Mother Barbara Anne Gooding, RSM, a foundress of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., who was in residence in the Diocese of Knoxville, died April 1, following a brief illness. Called in religious life Sister Barbara Anne Marie, she was born on Feb. 12, 1940, in Cincinnati and …
Perspective from a child of God
By Rhetta Botts From the perspective of someone who converted to Catholicism and was confirmed during the high school years, I can say that I wish I had received the graces sooner. “Confirmation isn’t magic,” Sister John Catherine Kennedy, OP, once told me. We must desire the graces, and we must …
Bishop Stika lowers confirmation age to fifth, sixth grades
By Rhetta Botts Following an extended period of study, the age of confirmation in the Diocese of Knoxville is being lowered to a middle-school grade level. Bishop Richard F. Stika has announced that the confirmation age will drop from high school to fifth and sixth grades. With this change, Bishop Stika …
Students share a window to the world of cathedral construction
By Emily Booker When one of the largest church construction projects in the country is happening right outside your classroom, you can’t help but watch and wonder. And talk about a teaching moment. It’s a feild trip right outside the school doors. Sacred Heart Cathedral School students and faculty have …
Completing their mission: St. Michael the Archangel community working to fulfill dream of becoming parish
By Dan McWilliams God has performed many marvelous deeds for St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Mission in Erwin, and the story is not finished yet. The Unicoi County mission has now outgrown a second location, as it looks forward to the construction of a multipurpose building on its 12½-acre plot …
Bishop Stika, Jim Wogan launch diocesan TV show A Call to Discipleship
By Bill Brewer The Diocese of Knoxville is turning to television as an evangelization tool to help spread the word of God throughout East Tennessee. A Call to Discipleship is a new TV show being produced by the Diocese of Knoxville that features stories and conversation on discipleship taking place …
Once upon a time: Building His Church, living stone by living stone
By Monsignor Xavier Mankel With the canonizations of Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Louis and Zelie Martin, and many other lesser-known saints, we should have at our disposal a sufficient number of saints from a catalogue of the saints to cultivate devotions for many years to come. …
He dwells among us: Ocean of mercy
In life’s hard journey, we all must dive into the ocean of mercy By Bishop Richard F. Stika As the media began reporting last month on the release of Pope Francis’ document on marriage and family, titled The Joy of Love (Amoris Laetitia), I thought of the story of the …
