The Catholic Sun

One at a time, Bishop John Dolan called out categories of marriage by length: Couples in their first year, their first five years, 25-40 years and 50 years or more. When he got to those wedded more than a half century, Jay and Mary Sue Krakora got up. Together 55 years, the couple from Mesa, where they are parishioners of St. Timothy, had planned to celebrate their 50th anniversary at a similar event but it was cancelled by the COVID 19 pandemic. Marking their latest milestone during the Diocese of Phoenix’s Honoring Marriage Mass Sunday was the icing on the Krakoras’ cake, as they enjoyed their delayed celebration and were recognized with hundreds of other Catholic spouses. 

“They get to experience the excitement... and they get to hear about what’s awaiting them as Christians.”   Becoming fully initiated into the Catholic Church is a beautiful process marked by formation as well as special liturgical celebrations, including the Rite of Election. Those who will be receiving sacraments at the Easter Vigil anticipate this rite, which will be taking place next month. More than 2,000 catechumens are expected to attend. 

It was welcome news when Pope Francis declared 2025 a Jubilee Year. In his Bull of Indiction, “Spes non confundit: Hope does not disappoint,” which announced the Jubilee Year and its themes, the pope wrote, “every effort should be made to enable the People of God to participate fully in its proclamation of hope in God’s grace and in the signs that attest to their efficacy.”  That grace and proclamation of hope can be experienced through the many programs and individuals the Charity and Development Appeal (CDA) supports, including the 50 young men who are part of the groundbreaking new and fully local Nazareth Seminary in the Diocese of Phoenix. 

Lent is a sacred time in the liturgical calendar, a season set aside for intentional spiritual growth. With its emphasis on prayer, almsgiving, and fasting, Lent invites Catholics to adopt practices that challenge us to step outside our everyday routines and grow closer to Christ. These practices, when embraced authentically, provide repeated opportunities to deny ourselves in order to live more fully in Him.

Valley Interfaith Project (VIP) trains, educates and organizes people on the margins to become leaders and advocate for themselves. As a local non-partisan interfaith organization, VIP is committed to building relationships and organizing people for sustainable, social and economic improvement. An avenue of this work involves partnering with Catholic parishes within the Diocese of Phoenix. St. Louis the King in Glendale, Ariz., and St. Francis Xavier in Phoenix are two parishes that are working with VIP particularly to meet the needs of their migrant communities.  

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After undergoing a CT scan Feb. 18, Pope Francis was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia, the Vatican said. "The follow-up chest CT scan which the Holy Father underwent this afternoon," the Vatican bulletin said, "demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy." "Laboratory tests, chest X-rays and the Holy Father's clinical condition continue to present a complex picture," the evening bulletin said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics cannot confine their faith to the liturgy but must fully engage and dialogue with the culture that surrounds them, said the cardinal responsible for the church's engagement with the world of culture. "We cannot close the Christian experience in a kind of parenthesis that is only the liturgy," Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, told Catholic News Service Feb. 14. "Culture cannot be at the margins of faith. We must live in culture, accompany it, inhabit it, seeking to build a unity with what we believe."

Every Sunday all eight of us Dolan kids would pile out of the van and head into Mass while my dad parked the car. “I’ll meet you in the church,” he’d say. At that time, I was so small that I couldn’t see above all of my siblings. As I shuffled along, I remember thinking, how will my dad be able to find us? If I can’t see over the crowds, he probably can’t either.  Of course, spotting a row of eight kids as an adult wasn’t too hard, but as a little kid every time he slid into the pew, I remember thinking, “Wow, my dad is awesome! How did he do that? He always finds us!” I really thought he was a superhero. I still do.

In the hall where the 60 or so participants meet each week for St. John Vianney Parish’s youth ministry, in Goodyear, Ariz., the atmosphere goes well beyond learning about Jesus, the Blessed Mother and the sacraments. “It really is a place where you can be yourself without worrying about anyone judging you,” said Abigail Navarro, a teen who has been involved with youth ministry since middle school. “The friends you make here, you’ll keep for the rest of your life. The people here, you won’t find them anywhere else. You won’t find the faith that they have. You won’t find the love that they have for you,” she said.  

Each year, the Charity and Development Appeal (CDA) raises funds to support more than 70 ministries, charities and organizations throughout the Diocese of Phoenix. The multi-million-dollar appeal, which impacts thousands of lives annually will launch in most parishes throughout the diocese the weekend of Feb. 15-16.   This year’s CDA theme is “Hope does not disappoint,” aligning with Pope Francis’ focus for the 2025 Jubilee Year and year one of Bishop John Dolan’s seven-year pastoral plan on evangelization, TILMA.