Current News

Sisters of Charity Hospital, a Catholic Health facility, was recognized by two of the nation's leading independent quality rating organizations, Healthgrades and Leapfrog, in their recently released national quality reports.

WASHINGTON—Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, vice-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has called on the bishops to consider taking up a special collection to support victims of Hurricane Harvey and to provide pastoral and rebuilding support to impacted dioceses.

KENMORE — St. John the Baptist School recently dedicated the Elaine Cambria Memorial Signpost in honor of a beloved teacher who spent most of her 37-year career teaching kindergarten at the school and passed away earlier this year. Faculty and students presented the dedication in conjunction with the annual kindergarten play, a tradition that Cambria had initiated decades ago. Her son John and granddaughter Hannah represented the family at the ceremony.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY — Niagara University has announced that it will participate in New York state's Enhanced Tuition Award program, the tuition assistance program for private colleges and university students available under the state's Excelsior Scholarship legislation.

Villa Maria College has begun construction to expand its existing athletic facilities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - The damage done by Hurricane Harvey is a cause for prayer and preparation to help the storm's victims, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has said.

Summer picnics and family get-togethers, walks in the park and at Canalside, ice cream and lemonade, parish festivals, and taking time to enjoy the sunset over Lake Erie - all are hallmarks of the season in Western New York. Undoubtedly, the deep refreshment and relaxation of summer are things for which everyone yearns. With the waning days of this precious season soon approaching, and in the heart of our "ordinary time" in the Church, the Sunday Gospels of August give us pause to consider our faith as a source of refreshment.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) president, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, has called for prayers and solidarity with those impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Cardinal DiNardo also called on all people of good will to closely monitor future calls for assistance for victims and survivors in the days ahead.

WASHINGTON, DC (CNA/EWTN News) - Parochial schools are better at their task than public schools, say respondents to a survey of Americans' attitudes towards varieties of schooling.

WASHINGTON, DC (CNA/EWTN News) - People are probably familiar with white supremacist groups like neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan - both of which made an appearance at the violent rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia that shocked the nation and the world.

Stop Complaining. Bishop Richard J. Malone suggests when you are tempted to whine, turn things over to the Lord in a new "Consider This."

Plans are underway for a pilgrimage to Panama for World Youth Day 2019. Father Michael LaMarca will lead a group to Central America in January 2019 for the spiritual event. Due to the winter dates, there will be no diocesan pilgrimage from the Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, who have organized trips to Denver, Paris, Toronto, Cologne and Krakow in past years.

LANCASTER — Our Lady of Pompeii Parish is generating new excitement in the renewal of their youth groups. In the last few months, both parishioners and non-parishioners attended youth nights and events which enriched the participant's faith and created a growing sense of camaraderie.

Niagara University will welcome its freshmen and transfer students to campus during Move-In Day on Friday, Aug. 25, beginning at 8 a.m.

Pope Francis calls us to be "missionary disciples." In recent messages, he speaks of a "new" evangelization and two notions that to some ears sound opposite: a missionary (someone who is sent away) and disciples (called to accompany, or be with, those who are near). Which is it?

They are hoping to start a new religious congregation and, on Tuesday, three women from the Diocese of Buffalo took a big individual step in their formation as Marian Franciscan Sisters. They received their religious habits and new religious names as Bishop Richard Malone received them into the novitiate in a special Mass at Our Lady Chapel in St. Joseph Cathedral.

Bishop John Timon left a lasting impression on the Diocese of Buffalo, the full scope of which is probably not well known. Two seminary professors plan to change that with a series of lectures on the diocese's founding shepherd.

Sister Mary Anthony Garnier, OSP, of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, died July 20, 2017, at 101 years of age.

WASHINGTON—Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, expresses his opposition to the Administration's decision to end parole processing for individuals in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala who apply to enter the U.S. through the Central American Minors (CAM) program. Bishop Vasquez, who is currently in El Salvador, says that the elimination of this program puts the lives of vulnerable children at risk for greater harm.

KENMORE — Mount St. Mary Academy will host its fifth-annual Summer Music Festival, featuring a Super Cruise Car Show and food truck rally, on Aug. 26, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., on the front lawn of the school, 3756 Delaware Ave.

This year's Hispanic Family Day at Fatima Shrine is on Aug. 26. The theme of the day is, "The Spirituality of Marriage and Family." The celebrant for the 10 a.m. Mass will be Father Erick Viloria, from the Diocese of Rochester, who will also speak at the 1 p.m. workshop on the section of "Amoris Laetitia" that we chose for the theme of the day.

Located on the campus of Sisters Hospital on Main Street in Buffalo, the St. Catherine Laboure Health Care Center offers a full range of services to assist residents and patients in need of long-term care and rehabilitation. To assist those who wish to live at home and maintain their independence, while still receiving needed services to remain healthy, the center's Adult Day Health Care Program offers a place for adults of all ages to socialize and receive care for several hours per day in a controlled environment.

Eudist Father Dr. Robert Perelli, CJM discusses his upcoming course on Family Systems Theory at D'Youville College beginning on September 19.

Bishop Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, is responding to today's attack which killed 13 people in Barcelona, Spain.

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., Aug. 15, 2017 — Students who are new to the Bona family will begin arriving at St. Bonaventure University Aug. 24 for Welcome Days 2017, a four-day program hosted the weekend before classes begin.

St. Joseph Cathedral, the central church for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, has undergone a changing of the guard. Father Charles E. Slisz has come out of retirement to take over the role of cathedral rector from Father Peter Drilling, who has served in that position since 2014. Father Drilling will continue his long career teaching at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora.

Sister Mary Angeline (Donald) Bierut, CSSF, died Aug. 8, 2017, in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo. She was 96.

Bishop Richard J. Malone is calling on the faithful to continue praying for healing after Saturday's deadly attack at a protest in Charlottsville, Virginia. "Our hearts and prayers are in Charlottsville as we condemn the evil of white supremacism, New-Nazism and every form of racism," said Bishop Malone. "God save us."

As I write this column, I am in Massachusetts, the "land of my birth," where I have been blessed to step out of the whirlwind for a few quiet summer days of R and R. I should add a third R to Rest and Relaxation, as a vacation priority for me always is to catch up on Reading.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has announced new clergy assignments at several parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo. The appointments include welcoming three priests to the diocese.

A weekend filled with live music, classic cars, numerous raffles and delicious food offerings will highlight the 80th annual summer picnic at the Church of the Annunciation, 7580 Clinton St., Elma. The event kicks off on Friday, Aug. 18, and concludes with a grand drawing the evening of Sunday, Aug. 20.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, are calling on all people of goodwill to join in prayer and unity today in response to yesterday's violent protest and deadly attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Summer in Western New York is a time for working in the garden with the soil, the plants, the flowers, the bushes, the trees. So this is an appropriate time to think of the first "garden story" in the Bible, that of Genesis 2:4-24.

Imagine for a moment that you are putting your family's budget together for the next year, and you think that you are just plain spending too much. Let's also imagine that your total spending for the year is $100. You look over what your household spends, and you find a place you want to cut: you spend $1 on poor people overseas, so you decide to cut that down to just 67 cents. Does that seem like a reasonable choice to you? Does it seem like a moral choice?

In apostolic times, when the Church in Jerusalem was in great distress, St. Paul did not hesitate to ask the Catholics of Corinth to give generously to the relief of their brothers in religion. This bond of human solidarity and Christian brotherhood has been in the Church through the ages. Whenever distress came to our brothers in the faith in one part of the world, those in other parts were always willing to extend to them their helping hand.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Africa approved 54 grants totaling nearly $1.4 million in funding to support dioceses and pastoral projects across the African continent.

CLARENCE — Sisters of St. Joseph, associates and friends gathered under a tent June 23 at their Clarence residence to ritualize the recent sale of some of their Clarence land and buildings and to honor their deceased sisters with a tree-planting ceremony.

For 35 years, the Erie County Fair has hosted an annual tradition, one that is relatively unknown even to many Western New Yorkers, but consistently draws a crowd of around 200 people each year. Held on the fairgrounds' Evans Bank Family Entertainment Complex, this year's Mass on the Midway, a Catholic service to accompany its annual day honoring veterans, will take place at 10 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 13.

While teachers who work in any diocesan Catholic schools often feel the pinch of budgetary concerns, this becomes even more of a concern in low-income areas where students' families find it difficult to afford school supplies, requiring teachers to buy them. However, thanks to the efforts of a retired autoworker and substitute teacher, The Teacher's Desk, located just off of Main Street in the city of Buffalo, has let teachers in eligible schools in Western New York shop for donated supplies free of charge since 2011.

Denver, Colo., Aug 5, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With awareness of mental health conditions on the rise, how is the Church called to respond to those who do not simply wish to end their lives, but push for the right to do so legally?