On a day when history was made 60 years earlier with the March on Washington, Father Robert Boxie III, the Catholic chaplain at Howard University in the nation’s capital, noted that the campus ministry program there was making history of its own, with the blessing and dedication of its new Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Student Center.
Nation
“The church doesn’t have a mission; the mission has a church,” said Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of the Diocese of Yakima, not quite pounding the table. Later, he told the group, “Our migrant ministry is the model for all of our ministries — the parish is bigger than the building.”
A group of 24 modern apostles were able to witness a glimpse of this during an Aug. 28-29 pastoral visit organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers. Participants from the USCCB, the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network and related ministries met in Yakima to witness, support, and learn from the migrant ministry carried out by the diocese.
“For us, it’s like a miracle,” Msgr. Terrence Watanabe, the Honolulu Diocese’s vicar of Maui and Lanai, said about Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in the town of Lahaina being seemingly untouched by the fierce Maui wildfires Aug. 8-9.
Joyful, singing crowds were walking through Lisbon long after the opening Mass of World Youth Day 2023 was over Aug. 1. The atmosphere surprised even those that lived in the Portuguese capital throughout their lives.
In response to recent reports of inhumane actions along the Texas-Mexico border, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops have issued a statement asking all “people of goodwill to join us in this work, and to join us in praying for our brothers and sisters experiencing the harsh realities of this journey, and for all who encounter them.”
Sheila and David Porter left their home in Newport News, Virginia, at 5 a.m. to celebrate the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in Washington June 24. Together, the couple attended the 2023 National Celebrate Life Day rally held by national pro-life groups on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The event commemorated the court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, and freed states to decide abortion policy.
As the U.S. Catholic bishops heard at their spring assembly’s June 16 plenary session in Orlando, with support, open hearts and ears, and encouragement, World Youth Day 2023 can be not just a singular event, but become a movement to uplift the church for years and generations to come.
Retired Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe, a former rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas, died June 3 at age 83.
As the nation celebrates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 16, both personal conversion and action are needed to build what the slain civil rights leader called “the beloved community,” said Catholic clergy and lay leaders.