Current News

Pope Francis calls us to be "missionary disciples." In recent messages, he speaks of a "new" evangelization and two notions that to some ears sound opposite: a missionary (someone who is sent away) and disciples (called to accompany, or be with, those who are near). Which is it?

They are hoping to start a new religious congregation and, on Tuesday, three women from the Diocese of Buffalo took a big individual step in their formation as Marian Franciscan Sisters. They received their religious habits and new religious names as Bishop Richard Malone received them into the novitiate in a special Mass at Our Lady Chapel in St. Joseph Cathedral.

Bishop John Timon left a lasting impression on the Diocese of Buffalo, the full scope of which is probably not well known. Two seminary professors plan to change that with a series of lectures on the diocese's founding shepherd.

Sister Mary Anthony Garnier, OSP, of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, died July 20, 2017, at 101 years of age.

WASHINGTON—Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, expresses his opposition to the Administration's decision to end parole processing for individuals in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala who apply to enter the U.S. through the Central American Minors (CAM) program. Bishop Vasquez, who is currently in El Salvador, says that the elimination of this program puts the lives of vulnerable children at risk for greater harm.

The year 1967 is remembered as teeming with violence, milestones and setbacks in race relations, and the beginning of a youth culture. The year saw the Summer of Love and germ warfare, the first African-American justice on the Supreme Court and race riots on Buffalo's East Side. Bishop Karol Wojtyla is ordained a cardinal and abortion is legalized in the United Kingdom. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band issued a new progression of popular music, while a group of new priests in the Diocese of Buffalo became the first group to be trained and educated at St. John Vianney Seminary.

KENMORE — Mount St. Mary Academy will host its fifth-annual Summer Music Festival, featuring a Super Cruise Car Show and food truck rally, on Aug. 26, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., on the front lawn of the school, 3756 Delaware Ave.

This year's Hispanic Family Day at Fatima Shrine is on Aug. 26. The theme of the day is, "The Spirituality of Marriage and Family." The celebrant for the 10 a.m. Mass will be Father Erick Viloria, from the Diocese of Rochester, who will also speak at the 1 p.m. workshop on the section of "Amoris Laetitia" that we chose for the theme of the day.

Located on the campus of Sisters Hospital on Main Street in Buffalo, the St. Catherine Laboure Health Care Center offers a full range of services to assist residents and patients in need of long-term care and rehabilitation. To assist those who wish to live at home and maintain their independence, while still receiving needed services to remain healthy, the center's Adult Day Health Care Program offers a place for adults of all ages to socialize and receive care for several hours per day in a controlled environment.

Eudist Father Dr. Robert Perelli, CJM discusses his upcoming course on Family Systems Theory at D'Youville College beginning on September 19.

Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, is responding to today's attack which killed 13 people in Barcelona, Spain.

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., Aug. 15, 2017 — Students who are new to the Bona family will begin arriving at St. Bonaventure University Aug. 24 for Welcome Days 2017, a four-day program hosted the weekend before classes begin.

St. Joseph Cathedral, the central church for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, has undergone a changing of the guard. Father Charles E. Slisz has come out of retirement to take over the role of cathedral rector from Father Peter Drilling, who has served in that position since 2014. Father Drilling will continue his long career teaching at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora.

Sister Mary Angeline (Donald) Bierut, CSSF, died Aug. 8, 2017, in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo. She was 96.

Bishop Richard J. Malone is calling on the faithful to continue praying for healing after Saturday's deadly attack at a protest in Charlottsville, Virginia. "Our hearts and prayers are in Charlottsville as we condemn the evil of white supremacism, New-Nazism and every form of racism," said Bishop Malone. "God save us."

As I write this column, I am in Massachusetts, the "land of my birth," where I have been blessed to step out of the whirlwind for a few quiet summer days of R and R. I should add a third R to Rest and Relaxation, as a vacation priority for me always is to catch up on Reading.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has announced new clergy assignments at several parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo. The appointments include welcoming three priests to the diocese.

A weekend filled with live music, classic cars, numerous raffles and delicious food offerings will highlight the 80th annual summer picnic at the Church of the Annunciation, 7580 Clinton St., Elma. The event kicks off on Friday, Aug. 18, and concludes with a grand drawing the evening of Sunday, Aug. 20.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, are calling on all people of goodwill to join in prayer and unity today in response to yesterday's violent protest and deadly attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Summer in Western New York is a time for working in the garden with the soil, the plants, the flowers, the bushes, the trees. So this is an appropriate time to think of the first "garden story" in the Bible, that of Genesis 2:4-24.

Imagine for a moment that you are putting your family's budget together for the next year, and you think that you are just plain spending too much. Let's also imagine that your total spending for the year is $100. You look over what your household spends, and you find a place you want to cut: you spend $1 on poor people overseas, so you decide to cut that down to just 67 cents. Does that seem like a reasonable choice to you? Does it seem like a moral choice?

In apostolic times, when the Church in Jerusalem was in great distress, St. Paul did not hesitate to ask the Catholics of Corinth to give generously to the relief of their brothers in religion. This bond of human solidarity and Christian brotherhood has been in the Church through the ages. Whenever distress came to our brothers in the faith in one part of the world, those in other parts were always willing to extend to them their helping hand.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Africa approved 54 grants totaling nearly $1.4 million in funding to support dioceses and pastoral projects across the African continent.

CLARENCE — Sisters of St. Joseph, associates and friends gathered under a tent June 23 at their Clarence residence to ritualize the recent sale of some of their Clarence land and buildings and to honor their deceased sisters with a tree-planting ceremony.

For 35 years, the Erie County Fair has hosted an annual tradition, one that is relatively unknown even to many Western New Yorkers, but consistently draws a crowd of around 200 people each year. Held on the fairgrounds' Evans Bank Family Entertainment Complex, this year's Mass on the Midway, a Catholic service to accompany its annual day honoring veterans, will take place at 10 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 13.

While teachers who work in any diocesan Catholic schools often feel the pinch of budgetary concerns, this becomes even more of a concern in low-income areas where students' families find it difficult to afford school supplies, requiring teachers to buy them. However, thanks to the efforts of a retired autoworker and substitute teacher, The Teacher's Desk, located just off of Main Street in the city of Buffalo, has let teachers in eligible schools in Western New York shop for donated supplies free of charge since 2011.

Denver, Colo., Aug 5, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With awareness of mental health conditions on the rise, how is the Church called to respond to those who do not simply wish to end their lives, but push for the right to do so legally?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down with a bishop and chat, just chat, about whatever's on your mind? What would you ask him?

The Diocesan Marian Commission, under the spiritual direction of Father Michael Burzynski, pastor of St. John Gualbert Church in Cheektowaga, is in the process of planning a pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., similar to the one that took place in 2012.

World Refugee Day, June 20, came and went with hardly a notice.

HAMBURG — Sister Christine Songin, FSSJ, and Sister Benilda Nadolski, FSSJ, celebrated their 75th jubilee, and Sister Ann Marie Hudzina, FSSJ, celebrated her 50th jubilee on May 28 at Immaculate Conception Convent.

Brother Louis N. Mauro, SJ, died July 28, 2017, at Murray-Weigel Hall in the Bronx. He was 75.

WILLIAMSVILLE — The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities will host their second annual "Burgers, Brews and Blues" summer fundraiser on Tuesday, Aug. 15 at St. Mary of the Angels Convent, 201 Reist St., in Williamsville. Event proceeds will benefit the sisters' important ministries throughout Western New York and beyond.

WASHINGTON—The Most Reverend Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop of Austin and Chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, says that the newly proposed RAISE Act would cause our nation to turn its back on those setting out to build better lives, weaken family bonds and impact the nation's ability to respond to those in crisis. Bishop Vásquez's full statement follows:

The Buffalo Diocese' STREAM program has proven to be a model of education for the nation. Representatives from Buffalo led a two-day conference to teach other educators how to make the tech program work in their schools. Jean Comer, diocesan STREAM coordinator, and Shelly Reidy, diocesan professional development coordinator, traveled to Chicago's Loyola University to explain and demonstrate how to deliver the principles of STREAM education to the classrooms, school or diocese.

As part of a collaboration between Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston and Catholic Cemeteries, the two entities came together on Aug. 2 to bless and dedicate a new space on the grounds of Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Lewiston for families who have suffered losses associated with miscarriage. The newly dedicated section of the cemetery is designated specifically for fetuses aged 20 weeks or younger.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America awarded nearly $4 million in funding in the form of 244 grants to support the pastoral work of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean, and nearly $2 million in funding for continued reconstruction in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. The grants were approved at the Subcommittee's meeting on June 12 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Sister Virginia May, OSF, died July 30, 2017, at St. Elizabeth Motherhouse in Allegany. She was 91.

As I was trying to discern what God wanted me to write about, I walked into my 16-year-old son's bedroom to discover a military calendar hanging on the wall. It highlighted young men and women in combat fatigues, fighter jets, an aircraft carrier battle group and plenty of American flags.

The Holy Cross Parish Council is pleased to announce its first Holy Cross 5K Mass Run and one-mile walk on Sunday, Oct. 8, at 7:45 a.m.