A funeral Mass was offered March 29 at Our Lady of Angels Convent Chapel in Aston, Pa., for Sister Francesca Krolczyk, who gave to the Archdiocese of Baltimore 56 of her 67 years as a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Sister Francesca died March 24 in her hometown of Baltimore. She was 91.
As they did when Pope Francis arrived to visit the Archdiocese of Washington’s St. John Paul II Seminary in 2015, the seminarians and priests stood on the steps at the seminary’s front entrance and applauded as Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory arrived for his first visit April 5, one day after Pope Francis had named him as the new archbishop of Washington.
A week into National Child Abuse Protection Month, Archbishop William E. Lori visited the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops chapel to celebrate midday Mass for employees of the conference to reflect on the church’s work to develop policies and procedures to prevent child abuse by those within the church.
The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston is addressing a lawsuit filed by the state “with utmost seriousness,” while “steadfastly affirming” the diocese’s rigorous child protection standards, said the diocese’s apostolic administrator, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori.
Everyone has a direct line to Jesus, who is always nearby, ready to listen and help, Pope Francis said.
U.S. Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and the former Archbishop of Baltimore, celebrated his 80th birthday April 8, meaning he is no longer eligible to enter a conclave to elect a new pope.
To remind ourselves of Jesus’ true origins, his authoritative claim upon our lives, and the price of our redemption – to do all of this is simply to acknowledge the dimensions of what it means truly to open our hearts to Christ.
St. Vincent’s Villa, a program of Catholic Charities, offers care, stability for children in crisis.
Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, set to become the new head of the Archdiocese of Washington, promised to serve with truth, love and tenderness in a region where he acknowledged “unrest and anger,” after the downfall of former Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick and the church’s current sex abuse scandal.
What began as a friendship on Facebook with a fellow Christian half a world away led to an eye-opening and faith-affirming mission trip to the Punjab region of Pakistan for one parishioner of St. Patrick in Havre de Grace.
There’s an awful lot of things to pray for these days in the life of the Church but as we celebrate today’s liturgy in the presence of St. John Vianney’s priestly heart, let us pray deeply for people like me, namely, bishops and priests.
These highlights of our week are written in rhyme.
