The Reverend Stephen A. Krawontka, pastor, Ascension Parish, Forest City and St. Katharine Drexel Parish, Pleasant Mount, died on July 19, 2022, at Wayne Memorial Hospital, Honesdale.

Father Krawontka, son of the late Jan and Julia Nowobilska Krawontka, was born in Lapsze Nizne, Poland, on March 27, 1950. He received his early education at Lapsze Nizne grammar school and graduated from Zakopane High School, Poland. Father attended the Papal Faculty of Theology in Krakow where he completed his studies for the priesthood with a Master in Theology. Father was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Krakow on May 22, 1977 by then Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, Pope Saint John Paul II.

Father Krawontka ministered in Poland for thirteen years. He moved to the Diocese of Scranton in July 1990 and was appointed parochial vicar at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Dickson City.

With the consent of the Archdiocese of Krakow, Father Krawontka was incardinated into the Diocese of Scranton on November 23, 1993.

Father was appointed parochial vicar at St. Joseph, Hazleton in July 1997 and served for eleven years. In July 2008, he was appointed Administrator, St. Mary, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Ascension of the Lord Churches, Mocanaqua and St. Martha, Fairmount Springs. In July 2010, Father was appointed parochial vicar at St. Patrick Church, Scranton where he also served as Administrator pro tem and Senior Priest for periods of time.

Father received his next appointment as Senior Priest at Our Lady Help of Christians, Dorrance and St. Jude, Mountain Top in November 2017. In July 2019, Father was appointed pastor at Ascension Parish, Forest City and St. Katharine Drexel, Pleasant Mount where he remained until his death.

Father is survived by sisters, Teresa Klapacz and her husband, Peter; Maria Olszowska and her husband, Wlodek; a brother, Emil Krawontka and his wife Marta and numerous nieces and nephews.

A viewing will take place at Ascension Parish, Forest City, on Monday, July 25, 2022, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Vespers will be celebrated at Ascension Parish at 7:00 p.m.

A Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L., Bishop of Scranton, on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, at 11:00 a.m., at St. Jude Church, Mountain Top. The Mass will be livestreamed. Anyone wishing to pray via livestream, please visit the St. Jude webpage at https://www.stjc.org.  A viewing will also take place Tuesday morning, at 10:00 a.m., prior to the funeral Mass.

Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Drums.

SCRANTON – Thousands of people have been making their way to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Ann in West Scranton this week for an annual pilgrimage that has been ongoing for 98 years.

The Solemn Novena in honor of Saint Ann, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, began on Sunday, July 17, and will continue for nine days, culminating with the celebration of the Feast of Saint Ann on Tuesday, July 26.

“It is such a holy place. As soon as you walk on the grounds, you can feel it. It is inspiring and a time when you can reflect on your faith,” Novena volunteer Debbie Coval said.

Coval and other volunteers have been happy to see so many worshippers turn out over the first few days.

“With all of the bad stuff going on, it’s good to see a lot of people practicing their faith,” volunteer Noah Palauskas added. “Everybody is extremely friendly here. You can come and make new friends without even trying.”

The guest preacher for this year’s Novena is Passionist Father Paul Fagan.

“Each day is more energizing,” Father Fagan said, indicating he is preaching about Saint Joseph, the son-in-law of Saint Ann, this year.

“We started with looking at Saint Joseph generally and for the rest of the Novena, we’re taking a title of Saint Joseph each day and reflecting on that,” he explained.

Carol Ann McNulty of Laflin has been coming to the annual Novena for more than 25 years. She says Saint Ann has blessed her with health, happiness, holiness and prosperity.

“When I have asked Saint Ann to intercede for my family, if it were health problems or whatever it may be, she has come through for us,” McNulty explained. “My brother who had cancer, we brought him here for the very first time when he was going through treatments. When he came, he was amazed at the size of the Saint Ann statue and he said he felt different after he left, it was like a special blessing he received.”

This year, the tradition of blessing the faithful with a relic of Saint Ann has returned after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saint Ann Novena devotions will include outdoor Masses and Novenas (weather permitting) at 8 a.m., 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. The 11:45 a.m. Mass and Novena will be celebrated indoors, except on Sundays, and the 3:30 p.m. Novena service is offered inside the main Basilica church.

Bishop Joseph C. Bambera will celebrate the Solemn Closing of the Novena on the Feast of Saint Ann, July 26, at 7:30 p.m. The Mass in Polish will be celebrated at 1:30 p.m., featuring Polish hymns.

A general view shows Vjosa River in Tepelena, Albania, June 12, 2022. Pope Francis issued a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Sept. 1, calling for “a covenant between human beings and the environment” in order to combat climate change. (CNS photo/Florion Goga, Reuters)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Humanity can no longer ignore the cries of the earth that is suffering due to greed and the excessive consumption of its resources, Pope Francis said.

In his message for the World Day of Prayer for Creation, the pope said the current climate crisis is a call for men and women, especially Christians, to “repent and modify our lifestyles and destructive systems.”

“The present state of decay of our common home merits the same attention as other global challenges such as grave health crises and wars. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience,” he wrote in his message, which was released by the Vatican July 21.

The theme of the World Day of Prayer for Creation, which will be celebrated Sept. 1, is “Listen to the voice of creation.”

Reflecting on the theme, the pope said that there is “a kind of dissonance” when one listens to the “voice of creation.”

“On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home,” he said.

The pope said the earth has fallen “prey to our consumerist excesses” and to a “tyrannical anthropocentrism,” an attitude in which people think they are the center of the universe. Such an attitude is at odds “with Christ’s centrality in the work of creation.”

Exaggerated self-centeredness, he said, has led to the loss of biodiversity and the extinction of countless and has greatly impacted the lives of the poor and vulnerable indigenous populations.

“As a result of predatory economic interests, their ancestral lands are being invaded and devastated on all sides, provoking a cry that rises up to heaven,” he said.

Furthermore, the pope said, younger generations feel “menaced by shortsighted and selfish actions” and are “anxiously asking us adults to do everything possible to prevent, or at least limit, the collapse of our planet’s ecosystems.”

Pope Francis said the Vatican’s July 6 accession to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement was made “in the hope that the humanity of the 21st century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.”

While the goal of limiting the increase of the earth’s temperature “is quite demanding,” the pope said it also serves as a “call for responsible cooperation between all nations” to confront the climate crisis by reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

Presenting the pope’s message at the Vatican press office July 21, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said Pope Francis’ message served as a call for bolder action by world leaders attending “this year’s COP27 and COP15 summits on climate change and biodiversity.”

“The planet already is 1.2°C hotter, yet new fossil fuel projects every day accelerate our race toward the precipice,” Cardinal Czerny said. “Enough is enough. All new exploration and production of coal, oil and gas must immediately end, and existing production of fossil fuels must be urgently phased out.”

In his message, the pope highlighted the need to change “models of consumption and production, as well as lifestyles” and transform them into something respectful of creation and integral human development.

“Underlying all this,” the pope wrote, “there is need for a covenant between human beings and the environment, which, for us believers, is a mirror reflecting the creative love of God, from whom we come and toward whom we are journeying.’

“The transition brought about by this conversion cannot neglect the demands of justice, especially for those workers who are most affected by the impact of climate change,” the pope added.

He also expressed his hope that the COP15 summit on biodiversity, which will be in December in Montreal, will adopt new agreements that will “halt the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of species.”

Emphasizing the principles needed to prevent “the further collapse of biodiversity,” the pope appealed to the mining, oil, forestry, real estate and agribusiness industries to “stop destroying forests, wetlands and mountains, to stop polluting rivers and seas, to stop poisoning food and people.”

“How can we fail to acknowledge the existence of an ‘ecological debt’ incurred by the economically richer countries, who have polluted most in the last two centuries,” Pope Francis said.

“Even the economically less wealthy countries have significant, albeit ‘diversified’ responsibilities in this regard,” he added. “Delay on the part of others can never justify our own failure to act. It is necessary for all of us to act decisively. For we are reaching a breaking point.”

Pope Francis accepts snowshoes from Adrian Gunner, representing the Assembly of First Nations, during a meeting with Canadian Indigenous groups at the Vatican in this April 1, 2022, file photo. The pope plans to read his speeches in Spanish during his July 24-29 trip to Canada. While the Indigenous will be the focus of the trip, concern for the environment and prayers for Ukraine also are expected. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ July trip to Canada was born out of his meetings with the nations’ Indigenous people and was planned around encounters with them, and if the pope’s words “have value elsewhere,” like throughout the Americas, all the better, said the director of the Vatican press office.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, briefed reporters July 20 about details of the pope’s visit to Canada July 24-29. He said the pope planned to deliver his nine speeches and homilies in Spanish during the trip.

Asked if the choice of Spanish was meant to send a message to other Indigenous peoples of North and South America, who often suffered the same forms of colonization, Bruni said Pope Francis would be speaking to the people he met, but he also knows that his words can offer solace to other Indigenous people and a challenge to the broader society.

Bruni also noted that more Canadians are likely to understand Spanish than Italian, and it would be easier to find translators from Spanish rather than Italian.

The trip to Canada will be Pope Francis’ 37th foreign journey as pope and Canada will be the 56th country he has visited since his election in March 2013.

Pope Francis himself described the trip as a “penitential pilgrimage” to express, in person and on Canadian soil, his “indignation, sorrow and shame for all that these people suffered,” Bruni said.

Much of the suffering occurred through forced attendance at residential schools where attempts were made to uproot them from their languages, cultures and spiritualities, and where many students suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Many of the schools were run by Catholic religious orders and institutions.

The main themes likely to be treated by the pope, Bruni said, include the impact of the colonialism of the past and of new forms of colonialism on Indigenous communities today as well as the desire of the Catholic Church to walk with the Indigenous communities on a path of truth-seeking, healing and reconciliation.

“These are some of the elements we may find in his words and gestures in the coming days,” Bruni said.

When representatives of Canada’s First Nations, and Inuit communities met Pope Francis at the Vatican in March and April, they asked him specifically for a formal repudiation of the “doctrine of discovery.” The phrase describes a collection of papal teachings, beginning in the 14th century, that encouraged explorers to colonize and claim the lands of any people who were not Christian, placing both the land and the people under the sovereignty of European Christian rulers.

The loss of the land, language, culture and spirituality of the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the foundation of the residential school system all can be traced to the doctrine, Indigenous leaders told reporters after their meetings with the pope.

Asked if the pope is expected to say something about the “doctrine of discovery” while in Canada, Bruni said, “a reflection is underway in the Holy See on the doctrine of discovery” and the study is nearing its conclusion. However, he said he is not certain that a statement will be completed before the papal trip ends or if the pope will speak about it while in Canada.

Given the close connections the Indigenous have to the land and to nature, Bruni said, Pope Francis also is likely to speak about care for the environment and climate change, particularly when he visits the Inuit in Iqaluit, Nunavit. The Arctic community already is dealing with the impact of global warming with the shrinking of glaciers, the thinning of sea ice, the thawing of permafrost thawing, coastal erosion and changes in the local wildlife.

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori and New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan are seen in this composite photo. (CNS composite; photos by Knights of Columbus and Gregory A. Shemitz)

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The chairmen of two U.S. bishops’ committees said a measure passed by the House July 15 is “the most unjust and extreme abortion on demand bill our nation has ever seen.”

They implored lawmakers “who see abortion as a legitimate ‘solution’ to the needs of women to abandon this path of death and despair,” urging them to join the U.S. bishops in prioritizing “the well-being of women, children and families” by providing material resources and “personal accompaniment” so “no woman ever feels forced to choose between her future and the life of her child.”

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, made the comments in a joint statement July 18.

In a mostly party-line vote of 219 to 210, House members approved an updated version of the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022, which would codify a right to abortion in federal law. An earlier version was passed in March by the House, but it failed to pass in the Senate.

The bill, H.R. 8296, would impose abortion on demand nationwide at any stage of pregnancy and would eliminate pro-life laws at every level of government — including parental notification for minor girls, informed consent, and health and safety protections specific to abortion facilities.

“Answering the needs of women by promoting taxpayer-funded elective abortion, as this bill would do, is a grave evil and a failure to love and serve women,” said Archbishop Lori and Cardinal Dolan.

“Offering free or low-cost abortions, instead of increasing the resources women need to care for themselves and their children, is not ‘choice’ but coercion and callous abandonment,” they said.

“Simply repeating the mantra that abortion is health care doesn’t make it so,” they added. “Deliberately ending the lives of defenseless and voiceless human beings is the antithesis of health care.”

They said H.R. 8296 would likely force health care providers and professionals to perform, assist in and/or refer for abortion against their deeply-held beliefs, as well as force employers and insurers to cover or pay for abortion.

The House also passed the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, H.R. 8297, which would ban states from punishing those who travel out of state “for reproductive health care.” This vote also was largely along party lines; the measure was approved 223-205.

Archbishop Lori and Cardinal Dolan invited everyone, in Congress and in the country at large, to join the U.S. bishops “in pursuing a vision we presented in ‘Standing with Moms in Need,'” which, they said, “upholds the truth that every human life is sacred and inviolable — a society in which the legal protection of human life is accompanied by profound care for mothers and their children.”

The USCCB issued the statement “Standing with Moms in Need”  earlier this year as the nation awaited the outcome of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks. Oral arguments were heard in the case Dec. 1.

The bishops reiterated their statement when a draft of the court’s majority opinion in Dobbs was leaked in early May indicating Roe v. Wade would be overturned.

On June 24, the court upheld the Mississippi law 6-3, but the high court also voted 5-4 to overturn its 1973 Roe decision and 1992’s Casey v. Planned Parenthood ruling, which affirmed Roe.

In the “Standing with Moms in Need” statement, the bishops pledged “to redouble our efforts to accompany women and couples who are facing unexpected or difficult pregnancies, and during the early years of parenthood, offering them loving and compassionate care through initiatives such as ‘Walking with Moms in Need’ and countless others.”

These efforts include ensuring all parishes are places of welcome for pregnant women in need and their families.

In 2020, the U.S. bishops launched the initiative “Walking with Moms in Need,” which aims to engage every Catholic parish “in providing a safety net to ensure that pregnant and parenting moms have the resources, love and support they need to nurture the lives of their children.”

In the “Standing with Moms in Need” statement, the bishops also said they would redouble “our advocacy for laws that ensure the right to life for unborn children and that no mother or family lacks the basic resources needed to care for their children, regardless of race, age, immigration status or any other factor.”

“We are deeply conscious that, after nearly half a century of legalized abortion, more than 65 million children have died from abortion and an untold number of women, men, and families suffer in the aftermath,” they also said.

“Recognizing this pain and loss, we also recommit our committees and urge our dioceses, parishes, and Catholic agencies and institutions: To proclaim God’s mercy after abortion and compassionately accompany women and men who are suffering after an abortion,” they said.

They also pledged to expand the church’s abortion healing ministries.

The “Standing with Moms in Need” was signed by Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, USCCB president, and the chairmen of eight USCCB committees: pro-life, migration, domestic policy, international policy, Catholic education, communications, evangelization and catechesis, and marriage and family life.

This is the cover of the U.S. bishops’ 19th annual report on the implementation of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” by dioceses and eparchies. Released July 12, 2022, the report is for audit year July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. (CNS photo/courtesy USCCB)

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The U.S. bishops’ annual report on compliance with the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” shows that 2,930 victim survivors came forward with 3,103 allegations during the audit year of July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

The number of allegations is 1,149 less than that reported in 2020, according to the audit report released July 12 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection.

“This decrease is due in large part to the resolution of allegations received as a result of lawsuits, compensation programs, and bankruptcies,” said a news release accompanying the report. “Of the allegations received, 2,284 (74%) were first brought to the attention of the diocesan/eparchial representative by an attorney.”

The majority of allegations received were “historical in nature,” meaning the alleged victim is now an adult and the abuse happened in years or decades past. During this audit year, there 30 were new allegations.

The report is based on the audit findings of StoneBridge Business Partners, a specialty consulting firm based in Rochester, New York. Also included in the report are results of a survey on allegations conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown.

The charter was adopted in 2002 by the U.S. bishops following widespread reports of clergy abuse and has been revised several times since to adapt to changing situations surrounding the question of clergy sexual abuse of minors. It was revised in 2005, 2011 and 2018.

Of the new allegations made by current minors, six were substantiated; nine are still under investigation; nine were unsubstantiated; five could not be proven; and one was referred to the provincial of a religious order.

“This year’s audit, once again, shows that new cases of sexual misconduct by priests involving minors are rare today in the Catholic Church in the United States,” Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, USCCB president, said in a preface to the report. He added that “every offender was removed from ministry. Every allegation was reported to law enforcement.”

“As we know, one allegation of abuse is too many,” he said, “But my brother bishops and I remain firmly committed to maintain our vigilance in protecting children and vulnerable adults and providing compassion and outreach to victim-survivors of abuse.”

“On behalf of my brother bishops, I again want to express our sorrow and apologies to every person who has suffered at the hands of someone in the church. And again, we pledge our commitment to the healing of victim survivors and to doing everything in our power to protect children and vulnerable adults.”

The report shows that dioceses and eparchies provided outreach and support to 285 victim survivors and their families who reported an allegation during the audit period. Continued support was provided to 1,737 victim survivors who had reported in prior audit periods.

In 2021, the church conducted 1,964,656 background checks on clergy, employees and volunteers. In addition, over 2 million adults and over 2.4 million children and youth were trained in how to identify the warning signs of abuse and how to report those signs.

Data from CARA said the costs related to allegations for diocese and eparchies for fiscal year 2021 were: settlements, $118,516,493; other payments to victims, $13,103,280; support for offenders, $9,972,414; attorneys’ fees, $45,597,100; and other costs, $6,930,931.

The grand total of costs was $194,120,218. This figure is 38% less  — or $117,860,448 less — than the grand total of $311,980,666 for fiscal year 2020.

“Six-tenths of the payments made by dioceses and eparchies between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, were for settlements to victims (61%) and almost a quarter of the total cost is for attorney’s fees (23%),” CARA said.

Despite restrictions experienced due to the pandemic, elements included in the charter audit process conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners, were not altered:

Seventy dioceses/eparchies were visited either in person or via remote technology and data was collected from 122 others.

There were four instances of noncompliance due to the inactivity of their review boards: the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas; the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana; the Diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota; and the Eparchy of Newton were found noncompliant with Article 2 of the charter.

Article 2 requires they have a lay-run review board that functions as a confidential consultative body to the bishop/eparch.

Subsequent convening of the review boards of the dioceses and the eparchy brought each of them into compliance with Article 2.

Three eparchies and one diocese did not participate in the audit: the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle, the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy, and the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

“May the Lord bless and preserve our efforts to make good on our promise to protect and pledge to heal,” Suzanne Healy, who chairs the National Review Board, said in a letter to Archbishop Gomez included in the report.

She said the NRB “continues to recommend that all dioceses and eparchies participate in the audit, but also audit every single parish in their ordinances. Parishes and school audits provide the most effective evaluation tool for diocesan/eparchial safe environment efforts.”

The board also “recommends examination of the efficacy of safe environment programs for both adults and children to ensure the training is working toward our promise to protect,” she added.

She said the board recommends enhancing the audit process with “possible expansion of the audit scope to include measures” in Pope Francis’ 2019 “motu proprio” “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” — which established procedures for reporting allegations of sexual abuse and for holding accountable bishops, eparchs and religious superiors who protect abusers.

The process could also include, she said, a new section of the Code of Canon Law dealing with crimes and punishments in the church: “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church.

The NRB suggested a voluntary “mentorship” program between eparchies that do not participate in the audit and other eparchies that do, she said, and it also proposed there be one day when parishes in every diocese offer “a liturgy of lament for victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their families.”

“Through the efforts of many individuals, both lay and ordained, the culture and attitudes surrounding the abuse of children has and will continue to change,” Deacon Bernie Nojadera, director of the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection, said in a letter to the archbishop in the report.

He has been blessed by the survivors he has come to know, he said, by them “sharing their stories and how they learned to cope and survive and, in some cases, thrive. I am honored and humbled to be in the presence of such holy people.”

“The church will be successful in her journey toward conversion, reconciliation, healing and hope through the relationships with victims/survivors,” he said.

“The healing of such experiences is a process of listening, accompaniment and atonement. … Together, with our sisters and brothers who have been abused, we can and will weather this storm and grow in the abundant love of our Lord,” the deacon said.

 

 

Last week, dozens of young people learned more about their faith during Vacation Bible School at St Catherine of Siena Church in Moscow. The theme for this year’s camp was “Rocky Railway…Jesus’ Power Pulls Us Through.”

The parish invited CTV: Catholic Television to learn more about the week’s interactive program, which all of the students enjoyed.

 

On Sunday, July 17th, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Carbondale celebrated its 50th annual Feast of the Lady of Mount Carmel.

Following the feast day Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph C. Bambera, the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was carried through the streets of Carbondale’s Westside.

The parish holds this procession each year to bring Our Lady of Mount Carmel out for the entire community to see, especially for those living in nursing homes and those who are homebound.

The procession on Sunday marked the end of the parish’s weekend-long festivities leading up to the feast day procession.

 

On Sunday, July 10th, members of the Mary, Mother of God Parish Community in Scranton gathered on the Rectory lawn to celebrate “Glad to Be…MMOG”.

The Family Picnic was a time to enjoy some great food and fellowship, but at the same time it was a chance for parishioners to learn more about the various ministry opportunities that the parish offers.

SCRANTON — Not unlike the rest of the world, the 2022 Solemn Novena to Saint Ann is slowly but surely returning to resemble its venerable self when COVID-19 was unheard of.

The 98th annual Solemn Novena at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Ann in West Scranton, honoring of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will begin on Sunday, July 17, and continue for nine days, culminating with the celebration of the Feast of Saint Ann on Tuesday, July 26.

Very Rev. Richard Burke, director of the Saint Ann National Shrine Basilica, announces the guest preacher for this year’s Novena will be Passionist Father Paul Fagan.

Since the outbreak of the global pandemic two years ago, Saint Ann’s Novena continued to be offered to devotees of the grandmother of Jesus, although in a mitigated, shortened manner.

“Last year we were able to be a little more expansive,” Father Richard said. “This year we are moving far ahead toward normalcy.”

Signs of the easing of restrictions and guidelines the coronavirus imposed include the restoring of outdoor tents and seating for the celebration of outside Masses and Novena services on the Basilica grounds. Preferred parking at the entrance of the Basilica plaza for the sick, infirm and those unable to leave their vehicles is also returning.

Also, Confessions will again be available before and after each service.

“Our priests and brothers will bring Communion and blessings to each car during the services,” Father Richard noted, indicating that, once again, individual blessing with the Saint Ann relic will be available for those who desire it.

“We will continue to take important precautions including hand-sanitizing in the Basilica and the use of disinfectant wipes for cleansing relics between each blessing,” the Passionist superior remarked. “We also encourage everyone to consider wearing a face mask for services, especially those who are more vulnerable to the virus.”

Saint Ann Novena devotions will include outdoor Masses and Novenas (weather permitting) at 8 a.m., 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. The 11:45 a.m. Mass and Novena will be celebrated indoors, except on Sundays, and the 3:30 p.m. Novena service is offered inside the main Basilica church.

Special spiritual services highlighting this year’s Novena to Saint Ann include the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine Rite on Tuesday, July 19, at 5:30 p.m., celebrated by Bishop Kurt Burnette. On that day there will be no Mass and Novena at 7:30 p.m.

A Mass with Anointing of the Sick will be offered on Thursday, July 21, at 1:30 p.m., with the Sacrament of the Sick available to all elderly and infirm and anyone who wishes to receive the sacrament. On Saturday, July 23, the Novena will include a special blessing service for all infants and children at 10 a.m.

The following day, Sunday, July 24, all Eucharistic liturgies will honor and bless grandparents in observance of World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

Bishop Joseph C. Bambera will celebrate the Solemn Closing of the Novena on the Feast of Saint Ann, July 26, at 7:30 p.m. The Mass in Polish will be celebrated at 1:30 p.m., featuring Polish hymns.

Father Richard noted that Passionist Father Rick Frechette was also scheduled to preach this year’s Solemn Novena but is unable to leave his doctoral duties at Saint Damien’s Hospital for Children outside of Port au Prince, Haiti, due to the high incidence of violence in the area.

“Father Rick was instrumental in ransoming two of his kidnapped staff doctors as well as a Jesuit priest with whom he works,” Father Richard explained. “Conditions are such that he cannot leave the island at this time. He and the Haitian people need our prayers in a profound way.”