Alaska’s World Youth Day pilgrims urged to register by end of June
Alaskan pilgrims planning to attend the 2016 World Youth Day gathering with Pope Francis in Poland are being urged to register for the trip by the end of this month.
ALASKA NEWS
Sacred sites await spiritual trekkers across Alaska
For millions of Christians, including those in Alaska, summer is spiritual pilgrimage time. But if Alaskan pilgrims can’t make the long journey to Lourdes or the Holy Land, they can still make little pilgrimages — in the Far North. Here, the Catholic Anchor lists a few holy sites in Alaska ripe for spiritual venturing.
“We are all pilgrims,” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has explained. And that pilgrimage is a “journey to Heaven,” he added – one in which the faithful are on a “perennial mission of proclaiming before the world the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Catholic Anchor honored by Alaska’s secular media
Competing against news outlets from across Alaska, the Catholic Anchor took home three awards from the Alaska Press Club’s statewide journalism competition, which took place in Anchorage in late April. Consisting of several hundred journalists and more than 60 media outlets, the Alaska Press Club is a professional organization that provides education, recognition and information to Alaska’s reporters, editors and publishers. The Catholic Anchor — the only faith-based newspaper among the Alaska Press Club members — continued its long tradition of being honored at the annual conference.
Alaska’s Catholic summer camp geared up for second season
The second season of St. Therese’s Camp in the Mat-Su Valley begins June 28. The Catholic summer camp, located outside of Wasilla, offers four weeklong programs on a forested 57-acre lakeside campus. According to the camp website, programming for children ages 8-14 includes “swimming, kayaking, canoeing, singing, campfires, archery, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, arts and crafts and outdoor skills training.”
Alaska Catholic Youth Conference aims to ‘reinvigorate’ faith
Attendees will participate in daily Mass, go to eucharistic adoration and confession, perform service projects in the community and raise money for Heifer International. On Tuesday evening, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz, Fairbanks Bishop Chad Zielinski and Juneau Bishop Edward Burns will join young people for an ice cream social, after which the youth will be able to grill the bishops with questions about the faith. This is a popular and well attended yearly event at ACYC.
Anchorage parish to mark 10 years of perpetual eucharistic adoration
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in south Anchorage will be celebrating 10 years of offering perpetual eucharistic adoration at the parish.
New Alaskan deacons urged to be instruments of mercy
It’s no secret that the vast, sparsely populated expanse of Alaska suffers from a grave shortage of Catholic clergy. On May 1 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral in Anchorage that burden was lessened just a bit when six Alaskan men, dressed in white albs, were called from their seats among family and friends to be ordained permanent deacons for the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
News & Upcoming Events across the Anchorage Archdiocese
Here is a listing of news briefs and upcoming events across the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.
Anchorage Archbishop’s June Calendar
Here is a list of liturgies and events that Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz is scheduled to participate in during the month of June. For more news, photos, opinions and features from the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska, go to www.CatholicAnchor.org.
Doubts and challenges to faith are fair game at Alaska parish’s outreach
In a world that so often marginalizes and ignores matters of faith and religion, burning questions loom of the afterlife, of God, of a creator and how to live out fleeting lives here on Earth. For some that leads to questions about the Catholic Church. “Seekers,” a group that meets at St. Patrick Church in Anchorage, has gained momentum among Alaskans looking for answers to spirituality in general and interest in the Catholic faith.