Pope Francis said he knows people wonder why he traveled close to 6,000 miles to Mongolia to visit a Catholic community of only 1,450 people.
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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.
Father Miguel Sotelo is a new priest for the Diocese of Dallas. He was ordained along with seven other men as a priest for the diocese on May 20 at St. Jude Catholic Church in Allen. On July 1, Father Sotelo began serving as a parochial vicar at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Plano.
“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.
In a land bordering both Russia and China, and having deep ties with both, Pope Francis told Mongolian leaders their country can play “a significant role in the heart of the great Asian continent and on the international scene,” particularly in peacemaking.
Greeted with “aaruul,” a dried yogurt cheese, which he tried, Pope Francis arrived in Ulaanbaatar for a four-day visit. After the nine-hour, overnight flight from Rome, the pope’s arrival Sept. 1 was low key. Battsetseg Batmunkh, Mongolia’s foreign minister, met him at Chinggis Khaan International Airport and had a brief meeting with him in the airport VIP lounge.
When the Pastoral Services Ministry was first established in the Diocese of Dallas in 1999, Deacon Charlie Stump was named its director. At the time, the diocese had one hospital chaplain and one prison chaplain. Twenty-four years later, that ministry has evolved into the Office of Catholic Social Ministry, fielding a team that includes four priests and two deacons working full-time in hospitals, one religious and one layperson working as hospital chaplains, numerous layperson and clergy volunteers, a prison ministry coordinator, an associate director for human dignity and respect for life, an associate director of disability and deaf and mental health, and more.
More than 100 couples joined by family and friends gathered at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Aug. 26 for the Diocese of Dallas Golden Anniversary Mass with Bishop Edward J. Burns as the main celebrant. The annual Mass honors couples who have celebrated 50 years of marriage and was followed by a reception in the Cathedral’s Gran Salon.
With the beginning of a new school year, Catholic schools in the Diocese of Dallas welcome a new superintendent, Dr. Rebecca Hammel.
In a world suffering from an “epidemic of enmity,” Christians can offer healing by recognizing each person as a child of God and reaching out in friendship, said a top Vatican official, writing on behalf of Pope Francis.