If the weather, crowd size, and smiles are a barometer, then the 2015 edition of Irish Fest on the Hill at Immaculate Conception Church in Knoxville was a rousing success. More than a thousand people gathered in the 400 block of West Vine Avenue on Saturday, Aug. 8, for fellowship, …
Fighting hunger is a team affair for parishes
A highly organized assembly line of parishioners from across the Diocese of Knoxville gathered at St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City on July 25 in an effort to help end hunger in Africa. Those who took part in the Helping Hands project, sponsored by Catholic Relief Services, helped churn …
Of prophets and kings
By Father Joseph Brando In modern times, the relationship between church and state is complex and difficult. The complication is due to multiple factors, including the migration of peoples, race, military power, the attitude of the people, and the power of one or more ethnic groups in the nation, among …
Diocese of Knoxville welcomes four new priests
By Jim Wogan With words of encouragement and a few more on what to expect, Bishop Richard F. Stika ordained four new priests into the Diocese of Knoxville on June 27. Jesus Guerrero-Rodriguez, Michael Hendershott, Scott Russell and Ray Powell all received their Holy Orders during the Rite of Ordination …
Baseball author goes by The Book
By Jim Wogan Bryan Steverson doesn’t go anywhere, including Mass, without a pen and some three-by-five index cards in his back pocket. The Virginia native and his wife, Barbara, have been parishioners at Our Lady of Fatima in Alcoa for 30 years. During Mass, Mr. Steverson’s focus is on the …
Pope speaks as a pastor in call to protect earth, USCCB president says
By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — Pope Francis speaks with a pastor’s voice and with deep respect for science in calling the world to address threats to all life on earth through environmental degradation and a the mindset of a “throwaway culture” in his encyclical, the president of …
All creation sings God’s praise, but people are silencing it, pope says
By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The earth, which was created to support life and give praise to God, is crying out with pain because human activity is destroying it, Pope Francis says in his long-awaited encyclical, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.” All who …
A Conversation with the Cardinals
It was a fireside chat for the ages – at least for the ages in the Diocese of Knoxville – when Bishop Richard F. Stika emceed an insightful and often lighthearted discussion by three of the Roman Catholic Church’s pre-eminent prelates – Cardinals Justin Rigali, William Levada and Timothy Dolan …
Cardinal Timothy Dolan is featured speaker at Following Jesus Conference
In delivering keynote remarks for the Diocese of Knoxville’s Following Jesus Conference, Cardinal Timothy Dolan summoned the new and not-too-distant legacies of Popes Francis, Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II to illustrate his message on the New Evangelization. And in the process, Cardinal Dolan would help make history in …
Being faithful and fruitful in the New Evangelization
Curtis Martin, the dynamic Catholic lay evangelist who founded the FOCUS missionary movement in the United States and abroad, delivered his unique brand of evangelization to the Diocese of Knoxville on April 18 as a featured speaker for the diocese’s Following Jesus Conference. Mr. Martin started the Fellowship of Catholic …
Cardinal Rigali reflects on a career spent at the altar of Catholic history
Whatever Cardinal Justin Rigali touches turns historic — or so it seems. The walls and shelves in his Chancery office, crowded with photos, documents and items from some of the most heralded Church events in recent time, prove the point. Vatican II, saints, popes, papal visits around the globe, papal …
Cardinal Justin Rigali through the years
April 19, 1935: Born in Los Angeles April 25, 1961: Ordained a priest in Los Angeles October 1961-1964: Graduate studies at Pontifical North American College and Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome October 1962-1963: Priest assistant at the Second Vatican Council in Rome 1966-1970: Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature to Madagascar …
