News - February 2018 RSS Feed

The Diocese of Pittsburgh is initiating the nomination and application process for admitting a new class of interested and qualified Catholic men into the Deacon Formation Program, according to an announcement today by Bishop David A. Zubik.

Are you one of those people that things just seem to happen to? Things that would never happen to someone else? That’s me.

On this Second Sunday of Lent, we continue our penitential journey as we reflect on the Transfiguration on the Mount Tabor.

I went to see Wonder Woman at the movies with a friend, expecting a night of epic battles and selfless heroes, peppered with a few laughs along the way. But at the movie’s conclusion I found myself staring with unblinking saucer eyes at the rolling credits, seemingly frozen to my seat. I sat in awe of a truth that had overpowered me during the movie: Though I don’t deserve it, God’s love for me is so great that He thirsts to come into the daily mess of my life.

The First Sunday of Lent is called Temptation Sunday. Temptation is a test of our faithfulness and loyalty to God, whether arising from within one’s self, from other persons, the circumstances of life, the action of the devil or something else.

Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called for prayer and healing. 

"Is eating salmon or crab really a sacrifice? So, why not beef?” “I think I am giving up school for Lent, Mom… or at least homework.”   Even as a theologian these are not always easy questions to answer.

The number 40 appears more than 140 times in the Bible, usually to alert us to a time of challenge, change or testing.

"So as I took a leap of faith -- I had no idea how I was going to get through the experience."

Bishop David A. Zubik will celebrate a Mass of Remembrance and Healing for persons and families who have suffered due to drug addiction at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 11, 2018 at Saint Paul Cathedral in Oakland. All are welcome.