News and Events
from Idaho and Around the World
Local Stories in the Idaho Catholic Register
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Conference speaker warns: Don’t get comfortable
By Michael Brown
Editor
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WASHINGTON — Jesuit Father Allan Deck wants to warn those attending his keynote addresses during Fall Conference Sept. 17-19 at Bishop Kelly High School in Boise: What he has to say will make them feel uncomfortable.
His Sept. 18 “Creating Christ Centered Communities” and Sept. 19 “The Christian Mission of Evangelization” will remind school and parish leaders that it is the nature of evangelization to go out to new places to spread the Good News.
“God is challenging us to move beyond where we are comfortable,” Father Deck said from his office in Washington where he serves as the U.S. bishops’ executive director of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity. “Because evangelization is part of conversion, we are not going to be comfortable.”
Father Deck is offering his first keynote again in Spanish later that day.
Evangelization is not well understood by Catholics, even though it’s an essential element of their baptism, the priest said. They aren’t alone, he added. “There’s a lack of understanding and a lack of insight within the church.”
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-The complete article can be found here. |
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Catholic Daughters essential for church ministry
By Father Gerald J. Funke
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In the company of eight Idaho women from Lewiston, Nampa, and Kellogg, I was blessed to attend the 53rd Biennial National Convention of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas in Buffalo, N.Y., July 14-18. What an experience to be gathered with some 1,000 strong, faithful and rambunctious Catholic Daughters from throughout the United States and beyond! Gathered with them were about 30 priests – local and state chaplains (I am the Idaho state chaplain) – and Bishop David Fellhauer of Victoria, Texas, the national chaplain.
The theme of the convention was “For in Him, We Live and Move and Have Our Being,” (Acts 17:28). Throughout the event – in prayer, music, liturgy, presentations, leadership and enthusiasm – the Catholic Daughters illustrated the meaning of this theme.
As pastor of St. Paul’s in Nampa, I have long witnessed the work and service of the Catholic Daughters; little happens in the parish in which the Catholic Daughters is not involved. Nonetheless, I left the convention greatly impressed by the Catholic Daughters’ work and service as a national organization, especially through their financial support of organizations, apostolates and institutions worldwide. At its convention, the national organization disbursed almost $250,000 in financial support to the following groups:
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-The complete article can be found here. |
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Offering thanks for Catholic Charities
Editorial |
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Charity, in the Catholic tradition, possesses ancient roots, inextricably intertwined with salvation history. As a formal endeavor in the U.S., Ursuline Sisters in New Orleans are credited for establishing the first formal Catholic Charity agency here in 1727. As the nation grew and Catholic communities grew with it, Catholic Charity agencies, in various forms, began to proliferate. In 1910 at The Catholic University of America in Washington, the National Conference of Catholic Charities was born.
In 2000, following the appointment of Bishop Michael P. Driscoll as bishop of Boise a year earlier, Catholic Charities of Idaho was incorporated. Since then, CCI has served more than 50,000 people in need, currently operating a series of statewide Family Strengthening centers.
In honor of the national centennial, the U.S. bishops have designated Sept. 26 as Catholic Charities Sunday, and encouraged dioceses to consider using the occasion to spread the word about the good work of their own agencies and of CCUSA. Part of the celebration in Idaho will include a second collection at all Masses that weekend to support the work of CCI.
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-The complete article can be found here. |
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Press Releases |
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Letters from the Bishop Michael Driscoll |
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Lectures from Bishop Zavala |
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