The St. Croix Chapter of Magnificat sponsored a three-day seminar for women entitled "Empowerment of the Holy Spirit" at Light of Christ Retreat Center on St. Croix on October 19-21. The speakers included (pictured above, left to right) Sr. Germaine Convery, WIF, Patricia Griffith, Patricia Murray, Louise Hanson, Frederica Leonce, Edilia Lawrence, Jeanne Garcia, Gertrude LeCointe, and Sr. Patricia Alexander, WIF.
Diocesan Administrator Msgr. Michael Kosak will represent the Diocese of St. Thomas at the Liturgy of Presentation for Archbishop-elect Donald Reece, DD, at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kingston, Jamaica, on December 12. Archbishop Reece, who served as bishop of the Diocese of St. John's-Basseterre, will succeed retiring Archbishop Lawrence Burke in the Archdiocese of Kingston.
Bishop George Murry, SJ, of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, and former bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, will ordain seminarian Anthony Abraham as a transitional deacon at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church on St. John on Thursday, January 3, 2008, at 6:00 p.m.
Mr. Abraham will then return to the St. John Vianney and the Ugandan Martyrs Regional Seminary in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago, where he expects to complete his studies in June 2008.
This will be Bishop Murry's first visit to the Virgin Islands since he was installed in Youngstown on March 28.
Ernesto Rodriguez, a seminarian for the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, was among 11 seminarians who received admission to candidacy from Bishop George Murry, SJ, at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on November 26. The ceremony recognized the seminarians officially as candidates for the diaconate and priesthood in their dioceses.
Religious Education teachers and other parish staff and volunteers who have regular contact with children in the course of their ministries are required to participate in ongoing VIRTUS child protection training sessions in person or online. Those who have not attended a conference in 2007 and are not current with responses to the online questionaires must attend Protecting God's Children, a video and discussion seminar on protecting children from abuse. Those who do not comply will be relieved of their ministries, according to Very Rev. Neil Scantlebury, Chancellor.
The three-hour seminar will be offered on three islands on Saturday, December 1. Please attend the conferences on St. Thomas at the Columban Hall of Holy Family Church or on St. John at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church at 9:00 a.m. The seminar will be offered on St. Croix at McAlpin Hall of Holy Cross Church at 1:00 p.m.
Many parishes will add Masses to celebrate the solemnities of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, December 8, the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) on Tuesday, December 5, and Mary, Mother of God, on Tuesday, January 1. Attending Vigil Masses on the evening before these holy days fulfills the precept described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2042: "The first precept (`You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor') requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principle liturgical feasts honoring the mysteries of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints; in the first place, by participating in the Eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered, and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days."