In its next commercial for the Ford Escape, Ford Motor Corporation might want to consider making Father Dennis Mancuso the spokesman for the small sport utility vehicle. It's the vehicle he uses to cover 400 square miles of Allegany County on a regular basis.

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything," Plato once said. Holding true to that philosophy, the Church Musicians' Guild of Buffalo will present a Children's Choir Festival on Sunday, March 26, at 5 p.m. at SS. Peter & Paul Church in Williamsville.

WILLIAMSVILLE — Come and give God your time. During Lent, prepare yourself and your families to grow in holiness. Set aside the time and listen for the ways in which God is calling to you to join Him for three nights.

Pope Francis has bestowed the title of "basilica" on St. Mary of the Angels Church in Olean. This marks only the ninth time in his papacy that the Holy Father has granted this rare honor to a site in the United States.

DEPEW — "The Story of Faith," two evenings of powerful and insightful theatrical presentations by Frank Runyeon, will take place next month.

Tickets are available now for the second annual Mega Raffle to benefit St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Lancaster, and St. Mary's Elementary School. Mega raffle made its debut in 2016 with a Grand Prize offering of $20,000, in addition to other cash prizes.

The Harmonia Chamber Singers, a local a cappella group that is one of the most sought-after of its type in Western New York, will have two performances at area parishes this weekend. The group will present two performances of "Into Light: A Concert by Candlelight," its fifth-annual presentation, at 7:30 p.m. on March 11 at St. Peter Church in Lewiston, and 7 p.m., March 12, at Assumption Church in Buffalo.

St. Leo the Great Parish will welcome Timothy Logsdon for the educational presentation "Alcohol and Drug Use: What Everyone Needs to Know!" at 1 p.m. March 18.

4 Lancaster-Depew parishes are collaborating on The Story of Faith, a 2-night event featuring nationally-acclaimed actor and Biblical presenter, Frank Runyeon.

Lent is a season of fasting, repentance, moderation, self-denial and spiritual discipline. The six-week period that leads to Easter traditionally is spent sacrificing pleasure and becoming more spiritually inclined.

The Diocese of Buffalo recently sold St. Gerard Church to a group of Muslims, who will turn it into a mosque. Bishop Richard J. Malone addresses how Christians and Muslims acknowledges the same God in the latest "Consider This" below:

For years now, Buffalo Mass Mob has used a grassroots social media campaign to draw many people, Catholic and otherwise, to the city's churches for Sunday Mass. Their latest destination - St. Lawrence Parish on Feb. 26 - also includes a fundraising campaign to help repair and replace the church's roof.

At St. Mary Parish in Swormville, three members of one family have produced much of the woodwork within the church, using their craftsmanship to update the décor while preserving the beauty of the interior. Donna Allan, an employee of the parish, noted last month that two of her family members built the altar, ambo, tabernacle stand, while her husband made the confessional and processional cross St. Mary's uses.

After years of uncertainty, the former St. Gerard Church in Buffalo will find a new purpose, as the Diocese of Buffalo has agreed to sell the property to a group of men who plan on keeping the facility religious, but not Catholic.

Mary Jo Ketchum can still recall the moment when she felt she belonged to the Catholic Church. She sat in a pew at St. Ann Parish on Broadway on Christmas Eve with her parents, listening to "Silent Night" in German. The church was full of light and full of candles. A Nativity set as big as the side altar, sat nearby. "That was my first vision of church," she said.

St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo, has scheduled a number of celebrations during the Advent and Christmas seasons. The St. Joseph Cathedral Choir will present a Festival of Lessons & Carols on Monday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m., under the direction Organist-Choir Director Tim Socha.

Our Lady of Fatima Shrine's 26th annual Festival of Lights opened on Nov. 26, with an eye towards celebrating the upcoming 100th anniversary of Our Lady's apparitions to the three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal.

The Harmonia Chamber Singers will present their annual Christmas concert, featuring music from the Medieval period through the present, throughout the Diocese of Buffalo this Christmas season.

TONAWANDA — All are invited to attend two programs offered at St. Christopher Parish to bring people closer to the true meaning of the Advent and Christmas seasons.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has declared Father Michael H. Burzynski's relic collection a diocesan shrine to be housed at St. John Gualbert Parish in Cheektowaga. The bishop approved a decree designating the Shrine of the Holy Relics of the Saints in November.

In honor of its 140th anniversary as an official diocesan parish, St. Mary of the Angels in Olean held a special Mass on Oct. 30 that rolled out the red carpet for descendants of Father John Hamel, the parish's first pastor. Current pastor Father Gregory Dobson honored Father Hamel's legacy by using his refurbished chalice in the Mass, a gift from parishioners for Hamel's 25th anniversary, viewing his crypt and historical artifacts and visiting the Oratory of the Sacred Heart in Portville, which Father Hamel built generations ago.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has announced that during the Advent season (Nov. 27 - Dec. 24), parishes throughout the eight-county Diocese of Buffalo will have additional hours for confession.

St. Michael's Jesuit Parish in Buffalo will reach out to a growing downtown faith community during Advent with a series of liturgies and programs designed to prepare for the celebration of Christmas.

The time was the early 1890s. The membership at St. Stan's was over 20,000, and the journey to worship there was a long and difficult walk, passing through the New York Central Rail Terminal and crossing dangerous train tracks, which took many lives. Father Jan Pitass, pastor of St. Stanislaus, decided to divide his parish and form another faith community.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, Bishop Richard J. Malone will be main celebrant at the final Rosary Novena for Life for 2016. Mass at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Parkside and Parker avenues, Buffalo, will begin at 8 a.m. and will be followed by a peaceful, prayerful procession to a nearby abortion clinic (optional). At the clinic, participants will pray the rosary with the hope that today's society will choose life instead of abortion. The group will return to St. Rose of Lima for closing prayers.

Some people take home their parish bulletins and hang them up on their refrigerator. Now St. Mary of the Angels Church in Olean is making an even stronger connection to its parishioners by putting new updates right in their pockets.

The copper domes of its twin towers stand tall over the city's East Side, and now there is a new way to highlight the history of Corpus Christi Church on Clark Street in Buffalo. To mark the 110th anniversary of the laying of its cornerstone, Corpus Christi Church is selling a 2017 calendar with historic photos.

An audio pilgrimage to parishes where St. John Neumann ministered in our diocese.

Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, will officially close the Jubilee Year of Mercy here in the Diocese of Buffalo, on Sunday, Nov. 6, with an evening prayer service at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo. All are welcome.

Every Friday at 2 p.m., Father Ivan Trujillo, pastor of Resurrection Parish in Batavia, conducts a special Mass for veterans and their family members living at the nearby New York State Veterans Home, located on Richmond Avenue. For 21 years, this Mass has been a tradition at the facility, home to 126 residents, including veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and their family members.

On Oct. 23, Bishop Richard J. Malone celebrated a special Mass at St. Rose of Lima Church in North Buffalo for World Mission Sunday, the day the Catholic Church has designated to recognize the many contributions of missionaries serving both in the United States and abroad. This week, the Sunday collections at all diocesan parishes went toward various international missions of the Catholic Church.

As the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy officially comes to a close this month, there are a few more events that will take place at St. Leo the Great Church in Amherst. Pope Francis has decreed the Holy Year will conclude on Nov. 20.

LYNDONVILLE — At the two worship sites of Our Lady of the Lake Parish, a dedicated, strong group of parishioners has been meeting since March to discuss "Persuasive Pro-Life," by Catholic author Trent Horn, a guide for encouraging persuasive and productive discussion on the pro-life cause with those on the opposite side of the political spectrum. On Sept. 7, the group held a meeting at the parish's St. Patrick worship site in Lyndonville. It also regularly meets at the St. Joseph worship site in Barker.

The national Pilgrim Virgin statue of Our Lady of Fatima will return to the Diocese of Buffalo with more than a dozen stops throughout the area in October.

The St. Mary Swormville Faith Community recently raised $1,000 to purchase ten milk cows for families in Nicaragua missions by collecting and redeeming recyclables.

As it celebrates 91 years of existence, Boy Scout Troop 107 of St. John Kanty Parish in Buffalo is looking for a few good young men interested in the Boy Scout experience. Recruitment will take place Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m., in the parish's Convent Center, and will be combined with a gym night. Boys 11 years or older, or if they have completed the fifth grade, are welcome to join.

In modern times, St. Peregrine, who lived in Italy during the 13th and 14th centuries, has become known as the patron saint of people suffering from cancer. In the Diocese of Buffalo, the Friends of St. Peregrine continue to celebrate healing Masses, as they have since 1992, to administer the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to people who are fighting cancer. More recently, its actions led to a new Friends of St. Peregrine chapter in Ireland, courtesy of an Irishman who was inspired by his visit to Western New York.

The World Youth Day pilgrimage to Krakow, Poland, saw nearly 2.5 million people from across the world join in communion with each other. They shared Mass and catechesis. They sang and prayed together. They made friends and learned about foreign cultures.

Music and the love for life will bridge two countries and two coasts the weekend of Oct. 1-2, as Father Bill Quinlivan and friends will offer a special musical event to honor the pro-life cause.

Our parish has a clear sense of purpose. We are a parish for newcomers. This was an easy choice for us, being surrounded by refugees and immigrants. Perhaps we are not so unique if one considers that more than one in 10 people relocate each year, and that rate doubles for young adults.