On Saturday, June 6, Noah Hajdu carried a 130-pound wooden cross to the top of Mount Wachusett to honor Jesus Christ.

The “Remembrance Garden Healing with Hope,” on the lawn between Sacred Heart of Jesus Church and its parish office building, was blessed Sunday by the pastor, Father William C. Konicki, with parishioners’ help. Children placed candles on the block-like pavers engraved with names of deceased or living persons, or inspirational quotes.

The bell had been held mostly in storage since the church was demolished in 2018 to make way for CitySquare, a downtown project featuring apartments, office spaces, a hotel and a medical center.

WORCESTER – A boy who always wanted to be a priest. Another son also inclined to God. A fellow seminarian with an open door – and so much more. These were among ways that family and friends of the diocese’s new priests described them after their ordination Saturday at St. Paul Cathedral.

My vocation began very simply: as an altar server at my parish.

You never know who God will call to become a priest. Deacon John P. Sullivan will answer God’s call when he’s ordained on Saturday, June 13, at St. Paul Cathedral.

Plans to repaint the sanctuary began about a year ago. Mr. Folley, 40, of Gardner, and his associates, Kevin Soraci of Barrington, New Hampshire, and Shawn Vales of Montclair, New Jersey, began working on the project in mid-April by applying solvents to remove varnish that had turned brown and to reveal the original colors. Then they brought the murals back to life, including repainting wings on angels that had disappeared over the years.

Bishop McManus has announced changes in assignments for several priests, all effective July 1.

While Christopher Aubrey worked for more than 20 years as an auto mechanic, some of his coworkers and customers called him “Father Chris” because they knew he was interested in becoming a priest. It’s finally about to happen. He’s scheduled to be ordained a priest on June 13 at St. Paul Cathedral.

As bills to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts are again before the legislature, Bishop McManus has called for Catholics to voice their opposition.

The letter says that, effective July 1, St. Christopher and Our Lady of the Rosary parishes will be merged into Our Lady of Providence Parish, which will use its present St. Bernard Church and Our Lady of the Rosary Church for Masses. St. Christopher Church will close.

...A parish must be able to provide vibrant liturgical life, faith formation, pastoral outreach, and opportunities for fellowship and service. These elements help foster a living and active community of faith that can effectively invite others into a relationship with Christ and carry forward the Church’s mission of evangelization. The plan being announced today seeks to strengthen parish life in North Worcester so that our parishes may more effectively serve the needs of today and of the foreseeable future....

Two Mercy Centre teams defeated St. John’s teams to reach the championship game where they tied, 13-13, to share the title. The May 19 tournament was much more about having fun than winning or losing.

WORCESTER – Religious sisters and priests, parents and children were among hundreds of people gathered at St. Paul Cathedral Saturday for the ordination of five deacons.

WORCESTER – Maddie Sharry will never forget her final field hockey game for Notre Dame Academy.

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV published his landmark encyclical on artificial intelligence “Magnifica Humanitas” May 25, comparing the attempt to build an AI future that excludes God to the “Tower of Babel” and underlining the need to safeguard human dignity as it is “threatened by new forms of dehumanization.”

The soon-to-be deacon, who said he will be starting his tenure at Immaculate Conception Parish in Worcester, said his came as more of a quiet, consistent calling which regularly came to him.

In a deeply particular way, Alejandro Henao’s new life calling as a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Worcester reflects his thanksgiving to God for what he calls miracles in his family, ones which restarted his own Catholic faith.

The prelates made the decision to do this during a Nov. 11, 2025, session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly in Baltimore – and while they were singularly focused on an exceptional gesture to mark our country’s semiquincentennial, the consecration still probably can’t come at a better time.

These were among topics Christopher West, president of the Theology of the Body Institute in Philadelphia, wove together with St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body May 14 at St. Joseph Church.