Month: January 2024

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Amid the “paralyzing nature of polarization” in society today and the “tragedy of war” around the world, “the importance of living the love of Christ in our own circumstances cannot be overemphasized,” a U.S. bishop said in a message for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25.

As chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of Scranton, Pennsylvania, urged Christians throughout the United States to unite across denominational lines and pray for peace.

Each year a different country and theme is highlighted during the weeklong observance. For 2024, the Christians from Burkina Faso in West Africa developed the prayer materials and chose the theme from St. Luke’s Gospel, “You shall love the Lord your God … and your neighbor as yourself.” (Lk 10:27)

“May Christians throughout our country come together across denominational lines to pray for peace in our world and an end to the sad divisions that prevent us from fully loving each other as Christ loves us all,” Bishop Bambera said in his message released Jan. 12.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began as the Church Unity Octave in 1908, initiated by Father Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White, who were Episcopalians and co-founders of the Society of the Atonement at Graymoor in Garrison, New York. They called for an observation of eight days of prayer for an end to divisions between Christians.

In 1909, Father Wattson and Mother White were received into the Catholic Church, along with 15 other members of the Society of the Atonement, or the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement. Pope Pius X gave his blessing to the Church Unity Octave and in 1916, Pope Benedict XV extended its observance to the universal church.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the weeklong observance has been co-organized by the World Council of Churches and what is now the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

In 1966, the council’s Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the dicastery (formerly secretariat) began collaborating on a common international text for worldwide usage. Since 1968 these international texts, which are based on themes proposed by ecumenical groups around the world, have been developed, adapted and published for use in the United States by the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, according to a news release from the institute.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A new annual report by the U.S. bishops’ conference identifies five top threats to religious liberty in the United States, including a federal regulation it says could impose mandates on doctors to perform objectionable procedures and threats to the church’s service to people who are migrants.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ first annual “State of Religious Liberty in the United States,” published Jan. 16, said potential threats to religious liberty in the United States largely come in the form of federal regulations or cultural trends.

Five key areas of concern, the 48-page report said, include attacks against houses of worship, especially in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas conflict; the Section 1557 regulation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which the report said “will likely impose a mandate on doctors to perform gender transition procedures and possibly abortions”; threats to religious charities serving migrants and refugees, “which will likely increase as the issue of immigration gains prominence in the election”; suppression of religious speech “on marriage and sexual difference”; and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations, which the report said “aim to require religious employers to be complicit in abortion in an unprecedented way.”

The report’s introduction said that due to a divided federal government, “most introduced bills that threatened religious liberty languished,” resulting in threats in the form of “proposed regulations by federal agencies,” or cultural trends such as growing partisanship over migration.

The report noted the U.S. Supreme Court only heard two cases implicating religious liberty in 2023, “but in each case the Supreme Court ruled for broader protections — for religious exercise in the workplace, in Groff v. DeJoy, and for free speech based on religious beliefs, in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.”

Other areas of concern identified in the report include some state bills making clergy mandatory reporters for abuse without an exception for the seal of the confessional. As the report notes, “For Catholic priests, breaking the confidentiality of statements made during the Sacrament of Reconciliation — that is, breaking the seal of the confessional — is a grave offense, resulting in automatic excommunication from the Church.”

The report also identified partisanship within the church as an area of concern.

“This dynamic is not new, is not unique to Catholics, nor will it disappear anytime soon,” it said. “But it will be especially salient in 2024, and the long-term standing of the Church in the public square requires a conscious and sustained turn — away from partisanship and toward the Gospel.”

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chair of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, who oversaw the report, told OSV News that the committee began this annual report in order to “educate the faithful” and “motivate people to get involved in promoting and protecting religious liberty.”

Bishop Rhoades noted that threats to houses of worship remain a significant cultural concern, as Catholic churches and organizations saw vandalism and other crimes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 that overturned prior rulings by the high court making abortion access a constitutional right; other faith traditions have seen more violence occur at their places of worship, such as the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Dan Balserak, the USCCB’s religious liberty director and assistant general counsel, told OSV News the committee’s work has historically centered on “legal problems.”

“Things are such now these days that we are actually having to worry about the physical health and safety of people in their place of worship,” Balserak said. “Which is pretty disturbing.”

Both Bishop Rhoades and Balserak said that a growing cultural divide on the issue of migration also threatens to imperil the church’s service to people who are migrants and refugees.

“The church’s mission, you know, is we’re to serve, serve the poor and the needy. That’s part of our mission to the corporal works of mercy, so welcoming the stranger,” Bishop Rhoades said, an act of mercy demanded by Jesus Christ in Matthew 25 when he renders justice at the final judgment. “And we’re talking here about basic needs: sometimes food, sometimes shelter, clothing and other kinds of assistance. The church has always done this and it’s just part of our Christian responsibilities.”

Bishop Rhoades said some have suggested that “somehow the church is contributing to illegal immigration” through such service.

“Comprehensive immigration reform is something that the Catholic Church in the United States has been advocating for for decades,” he added. He said “our provision of humanitarian aid to human beings who are in need” is needed regardless of whether and how Congress would act.

Balserak said, “It seems that the role that religious charities play in the immigration system as service providers – helping immigrants get a place to sleep, get a meal, understand their legal obligations, the role that religious charities play in that regard – has been essentially scapegoated.”

The real burden of responsibility is with Congress which has failed to address “the immigration problem that the immigration crisis has created.”

Charities that ensure “newcomers who arrive in America deserve to have their basic human needs met” are sometimes then accused of “conspiratorial, outlandish stuff — like you know, facilitating ‘the great replacement.'”

The so-called “great replacement” theory is a conspiracy theory advanced by white supremacists in which they claim people of other races plot to eliminate the white race. The racist theory was amplified recently by Vivek Ramaswamy at a GOP presidential primary debate prior to dropping out of the race after a distant fourth-place finish in the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses.

Erroneous claims about the church’s service to migrants, Balserak said, could imperil their ability to partner with the federal government on services to migrants and on other projects.

“At the end of the day … what’s being proposed is basically if you exercise your religious beliefs in this particular way or area, we’re going to penalize you,” he said, calling those claims “a classic religious liberty threat.”

Both Bishop Rhoades and Balserak said the USCCB annual report concerns the landscape for domestic religious liberty, but the issue of religious liberty in the U.S. has echoes around the globe.

Bishop Rhoades said an erosion of that liberty would not only be “harmful to our country, and the principles on which our nation was founded, but also I think affects others around the world.”

“If you’ve been paying attention to the international religious liberty front recently, we are incredibly blessed,” Balserak said. “For all the problems that we are talking about in this report, we are incredibly blessed to live in the United States.”

Balserak said the best way for Catholics to respond to religious liberty threats is to “go out and do the things that we are fighting for your right to do.”

“So what’s under threat right now?” he said. “Our service to immigrants? Go volunteer at a shelter for immigrants. We see arsons pregnancy resource centers – there’s a threat to the continued operation of ministries meant to help pregnant mothers in need – go volunteer at a pregnancy resource center.”

That “ground up approach,” Balserak said, “is the most viable long-term solution to current threats that we face to religious liberty.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A key step in the search for Christian unity is getting to know people of other churches and denominations and coming to appreciate their faith and spirituality, Pope Francis told a group of Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox students studying at Catholic universities in Rome.

The students are among hundreds who, since 1964, have received scholarships from the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration to pursue degrees in Rome while living at Catholic seminaries and religious residences.

Pope Francis met the students and officials of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, which coordinates the program, during an audience Jan. 12.

The program, the pope said, “benefits the sister churches of the East and contributes to the preparation of clergy and laity who, thanks to their studies, will serve the mission of the one Body of Christ.”

Welcoming the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox students into the community and religious life of Catholic seminaries and clergy residences, is also important, the pope said.

“This vital and direct contact with concrete communities, in which all share the same desire to follow the one master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to serve his church,” he said, “helps not only the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox students, but the Catholic ones as well, to overcome prejudices, to break down walls and to build bridges of dialogue and friendship.”

From the very beginning, he said, Jesus drew to him people of different cultures and spiritual traditions.

“Those first disciples who became apostles, and to whom our traditions trace their origins,” the pope said, “were quite diverse: disciples of the (John the) Baptist, zealots, fishers and tax collectors; vastly different in background, character and sympathies! Yet it is hard to think of a group that was more united.”

“They found their cohesiveness in Jesus,” he said. “Walking in his footsteps, they journeyed alongside one another. Their unity in charity was cemented by the Holy Spirit, who sent them far and wide, thus binding them all the more closely to one another.”

Christians today, no matter their nationality or denominational identity, need to do the same, Pope Francis said.

“Studying here in Rome, you have a great opportunity to share with one another who Christ is for you, where you encountered him, how he won your hearts and laid hold of your lives, and the variety of traditions by which you offer him praise and acknowledge him as your Lord,” he said.

By sharing those experiences, he said, “I believe that our past histories, marred by mistakes and misunderstanding, sins and stereotypes, can gradually be healed, in as much as they are considered anew as part of a much greater story, that of fidelity to Christ, who loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

 

 

 

SCRANTON – After gathering together hundreds, if not thousands, of faithful parishioners last year during Lent for a series of Holy Hours, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, is hoping for an even bigger showing this year!

Bishop Bambera plans to once again visit each of the 12 deaneries in the Diocese of Scranton to celebrate a Holy Hour this Lent.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which takes place this year on Wednesday, Feb. 14, and lasts for 40 days.

In conjunction with the National Eucharistic Revival that has been taking place in our country since Corpus Christi Sunday in 2022, each Holy Hour will feature exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Vespers, and a homily on the Most Holy Eucharist.

The Holy Hours this Lent will begin at Holy Family Parish in the Kingston deanery on Thursday, Feb. 15, and will end at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish in the Scranton deanery on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

A three-year initiative of the U.S. bishops, the National Eucharistic Revival is nearing its midpoint. The first year focused on diocesan revival, inviting bishops, priests and diocesan leaders to deepen their relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. The Year of Parish Revival began in June 2023, with emphasis on reaching Catholics in the pews.

The coming calendar year will include the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that begins in mid-May and the National Eucharistic Congress in July, two large-scale efforts that lead into the revival’s final year, the Year of Going Out on Mission, which ends on Pentecost 2025.

Revival leaders hope the 10th National Eucharistic Congress – the first national congress in 83 years – which will take place in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024, can help cultivate a Eucharistic life in the tens of thousands of Catholics expected to attend.

Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minn., chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, said Revival leaders had a private audience with Pope Francis last June.

“He spoke very powerfully of both our National Eucharistic Revival and our congress,” Bishop Cozzens said. “It was really an incredible moment for us!”

Every parishioner in the Diocese of Scranton is encouraged to make attending a Holy Hour a priority this Lent. The faithful do not have to attend the Holy Hour in their specific deanery if it does not fit into their schedule.

The full listing of 2024 Lenten Holy Hours is available in the graphic above as well as on the Diocese of Scranton website.

My Dear Friends,

On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. This monumental ruling was due in no small part to the prayers and efforts of committed Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, those of other faith traditions, and some with no religious affiliation, who sought to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us – unborn infants in the womb.

While the overturning of Roe v. Wade has given us all hope by allowing for greater freedom at the state level to enact pro-life laws, many legislative battles continue to loom on the horizon. Of note, are concerns regarding the longstanding Hyde protections which limit government funding for abortion on annual appropriation bills. Throughout its history, the Hyde Amendment has saved over 2 million lives and is arguably the most impactful pro-life policy in our nation’s history.

Sadly, however, it can no longer be taken for granted. And on a more local level, the fight to protect human life is just as urgent as ever, given the increasing number of states that are intent upon passing pro-abortion legislation.

On Friday, January 19, 2024, marchers from throughout our country will converge on our nation’s capital for the 51st annual March for Life. The theme for this year’s march is “Pro Life: With Every Woman, For Every Child.” While advocating for the right to life of the unborn, this year’s march challenges the false narrative around abortion that suggests such a choice to be “empowering” for women. In selecting this year’s theme, march organizers have emphasized that “women deserve to know all of their options, such as the love, compassion and free resources that are available to them through the vast pro-life safety net.” The pro-life movement supports women “before, during and after pregnancy.”

In the Diocese of Scranton, we are blessed with numerous opportunities to support women throughout the course of their pregnancies and beyond, from facilities like Providence Pregnancy Center in Scranton – to parish-based ministries such as Walking with Moms in Need – to Shepherds Maternity House in East Stroudsburg that provides a safe home and assistance for pregnant woman and mothers and their newborn babies – to Saint Joseph’s Center – to ministries like Project Rachel that offer hope, healing and spiritual renewal to women and couples who suffer after participating in abortion. The need to ensure the ongoing presence of such ministries is vital.

Sadly, however, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, efforts to protect human life are being compromised more than we might realize. Plans are continuing to terminate Real Alternatives, a statewide contract maintained by federal and state funding, which has been in existence for over 27 years and has provided a critical lifeline to nearly 350,000 women who have suddenly found themselves in need when confronted with an unplanned pregnancy. The termination of this vital contract will almost certainly result in diminished funding for critical pregnancy and parenting support for mothers, including funding for Saint Joseph’s Center and most notably, Shepherd’s Maternity House in Stroudsburg, that receives over 80% of its annual funding through a grant from Real Alternatives.

Brothers and sisters, the work to preserve and protect human life did not come to an end with the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe. While the current landscape requires our attention to legislative efforts on both the federal and state levels, the most important work that it demands is the changing of minds and hearts – our own and those of others. That occurs through prayer and through our efforts to walk with women and their children – to assist them during unplanned or difficult pregnancies – to be available to them for support and care once their children have been born – to love and accept them in the midst of challenges – and to respectfully advocate for life at every opportunity.

Consider participating in this year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 19th … Join with me for a special Mass for Life in Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Scranton on Sunday, January 21st at 5:00 p.m … Mark your calendars now and plan to travel to Harrisburg with me and thousands of others from across the Commonwealth for the 3rd annual Pennsylvania March for Life on September 23rd.

As faithful disciples of Jesus, we have been given a noble task to respect and reverence every human life as made in the image and likeness of our Creator. May we live our faith with authenticity and so help to create a culture of life that not only makes abortion unthinkable but treasures every life – from the unborn to mothers in need – to the elderly, the sick, the poor, the disabled, the prisoner, the immigrant and all whose lives are in jeopardy.

 

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton

WASHINGTON – In just over a week, on Jan. 19, thousands of pro-life advocates will take to the streets for the 2024 March for Life.

This year’s theme will be “Pro-Life: With Every Woman, For Every Child,” the group’s president has announced.

The March for Life first took place in Washington in 1974 in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide the previous year. Pro-life advocates have gathered in Washington to march each year since then to protest the ruling, with a smaller-in-scale event during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

After the high court reversed Roe in 2022, marchers still gathered to protest abortion. Each year, the group selects a theme that it says fits the cultural moment. Jeanne Mancini, March for Life president, said that following the court’s ruling in Dobbs, she wanted to highlight the work the pro-life movement does to support women facing difficult or unplanned pregnancies.

Mancini said the 2024 theme was selected due to what she called “the false narrative around abortion, whether it’s through mainstream media or the entertainment industry or academia, is that abortion is empowering and necessary.”

“We disagree,” she said. “Such fear-based messaging tries to convince women who are facing unexpected pregnancies that they’re alone, that they are incapable, that they are ill-equipped to handle motherhood. We who are here today know that is just not true.”

“We aren’t saying that it’s easy. But we are saying that it is right to choose life and we hold that choosing life is empowering, and that love saves lives,” Mancini continued.

This year’s March for Life will take place in both a presidential election year, and one that could bring additional ballot measures on abortion, possibly in states including Arizona and Florida.

The Sisters of Life and Knights of Columbus announced Dec. 21 that they will be teaming up for a second year to host Life Fest in conjunction with the National March for Life.

The event will be held Jan. 19 at the 10,000-seat D.C. Armory in southeast Washington prior to the march, which begins around 1 p.m. along Constitution Avenue.

According to organizers, Life Fest will feature “dynamic speakers and testimonies” and music by Sarah Kroger and Damascus Worship.

It will also include Mass celebrated by Knights of Columbus Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore; Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston; and Msgr. James Shea, president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota; as well as a Eucharistic healing procession.

Life Fest attendees also will have the opportunity to venerate first-class relics of the Ulma family, who were recently beatified in their native Poland.

“On March 24, 1944, Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children, one of whom was still in the womb, were killed by Nazis in Markowa, Poland, for hiding members of two Jewish families,” Life Fest’s organizers noted in a Dec. 21 media release, noting that the “Ulma family bears special significance to the pro-life movement” and their “lives exemplify what it means to value the dignity of every human person.”

Doors will open for Life Fest at 6:30 a.m. on the day of the event. Worship begins at 7 a.m., with the event culminating in Mass at 9:15 a.m. More information about the event and registration is at www.lifefestrally.com.

LAFLIN – Each of us has a vocation to which God is calling us. When it comes to a young man considering the possibility of the priesthood, that discernment process most often takes place within a community.

As the Diocese of Scranton works to create a culture of vocations within its parishes, it has started the process of creating four parish vocation centers where men can regularly gather for fellowship and prayer.

“If most of our faith life is happening in parishes and local communities, then our vocation work should take place there as well,” Father Alex Roche, Diocesan Director of Vocations and Seminarians, said. “The vocation centers will be places where men can gather together for regular dinners, for Adoration and prayer, where they might be able to do a retreat, shadow a priest or even spend an extended amount of time in.”

After several years of discussion and planning, the first Diocesan vocation center began at Saint Matthew Parish in East Stroudsburg. The second was created at Saint Maria Goretti Parish in Laflin. The others will be located at Christ the King Parish in Archbald and Annunciation Parish in Hazleton.

“One of the criteria for establishing a vocation center is that there is already thriving youth ministry or college ministry so that there are already ways in which young people are engaging with their faith,” Father Alex explained.

The location of each vocation center is strategic. Each center is in a different geographic region of the Diocese of Scranton so that it can be close to a prospective candidate’s home.

“Five of our last six seminarians have come from some interaction with a vocation center,” Father Alex added.

VOCATION CENTERS ALREADY MAKING AN IMPACT

The Diocese of Scranton’s first vocation center at Saint Matthew Parish quietly began taking shape without much fanfare in July 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Father Don Williams, pastor, said the parish began by offering young people the opportunity to gather for Evening Prayer, dinner, and conversation.

“The concept was to establish a regular routine,” Father Don said. “That really took off with a few guys.”

Because Saint Matthew Parish has a large rectory, the parish had enough space to create four private rooms for men who are seriously interested in taking a closer look at the priesthood or making a retreat. The rectory also has its own chapel and exercise room.

“The idea was to help them get a closer look at our life as Diocesan priests. They live with us, pray with us, share meals with us and shadow us in ministries,” Father Don explained. “They really get a chance to look at what rectory life is like, what parish ministry life is like.”

Three young men who are now Diocesan seminarians got their first glance at the priesthood by spending time in the vocation center at Saint Matthew Parish.

“I often say to them that they got the chance, before seminary, to get a really close look at what this is all about,” Father Don added. “They could go in with eyes wide open and they had a really good sense because they got to see the joys, the struggles, the disappointments, they got to see the reality of our life.”

It is not just young men who are participating in discernment programs at Saint Matthew Parish. Religious Sisters have visited the parish to talk with young women. Those who are participating in the discernment groups have also taken trips to Marywood University.

“They’ve come together as a group of women to talk about discipleship, prayer, discernment and we help them have fun and community,” Father Don added.

CENTERS HELPING YOUNG ADULTS FOCUS ON GOD’S CALL

At the second Diocesan vocation center established at Saint Maria Goretti Parish in Laflin there is no private space for overnight accommodations, so the focus has been on discernment groups and prayer.

“Twice a month, we gather as a group, usually about a half dozen guys and we have dinner,” Father Alex said. “So far, in the last couple of years, most of our seminarians have come out of groups like this. We also have monthly Adoration and the opportunity to come and meet and talk with the Vocation Director.”

Father Ryan Glenn, who recently became pastor of Christ the King Parish in Archbald and Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish in Jermyn, will oversee the vocation center in Lackawanna County.

“The drive of our vocation centers is, how are we as parishes purposely engaging people to ask the question, ‘Where are you calling me God? How are you calling me to serve?’” Father Ryan said. “We’re equipped to do that in a creative way responding to where young people are right now in 2024.”

The rectory at Christ the King Parish, which is already equipped with a chapel and private rooms, will be able to accommodate individuals looking for an overnight opportunity for prayer and discernment. It is already being used to meet with young men for spiritual direction.

Christ the King Parish has begun offering monthly Eucharistic Adoration, where people are specifically encouraged to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and Father Ryan is working to intentionally build-up his parish’s young adult ministry program. He is hoping to establish a monthly group of working young adults who want to gather for prayer, food and conversations regarding vocations.

Before taking on his first pastoral assignment in Lackawanna County, Father Ryan was Assistant Pastor at Saint Matthew Parish and helped with the formation of that vocation center. He was amazed by the response of people wanting to learn and discern more.

“It began as a pilot program,” he said. “We socialized. We would pray. We would meet, do intentional discernment with young adults who are really trying to respond to God’s call.”

Even though the vocation center at Annunciation Parish in Hazleton is still taking shape, Father Neftali Feliz-Sena, Assistant Pastor, says he is already accompanying one person who is seriously considering the priesthood.

“We have room available in our rectory. We are thinking there will be three rooms available. There are several priests living in the rectory, so if we have two or three candidates who want to reflect on vocations, we’ll still have enough room for them to stay a few days here,” Father Neftali said.

With Hazleton’s population being more than fifty-percent Hispanic, the vocation center in the Mountain City will be an ideal place for either English or Spanish-speaking discerners.

“We will be able to accommodate both. Our priests can speak both languages,” Father Neftali added. “We would like to have the first Hispanic vocation. Hazleton is big and having a place where people can come and interact with us will be a big benefit.”

If you are interested in learning more about any of the vocation centers in the Diocese of Scranton or participating in the regular discernment groups that have been established, you can contact any of the priests in your parish, or the Diocesan Vocations Office at (570) 207-1452.

 

 

SCRANTON – Since November, parishioners of Saint Ann Parish in West Scranton have been warming hearts and filling stomachs on the second Sunday of each month.

They will do it again this weekend – Sunday, January 14 – as the parish holds its third free, sit-down community meal in the lower level of Saints Peter and Paul Church, 1309 West Locust Street, Scranton.

“We felt there was a need for this meal in the west side,” Deacon Peter Lemoncelli said. “In west side, there is no other church or organization that offers this type of free meal so we always thought there would be a need.”

With the help of a Parish Social Justice Grant from the 2023 Diocesan Annual Appeal, the parish was able to begin the monthly meals and is now looking to spread the word.

More than just providing a meal to those in need, organizers have quickly realized that many in the community were looking for companionship.

“We wanted it to be a chance for the people of the community to come together and to be able to socialize, especially for those who have no one,” Deacon Lemoncelli explained. “We have found that beyond needing a meal, many guests really look forward to the conversation and interaction with other people.”

One man who has attended the meal in both November and December is over one hundred years old.

“The people have said that they just want a chance to get out of their home and talk to someone. They either have no family left or their families live out of town, so it has really been a great benefit beyond providing food.”

The parish has three teams of volunteers who rotate in either preparing or purchasing meals.

In November, volunteers from the Legion of Mary, Ladies of the Basilica, and Cookie Committee of the parish prepared the monthly meal which featured a choice of soups, stroganoff, and desserts.

In December, the parish’s Food Pantry Committee offered a ham dinner with mashed potatoes and desserts.

This coming weekend, for the January meal, the meal hosted by the Knights of Columbus will include pasta and meatballs, salad, and dessert.

The community meals take place from 1:00-2:00 p.m. on the second Sunday of the month. Reservations are not required but are available by calling the parish rectory at (570) 342-5166.

Between 10-15 people attended the first community meal in November. That number was close to 25 in December and organizers are hoping it will continue to grow this month and throughout the new year, serving those in West Scranton in need of food or fellowship.

“We have started out slow so each of the different groups get an idea of what it is like to put on the dinner and prepare the food. Now, our next challenge is to increase the number of people who come to the dinner,” Deacon Lemoncelli added.