needs of others, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a penitential prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica March 25, the Vatican said.

By Father Ignacio Olvera Special to The Texas Catholic What happens when a priest walks into a bar? With the…

A standing-room crowd filled the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe March 25 as Bishop Edward J. Burns joined Pope Francis and the universal Church in the Act of Consecration for Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1980, declared in a book of prose that “the Scriptures constitute the common good of believers, agnostics, and atheists.” For Milosz, whose life was scarred by the Nazi and Communist takeovers of his native land, the moral authority and literary beauty of the Bible was a refuge against the lethal and banal propaganda spewed forth from those godless governments and armies, even though he could not bring himself to believe in God.