Current News

This past June and July, we had the privilege of having a speaker and teacher from the Diocese of Providence, R.I., on three different occasions. Silvio Cuéllar is the director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry in the diocese and the editor for the Hispanic paper, El Catolico de Rhode Island. He is also a musician and songwriter for Oregon Press Publication. He met with Hispanic families from around our diocese to teach them how to use the Scripture study he put together for families, named "Creating Families of Peace and Love."

LINCOLN, NEB. (CNA/EWTN News) - It was a cold December day in Nebraska, and Ashley Stevens was riding in a car with four other women.

Delegates from the Diocese of Buffalo will travel to Philadelphia next month to attend the World Meeting of Families. The gathering, held Sept. 22-27, will be an international event of prayer, catechesis and celebration.

Bishop Richard J. Malone visited Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Parish (St. Joseph worship site, 1413 Pine Ave., Niagara Falls 14301) on Sunday to rededicate the St. Joseph Church site and celebrate the completion of the painting of the church which included several murals.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA) - Of the countless Catholic couples who have come through Father T.G. Morrow's office in Washington D.C. for marriage counseling, two remain imprinted in the priest's mind even today.

DETROIT (CNA/EWTN News) - When presenters addressed last year's Synod of Bishops to discuss challenges facing the family, there was one group who voice was absent - those with same-sex attraction living chastely.

Chancery bulletin announcements for the week of Aug. 17, 2015.

Sister Mary Hope Zalewski, a Felician Sister, died Aug. 12, 2015, in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo. She was 95 years of age.

ST. BONAVENTURE - St. Bonaventure University President Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., is among nine distinguished women who will be honored by Girl Scouts of Western New York as 2015 Women of Distinction.

Sister Julia Hamilton, of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in Williamsville, died Aug. 11, 2015. She was 77 years of age.

Sister Cecile Ferland, a Sister of St. Joseph for 71 years, died Aug. 5, 2015, at the Sisters of St. Joseph Residence in Clarence. She was 90 years old.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - On Sunday Pope Francis said that the Eucharist is no mere symbol, but is in fact the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, which has the ability to transform our hearts and minds to be more like him.

Father Andrew Lauricella has been named the new director of Vocations of the Diocese of Buffalo. He spoke about his newest assignment, as well as what it will be like to fill the shoes of Father Walter Szczesny, who held the position for nine years.

Bishop Richard J. Malone says parish communities are the heart of the church in "Consider This."

This year, a Catholic tradition and spiritual experience that originated across the Atlantic is celebrating its 50th anniversary within the Diocese of Buffalo. The Cursillo movement, characterized by a three-day weekend retreat of prayer, discussion, reconciliation and reconnecting with Christ, is offered in many parishes of the diocese and is having a celebratory Mass on Aug. 15 for its golden anniversary.

ELMA — Music, classic cars, numerous raffles and delicious food offerings will highlight the 78th annual summer picnic at the Church of the Annunciation, 7580 Clinton St. The event kicks off on Friday, Aug. 14, and concludes with a grand drawing the evening of Sunday, Aug. 16.

Bishop Richard J. Malone announced the following appointments regarding religious order priests.

PHILADELPHIA, PA. (CNA/EWTN News) - Although Pope Francis will be new to the United States, visiting the country this autumn for the first time during his papacy, he will be well-seasoned in American history.

NEW YORK - SiriusXM announced that it will offer subscribers a chance to win two tickets to see Pope Francis celebrate Mass at Madison Square Garden during his first visit to the United States in September.

Bishop Richard Malone explains how East Aurora's Christ the King Seminary offer education and services for all of us in a new "Consider This."

Chancery bulletin announcements for the week of Aug. 10, 2015.

The 2015 Catholic League Appeal for Religious Assistance to the Church in Poland takes place throughout the month of August in the eight counties of the Diocese of Buffalo. Your contributions will help keep open the Polish Pontifical College and the Polish Pontifical Institute, both in Rome, where bishops of Poland send their talented priests for higher studies.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has informed members of two parishes in Kaisertown that their faith communities will be linking, effective Oct. 1.

Different circumstances lead priests to their vocation. Father Mark Itua, temporary parochial vicar at Queen of Martyrs Parish in Cheektowaga, came to the Diocese of Buffalo about seven months ago based on a friend's recommendation, which is not unusual. Unlike most other priests in the area, he was born and raised in Nigeria and came to the United States as an adult after being ordained.

Over the last few years, big things have been happening, and continue to happen, in Buffalo. On this encore performance of "Our Daily Bread," host Father Paul D. Seil, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Orchard Park, spends time out and about.

Father Raymond R. Russell died Aug. 4, 2015, in Schofield Residence Nursing Facility in Tonawanda, fewer than three weeks before his 90th birthday.

When a trusted friend conned Msgr. Dino Lorenzetti out of his life savings, the elderly priest decided to turn his pain into a lesson on caution and forgiveness.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Echoing his predecessors on the need to care for divorced and remarried persons, Pope Francis said Christians should help these persons integrate into the community rather than treating them as though they are excommunicated.

In his second encyclical "Laudato Si," Pope Francis asks all citizens to recognize the planet earth as a common home for all people and creatures, and to work to protect that home.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA).- Fifty-one percent of the reported fire incidents at U.S. houses of worship between 1996 and 2015 were determined to be caused by arson, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center.

Countless articles have been written about Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps and the countless social justice connections the Holocaust has to our society in the 21st century.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - The Senate failed to bring a bill to block federal funding of Planned Parenthood to the floor on Monday evening, in a much-anticipated vote.

ROME, ITALY (CNA/EWTN News) - The Shroud of Turin has different meanings for many people: some see it as an object of veneration, others a forgery, still others a medieval curiosity. For one Jewish scientist, however, the evidence has led him to see it as a meeting point between science and faith.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - St. John Paul II's historic embrace of former chief rabbi of Rome Elio Toaff welcomes visitors to a new Vatican exhibition on the late Pope's compelling relationship with the Jewish people.

Chancery bulletin announcements for the week of Aug. 3, 2015.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Delivering his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, Pope Francis said that while everyone feels shame before going to Confession, this grace helps us to be open to God's forgiveness.

The tragic and mistaken Supreme Court decision to redefine marriage legally to include so-called "same-sex marriage" has many negative consequences. Among those consequences, one of the most alarming, in my judgment, is the threat this ruling poses to the religious freedom of people of faith and faith-based institutions that honor marriage as God has created it to be, the union of one man and one woman, open to the birth and rearing of children.

A special collection to support the Catholic League for Religious Assistance to Poland will be conducted in parishes throughout the Diocese of Buffalo during the month of August.

Our Lady of Victory Basilica plans big fun, big music and big giveaways at its annual lawn fete.

Bishop Richard J. Malone talks St. Ignatius and the Jesuit influences in the Diocese of Buffalo in this episode of "Consider This."