Mar 24, 2021 | Coronavirus, Local
A year after the coronavirus pandemic turned life upside down, wide vaccine availability and time’s passage spur assessments of losses and lessons learned.
Mar 24, 2021 | Coronavirus, Local
A staff member at Catholic Charities of Onondaga County’s men’s shelter in Syracuse works during the pandemic. (Photo provided) By Renée K. Gadoua | Contributing writer Michael Melara apologies for the awkward metaphor he uses to describe...
Mar 24, 2021 | Coronavirus, Local
Teacher Mary Heintz leads her class of first-graders at Notre Dame Elementary School in Utica Sept. 14. (Photo courtesy Sondra Nassar) By Katherine Long | Editor Last March, all 22 of the diocese’s Catholic schools, like their public counterparts, closed...
Mar 24, 2021 | Coronavirus, Local
The Ranieri siblings, including one-month-old Salvatore, are pictured on the Solemnity of St. Joseph. (Photo courtesy Nina Ranieri) The Catholic Sun asked members of the Syracuse Diocese to share their experiences of life during the coronavirus pandemic....
May 31, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Parishes around the Diocese of Syracuse resumed public Masses May 30 and 31, the first public liturgies celebrated since Bishop Douglas J. Lucia suspended them March 16 amid the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
May 27, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Bishop Douglas J. Lucia wears a face mask as he prepares to celebrate a Holy Hour at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception May 3. (Sun photo | Chuck Wainwright) Bishop Douglas J. Lucia announced last week that public Masses in the Diocese of Syracuse were...
May 27, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Jeff Thomas | Catholic News Service In recent weeks, U.S. dioceses have begun issuing their own plans for the gradual reopening of churches over several phases with the safety of congregants, priests, deacons and other parish staff foremost in the minds of Catholic...
May 27, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Dennis Sadowski | Catholic News Service CLEVELAND (CNS) — Pax Christi USA has invited people to sign a new “Pledge to Protect” in which the signees promise to take personal responsibility for protecting others during the coronavirus pandemic as...
May 27, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Pablo Kay | Catholic News Service LOS ANGELES (CNS) — After being closed for more than two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles can begin to open to the public the first week of June if they implement certain safety...
May 22, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Bishop Douglas J. Lucia today released protocols for sanitizing, social distancing, and crowd size as he approved resumption of public Masses in the Syracuse Diocese beginning May 30 and 31, the Solemnity of Pentecost.
May 21, 2020 | Coronavirus, Pope Francis & Vatican
By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — To help prevent damaging artistic and historically significant objects, the Pontifical Council for Culture released suggestions for cleaning and disinfecting church buildings, furnishings and...
May 21, 2020 | Coronavirus, Pope Francis & Vatican
By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The mystery and wonder of God’s creation can open the hearts of men and women to express their gratitude through prayer, Pope Francis said. During a live broadcast of his weekly general...
May 21, 2020 | Coronavirus, Pope Francis & Vatican
By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A missionary or church reality that is truly inspired by the Holy Spirit “manifests predilection for the poor and vulnerable as a sign and reflection of the Lord’s own preference for...
May 21, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Carol Zimmermann | Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic advocates against the death penalty spoke out against Missouri’s May 19 execution of a death-row inmate, Walter Barton, whose death by lethal injection was the first execution to...
May 21, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Catholic News Service WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. (CNS) — Dr. Francis S. Collins, a geneticist and physician who is director of the National Institutes of Health outside Washington in Bethesda, Maryland, is the 2020 Templeton Prize Laureate. Collins, who led the...
May 20, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Public Masses in the diocese have been suspended since March 16 and New York has been under stay-at-home orders since March 22 as the coronavirus pandemic spread. After eight weeks of shutdown, however, regions across the state are beginning to reopen.
May 20, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Some New York businesses have restarted operations after eight weeks of state-at-home orders, but Bishop Douglas J. Lucia says the diocese cannot yet resume public Masses. “We’re trying to balance the health of neighbor with people’s desire again to come together for worship,” he said.
May 20, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Sun staff reports A guest of the Catholic Charities Men’s Shelter in Syracuse has tested positive for COVID-19, and four guests and two staff members are being quarantined and monitored for symptoms of the novel coronavirus. The Onondaga County Health Department...
May 20, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
By Tom Maguire | Associate editor The stone walls and wooden pews take the music and bounce it back at the isolated church singers and instrumentalists now. Music ministers say echoes have replaced the congregation members who used to absorb that sound and add their...
May 13, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Chenango deacon leads rosary with people online or on their phones By Tom Maguire | Associate editor For the deacon of Guilford, the “new rhythm” of life includes a slot for devotion. As the COVID-19 lockdown began two months ago, Deacon Timothy O....
May 13, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
Father Jason Hage, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Hamilton and St. Joan of Arc Mission in Morrisville, offered a special Marian blessing upon all mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and spiritual mothers who drove up to his outdoor station at St. Mary’s May...
May 13, 2020 | Coronavirus, Local
By James Fountaine | Principal BINGHAMTON — Even though children are learning from a distance, they still love their teachers. Teacher Appreciation Week at St. John the Evangelist School gave them a great opportunity to show their love. On...
May 11, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Emily Benson | Catholic News Service ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) — It’s the senior year no high-school student wanted. Prom is canceled, graduation ceremonies are postponed, and last goodbyes are being told through phone and computer screens. It’s not the...
May 11, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Catholic News Service MANCHESTER, England (CNS) — Staff and students of a Catholic secondary school are making thousands of visors to equip front-line health service staff in the battle against the coronavirus. With more than 30,000 deaths from COVID-19,...
May 8, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Mark Pattison | Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Big-time college athletics has something called a transfer portal, a window of time during which athletes on scholarship can switch schools. The Catholic Church in the United States has its own transfer...
May 8, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Rhina Guidos | Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Bishops John E. Stowe, Oscar Cantu, and Mark J. Seitz are known for putting on the miles visiting their respective dioceses, whether on the rural roads of Kentucky, the bottleneck traffic of San Jose,...
May 8, 2020 | Coronavirus, Pope Francis & Vatican
By Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus continues to console his followers, and it is important to learn to recognize the consolation he offers, Pope Francis said. “When we must pass through moments of sadness, we need to learn...
May 8, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Maurice Beaulieu | Catholic News Service ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) — The coronavirus restrictions haven’t stopped people from singing, but it’s moved their public singing to online formats. And Danielle Latell, a senior and choir member at Bishop Verot...
May 8, 2020 | Coronavirus, US & World
By Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service ROME (CNS) — In Rome’s historic Trastevere neighborhood, and throughout Italy, the easing of the coronavirus lockdown not only meant disinfecting shops, coffee bars and restaurants, it also involved tons of garbage...
May 7, 2020 | Coronavirus, Pope Francis & Vatican
By Junno Arocho Esteves | Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis offered his early morning Mass for journalists and members of the media who, despite the risks, work tirelessly to inform the public of the ongoing pandemic. “Let us pray...