Category: Diocese of Scranton News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Four orders of women religious and Catholic healthcare ministries sued the state of New York July 17 over a new law allowing physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide.

In a lawsuit filed by Becket, a religious liberty law firm, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict and the Little Sisters of the Poor argued the law would require them to facilitate such deaths in violation of their faith.

Mother Mary Rose Heery, prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said in a July 20 statement, “At our homes, we bring Christ’s unbounded love to elderly New Yorkers of every background and walk of life.”

“We strive to bring His compassion to those entrusted to our care, ensuring that no resident ever has to die alone,” she said. “This law strikes at the heart of that vocation.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Supporters of physician-assisted suicide argue the practice protects the autonomy of suffering individuals in their final days, but opponents argue the practice disregards the dignity of human life and leaves those who are ill or dying vulnerable to coercion, among other concerns.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly condemns the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide as “morally unacceptable” and a violation of the Fifth Commandment, “You shall not kill.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., signed the law in February, arguing she had “secured” guardrails during the legislative process that ensured the “integrity of patient decision and preparedness of medical institutions.” The state’s Catholic bishops were among those who objected to the law.

But Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and the lead attorney for the healthcare ministries, said in a July 20 statement, “New York is forcing sick and dying people to consider suicide at their lowest moment, regardless of whether they ask for it or not.”

“Worse, it’s conscripting the nuns who care for them into its suicide cult on pain of crushing fines and professional ruin,” Rienzi said. “That is both unconscionable and unconstitutional. We’re confident the federal courts will put a stop to it.”

Becket, which is representing the religious orders and Bishop John O. Barres of Rockville Centre, New York, said the religious ministries plan to seek a preliminary injunction against the law in the coming days.

In a statement, Bishop Barres added, “We will never submit to New York’s culture of death.”

“Assisted suicide is a grave moral failure that puts the elderly, the disabled, and those suffering from mental and emotional illness at risk of abuse and manipulation,” said the bishop, whose diocese is also a plaintiff. “Christ the Divine Physician calls us to accompany the sick and dying with compassion, not abandon them to death. The court should protect that millennia-old mission.”

The lawsuit is another in a series of lawsuits from Catholic nuns against recent Empire State laws. Earlier this year, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who operate a 42-bed palliative care program for the dying poor, challenged a law implementing requirements on gender identity accommodations for nursing home residents.

New York is one of 13 states, as well as the District of Columbia, that have legalized assisted suicide.

(OSV News) – The venue for the upcoming beatification of the Georgia Martyrs is expanding to accommodate thousands more people after a surge in interest from Catholics around the U.S. and the world.

“The martyrs stood up for the sanctity of marriage,” Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah, Georgia, told OSV News of the five Franciscan friars from Spain who died in present-day Georgia in the 16th century. “It gives us an opportunity really to … reinforce the Church’s teaching on marriage.”

The martyrs’ beatification Mass scheduled for Oct. 31 in Savannah, Georgia, is changing spaces within the Savannah Convention Center to welcome roughly 12,000 people instead of the 2,000 originally planned. The move comes as Catholics across the country and from Spain are expressing interest in attending, including some with historical connections to the martyrs. The relatives of one martyr may also travel from Spain.

The Franciscan missionaries’ beatification coincides with the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi that coincides with the 800th anniversary of his death. It will mark the sixth beatification on U.S. soil and the first in Georgia, according to Jill Parks, managing director of communications for the Diocese of Savannah.

All five Franciscan martyrs traveled from Spain to minister to the native Guale people in present-day Georgia. Venerable Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añon, Antonio de Badajoz and Francisco de Veráscola died for their faith in 1597. The violent murders began after Friar Pedro de Corpa forbade the heir to a Guale chiefdom and a baptized Christian, Juanillo, from following his culture’s custom and taking a second wife.

“Our Franciscans were in those first waves of Catholics coming to what’s now the U.S., which is just amazing,” Parks told OSV News. “Then on top of this, they were martyred for defending Christian marriage.”

She added: “A lot of people have been very inspired by them giving their lives essentially for that and for Christian teaching.”

As soon as the date for the beatification was announced, Parks said calls from across the country started pouring in.

“We figured it was really going to be a local Georgia event,” Parks said. “We did not expect that it would be sort of a nationwide thing.”

Meanwhile, many locals are preparing to attend, including Patrick McMahon from Savannah. He told OSV News that he plans to participate in the beatification as a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization. As a Fourth Degree member, he belongs to the most prestigious degree of the Knights, which is dedicated to the principle of patriotism.

The Knights’ district marshal for the Diocese of Savannah, McMahon said he looked forward to being a part of history.

Laura Daniel, a parishioner of Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church, a pilgrimage site for the martyrs in Darien, Georgia, also plans to attend with her husband. She helps promote the Georgia Martyrs at her parish, which is located by the sites where the friars were martyred. She called the moment exciting for the local Church.

“It’s just a great opportunity to pass on the history of the Catholic Church in Georgia, coastal Georgia, and the start of the Catholic Church in the Americas,” she told OSV News.

Among those from Spain hoping to attend are Archbishop Joan Enric Vives i Sicília, bishop emeritus of Urgell, who plans to serve as a representative of Spain, Parks said. Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo of Mérida-Badajoz, who leads the archdiocese where Friar Antonio de Badajoz was raised, also expressed interest in attending and bringing the pastor of the friar’s home parish with him.

Parks said the diocese has also received a call from Church leaders from Friar Francisco de Veráscola’s hometown. The pastor and several other people from the friar’s home parish hope to attend. Parks learned from them that the friar also still has relatives in that area.

“We’re hoping that some of them might actually come to attend the beatification, which would be amazing,” she said.

Both Bishop Parkes and Parks emphasized a desire for a venue that can accommodate and welcome everyone who wishes to attend the beatification. Bishop Parkes called the beatification “a new beginning” to continue to learn more about the history of Catholicism in Georgia, and to ask for the martyrs’ intercession for marriage and family life.

He also hoped it encourages every person to seek heaven.

“There’s a human interest in, well, how is the Church recognizing particular individuals for their holiness?” Bishop Parkes said of Catholics worldwide. “I think that it can inspire each one of us personally in our own road to holiness.”

(OSV News) – Two U.S. Catholic bishops are lamenting recent deadly immigration enforcement encounters, calling for God-given human dignity to be respected in every individual.

“As Catholics, we believe that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, grieve all situations where human life is brought to an unnatural end. This is a core teaching of our faith and one we can never grow weary of proclaiming as disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” said Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, and Bishop Brendan J. Cahill of Victoria, Texas.

The two issued a July 20 joint pastoral reflection as chairs, respectively, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation and the USCCB’s Committee on Migration.

Their statement follows three separate deaths recorded days apart in July amid operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they implement the Trump administration’s hardline crackdown on immigration.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Houston area man, was fatally shot en route to work in his vehicle July 7 during an ICE traffic stop. On July 14, ICE agents shot and killed 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian, after being stopped by ICE agents near a laundromat. Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, a 28-year-old man from Mexico, was struck and killed by a tractor trailer July 15 in St. Augustine, Florida, while fleeing ICE and Homeland Security agents on foot.

ICE’s claims that Salgado and Durán attempted to ram officials with their respective vehicles have been disputed, with Houston law enforcement officials expressing frustration over the federal agency’s lack of collaboration in investigating forensic evidence in Salgado’s death.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that Salgado — a Mexican national who had been in the U.S. for some 35 years, and who was in the process of obtaining legal authorization to reside and work in the country — was not the intended target of the ICE operation in which he died.

In Colorado, an employee of the GEO Group — a private firm that contracts with ICE to operate its Aurora processing center — opened fire July 16 on a protester at the site, injuring the woman’s foot.

The Trump administration briefly halted, then resumed, ICE traffic stops in the wake of the deaths.

In their statement, Bishops Garcia and Cahill quoted from the USCCB’s November 2025 special pastoral message on immigration: “We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.”

Drawing on the USCCB’s 2018 pastoral letter on racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” the bishops stressed that “racial profiling in particular violates God-given dignity,” adding the practice “also inflicts profound harm on individuals, families, and communities by fostering fear, eroding trust, and increasing the risk of unjust and even tragic outcomes. “

“Our pastoral concerns are distinct from what the civil law itself may permit,” said the two bishops.

They warned that “acts that diminish or disregard the dignity of any person or group of people should never be normalized in our society,” pointing to both “the dehumanization of immigrants, regardless of their legal status” and “the vilification of law enforcement officers” as examples.

Bishops Garcia and Cahill said they “continue to affirm the legitimate role of civil authorities to implement the law in a humane manner and with respect for fundamental human rights, including the rights to life and due process.”

Underscoring that “the power of the state must always be exercised within the limits of the moral law,” they called for “accountability, transparency, and justice, which require that meaningful reforms be made to our immigration system.”

The bishops said they “join in praying for the souls of those killed and for their families, for our nation, and for all those entrusted with the duties of public service.”

They also prayed “for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric, racial prejudice, and violence and for a renewed commitment to recognizing the inherent dignity of every person as a child of God,” and pleaded for “the intercession of Mary, Our Mother, who is the model of perfect faith in times of grief, hardship, and uncertainty.”

According to data analyzed by The Guardian, eight persons — including U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti — have been shot to death by federal immigration agents under the current Trump administration as of July 15, with 13 injured and another 9 other shooting incidents with no injuries.

In a report released in June, Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights counted 52 deaths in ICE custody during the first 500 days of the second Trump administration. The two organizations said ICE “fails to disclose adequate information about the circumstances surrounding deaths in its custody,” with medical neglect suspected as a key factor.

As of April, more than 60,000 are in ICE custody, the majority of whom (just under 71%) have no criminal convictions, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

(OSV News) – When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops first considered holding an annual educational campaign on natural family planning, there was some debate over the best timing for it. Ultimately, the bishops settled on July 25, the anniversary of the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which St. Paul VI articulated Catholic teaching on artificial contraception, human sexuality, marital love and parenthood.

Now, 24 years after the USCCB’s first Natural Family Planning Awareness Week in 2002, Theresa Notare, assistant director for the NFP program in the USCCB’s Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, said that while the weeklong effort has developed over the years, it remains important. The 2026 National NFP Awareness Week is July 19-25.

Notare said NFP methods offer “an ethical means to live out the Gospel.”

“Sadly, the world does not know how valuable these methods are” and how they “can really strengthen a marriage,” she said.

Natural family planning encompasses several methods that use biomarkers in the woman’s fertility cycle to help couples achieve or postpone pregnancy.

“All of this is deeply rooted into how God made men and women in his image and likeness,” Notare said. “We have a capacity to love just like God. We are not ourselves unless we give of ourselves to each other. The Church’s social doctrine and moral teachings about the proper use of human sexuality is so foundational to who we are.”

She noted that modern pressures often impact couples’ decisions about how large a family to have, or whether to have children at all.

NFP methods are important because “they don’t harm human sexuality as God designed it,” Notare said. “They don’t harm fertility.”

She added that there is “emotional growth and maturity, as well as spiritual growth and maturity, when couples actually work together to live with the gifts that God gave them, to live with their fertility as a gift, rather than suppressing it or keeping the Lord out of their sexual relationship.”

She said that dioceses celebrate National NFP Awareness Week in a variety of ways, ranging from “offering one-day conferences to family picnics to a Mass of celebration with families attending.”

Notare said one major change she has noted after the COVID-19 pandemic is that many dioceses have moved celebrations online, opting for webinars and virtual prayer services.

She said that some couples use NFP as an approach to addressing infertility, and some parishes offer prayer services during National NFP Awareness Week for couples hoping to conceive a child.

The USCCB offers suggestions for parishes, dioceses and individuals to observe the week including educational billboard campaigns, homily notes for pastors to approach the topic sensitively and NFP parish mission ideas.

As the week gets underway July 19, the USCCB website will provide a daily reflection from an NFP leader or supporter.

Notare believes the USCCB’s National NFP Awareness Week poster beautifully captures the theology behind the week. It shows a bride and groom with the message that natural family planning is “designed by God, guided by love, open to life.”

“Natural family planning is designed by God because it’s rooted in the body,” she explained, “and marriage, of course, is rooted in the image and likeness of God, of how we’re made to be gifts to each other and the body has a spousal meaning. So it’s designed by God, guided by love — of course, the love of the spouses for each other, and of course, the love of God for us, who first loved us — and then open to life.”

Some parishes plan to offer educational talks during NFP week, in part to dispel misconceptions around the topic and the methods. Notare said that the most common misconception is that NFP is “guesswork” and “doesn’t work.”

“Natural family planning methods … are based on teaching a woman to identify her biomarkers of fertility,” she said.

She noted the three main NFP approaches: cervical mucus (or ovulation) methods, which tracks when cervical mucus is most conducive to conception; sympto-thermal methods, which look to basal body temperature as well as cervical mucus and other biomarkers; and sympto-hormonal methods, which adds another biomarker: the detection of reproductive hormones in the urine.

She said people do not realize that NFP is reliable, “very doable” and even easier today with apps such as FEMM that make it simpler for a woman to track her fertility cycle.

Notare called National NFP Awareness Week the “tip of the iceberg” of deep reflection and teaching from the Church on how “the goods of marriage are the conjugal union and having children.” Her prayer is that people will learn more about these teachings and embrace them.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, (OSV News) – Catholics from every inhabited continent gathered in Castel Gandolfo July 19 as Pope Leo XIV led the Angelus prayer from the papal summer palace in the small Italian hill town, where the pope reflected on how the kingdom of God grows through “the little things of daily life.”

For many in the crowd that stretched from the town square in front of the palace down its main street, it was their first glimpse of the American-born pope.

“It’s our first time outside Brazil. So it’s all amazing,” Vínicius Marques Diniz, 22, who traveled from Campo Grande, Brazil, with his family, told OSV News. “I’m very happy with this new pope.”

Edwige Koissy made the trip from Ivory Coast for a special pilgrimage with her elderly mother to pray in Rome’s basilicas and holy sites.

“It’s an important pilgrimage for any Christian,” Koissy said. “Seeing Leo for the first time is truly a joy.”

–The kingdom of God grows quietly–

Pope Leo, speaking to pilgrims under the hot summer sun from in front of the summer palace, said the kingdom of God “comes like the smallest of seeds and thus calls for patience in accompanying these processes, so that we can recognize it in the little things of daily life and in the simplicity of ordinary existence.”

He said Christians sometimes long for God to act dramatically, “to intervene from on high, immediately uprooting the weeds of evil,” but that God’s kingdom instead “grows invisibly like yeast in flour.”

“In fact, he is always with us, and his love is always ready to help us,” the pope said.

–Small gestures amid a global crowd–

As Pope Leo made his way through the crowd after leading the Angelus prayer in Latin, he blessed rosaries, clasped hands and accepted a scout neckerchief from a Catholic scouting troop from Brittany, France, who had camped overnight in a nearby soccer field to be present for the prayer with the pope.

“It was absolutely amazing. I shook his hand,” Jack Lebon, 15, a high school student from The Highlands School in Irving, Texas, said.

His classmate, Brady Morgan, also 15, expressed excitement that the pope blessed his rosary. Their former teacher, Sara Mora, 25, currently participating in a missionary summer program with Regnum Christi, reflected on their encounter with the first American pope.

“He was so sweet and gentle and kind,” Mora said.

Pope Leo, quoting Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, told the crowd that the path of the Gospel lies in embracing “the logic of the seed — which is not that of success and greatness, but that of making ourselves small and serving others.”

“In this way, we will become like small seeds of the Gospel that sprout, and leavens of love that transform the dough of the world,” Pope Leo said.

–Missionary pope inspires future missionaries–

The pope’s words resonated with Salesian Sister Ruth del Pilar Mora, originally from Colombia, who brought to Castel Gandolfo a group of young sisters, including several from Vietnam, whom she is helping to prepare for missionary work.

“I think Pope Leo being a missionary, he will continue to encourage all of us to be disciples, missionaries ready to go. And I like one of his messages: We cannot go out without going in — (that) means to cultivate a strong relationship with Christ in order to go out to the whole world, to witness and to communicate the joy of the Gospel,” Sister Ruth said.

She added that Castel Gandolfo felt like a fitting place to encounter the pope during his period of rest. “We need to rest and to renew our energies in prayer, in reading a nice book, in contemplating the beauty of nature,” she told OSV News.

–A pilgrimage before the World Cup final–

People in the crowd enthusiastically cheered and waved flags from their countries. At one moment, Catholic pilgrims from Spain and Argentina alternated cheering their countries’ names louder and louder. The two countries were scheduled to face each other in the final of the FIFA World Cup in the evening.

Two Argentine priests, Father Juan Giordano and Father Marcos Barrionuevo, made the pilgrimage to kick off a packed Sunday, praying with the pope in the morning and going to watch the World Cup final in Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori piazza in the evening.

Regardless of the outcome of the game, the two priests have something to celebrate. “We are happy, celebrating 25 years of priesthood — we came for this, to go on a pilgrimage,” Father Giordano said.

The priests said they are hopeful for a possible papal visit to Argentina in the fall, though the Vatican has not formally confirmed a papal trip. “We are all waiting for Pope Leo because we were waiting for Pope Francis in Argentina,” Father Giordano added.

–A weekend of music, beauty, and rest–

Castel Gandolfo, perched above the deep blue volcanic Lake Albano in the Alban Hills about 16 miles southeast of Rome, has served as a papal summer retreat for centuries.

The night before the Angelus, Pope Leo attended a concert held in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo, organized by the Diocese of Albano as a gesture of affection during his summer stay.

Addressing the audience afterward, he said the concert was a reminder that “we can together offer beauty, which, coming from the heart, helps lift us up toward God.”

“Let us lift our eyes, our gaze, toward Heaven,” he said. “Music, art, and beauty are truly tools that help us look toward God, through a movement that is truly one of the finest aspects of the human condition.”

Pope Leo is scheduled to remain in Castel Gandolfo for his annual period of rest until July 27 and will lead another Angelus from the town on July 26, the Sunday before his return to Vatican City.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – In his seven visits to America during his papacy, St. John Paul II often shared his mastery of the nation’s foundational documents — the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

“(He) really was a genius at researching and understanding,” Grattan Brown, the director of mission and ministry at the St. John Paul II National Shrine, told OSV News.

The message, reaffirmed in several ways, was that Americans are blessed to have the freedoms they have. And this merged with the pontiff’s promotion of human rights.

The shrine, through Sept. 9, has an exhibit dedicated to those papal messages to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Titled “A New Birth of Freedom,” the exhibit includes audio and video, photos and artifacts from his visits, including the future pope’s trip to America for its bicentennial in 1976. Two years later, Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected the successor to Peter — on Oct. 16, 1978.

As pope, his visits to the U.S. were: 1979, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Des Moines and Washington; 1981, brief stopover in Anchorage, Alaska; 1984: brief stopover in Fairbanks, Alaska; 1987, Miami, Columbia, South Carolina, New Orleans, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Monterey, California, San Francisco and Detroit; 1993, World Youth Day in Denver; 1995, Newark and East Rutherford, New Jersey, New York and Baltimore; and 1999, St. Louis.

Some elements in the shrine’s exhibit were loaned by the archdioceses of Miami, Denver, St. Louis, Chicago and Philadelphia as well as Xavier University of Louisiana and The Catholic University of America. Brown curated the exhibit with contributions from Bethany Bromwell, collections curator, and Victoria Gallegos, curatorial assistant.

The pontiff’s eager embrace of American principles was obvious in his 1979 visit, when he celebrated a Mass, which drew 350,000, at Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa, simply because Joe Hayes, a farmer from nearby Truro, wrote him a letter inviting him to come to Iowa.

In April 1984, when St. John Paul accepted the credentials of William A. Wilson, the first U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, the pope referenced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

“Certainly the recognition of God and the defense of human dignity, and therefore of human life, are a most precious part of your national heritage,” the pope said. “Your Declaration of Independence speaks to the whole world about the ‘Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,’ and with great wisdom it recognizes inalienable rights for man. Your Constitution for its part sees the need to ‘establish justice … and secure the blessings of liberty.'”

Accepting Wilson’s credentials as ambassador was historic — it established full formal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Vatican.

In September 1987, he easily quoted Abraham Lincoln, citing “a new birth of freedom,” which is in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. (The pope also invoked Lincoln’s address on Oct. 8, 1995, during his homily at Camden Yards in Baltimore.)

Arguing that freedom must be renewed by each generation, he addressed his 1987 remarks directly to President Ronald Reagan in Miami, saying, “A new birth of freedom is repeatedly necessary. Freedom to exercise responsibility and generosity, freedom to meet the challenge of serving humanity.”

Reagan welcomed the pope at Miami’s Vizcaya Museum, on Sept. 10, 1987, for the start of his U.S. tour. The two leaders discussed human freedom, democracy and Central American peace, according to the Reagan Library.

In his farewell address to the United States on the final day of his 1987 visit, the phrase “America the beautiful” echoed through his remarks as he challenged the country to defend human dignity, family values and the right to life.

“America the beautiful!” he said in Detroit on Sept. 19, 1987. “Yes, America you are beautiful indeed, and blessed in so many ways. … But your greatest beauty and your richest blessing is found in the human person: in each man, woman and child, in every immigrant, in every native-born son and daughter. … The ultimate test of your greatness in the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones.”

“If you want equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting peace, then, America, defend life!” he said.

Grattan encountered the pope three times, the first at World Youth Day in 1993 in Denver and the last time in 1997 in Rome when he was a theology student at the Pontifical Lateran University, and was able to introduce his mother, Elizabeth, after an early-morning Mass. The pontiff’s heavily accented “God bless your mother!” is a cherished memory.

He also warmly recalled being part of a group of aspiring seminarians addressed by St. John Paul II in 1995 at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York. To encourage them, he said, “I come to you as a friend in Christ and friends can talk about difficult things.”

SCRANTON – More than 30 new names have been inscribed in the Book of Remembrance ahead of the Diocese of Scranton’s annual Mass of Remembrance of Victims of Violent or Tragic Death, which will be held on Thursday, July 23, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

This Mass is offered for the families and friends of those who have died in tragedy, especially through murder, suicide, or accident.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will serve as principal celebrant of the Mass.

While the official deadline to register a loved one’s name in the Book of Remembrance has now passed, names can still be added before the date of the Mass by calling the Diocesan Office for Parish Life at (570) 207-2213.

CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will provide live coverage of the Mass of Remembrance. The Mass will also be livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and across all social media platforms.

SCRANTON – For more than a century, Catholics from throughout northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond have made their way to Saint Ann’s Basilica each July, bringing with them prayers of thanksgiving, petitions for healing and hope, and a deep devotion to the grandmother of Jesus Christ.

That tradition continues this week as the annual Solemn Novena to Saint Ann begins Friday, July 17, and continues through Sunday, July 26, the Feast of Saint Ann.

Thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit the Scranton Basilica during the ten-day celebration, participating in Masses, Novena devotions, opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and special liturgies that have made the annual Novena one of the Diocese of Scranton’s most beloved spiritual traditions.

This year’s Passionist preachers are Father Rick Frechette, C.P., a Passionist priest and physician whose ministry has served the people of Haiti for more than three decades, and Father Jack Conley, C.P., a longtime Passionist mission preacher and superior of Saint Vincent Strambi Retreat in Chicago.

Together, they will reflect on the 2026 Novena theme, “Reading the Signs of the Times,” exploring how faith speaks to many of today’s greatest challenges, including division, fear, loneliness, Christian witness, and the Real Presence of Jesus.

Along with the daily schedule of Masses and Novena services, several special celebrations are planned throughout the week.

On Tuesday, July 21, Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic will celebrate the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine Rite at 6:30 p.m., offering pilgrims an opportunity to experience one of the Church’s beautiful Eastern liturgical traditions.

A Spanish-language Mass and Novena prayers will be celebrated Wednesday, July 22, at 5:15 p.m., welcoming the Diocese’s growing Hispanic Catholic community to participate in the Novena in their native language.

One of the most anticipated services each year is the Mass of the Anointing of the Sick on Thursday, July 23, at 1:30 p.m. The annual liturgy draws hundreds of pilgrims seeking the grace and strength offered through the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, while family members and caregivers often gather in prayer alongside them.

Families are especially invited to the Children’s Mass on Saturday, July 25, at 10:00 a.m., which includes a special blessing for children and grandparents. The annual celebration reflects Saint Ann’s enduring role as patroness of mothers, grandparents and families and has become a favorite tradition for many who attend the Novena.

The ten-day pilgrimage will conclude on the Feast of Saint Ann, Sunday, July 26, with Masses celebrated throughout the day. The Solemn Closing Mass at 6:30 p.m. will be celebrated by the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, and traditionally draws one of the largest gatherings of the annual Novena.

Confessions will be available before and after each Mass and Novena service throughout the ten days. Weather permitting, the 8:00 a.m., 11:45 a.m., and 6:30 p.m. Masses and Novena services will be celebrated outdoors.

Pilgrims are also invited to visit the parish food pavilion at the bottom of the hill for refreshments during the Novena.

Saint Ann’s Monastery and Basilica are located at 1239 Saint Ann Street in Scranton. All are invited and encouraged to participate in this year’s Solemn Novena.

SUGAR RIDGE – More than 170 years after Saint John Neumann walked through the hills of northeastern Pennsylvania to minister to small communities of Catholic settlers, the faithful continue making the journey to a church that preserves his remarkable legacy.

On July 12, 2026, faithful gathered at the Saint John Neumann Shrine in Sugar Ridge for the first of three summer Masses celebrated annually at the historic chapel, officially known as the Church of Saints Philip and James.

Designated as the Diocese of Scranton’s official Saint John Neumann Shrine in September 1977, the simple country church occupies the very site where the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia blessed the original church in July 1854.

“Saint John (Neumann) was known for many things. One was traveling,” Father Bert Kozen, Pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Dushore, said. “Whether by train, by coach, by horseback or by foot. As a matter of fact, he preferred foot because being five-foot-two, he found it difficult to ride a horse because his feet wouldn’t have reached the stirrups.”

According to local history, Bishop Neumann was visiting Catholics in Towanda when Katherine Leahy learned of his presence and walked several miles to ask him to visit the Irish Catholic families living near present-day Sugar Ridge.

True to his reputation as a tireless missionary, Bishop Neumann gladly made the journey on foot, celebrated the sacraments, blessed the land for a new church, and even assisted the local men as they began clearing timber for the original chapel.

“Another gift that Saint John Neumann had was the ability for languages. He spoke German, his native language, English, and he actually picked up Gaelic,” Father Kozen explained. “His Gaelic was so attuned, people thought he was one of them and he wasn’t.”

For parishioner John Lambert, praying in the area where a future saint once walked carries profound meaning.

“To walk the ground where someone who was raised to be a saint is pretty neat,” Lambert said. “To have it in your own backyard is something special.”

Lambert knows well the intricacies of the Shrine property. He says the church has no heat – which is why they choose to have select Masses in the summer. Even more interesting, while the church has electricity, there is only one outlet in the building.

Although he was a bishop for only eight years, the future-saint left his mark throughout the wide expanse which would later comprise the Diocese of Scranton. Bishop Neumann blessed corner stones; he confirmed; he heard confessions; he baptized children; and he placed his signature on many parish ledgers.

The faithful say he left a spiritual legacy that is significant even today.

“He lived in times similar to today, troubled times,” Lambert explained. “The people he ministered to here were not well liked. It was the time of the ‘know-nothings’ and church burnings in Philadelphia. We were looked down on. We were the ‘dirty Irish.’ But he came. And he wasn’t Irish.”

Patrick Cullen’s connection is even more personal.

His great-great-great grandmother, Katherine Leahy, was the women who invited Bishop Neumann to Sugar Ridge.

“He was good enough to come out this way, give the sacraments, bless the land and clear a spot for the first church,” Cullen said. “I think it’s a great example of living your faith.”

The remaining summer Masses at the Saint John Neumann Shrine will be celebrated on Sunday, Aug. 2, and Sunday, Sept. 6, at 2:30 p.m. The September liturgy will include a Healing Mass followed by a parish picnic hosted by the Knights of Columbus.