Bishop James Checchio

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  Over the past eight months, our lives have been steeped in an exhaustive state of disorder, uncertainty, and, at times, despair. All too often, we hear in the news or read about the loss, grief, isolation, fear, and suffering endured by all people as a result of the coronavirus – no one is unaffected by this global pandemic disease. Similarly, and again all too often, we hear analogous stories of the loss, grief, isolation, fear, and suffering endured by survivors of abuse, some of whom were subject to their abuse by some members of the clergy – and again, no one is unaffected by these horrific revelations of past abuse and occurrences of lack of proper leadership by those in authority. Indeed, the times through which we are living, in our Church and in our world, are like no other. 

Our strange summer is about to come to a close and we see our days becoming shorter! The long Labor Day weekend usually provides us with some extra rest, but for many in our diocese, it was anything but restful this year. Our Catholic schools and parish catechists have been working extra hard to reopen our schools and religious education programs.