Joyce and Karl Lund have spent their lives living out a passion for education and a commitment to doing things together. So it’s probably no surprise that after “retiring” from over 80 years, collectively, in the world of public education, they opted out of an opportunity for adventure in Panama, and accepted instead the invitation to help launch Our Lady of the Valley Catholic School in Wasilla.
Father Tom Lilly recently completed an ancient pilgrimage path, hiking the narrow footpaths, farm trails, cobbled streets and byways of Spain. The pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Anchorage completed his journey to the historic cathedral that houses the relics of Saint James the Apostle. Known as Santiago de Compostela, the church has been a prominent place of Catholic pilgrimage since the Middle Ages.
By ELI WOODVINE CatholicAnchor.org Teens and youth leaders from four Alaska parishes teamed up earlier this summer to make a difference on Alaska’s Kodiak, Island. In July, 14 teens and seven chaperones from Our Lady of the Angels in Kenai, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Soldotna, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Anchorage boarded…
nation. He serves both as archbishop of Anchorage and as the temporary apostolic administrator over Fairbanks until it is assigned a new bishop by the pope. Combined Archbishop Schwietz oversees a geographic area that spans 550,000 square miles, or more than twice the size of Texas. Despite his added duties and frequent flights to small villages across Alaska, Archbishop Schwietz is now less than a year away from his 75th birthday. On July 3, 2015, he will reach the age at which all bishops must submit their resignation letter to the pope.
More than 400 Catholic school students have filled the hallways, classrooms and chapels of the five schools located in the Anchorage Archdiocese. With the start of the new academic year, educators are offering a variety of options to Alaskan parents seeking to provide their children a faith-based educational alternative to public schools.
In his recent homily the pope posed a stark question: “When I give alms, do I drop the coin without touching the hand (of the poor person, beggar)? And if by chance I do touch it, do I immediately withdraw it?”
Catholic charity is not a matter of mere correct belief — it’s touching the flesh of the poor and thereby loving the Body of Christ.
Today this eminent Montessori approach is nurturing the faith of thousands of toddlers to tweens worldwide. Since its founding in 1954, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd has flourished in 37 countries and more than 1,250 locations in the U.S., including adapted versions in Episcopal and Orthodox settings. Yet in the Archdiocese of Anchorage, CGS subsists only as a little known gem within St. Patrick Church and on a limited basis at Holy Family Cathedral, both in Anchorage.
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz has issued a list of allowable activities for parishes to engage in during the upcoming political season. The June 6 memo was sent to all parishes and agencies of the archdiocese to remind them of allowable activity during elections.
It’s safe to say that we live in a time when the historic message of Christianity is being drowned out and watered down. Hyper individualism has many believing they can reinvent and reorient their lives however they wish. Belief in fixed moral realities and religious truths are increasingly difficult to swallow and are more likely to be seen as naïve sentiments held by children and those who grew up in a simpler time.
Alaska’s Orthodox Christian leaders praised Pope Francis and applauded a series of recent high profile meetings between him and Orthodox Patriarch on Constantinople Bartholomew, but they also expressed guarded enthusiasm about whether the encounters constitute significant progress toward uniting the long-divided churches.