Police officers, firefighters, and emergency personnel routinely face situations most people never have to witness. At the ninth annual Diocese of Dallas Blue Mass and Blessing of the Fleet on Aug. 8, first responders gathered at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe to pray and to be recognized for their work.
Bishop Edward J. Burns
This past week, I had the privilege of making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Bl. Stanley Rother in Oklahoma City. I was accompanied by a lay leader within the diocese as well as two of our priests. It was especially meaningful, because we arrived on July 28, his feast day.
More than 600 people filled three theaters July 28, the feast day of Blessed Stanley Rother, to watch “American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story” — one for the English version narrated by award-winning actor Martin Sheen, and two for the Spanish version.
With ceremonial shovels poised over a pile of dirt and blue hard hats dotting the crowd, Bishop Edward J. Burns joined benefactors and supporters of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Dallas June 23 to break ground on Mary’s Garden at the Monastery of the Infant Jesus of Prague and St. Joseph, a project that reflects the community’s gratitude as it approaches its 2028 centennial in the Diocese of Dallas.
In the July 2026 edition of Diocese in the News, we highlight how the diocese is expanding a growing effort to better welcome Catholics with disabilities into parish life, how a religious order is planning to mark its centennial in Dallas with a peaceful place for prayer, and how the diocese is welcoming fans from around the globe for this summer’s soccer matches in North Texas.
For years, Father Nicholas Weiss watched friends lie prostrate before the altar during the Litany of the Saints and thought, “I know that guy. He’s my good friend, and he’s being ordained a priest.”
After a leap of faith led him to the seminary and — almost a decade of formation later — to his ordination as a priest of the Diocese of Dallas on May 23, Father Jeremy Maness has some well-earned wisdom for anyone discerning a vocation: Don’t let uncertainty about the destination delay the journey.
In a retreat hall in Porto San Giorgio, Italy, baskets sat at the front of the room — one filled with the names of Catholic dioceses around the world, the other with the names of aspiring seminarians willing to go wherever the Church sent them.
Bishop Edward J. Burns ordained three men to the priesthood May 23 at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church, urging them to embrace lives of sacrificial service, spiritual fatherhood, and fidelity to Christ as they begin ministry in the Diocese of Dallas.
Catholics from parishes across the Diocese of Dallas gathered May 16 at St. Ann Catholic Parish for a celebration of unity in diversity. The event began with a multilingual rosary and Marian procession, followed by the annual diocesan Multicultural Mass, celebrated by Bishop Edward J. Burns, and a festival featuring international foods and musical performances.