The Franciscan Center’s most robust outreach is a meal program. In fiscal year 2018, nearly 300,000 meals were distributed through the hot, healthy lunch and dinner programs, and emergency grocery bags. Lunches are offered on weekdays, and dinners on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Australian Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney used his speech at the Synod of Bishops to formally apologize to young people for all the ways the Catholic Church and its members have harmed them or let them down.
Paul McMullen finds boundless inspiration from young people.
Bill Ballantyne was honored Oct. 2 at Ceresville Mansion in Frederick as the 2018 John McElroy Award winner by the Friends of Catholic Education, an independent organization which provides scholarships and tuition assistance for Catholic schools in Frederick County.
Each year the U.S. Catholic Church observes October as Respect Life Month, which calls Catholics “to cherish, defend and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the beginning of life to its end, and at every point in between,” said the chairman of the bishops’ pro-life committee.
Pope Francis asked bishops to be bold, honest, open-minded, charitable and, especially, prayerful as they begin a three-week meeting on “young people, the faith and vocational discernment.”
Setting the stage for a monthlong gathering of bishops, Pope Francis urged synod fathers not to be crushed by “prophets of doom,” but to be the signs of hope and joy for which today’s young people yearn.
St. Joseph is among the parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore with a strong Hispanic presence that have great anticipation of the Oct. 15 canonization of Blessed Oscar Romero, who is to become the first saint from El Salvador.
A funeral Mass was offered Sept. 15 for Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Sister DeSales Wisniewski at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. Sister DeSales, who spent most of her ministry in health care, died Sept. 8 at 88. She spent 70 years as a Daughter of Charity.
Those attending the 66th annual Red Mass in Washington Sept. 30 paused from news coverage of the Supreme Court vacancy, and instead prayerfully sought God’s blessing on all those involved in government positions, the law profession and the administration of justice.
Bigmindedness looks at the connection between present concerns and future consequences, reminding us that one thing leads to another and to take seriously what that other might be.
May God help us to be open to the Holy Spirit, even if it is surprisingly coming through another person we may not feel is “qualified” or through a person we may not “like” or may not know.
