News - April 2018 RSS Feed

About 75 people prayed on Pleasant Street April 28 as part of the nationwide #ProtestPP to stop abortion and end taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.

Parishes around the diocese have embraced Pope Francis’ teaching on the environment in different ways. But now, at the urging of Peter Dunbeck of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough, the diocese has established a ministry team to address ecological issues.

WHITINSVILLE – St. Patrick Parish’s video ministry has been thriving. Its goal is “to share the Word of God with our friends, neighbors and fellow parishioners around the world.” It’s been doing so by live-streaming the church’s Sunday Mass each week.

A young woman’s concern about a slain police officer led to her parish sending 500 rosaries to his department.

The joy and openness of Sisters of St. Joseph here attracted Marie Pascale Duplan, 55, from Haiti, who was seeking to serve the Church and be nourished spiritually herself. March 3 she became a lay associate of the sisters.

A local priest and deacon recently published a book about teenagers discerning a vocation. No, it’s not an autobiography or a “how to” manual. It’s a brief fictional story – which could have really happened - “Nicholas Gilroy: Our Lady and the Guardian.”

WORCESTER – In college Christopher T. Slattery was “personally pro-choice,” but after his awakening he opened the first pregnancy center in New York City, blocked and prayed at abortion facilities and befriended and converted a long-time abortionist. Mr. Slattery was the keynote speaker at the 13th Annual Visitation House Benefit Dinner.

Students from Nelson Place School await the arrival of the ducks at Assumption College’s annual Duck Day Tuesday.

Altar servers and their adult leaders and priests from St. Joseph Parish in Charlton brought Bishop McManus $1,089.17 for Partners in Charity.

SOUTHBOROUGH - St. Matthew Parish has what amounts to a new church. Construction was done in about six months. It’s all paid for.

Msgr. Francis J. Scollen, pastor of St. Peter Parish and St. Andrew the Apostle Mission, will receive the 2018 Madonna Della Strada Award on April 29 at Boston College High School. The award will be presented by the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, New England, to recognize Msgr. Scollen’s 46 years of service and outreach to people in need.

Young people at a Theology on Tap forum question Bishop McManus about controversies at the College of the Holy Cross, the role of Catholic students, vocations, and being good witnesses to the faith.

Want to congratulate or console someone? With prayer? While promoting life? Folks at Visitation House now have an answer to those needs and theirs – Mass cards they created using photos of some of their mothers and babies.

FITCHBURG – Seeing the sin in the world, Christians can view mercy as too lenient. But mercy is at the heart of the Gospel, Father Joseph M. Dolan told an estimated 300 people attending last weekend’s Divine Mercy Sunday celebration at his parish.

Bishop McManus told people who filled St. Paul Cathedral Monday that they have been drawn into one of the most important conversations in history. He was preaching at the diocese’s annual Mass for Life on the feast of the Annunciation. During Mass Bishop McManus presented the annual pro-life awards.

This past winter, St. Patrick Parish started a new ministry to help the homeless in its community. It became a host church for the Blackstone Valley Emergency Shelter.

     WORCESTER – Two sides faced off across the street outside the College of the Holy Cross Saturday, at times shouting or singing over each other. The controversy was over writings of Tat-siong Benny Liew, who holds the endowed chair in New Testament Studies at the college.

Deacon William A. Bilow Jr., director of the Office of the Diaconate for the Diocese of Worcester, said the Office has four priorities. One is to satisfy the demands of parishes and special ministries for diaconal services by assigning deacons to places they are needed.

Retired priest of the diocese Father James F. Hoey died on Thursday, April 5, his 79th birthday. A wake will be held Wednesday; funeral Thursday at Spencer parish.