FEATURED

PHOENIX – Easing the suffering of the impoverished, preservation of life, an end to racism and more men and women entering religious service. These were a sample of the petitions lifted up to God during a night of intimacy with Jesus Christ through His precious Body and Blood. An all-night Adoration at St. Mary’s Basilica in downtown Phoenix, co-hosted by the Diocese of Phoenix allowed participants to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for God’s intervention, guidance and mercy across more than a half dozen areas of request, which also included the Filipino and Vietnamese communities, and for the faithful to be bold in sharing God’s message of redemption through His Son’s death and Resurrection.

Catholic evangelists shared in the joy of NCAA basketball fans as they gathered in downtown Phoenix from April 5-8 for the Men’s Final Four Fan Festival. College students, families and hardcore sports fans exuded excitement as they hustled into the Phoenix Convention Center. Standing outside St. Mary’s Basilica were specially trained evangelists from the Diocese of Phoenix who radiated a heightened form of happiness — the Easter joy of the risen Lord Jesus.

Bishop John Dolan will make this year’s annual Sovereign Order of Malta Pilgrimage to Lourdes alongside the ill and infirm who will travel with the organization. “Fantastic. That is awesome,” exclaimed Terra Billingsley, 58, one of three malades from the Diocese of Phoenix who will be with the Order’s Western U.S. Association April 30 thru May 8 at the southern French town in the Pyrenees Mountains. The town includes the grotto where 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous encountered 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1858.

Bookended with opening and closing Masses, St. Mary’s Basilica in downtown Phoenix will be the site of an all-night eucharistic adoration event April 6-7. Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix will kick off “The Road to Emmaus: A Eucharistic Encounter” with Mass at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 6.

There are moments when my heart feels alive and is beating with fervor, and one of those moments was during the second 5th Vital Sign Class, a fertility-awareness series for single women presented by the Diocese of Phoenix Office of Natural Family Planning, where we learned about God’s beautiful design for marriage through Theology of the Body and the horrors of contraception that completely go against His plan. 

The humility and compassion of Christ were in action at the corner of Third Street and Van Buren in downtown Phoenix on Holy Thursday. Passing motorists and visitors to the busy streetcorner took in an unexpected sight: Volunteers, many of them religious sisters, were washing people’s feet under a large shade canopy emblazoned with the Diocese of Phoenix logo.

Crowds poured into Sheraton Phoenix Downtown March 21 for a chance to listen to blockbuster Catholic podcaster Fr. Mike Schmitz. Fr. Schmitz was on hand to deliver the keynote address at the Witness to Hope gala, the annual fundraiser for the Diocese of Phoenix’s John Paul II Center for Theology of the Body. Michael Villanueva, coordinator of the center, welcomed guests as a video that featured footage of Pope St. John Paul II played on large screens at the front of the packed ballroom.

When we share stories of loved ones or historical figures we usually start with their birthday. We include significant events in their life and if they have died, we include that too. The summary of a human life- birth, life, death. But as Christians, every Easter, we get to glimpse the mysterious and holy experience of a do-over. We get a chance to be reborn into the life that God has imagined for us but that every year we fall short of living. This is both beautifully unique and blessedly communal.

The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix welcomes two new directors to the Diocesan Pastoral Center in downtown Phoenix, as Mary Permoda has been named the director of mental health awareness in the Office of Mental Health Ministry and Diane Saunders has been appointed the director of evangelization, discipleship and spirituality.

Hosted by "All In," a new parish ministry for people with special needs, Bishop John Dolan participated in a Easter Retreat at Our Lady...