Bishop McManus blessed a new columbarium at St. Mary of the Hills Parish in West Boylston, at an outdoor Mass on June 21. The granite wall with 40 niches for cremated remains is across the driveway from the church, where the St. Therese of Lisieux shrine had been.

Last fall an anonymous donor offered to provide a three-to-one matching gift of $6 million to establish an endowment fund if the school community raised $2 million by June 30, according to Mrs. Jennison and a press release sent out Monday.

In an effort to make Catholic Charities of Worcester County services more well know in the Southbridge area, its regional office was rededicated by Bishop McManus, June 20.

Orthodox and Catholic Christians who participated in the ecumenical vespers that brought the clerics together raved about the beauty of the experience and the church building. It was Sunday afternoon and Bishop McManus was making his visit to St. Paul Cathedral in Worcester, one of the churches he designated as a pilgrimage site for this Jubilee Year of Hope.

LUNENBURG – St. Boniface Parish’s 75th anniversary Mass Sunday – like the parish, priests and parishioners themselves – drew newer and long-time members.

As the Worcester diocese celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, so too does St. Boniface Parish in Lunenburg.

Seminarians at the Pontifical North American College in Rome typically spend their first summer abroad – studying a language or doing mission work. Here are two reflections from seminarians on their experiences during the summer of 2024. Seminarian summer assignments for summer 2025 were announced.

The newest parish in the diocese is being named for the first millennial saint, whose canonization is set for September.

“We wanted to start our own business group,” he said, “connecting people who are like us who either run our own businesses or have knowledge of what we can do to help the other parishioners within the church and even people who might not go to the church.”

The National Centre for Padre Pio in Barto, Pennsylvania, is displaying relics of St. Padre Pio in an exhibit traveling throughout the nation and one of the stops will be at St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish in the Fiskdale section of Sturbridge.

With his music ministry, Som do Monte (Sound of the Mount), the 38-year-old Father Azevedo gives concerts in Brazil and around the world and has more than nine million followers on Instagram and more than seven million YouTube subscribers, Deacon Longhini said.

Bishop McManus welcomed the 400-500 people attending the ordination in person and the 549 watching all or part of it livestreamed, and thanked them for their support.

As the Diocese of Worcester celebrates 75 years since its establishment in 1950, The Catholic Free Press took a look back at the events, people and places that helped shape the Catholic Church in Worcester County.

Staffing changes are coming this summer for several parishes – due to priests retiring, becoming a senior priest, going to a different parish, taking on specialized ministry, or taking a leave of absence.

Jonathan E. Amidon was working a well-paid job that he enjoyed. He was an echocardiographer for Boston Medical Center. “I had everything that I could have possibly needed,” the 30-year-old Worcester native said. “I had all my debts paid off, I had everything. But I was like, ‘You know, I’m not really happy. There’s something lingering.’”

Sharing and repurposing was celebrated at separate, but related, events May 29. At St. Bernard Elementary School in Fitchburg, Bishop McManus blessed a new altar made by a grandfather, and statues donated by religious sisters. The statues came from a convent sold that day to serve veterans.

“Today … we have professed the truth” that we believe the Church is one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, Bishop McManus said Sunday. No matter what continent we come from, there is only one faith.

In a letter shared with parishioners this weekend, Bishop McManus announced that he is accepting the recommendations from parish committees and the Diocesan Pastoral Planning committee to merge the parishes of St. John the Baptist, East Brookfield, St. Joseph in North Brookfield and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in West Brookfield into one new parish. The new parish will have worship sites at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in West Brookfield and St. Joseph in North Brookfield MORE

For the past five years, Mr. Ayim has volunteered for the African Ministry. He runs a program in a few parishes in Worcester called the “Star Program” that teaches financial literacy and financial education to African teens involved in athletics.