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Flagstaff priest on EWTN’s ‘Life on the Rock’
Fr. Matt Lowry, assistant director of Vocations and chaplain at Northern Arizona University, will be featured on EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” this evening at 5 p.m. Fr. Lowry will share about the Newman Center at NAU, highlighting their trip to World Youth Day this summer. Catch the encore at 10 p.m. or Tuesday, June 4, at 6 a.m. The show will also be online after 6 p.m. tonight.
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Bishop Olmsted to Ordain Two New Priests for the Diocese of Phoenix
The Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, will ordain two new priests at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 1, at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, 6351 N. 27th Ave. All are welcome to attend the Mass of Ordination.
“Upon their ordination, Fr. Axline and Fr. Perera will receive the grace to continue Christ’s work of healing, proclaiming God’s word and celebrating the Sacred Mysteries and redemption,” Bishop Olmsted said. “I am delighted that they will become spiritual fathers for the faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix. Like all good fathers, I know they will serve with compassion, rooted in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus.”
Phoenix immigration leader Jose Robles dies -
Our friend and co-worker Jose Robles passed away on Sunday evening after a courageous and faithful battle with cancer. Please keep him and his family in your prayer. The Arizona Republic published a very nice article about Jose’s service to the Church and community.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
May he rest in peace.
The U.S. Bishops have called for a “Fortnight for Freedom,” a nationwide 14-day period of prayer, education and action in support of religious freedom, from June 21 to July 4.
Our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power — St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, Sts. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action emphasizes both our Christian and American heritage of liberty.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted invites the public to pray for religious freedom at the following Masses:
Saturday, June 22 – Feast of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher
Sunday, June 23 – 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Monday, June 24 – Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist
Saturday, June 29 – Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
Sunday, June 30 – 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Thursday, July 4 – Independence Day
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Bishop Olmsted: ‘Catholic and American?’
In his most recent column in The Catholic Sun, Bishop Olmsted asks: Can we still be Catholic and American?
Sixty years ago when Catholics were pursuing higher education as never before, when vocations to the priesthood and religious life were at an all time high level, when Catholic hospitals and schools were expanding and flourishing at unprecedented rates, most Catholics in the United States were proud to be here; and very few anticipated the tensions that would erupt within American culture in the 1960s and the crises that would fray the fabric of the Catholic community after the Second Vatican Council.
Now, over half a century later, many Catholics have at best ambivalent feelings about the relationship between Catholicism and America. So much has changed since the good old days of the ’50s. Consider, for example, the following: 45 years of legalized abortion has killed more than 50 million unborn children, the HHS mandates of the federal government seriously threaten religious liberty, and the powerful political and other societal forces gravely weaken the institution of marriage and with it serious threats to the well-being of children. Should Catholics still be excited about being American citizens?
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