CatholicAnchor.org When “social” is part of your name, the challenges to deliver services when social distancing is mandated can be daunting, but manageable. Catholic Social Services (CSS) is navigating a new way to reach out to the marginalized, the poor, and the homeless as restrictions are placed on all human activity, due to the unprecedented…
CatholicAnchor.org A Gospel passage about our Lord’s teaching on the Eucharist was so shocking that “many of his disciples” refused to accept it. As a result, they stopped following Jesus and returned to “their former way of life.”Christ asks those who stayed with Him: “Do you also want to leave?” It was a moment of…
CatholicAnchor.org I recall returning to my hometown of New Orleans in 2006, five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August of 2005, and there was a consistent question that locals asked of each other when they met: “How did you fare during the storm?” I found a shared experience and concern for…
By Laurie Evans-Dinneen CatholicAnchor.org These past months, we have faced many changes in our daily lives. Children and teens are distance learning, while many parents have been laid off or shifted to work-from-home situations. We know people who have been sick or have lost loved ones. Many stores and even our churches have been temporarily…
Volunteers are the backbone of Catholic Social Services and have been since our beginnings. Active community members and volunteers started Catholic Social Services, and CSS has continued to grow because of them. In some ways, Catholic Social Services is the drawing and is fully realized in color by people in the community who volunteer and…
CatholicAnchor.org “In the worst hour of the worst season of the worst year of a whole people…” Those haunting words are the first two lines of a poem called “Quarantine” by Eavan Boland. Boland, an Irish poet and professor, died in her native Dublin at the end of April. She was 75. Twenty years ago,…
CatholicAnchor.org In the uncertain times of COVID-19, Deacon Mick Fornelli has passage to a part of Anchorage many people don’t have: hospital rooms. “I’ve been involved in hospital ministry ever since my ordination, a little over 11 years,” said Deacon Fornelli. “Most of it was at St. Elias Specialty Hospital in Anchorage as a chaplain….
CatholicAnchor.org While the recent COVID-19 phenomenon has impacted all Alaskans, it poses a particular problem for Catholics (and believers of all faiths) who wish to gather for worship but find themselves unable to do so. Each parish community in the archdiocese has worked in the past weeks to provide faith, support, and encouragement to the…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, May the grace and peace of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ be with us always! In Jesus’ time, shepherds used wooden staffs to protect their flocks from wolves and other threats. They used the hook of their staffs to gently bring into unity those sheep who wandered off. During…
CatholicAnchor.org Catholic educators throughout the archdiocese are finding that unprecedented challenges can be met with innovation, adaptation, and a generous amount of faith. The rapid spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the world left teachers, principals, and parents scrambling to meet the needs of students of all ages, as governments issued stay-at-home orders and churches…