A parishioner at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge will be converting her interest in a Catholic outreach program for college students into a fulltime stint as a collegiate missionary. Deidre Merrill, a graduate of Maryville College, will begin the new school year as a FOCUS missionary at Georgia Tech …
Diocese breaks ground on facility to house St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic
The St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic will soon have a new home. The diocese broke ground July 1 for a 40-by-60-foot warehouse that will house the mobile clinic, which is a family physician’s office on wheels that provides free health care each month to the needy of Washburn, Crab Orchard, and …
Court: Closely held companies can’t be required to cover contraceptives
By Patricia Zapor WASHINGTON (CNS) — In a narrowly tailored 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court on June 30 said closely held companies may be exempted from a government requirement to include contraceptives in employee health-insurance coverage under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The court said that Hobby Lobby and Conestoga …
EWTN’s Jim and Joy Pinto lead diocesan RCIA Summer Conference
EWTN radio personalities Jim and Joy Pinto led the Diocese of Knoxville’s annual RCIA Summer Conference June 21 with discussions on bolstering the domestic Church and the family. About 50 people attended the conference at Holy Trinity Church in Jefferson City. Joining the Pintos in delivering a keynote address was …
Boat Mass attracts marine Catholics from near and far
Father Joe Campbell’s divine streak of boat Masses on Norris Lake without a rain-out is intact thanks to God and a little divine inspiration through prayer by Bishop Richard F. Stika. For the past 12 years, Father Campbell, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in LaFollette and Christ …
Three seminarians ordained into transitional diaconate
The pathway to priesthood in the Diocese of Knoxville continues to be busy as Bishop Richard F. Stika ordained three seminarians June 14 to the transitional diaconate, an important step in their religious education before priesthood. Newly ordained Deacons Jesús Guerrero-Rodríguez, Raymond Powell and Scott Russell participated in the Rite …
Catholic Charities golf tournament raises $50,000
Seventy-two golfers on 18 teams helped Catholic Charities of East Tennessee raise some $50,000 in the fifth annual Common Good Golf Tournament on June 9 at Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville. The money benefits the Knoxville social-service programs of CCET. The tourney is one of three major fundraisers to benefit …
Church’s newest members put their faith into the diocese
A year of faith discernment for some 250 catechumens and candidates who were baptized and confirmed at Easter Vigil culminated June 7 in their official recognition by Bishop Richard F. Stika as the Diocese of Knoxville’s newest parishioners. Bishop Stika celebrated Mass and presided at the Sending of the Neophytes …
Diocese of Knoxville welcomes four new priests
The Diocese of Knoxville welcomed four new priests May 31 as Bishop Richard F. Stika celebrated an ordination Mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, where Fathers Colin Blatchford, Anthony Budnick, Julian Cardona and Adam Kane took their vows for the priesthood. The newly ordained priests processed …
Eucharistic flash mob gathers in Market Square
It was a unique and inspiring display of faith on Market Square in downtown Knoxville May 30 when some 50 people took part in a Eucharistic flash mob in reverent adoration of the Holy Eucharist. One by one, the Catholic faithful gradually gathered before Father Aaron Wessman and knelt as …
Diocese of Knoxville is Top 10 in U.S. for Catholic converts
Bob Armstrong has spent a lifetime looking for God. At age 82, the retired statistician and professed agnostic took a leap of faith after studying the probability of God’s existence and joined the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil. In search of evidence of God for much of his life, Mr. …