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As you are likely aware, St. Valentine's Day falls on Ash Wednesday this year. This is the first time these two occasions have overlapped since 1945. As a result, some people have inquired as to whether a dispensation from the Ash Wednesday fast and abstinence will be granted.

FREDONIA — To help the Newman Center at the State University of New York at Fredonia participate in the Upon This Rock campaign, the center will be hosting a benefit concert, featuring the work of student performers, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 9, at St. Anthony Church, 42 Orchard St.

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

Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, will distribute ashes at the 12:05 p.m. Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo, on Wednesday, February 14, Ash Wednesday.

Someone should name an energy drink after Murphy McDermott. The 14-year-old spends her days studying, singing and taking care of her pets, all 19 of them. Her hard work is paying off as she will perform at Carnegie Hall this month.

At SS. Columba-Brigid Parish in Buffalo, a packed church came together to remember the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., a day before what would have been the slain civil rights leader's 89th birthday and months before the 50th anniversary of his death. Bishop Richard J. Malone served as celebrant at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. diocesan celebration on Jan. 14, with Deacon LeRoy T. Gill Jr., from the Archdiocese of Chicago, serving as guest homilist.

The Diocese of Buffalo partnered with VOICE-Buffalo and Back to Basics Ministries for their first-ever day of community organizing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at SS. Columba-Brigid Parish in Buffalo. It focused on how to mobilize community awareness on issues in accordance with King's own methods and legacy.

The Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo's largest annual fundraiser, GALA 22:6, kicked off the festivities Feb. 1 at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, raising funds for needs-based Catholic education tuition assistance. The tuition assistance helps students attending Catholic elementary schools throughout the eight counties of Western New York.

Although it may not seem so, the days are getting longer as the winter solstice has passed and the daylight hours grow. As the light expands and intensifies, there is pause to consider if what is occurring externally is simultaneously happening in our spiritual lives. Is the light of Christ growing in our lives? When speaking about Jesus in John's Gospel, St. John the Baptist says, "He must increase and I must decrease."

"Share the Journey" is the theme for this year's National Day of Prayer for the African-American and the African family.

The 2016 Mount Mercy Magic varsity soccer team was named the winner of the 2017 Soccer Officials Sportsmanship Award. The award is given to the girls' soccer team in Western New York that exhibits the best sportsmanship throughout the season. All schools, both private and public are considered for this honor.

Cardinal O'Hara High School will honor two new inductees into the school's Fine Arts Hall of Fame.

STELLA NIAGARA — The Center of Renewal is pleased to announce a special Thursday through Sunday weekend retreat during Lent, "Les Misérables: A Lenten Retreat," from Feb. 22-25. This unique, reflective and interactive Lenten retreat will run from Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch.

If there were an award for the Canisius student involved in the most extracurricular activities, Matthew Sullivan would certainly be a top contender. He has embraced the Ignatian concept of magis by taking the lead on several projects to help children in Buffalo and around the world. "My mom always says that nothing you have matters if you can't share it," said Sullivan.

As the Diocese of Buffalo celebrates its educational institutions during Catholic Schools Week, Bishop Richard J. Malone made a pastoral visit to St. Aloysius Church and Regional School in Springville Thursday morning.

Catholics believe that the first step in making a difference in the world is starting with oneself. Under the leadership of its new principal, Jonna Johnson, St. John the Baptist School in Alden has chosen to honor those students who have gone a step further to better their community through acts of selflessness and kindness to others.

When reading biblical narratives, one looks for patterns and changes. Throughout Genesis, we recognize the pattern in God's interaction with humans: blessing, sin, punishment and blessing. A change in content gives two distinct parts to Genesis, the primal stories, chapters one to 11, and the narratives of the founding leaders of Israel, chapters 12 to 50. Genealogies also abound in Genesis and further divide the book into sections. Of interest here is the genealogy of the descendants of Noah and their expansion throughout the world (10:1-11:32). Curiously, within the list of descendants of Noah's the third son, Shem, one finds the Tower of Babel story, 11:1-9.

As we started this year of Our Lord 2018, the Diocesan Union of Holy Name Societies, our present officers and our executive board continued to make their personal commitments to the society. I personally thanked all these men and women for coming together to continue our wonderful movement. We are always in need of more good men and, in some parishes, women to fill the void of many men who are not Holy Name participants.

Please join us on Saturday, Feb. 10, at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo for the annual Diocesan White Mass, with Anointing of the Sick, at 4:30 p.m. All doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals will receive a special blessing from our principal celebrant, Bishop Richard J. Malone.

SWORMVILLE — The dream of one-to-one computing has been realized at St. Mary School, thanks to the generosity of the St. Mary's faith community and the creativity of the St. Mary's faculty. All students are benefiting from the latest technology and teaching methods that technology brings to the classroom.

Since Bishop Richard J. Malone approved the diocese's newest faith formation curriculum, "Forming Disciples," for gradual implementation over the next few years, parishes have been making changes in religious education programs in terms of how parish communities learn together.

Students of SS. Peter & Paul School in Williamsville learn about the atrocities of Auschwitz in art class. They develop pride in their school in art class. They discover confidence in art class. They learn about art from Mary McIntyre.

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNA/EWTN News) — Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, recently proposed five keys for pastoral education "to respond in depth to the current challenges of society."

Sister Mary McCarrick, OSF, the retiring diocesan director of Catholic Charities of Buffalo, and Emmie Glynn Ryan, general counsel, chief corporate compliance officer and senior vice president of Catholic Charities Brooklyn Queens, will be honored by the New York State Council of Catholic Charities Directors at a reception on Monday, February 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Albany. The reception is part of the Council's two-day convening February 5-6, in which Catholic Charities personnel from throughout New York State advocate with elected and state agency officials on important issues of concern to the poor and vulnerable.

Technology has created quite an effect at St. John the Baptist School in Kenmore, and now the students have the tools to measure that reaction.

The Greater Olean Association of Church has announced former St. Bonaventure University President Sister Margaret Carney, OSF, as recipient of the 2018 Ecumen Award and the Agency Recognition Award.

The Department of Pro-Life Activities of the Diocese of Buffalo will hold the 7th annual St. Gianna Benefit Banquet on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m. at the Millennium Hotel, 2040 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga. The St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center, the pastoral outreach of the Department of Pro-Life Activities for the Diocese of Buffalo, provides material, emotional, and spiritual support to mothers, fathers and young families in need from pregnancy through the first years of life. The center follows the example of St. Gianna Molla, the patron saint of physicians, pregnant mothers and unborn children, in respecting, protecting, and cherishing all human life as a precious gift from God. Proceeds from the dinner will be used to support the center. Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone will provide opening remarks and this year's keynote speaker will be Catholic activist Gloria Purvis.

Sister Mary Conrad Marie Glica, FSSJ, died Jan. 1, 2018, at Immaculate Conception Convent in Hamburg. She was 83.

Sister Ann Frances Hemberger, SSMN, died Dec. 12, 2017, at St. Mary Center in Buffalo. She was 82.

On Saturday, January 27 at 4:00 p.m., Bishop Richard J. Malone will celebrate an Asylum Seekers and Refugee Awareness Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Athol Springs. It will mark the fifth anniversary of Buffalo Peace House. A reception will follow in the Parish Social Center with a meet and greet with the bishop as well as residents and alumni of the Buffalo Peace House. Tours of the house will also be available.

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

Healthcare professionals will be recognized at the White Mass on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 4:30 p.m. at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo. Bishop Richard J. Malone will be the principal celebrant and will offer a special blessing for those working in the healthcare field.

Catholic Charities announced on that Project HOPE (Helping Older People Excel), a care coordination program for seniors in Erie County who have been diagnosed with a mental health illness, recently relocated from 20 Rich St., Buffalo, to its former location at 128 Wilson St., Buffalo.

In honor of their 50th anniversary, alumni of St. Gerard School's class of 1968 are planning a special celebration in April, and have been trying to touch base with classmates in the area who would be interested in participating.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has issued the following statement on today's shootings at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky. The shooting has left up to two dead and more than a dozen others injured.

When I mentioned to a friend that I intended to write this month's column on the new evangelization, he accused me of having an obsession - a "holy" obsession, he qualified - with that theme. I told him that if I do indeed have such an obsession, it is because I am convinced that the work of helping people encounter Jesus Christ and His saving message is the primary mission of the Church ... at this time, and at all times. Evangelization is, as Blessed Paul VI declared in his 1976 encyclical "Evangelii Nuntiandi," the "deepest identity" of the Church. The Church, he wrote, "exists in order to evangelize" (#14).

More than a thousand people turned out at Kleinhans Music Hall on Monday afternoon to celebrate the life of Robert G. Wilmers, longtime CEO and chairman of M&T Bank Corporation. Bishop Richard J. Malone recalled Wilmers as a 'remarkable gentleman' whose personal generosity benefited Catholic education and Catholic Charities.

Today Bishop Richard J. Malone issued the following timely directives in response to the current influenza outbreak within New York State to all pastors, pastoral administrators, principals and presidents.

Over two dozen area middle schools looked toward the future and designed cities to fit into the global issues we face today.

The New Year is a great way to find oneself closer to God. There is always the common question of "How am I going to start this New Year with a good resolution?" The answer is simple; find your resolution in God. It is great to cut back on sweets and go to the gym more, but oftentimes I find myself slipping up on those resolutions. Finding a goal in strengthening your relationship with God can be tough as we all live busy lives, but there is always time for God.