Monthly Archives: February 2014

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Poverty and Destitution

Next Wednesday begins Lent. I love Ash Wednesday!  People come to Mass in large numbers and receive a public sign of their faith – the sign of the cross traced on the forehead with ashes. It is a smudge that most people understand or at least ask about. The ashes on our forehead call for the interior conversion from sin and proclaim an exterior proclamation that as Catholics we need God and desire conversion.

This act of humility also is accompanied […]

2015-10-02T13:47:12-04:00February 27th, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|

Rice Bowl and Catholic Schools

Today, Catholic Charities of Louisville organized a luncheon to promote Catholic Relief Services’ Rice Bowl Program. At this gathering, approximately 150 students in grades 6-12 from 28 Catholic schools will hear about this wonderful program and share ways in which they will promote it at their schools.  For more information about this program, including the Rice Bowl mobile app, go here

Because I am in Rome this week for curial visits, I sent a greeting, through Deacon Lucio Caruso, to […]

2017-10-13T15:53:07-04:00February 19th, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|

The Gift of Consecrated Life

September of 1955 seems so long ago. During this year, as I entered fourth grade, I went to St. Canicus School in the small coal town of Mahanoy City and met the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart for the first time. My little parish school of St. Mary had closed its doors because of dwindling enrollment, and I and my nine classmates had to find a new school home.

Sr. Mary Denis Woods, GNSH, left and <a href=[…]

2017-10-13T15:53:07-04:00February 12th, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|

What I Learned in the Philippines

Seven cargo ships ran aground in the Anibong region of Tacloban City during Typhoon Haiyan, or Yolanda, as it’s called in the Philippines. Three months later, children run and play around the mud-encrusted rudders of one ship. Wooden poles stick out of the water nearby where now-destroyed houses once sat on stilts. Debris litters the ground for miles. Power lines overhead dangle on patched and broken poles, impossibly tangled.

Archbishop greets a mother and child in the <a href=[…]

2017-10-13T15:53:07-04:00February 11th, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|

Rain, Unity, and Hope

I have celebrated the Holy Eucharist when it was pouring outside the Church, but yesterday in Santo Niño Church, located in Tacloban, the rain poured into the aisles throughout the Mass.  Our team had just come through a downpour in the barangay called Anibong, which is by the sea, and we arrived at the Church where the faithful had gathered for Mass. All through the trip, I have been repeating that we are one church and that our presence is […]

2017-10-13T15:53:07-04:00February 4th, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|

Photos from the Philippines

Here are some photos of some of my meetings, thanks to Don Clemmer of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: 

Meeting with Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila Meeting with Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila

 

Meeting with Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan and President of the Filippino Bishops' Conference. Meeting with Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan and President of the Filippino Bishops’ Conference.

 

[…]

2017-10-13T15:53:07-04:00February 3rd, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|

Philippines Blog – Day 1

I am in Manila after traveling here through Chicago and Tokyo yesterday.  While my friends in Louisville are getting ready for Super Bowl kickoff, I am here on Monday morning at 7:30 a.m., ready and excited to being a full day in the Philippines.

We all made it in one piece and gathered last evening, a little after 11 p.m., which was Sunday at 9 a.m. in Louisville, to begin a journey and pilgrimage. Dr. Carolyn Woo, Executive Director of Catholic […]

2017-10-13T15:53:07-04:00February 2nd, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|

Greetings on the World Day for Consecrated Life

Today, as we celebrate the World Day for Consecrated Life, the Archdiocese of Louisville is holding its annual Mass for those celebrating religious jubilees.  Since I am traveling to the Philippines, I am sending this greeting to those gathered: 

From the Philippines I greet and congratulate all women and men religious who gather on the occasion of your anniversary of consecration.  While I bring your love and concern with me as I travel to the devastated parts of the Philippines ravaged […]

2014-02-02T08:54:36-05:00February 2nd, 2014|Archbishop's Blog|