An arena typically filled with fans cheering on the Brooklyn Nets had a different kind of excitement in the air on Sunday, July 7. The Barclays Center was the center of the Neocatechumenal Way universe for the day as nearly 20,000 faithful gathered for a Mass in the famous basketball arena-concert venue to celebrate a significant milestone — the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Catholic movement in the United States.
About a year after the former bishop of the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, publicly announced that a merger with the neighboring Diocese of Columbus was being discussed, generating swift backlash from local priests and laity, the two dioceses have announced that merger talks have resumed.
At a Mass celebrating Las Vegas becoming the 33rd U.S. archdiocese, Cardinal Christophe Pierre told those in attendance that the growth of Catholicism in Sin City is the outcome of synodality, that is, “women and men working together on the shared journey of faith.”
Archbishop Andrew E. Bellisario of Anchorage-Juneau Oct. 12 encouraged the new shepherd of Fairbanks, Alaska, to “be a bishop in motion, going to your people throughout this boundless land.”
Pope Francis told the 21 new cardinals he created Saturday, who come from all over the world, that their diversity is a gift which must contribute to a unified “symphony” of various but united voices capable of credible evangelization.
On a rainy Sunday a week after being named a Cardinal, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, found himself at a Queens parish celebrating Mass for the feast day of its namesake, as if nothing had changed.
