Current News

Sister Patricia Watkins, GNSH, formerly known as Sister deChantal, died Dec. 6, 2016, at the Holy Redeemer Lafayette retirement facility in Philadelphia. She was 88.

Sister Joan Carroll died Nov. 26, 2016, in the Sisters of St. Joseph Residence in Clarence. She was 84.

After devoting most of her life to spreading God's word in schools and in her own books, Sister Ruth Penksa, a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart, has died from injuries sustained in a fire. Sister Ruth was rescued on Dec. 20 from a fire in her high rise apartment on Hertel Avenue. She was rushed to the Erie County Medical Center suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. She remained in the Burn Treatment Unit of ECMC for more than a week before passing on the morning of Dec. 28. She was the only one seriously injured in the fire.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Richard G. Lennon from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Cleveland and has named Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo as the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese until the installation of a new bishop.

Bishop Richard J. Malone recently announced the following clergy assignments.

The 17th-annual Catholic Education dinner - GALA 22:6 - will be held on Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. Proceeds from the dinner will be used to fund needs-based tuition assistance for students attending Catholic elementary schools throughout the eight counties of Western New York. The 2016 event raised more than $267,000.

"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.

This winter, Catholics should not just prepare with rock salt and shovels, but also begin preparing their hearts for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Coloring books for adults have exploded onto the bookstore scene in the past two years. What was once considered a hobby for the kids is now all the rage for people who are full-grown.

Each of us is called to do our part as consumers to ensure that the economy works for everyone. Pope Francis declared, "We must recover the whole sense of gift, of gratuitousness, of solidarity ... This home is a place that teaches charity, a 'school' of charity, which instructs me to go encounter every person, not for profit, but for love."

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

With the fourth Sunday of Advent approaching, the liturgical season of preparing for Christmas is well underway.

This Christmas, we need to open our hearts to the Christ Child of peace. There is violence and war, and so much uncertainty. We have people living in the fear of the unknown. In the world, we have so many families crying and not knowing where they are going to live, or if they even will live, with all the bombings going on around them. In our own country, there is so much division and violence. How do we, as Christians, share the hope the Christ Child brings to the world?

We pray with our sons about waiting for Christ at Christmas and listening for His voice or feeling His presence. "What does He sound like? How will I know He's talking to me?" they ask. It's difficult to answer. I haven't felt God's presence in a long time.

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.

"The Tibetan Book of the Dead," believed to be the work of eighth-century Buddhist master Padma Sambhava, is designed to be read to a person who has died to prepare the soul for reincarnation. In a similar vein, Msgr. Dino Lorenzetti, a retired priest from the Diocese of Buffalo, has written "Addio: See You in Heaven," which serves as a guide to prepare the living for heaven.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY - E. John and Jeanne C. Finn have made an $875,000 gift to support the Jerome Patrick and Alice Conley Corcoran Scholarship at Niagara University.

WASHINGTON, DC - The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage has released the final video in a series that highlights the unique meaning of marriage. Entitled "Made for the Common Good," the video features personal witnesses and policy experts discussing the importance of marriage between one man and one woman for children and for society at large.

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.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - On Saturday, Dec. 17, Pope Francis will celebrate his 80th birthday, which he will spend doing what he normally does: offering Mass and meeting with various heads of State and members of the Roman Curia.

Sister Kathleen Kovacs, SSS, of the Sisters of Social Service, died Dec. 8, 2016, in the residence of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Clarence. She was 91.

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.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - During the Angelus for the third Sunday of Advent, also called Gaudete Sunday, Pope Francis made a special appeal for prayers for the people of Aleppo and Syria, and for all those affected by the recent terrorist attacks which have taken place in places such as Turkey and Egypt.

Christmas projects from Daybreak TV Productions, including Come Let Us Adore Him, Christmas Mass on ABC, and an Our Daily Bread Christmas special.

Father Paul F. Stengel, a retired diocesan priest, died Dec. 14, 2016, at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo. He was 84.

Sister Mary Jude Rindfuss, SSMN, died Dec. 4, 2016, at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, at age 84.

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.

"Come here, you free citizen of the world, whose life is safeguarded by human morality and whose existence is guaranteed through law. I want to tell you how modern criminals and despicable murderers have trampled the morality of life and nullified the postulates of human existence." - Zalman Gradowski, murdered at Auschwitz, 1945. What a challenging invitation and a sobering reminder of the recurring power of evil.

In their quest for Catholic social justice, fair pay, and fair treatment of farmers and workers who produce goods Americans use every day, two parishes in the diocese have been selling fair trade items like coffee, tea and chocolate for years. This is part of a collaboration between the parishes, Catholic Relief Services and other organizations which work to ensure the public is aware of the concept of fair trade.At St. John the Baptist Parish in Kenmore, volunteer Mary Grace and pastor Father Michael Parker organize Fair Trade products, which are sold after Mass to parishioners.

Father Roy Herberger, pastor of SS. Columba-Brigid Church in Buffalo, has collected Nativity sets from around the world for years. We photographed a small sample of the amazing collection in our photo gallery.

As many families decorate their Christmas trees and set up their Nativity scenes underneath, Father Roy Herberger will be unboxing nearly 600 different versions of Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus at his parish, SS. Columba & Brigid Church in Buffalo.

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.

A young woman from Peru traveled nearly four thousand miles to profess her perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. The Eucharistic liturgy took place in the St. Mary of the Angels convent chapel in Williamsville on Saturday, December 10.

TONAWANDA ­­— Caitlin Persico, a senior at Cardinal O'Hara High School, has been selected to present her research project that she completed over the summer at Roswell Park Cancer Institute to the American Indian Science and Engineering Society national convention on Nov. 10, in Minneapolis.

For the eighth time in nine years, the Canisius College chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization took home two Best Chapter Awards at the CEO National Conference and Competition. The Canisius team competed against CEO chapters from over 400 colleges and universities at the competition, which took place in Tampa, Fla., from Oct. 27-29.

The annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection will be held Dec. 10-11 in the Diocese of Buffalo. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office, the parish-based appeal benefits nearly 33,000 senior Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests whose communities lack retirement savings.

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.

COLUMBUS, OHIO (CNA/EWTN News) - Citing the prospect of a more favorable Supreme Court, Ohio legislators have passed a ban on abortions once an unborn child's heartbeat can be detected.