Current News

Ah, December. Turn up the radio and hear those ring-ting-tingling Christmas Carols. By definition, a carol is a song of joy or mirth often pertaining to religious joy. Although mostly associated with Christmas, they originated with pagan festivities surrounding the winter solstice. Those same festivities brought us the Christmas tree and kissing under the mistletoe.

The Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo will hold its 18th annual Catholic Education dinner, GALA 22:6, on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. The 2018 Bishop's Medal honorees will include the chair couples for the Upon This Rock capital campaign, the Montante family and Uniland Development Company.

What's on the top of your Christmas tree: an angel or a star? And what would the Christmas scene be like if we only had Luke's Gospel? Or only Matthew's? Only Luke has the angel appearing to the shepherds, while only Matthew has the star leading the Magi.

As our season of Advent begins, it almost seems like we are late to the party. After all, Christmas has been a part of what has surrounded us in our culture for weeks already. We have lived through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, and on and on. We have been bombarded with Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas party invitations, Christmas sales and Christmas decorations.

The John R. Oishei Foundation is pleased to announce the availability of full tuition scholarships for incoming high school freshmen at area independent secondary schools for the fall of 2018.

Sister Regina Murphy, SSMN (formerly Sister Damian) received the 2017 Mount St. Mary Academy Distinguished Educator Award, which honors a former faculty member for her dedication to academic excellence and the care of her students. The award was presented as part of Mount St. Mary Academy's 90th anniversary celebration.

WASHINGTON—Following the USCCB General Assembly in November 2017, a group of ecumenical and interfaith partners gathered with bishops of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage to discuss gender ideology. As a result of this discussion, faith leaders today issued an open letter entitled "Created Male and Female".

Villa Maria College Animation student Bridget McCleary '17 and Animation faculty members Lee Terwilliger '14 and Valery Amborski '14 each had their work selected and featured in a fan-drawn episode of Bob's Burgers, which airs on FOX.

Bishop Dominic Dinh Mai Luong, DD, who served for 10 years in the Diocese of Buffalo as a priest and went on to become the first Vietnamese-born Catholic bishop in the United States, died Dec. 6, 2017, in California. He was 76.

In September, parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo began using the new faith formation curriculum, "Forming Disciples," designed to be introduced over the next few years. Of its four key components, the first is a focus on engaging parents in their faith, and in faith in the home. This family attention is intended to build up the Church within households to support a child's growth in the faith. Although the actual process is different in every parish, and it should be tailored to the unique needs of each one, the diocesan Department of Lifelong Faith Formation has implemented a plan to ensure they share a common goal.

The Sister Mary Josette Food Pantry at Villa Maria College packed two-hundred bags of holiday meals for food pantry clients with the help of the News Neediest Fund run by The Buffalo News. The Fund purchases holiday meals with the help of cash donations, which are then distributed to food pantries by the Food Bank of WNY.

Not everyone has the luxury of enjoying a hearty dinner surrounded with family on Christmas day. Many people locally have no family in town, or no family at all. Others are unable to afford a meal, especially for a family. Local meal providers such as Meals on Wheels and the Warming House are not open that day.

For good or ill, many people go through high school and begin to form the adult they will become. Four St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute alumni who made their marks on the world were honored by the private school with inductions into the SJCI Fine Arts Wall of Honor during a ceremony at Buffalo State College Dec. 13.

Advent is upon us. While the world seems to be a frenzy of Christmas shopping, traveling, decorating and entertaining, the Church presents us with a unique traditional alternative: a season of reflection, preparation and penance as we anticipate the birth of Christ.

Sister Mary Constance Ward, SSMN, died Dec. 1, 2017, at St. Mary Center in Buffalo. She was 102 years of age.

Bishop Richard J. Malone and Sister Mary McCarrick, OSF, diocesan director of Catholic Charities of Buffalo, have named Chancellor Emeritus Robert M. Bennett general chair for the 2018 annual appeal. Bennett's son, Andrew, and daughter, Maurine Bennett Falkowski, will serve as co-chairs, marking the first time in the appeal's 94-year history a family will serve as the campaign's top volunteer leaders.

Sister Mary Aurelian Kosiba, CSSF, died Dec. 9, 2017, in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo. She was 93.

Sister Mary Raymond Syjut, FSSJ, died Dec. 6, 2017, at Immaculate Conception Convent in Hamburg. She was 91.

Canisius College will introduce a new master's of science degree in data analytics, beginning in fall 2018. This new and emerging field applies fundamental scientific principles to the analysis of large, complex data sets. At Canisius, the data analytics program will function as a uniquely interdisciplinary major designed to provide students with a graduate-level education in three core components of the field: statistics, computer science and business (including accounting, economics, finance, management and marketing).

Here's the story of a family named Donahue. It's a familiar tale of a modern-day blended family, with a slight twist. Instead of a husband and wife blending their children from former marriages, three Colombian children joined the American-based Donahues.

As the Advent season draws to a close, St. John the Baptist Parish in Kenmore will welcome a special guest in the form of a multitalented musician, motivational speaker and world traveler. At 1 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 17, the parish will welcome Sujeet Desai, a local musician born with Down syndrome who, among other talents, is classically trained in seven instruments and has become a leading advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.

"What was the best part of your pilgrimage to Ireland?" I've heard that question a dozen times since our return from the "land of saints and scholars." The short answer is, the simple fact that I finally got there, for the first time, and just months before my 72nd birthday. Too long a wait, to be sure, but well worth it in every way. It was a truly blessed journey of faith and prayer, joy and beauty, history and ... fun.

Advent is a time for us to prepare for the joy of the birth of our Savior. John the Baptist came to announce the coming of our Messiah and said, "I am the voice that is crying out in the desert; make straight the way of the Lord."

For 30 years, the National Religious Retirement Fund has provided much-needed financial assistance for religious congregations. During those years, the generous donors in the Diocese of Buffalo have contributed more than $25 million to assist women and men religious with the care of retired members, who ordinarily have no pension and minimal Social Security benefits.

All the parishes of the Southern Cattaraugus County vicariate joined together at the behest of Our Lady of Fatima to pray for the end of war.

The acclaimed Lira Ensemble of Chicago returns to Buffalo with a new production: "A Polish Holday! Carols, Song & Dance," on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at UB's Center for the Arts, 103 Center of the Arts.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - With debate on the status of Jerusalem heating up in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial decision to recognize the city as the capital of Israel, Pope Francis has urged international leaders to proceed with prudence and respect for current U.N. resolutions.

WASHINGTON, DC - On Tuesday, Dec. 12, the Catholic Church will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas and the Unborn. Celebrations in dioceses across the nation will be held throughout the month of December to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. These events seek to honor the accomplishments, hopes, fears, and needs of all families who have come to the U.S. seeking a better life.

Advent is the time of year when we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of the Lord's birth on Christmas, and there are many things we can do to ready ourselves. We can attend daily Mass, pray or use an Advent wreath. Even watching special programing can help put our minds and hearts in the right place.

Sister Carol Cimino, SSJ, has announced that she will step down as superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Buffalo at the end of the current school year. "I think I've done what I was supposed to do here," said Sister Carol. "I think I've helped to grow some innovative programs in the diocese. I think we've stabilized the schools. We've got a crop of principals who are just second to none right now."

Students from Catholic elementary schools throughout the diocese met at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Kenmore for the fourth year to have X-STREAM amounts of fun showing off their creations, ranging from the mechanical to the culinary and everything in between. The Dec. 3 X-STREAM Games and Expo, which the high school has hosted since its inception, is the pinnacle of the diocesan STREAM program, focusing on science, technology, religion, engineering, arts and mathematics. It allows students to compete against their peers as members of the newest generation of inventors, while community members, parents, family and friends come to see what their children can do.

WASHINGTON— As Congress prepares to reconcile the House of Representatives and Senate tax reform bills, Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, insisted that "Congress should advance a final tax reform bill only if it meets the key moral concerns . . ."

Earlier this year, the Mercy Speech Center, located on Abbott Road in South Buffalo, permanently closed following the retirement of Sister Maralynn Sciarrino, RSM, the center's director of 49 years, and Sister Catherine Hunt, RSM, her administrative assistant. Although newly retired, Sister Maralynn hopes to remain active in the community, and spoke last month with the Western New York Catholic about her life as she plans to serve on a volunteer basis at Mercy Hospital.

Deacon Frank J. Shaughnessy died Dec. 1, 2017, in Hamburg, at age 92.

Sister Mary Caroline Hriczko, DC, died Nov. 9, 2017, at St. Louise House in Albany. She was 85.

Over her 78 years in religious life, Sister Mary Agnes Cobry, SSMN, has taught the young and the cheered the elderly. All the work she has done has been to please God on the day she meets Him.

As health care costs for all Americans have been rapidly increasing over the years, men and women religious are no exception. For Sister M. Lorianne Tylczynski, CSSF, who serves as a local minister for aging and ill Felician Sisters in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo, has personally seen the need for funds to help orders care for retired men and women religious, particularly with many individuals in their 80s and older.

Sister Mary Vivian Maczonis, CSSF, died Nov. 15, 2017, in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo. She was 70.

Deacon Franklyn C. Steffen, a permanent deacon, died Nov. 8, 2017. He was 82.

WASHINGTON—With the goal of strengthening and supporting the pastoral work of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America awarded nearly $3.2 million in grants for 183 pastoral projects in the region for 2018. These most recent grants were made at the Subcommittee's meeting in November and bring the total awarded for pastoral grants 2018 to almost $7.2 million. Four other projects were awarded in response to natural disasters.