More than $830,000 was collected in the Diocese of Buffalo during the 2015 Religious Retirement Appeal. This total includes donations received from throughout the United States through the "Share in the Care" website which is sponsored by the Retirement Fund for Religious in the Diocese of Buffalo. Donations to this site can be made online throughout the year.

St. Bonaventure President Sister Margaret Carney, OSF, was honored by Pope Francis during the university's Baccalaureate Mass Saturday afternoon.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - On Thursday Pope Francis said he would be open to the idea of forming a commission to study the historical context of the female diaconate, as well as the possibility of women serving as deacons today.

St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St. in downtown Buffalo, will be the setting for the ordination of three men to the priesthood on Saturday, May 28 at 9:30 a.m.

Ninety-three women and men religious will be recognized on Saturday, April 23, for their commitment to God as they celebrate their silver, golden and diamond jubilees. Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, will be the main celebrant and homilist at this special 10 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo.

Two women religious from the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George from Illinois will speak about vocations in the Diocese of Buffalo Thursday night. Sister Consolata and Sister Mary David offer their perspective on religious life at 7 p.m. at St. Gregory the Great Church in Williamsville.

Bishop Richard J. Malone describes a calling to the priesthood and offers suggestions for discernment in "Consider This: A Priest's Heart."

It was a wintry day last March 12, with snow was piled high. The parking lot was icy as moving vans and cars approached the new building on Lafayette Avenue in Buffalo. The building stood impressive but silent as 27 Sisters of St. Mary of Namur approached.

Father John J. Mitka will observe his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood at St. Gabriel Parish in Elma where he has served as senior parochial vicar since 2006.

NEW DELHI, INDIA (CNA/EWTN News) - After the circulation of rumors claiming Father Tom Uzhunnalil was tortured and crucified on Good Friday, the Indian bishops have written to the government urging greater effort in locating the priest.

A Western New York woman has chosen to follow an unusual vocation in which she commits herself to a single life by symbolically getting married to God instead of a human husband. It is one of the oldest rituals of the Catholic Church that remains relatively unknown.

ST. BONAVENTURE - St. Bonaventure University will honor Father Joseph Bayne, OFM Conv., and three other outstanding Buffalo community members with the 2016 Gaudete Medal on Thursday, April 28, at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

Deacon Don Weigel, a Global Fellow with Catholic Relief Services and associate public policy coordinator for Catholic Charities of Buffalo, made a trip in January to Greece and Serbia to help Syrian refugees.

Catholic Health has more than 9,000 dedicated associates, who uphold the mission to reveal the healing love of Jesus to those in need. Recognizing that healing can take on many forms, dedicated hospital chaplains work every day to minister to the spiritual needs of patients and families.

So often we hear, the future of the Church is our youth. I disagree. The future of our Catholic Church is most especially in the hands of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents - really, all of us.

Every seminarian has a unique story about their call to priesthood. Every religious sister or member of an order has a particular tale about what inspired her or his vocation.

Based in Buffalo's West Side in the parishes of Holy Angels, Holy Cross and Our Lady of Hope, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate dedicate themselves to community service in countries around the world in the example of the order's founder, St. Eugène de Mazenod. In the Diocese of Buffalo, several young men have taken an interest in joining religious life with this order.

Among Bishop Richard J. Malone's recent appointments are a new pastor at St. Teresa of Avila Parish, Akron, and an administrator for Our Lady of Charity Parish in South Buffalo.

In June of last year my priestly ministry underwent a significant shift in focus as I left my work as parochial vicar at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Niagara Falls and began a new role as director of Vocations for our diocese.

The diocesan Pontifical Mission Societies has welcomed its new director. Father Justus Ndyamukama, native of Tanzania, East Africa, will help support the Catholic faith in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has appointed two priests to new assignments and has reappointed two others to additional term at their current parishes.

WASHINGTON, DC (CNA/EWTN News) - Religious sisters should not be forced to choose between caring for the poor and obeying their conscience, the Little Sisters of the Poor told the Supreme Court in a recent legal brief, adding that this is what the government is demanding of them through the HHS mandate.

Bishop Richard J. Malone will celebrate Mass on Sunday, Jan. 24, at Holy Angels Parish in Buffalo in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Oblates also staff the West Side of Buffalo parishes of Holy Cross and Our Lady of Hope. In addition to the Mass, there will be performances by the cluster choir, consisting of choirs of all three parishes, including an African choir, youth choir and Burmese choir. The Mass which will celebrate contributions of the Oblates, will be followed by a reception at nearby D'Youville College in Buffalo.

Father Leon Biernat received a papal honor, making him a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Sister Dorothy Feltz, SSJ, keeps herself busy these days. When she's not at the Lighthouse cleaning the Clarence retreat facility, she's with her faith-sharing group at the Williamstowne Apartments. Then there are those fundraisers for Future in Our Hands, and, of course, the monthly prayer and reflections sessions, and let's not forget those book discussions in Cheektowaga.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at the noses, and Father Bill Quinlivan singing about the birth of our Lord. The season has arrived.

Twenty-Eight years ago the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had the foresight to anticipate the retirement needs of Congregations of Women and Men Religious who had worked for the Church in the United States since the late 18th century. Most of these congregations, whose focus had been on providing services to the Church and its pastoral, educational and health care needs, were without adequate savings or investments for the care of retired members. It was at this time that dioceses throughout the country were asked to take up an annual collection to assist these religious congregations in providing funding for the anticipated retirement needs of their members.

Sister Marianne Ferguson is a retired sister of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in Williamsville. A native of the Buffalo area, she attended elementary school at St. Margaret School in North Buffalo and graduated from Bennett High School in Buffalo. Although she no longer received religious education in her public high school, she remained active in her faith by attending Mass and religious education classes at the nearby St. Joseph University Church in Buffalo.

The annual Retirement Fund for Religious collections will be held this weekend, December 12 and 13, in the Diocese of Buffalo. Now in its 28th year, the appeal is coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) and offers support for senior Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests whose communities lack sufficient retirement funding. Some 33,000 women and men religious past age 70 benefit.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has named three new pastors and two new administrators for area parishes.

Parishioners of SS. Peter and Paul in Hamburg with its newly formed environmental committee hope to promote greener living and reflect the message of Pope Francis in his most recent encyclical.

Becoming pregnant while facing an uncertain and unstable future forces women to make one of the most important decisions of their lives. The diocesan Office of Pro-Life Activities is now working to build a ministry that hopefully eases the stress of that decision.

CHICAGO, ILL. (CNA) - Fans of the Food Network's competitive cooking show "Chopped" can look forward to a special appearance on Monday night's episode - Sister Alicia Torres, a Catholic religious sister from the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago.

Earlier this year, Father George Devanapalle, administrator of SS. Joachim and Anne Parish in Attica, came to the Diocese of Buffalo after previously serving downstate in Kingston. Before coming to New York state, he served in his native India. Experiences Father Devanapalle had as a youth led to his pursuit of the priesthood.

A group of 38 priests, deacons and seminarians from Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora were among the congregation when Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Washington, D.C.

Although dealing with a bout of laryngitis, Bishop Richard J. Malone welcomed participants to the 10th annual Catechetical Conference, which took place at the Depew Grapevine on Oct. 5. He gave a welcoming prayer and blessed pins for every catechist and schoolteacher in diocese. He also thanked the staff of the Office of Lifelong Faith Formation for sponsoring the program.

The Sisters of Social Service looked at their past and faced their future during their annual fundraising dinner on Oct. 22. One guest speaker reviewed the history of the sisters and another spoke about the challenges the order must deal with as it moves forward.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has announced the following new clergy assignments.

The Diocese of Buffalo is currently home to a number of international priests who have come from around the globe to bring their unique gifts to the area. One of these priests is Father Johnson Machado, administrator of St. John Neumann Parish in Strykersville, who was born in India.

Five Sisters of St. Mary of Namur from the diocese attended a conference on human trafficking which took place at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., on July 9 and 10. The conference titled, "Answering Pope Francis' Call: An American Catholic Response to Modern-Day Slavery," was sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA.