The Catholic Sun

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is pleased to announce that it has named Brett Meister its new Director of Communications. He joins the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix after nearly three decades leading communications and goodwill outreach for global sports organizations, including most recently the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters.

Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a penitential prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica March 25, the Vatican said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine out of concern that NATO would encroach on his borders, but concern about "the disease of democracy that could spread like a virus, and that's deadly for oligarchies and authoritarian rulers," said the archbishop who serves as a "foreign minister" for the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Anyone who ever wanted to know how vital a deacon is to the life of the Church need look no further than the Book of Acts. In Chapter 6, we read the Apostles gathered other disciples of Christ to explain the need for appointing men of unquestioned repute to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the young but steadily growing followers of Jesus.

In a March 11 ruling, the Texas Supreme Court ended a challenge by abortion clinics to a state law that bans most abortions in Texas.

The power of prayer plus the aid of technology united two families thousands of miles apart in an international rescue operation. And it was all at the instigation of two 12-year-old girls.

The Vatican called Nicaragua's expulsion of the Vatican ambassador "grave and unjustified" as the rift deepened between the Catholic Church and the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Lent is a good time to ask God's help in throwing off any spiritual "drowsiness" that dulls a person's prayer life and attentiveness to the needs of others, Pope Francis said.

Appealing again for an end to the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis said those who invoke God to promote or justify violence "profane his name."

"I've come with the three most sophisticated Gospel weapons: prayer, fasting and alms," Cardinal Konrad Krajewski told reporters in Western Ukraine March 10 as he prepared to head toward Kyiv and other cities under Russian bombardment.