Holy Cross Brother Charles McBride died on July 14 after recent heart and respiratory health issues. In June Brother Charles McBride marked his 57 years since taking his religious vows as a member of the religious order the Congregation of Holy Cross. Brother McBride spent 25 years serving the Archdiocese of Anchorage from 1979 to 2004, most of those years as the director of communications.
In an effort to promote Catholic education in Alaska, an Anchorage youth was awarded a scholarship for her winning essay on the theme: “Just be a blessing.” The Catholic Daughters of the Americas court in Anchorage organizes the annual student essay scholarship.
Below is a round-up of recent news and upcoming events across the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.
Matthew Beck has been hired to fill a new position with the Archdiocese of Anchorage as director of youth ministry. He will assume his new post Aug. 3. Beck holds a master’s degree in pastoral ministries from St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn. in addition to an undergraduate degree in secondary education from the University of Idaho.
Here is a list of community events from around the Anchorage Archdiocese in the month of July.
Here is a list of some of the events and liturgies that Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schweitz is scheduled to participate in this month.
Jim Gaffigan, a standup comedian who happens to be a married Catholic father with five children, is a headliner for this year’s Alaska State Fair. A rising star, the popular comic known for his food jokes and self depreciating skits also regularly includes monologues about his large and growing family and the hilarity of raising five children.
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz has invited Catholics across the archdiocese to join him, July 3, for a Mass and reception in celebration of his 25th year since being named a bishop. The 25th Jubilee events will begin with a Mass of Thanksgiving on Friday, July 3, starting 2 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral in Anchorage. A public reception will immediately follow.
When Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz lays his hands on 47-year-old Deacon Arthur Roraff to ordain him a Catholic priest it will mark the second such ordination in the past three years for the Anchorage Archdiocese. This comes after an eight-year drought. But things are changing and several more men are in line for ordination in coming years.
A long-time missionary servant to Alaska, Mercy Sister Arlene Boyd, died June 9 in Albany, New York. She was a Sister of Mercy for 59 years, spending most of that time teaching religious education and serving the poor and marginalized in Alaska. Sister Boyd lived through the earliest days of the Archdiocese of Anchorage, which was founded in 1967. Around that time late Anchorage Archbishop Joseph Ryan persuaded the Sisters of Mercy in Albany to send some of their sisters north to the new archdiocese.