I’ve been thinking about community lately, because I realize how important it is to me and to all of us. We can’t get along without some kind of community of friends, and the quality of the community we form says a lot about how healthy we are as human beings and especially as Christians.
Out on the plains of North Dakota there once stood a church, a building of severe Gothic style that served my German-Catholic ancestors. It is gone now, demolished! Those who once worshipped there have gone elsewhere. I was deeply saddened when I learned of its passing, because it was on the very grounds of this modest sacred edifice that my faith took first root.
CatholicAnchor.org Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz is hosting a March 25 prayer service to seek healing for those who have been impacted by abuse and violence. The gathering will take place at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Anchorage (3900 Wisconsin St.) at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. The service is titled “A…
CatholicAnchor.org In response to the legalization of marijuana use in Alaska, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz has issued updated standards of conduct for all employees of the Anchorage Archdiocese. In a memo sent to all priests, deacons, religious employees and volunteers the archbishop instructed that all such pastoral ministers should refrain from “smoking, using, possessing or…
On March 3 Mother Maria de las Victorias del Sagrado Corazon died at the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament in Anchorage. She was 84. According to a notice from the Anchorage Archdiocese she was “peacefully surrounded” by her fellow cloistered Catholic nuns at the moment of her death. A viewing will be held at the Anchorage monastery (2645 East 72nd Ave.) on Friday, March 6 from 3-9 pm. with a rosary at 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held there on Saturday, March 7, at 11 a.m. with a public viewing 30 minutes prior to Mass.
CatholicAnchor.org On Thursday, March 5, Theology and Brew in Anchorage will host a talk by Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest Father David Munoz, who will speak on the topic of consecrated life. The talk will be given in honor of Pope Francis’ call to observe a “Year for Consecrated Life.” His presentation is titled “Wake…
CatholicAnchor.org In an effort to help launch Catholic radio in Anchorage, the local chapter of Catholics United for the Faith (St. Catherine of Siena Chapter in Anchorage) is hosting its second La Bella Brigata Dinner. Titled: “An Evening with Sheen: A live performance of a classic Archbishop Fulton Sheen television show,” the event will feature…
Mother Josefina was a cloistered member of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. She began her religious life at age 19 in 1937. She moved to Alaska in 1985 with a small contingent of nuns who settled in Alaska 30 years ago. The sisters established a cloister in Anchorage at the urging of a group of local laity and an invitation from then Anchorage Archbishop Francis Hurley, who was first acquainted with the order while a child.
Mother Maria Josefina, a cloistered sister of Perpetual Adoration died Feb. 22 at the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament in Anchorage. She was 96. Born in 1918, Mother Josefina spent 78 years as a religious sister. A funeral Mass will be held Feb. 27 at the Anchorage monastery (2645 E. 72nd Ave.) from 2:50-4 p.m. A public viewing will take place 30 minutes prior to the Mass.
In Alaska, thousands of miles to west, a friend is up in his years and living out his last week on earth. He is sick and dying, and I’m using the pangs of hunger throughout the day as a reminder to send “positive intentions” his way — more commonly known as prayers. But I am reluctant to call them that, just then. I have been reading some “out there stuff.” I have also studied the faith of the Mormons and of Jehovah Witnesses, and been comparing the two with my philosophical anchoring in a Lutheran church. I am contemplating an exhaustive study of Buddhism next.