THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE ARCHEPARCHY OF PITTSBURGH
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Four new gold leaf crosses placed on St. John Chrysostom in Greenfield, Pa. Page 6
VOL. 63 NO. 12
holy ghost rocks pierogi festival Holy Ghost in McKees Rocks, Pa. serves up pierogis at Kennywood Page 7
An audience with Pope Francis archbishop william skurla attends synod of bishops in rome
NOVEMBER 2018
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Serrans host brunch for seminarians to begin new academic year Page 13
Bishops say young people should be heard, not lectured synod in rome focuses on youth by Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service
Archbishop William C. Skurla greets Pope Francis in Rome, Italy during last month’s Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment. Archbishop William publicly thanked Pope Francis “for restoring our ancient practice of marriage for priests,” including those living outside the traditional East European homeland of the Ruthenian church. “The restoration of the married clergy in 2014 has increased the number of seminarians and allowed ordained married priests from our churches in Eastern Europe to come to the United States” and minister, the archbishop said. “The new priests have renewed and revitalized our church in the United States.” Archbishop William had a very practical suggestion for after the synod: Each diocese or eparchy should have a priests’ assembly that would include representative young people. The purpose would be to share ideas from the pope, the synod’s final document and, “most importantly,” examples of successful programs already taking place in parishes. Reporting by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service. Photo courtesy of Vatican Information Service.
“Parish Life from Maintenance to Discipleship” byzantine spirituality conference set for Nov. 10 Press release
The disciples walked with Jesus for three years, shared meals with him, were present during his most difficult moments and yet Peter denied Jesus three times. Disciple-making is a process, quite often a long one that requires constant patience and abandon to the grace of God. This year’s Byzantine Spirituality Conference is designed to help participants identify where God is already present in their lives and how to engage
others in their parish community to articulate their Byzantine Catholic faith.
What you need to know The Conference is scheduled for Nov. 10 at St. John the Baptist Cathedral, 210 Greentree Road, Munhall, Pa. The title of this year’s Spirituality Conference is: “Parish Life from Maintenance to Discipleship.” Deacon John Evancho will present “The Immigrant Disciple” and “Being a Disciple of
Christ Today” and Christopher Russo will present “The Challenge of Discipleship for the Future.”
Meet our presenters Deacon John Evancho earned a Master’s Degree from Harvard Divinity School and Bachelor’s Degrees in Theology from Duquesne University and the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He serves at Annunciation Church, Homer Story continued on page 15
VATICAN CITY — The Catholic Church needs to communicate the beauty and intelligence of faith to young men and women without resorting to condescending and aggressive methods, Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles told members of the Synod of Bishops. A "renewed apologetics and catechesis" can help young people who are tempted to leave the church due to convictions "that religion is opposed to science or that it cannot stand up to rational scrutiny, that its beliefs are outmoded, a holdover from a primitive time, that the Bible is unreliable, that religious belief gives rise to violence, and that God is a threat to human freedom," Bishop Barron said in his speech to the synod Oct. 4. "I hope it is clear that arrogant proselytizing has no place in our pastoral outreach, but I hope it is equally clear that an intelligent, respectful, and culturally sensitive explication of the faith ('giving a reason for the hope that is within us') is certainly a 'desideratum' ('desire')," he said. Later that evening, Bishop Barron joined Nigerian Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah of Nsukka at an event dedicated to the synod on youth, faith and vocational discernment. The University of Notre Dame's Center for Ethics and Culture sponsored the event in Rome. Seven Notre Dame students spoke at the event about their Story continued on page 3