Current News

In December 2014, the Diocese of Buffalo will launch the Catholics Come Home campaign. In the first six years, Catholics Come Home messages were aired as TV commercials in 37 dioceses, and nationally, reaching 200 million viewers, and helping lead hundreds of thousands home to the Catholic Church.

An extensive workshop on why people may drift away from the Church, and how to re-engage them when they return, took place at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora on Oct. 24. The workshop was in preparation for the "Catholics Come Home" program which the diocese will undertake.

Do you realize that according to the Church you have a moral obligation to vote? The Church doesn't just encourage you to vote, or recommend voting; the Church states that participation in political life is a moral obligation. No matter how you might look at the current state of politics, our obligation is to participate in public life and to do so for the common good.

Bishop Richard Malone visited the Holy Land with other United States bishops in September. He shares some of his experiences in "Consider This."

When I was bishop of the Diocese of Portland, we had the custom of hosting an annual social for our governor, state legislators and others in political life. It was an opportunity to thank men and women in elected office for their service to the people of Maine. It was also a moment for me to share reflections on various dimensions of Catholic teaching concerning issues of public policy current at the time.

Our Lady of Black Rock School in Buffalo has steadily experienced an increase in enrollment over the past several years. According to Principal Martha Eadie, the school has welcomed a number of students from other countries, which has offered the community a uniquely multicultural experience.

For the third year, a parishioner of St. Martin of Tours Parish in Buffalo continues to serve as a missionary in the Yukon Territory of Canada.

The recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops garnered the attention of the media, but for the wrong reasons. The Catholic Church will not be discussing same-sex marriages as some reports have stated, and the topic of people who have divorced and remarried receiving Holy Communion needs more discernment.

From October through November we are given plenty of opportunities to celebrate our faith with the various cultures represented here in our diocese. In November, the Church in the United States celebrates Black Catholic History Month, the Puerto Ricans in our community will celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Providence and the Native American Community celebrate National Native American Heritage Month.

Olean will soon be overrun by a flock of eagles, Eagle Scouts that is. Troop 617 expects five of its members to reach the highest rank in the Boy Scouts this year.

This weekend is World Mission Sunday, and diocesan parishes will hold a special collection to help support the missionary service of the Church.

Bishop Richard Malone tells a story about a science student's discovery under a microscope in a new "Consider This."

During this month of October we take time to remind ourselves that as Catholics we respect life, life in all its forms, life as the greatest gift of God. And we declare October to be Respect Life month. What a great celebration it should be - expressing our gratitude for the immeasurable variety of life, and how the human person participates in the light and power of the Spirit of God. Our celebration of life is, of course, marred by those events and practices that we recognize to be a part of a culture of death, and not a culture of life. And in this month, we particularly pay attention to the tragedy and the scandal of the presence of legalized abortion in our country.

Through special training with pro-life experts last May, 30 diocesan clergy heard of the feelings of guilt and anxiety experienced by women who terminated the lives of their unborn children. They also learned how to help them heal.

A current student at Christ the King Seminary is taking an opportunity to serve at the Office of Pro-Life Activities to help prepare for the day he becomes a priest.

The Diocese of Buffalo will take part in a nationwide program to appeal to Catholics who have fallen away from the Church. "Catholics Come Home," which has been launched in 37 American dioceses over the last six years, airs "evangomercials," designed to invite and welcome Catholics back to Church, using both television and social media.

I have been a producer at Daybreak TV Productions for more than 20 years. Within this time, I have had the privilege of working with great people, and together we have produced award-winning programs. During my tenure, there have been changes in technology, technique and promotion.

Bishop Richard Malone explains Church teaching on marriage as the union between a man and a woman in a new "Consider This." United States Bishops are gravely disappointed in Supreme Court case ruling on marriage.

On Oct. 3, teachers of elementary, middle and high schools throughout the diocese welcomed keynote speakers from across the country to the Catholic Educators' Convention at the Hamburg Fairgrounds. The theme was "Cultivating Our Roots in the Common Core," during which speakers stressed the importance of using the entire school day, and all subjects, to instill Catholic values in students.

Pope Francis has captivated the world with his humility, warmth and compassion for each person. Vivid accounts of his tenderness for "the least of these" - the elderly, the imprisoned, those with disfiguring disabilities, the unborn and many more - seize our attention. Why?

WASHINGTON—The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, New York, and the chairman of the USCCB's Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, expressed serious disappointment at the October 6 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to consider current cases that strike down laws upholding marriage as between one man and one woman.

Cheryl Calire, director of the diocesan Office of Pro-Life Activities, sat among 150 of her colleagues in a leadership conference held in Charleston, S.C., in late July. The conference, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, allowed pro-life directors to share information and bring those practices back to their own dioceses.

The calling from God can come in different ways and at different times in life. For Deacon Thomas Mahoney, the calling to the priesthood came after a great personal loss and a major change that led him to trade a 9-to-5 job and business attire in for a more irregular schedule and vestments.

This month, the Vatican will gather bishops from around the world to discuss the theme of "pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization," including the challenge of promoting Catholic teachings in societies where the traditional family may not be so traditional.

Deacon Lukasz Kopala has a story not very different from other seminarians. He grew up in a traditional Catholic family. He served at the altar as a youth, considered the priesthood while in high school, but held off so he could experience some independence. What sets him apart from the others at Christ the King Seminary is the path he took to get there.

Bishop Richard J. Malone is joined by his dog Timon as he offers inspiration for the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Bishop Malone will bless pets at his home on Oakland Place in Buffalo on Oct. 4 at 10 a.m.

Around 500 members of the legal community gathered for a special Red Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral on Oct. 1. The St. Thomas More Guild, an organization for Catholic lawyers in the Diocese of Buffalo, sponsored the annual Mass for lawyers, judges and public officials.

As most of you know, I returned recently from a Bishops' Prayer Pilgrimage for Peace in the Holy Land. You can read more about that experience online. It was an intense experience that will take me some time to process, both in my mind and in my heart.

The Diocese of Buffalo welcomed its first transitional deacon from Africa on Sept. 27. The ordination of Daniel Ogbeifun marks a milestone for the diocese, but just another step on one man's faith journey.

This school year, St. Joseph School in Batavia will be one of the diocesan schools that has been selected to begin a new STREAM initiative. The acronym STREAM, which stands for science, technology, religion, engineering, arts and mathematics, is a modified version of the STEM initiative that is being implemented in many public school districts throughout the state of New York.

The Holy Name Society of the Diocese of Buffalo will honor three distinguished priests of the diocese at its annual awards banquet which will take place at Kiebzak's Restaurant and Beginning Banquet Facilities in Sloan, on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m. with open bar at 5 p.m. and family-style dinner at 6 p.m., during which the Man of the Year Award and achievement awards will be presented.

Bishop Richard Malone talks about St. Vincent de Paul in "Consider This" ...

Bishop Richard J. Malone will be the main celebrant and homilist at the annual Respect Life Mass on Sunday, October 5, at 10:30 a.m., at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo.

Lukasz Kopala, Thomas M. Mahoney and Daniel Ehijiator Ogbeifun all will move one step closer to the priesthood on Saturday, Sept. 27, when Bishop Richard J. Malone ordains them transitional deacons for the Diocese of Buffalo. The ordination will take place at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo, at 10 a.m. The three men, students at Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, will graduate in May 2015 and will later be ordained to the priesthood.

We can often get frustrated in our mission to help create a more just and peaceful world. Sometimes it seems that injustice is beyond our personal involvement, or that some issue is too overwhelming or seems just plain unsolvable.

The Jesuit community in the United States has kicked off the first of several consolidations. On Friday, Sept. 19, the New York Province announced it will begin a merger with the New England Province. Father John Cecero, SJ, the newly appointed provincial for New York, will lead the new Northeast Province.

The disability advocates in the Diocese of Buffalo has a new name. It is now the Disability Inclusion Team. Led by Dennis Mahaney, director of the Office of Evangelization and Parish Life, the group's goal is to increase awareness and inclusion of individuals with disabilities in parishes throughout the Diocese of Buffalo. This is done through opening doors, minds and hearts to change.

For one Felician sister, art is a way of expressing feelings, emotions and faith. Sister M. Ann Therese Kelly, CSSF, operates and sells stained glass artwork at her own studio, Illumination Stained Glass Studio, at Villa Maria Convent in Buffalo. Sister Ann Therese, also an art instructor, created stained glass windows found in six local buildings and schools, including Niagara University.

This school year, more children in diocesan schools will be given the chance to pray for the men who have chosen to devote their lives to serving God. The Adopt a Seminarian program, implemented in Mary Queen of Angels Regional Catholic School in Cheektowaga in 2013-14, will be expanding to take place in more elementary schools, ideally all 35 of them, by the third week of September.

Pope Francis gives us words of wisdom nearly every day. Bishop Richard Malone shares some of these words in "Consider This" ...