Category: 2024 News

(OSV News) – In the latest comment from the Vatican on “Fiducia Supplicans,” the controversial declaration issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in December 2023 that includes guidelines on the blessing of same-sex couples, Pope Francis clarified that he didn’t allow blessings of “the union” but of “each person.”

“What I allowed was not to bless the union,” the pope said, correcting the question of CBS journalist and interviewer Norah O’Donnell, who stated within her question that the pope had “decided to allow Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples.”

“That cannot be done because that is not the sacrament. I cannot. The Lord made it that way,” said Pope Francis, according to the English translation provided in voiceover by CBS. “But to bless each person, yes. The blessing is for everyone. For everyone. To bless a homosexual-type union, however, goes against the given right, against the law of the church. But to bless each person, why not? The blessing is for all. Some people were scandalized by this. But why? Everyone! Everyone!”

The Spanish-language video, however, reveals that instead of “given right,” Pope Francis said “natural law,” which, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life.”

“Fiducia Supplicans,” which sparked international uproar within the church, was just one of the many topics touched on in the wide-ranging interview that covered the pope’s thoughts on war, a “globalization of indifference,” conservativism in the church, antisemitism and U.S. policy toward migrants.

The pope spoke with O’Donnell April 24 at his residence, Casa Santa Marta (Domus Sanctae Marthae). A roughly 13-minute portion of the interview aired May 19 on “60 Minutes,” the long-running newsmagazine of the CBS Television Network, with the balance of the session to be broadcast in a one-hour primetime special May 20 on the network and on the Paramount+ streaming platform.

The pair were seated beneath a large image of Our Lady Undoer of Knots, a Marian devotion from 18th-century Germany that is a favorite of Pope Francis, who learned of it some 40 years ago from a nun he had met while he was completing his doctoral thesis in that nation.

As a follow-up to the topic of same-sex blessings, O’Donnell reminded Pope Francis of his previous remarks that “homosexuality is not a crime,” qualifying of “unjust” laws criminalizing the condition of same-sex attraction, which the church recognizes as “objectively disordered” while calling for such persons to exercise chastity and self-mastery, and to be treated with respect and compassion.

Homosexuality “is a human fact,” Pope Francis told O’Donnell.

She asked him how he would respond to “conservative bishops in the United States that oppose your new efforts to revisit teachings and traditions.”

In his reply, Pope Francis defined a conservative as the “suicidal attitude” of “one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that.”

“One thing is to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box,” he said.

Throughout the interview, Pope Francis underscored his soft-spoken but energetic responses — delivered in his native Spanish through an interpreter — with emphatic gestures, shifting occasionally in his chair and appearing to be in good health, despite a bout with bronchitis earlier this year that saw him taken to the hospital for tests.

Asked by O’Donnell if the Catholic Church had “done enough” to reform and repent of clerical sexual abuse, Pope Francis said “it must continue to do more” since “the tragedy of the abuses is enormous.”

He also stressed the need to “not only … not permit it but to put in place the conditions so that it does not happen.”

“It cannot be tolerated,” Pope Francis said. “When there is a case of a religious man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them. In this there has been a great deal of progress.”

O’Donnell, in the May 19 excerpt, did not ask Pope Francis about Father Marko Rupnik, the Slovenian-born priest who was expelled from the Society of Jesus in June 2023, and who has gained international recognition both for his liturgical art and for the numerous accusations of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse leveled against him in the course of his career.

O’Donnell did ask Pope Francis about the children of Gaza ahead of the Catholic Church’s inaugural World Children’s Day May 25-26, an observance instituted by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education.

When O’Donnell, citing the United Nations, said that more than a million in Gaza, mostly children, would face famine on World Children’s Day, Pope Francis replied, “Not just in Gaza. Think of Ukraine.”

He said that many of the Ukrainian children who come to the Vatican “don’t know how to smile … they have forgotten how to smile. And that is very painful.”

As a follow-up question, O’Donnell asked if the pope had a message for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“Please, warring countries, all of them, stop. Stop the war,” replied Pope Francis. “You must find a way of negotiating for peace. Strive for peace. A negotiated peace is always better than an endless war.”

O’Donnell asked the pope how to address international division over the Israel-Hamas war, which has sparked “big protests on college campuses and growing antisemitism.”

“All ideology is bad, and antisemitism is an ideology, and it is bad,” said Pope Francis. “Any ‘anti’ is always bad. You can criticize one government or another, the government of Israel, the Palestinian government. You can criticize all you want, but not ‘anti’ a people. Neither anti-Palestinian, nor antisemitic. No.”

Asked by O’Donnell if he could help negotiate peace, the pope sighed and replied, “What I can do is pray. I pray a lot for peace. And also, to suggest, ‘Please, stop. Negotiate.'”

O’Donnell also asked Pope Francis for his thoughts on the state of Texas’ efforts to shutter Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit sheltering migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“That is madness. Sheer madness. To close the border and leave them there, that is madness,” he said. “The migrant has to be received. Thereafter you see how you are going to deal with him. Maybe you have to send him back, I don’t know, but each case ought to be considered humanely.”

Recalling the pope’s July 2013 visit to Lampedusa — the Italian island to which thousands of migrants have fled, with thousands more perishing while crossing the Mediterranean — O’Donnell asked Pope Francis to speak about “the globalization of indifference.”

“People wash their hands!” he answered. “There are so many Pontius Pilates on the loose out there … who see what is happening, the wars, the injustice, the crimes … (They say), ‘That’s OK, that’s OK’ and wash their hands. … That is what happens when the heart hardens … and becomes indifferent.

“Please, we have to get our hearts to feel again,” Pope Francis implored. “We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such human dramas. The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease. Very ugly.”

No reference was made to another hot button topic: women in the clergy, except in a post-interview narration in which O’Donnell said that although the pope had appointed more women to positions of church power than his predecessors, “he told us he opposes allowing women to be ordained as priests or deacons.”

In a particularly poignant moment in the interview, O’Donnell asked the pope about the church’s rejection of surrogacy, saying she knows women who are cancer survivors for whom the practice has become “the only hope” for having a child.

Pope Francis reaffirmed church teaching on the point, saying that surrogacy has sometimes “become a business, and that is very bad.”

He also said that for infertile women, “the other hope is adoption,” and stressed that “in each case the situation should be carefully and clearly considered, consulting medically and then morally as well.”

The pope commended O’Donnell for her sensitivity toward people that “in some cases (surrogacy) is the only chance,” saying with a warm smile, “It shows that you feel these things very deeply. Thank you.”

O’Donnell, in turn, said the pope has inspired hope among many “because you have been more open and accepting perhaps than any other previous leaders of the church.”

Reiterating a cry he issued at World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Pope Francis said that the church is open to “everyone, everyone, everyone.”

“The Gospel is for everyone,” he emphasized. “If the church places a customs officer at the door, that is no longer the church of Christ.”

The May 19 segment concluded with O’Donnell asking the pope what gave him hope.

“Everything,” Pope Francis said. “You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things … heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.”

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (OSV News) – Under a cold drizzle, scores of Catholics in New Haven sang and prayed while following the Eucharistic Jesus in procession. This May 18 display of faith marked the first Eucharistic procession of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s eastern route.

“It shows our commitment as Christians to our love for Jesus Christ,” Jonathan Santillo, who participated in the solemn procession with the Knights of Columbus, told OSV News.

Similar kickoff celebrations were planned to take place at the pilgrimage’s other three launch points in Brownsville, Texas; San Francisco; and Northern Minnesota. Pilgrims from points north, south, east and west are traveling with the Eucharist for the next eight weeks on their way to the National Eucharistic Congress, scheduled for July 17-21, 2024, in Indianapolis. The eastern route is named after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

Before the procession, Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut, celebrated an extended Pentecost Vigil Mass at St. Mary Church (part of Blessed Michael McGivney’s parish and where the Knights of Columbus founder’s remains are reposed.) Organizers said this extended vigil expressed the church’s plea for the gift of the Holy Spirit — in particular, “for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be given to our nation during the Eucharistic Revival and for the success of the Seton Route pilgrimage.”

During his homily, Archbishop Coyne talked about the gift of the Holy Spirit coming to the apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem and how the five readings of the extended Mass were a pilgrimage in the proclamation of the Word, showing the manifestation of the Holy Spirit throughout salvation history.

So, the archbishop continued, it is fitting that the nationwide Eucharistic pilgrimage starts on Pentecost weekend.

“Our life as Christians is a pilgrimage along the path of salvation. But it is not a solitary one. It is one in which we walk together as the body of Christ,” the archbishop said. “In seeking after what God desires of us, we become pilgrims of no path but the one that he would have us follow.”

More than a journey from one place to another, he added, a pilgrimage is about coming home. “It allows one to turn to God, to tend to what is most important to life.”

The archbishop told the Seton Route’s six perpetual pilgrims that their “pilgrimage to the Eucharist is one with the Holy Spirit as well.”

“It is the Holy Spirit that will raise you on each of your ways so that your feet will not stumble, and your body will stay on the path,” he told the pilgrims. “The first breath of the Holy Spirit given to you in baptism” and strengthened in confirmation will help “in your exertions along the way to persevere to joyous completion.”

The archbishop then prayed for a safe and fruitful pilgrimage as the perpetual pilgrims accompany the Blessed Sacrament over the next eight weeks.

After Communion, the faithful filling the pews of St. Mary — families, religious, people of all ages — lit up candles and invoked the Holy Spirit. Then, Father Roger Landry, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and Catholic chaplain at Columbia University, conducted the censing of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Landry, the chaplain for the entire Seton Route, carried the Eucharist in a monstrance designed for the entire two-month pilgrimage.

This was followed by the Eucharistic procession around the neighborhood of St. Mary’s. Area young adults participated in a Holy Hour, followed by overnight adoration.

Andrea Puzio, a member of the Knights of Columbus from Council 3733 in North Haven, Connecticut, was one of the men carrying the processional canopy covering the Blessed traveled. He told OSV News that processing with Jesus in the Eucharist through the streets of New Haven “really brings your soul into the heart of Jesus to express to others that our faith is not only internally in a church, but everywhere we go.”

This was echoed by Angelica Bakhos, director of formation for Crossroads 4 Christ, a Catholic apostolate for young adults with seven chapters in Connecticut that meet weekly and organize around 350 Holy Hours a year.

“It was this amazing opportunity not only to walk with our Lord, but to walk with other pilgrims who were all journeying toward him,” she said.

Crossroads 4 Christ – along with Frassati New Haven, a fellowship of young adult Catholics – organized the Young Adult Holy Hour, which included a presentation by Father Landry.

Overnight adoration concluded at 7 a.m. May 19, with a 1.5-mile Eucharistic procession from St. Mary to St. Joseph for Pentecost Mass. Following Mass, the Seton Route’s perpetual pilgrims headed to Long Wharf, New Haven’s waterfront district, to board a boat heading toward the next leg of their journey in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The Seton Route continues through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.

On the day of the route’s launch, perpetual pilgrim Natalie Garza, a high school theology teacher in Kansas City, said her heart was burning. At a May 18 presentation at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center, she shared her excitement and the reasons she is part of this National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

“The first is to intercede for the American church, to really pray for her and get to walk with Jesus,” said the Texas native. Looking forward to living “a real expression and experience of discipleship,” like the disciples who got to know Jesus, Garza said she and her team of young adults were ready to walk alongside him for eight weeks.

Garza added that she wants to “witness with my body the truth that I have professed with my words many times, that Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharist.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Pope Francis will send Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as his special envoy to the U.S. Catholic Church’s 10th National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21 in Indianapolis, and the cardinal will celebrate the congress’s closing Mass.

Cardinal Tagle is pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

The appointment, announced May 18, is “a gift to the Eucharistic Congress,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Cardinal Tagle’s “deep passion for apostolic mission rooted in the Eucharist is sure to have an inspirational impact for everyone attending the Congress,” the archbishop, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said in a statement released by the USCCB.

“We are tremendously grateful to the Holy Father in appointing Cardinal Tagle as his delegate to the United States’ 10th National Eucharistic Congress,” said Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. “The appointment of Cardinal Tagle, with his missionary spirit and connection to the U.S., further unites our own efforts with the universal Church and uniquely evangelistic vision of Pope Francis.”

“In his words to a delegation from the National Eucharistic Congress last June,” Bishop Cozzens said in a statement to OSV News, “Pope Francis challenged us to ensure that the Congress bear lasting fruit as a moment of Encounter and Mission, reminding us all that, ‘We become credible witnesses to the joy and transforming beauty of the Gospel only when we recognize that the love we celebrate in this sacrament cannot be kept to ourselves but demands to be shared with all.'”

During a recent segment of his weekly television broadcast “The Word Exposed,” excerpts of which were posted to his Facebook page, Cardinal Tagle stressed the centrality of Christ and the Eucharist to the Catholic faith.

“The Eucharist is not a repetition of the sacrifice of Christ,” he said. “It is the eternal sacrifice of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary where he ascended, enabling us to celebrate it here on earth. Wow!”

Without Christ’s ascension – the solemnity for which was celebrated May 9 or, in some dioceses, May 12 – “we would not have our sacramental life that nourishes us,” said Cardinal Tagle in a clip posted to his Facebook page May 18.

“We look forward with enthusiasm to welcoming Cardinal Tagle to the Congress, celebrating the closing liturgy with him, and hearing his words for the Church in the United States. Our deepest gratitude, again, goes to the Holy Father for this appointment,” Bishop Cozzens added.

The congress is the culmination of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival launched in 2022 by the U.S. bishops to renew and strengthen Catholics’ understanding of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. It will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium and the adjacent Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis and is expected to draw about 50,000 Catholics from around the U.S.

The event is the first such national congress in the U.S. in 83 years, and in 48 years since the 1976 International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia.

Leading up to the congress is the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, launching Pentecost weekend, May 18-19. The pilgrimage consists of four cross-country routes coming from four directions: the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route (East), starting in New Haven, Connecticut; the St. Junipero Serra Route (West), starting in San Francisco; the St. Juan Diego Route (South), starting in Brownsville, Texas; and the Marian Route (North), starting in Northern Minnesota.

Among those walking the routes will be perpetual pilgrims, seminarians and priest chaplains, accompanied by the Eucharist, often exposed in a monstrance. Each route has stops along the way for Mass, prayer and Eucharistic adoration at parishes, shrines, charities and other Catholic institutions. The routes will converge in Indianapolis for the July 17 start of the congress.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican has published new norms for the church to discern alleged supernatural phenomena, such as Marian apparitions and mystical visions, which streamline the discernment process for bishops, allow the Vatican to avoid making definitive judgments on the authenticity of the events and reaffirm that Catholics are not obliged to believe in the purported phenomena.

In the document released May 17, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, laid out six possible conclusions that can be reached when discerning a possible supernatural phenomenon, ranging from a declaration that an event is not of supernatural origin to authorizing and promoting piety and devotion associated with a phenomenon without affirming its divine nature.

The significant development in the text, signed by Pope Francis, is that “as a rule, neither the Diocesan Bishop, nor the Episcopal Conferences, nor the Dicastery will declare that these phenomena are of supernatural origin,” though “the Holy Father can authorize a special procedure in this regard.”

Rather, declarations of supernatural authenticity “are replaced either by a ‘nihil obstat'” — a judgment meaning “no objection” that finds no problematic elements with a reported phenomenon — “or by another determination that is suited to the specific situation,” Cardinal Fernández wrote in his presentation of the new norms.

If a “nihil obstat” is issued in response to alleged supernatural phenomena, “the Diocesan Bishop is encouraged to appreciate the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal, and even to promote its spread, including possibly through pilgrimages to a sacred site,” but “without expressing any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon itself,” the guidelines said.

Other conclusions may require bishops: to further discern events that have positive aspects but also some signs of confusion; to intervene directly against people who are misusing a phenomenon for personal gain; to publicly forbid adherence to a phenomenon deemed to have serious risks; or declare that a phenomenon is decidedly not supernatural based on concrete evidence or proof that it was false.

Another conclusion specifically addresses phenomena with “various or significant” negative or “critical elements” but have “already spread widely” and have led to verifiable spiritual fruits. “In this situation, a ban that could upset the People of God is not recommended,” the guidelines said. “Nevertheless, the Diocesan Bishop is asked not to encourage this phenomenon but to seek out alternative expressions of devotion and possibly reorient its spiritual and pastoral aspects.”

Cardinal Fernández wrote that the possibility of concluding the discernment process with a “nihil obstat,” as opposed to declaring the phenomenon is true and worthy of belief, is meant to “prevent any further delays in the resolution of a specific case involving an event of alleged supernatural origin.”

He also cited historical instances of bishops issuing definitive statements that appear to oblige the faithful in their dioceses to believe the authenticity of certain supernatural phenomena.

“These expressions conflicted with the Church’s own conviction that the faithful did not have to accept the authenticity of these events,” the cardinal wrote, and they “effectively oriented the faithful to think they had to believe in these phenomena, which sometimes were valued more than the Gospel itself.”

Citing Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Fernández wrote that a “nihil obstat” allows the faithful to believe certain phenomena “in a prudent manner” but that their devotion “is not obligatory.”

The cardinal said such a response “naturally leaves open the possibility that, in monitoring how the devotion develops, a different response may be required in the future.”

The document explained that the procedures for discerning alleged supernatural phenomena previously followed were approved by St. Paul VI in 1978, more than four decades ago, and remained confidential until they were officially published in 2011.

Yet since those norms were put into practice, “it became evident that decisions took an excessively long time, sometimes spanning several decades,” it said, noting that “since 1950, no more than six cases have been officially resolved, even though such phenomena have increased without clear guidance and with the involvement of people from many Dioceses.”

“This way of proceeding, which has caused considerable confusion, shows how the 1978 Norms are no longer adequate to guide the actions of the Bishops and the Dicastery,” the cardinal wrote.

In its introduction, the document also noted that with “the advent of modern means of communication, these phenomena can attract the attention of many believers or cause confusion among them.”

A revision process of the 1978 norms began in 2019, and the current document began being prepared in 2023, it said.

The document laid out procedures for bishops to follow in investigating supernatural phenomena in their territory and explained their responsibility to formulate a final judgment on them, from among the six conclusions provided, to be sent to the dicastery for approval. In fact, the new norms assure bishops that the dicastery will be more explicitly involved in working with them if they need to conduct an investigation. The bishop’s decision must be sent first to the dicastery before it is made public and the dicastery will have the power to intervene at any time.

The procedures said that a bishop must “refrain from making any public statements in favor of the authenticity or supernatural nature of such phenomena, and from having any personal connection with them.”

If forms of devotion arise in connection with an alleged supernatural event, “the Diocesan Bishop has the serious obligation of initiating a comprehensive canonical investigation as soon as possible to safeguard the Faith and prevent abuses,” the document said.

The bishop should also “prevent the spread of confused religious manifestations or the dissemination of any materials pertaining to the alleged supernatural phenomenon — such as the weeping of sacred images; the sweating, bleeding, or mutation of consecrated hosts, etc. — to avoid fueling a sensationalistic climate,” it said.

Outlining the norms for the investigative phase, the document said the positive criteria to consider in response to a supernatural phenomenon entail the credibility of persons involved with the events, the doctrinal orthodoxy of the phenomenon and messages associated with it, the spontaneity of the event and the fruits that it bears in the life of the Christian community.

Negative criteria, on the other hand, involve potential doctrinal errors associated with the event, the rise of a sectarian spirit revolving around it, an overt pursuit of personal gain or gravely immoral actions committed by those involved in the phenomenon and psychological or psychopathic tendencies among those who may have been influenced by the phenomenon.

If a bishop is granted a “nihil obstat” by the dicastery regarding an alleged supernatural phenomenon, the document said a bishop will indicate that the faithful “are authorized to give to it their adherence in a prudent manner,” while ensuring they “do not consider any of the determinations as an approval of the supernatural nature of the phenomenon itself.”

If a precautionary or negative determination is made, the bishop “must formally make it known,” using clear and understandable language and considering whether to make known the doctrinal reasons for the decision, the norms said.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision making abortion a constitutional right, a majority of Americans said they support legal abortion in all or most cases, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

The Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24, 2022, in a case involving a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, where the state directly challenged the high court’s previous abortion-related precedents in Roe v. Wade and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. The Supreme Court ultimately overturned its own prior rulings, undoing nearly a half-century of its own precedent that held abortion was a constitutional right and returning the issue to the legislature. In the two years since that ruling, individual states have moved to either restrict abortion or expand access to it.

The study found that a majority — 63% — of Americans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, an increase of four percentage points from 2021, the year prior to the Dobbs ruling. That includes 59% of Catholics surveyed.

Although the vast majority — 85% — of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and just 41% of Republicans and Republican leaners said the same, the latter group also saw an uptick in support for legal abortion.

A majority of Americans — 54% — said the statement “the decision about whether to have an abortion should belong solely to the pregnant woman” describes their views extremely or very well. Meanwhile, 35% said the statement “human life begins at conception, so an embryo is a person with rights” describes their views extremely or very well. But 32% of Americans said both of those statements reflect their views at least somewhat well, in what Pew described as being “cross-pressured” in their views.

The new Pew survey was conducted April 8-14 among 8,709 adults. “Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses,” Pew said. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 8,709 respondents is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, opposing direct abortion as an act of violence that takes the life of the unborn child.

After the Dobbs decision, church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child, and called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

SCRANTON – With their Diaconate Ordination just days away, both Andrew McCarroll and Tom Dzwonczyk have had many people congratulating them about their “big day.”

Both men are quick to say the Ordination Mass, planned for May 25, is not about them.

“It is not my big day. It is the church’s big day. Everything that is happening is affirming the ministry that I’m doing for them,” McCarroll said. “I’m being ordained for the people, for service to them. That is an image that is very profound to me as I’m preparing these next few days.”

“It is not about anything we’ve done. It’s about the Lord and what He is doing through me and through everyone He is calling,” Dzwonczyk added. “It is 100-percent about God and what he is doing in his Church.”

Dzwonczyk and McCarroll will begin the final step in their formation for the priesthood when they are ordained to the transitional diaconate by the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, on May 25 at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

All are welcome to attend and participate in the celebration.

Ordination as a transitional deacon generally occurs after a seminarian has completed at least three years of study in theology and takes place usually one year prior to priestly ordination. A Deacon can be an ordinary minister of Baptism, and will be able to preside at weddings, assist the priest at Mass, proclaim the Gospel and preach, as well as preside at wakes and funeral services.

Dzwonczyk, 26, is the son of Thomas and Stephanie Dzwonczyk of North Abington Township, Lackawanna County. He attended Holy Cross High School in Dunmore and just completed Theology III at Saint Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Md. During his discernment process, Dzwonczyk completed a pastoral year assignment at Saint Jude Parish, Mountain Top, where he also assisted teaching eighth grade religion at Saint Jude School. He has one younger sister, Katherine, and grew up attending Saint John Vianney Parish in Montdale.

McCarroll, 25, is the son of Todd and Judy McCarroll of Lehman, Luzerne County. He attended Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre, Saint John’s University in Queens and has been attending Saint Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Md. McCarroll is participating in his pastoral year right now at Saint Boniface Parish, Williamsport, and Saint Lawrence Parish, South Williamsport, and is also serving as Director of Religious Formation at Saint John Neumann Regional Academy. He has two brothers, Nicholas and Will, and has a home parish of Saint Robert Bellarmine in Wilkes-Barre.

While both men say while their studies and experiences have prepared them to become Deacons at the end of the month, they admit feeling both excitement and nervousness.

“I’m very excited. It seems like when I first entered seminary it would never get here, it seemed very far away, and now to think that I’m on the doorstep of it, is pretty incredible,” Dzwonczyk said. “I’m also very nervous. I would imagine that this is how people feel before they’re about to get married, very nervous recognizing the weight of the commitment, but I’ve also been feeling great peace in my prayer and in the conversations with my brothers at the seminary.”

“It is a big step so there is some anxiety about it, which I think is a good sign, because it’s a very natural sign, but it’s coming out of excitement,” McCarroll added. “I’m excited to serve and minister in a new way, a way that I’ve been preparing for.”

Once ordained a deacon, McCarroll is looking forward to preaching at Mass. His first experience will come the same day as his Ordination – May 25 – as he will preach the 4 p.m. Vigil Mass at Saint Robert Bellarmine Parish.

“I’m really looking to take the Scriptures and really bring them to life. It is a moment for growth and it is a challenge,” he said. “I’m excited for the challenge to grow in that way.”

Dzwonczyk says he is particularly moved by the Sacrament of Baptism and is looking forward to being able to baptize his first child.

“I always marvel at the grace that comes in baptism. It’s a simple act – pouring water on someone’s head – and yet the spiritual effect that it has never ceases to amaze me,” he explained.

Dzwonczyk will deliver his first homily as a deacon on Sunday, May 26, at 11:00 a.m., at his home parish of Saint John Vianney in Montdale.

“I’m a little nervous. It’s my first time preaching and it’s Trinity Sunday, so it’s not the easiest topic to preach on,” he joked.

As they look forward to their Ordination Mass, both men want to express their gratitude to all of the people who have helped them on their discernment journey – or simply prayed for them through the process.

“The number of people who have reached out to me, just saying they’re praying for me or they’re thinking about me, or who have reached out to my parents is just overwhelming and I’m truly humbled,” Dzwonczyk said. “Truly, without their prayers, I wouldn’t have made it.”

“I trust God, that he is present in all of this, and that he is guiding me every step of the way,” McCarroll added.

For anyone unable to attend the Ordination Mass in person, CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will provide a live broadcast as well as livestream the Mass on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and all social media channels.

SCRANTON – Ten priests who are celebrating milestone anniversaries of their ordination year will be recognized during the 2024 Mass for Priest Jubilarians at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, 2024, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will serve as principal celebrant and homilist. During the Mass, the bishop will recognize a combined 425 years of service to the priesthood.

Monsignor Constantine V. Siconolfi will be recognized for 65 years of priestly service. Ordained on May 23, 1959, he has served many parish communities, and founded Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen, which has served free daily meals to the needy of the Scranton area since 1978.

In addition to Msgr. Siconolfi, priests who are celebrating 60, 50 and 25 year ordination anniversaries will be honored at the Mass.

The 2024 Mass for Priest Jubilarians will be broadcast live by CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton and will be available for viewing on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel, and social media platforms.