Across the country, Catholic dioceses, parishes and other church-run entities say the federal emergency “bridge loans” they applied for and received have helped keep much-needed ministries functioning during this coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn that has resulted.
A man crashed his van through the doors of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Ocala, Florida, early in the morning July 11 and once inside, the church’s pastor said, the man set the interior of the church ablaze and drove off.
Like many parents, Rebeca Barcenas had this one overwhelming prayer that she continually shared with God.
Inside New York’s iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral, some 250 Mexican nationals were hailed as anonymous heroes July 11, after dying of COVID-19, which they likely contracted as they kept the city moving when it was experiencing the peak of the pandemic earlier this year.
The fire that ravaged Mission San Gabriel Arcangel church in the predawn hours of July 11 left behind a haunting scene. In a matter of minutes, the mission’s 230-year-old roof was nearly gone.
The vandalizing of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary outside Cathedral Prep School and Seminary was just one of several shocking and disturbing attacks on Catholic institutions in the U.S. in recent days.
The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ domestic policy committee said the federal emergency “bridge loans” that dioceses, parishes and other Catholic entities applied for provided a lifeline, allowing “our essential ministries to continue to function in a time of national emergency.”
With COVID restrictions lifting, pastors looking to welcome faithful back should rethink their confession schedules — and start talking more about the sacrament in the pulpit.
Pointing to the late Sister Thea Bowman as an “icon of hope,” the bishops of both Mississippi dioceses have pledged to “liberate the Church from the evil of racism that severely compromises our mission.”
Father Augustus Tolton, the first identified Black priest ordained for the United States, would likely be disappointed by what he sees going on in the United States today, said Father David Jones, pastor of St. Benedict the African Parish in Chicago.
