Catholic aid organizations in the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese confirmed they cannot get to work just yet because of the power outage that left about 2.5 million people in the dark following Hurricane Beryl’s landfall July 8 that cut a damaging path through eastern Texas and left at least eight people dead.
Nation
Marina Frattaroli describes herself as the National Eucharistic Revival’s “first convert,” after a related social media post led her to a website describing the church’s teaching on Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist. Now she’s spending most of her waking hours with the Eucharist as one of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s 30 perpetual pilgrims, who set out from points in California, Connecticut, Texas and Minnesota to meet at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17-21.
This spring Deacon Tom Hosty and his son Liam made history, becoming the first father and son to both be deacons at the same time in the 190-year history of the Catholic Church in central and southern Indiana.
Deacon Tom, 60, was ordained a permanent deacon for the Indianapolis Archdiocese in 2022, and Liam, 26, was ordained a transitional deacon as an archdiocesan seminarian April 27 at St. Barnabas Church in Indianapolis, with his ordination to the priesthood expected to happen in June of 2025.
“I think my heart is going to explode,” said Montse Alvarado, describing the way she expects to feel when she gathers with tens of thousands of Catholics to adore the Eucharist at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium in July. “It feels like so much beauty at a moment when our country and our world is in the midst of war and so much pain, just to see this be our church’s response — wow, what a witness.”
At least two people have been killed and thousands have been evacuated due to the South Fork and Salt fires in New Mexico, which broke out June 17. Some 1,400 structures have been destroyed and more than 23,000 acres ravaged.
As the nation marked Juneteenth, the head of the U.S. bishops’ anti-racism committee called for renewed efforts to combat the historical legacy of slavery and racism.
The first day of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ public meetings during their spring assembly June 12-14 began with a closed door session on the future of its anti-poverty initiative and closed with a lively open discussion surrounding its ongoing campaign to address the mental health crisis.
Catholic bishops in Malawi mourned the loss of the country’s vice president, a devout Catholic, who died June 10 in a tragic plane crash.
Saulos Chilima, 51, died alongside nine others, including the former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, aboard a military aircraft.
The Catholic Church in France commemorates the 80th anniversary of Normandy landings June 6, a date known as D-Day that marked the beginning of the liberation of France and Europe from Nazi Germany’s occupation during World War II.
As a Eucharistic procession made its way May 28 through Victoria, Texas, a 20-something man sitting on the side of a street caught Charlie McCullough’s attention. McCullough stopped to talk with him, explaining what was going on: The procession was part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage en route to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress, and the Eucharist they were walking behind is really, truly Jesus.