Bishop Richard J. Malone will have the honor of ordaining four men to the priesthood on Saturday, June 2. The special Mass will begin at 9:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo. Daybreak TV Productions, the television entity of the Diocese of Buffalo, will provide a livestream and replay of the ordination which can be viewed or shared on their YouTube channel @DaybreakTV.

When Msgr. Paul R. Juenker died on Feb. 8 of this year, at age 97, he was the oldest priest in the Diocese of Buffalo. According to those who knew him best, he may have also been the most beloved priest in the diocese.

How many kids would celebrate a pretend Mass and hand out Necco wafers to their younger siblings as Communion? "I'd keep all the chocolate ones for myself," said Msgr. David S. Slubecky. "I was just drawn to the idea of being able to celebrate Mass and be involved with people in a parish."

Bishop Richard J. Malone announced that, effective June 1, Father Mark J. Noonan, will assume the duties of vicar general and moderator of the curia. Msgr. David S. Slubecky, who has held the office since 2005, will retire June 1.

What's in a name? Or initials for that matter?

Bishop Richard J. Malone will have the honor of ordaining four men to the priesthood on Saturday, June 2. The special Mass will begin at 9:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo. The new priests, who were ordained deacons in September, are Rev. Mr. Peter Nsa Bassey, Rev. Mr. Paul Stanislaw Cygan, Rev. Mr. Peter Santandreu and Rev. Mr. Gerard Skrzynski. Each of the men will graduate from Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, on May 11 with a master of divinity degree.

Bishop Richard Malone celebrated Mass in Spanish Tuesday afternoon with a group of about 600 detainees inside the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia. Many of the detainees are serving time for immigration violations. His visit was inspired by Matthew 25:37 "I was in prison and you visited me."

Three outstanding community members devoted to making a positive difference in Western New York will be honored May 2 at St. Bonaventure University's Gaudete Medal Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Buffalo.

Since 1980, the red brick house at the intersection of Seneca Street and Roanoke Parkway in South Buffalo has offered safe haven to more than 4,000 runaway and homeless young men from Western New York to China. For most of those years, Father Joseph Bayne, OFM Conv, served as The Center's Executive Director. In that role, he successfully oversaw a "tough love" program of independent living skills that earned recognition in publications as exalted as the New York Times. According to the respected friar, that dedication to excellence is what has compelled him to close the ministry's doors.

At the annual Chrism Mass, at St. Joseph Cathedral Tuesday, Bishop Richard Malone told hundreds in attendance that the Catholic community is in the throes of crisis, but that it presents what he called a "graced opportunity to lift ourselves beyond tragedy and to heroic heights."

Bishop Richard J. Malone has named longtime chancellor Msgr. Paul A. Litwin pastor of Christ the King Parish, Snyder, for a term of six years.

On Feb. 11, 1858, four Sisters of Mercy joined Bishop John Timon, first bishop of Buffalo, on a journey from Rochester to St. Bridget Parish in the old First Ward of Buffalo. On Feb. 10, the Sisters of Mercy celebrated the 160th anniversary of their arrival, gathering at Mercy Center in Buffalo to share this special time with each other, associates, co-workers and friends of the community.

A full Church witnessed history on Feb. 11 as Deborah Brown became the first layperson installed as pastoral administrator in the Diocese of Buffalo. Bishop Richard J. Malone installed Brown at St. John the Baptist Parish in Alden during the 11 a.m. Mass.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has named the first lay woman to lead a pastoral team at a parish.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has reappointed Msgr. Salvatore Manganello as pastor of St. Louis Parish for a third term of six years.

Father Bill Quinlivan, prolific writer, musician and minister, has done it again with a new CD out in time for Christmas. Titled "Jump for Joy," this is Father Quinlivan's eighth CD. Having published "Made to Praise Him" in 2014 and recently been named pastor of two parishes in Buffalo, you might wonder how he does all this.

Sister Regina Murphy, SSMN (formerly Sister Damian) received the 2017 Mount St. Mary Academy Distinguished Educator Award, which honors a former faculty member for her dedication to academic excellence and the care of her students. The award was presented as part of Mount St. Mary Academy's 90th anniversary celebration.

For 30 years, the National Religious Retirement Fund has provided much-needed financial assistance for religious congregations. During those years, the generous donors in the Diocese of Buffalo have contributed more than $25 million to assist women and men religious with the care of retired members, who ordinarily have no pension and minimal Social Security benefits.

Earlier this year, the Mercy Speech Center, located on Abbott Road in South Buffalo, permanently closed following the retirement of Sister Maralynn Sciarrino, RSM, the center's director of 49 years, and Sister Catherine Hunt, RSM, her administrative assistant. Although newly retired, Sister Maralynn hopes to remain active in the community, and spoke last month with the Western New York Catholic about her life as she plans to serve on a volunteer basis at Mercy Hospital.

As health care costs for all Americans have been rapidly increasing over the years, men and women religious are no exception. For Sister M. Lorianne Tylczynski, CSSF, who serves as a local minister for aging and ill Felician Sisters in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo, has personally seen the need for funds to help orders care for retired men and women religious, particularly with many individuals in their 80s and older.

Over her 78 years in religious life, Sister Mary Agnes Cobry, SSMN, has taught the young and the cheered the elderly. All the work she has done has been to please God on the day she meets Him.

2 programs honoring the memory of Gary Tatu who founded Harvest House with wife, Linda.

Catholics in the Diocese of Buffalo will have the opportunity to "give to those who have given a lifetime" as part of the collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious, to be held in parishes Dec. 9-10. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) in Washington, D.C., the annual appeal benefits 32,000 elderly Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests whose religious congregations lack adequate retirement funding.

More than nine weeks after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, many residents of the island are trying to pull their lives back together somewhere else. For at least 400 of them, that somewhere else is Buffalo. That's why Holy Cross Catholic Church on the city's lower west side assembled a day long outreach in the parish hall to provide counseling from agencies offering social services, housing, employment counseling, medical insurance, food, furniture and schooling.

This past September, four students of the Catholic faith entered the ranks of transitional deacon. They are in a unique place in their education. They are still students, not yet priests, but have been granted some of the faculties of clergy. These four men will spend about nine months developing their craft before being ordained to the priesthood this spring.

In July, Sister Dominica Hooper, OP, professed perpetual vows, the final step in becoming a Dominican Sister of Mary. Last month, Sister Dominica and her parents spoke about her experience and the importance of religious vocations today.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has announced the following clergy assignments.

Bishop Richard J. Malone announced the diocesan Upon This Rock capital and endowment campaign has raised $107 million since February 2016, surpassing its goal of $100 million, thanks to the donations and efforts of 27,000 benefactors who gave gifts of varying sizes. The bishop made the announcement during a press conference Nov. 20.

Each day in the Diocese of Buffalo, permanent deacons assist priests and participate in the liturgy in parishes throughout Western New York. Last month, Deacon Timothy Chriswell, who was appointed the head of the diaconate program in the diocese on Sept. 1, spoke about the role of deacons in the Catholic Church, as well as what differentiates the unique vocation of deacons from that of priesthood.

As part of a humanitarian effort to help children in need throughout the world, St. Mary Parish in Canaseraga has formed a committee to raise money to purchase a van for Sister Stan's Children Inc., to help Sister Stan Terese Mario Mumuni, of the Marian Sisters of Eucharistic Love, transport children to her orphanage in Ghana. Sister Stan has made it her life's goal to help "spirit children," infants born with birth defects who would otherwise have been rejected by their families.

Deacon Miguel Santos has been to hell and back. He saw death, destruction and despair during a two-week stay in Houston while offering relief to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. He has also seen strangers helping strangers, and people forgoing aid because others need it more.

One of the Diocese of Buffalo's own military veterans received a special recognition just before Veterans Day. Msgr. Dino J. Lorenzetti was inducted in The Buffalo and Erie Country Naval and Military Park's Wall of Honor on Nov. 10.

Msgr. James Campbell is probably best known for his long run as the rector of St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Buffalo. It might surprise some to know that, years before entering the priesthood, he had a promising career in the military, serving in the Marines during the Korean War.

Father Jerome E. Kopec, pastor of SS. Peter & Paul Parish in Williamsville, received the Venerable Nelson H. Baker Award during the diocesan Youth Ministry Awards Banquet held Nov. 3. The evening saw both teens and adults receive recognition for their role in guiding young people through their faith journey.

Each year, the month of November is an exciting time for the Vocations Office and the Catholic communities of the United States, because it brings the National Vocation Awareness Week, which will occur from Nov. 5-11 this year.

Among the recent clergy assignments announced by Bishop Richard J. Malone is a new director of the permanent diaconate office and the permanent diaconate program. In addition, three pastors have been named.

If anyone can say that he has served God and his country it is Msgr. Dino J. Lorenzetti. The 96-year-old priest will be inducted to the Wall of Honor at the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park on Friday, Nov. 10, at 10 a.m. The event falls almost 75 years to the day that Msgr. Lorenzetti enlisted to the United States Army during World War II.

When the Communicators for Women Religious decided to hold their 2017 conference in Niagara Falls, Ont., a group in Erie, Pa., had a crazy idea.

The year 1967 is remembered as teeming with violence, milestones and setbacks in race relations, and the beginning of a youth culture. The year saw the Summer of Love and germ warfare, the first African-American justice on the Supreme Court and race riots on Buffalo's East Side. Bishop Karol Wojtyla is ordained a cardinal and abortion is legalized in the United Kingdom. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band issued a new progression of popular music, while a group of new priests in the Diocese of Buffalo became the first group to be trained and educated at St. John Vianney Seminary.