WORCESTER – An outdoor statue of St. Christopher transporting the Christ Child was moved last week from St. Christopher Church to Our Lady of the Rosary Church, where a new shrine was created for it. Father Jonathan J. Slavinskas, pastor of Our Lady of Providence Parish, blessed the shrine and statue after Saturday’s Lord’s Day vigil Mass there.
Bishop Robert P. Reed, an auxiliary bishop of Boston, was celebrating Mass Sunday, the feast of Sts. Anne and Joachim, to close the shrine’s 139th annual Novena to St. Anne.
All four Massachusetts bishops are urging Catholics “to pray for a renewal of reverence for all human life,” as the state senate considers a bill removing current limits on late-term abortions – at 24 weeks of pregnancy and later – in the Commonwealth during the final days of the current legislative session.
PRINCETON – Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where visionaries say the Blessed Mother has been appearing since 1981, is “a very holy place,” and going there is “an opportunity to experience the love of God.”
Traveling to the July 17-19 conference together from the Worcester diocese were 110 teenagers, 25 adult leaders and five priests, in groups representing nine parishes and St. Paul Diocesan Jr./Sr. High School in Worcester, said Timothy Messenger, director of the diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, organizer of the trip.
Father Enoch K. Kyeremateng is a big soccer fan, so when he found out that Ghana, where he was born and raised, would be playing a World Cup game in Foxborough he was determined to attend.
WORCESTER – Sister Paula Kelleher (Sister John David), beloved member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, died in the Jewish Healthcare Center on July 11.
For the semiquincentennial of the United States, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Worcester has a display of American saints – posters with biographies and pictures of them lining the church walls.
Technically, this year is the school’s 101st anniversary, Father Daniel R. Mulcahy Jr., pastor of St. Brigid and Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, said at the celebratory Mass, at which present students served. The Mass, held in Our Lady of the Assumption Church on May 31, was followed by tours of the school, food, and fun.
(OSV News) – On July 1, the Society of St. Pius X, widely known as the SSPX, illicitly consecrated four bishops without authorization from the Holy See, leading Pope Leo XIV to declare its bishops, clergy and formally affiliated laity to be in schism with the Catholic Church. Here’s a short primer on the SSPX, what happened and why it matters.
PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) – As the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage concluded amid the U.S.’s 250th anniversary, “the journey continues,” said Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia.
When any bishop turns 75-years-old, canon law requires him to offer his resignation to the pope – though, the timeline for when the pope accepts the resignation is uncertain. Below is a transcript of the interview.
Msgr. James P. Moroney, a former St. Paul’s rector and now pastor of St. Cecilia Parish in Leominster, tied the celebration to U.S. history in his homily.
WORCESTER – An empty stable. A teen drop-in. Even a first kiss.
These were memories shared after St. Christopher Parish’s final Sunday Mass last weekend.
The parish merged Wednesday, along with Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, into Our Lady of Providence Parish.
With the decree, Bishop McManus promulgated the seventh edition of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, or ERDs, as particular law in the Worcester diocese, effective July 1.
As of Wednesday, the Partners in Charity Appeal had raised $4,101,734, achieving 84 percent of its $4.8 million goal and leaving $780,452 needed to reach the diocesan target.
The appeal has received 806 more gifts and $396,355 more in contributions than it had by this time last year.
(OSV News) – Ahead of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual observance of Religious Freedom Week, OSV News spoke with Emily Schumacher-Novak, associate director of education and outreach for the USCCB’s Secretariat of Justice and Peace.