Category: Diocese of Scranton News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – As part of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception’s continuing celebration marking 100 years of worship at “Mary’s House,” as it’s often called, Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory offered a Mass of thanksgiving for all the priests who were ordained or otherwise connected to the church.

“You have come to the location where you launched your ritual journey to become Christ’s priest,” Cardinal Gregory told the several dozen priests who participated in the late afternoon liturgy Aug. 22. “This is the place where a life-giving grace was bestowed upon you for the sanctification of God’s people. This is the place where you received ordination and where you handed over your life to the church’s ministry.”

The cardinal added that “for 100 years, this shrine has been the place where youthful dreams have come true, where the mission of the Lord has gained new collaborators, where the church has been strengthened by the promises that you and countless others have made to continue the ministry of Christ.”

More than 100 people attended the Mass at the Crypt Church, which Cardinal Gregory referred to as a “subterranean chapel … in this hallowed basilica.”

Noting that the priests entering the national shrine must be recalling memories of their ordinations, the cardinal said, “your hearts have many memories that were born herein at Our Lady’s Shrine. I pray that just entering this building, those memories will fill you with much happiness and deep gratitude.”

Cardinal Gregory, who as archbishop of Washington serves as chairman of the shrine’s board of trustees, was the principal celebrant of the Mass.

Among those concelebrating the Mass were Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop emeritus of Washington and chairman of the newly established Basilica of the National Shrine Trust; Washington Auxiliary Bishops Roy E. Campbell Jr., Evelio Menjivar and Juan Esposito; Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia; and Bishop Alfred A. Schlert of Allentown, Pennsylvania, both of whom are members of the shrine’s board of trustees; and Benedictine Abbott James Wiseman from St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington.

The Mass was offered on the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954 “so that all may recognize more clearly and venerate more devoutly the merciful and maternal sway of the Mother of God.” It is celebrated exactly one week after the Solemnity of the Assumption.

This year marks the centennial of the first public Mass offered at the national shrine. On Easter Sunday in 1924 at the shrine’s still unfinished Crypt Church, Mass was offered publicly there for the first time.

That first Mass, said Msgr. Walter Rossi, the shrine’s rector, was “celebrated in the midst of a construction zone, with a wooden altar made by Father John Carroll,” who in 1789 became the first bishop of the new United States, leading the new Diocese of Baltimore, which then included all 13 original states.

Three months after that Mass at the national shrine in 1924, the first priestly ordinations took place in the Crypt Church. Msgr. Rossi said the centennial Mass was being offered “to honor all the priests of the United States, especially those who were ordained here at Mary’s Shrine or simply have joined us for a pilgrimage or a simple, private visit.”

In his homily, Cardinal Gregory told the priests that it is “a blessing we all share today in this sacred place of prayer. We have returned to a place with memories of dates that forever changed our lives.”

“For 100 years families, friends, and colleagues have rejoiced at the ordination events that have taken place in this sacred shrine — among those are your own cherished memories of that moment when God’s Holy Spirit shared with you Christ’s priestly office,” Cardinal Gregory said.

The cardinal also said that all priests are connected to the national shrine because at their ordinations, “wherever you were on whatever date it was, you were here with Mary.”

He also said that for those ordained at the shrine, the specific dates may vary, but “the location is the same for all of you and for me as I rejoice with you in this place where my own life was joined to the Archdiocese of Washington.”

It was on May 21, 2019, at the national shrine that then-Archbishop Gregory was installed as the seventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis Nov. 28, 2020.

Although the first public Mass at the national shrine was celebrated 100 years ago, the shrine’s history dates back even earlier.

In 1913, Bishop Thomas Shahan, rector of The Catholic University of America, proposed building a national shrine dedicated to Our Lady under her title of the Immaculate Conception. It is under that title that Mary is honored as the patroness of the United States.

He presented his proposal to Pope Pius X (canonized in 1954), who supported the construction of such a church and made a donation to help build it.

In 1920, Baltimore Cardinal James Gibbons blessed the foundation stone and construction began. Masses were offered in the Crypt Church as it was being built. In 1932, the Great Depression halted the construction on the Great Upper Church, and the onset of World War II further delayed construction. In 1954, construction resumed to complete the church. It was designated a basilica in 1990.

Today, the national shrine includes more than 80 ethnically and culturally diverse chapels and oratories dedicated to Our Lady and representing the different titles under which she is venerated and honored by people around the world.

Since that first Mass, National Shrine officials say that more than 800,000 Masses have been celebrated there along with nearly 7,000 ordinations.

The Aug. 22 Mass continues the yearlong celebration of 100 years of worship at the National Shrine. This past March on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Gregory celebrated Mass using special liturgical items, including the same chalice that was used in the first Mass 100 years ago, the crosier of Bishop Shahan, and the Marian year cruets of Pope Pius XII.

(OSV News) – The U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs conducted a survey of dioceses and archdioceses in the country’s 14 episcopal regions and released its results Aug. 21. The survey shows how Hispanic ministry has taken off across the country and that in most dioceses, there is a parish-based pastoral response to Hispanic Catholics.

Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, assistant director of Hispanic Affairs under the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, explained that the subcommittee sought to determine a baseline about the state of Hispanic ministry at the parish level.

He told OSV News that it was important to observe the implementation of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry, a 10-year plan that was approved by the U.S. bishops in June 2023, and “to see how that parish ministry will develop in the years ahead.”

The survey, which was conducted from last April through mid-August, included questions on the number of parishes in each diocese, the number of parishes offering Mass in Spanish, and the number of parishes with a Hispanic/Latino presence or ministry without a Mass celebrated in Spanish.

“It was very important to know what the starting point is, what is the number of parishes that already have a Sunday Mass in Spanish, which is the quintessential sign that we see that the Hispanic community has been welcomed as a community in a parish,” said Aguilera-Titus. “In communities where the Spanish Mass is already established, many other ministries emerge as well.”

He said the committee was pleased to find that almost 30% of the parishes in the country have a Sunday Mass in Spanish established.

An Aug. 21 press release from USCCB indicated that 175 surveys were completed, representing 100% of the Latin Catholic archdioceses and dioceses in the U.S. It showed that 4,479 out of 16,279 U.S. parishes offered Sunday Mass in Spanish.

The survey also found that about 2,760 parishes have a Hispanic/Latino presence or ministry but do not currently offer Mass in Spanish and that “99% of the dioceses surveyed have several parishes that offer Mass in Spanish,” according to the release.

“We are talking about the fact that there is a Hispanic presence throughout the country, in the 175 dioceses (of the Latin Church) in the country” and that in most of those dioceses, “there is a significant response or parish ministry,” said Aguilera-Titus.

This survey focused on examining parishes serving Hispanics/Latinos in U.S. dioceses, but it also clarified that “several dioceses reported having missions or ministries serving Hispanics/Latinos extraordinary ministries or locations that are not identified as parishes” and that the survey did not intent to diminish those efforts.

Aguilera-Titus explained that in 2016-2017, a survey that was part of the V Encuentro process showed that about 4,485 parishes had some type of Hispanic ministry, although it did not specify data on Sunday Mass in Spanish, but rather Masses during the week or monthly masses. This new survey indicates that 4,479 parishes have Sunday Mass in Spanish and that, in addition, almost 3,000 parishes have some type of Hispanic ministry or presence but do not have a Sunday Mass in Spanish.

“We are talking about the significant growth in the response that the church is giving at the parish level,” Aguilera-Titus said.

Over 42% of U.S. Catholics self-identified as Hispanic and it has been reported that this is the case for more than half of all U.S. Catholics under 30. But even though Latino Catholics have accounted for much of the growth of the U.S. church for decades, the data shows these Catholics are also leaving the church at high rates and becoming religiously unaffiliated, according to a 2023 report by the Pew Research Center.

“Much progress has been made in the awareness of the Hispanic presence in the country and in the response at the parish level,” Aguilera-Titus said, but the subcommittee’s survey also shows “that there are still thousands of parishes where that Hispanic presence needs to be more accurately recognized, and an adequate pastoral response needs to be given to that presence.”

Aguilera-Titus anticipated that, in the context of the new pastoral plan for Hispanic ministry and its implementation, the number of parishes with Sunday Mass in Spanish and “with developed and well-organized ministries” will grow over the years.

Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California, chair of the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs, welcomed the results and said these types of surveys are vital to the church’s response to Hispanic/Latino communities.

“There are common obstacles that dioceses face when engaging in Hispanic/Latino ministry, such as bilingual priests or limited resources,” the bishop said, according to the USCCB press release. “This survey helps to measure our work and determine how we can continue serving this thriving part of our Church and the importance of ongoing ministry to the needs of our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters.”

Aguilera-Titus echoed the crucial need to promote more vocations to the priesthood and religious life among Hispanic Catholics. He added that it was important that, regardless of culture and origin, seminarians and priests, “especially pastors, who are not yet interculturally capable, acquire that intercultural capacity,” knowledge, attitudes and skills “that will allow them to effectively and joyfully pastor with that Hispanic/Latino people that continues to grow in practically every corner of the country.”

He also told OSV News that despite the financial challenges facing the church in the U.S., particularly dioceses, Hispanic ministry at the diocesan level continues to be very strong. “It’s really good news that 57 of the dioceses that responded (to the survey) have their Hispanic pastoral office and director,” he said.

The survey indicated that close to 47% of respondents were directors or coordinators of Hispanic/Latino ministry. Meanwhile, “while another 35% of respondents held positions in offices dedicated to cultural diversity, faith formation, and catechesis, signaling that there are other diocesan offices engaged in, or overseeing Hispanic/Latino ministry,” the press release stated. According to the subcommittee, this point shows the correlation of a robust diocesan structure and a vibrant ministry at the parish level.

Aguilera-Titus also commented on places where there was a need for further growth. “We also have about 20% of the dioceses where we see that the diocesan structure could be further strengthened to support Hispanic ministry. That was also included in the pastoral plan,” he said.

Aguilera-Titus explained that three characteristics determine a successful diocesan ministry of Hispanic ministry (also known as “pastoral hispana”): the person who coordinates it has direct contact with the diocesan bishop, a budget that allows for the development of specific programs to support and promote and develop Hispanic ministry, and collaboration with other diocesan offices.

“We are deeply grateful for the high participation from the dioceses starting with the people who coordinate and direct Hispanic ministry, but also in some cases with people who were learning more about the Hispanic presence in their dioceses,” Aguilera-Titus said.

The USCCB press release stated the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and the Eastern Catholic archeparchies and eparchies in the U.S. were also not included in this survey.

(OSV News) – Scott Surette, a devout Catholic and longtime owner of a home inspection firm, is on a mission to help renew the church.

Yet for all his four decades of experience with construction and code compliance, he’s not looking to renovate buildings — instead, Surette is seeking to repair what Scripture calls the “living stones” that comprise the spiritual house of Jesus Christ.

And now, as one of several recent appointees to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Review Board, a lay-led advisory group on child and youth protection, Surette is “under contract,” so to speak, to make that happen.

The board is mandated by the USCCB “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” established in 2002 amid a torrent of emerging clerical abuse scandals. Commonly called the Dallas Charter, the document lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, and includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse.

The 55-year-old Surette — an Indiana native, husband and father of five — would be the first to admit that being part of a national corporate governance organization is a bit out of his comfort zone.

“I’m better off with a hammer than I am with a committee,” he told OSV News. “Give me something to do; that’s just kind of in my nature.”

But as a survivor of clerical sexual abuse, Surette has a powerful message to share.

“I want to bring a paradigm shift to the church, to the whole United States, to the world, if they’ll hear me — to bring a paradigm shift where we can get from a place of anger and vengeance to true healing,” he said.

Surette knows well the scope — and the cost — of that project. After being sexually abused at age 15 by a priest, he spent 40 years battling what he described as a “Jekyll and Hyde” inner dynamic that eventually caused him to lose his first marriage.

“I was a super nice guy, but then somebody would push a button, and I would get angry,” he said. “I would sabotage my relationships. If somebody was interested in me, if somebody liked me, a friend, a girlfriend — if somebody really thought that I was a great guy, they were a threat.”

The abuse he suffered took place during a weekend youth retreat, when a visiting priest “came after me twice,” said Surette, whose brother, also on the retreat, had witnessed the incidents.

Surette and his family reported the abuse immediately, with the school even bringing the visiting priest back to Indiana a week later for questioning.

“We sat in a room in the basement of my church, and he denied the whole thing to my face and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Scott. I was nice to you. I was kind to you. I was loving to you. I was admiring who you are as a youth.’ And he denied the whole thing,” Surette said.

“Back in 1979, nothing happened” at the diocesan level to address the abuse, Surette said, but in 2019, “we started a case and the diocese decided to pay for counseling.”

At that point, he said, “I began to really earnestly pray about (the abuse), and through the prayer process, Jesus just kind of gave me the grace to look at my abuser through his eyes — through the eyes of Christ.”

The result was “stunning,” said Surette.

“All that I had in my brain and my heart was anger and vengeance,” he said. “I was like, ‘You know what, dude? You messed me up for 40 years and I’m mad about it. … I mean, you screwed up my first marriage and how many relationships, and in ways I don’t know.”

And then, Surette told OSV News, “Jesus said, ‘Scott, would you like to see (this man) through my eyes?'”

“Jesus saw (him) as a hurt, wounded, lost soul who made choices to sin, and that made Jesus really sad,” said Surette. “And the biggest thing that came through in that grace (from prayer) was (the realization that) Jesus wasn’t full of anger and vengeance. Jesus didn’t want (him) to burn in hell forever. Scott wanted (him) to burn in hell forever, but Jesus didn’t.”

Surette said the experience enabled him to see his abuser in “a different light” — one that fully revealed the evil perpetrated by the priest, while illuminating hope for redemption and healing through Christ for both Surette and his abuser.

“(The abuser) chose out of his own free will to sin and to come after me and to pursue his own pleasures and passions,” said Surette. “Truly, he sinned. But he did that because he was hurt and wounded. And I could get my brain around that. I could get my heart around that and say, ‘If he’s wounded, I can forgive him.’ And if Jesus is sad and weeping that he is potentially not gonna be in heaven for eternity, then I’m sad that he’s potentially not going be in heaven for eternity. And that became a moment where everything changed.”

Referencing St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Surette said he felt “the peace that passes all understanding,” a sensation that was “flat-out overwhelming” and “permeated everything” in his life, including relationships and work.

Surette now prays regularly for the soul of his abuser, who was eventually removed from the clerical state and — as Surette’s wife was able to learn — died sometime around 2018.

He also met with Bishop Timothy L. Doherty of the Diocese of Lafayette, Indiana — who, said Surette, “sought me out” and gave him some two hours of undivided time, an encounter that “really solidified the healing.”

Referencing Christ’s parable of the lost sheep (Mt 18:10-14, Lk 15: 1-7), Surette said that Bishop Doherty, as a shepherd, “came after me because he knew that my soul mattered.”

Surette began serving on his diocesan review board, and at Bishop Doherty’s initiative, he is now taking a seat on the National Review Board, with a message for the U.S. Catholic bishops.

“We need to go after the one, the wounded,” said Surette.

Fresh from the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis — at which organizers urged participants to evangelize to their communities by committing to “walk with one” in spreading the Gospel — Surette is already putting that mission into practice by reaching out to family members who left the Catholic Church as a result of the abuse he endured and the church’s lack of response at the time.

“There are victims out there (beyond) the (direct) victims” of clerical abuse, said Surette. “Families have been ripped apart from the church, and they are wounded on the battlefield, and their souls are worth going after too. So this whole idea of ‘going after the one’ is a message that I’m going be proclaiming as loud and hard as I can for as long as I can.”

Surette said the paradigm shift he seeks regarding the clerical abuse crisis is ultimately rooted in Christ’s death and resurrection.

“I kind of see the church as the disciples in the upper room after the crucifixion. And they’re sitting around, looking at each other like, ‘What has just happened? We are destroyed. This is so horrific. How can we possibly move on? We have to make sure this Judas thing doesn’t happen again,'” said Surette.

Similarly, he said that “25 years of having the Dallas Charter has been like making sure the Judas thing doesn’t happen again — we have to prevent this, we have to fix this.”

To fully implement the charter and redress clerical abuse, the fullness of Christ’s salvation must proclaimed, said Surette.

“Satan failed at the crucifixion, and he has failed throughout the church’s history … (through) different battles and heresies, and in regards to the clergy sexual abuse, Satan has failed again,” said Surette, admitting that while “certainly it’s not perfect … the number of cases are a fraction of what they used to be.”

“Satan failed to take Christ down. Satan failed to take me down. And I believe Satan failed to take my abuser down,” said Surette. “When this is all said and done, when you look at it from the eternal perspective, Christ won at the crucifixion and resurrection. Christ won with the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Christ won in my personal story. Christ won in my abuser’s story. And that’s where we go out and proclaim.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When Christians spend time with Jesus in adoration or receive him in the Eucharist, they cannot help but spread his love with others, Pope Francis said.

“When you have met Christ in adoration, when you have touched him and received him in the Eucharistic celebration, you can no longer keep him to yourself, but you become a missionary of his love to others,” the pope wrote in a letter to Bishop Marie Fabien Raharilamboniaina, president of bishops’ conference of Madagascar.

In the letter published Aug. 23, Pope Francis praised the country’s Eucharistic congress, which, he said, “aims to bring the sons and daughters of your Christian communities back to basics, helping them to rediscover the meaning of Eucharistic adoration and their appetite for spending time with Christ.”

Encountering Christ in adoration and receiving him at Mass “is a process that helps each person grow into the Christian he or she is called to become,” the pope wrote.

The congress Aug. 23-26 coincides with preparations for the final assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality in October, the pope said, and he prayed that it would help participants in the congress “rediscover the importance of meeting, praying and committing themselves with and for others, following Jesus in the Eucharist.”

Pope Francis also asked, “since the faith in the real presence of the Lord is a great challenge,” that the young people present at the congress “help their brothers and sisters to have the experience of Jesus in the Eucharist.”

“Help them to make their own lives an offering to God, united to that of Jesus on the altar, to make him better known, loved and served,” he said.

The pope prayed that the Eucharistic congress would help each attendee “cultivate feelings of charity and solidarity toward all people, especially those in difficulty, for whom the path of life becomes more difficult every day.”

“There are many discouraged people who look to the future with skepticism and pessimism, as if nothing can bring them happiness,” he said. “Bring them the Lord’s hope, be witnesses to his compassion and merciful love.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (OSV News) – Bishop James V. Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, released results of the investigation by medical experts into Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster’s incorruptibility in a press release on the diocesan website Aug. 22, the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“The body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster does not appear to have experienced the decomposition that would have normally been expected under such previous burial conditions,” stated a news release on the official diocesan investigation of incorruptibility into the late Black Catholic nun who founded the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, in Gower, Missouri.

According to the release, the bishop commissioned a team of local medical experts in May 2023 to conduct an examination and evaluation of Sister Wilhelmina. A doctor of pathology led the team, assisted by two other medical doctors and a former Missouri county coroner. In addition to examining and evaluating the body, the team inspected the casket and conducted interviews with eyewitnesses to the events immediately preceding Sister Wilhelmina’s burial in 2019 and the exhumation in April 2023.

According to the release, the final report said the investigative team examined Sister Wilhelmina’s body and found its condition lacked detectable features of decomposition. Although the casket’s lining had completely deteriorated, Sister Wilhelmina’s habit and clothing had no such features of breakdown. It also noted the circumstances of Sister Wilhelmina’s death and burial did not suggest anything that could be expected to protect her body and clothing from decomposition.

The release said the investigative team’s examination was limited but still concluded “the condition of her body is highly atypical for the interval of nearly four years since her death, especially given the environmental conditions and the findings in associated objects.”

Additional tests were conducted on the soil in which the burial took place, according to the release, which stated that nothing unusual was found that could explain the condition of Sister Wilhelmina’s body upon its exhumation.

“The Catholic Church does not have an official protocol for determining if a deceased person’s body is incorrupt, and incorruptibility is not considered to be an indication of sainthood,” the press release noted. “There is no current plan to initiate a cause for sainthood for Sister Wilhelmina.”

However, Bishop Johnston in the release stated that he prayed Sister Wilhelmina’s story “continues to open hearts to love for Our Lord and Our Lady.”

Foundress of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, in Gower, Missouri, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster of the Most Holy Rosary died in May 2019 at age 95. On April 28, 2023, her body was exhumed from her grave to move it to a tomb in the monastery’s chapel. Despite her body not being embalmed, damage to her wooden coffin and water sitting on her grave — all elements that should have contributed to her body’s decomposition — her body was found remarkably intact, the community’s sisters said at the time.

The sisters laid their foundress’s body in the main chapel and protected her skin with wax. As word spread, Catholics from the region and then around the country began to flock to see her. The sisters allowed visitors to press holy items against Sister Wilhelmina’s body to create relics should the foundress ever formally be declared a saint.

In the month and a half following the removal of their foundress from her previous resting place, Mother Abbess Cecilia Snell of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles gave a conservative count of 10,000 to 15,000 regarding the number of pilgrims who flocked to her abbey in rural Missouri.

Sister Wilhelmina’s body was placed behind glass in a small St. Joseph shrine within the abbey church in late May 2023, just to the right inside the main doors.

WESTFIELD – It has now been nearly two weeks since flash flooding ravaged the communities of Westfield and Knoxville in far northwestern Tioga County on August 9, 2024. 

Unbelievable damage was left behind when the fast-moving waters receded. 

“Here in Westfield was almost the epicenter of the damage. A tremendous number of homes have been lost. We had one life lost in Knoxville. A friend of mine and as of today he has not been found yet. He was washed away by the storm helping some elderly neighbors of his get out of their home,” Ralph Wolstenholme, a parishioner of Saint Catherine of Siena Church in Westfield, explained. 

In the wake of homes literally being washed off their foundation, the community has not lost hope. 

Neighbors have been rallying around one another to begin picking up the pieces.

“The hope that has come from this is incredible. Driving in here right after the damage, to come in and help, you saw people just coming in, saying ‘How do I get to where the damage is?’ I met people today from North Carolina that came all the way up here. They bring hope to this community,” Mark Patrick Clements, a parishioner of Saint Catherine of Siena Church, added. 

On Sunday, August 17, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, visited the hardest-hit communities. 

Parishioners of Saint Catherine’s Church took him around the community to see the damage first-hand.

With many roads finally open, the Bishop also celebrated the first Mass at Saint Catherine’s since the flooding, emphasizing to parishioners that they are the living presence of Jesus these days. 

“You’re living the Eucharist. You’re giving your life in faith by your service of your brothers and sisters. You’re not nailed to a Cross physically, like Jesus at the Heart of his Sacrament, but you’re suffering. You’re suffering for and with your brothers and sisters – and you’re serving them out of love and I can’t think of a more incredible example of what it means to live the Gospel and to allow the Eucharist to take hold of you – than in what you’re doing right now. Right now. Thank you. Thank you,” Bishop Bambera said. 

The Bishop also pledged financial support to parishioners with extensive damage from a Flood Recovery Fund the Diocese of Scranton has maintained since 2011, along with prayers from other parishioners across the Diocese.

“A whole lot of your brothers and sisters already are keeping you in their prayers because they’ve gone through what you’re going through – but all of this local church is holding you in our hearts and lifting you up to the Lord,” the Bishop added.

The Mass, along with the presence of the Bishop, touched many impacted by the flooding.

“There’s nothing more powerful than the Bishop seeing how much one of his communities has been affected and to come out and that outreach, I’m sure I’m not the only parishioner who feels that way,” Wolstenholme said.

“To have him physically drive, I don’t know how long it is, three hours, three-and-a-half hours, to come here, to the most remote area of the Diocese brings an incredible warmth to you. It’s kind of like, wow, he really, really is one of us. He’s not coming in here in a police escort with pomp and circumstance. He came in here humbly and he came in here and met us one-on-one and he rode around with us, getting to know the community. That affects us tremendously,” Clements added.

Parishioners also say it is miraculous that Saint Catherine’s Church was spared damage. With homes destroyed all around it, the water only touched the bottom step since it is built on a slab.

“When we found out that the water only touched the bottom step, when right across the road, it was up to my shoulders almost, just literally 400 yards down the road, houses off the foundation, Christ was preserved, His House was preserved. That is miraculous,” Clements said. 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A new Vatican postage stamp celebrates the 40th anniversary of full diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See.

The 2.45-euro ($2.75) stamp features the seal of the Holy See and the seal of the United States tied together with yellow and gold ribbons for the Vatican and red, white and blue ribbons for the United States.

The years 1984 and 2024 feature prominently on the stamp, which also notes it is the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

The Vatican post office will begin selling the stamp Sept. 16, the philatelic office said, and the post office located by the Arch of the Bells in St. Peter’s Square will offer special cancellations for collectors Sept. 16 and 17.

The Vatican and the U.S. government announced the establishment of full diplomatic relations Jan. 10, 1984. Two months later, the Senate confirmed President Ronald Reagan’s choice of William A. Wilson as the first U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, and a few weeks later St. John Paul II appointed then-Archbishop Pio Laghi as the first pro-nuncio to the United States.

But, as the philatelic office said in its announcement of the stamp, “in fact, the first contact between the United States of America and the Holy See at a high level occurred in 1788, when George Washington, through Benjamin Franklin, informed Pope Pius VI that in the fledgling Republic there was no need for permission from the state for the appointment of a bishop by virtue of the religious freedom that the revolution had brought to the colonies.”

The next year, Pope Pius appointed Jesuit Father John Carroll to be bishop of Baltimore, “thus establishing the Catholic hierarchy in the newly independent country,” the announcement noted.