VIRTUS came out of a national forum with prominent experts from a variety of disciplines in March 1998. The meeting, under the auspices of the National Catholic Risk Retention Group, was held in response to clergy sex abuse.

“I’ve been wanting an opportunity to experience the Memorial through more than just walking through it,” said the Richmond freshman majoring in wildlife conservation. “It was nice to combine it with my faith and to honor April 16th.”

Festival attendance increases each year.

“There is a large number of people bringing in so many people from the community,” she said. “They hear ‘food festival’ and they want to come.”

Two days before Thanksgiving 2016, Jeff, Lauren, and their sons went to the doctor’s office for the much-anticipated ultrasound where they would learn the gender of the baby, but soon something seemed wrong. 

“I had a profound experience of God at Mass one day — that our faith is true. God loves me more than I can ever understand,” the Richmond native recalled in an interview with The Catholic Virginian, Monday, March 26. “I saw the priest, Msgr. (Patrick) Golden, processing; I just felt like this was a glorious vocation, but at the same time, one that comes with some costs, and I felt like God was inviting me to think about it.” – Deacon John Baab

Most of the Virginia Catholic Conference’s (VCC) top legislative priorities during this year’s 60-day Virginia General Assembly session were decided by lawmakers in committees – not by votes on the floors of the Senate or House.

Recollections of personal encounters shed light on that inner change. To illustrate, Camm recalled an experience that opened her eyes to the reality of racism. It occurred during a long car ride with her black friend, Helen Harvey. She and Harvey were escorting the four Mercy Sisters, teachers of Harvey’s children at the school, to the sisters’ motherhouse in Philadelphia:

“He saw the goodness of the people in the pews and knew they needed encouragement and support,” Msgr. Shreve said. “He came here and brought that whole sense of being approachable, thoughtful, pleasant to people, and of providing support and encouragement for priests.”

Msgr. Sapienza helped the boy up to the platform where the pope was seated. Emanuele was sobbing by that point, and Pope Francis enveloped him in a big embrace, patting his head and speaking softly to him.

The saints do not waste energy complaining about the failings of others; they can hold their tongue before the faults of their brothers and sisters and avoid the verbal violence that demeans and mistreats others.

People often ask, he said, if he has a “Plan B.”

“I tell people I really don’t. Once you have a Plan B, it means you’ve let in a seed of doubt; it means you aren’t giving 120 percent to Plan A. So, for now, my plan is to give 120 percent to what I’m doing now,” he said, adding, “And I plan to keep moving forward in my faith. Moving forward in my faith means moving forward in my life, because now my faith leads my life.”

66 of 145 parishes have exceeded their targets with many more nearing them. At this pace, the Appeal is on track to garner the highest amount ever raised. 

The VIGIL Project collaboration began in February 2016 when a group of Catholic musicians and filmmakers created an album for Lent and Easter.

“We were surprised when it was viewed by over 100 countries,” said Andrea Thomas, a vocalist and songwriter with the group.

“The baseball world lost a great man of the game,” the school said of Staub, who graduated from Jesuit High in 1961, on its website. “Rusty was a great Blue Jay. In 1960, he was a member of the Jesuit American Legion world championship team. In 1991, he was named Jesuit’s Alumnus of the Year.”

Pope Francis included special prayers for “those children who, as a result of wars and hunger, grow up without hope, lacking education and health care; and to those elderly persons who are cast off by a selfish culture that ostracizes those who are not ‘productive.’”

Bishop Knestout preaches at four Masses, Good Friday service

This 50th anniversary "gives us an important moment to draw inspiration from the way in which Dr. King remained undeterred in his principle of nonviolent resistance, even in the face of years of ridicule, threats and violence for the cause of justice," the U.S. bishops' Administrative Committee said.

The case is the first abortion-related one to be heard by the court with President Donald Trump’s appointee, Neil Gorsuch, on the bench. The oral arguments drew people from both sides outside the court in the freezing rain on the first day of spring. Some signs, held aloft in between umbrellas, said “Patients want care not coercion” and “Give free speech life.”

Noting that God made man in God’s own image, he said, “When man uses woman for his own pleasure and gratification, that is not who we are, not who God made us to be.”

When God said man should not be alone, according to the deacon, he made a “helpmate that stands parallel to him, not a maid or a cook.”

See His Excellency, The Most Reverend Barry C. Knestout, present the homily at the March 26, 2018 Chrism Mass.

Bishop Barry C. Knestout said, “When we think about what the Annual Diocesan Appeal is at its core, it is not a natural association to think of it as a ministry. When examined closely, however, you will find it is exactly that. It is a ministry that significantly advances other ministries and programs in our parishes and our larger Church.”

Sister Jean has been the team's chaplain since 1994. In January 2017, she was inducted into Loyola's sports hall of fame.

Over the years, she has become has become a fixture on campus, even getting her own bobblehead day before a game in appreciation for her service. She keeps an office in the Student Center where her door is always open, and she lives in one of the dorms. She broke her hip in late 2017 and now uses a wheelchair.

Parishioners of Sacred Heart in Richmond celebrate Holy Week

Following retirement from his urology practice in 2006, Deacon Banks devoted more time to his diaconal ministry. He preached, baptized, performed marriages, presided at funerals and accepted other responsibilities assigned to him.

The Triduum commemorates the event of salvation — Christ’s “passover” from death to new life — that was accomplished over the course of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Why, then, does the Triduum begin on Holy Thursday? Does that mean that there are four sacred days, rather than three?

During the recently completed Virginia General Assembly session, the Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC) focused its efforts on legislation to protect the vulnerable and ensure the common good. The VCC will continue to urge protections for the unborn, sick and others in need when legislators meet to hammer out a two-year budget plan during the special session.

As 10 o’clock approached, a few men began to arrive down the sidewalk, bent against a damp, late-winter wind. Although lunch is not served until 11, some arrived early in order to visit the clothing closet, a large, three-sided, open-air outbuilding fronted by a wide counter where volunteers help visitors find what they need.

The couple’s oldest daughter, Chiara, 9, was born with 5p- syndrome (five p minus), also known as Cat Cry syndrome or Cri du Chat syndrome. Geneticists use the term to describe people who have a part of chromosome number five that is missing.

About 50 to 60 children in the United States are born each year with the syndrome, which is characterized at birth by a high-pitched cry, low birth weight, poor muscle tone, microcephaly and, at times, other medical complications.

Students, faculty and staff remember the 17 fallen of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland Florida.

St. Patrick, Lexington, celebrated its 145th anniversary with a special Mass. 

The Southwest has a particularly strong culture. Priests who have served in the Southwest have offered testimonials to the special way of celebrating life and faith in that area. Many diocesan priests, initial misgivings to the contrary, have fallen in love with the place and its people.

The parish is familiar with the devastation fire can cause. In 2011, an electrical fire damaged its parish hall so badly that it had to be razed. The replacement was dedicated in summer of 2017.

“The voices of these advocates should ring in our ears as they describe the peaceful future to which they aspire,” Bishops Dewane and Murry said. “We must always remember what is at stake as we take actions to safeguard our communities and honor human life. In the words of St. John, ‘Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.’”

The Congregation of the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence traces its roots to 1881 when a group of young women in the community of Pianello del Lairo, near Como, Italy, wanted to pursue a ministry for needy individuals including those with disabilities. They rented a house, which they eventually were able to buy, and named it the Little House of Divine Providence and began an apostolate modeled on the Gospel example of the good Samaritan.

The house became known as "Noah's Ark," because the sisters took in orphans, young working women looking for a place to live, people living with epilepsy, the elderly and those living with intellectual disabilities.

Following seven years of seminary studies, Father Curran was ordained in 2000. He has served as a chaplain at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, and James Madison University, Harrisonburg, as an associate pastor at St. Bede, Williamsburg, and as pastor of St. Joan of Arc, Yorktown. In addition to being the basilica rector, he is chaplain for St. Patrick School, Norfolk.

“I come because I want to get closer to the faith, to learn why I’m Catholic and to be knowledgeable so I can explain to my own children why it is important to be Catholic,” said Schallmo, a youth catechist at St. Edward. “And why it’s important to know your faith and why it’s important to know why you do the things you do.”

“We realized younger people want to be part of something bigger than them,” he said. “They want to do charitable work and they want to be part of a group and be part of something with faith and values.”

The Mission Cooperative Program assigns mission parishes and other organizations to make an appeal at larger parishes to help support their operations. In 2017, $212,916 was distributed. Thank you to those parishes that allowed pastors and others to make an appeal.

The Weldon Amendment, included in the annual appropriation for the Department of Health and Human Services since 2005, already allows health care providers as well as insurance plans to refuse to provide abortions, pay for them or refer women to abortion clinics.

The Conscience Protection Act is aimed at protecting individual physicians, nurses or other health care professionals who refuse to assist in abortions when asked to do so by their employers. It takes the core policy of Weldon — protecting those who decline to perform, pay for, refer for, or provide coverage for abortion — and writes it into permanent law.