This year, the Fourth Week of Advent is the shortest it can be – only one day long. Because Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year, I wish to clarify the various liturgical celebrations and obligations:
On the weekend of December 9-10, participating dioceses will take up the annual collection that benefits approximately 24,000 elderly religious sisters, brothers, and religious order priests across the United States. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO), the collection provides qualified religious institutes with financial aid to address retirement necessities.
The Catholic Church in the United States will commemorate National Vocation Awareness Week, November 5-11. Each year, national Catholic organizations, dioceses, schools, and local parish communities sponsor events and provide different resources to raise awareness for vocations, and help those who are discerning a vocation, particularly one to ordained ministry or consecrated life.
Since the Hamas attacks earlier this month, and in the wake of boldly proclaimed rhetoric and the increase of actions of religious hatred in the United States, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty issued a sharp rebuke and called for peace.
Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee seminarian Fernando Diaz Olazábal was installed in the Ministry of Acolyte during Mass, on October 18, 2023, at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, in Hales Corners, Wisconsin.
In response to the escalating Israel-Hamas war, Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, renews his call for peace.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will gather for the 2023 Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, November 13-16. Throughout the meeting, the bishops will spend time in prayer and fraternal dialogue with one another. Public sessions of the assembly on November 14 and 15 will be livestreamed.
"On behalf of all the Ordinaries of the Holy Land, I invite all parishes and religious communities to a day of fasting and prayer for peace and reconciliation. We ask that on Tuesday, October 17, everyone hold a day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer. Let us organize prayer times with Eucharistic adoration and with the recitation of the Rosary to Our Blessed Virgin Mary. " -Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
In response to the continued tensions and violence that erupted into warfare between Gaza and Israel on October 7, Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, calls for prayers for peace in the Holy Land:
Today, Pope Francis released Laudate Deum, the follow-up to the Holy Father’s groundbreaking encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’. The new apostolic exhortation is addressed “to all people of good will on the climate crisis.”
Since 1973, the Catholic Church in the United States has observed October as “Respect Life Month.” This year, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities invites Catholics to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Respect Life Month by embracing “radical solidarity” with women facing difficult or challenging pregnancies.
Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida is providing disaster relief services to those impacted by Hurricane Idalia in Perry. The storm made landfall August 30 leaving behind damaged homes and thousands of people without power. Catholic Charities partnered with World Kitchen and the Florida State University Catholic Student Union to distribute hot meals from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Together, they were able to provide over 1,200 hot meals to families.
One parish in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee has sustained significant damage from Hurricane Idalia. Immaculate Conception in Perry was hit hard as the storm moved through Wednesday morning. The church sustained structural damage and multiple trees fell on the parish hall, the rectory, and the office.
On September 8, 2023, the Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case brought by several pro-abortion groups challenging the constitutionality of Florida's 15-week abortion ban. A restriction on abortions after 15-weeks gestation was passed by the Florida legislature and signed into law by Governor DeSantis in April 2022.
Hurricane Idalia slammed Florida’s Big Bend as an extremely dangerous Category 3 hurricane on August 30, 2023. It's the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years. Deadly storm surge and catastrophic winds have caused significant destruction. More than 268,000 households in Florida are out of power. Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida is ready to provide disaster relief to those impacted by the storm and you can help.
WASHINGTON - Each year on September 1, the Catholic Church commemorates the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. This day of prayer also marks the beginning of a month-long ecumenical awareness initiative known as the “Season of Creation,” which concludes on October 4 with the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology.
PENSACOLA, FL (August 29, 2023) - I join Bishop Erik Pohlmeier of St. Augustine in condemning the racially motivated shooting at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida on August 26.
Bishop William A. Wack, CSC, of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving and ceremony for the closing of the Diocesan phase of the cause for canonization of Antonio Inija and his 56 Companions on October 12, 2023. The outdoor Mass will begin at 11 AM ET at the site held for the future Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Martyrs, 1759 Chaires Cross Road, Tallahassee, FL 32317. This will be followed by the closing ceremony as the findings are gathered and will be sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome. The Celebration will conclude with lunch.
An extremely grave initiative is underway in Florida that seeks to erase pro-life protections by banning government regulation of abortion in our state constitution.
