Through the good leadership of our shepherds, the Church is experiencing the remarkable grace of spiritual closeness from a distance. To the extent you may find it helpful, the Conference has been collecting examples of how our community of faith has sought to remain with one another in prayer during these difficult times. You may find the list here: http://www.usccb.org/coronavirus

In the days ahead, we will update this page as we find and you share additional resources. Our Public Affairs and Episcopal Resources teams are partnering also with the Office of Divine Worship, the Office of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and other Conference colleagues to develop new resources to help the faithful in our home prayer. These are being prepared for Catholic Current. Those resources are here: https://catholiccurrent.org/covid19/

Additionally, we have begun discussions with media companies such as Facebook to offer training in the near future on low-tech, low-cost ways smaller parishes can share their private Masses and/or prayer services with those at home. As these develop, we will keep you updated.

The young adults of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist would like to invite those from the ages of 18-35 to an evening of prayer and fellowship on Friday March 20. Join the Cathedral parish for Presanctified Divine Liturgy at 7 p.m. followed by a social for young adults. Those planning to attend are encouraged to bring a Lenten friendly sidedish or snack. Non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. All are welcome! Invite friends to experience the beatuty of our Eastern Catholic spirituality during this Lenten season and join other young Catholics in growing closer to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

CLINTON TWP, Michigan — Saint Nicholas Church hosted its eighth annual Ladies Tea Party and fundraiser on Sunday, February 23. The parish gentlemen served as waiters, keeping the 160+ female guests well-plied with a variety of tea sandwiches, teas, and desserts. Following the English Tea tradition, a raffle of more than 90 gift baskets ended the afternoon’s four hours of fun, frolicking and frivolity! Thanks to all who attended, and especially to everyone who worked so hard to help make this tea party a financial and social success, i na mnohaja i blahaja l’ita!

Join the nuns of Christ the Bridegroom Monastery for the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete on Monday, March 23, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, 1900 Carlton Rd., Parma, Ohio.The hundreds of prostrations unite our body and soul as we repent of our sins and experience God’s mercy. We will also listen to the life of St. Mary of Egypt and venerate her relic. The opportunity for the Mystery of Holy Repentance (Confession) will also be available. A simple Lenten meal will be served 5:00-5:45 p.m., and the Canon will begin at 6:00 p.m. All are invited to come for part or all of the Canon, even if you are not physically able to participate in the prostrations. The duration of the Canon is approximately 3.5 hours. If you plan to come for dinner, please RSVP by Thursday, March 19, to christthebridegroom@gmail.com or 440-834-0290.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri — On Sunday, March 1, 2020, the First Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, his Grace, Bishop Milan Lach visited the St. Louis Byzantine Catholic Mission of St. Louis, Missouri, and celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil. A nice crowd of 66 parishioners and guests attended, which included 24 children. Following the liturgy, all were invited to bring their Icon from home or to take one from the church wall and join in as all made a procession around the grounds and sang hymns to commemorate the Sunday of Orthodoxy. After the procession the people were invited to the Fellowship Room for a Lenten Luncheon. The mission’s ECF class had made a pennant banner to welcome Bishop Milan.

CLINTON TWP, Michigan — Parishioners of St. Nicholas gathered on Sunday, February 9, 2020 and packed lunches for the homeless. The parishioners got together for a classic Motor City-like experience - an assembly line - but instead of building cars, the production line fabricated sandwiches and then assembled packed lunches for the homeless! This was St. Nick's largest run to date, and the entire manufacturing volume was donated to the St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church’s Warming Center in St Clair Shores, MI.

VATICAN — Holy Father Francis has appointed Bishop Giorgio Demetrio Gallaro as the new Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches. Published on Tuesday February 25, 2020 at noon Italian time in the Sala Stampa, the former Bishop of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi di Sicilia was appointed to the rank of titular Archbishop as well.

I have been asked by many of my parishioners about the need to confess their sins, questions like, "What must I say when I come to confession? What do I have to confess? Of what I believe I do wrong, are some of them really sins? What is the definition of a grave sin? What is a venial sin? When and how often do I have to go to confession?” With those questions in mind, this article is the first in a series through which I will provide important answers to important questions in the field of moral theology and bioethics based on the teaching of the Catholic Church. READ MORE.

See the complete regulations and directives binding Byzantine Catholics of Eparchy of Parma for the Great Lent 2020.

As Christians, believing in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we should realize that those who are deceased are with us and are part of our church in the same way as those who live on this earth. And so we do not pray only for them, but they are also praying for us. As someone asks their friends for prayer and at the same time he prays for them, also we pray for one another without any concern that we are separated by death.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Very Rev. Mitred Archpriest Marek Visnovsky, Protosyncellus of the Eparchy of Parma, was present at the seminar on safeguarding with Fr. Hans Zollner, S.J., President of the Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.

MENTOR-On-The-Lake, Ohio — Sunday, February 9 at 2pm, Holy Resurrection Parish (merged parishes of Holy Transfiguration and St. Stephen) celebrated a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Bishop Milan Lach at St. Andrew’s Church in Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On Tuesday, February 4th, Bishop Milan visited Catholic students at Cleveland State University’s Newman Center. He had dinner with them and then gave a talk on the love of God in prayer and answered the students’ questions.