Blue and white balloons were flying, and students, faculty and families were loudly cheering on Tuesday, Sept. 19, as the U.S. Department of Education announced that Prince of Peace Catholic School has officially been named a 2023 National Blue Ribbon School. With this year’s recognition, Prince of Peace is now a three-time National Blue Ribbon School (2006, 2016, 2023).
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The third Sunday in September is designated as “Catechetical Sunday” by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or USCCB. It is a day to celebrate the ministry of catechesis, the passing on the faith. This year’s theme, “Come to me all who labor and are burdened,” (Matthew 11:28) reminds us of the invitation we receive from the Lord Jesus to follow Him and the promise that He doesn’t want to add to our burdens; he wants to lighten them. Observing Catechetical Sunday is a great way show appreciation to our catechists for the hard work that they do accompanying the many people of all ages throughout the year. It is in their dedication, efforts, and true servant’s heart that they continually give of themselves by helping so many families in their faith journey.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York told OSV News the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, which is marked with solemn ceremonies across the U.S., should be observed with memories of lives lost and impacted by the day’s events. But he added it also is worth remembering the spirit of the following day, Sept. 12, 2001, when Americans came together as a nation.
Mothers are gifted by God with unique insight into the mystery of life and its connection, for now, to the tragedy of death. Just think of Mary. Her maternity extended from Bethlehem to Calvary: to be a mother as God desires, Mary had to give life to a person destined to pass through death. Her fiat or “yes” to life at the Annunciation is not merely biological; it is a cooperation with God’s whole Providence for the one she births. That means that an ‘openness to life’ is at the same time a certain openness to death, and thus, for now, the joy of motherhood is always accompanied by pain (Gn 3:16; Jn 16:21).
In his Feb. 19, 2021 pastoral letter, titled “The Journey Through Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost — A Post-Pandemic Pastoral…
In the Judeo-Christian worldview, the wilderness has always been a place of divine encounter. Think Moses and the burning bush, Elijah on Mount Horeb, Jesus in the desert. Often God leads his people into the wild places in order to reveal himself in a new way and to strengthen them for mission. And He is still doing it today.
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.
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.