An update on the Diocese of Juneau’s website noted: “With heartfelt prayers of condolence and our sincere regret, Bishop Edward J. Burns and the Diocese of Juneau shares that our beloved Fr. Thomas Joseph L. Weise entered into eternal life yesterday evening, Sunday, Dec. 6th, at approximately 10 p.m. in San Luis Obispo, California.”
On his Twitter account Bishop Burns called for the faithful to keep Father Weise in prayer.
The ranks of Alaskan men discerning, training and being ordained to the Catholic priesthood is growing into a steady stream. After nearly a decade without any ordinations to the priesthood, over the past three years two Alaskans have been ordained priests. Five more young men are in formal seminary training and several others have visited seminaries in recent months to consider the priesthood. This vocational uptick is not limited to Alaska. Last year, for the first time in 14 years, the Catholic Church ordained more than 500 men to the priesthood. That is expected to continue in 2015
CatholicAnchor.org On Dec. 8, the Knights of Columbus will host the annual National Knight of Prayer for Life from 8 p.m.-12 a.m., at Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral. The four-hour period of prayer and eucharistic adoration will take place in the Guadalupe Chapel following the 7 p.m. Feast of the Immaculate Conception Mass. Each hour involves special…
The gradual decent into Christmas incoherence is not merely the fault of the unchurched masses. Practicing Christians, too, have failed to pass on many of the rich traditions that celebrate and teach the spiritual heart and meaning of Christmas. Reasons vary, but our once Christian-saturated culture has grown increasingly secular, and that affects us all, including how we celebrate Christmas. The answer to this malady doesn’t lie in pressuring Starbucks to baptize its red-washed holiday cups. Those are only the final fruits of a long chain of events. A “Merry Christmas” cup isn’t going to turn the tide. The renewal of Christmas will begin elsewhere…
Father Paul Edward Scanlon, the tall, prayerful Dominican priest who had a major hand in establishing Dominican friars in Anchorage, died on Nov. 19 of respiratory failure in Los Angeles, Calif. He was 82. He served as provincial leader over the entire Western Dominican Province from 1969 to 1977. During that time, he accepted an invitation by late Anchorage Archbishop Joseph Ryan to bring Dominican friars to Anchorage to care for and run Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Anchorage. At that time, Father Scanlon was impressed by the need for Dominicans to establish a presence in Alaska. They’ve been here ever since.
On Nov. 10 the Bethel City Council unanimously passed dual ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” with regards to city employees or outside groups contracting with the city. The move places sexual orientation and gender identity on the same protected legal status as race and religion. Bethel’s move comes just six weeks after Anchorage became the first city in Alaska to pass a sexual orientation non-discrimination law. The Anchorage law, however, is much broader in outlawing discrimination with regards to housing, public and private employment and public accommodations.
The Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance last month establishing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as classifications of prohibited discrimination in the Anchorage civil code. The move places sexual orientation and gender identity on the same legal level as race and religion.
Religious liberty advocates are deeply concerned that the new ordinance compels local churches, faith-based groups and business owners to violate deeply held beliefs by forcing them to hire employees who are openly living a homosexual and/or transgender lifestyle, while also forcing service companies and rental organizations to promote, serve and facilitate causes and events which violate their moral beliefs, especially in the area of sexuality.
For three weeks, Cardinals, archbishops, priests from around the world gathered in Rome to grapple with how Catholics can better reach out to families — inviting them to a fuller encounter with Christ and his church. While much of the global press focused on hot-button debates about whether to let divorced and civilly remarried couples return to Communion, or how the church can use different language in reference to gays and lesbians and those living together outside of marriage, the expressed purpose of the synod was to find ways to support the first cell of the church — the family.
Alaska’s three-member congressional delegation expressed deep gratitude that Pope Francis took time out of his apostolic visit to the United States to become the first-ever pontiff to speak to both houses of Congress on Sept. 24 in Washington, D.C.
Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, both Catholic, attended the historic papal address in the House Chambers, along with Representative Don Young. Also in attendance were the president’s cabinet and members of the U.S. Supreme Court.
CatholicAnchor.org The following upcoming events are on Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz’s calendar for the month of November: Nov. 14 – 9 a.m., Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Exemplification, St. Elizabeth Nov. 14 – 3:30 p.m., Reconciliation, St. Andrew Nov. 16-19 – U.S. Bishop’s meetings, Baltimore Nov. 21 – 5:30 p.m., Mass for King Islanders Christ…