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.
Here is a listing of news briefs and upcoming events across the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.
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.
Here are some calendar events scheduled in June across the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska. For more news, opinion and features go to www.CatholicAnchor.org.
Just prior to my fifth pregnancy, my husband Alex and I decided that we would close off our marriage to new life. With a vasectomy on the calendar, our daughter Bethany was conceived, and Alex went through with a sterilization that cost about $800 and took an hour. And that was it. No longer would we ponder the possibility of new life each month in our marriage; our family had grown even beyond what is considered a normal size and we certainly had plenty of children already, right?
Some believe it is arrogant to say that Jesus is the Savior of the world — the only name by which any can be saved. Such statements are narrow and dangerous, we are told, and they offend and alienate others. Past generations might have held such a view but we live in the modern world in which our neighbors are secular or Muslims or from various faith or non-faith backgrounds.
We would like to welcome Deacon Arthur Roraff to our parish, St. Andrew Church in Eagle River. We look forward to your pastoral guidance and new enthusiasm of entering into the priesthood.
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.
Given that the mission of the Catholic Church is to inspire and invite people into a deeper love of God in all his beauty and splendor, perhaps even frontier churches should reconsider ways to foster the vital role that sacred art has played since the earliest days of Christianity.
For Santo, the journey to making this sculpture began when he was an altar boy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, and the pastor showed him a photo of Michelangelo’s renowned Pieta. He remembers wondering why that would happen — why God would allow Mary to go through so much suffering because of her Son’s Passion and death. This question, he believes, is the essential difference between his Pieta and that of Michelangelo. He said that through the centuries, most artists have not wanted to make another Pieta, for fear that it would not measure up to Michelangelo’s masterpiece, often considered the greatest sculpture ever created.