The Catholic Sun

Deacon Jacob Chavez was 20 years old when his parents, Brian and Luzinda, drove him up to St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. “We could barely stop the car before he jumped out,” recalled Brian. “Growing up, he was always moving,” Luzinda said. “He was a good kid, a good student, a great athlete and violinist. A really good brother and very good son.”

More than 6,000 children and adults in the Diocese of Phoenix have received the sacrament of confirmation in the past six weeks alone. According to diocesan records, around 25-percent of those anointed are adults, which is a 10-to-15-percent increase in the past three-to-five years. Bishop John Dolan began confirmation season at seven parishes in the northern region of the diocese, including El Cristo Rey Catholic Church in Grand Canyon Village, Ariz., San Francisco de Asis in Flagstaff, Ariz., St. Joseph the Worker in Williams, Ariz., St. John Vianney in Sedona, Ariz., Immaculate Conception in Cottonwood, Ariz., St. Frances Cabrini in Camp Verde, Ariz., and St. Germain in Prescott, Ariz. Bishop Dolan most recently celebrated confirmation Masses at St. Louis the King in Glendale, Ariz., and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Phoenix.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV's prayer intention for June, a month devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is "that the world might grow in compassion." "Let us pray that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from his heart, learn to have compassion on the world," the pope prays in English in his first contribution to "The Pope Video," a monthly reflection published by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network. The video, released June 3, also includes an original prayer people can recite daily during the month.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Families are the cradle of the future of humanity, Pope Leo XIV said during a Mass concluding the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly. "Today's world needs the marriage covenant in order to know and accept God's love and to defeat, thanks to its unifying and reconciling power, the forces that break down relationships and societies," he said in his homily at the Mass celebrated June 1 in St. Peter's Square. The day also marked World Communications Day, and in remarks after the Mass Pope Leo thanked all "media workers who, by taking care of the ethical quality of messages, help families in their role as educators."

On summer days in the 1950s when Monica Domingo and Cornelia Garcia weren’t cooling off in the Gila River, they were helping the nuns at St. John’s Indian School varnish desks, getting them prepared for the school year. Domingo and Garcia were students who attended the school on the Gila River Reservation.  The nuns were part of a Franciscan religious order from Santa Barbara, Calif., and taught the 400 students who attended the school. The school went through 12th grade, made up of students from all different tribes. Priests from the same religious order provided access to the sacraments for the students and community members who attended St. John the Baptist Mission. 

The lights dim, the crowd quiets. A choir boy carrying a candle slowly weaves through the hall at St. Anne parish in Gilbert, Ariz., singing a Latin hymn that transports the audience into a sacred reenactment of 15 historical encounters with Mary in the original production Hail, Holy Queen.    “It was more a prayer than a play,” said Mary Ryan, who directed the production that showcased in October 2024. It is one of multiple performances produced by FiAt Productions since 2022, when the nonprofit debuted its well-received presentation of Karol Wojtyla’s , now Pope St. John Paul II, The Jeweler’s Shop.  

A special altar dedication and blessing of the chapel at St. Mary’s House in downtown Phoenix took place early Tuesday morning, with Bishop John Dolan presiding.   Joined by five priests, seminarians and donors, Bishop Dolan anointed the altar with chrism and incensed it before covering it with linens and lightning candles.  The new altar and ambo were designed and built by Dcn. Chris Georges from Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glendale, Ariz.

Br. Paul Graupmann, Jeff Pooley and Simon Ortiz came one step closer to the priesthood this past weekend. Pooley and Ortiz celebrated their Transitional Diaconate Ordination before a standing room only crowd at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix on Sunday. Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares presided over the Mass, and he was joined by more than two dozen priests and deacons from across the Diocese of Phoenix.   Br. Paul Graupmann’s Transitional Diaconate Ordination was celebrated by Bishop John Dolan on May 24 at St. Anthony Mission in Sacaton, Ariz., and was a summation of the profound surrender these three men have embodied within their vocations.  

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Gospel parable of the "wasteful sower" who casts seeds on fertile soil as well as on a rocky path "is an image of the way God loves us," Pope Leo XIV told visitors and pilgrims at his first weekly general audience. The parable can strike people as odd because "we are used to calculating things -- and at times it is necessary -- but this does not apply in love," the pope told an estimated 40,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square May 21. Pope Leo read his full prepared text in Italian and also read the summaries of the talk in English and in Spanish.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- All the speeches and messages Pope Leo XIV has given since becoming pope May 8 are available on the Vatican website, which should be checked before sharing supposed quotes and videos, Vatican News said. The Vatican News site published the warning in several languages May 21 after a 36-minute "deep fake" -- AI-generated -- video was posted on YouTube.