Nearly 400 people gathered for a prayer service at the historic Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo to mark a National Day of Racial Healing on Tuesday, Jan. 17. The interfaith service was organized by the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable to encourage the community to work toward healing the wounds created by racial, ethnic and religious bias.

It may come as a surprise to many that Bishop Richard J. Malone has never been to Ireland, although his roots run deep in the Emerald Isle. Next October, travelers from the Diocese of Buffalo can join the bishop as he sees the sights in the land of his ancestors for the very first time.

In this week's "Consider This," Bishop Richard Malone talks about three timely events: the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump, the week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and Prayer for Racial Healing.

Jan. 1, 2017, marked the 50th World Day of Peace, which is an observance that was initiated by Pope Paul VI. In his message for this 50th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis invites us to reflect on "nonviolence as a style of politics for peace." The Holy Father recalls Blessed Paul VI's message for the first World Day of Peace in which he declared that "peace is the only true direction of human progress - and not the tensions caused by ambitious nationalisms, nor conquests by violence, nor repressions which serve as mainstay for a false civil order." Pope Paul cited St. John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in Terris to extol "the sense and love of peace founded upon truth, justice, freedom and love."

The diocesan observance of the 44th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion will be held on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 4:30 p.m. at St. Christopher Parish, 2660 Niagara Falls Blvd., Tonawanda. Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, will be the celebrant.

"There's something very special about Midnight Mass on the Birthday of our Lord," said Bishop Richard J. Malone, as he celebrated Midnight Mass of the Lord's Nativity at St. Joseph Cathedral. Bishop Malone recalled staying up to attend Midnight Mas even as a child. "My Mom would always make sure I slept for a while so I was alert as an altar server at Midnight Mass."

Christmas reflections from Bishop Richard Malone and the readings and homily from the Christmas Televised Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz. Also music from the Voices of Mercy and Father Bill Quinlivan.

Bishop Richard Malone talks about the joy of Christmas and mentions Christmas TV Masses available for those who are home bound.

During the Christmas season, a tradition has developed in which Bishop Richard J. Malone and Father Ryszard Biernat join Meals on Wheels to visit numerous clients during meal delivery. For the fourth year, the pair were eagerly received by clients who wanted to share a prayer and receive Holy Communion. Each client also received a hand-made card and ornament created by children through a local religious education program.

Most of the leaves were still on the trees on Saturday, October 22, when nearly 200 people assembled in the historic chapel and shrine at Our Lady Help of Christians in Cheektowaga to celebrate a Christmas Mass that will be shown across the nation on Christmas week.

St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo, has scheduled a number of celebrations during the Advent and Christmas seasons. The St. Joseph Cathedral Choir will present a Festival of Lessons & Carols on Monday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m., under the direction Organist-Choir Director Tim Socha.

As I write these words to you, we are experiencing the end of two long-term events: the presidential election and the Jubilee Year of Mercy. While the close of the Year of Mercy is bittersweet, the end of the election could not come soon enough. Yet the close proximity of these two closures offers us much food for thought and reflection.

More than 50 years after graduating from DeSales Catholic School, a man who found success in the die casting industry is giving back to his alma mater in very big way. David Ryan, who graduated from DeSales in 1960, has donated $500,000 to the small school in Lockport.

Bishop Richard J. Malone interacted with students from Catholic schools during the Diocese of Buffalo 3rd Annual X-Stream Games and Expo. Area Catholic elementary and middle school students competed in the county-wide science fair Sunday afternoon at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute. Look at our exclusive photo gallery here.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has declared Father Michael H. Burzynski's relic collection a diocesan shrine to be housed at St. John Gualbert Parish in Cheektowaga. The bishop approved a decree designating the Shrine of the Holy Relics of the Saints in November.

Bishop Richard J. Malone talks about Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent in "Consider This."

As the cold weather began to hit Buffalo and the first snow fell, members of the Polish community of Western New York came together on Nov. 20, at St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Buffalo, to celebrate the 1,050th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity to Poland. Many Polish-American Western New Yorkers joined Bishop Richard J. Malone, the principal celebrant at the Mass, in honor of both this anniversary and the Feast of Christ the King, which has been an American Catholic tradition since 1925.

ROME, ITALY (CNA/EWTN News) - Although the Jubilee of Mercy has ended, Pope Francis has decided that some of the novelties he applied to the Church during the Holy Year will continue.

Bishop Richard J. Malone celebrated the 1,050th anniversary of Poland's Christianity during a Christ the King Eucharistic Celebration on Nov. 20. It commemorated Poland's acceptance of Christianity in the year 966, when Mieszko I, the first ruler of the Polish state, and much of his court were personally baptized on Holy Saturday of that year.

As Pope Francis' Jubilee Year of Mercy comes to a close, we need to remember to continue sharing mercy and compassion with others. Watch Bishop Richard J. Malone in "Consider This."

Christ the King Seminary will host its annual Advent vespers service on the second Sunday of Advent, Sunday, Dec. 4, at 4 p.m. in the seminary's St. John Vianney Chapel. All are welcome.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, Bishop Richard J. Malone will be main celebrant at the final Rosary Novena for Life for 2016. Mass at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Parkside and Parker avenues, Buffalo, will begin at 8 a.m. and will be followed by a peaceful, prayerful procession to a nearby abortion clinic (optional). At the clinic, participants will pray the rosary with the hope that today's society will choose life instead of abortion. The group will return to St. Rose of Lima for closing prayers.

On the opening day of the Catholic bishops' annual fall assembly in Baltimore, Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, discussed plans for an unprecedented gathering of Catholic leaders next July in Orlando, Florida.

After a hard-fought presidential election, Bishop Richard J. Malone offers a reflection and prayer for the United States to come together in a special episode of "Consider This."

After a Jubilee Year filled with mercy, Bishop Richard J. Malone encouraged Catholics to continue practicing compassion and forgiveness during an evening prayer service Sunday at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo.

It's a common experience for bishops. Often enough, after we have addressed some controversial moral issue (which may also be a neuralgic political issue), we get mail. This intensifies during an election season. No surprise there.

What is Halloween and All Souls Day? Bishop Richard Malone explains what it means to Catholics in "Consider This."

Most Reverend Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, will celebrate the 1,050th anniversary of Poland's Christianity during a Christ the King Eucharistic Celebration on Sunday, November 20 at 10:30 a.m.

Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, will officially close the Jubilee Year of Mercy here in the Diocese of Buffalo, on Sunday, Nov. 6, with an evening prayer service at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo. All are welcome.

On Oct. 23, Bishop Richard J. Malone celebrated a special Mass at St. Rose of Lima Church in North Buffalo for World Mission Sunday, the day the Catholic Church has designated to recognize the many contributions of missionaries serving both in the United States and abroad. This week, the Sunday collections at all diocesan parishes went toward various international missions of the Catholic Church.

Dozens of 11, 12 and 13-year-old students were urged to shout out the word "No' inside of Saint Mark's Church on Tuesday morning. They did it at the urging of Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, who was stressing to them the dangers of substance abuse as part of Red Ribbon Week.

The most important words in a wedding might be "I do," but the most important words to a marriage are, "please," "thank you" and "sorry."

On Oct. 15, Bishop Richard J. Malone presided over the second-ever Blue Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral, which recognized the work of police officers, firefighters and other first responders who live and work in the Diocese of Buffalo. Although the concept of Blue Mass dates back to 1934, it is a new addition in this diocese, and since 2015, Bishop Malone has been committed to making this an annual tradition here.

I haven't met many people who are not by now exasperated, confounded and dismayed by the ongoing presidential election campaign. Ordinarily in an election year I would be looking forward to the day after the election; at least the war of words would be (pretty much) behind us. This time, however, I expect that I will feel no better about the national situation then than I do right now, a few weeks away from Nov. 8. In fact, I may feel worse.

Bishop Richard J. Malone will be the main celebrant at this special Mass to honor first responders of all faiths who live and work in the Diocese of Buffalo. In 2015, Bishop Malone said the first Blue Mass in the diocese and has decided to make this an annual Mass.

The Christmas tunes have yet to hit the radio, and the store shelves are still filled with Halloween candy, but plans are well underway to record a Christmas Mass in late October so the nation can watch it on TV during Christmas week.

Bishop Richard J. Malone discusses the damaging effects of pornography and what the church can do to help in this week's "Consider This."

On the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Bishop Richard J. Malone called all creatures great and small to his front lawn on Saturday morning for a blessing of animals. The blessing of animals has become an annual custom in the Church, as a way to remember the love that St. Francis of Assisi had for Creation. See our new photo gallery here.

Special attention is given to pro-life causes during the month of October, as the Diocese of Buffalo celebrated Respect Life Sunday on Oct. 2 with Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral and the National Life Chain. See some of the sights of the day in our new photo gallery.

Bishop Richard J. Malone explains why Pope Francis asks us to "Show Mercy to Our Common Home" in this week's "Consider This."