In this video Anchorage Archbishop-elect Paul Etienne reflects on having two brothers who are priests, a sister who is a nun. He also talks about his love for the outdoors and addresses anxieties that some Alaskans may have in getting a new archbishop.
The morning faithful at the 9 a.m., mid-week Mass at St. Andrew Church in Eagle River were in for a surprise on October 4. Seven hours earlier the Vatican publicly announced that Pope Francis had appointed Bishop Paul Etienne, of the Wyoming Diocese, to be the next archbishop of Anchorage. Unbeknownst to most parishioners, the incoming archbishop was in the back vestibule of St. Andrew’s preparing to celebrate his first Mass in the archdiocese.
By a vote of 8-1, the Juneau Borough Assembly effectively criminalized efforts by churches, non-profits or local businesses to operate their outreaches and organizations in accord with deeply held beliefs about human sexuality.
An accomplished female track star and Alaska record holder has now publicly challenged the state’s governing athletic board over its decision to allow male athletes to compete against females in high school state championship events.
Father Nelson Marilag died suddenly and unexpectedly on Sept. 20 while serving as a priest in the Diocese of Fairbanks.
A native of the Philippines, he served in the Archdiocese of Anchorage from the time of his arrival from the Diocese of Butuan in 2002, until 2010 when he transferred to serve in the Diocese of Fairbanks as part of an innovative program to share priests across Alaska’s three Catholic dioceses.
The so-called “Satanic prayer” at the Aug. 9 Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting was widely reported on and left some Alaskans outraged. Others shook their heads or shrugged. Was this an earnest prayer for satanic principles to guide assembly members in discerning the public good or was it a tongue-in-cheek mockery of public invocations in general?
Alaskan parents won a hard fought battle to gain control over what is taught to their children when it comes to sex education.
It was 1991 when Saint Pope John Paul II laid hands on Father Kermit Syren’s head and ordained him into the priesthood.
When Middle-Eastern Christians are beheaded for their faith, when men, women and children are killed in the streets of France, when ancient holy sites are reduced to rubble — something deep in the human heart cries for revenge.
By striking down the law Justice Stowers, in his dissent, said the court has indicated that “no parental notification law recognizing parents’ fundamental legal rights to notification of, much less meaningful involvement in, their minor daughters’ decisions to have abortions will be upheld by this court…”