I am writing this column on May 20, the 45th anniversary of my ordination as a priest for the Archdiocese of Boston. Never did I imagine then that today, 45 years later, I would be bishop of Buffalo, preparing to ordain four fine young men as priests for our diocese of Western New York. Over and over again I have learned that when we pray "Come, Holy Spirit," we had best be prepared for surprises!

Almost $810,000 was collected in the Diocese of Buffalo during the 2016 Retirement Fund for Religious Appeal. This total includes donations received from throughout the United States through the "Share in the Care" website, which is sponsored by the Religious Retirement Fund in the Diocese of Buffalo. Donations to this site can be made online throughout the year.

"Rooted in the Gospel we are sisters to all, serving with reverence, justice and compassion." The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities have expressed this mission statement in many ways since the congregation's beginnings in Philadelphia in 1855. While the ways that we live and minister have adapted to the changing needs of the world and the Church over the past 162 years, our mission has remained strong.

It seems evident that Catholic schools are a viable, hopeful alternative to other kinds of schools in our community. But, over the years, it has become increasingly important to point out a significant fact about them. Catholic schools enroll a diverse population of rich, poor, black, white, Catholic, non-Catholic, smart and not-so-smart students.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently urged our politicians not to abandon our commitment to the 2016 Paris Treaty on reducing pollution. Despite their leadership, are we Catholics sufficiently concerned about God's creation, including the environment?

For the first time in its collaboration with Christ the King Seminary as a placement for field education, the Migrant Ministry has a diaconate candidate who is Hispanic, Jorge Silva. Besides working in the religious formation of the migrants, Silva collaborates with the team in the process of the V Encuentro (Fifth Encounter).

Late on Easter afternoon, driving east on the Thruway, I stopped for coffee. The woman at the counter asked me, "How was your Easter?" A gracious, well-intended expression of hospitality, but ... was? How was my Easter? ... and this on Easter Day! I said, "My Easter is great, thank you, and it will be for the next 50 days. I pray it will be for you, too." I never miss a teachable moment, in this case, an opportunity to make a simple reference to the Great 50 Days, the season from Easter to Pentecost when the Church basks in the radiance of the Risen Lord and longs for a new coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Before I joined Youth Board, my faith was pretty strong. I have been very involved with my church. I am part of the Boy Scouts and also the parish youth group. I am an altar server who received the Altar Server of the Year Award this past year.

Each year at this time, governments large and small go through their budget process. It's the time when the executive and legislative branches work together to develop a plan for where money comes from and where money goes.

The Catholic Church in the United States is in the middle of the process of the V Encuentro. This is a four-year process of ecclesial reflection and evangelization that invites all Catholics in the United States to intense missionary activity, consultation, leadership development, and the identification of best ministerial practices in the spirit of the New Evangelization.

If you re-read the Easter passages in the Gospels through fresh eyes you find people rushing to share their joy in Jesus Christ. Quite simply, that is evangelization. Pope Francis taught about joy in a pithy, powerful morning homily at Casa Santa Marta (May 23, 2016). "A Christian is a man, or a woman, of joy: a man and a woman with joy in their heart. There is no Christian without joy! You may be told that there are many such Christians, they are not Christians! They say they are, but they are not! They are missing something," he said.

Deacon Don Weigel discusses Catholic teaching on immigration.

Pope Francis' message this Lent is, "The Word is a Gift. The Other Persons are Gifts." The full message can be found on the Vatican's website.

"We call upon all the Catholic faithful to join us as we unite our voices with all who speak in defense of human dignity."

Lent is well known to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. That makes it a great time to share the Gospel. People understand that it is time to get serious about spiritual matters.

As we enter into the holy season of Lent, let us listen to the words of our Holy Father in his Lenten message for this year: "Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ's victory over death. This season urgently calls us to conversion.

I set out not long ago in a search of the way of traveling what Jesus calls "real life" or "life to the fullest." This nomadic expedition toward a life of joy (which I describe in my book, "Holy Nomad") led me to my own backyard, where I stumbled onto the divine teaching of an apple tree. As Lent approaches, I wish for the world to blossom.

Within all of the debate of what to do with the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") - and how to replace, revise or remove it - almost all of the emphasis is on the cost and the coverages. Of course, these are the practical issues of prudential judgment that need to be made regarding any public policy. But, as in all prudential judgments, the decisions that should be made must come from some set of principles, not solely based on what works best.

Every year since 1989, Father Jim Goode, OFM, asked that in all our parishes we begin National Black History Month by praying for the African and African-American family. He began what is known today as National Day of Prayer for the African-American and African Family. The day designated for this celebration is the first Sunday in February.

I believe it is no mere coincidence that the U.S. national holiday celebrating the inspiring life of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (Jan. 16) was positioned within the same week as the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration of Donald J. Trump.

Two lethal bills have been introduced in Albany: A.1748 in relation to abortion expansion, and A.10059/S.7579 in relation to legalizing physician-assisted suicide.

Sports are like religion in many ways. People identify with sports teams the way they identify with their religion. They gather to celebrate and sing together. Sometimes they mourn together. People dress in special clothes to play or just be a fan. There are even similarities with the halls of fame and canonized saints.

Christmas and New Year's have now passed, which means it is the season of resolutions.

Those of us who were around in 1968 remember what a tumultuous year it was: the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, the escalation of the war in Vietnam, the beginning of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland and an enormous humanitarian crisis in Biafra caused by the Nigerian civil war.

Jan. 1, 2017, marked the 50th World Day of Peace, which is an observance that was initiated by Pope Paul VI. In his message for this 50th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis invites us to reflect on "nonviolence as a style of politics for peace." The Holy Father recalls Blessed Paul VI's message for the first World Day of Peace in which he declared that "peace is the only true direction of human progress - and not the tensions caused by ambitious nationalisms, nor conquests by violence, nor repressions which serve as mainstay for a false civil order." Pope Paul cited St. John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in Terris to extol "the sense and love of peace founded upon truth, justice, freedom and love."

This winter, Catholics should not just prepare with rock salt and shovels, but also begin preparing their hearts for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Each of us is called to do our part as consumers to ensure that the economy works for everyone. Pope Francis declared, "We must recover the whole sense of gift, of gratuitousness, of solidarity ... This home is a place that teaches charity, a 'school' of charity, which instructs me to go encounter every person, not for profit, but for love."

We pray with our sons about waiting for Christ at Christmas and listening for His voice or feeling His presence. "What does He sound like? How will I know He's talking to me?" they ask. It's difficult to answer. I haven't felt God's presence in a long time.

This Christmas, we need to open our hearts to the Christ Child of peace. There is violence and war, and so much uncertainty. We have people living in the fear of the unknown. In the world, we have so many families crying and not knowing where they are going to live, or if they even will live, with all the bombings going on around them. In our own country, there is so much division and violence. How do we, as Christians, share the hope the Christ Child brings to the world?

"Come here, you free citizen of the world, whose life is safeguarded by human morality and whose existence is guaranteed through law. I want to tell you how modern criminals and despicable murderers have trampled the morality of life and nullified the postulates of human existence." - Zalman Gradowski, murdered at Auschwitz, 1945. What a challenging invitation and a sobering reminder of the recurring power of evil.

As I write these words to you, we are experiencing the end of two long-term events: the presidential election and the Jubilee Year of Mercy. While the close of the Year of Mercy is bittersweet, the end of the election could not come soon enough. Yet the close proximity of these two closures offers us much food for thought and reflection.

Twenty-nine years ago, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had the foresight to anticipate the retirement needs of congregations of women and men religious who had worked for the Church in the United States since the late 18th century.

You are reading this shortly after the U.S. presidential election. America's next leader will have the means at hand to do tremendous good or tremendous harm.

Our Church today, throughout the United States, is becoming more diverse every day. As we begin National Black Catholic History Month, let us embrace the African-American Catholics in our diocese by welcoming our brothers and sisters and committing to listen to some of the experiences that they encounter, not only in our parishes but also in our communities and workplaces. Are we ready to embrace this culture and all the other cultures that are part of our diocese today? Are we ready to forgive some of the hurts that may have taken place in the past, so that together we can move forward in peace and harmony?

Throw your political affiliation out the window. But you're a loyal Democrat. Or perhaps instead, you're a loyal Republican. Never mind that. Your political affiliation is not that important.

Can there be any doubt that this election cycle has been unlike any other that we have seen in many years? Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we are told, have had historically unfavorable ratings, and have engendered stronger dislike than past candidates. And some observers remark that these two candidates have succeeded in polarizing our country to a greater extent than it was before the primaries began.

It's a common experience for bishops. Often enough, after we have addressed some controversial moral issue (which may also be a neuralgic political issue), we get mail. This intensifies during an election season. No surprise there.

Imagine an evil that is so widespread that it affects over 21 million people worldwide, but is hardly ever talked about. Imagine that same evil to be the third-most profitable form of organized crime, right after drugs and weapons trades, with close to $150 billion in illicit annual revenue - and yet it is almost never addressed as an issue.

This past week, I heard that the son of a classmate of mine suddenly died of what seems to be a drug overdose. The family, as you may imagine, is devastated. His aunt came to visit me shortly after the funeral and it was so obvious how much pain and suffering her family was going through.

I haven't met many people who are not by now exasperated, confounded and dismayed by the ongoing presidential election campaign. Ordinarily in an election year I would be looking forward to the day after the election; at least the war of words would be (pretty much) behind us. This time, however, I expect that I will feel no better about the national situation then than I do right now, a few weeks away from Nov. 8. In fact, I may feel worse.