Category Archives: News

Responding to division is society and in the Christian Church, the annual LARC Day of Dialogue brought together clergy and parishioners of local Christian traditions for prayer and discussion. The annual event is a joint effort of the Lutheran, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in central Pennsylvania for prayer and…

Jacob Beeghley, a Scout with Troop 23 at St. Catherine Labouré Parish in Harrisburg, focused his recent Eagle Scout project on assisting the residents of Lourdeshouse, Catholic Charitie’s maternity home for women and their babies. Beeghley, a freshman at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg a member of its wrestling…

Alberto Rodriguez joined the Diocese of Harrisburg earlier this month as the new Diocesan Archivist. Rodriguez holds membership with the Association of Catholic Diocesan Archivists, The American Geographical Society, The Society for American Archeology, The American Historical Association, The American Philatelic Society and the Society of American Archivists. As the…

Outstretched arms greeted Rashanda Loyd 16 years ago when she entered Lourdeshouse Maternity Home. Pregnant and in high school, she “felt unwanted, unneeded. It was a struggle being in high school and not knowing what to do, not knowing where to go, not knowing who I could turn to.” She…

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will gather for the 2019 Fall General Assembly in Baltimore, Nov. 11-13. During the assembly, the bishops will elect a new president, vice president, and six committee chairs. They will also discuss and vote on seven action items. The assembly will begin…

Recently, I spent a wonderful four-day weekend on Lake Ariel in upstate Pennsylvania with my sister, brother-in-law and 8-year-old nephew. My nephew, Johnnie, was born in eastern Long Island in wonderful suburbia and is somewhat of a daredevil. However, the outdoor experience and rural living is a bit alien to…

You can set your clock the first weekend of November to the fact that Delone Catholic will be playing for a District 3 Class 2A volleyball championship, and will be the favorite. In fact, the Squirettes had won the last three in a row and have gone deep into the…

Eight minutes into the Class 1A District 3 Soccer final between the Fighting Irish of York Catholic and the Halifax Wildcats at Hersheypark Stadium on Oct. 30, the sluggish Fighting Irish found themselves in a two-goal deficit, seemingly buried for good. But over the next 70 minutes, York Catholic carried…

Families whose children attend Resurrection Catholic School in Lancaster call it a “blessing,” and they have “three generations of people who came before” who handed down the possibility to them. “We don’t ever feel different here,” Kassandra Settle told Gerald Ganse, president of the Catholic Education Foundation, which provides tuition…

On Aug. 15, 2019, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lily Key, originally of St. Patrick Parish in Carlisle, became Sister Lily Marie, a novice in the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance. She had spent one year as a Postulant at Mount Saint…

Fifty members of St. Pius X Parish in Selinsgrove took part in a Rosary Rally on Oct. 12 as part of a national event where more than 20,000 rallies took place across the United States with the goal of spreading the word of Our Lady of Fatima. Our Lady of…

The Diocese’s annual White Mass drew Catholic physicians, health care workers, dentists and medical students to St. Patrick Cathedral in Harrisburg on Oct. 20 to recognize their vocation and pray for God’s blessings upon their work. Bishop Ronald Gainer was the principal celebrant and homilist for the Mass.

As a child, I was thrilled to wait for the school bus in the morning. It meant I could “play” with other students from my school and interact with those who were both younger and older than I. Looking back, I can now understand that the simple act of waiting…

When Susan’s* husband, Juan, told her about the abortion he was involved in when he was in college, she finally understood why he was so depressed and had trouble bonding with their children. However, she wanted him to just get over it, without seeking help from a post-abortion healing ministry.…

For the first time in the school’s illustrious sports history, the Crusaders of Lancaster Catholic girls’ tennis team swept all three competitions at the District 3 championships. Success in Class 2A girls’ tennis usually means beating the Spartans of Wyomissing, who have won 15 of the last 21 District 3…

“I couldn’t get over what I had done. I was so broken. I begged God for forgiveness for what seemed like a million times, but never knew how to forgive myself.” Becky Biter was in the throes of post-abortion traumatic stress, suffering from two abortions she’d had as a teenager.…

“You are women and this revolution has mostly been conducted in your name. We have the credibility to say, ‘It’s not working. It’s a failure.’” This is the message Helen Alvaré shared with nearly 700 women who attended the annual Diocesan Women’s Conference, Women of Light, Sisters in Christ, on…

What does a holy lawyer look like? Bishop Ronald Gainer posed this question in his homily at the Diocesan Red Mass, celebrated Oct. 7 at St. Patrick Cathedral in Harrisburg. The annual liturgy takes place as the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new session, and invokes the wisdom of the…

Rosa* knew from experience the difficulties and expenses of watching a loved one die. She was totally devoted to her husband as he suffered and died from cancer eight years earlier. The idea of high medical bills, “tubes” and pain upset her, and even though she had not viewed her…