News - December 2017 RSS Feed

The diocese’s African Ministry has declared 2018 a year for youth and children – to help them get to know Jesus – according to Father Enoch K. Kyeremateng, chaplain.

Mary Plante, a first-grade teacher at Our Lady of the Angels Elementary School, formed an after-school club that would give students the chance to learn how to knit and crochet. The Nifty Knitters and Crochet Club lets the students experience more than the joy of creating beautiful hand-crafted items. It gives them the chance to use what they’ve learned in the club to make a difference in their community.

Father Juan G. Herrera and some parishioners created a new Nativity scene with old roots in Notre Dame Church of St. John Paul II Parish in Southbridge. “This manger scene is a reflection of our community, a community trying to be together, a community which is walking in the path of unity and peace, a community that, little by little, is realizing that we are called to be one body in Christ,” he said.

May this Christmas change us so that as we return to our routines with a deeper appreciation of God’s love for us, we may bear witness to that love just as the shepherds did on that first Christmas morning.

Officials of the Worcester Bravehearts baseball club delivered 11 sets of mattresses and boxsprings to Crozier House before Christmsas. Crozier House is a Catholic Charities home for men in recovery from substance abuse.

The annual Christmas dinner, hosted by Bishop McManus and Catholic Charities takes some preparation each year.

A Fitchburg native who cares for the poor in Japan has been named a bishop there. Pope Francis appointed Franciscan Father Wayne Berndt, 63, bishop of the Diocese of Naha, in the Okinawa Prefecture. His ordination is scheduled for February.

Hearing the personal struggles and everyday challenges of refugees living in the Worcester area inspired Riley Benner to restart a business he began in high school that employed refugees. (Catholic News Service)

WORCESTER – Bishop McManus ordained Victor Alonso Sierra Lopez a transitional deacon Saturday at St. Paul Cathedral, in preparation for priesthood.

Communications Ministry of the Diocese of Worcester brings you O Antiphons, list of more than 300 Christmas Masses throughout the diocese, and live streaming Christmas Mass from St. Paul Cathedral.

From the life-size Nativity scene to the stations of the cross, the sprawling grounds of the National Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette covered in colorful lights provide ample opportunity for prayer. “My dream is that the lights would really become a means of evangelization,” said Father Ted Brown, M.S.

Usually the Partners in Charity Appreciation Breakfast is a time to hear about the work of one of the ministries that is supported by Partners in Charity, but this year one of the ministries also received a gift. Michael McNamara and his sister Annie McNamara gave Bishop McManus $200,000 for the diocesan Priests’ Retirement Fund, which is supported by Partners.

The Clothesline Project at Anna Maria College raise awareness about different types of violence and how to advocate for victims. 

Father Jonathan J. Slavinskas, pastor of Our Lady of Providence Parish in Worcester, was guest speaker for Theology on Tap, which drew about 50 people to The Compass Tavern  on Harding Street in Worcester Tuesday.

Our Lady of the Valley Elementary School in Uxbridge blesses its news outdoor nativity scene. Eagle Scout builds the stable.

How can we approach the problem of the world’s refugee crisis with a Christian mindset? CRS Global Fellow Father Donato Infante has some thoughts

Parishioners of St. Mary Parish in Milford came together in prayer and solidarity at the Irish Round Tower in the parish cemetery, to pray the rosary for the preservation of the Catholic faith in Ireland and for the defense of life against the threat of abortion.

“Cooperating with grace is the holiest thing we can do!” This was the thrust of singer/songwriter and storyteller Steve Angrisano’s message at St. Luke the Evangelist Church in Westborough.