March 21, 2019, WORCESTER, MA – The Office of Development of the Diocese of Worcester has announced that it has raised 40% of the $5 million goal for this year’s Annual Partners in Charity Appeal and that four parishes are over goal. The office has received 4,713 gifts and pledges totaling $2,011,879. The weekends in mid-March are the official “in-pew Sundays” in many of the 96 parishes and 3 missions which comprise the Diocese of Worcester. MORE

Teens at St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville are serving fish and chips dinners on Fridays in Lent to subsidize a week-long mission trip to San Diego as Young Neighbors in Action.

St. Patrick, evangelizer of a whole nation, is still bringing people to God – or at least to church. Irish dinners in his name are drawing crowds to local parishes, bringing folks together, raising money and playing a part in a type of evangelization too.

A Hispanic woman “changed” her birthday because of her devotion – and was protected. An African woman lived through horror – and gave life. Local religious sisters told these stories of women they met at the U.S.-Mexico border when volunteering there last month.

Local Catholics are being encouraged to lobby legislators about current bills aimed at expanding access to abortion and legalizing physician-assisted suicide, as well as bills about sex education.

WORCESTER - Father Henry A. Donoghue, 83, passed away peacefully on March 7 at the Rose Monahan Hospice Home. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Wednesday, March 1. Bishop McManus was the principal celebrant.

BARRE – On the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows in 2015, Deacon Brian Gadbois – who serves St. Francis of Assisi Parish – and his wife, Nissa Gadbois, adopted two children from an orphanage in Bulgaria. But the couple didn’t want their connection to Nicholas and Olivia’s native country to end with the adoption.

WESTBOROUGH – Aaron Linn loves going to Mass; the fact that he is autistic has not gotten in the way. His mother, Ellen, is thankful to the SPRED program for helping her son to know the love of Jesus and to share it within the parish community.

Partners in Charity turns to St. Pope Paul VI to be the inspiration for the 2019 appeal. With the theme, “Generate Joy,” the annual campaign, which raises $5 million, begins in many parishes this weekend with in-pew collections.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Lent comes late this year. Late though it may be, most of us are not immediately eager for the austerities of Lent.

WORCESTER – God is doing something new. That message emerged as Catholics met to seek God’s will for the charismatic renewal locally. Father Diego A. Buritica, who was appointed episcopal liaison to diocesan charismatic renewal communities last October, hosted “Lord, Light the Fire Again!”

Robert Lewis Jr., chief executive officer of The BASE, will be speaker May 12 at the 103rd commencement exercises for Assumption College at the DCU Center. He and Sister Annie Credidio, of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will receive honorary degrees during the ceremony, the college announced.

Six former competitors and a coach have been named to the College of the Holy Cross Athletic Hall of Fame the Holy Cross Varsity Club has announced. They will be formally inducted at the Varsity Club’s annual dinner May 4 in the Hogan Campus Center.

Angel Rojas, the TV ministry’s longest-serving volunteer, recalls when Masses were recorded in Worcester to be broadcast later. The Worcester Diocese began live daily telecasts on Feb. 8, 1989, according to Raymond L. Delisle, chancellor and director of the diocesan communications ministry.

Teaching today’s generation the art of conversation was part of the conversation at the inauguration of Anna Maria College’s speaker series about the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.

Making Sense of Bioethics - By Father Tad Pacholczyk -- If we are willing to make an exception to the rule that direct killing of an innocent human being is always wrong, then it only becomes a matter of “haggling over the price.” If killing by euthanasia can be allowed for a deeply emotional reason, it can certainly be allowed for other reasons too...

Massachusetts' bishops address Catholics about sex abuse summit Massachusetts bishops are addressing the state’s Catholics prior to the Feb. 21-24 Vatican Summit on the sexual abuse crisis. It is a crisis, they say, “that has again enveloped the life of the Church.

Four diocesan priests spent three days on the U.S.-Mexican border recently to observe the ministries of the Catholic Church that serve migrants on both sides of the border. The trip was under the auspices of the Catholic Extension’s Mission Immersion Program for Pastors.

WORCESTER – Rising costs have resulted in a total operating deficit of $1.4M for the Diocese of Worcester, according to financial statements and the annual report issued for the 2018 fiscal year.

WEBSTER – Weaving plastic bags into mats for the homeless. Using “trash” to organize the art teacher’s supplies. These were among ways students at All Saints Academy took care of people and the earth during Catholic Schools Week last week.