Category: Diocese of Scranton News

SCRANTON – Celebrating Mother’s Day this year was unlike any other for Ashley Reedy.

For the very first time, she was able to celebrate it with her son Paxton.

“It is the first Mother’s Day that I’m able to share it with him, and that is something that I prayed for so long to be able to celebrate,” the Saint Eulalia Parish parishioner said.

With the assistance of Saint Joseph’s Center, Reedy and her husband were able to adopt Paxton last year.

“Even though he wasn’t born from me, I’ve just been waiting for him for so long,” Reedy said.

Reedy and many other mothers participated in the Diocese of Scranton’s annual Mother’s Day Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton on May 11, 2025. The liturgy prayerfully recognizes all mothers – but places a special emphasis on foster and adoptive mothers.

“There are families out there that are willing to, and want to, adopt a child because they’ve been praying for it and waiting for it for so long,” Reedy added.

The Mass was celebrated by the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, who also served as homilist.

Beckie Samuel, a parishioner of Saint Patrick Parish in West Scranton, also went through the adoption process in 2022. Her son is turning three in August.

“Mother’s Day is very, very special to me,” Samuel explained. “Before him, we had tried for 11 years and had three losses, so this holiday is very sacred to me because it is one I never thought I would be able to celebrate.”

Samuel praised the work of Saint Joseph’s Center in helping to shepherd the adoption process locally.

“They made it very easy. They communicated with us non-stop. If I had any questions, they were there to respond. They were amazing,” she said.

During the Mass, many adoptive mothers said they prayed for the Saint Joseph’s Center staff, as well as their child’s birth mother, who gave them such an important gift.

“It was so nice to be recognized but more importantly to recognize all the people who helped us come together as a family,” Heather Thomas of Saint Matthew Parish in East Stroudsburg said.

For many in attendance, the Mass was deeply personal. At the conclusion of the Mass, Bishop Bambera blessed all the mothers present.

“We’re celebrating adoption and the fact that (my son) came from mommy’s heart and not my belly,” Thomas added.

SCRANTON – Catholic school students from across the Diocese of Scranton were honored for their innovation and imagination April 24 as the inaugural ‘Living the STREAM’ competition concluded.

The Diocese of Scranton Catholic School fundraising competition began during Catholic Schools Week in January. It brought together students in grades 6 through 8 daring them to “dream big,” using their STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts and Math) education to combat a “real-world challenge.”

The students could tackle any topic of interest to their team. They then created a video that was posted on a special website, and the public was able to support each team with donations. The final projects focused on varying issues that included everything from homelessness to food insecurity.

Between sponsorships and donations, more than $55,000 was raised.

On the day the competition ended, more than 100 students and parents gathered in the Diocesan Pastoral Center to celebrate the fundraiser. Awards for the top fundraising teams, along with awards for the best overall project, innovation, and faith in action also were distributed.

One team taking home an award was “Team HandiMaps” from Good Shepherd Academy in Kingston.

Mason Williams, Caden Moreck, Nick Pokrifka, Troy Miller, and Daniel Saporito – eighth grade students – focused on creating a website that features maps of regional destinations accessible to disabled people.

Miller said the HandiMaps project was more fun than a traditional school assignment because they could be as creative as they wanted and pick the topic.

“Making the website and generating it was really exciting and fun to do with my classmates,” Miller said.

While all the students in their group brainstormed ideas to tackle, Miller gave credit to Mason Williams for developing the overall ‘Team HandiMaps’ idea.

“At home one night, I was thinking, what can we do to help people near us,” Williams explained.

After deciding on wanting to help individuals who rely on wheelchairs, the group then needed to research what businesses and locations in their community were handicap accessible and create an overall website and several interactive maps.

“We wanted to make it the best we could to help,” he added. “It could get bigger and bigger. We can make it throughout bigger areas and help people know the places they can go.”

Another team that took home an overall award and future innovators award was ‘Team F.Red’ from Saint Mary of Mount Carmel School in Dunmore.

Five seventh graders – Tim Polishan, Patrick Burke, Jaxon Urban, Michael Lalli, and Quinn Kelly – created a food redistribution app to cut down on food waste.

“We just brainstormed a lot and thought out all of our ideas,” Polishan said.

“The first idea we had was about food and how much food was wasted so we wanted to build on that idea,” Burke added.

Kelly said being recognized as a top team meant a lot to their group.

“We put in a lot of work for this, it took a lot of time,” he explained.

The students are hopeful the app they created could help connect local stores with food pantries to help provide the needy fresh produce.

“That would be pretty cool if it was turned into a real thing,” Lalli said.

“I’m hoping it becomes a real thing that people can use,” Urban added.

HAZLETON – Alberta Perez choked back tears while recalling her initial reaction to the death of Pope Francis.

“It was heartbreaking,” she said. “He was humble. He really cared. He really loved everyone.”

Perez was one of many Hispanic Catholics attending the 12:10 p.m. Mass at Annunciation Parish in Hazleton on April 21, with specific plans to pray for the late Holy Father on the day of his death.

“Our church is sad today. It’s a day that we’re never going to forget,” she added.

Fellow parishioner Martha Rojas said many Hispanics loved Pope Francis because the late Holy Father simply loved all people as human beings.

“He didn’t see color. He didn’t see race,” Rojas stated. “He loved everyone. It didn’t matter if you were rich or poor.”

As the pope of the peripheries, Pope Francis brought the heart, mind, and soul of the Catholic Church in Latin America from what he called the “ends of the earth” to the center of Christendom.

The late pope’s theology, governance of the church and pastoral practices were steeped in his experience as a pastor during a military dictatorship and subsequent financial crisis in Argentina, and later as a servant of the poorest people of Buenos Aires who were living in “villas miserias,” or shantytowns.

“He was a simple man, and he tried to live out the faith authentically and be a witness to the world of Christ’s love for all of us,” parishioner Nichole Tranguch added. “We are just thankful for him and his service to the church.”

Pope Francis’ Latin roots were especially important for parishioner Maria Malaga, who also came to the Hazleton area from Latin America.

“We lost such a wonderful person who did so much for the world,” Malaga said.

Over the last two decades, the city of Hazleton has experienced a significant demographic transformation, with its Latino population now comprising two-thirds of city residents. Their arrival has brought new cultural vibrancy to Hazleton and many residents are devout Catholics.

Father Kevin Miller, Pastor, Annunciation Parish, said the passing of Pope Francis has deeply affected many parishioners at his parish, who viewed the Pope as a spiritual leader who championed inclusivity, compassion, and social justice.

“He was someone who spoke to the heart of those who were disaffected, those who were pushed to the margins,” Father Miller explained. “We look forward to honoring his memory and carrying forward many of the traditions that he started and upheld.”

Looking to the future, many parishioners plan to keep praying for the soul of Pope Francis.

“We will be saying thank you to God for having him for as long as we did,” Rojas said.

VATICAN CITY – Monsignor Christopher Washington, a Wilkes-Barre native who was ordained for the Diocese of Scranton in 2006, served as a personal aide and translator for Pope Francis since 2021.

As such, the Scranton Diocesan priest accompanied the Holy Father during his brief meeting with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on Easter Sunday, April 20 – the Pontiff’s final official private audience before he passed away hours later on Easter Monday morning.

Less than a week later, Monsignor Washington greeted U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump when they arrived at the Vatican for the funeral Mass of Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Square April 26.

Fluent in the foreign languages of Italian, Spanish and French, Monsignor Washington has served as a member of the Diplomatic Corps of the Holy See for the past ten years.

Pope Francis elevated the Scranton Diocesan priest to the rank of Chaplain of His Holness (with the title of Monsignor) in 2019.

He previously was in the Apostolic Nunciature (Embassy of the Holy See) in Bolivia and Lithuania.

SCRANTON – More than 400 Catholic elementary school students in kindergarten through third grade recently participated in a Lenten retreat centered on themes of healing and gratitude.

Liz Devine, elementary school guidance counselor, hosted an interactive Lenten retreat at all five Catholic elementary schools in Lackawanna County: All Saints Academy in Scranton; La Salle Academy in Jessup; Our Lady of Peace School in Clarks Green; Saint Clare/Saint Paul School in Scranton; Saint Mary of Mount Carmel School in Dunmore.

The retreat centered around the bible passage of Jesus healing ten lepers on the way to Jerusalem and only one returning to give gratitude.

“We reflected on Jesus’ healing power, how the lepers had faith and acted upon it to implore Jesus’ blessings, but how the human tendency is toward ingratitude,” Devine said. “We practiced how saying ‘thank you’ and expressing gratitude nourishes our relationship with God and others.”

The students in all five schools participated in small group activities that included writing ‘thank you’ notes to people in their lives and decorating a rock with a positive message to keep as a reminder that God’s blessings are abundant.

As part of the retreat, the students were also asked to donate an item for Saint Joseph’s Baby Pantry. A total of 521 items were collected.

“Items collected included diapers, wipes, bottles, wash cloths and towels and pacifiers,” Devine said. “It is important for students to see that their donations are needed to support families right here in our community.”

Through prayer, learning, and acts of service, each retreat showed the students that compassion and gratitude know no age limit – and that even the smallest hands can make a big difference.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV on May 18, the vice president’s office said.

Pope Leo is the first U.S.-born pope.

The two officials, both Catholic, will be joined by their respective spouses, second lady Usha Vance and Jeanette Rubio, in the U.S. delegation to the Mass for the inauguration of the pope’s Petrine ministry in St. Peter’s Square.

Vance – the second Catholic to hold the vice presidency, preceded only by former President Joe Biden – was in Vatican City in April, where he met with Pope Francis on Easter, the final full day of the late pope’s life.

In February, Pope Francis released a letter to the U.S. bishops, Catholics and all people of goodwill, responding to “the major crisis that is taking place in the United States” created by President Donald Trump’s plans to target the country’s immigrants who lack legal authorization to live and work in the U.S. for mass deportation. Among those targeted are more than 10 million Christians, a majority of whom are Catholic.

In that letter, Pope Francis appeared to rebuke the vice president’s invocation of the Catholic theological concept of the “ordo amoris” (the order of love or charity) to justify Trump’s immigration policy actions. The future Pope Leo, then Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, appeared to concur with the pope in a February post on X, when he shared an opinion piece from the National Catholic Reporter titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Vance recently acknowledged the potential for both conflict and common ground with Pope Leo, noting the Catholic Church is “about the saving of souls” and its teachings do not fit neatly with 2025 American politics.

“There are a lot of views the Catholic leadership holds that are, you know, you might consider on the right side of the spectrum. There are a lot of views they’re going to hold that might be more traditionally on the left side of the spectrum. And then there are a lot of views that don’t map easily onto politics at all,” he said in an interview May 9 with conservative talk host Hugh Hewitt.

“I’m sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love. I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the church despite it all and through it all, and that’ll be the way that I handle it,” Vance said.

Trump, who attended Pope Francis’ funeral April 26 and caused some controversy in May with an AI-generated image of himself as pope posted to the White House’s X account, called the first American pope “a great honor for our country.” The president told Fox News host Sean Hannity recently that Pope Leo was a “surprise choice” and he would like to speak with the pope about immigration.

Trump, who has previously mused about the idea of seeking a third term despite Constitutional term limits, recently said he would not do so, setting the stage for both Vance and Rubio to be increasingly seen as potential contenders for the GOP nomination in 2028. Both Catholic leaders are friends, and Vance has downplayed discussion of any rivalry between them in recent comments.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Teaching should be lived as ministry and mission, Pope Leo XIV told the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the De La Salle Brothers or the Christian Brothers.

He praised and encouraged them to continue to pay attention to teacher training “and the creation of educating communities where teaching is enriched by the contribution of everyone.”

In fact, “an aspect of the Lasallian reality that I consider important is teaching lived as ministry and mission, as consecration in the church,” he said during an audience at the Vatican May 15 with a group of Christian Brothers.

The Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by St. John Baptist de La Salle in 1680, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of men devoted to education and teaching. The brothers were celebrating the 300th anniversary of their recognition by Pope Benedict XIII in 1725 and the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of St. de La Salle as the patron saint of educators by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

“After three centuries, it is wonderful to see how your presence continues to bear the freshness of a rich and vast educational entity, with which, in various parts of the world, you still devote yourselves to the formation of young people with enthusiasm, fidelity and a spirit of sacrifice,” Pope Leo said.

Their saint founder “loved to say, ”Your altar is the classroom,'” which created something new in the church: lay teachers and catechists who were “invested in the community with a genuine ‘ministry,’ following the principle of evangelizing by educating and educating by evangelizing.”

St. de La Salle introduced a new way of teaching and other innovations in order to confront the challenges at the time, he said. As problems arose, the saint sought “creative answers” and forged “new and often unexplored paths” instead of being discouraged.

Today, there are new obstacles to be faced, he said. “Think of the isolation caused by widespread relational models increasingly marked by superficiality, individualism and emotional instability; the spread of patterns of thinking weakened by relativism; and the prevalence of rhythms and lifestyles in which there is not enough room for listening, reflection and dialogue – at school, in the family, sometimes among peers themselves – with the resulting loneliness.”

Even though young people are “a volcano of life, energy, feelings and ideas,” he said, they also need help “in order for this great wealth to grow in harmony, and to overcome what, albeit in a different way to the past, can still hinder their healthy development.”

Some “useful questions” to ask, he said, are “What are the most urgent challenges to be faced today in the world of young people? What values need to be promoted? What resources can we rely on?”

Pope Leo encouraged them to be like their founder and turn today’s challenges into “springboards to explore new ways, develop tools and adopt new languages to continue to touch the hearts of students, helping and encouraging them to face every obstacle with courage so that they may give the best of themselves in life, according to God’s plans.”

“The charism of the school, which you embrace with your fourth vow of teaching,” he said, is “a service to society and a valuable work of charity” as well as “one of the most beautiful and eloquent expressions of that priestly, prophetic and kingly ‘munus’ (role) that we have all received in baptism.”

“I hope that vocations to Lasallian religious consecration may grow, that they may be encouraged and promoted, in your schools and beyond, and that, in synergy with all the other formative components, they may contribute to inspiring joyful and fruitful paths of holiness among the young people who attend them,” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – During a meeting with Eastern Catholics, many of whom come from war-torn regions of the world, Pope Leo XIV pledged the Vatican’s full commitment to promoting peace and reconciliation.

“The peoples of our world desire peace, and to their leaders I appeal with all my heart: Let us meet, let us talk, let us negotiate!” the pope said May 14 during an audience in the Paul VI Hall with thousands of Eastern Catholics participating in their Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome.

“War is never inevitable,” the pope told them. “Weapons can and must be silenced, for they do not resolve problems but only increase them.”

The audience was the culmination of a multi-day Jubilee celebration that included liturgies in the diverse rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches – from the Syro-Malabar and Armenian traditions to the Byzantine and Coptic rites – held in Rome’s major basilicas.

Before the pope’s arrival, a vibrant atmosphere filled the hall as pilgrims waved flags from Ukraine, India, Iran, Lebanon and other nations; many were dressed in traditional attire — vividly expressing the Eastern churches’ global presence and the deep pride in the faith despite centuries of hardship and persecution.

“Who, better than you, can sing a song of hope even amid the abyss of violence?” Pope Leo asked them, citing the lived experience of communities from the Holy Land to Ukraine, from Syria and Lebanon to Tigray and the Caucasus.

On the stage alongside the pope were leaders of the Eastern Catholic churches, including: Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; Cardinal Louis Sako, the Iraq-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church; Indian Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, major archbishop of Trivandrum and head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church; as well as Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches.

Pope Leo offered strong support for peacebuilding efforts across the globe and reiterated the Vatican’s role as a neutral ground for diplomacy.

“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face to face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve — the dignity of peace,” he said.

The pope also thanked Eastern Catholics for their perseverance and witness, referring to their churches as “martyr churches,” and affirming their importance to the universal church.

“You are precious in God’s eyes,” he said. “Truly, you have a unique and privileged role as the original setting where the church was born.”

The pope warned that war and migration have placed many Eastern Catholics at risk of losing not only their homes, but their identity, calling on the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches to work with Latin-rite bishops to support the faithful in the diaspora.

“There is a need to promote greater awareness among Latin Christians” of the Eastern Catholic communities, he said, asking bishops to help Eastern Catholics preserve their traditions and “enrich the communities in which they live.”

He also asked Eastern Catholic leaders to remain rooted in Gospel values and resist worldly temptations.

“Continue to be outstanding for your faith, hope and charity, and nothing else,” he urged them.

The universal church, the pope said, needs the traditions, liturgies and spiritualities of the Eastern Christians.

“We have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your liturgies, liturgies that engage the human person in his or her entirety, that sing of the beauty of salvation and evoke a sense of wonder at how God’s majesty embraces our human frailty!”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A proposed House budget is drawing fire from some critics over its cuts to Medicaid, while drawing praise from others for promises to eliminate funds to health providers who also perform abortions.

In a letter to Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, said the committee’s reconciliation recommendations, released May 11, would reduce deficits by more than $880 billion by 2034 and “would not increase on-budget deficits in any year after 2034.”

The committee’s recommendations for what President Donald Trump refers to as his “big, beautiful bill” — which would enact key provisions of his legislative agenda on tax and immigration policy — include steep cuts to Medicaid, a joint federal and state health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, as part of an effort to reduce federal spending.

Guthrie argued in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that the recommendations, if implemented, “strengthens Medicaid” by reducing wasteful spending.

“Without Republican solutions, Washington risks a complete collapse of Medicaid,” he argued.

But Sister Mary Haddad, a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and president and CEO of Catholic Health Association of the United States said in a May 12 statement the organization is “deeply concerned” that the proposal “to overhaul Medicaid still includes harmful policies and hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to the federal Medicaid program, threatening access to care for millions of Americans — particularly those in underserved areas where our member systems work every single day to provide quality, compassionate care.”

“Changes to work reporting requirements, provider tax, state directed payments, and retroactive coverage are among the concerning policies in this legislation,” Sister Haddad said, pointing to CBO projections “that 8.6 million people will lose access to health insurance over the next decade as a result of this proposal.”

“Congress has a moral obligation to consider the harm that such disastrous cuts would have on America’s health safety net and the impacts this proposal would have for America’s most vulnerable communities,” Sister Haddad argued, adding that “cascading effects of lost coverage, including higher costs and greater strain on the system, will impact nearly all Americans — not just those who rely on Medicaid.”

“As we have continued to state: Medicaid is not just a health program — it is a lifeline,” she said. “It provides access to care for those who need it most — poor and vulnerable children, pregnant women, elderly, adults, and disabled individuals in our nation while ensuring their dignity. Congress should not take America down a dangerous path of drastically reducing access to health care in the United States. We will continue to work with House Republicans and all federal lawmakers to ensure our health safety net remains intact so that our health systems can continue to provide vital care to American patients and families.”

But some pro-life groups celebrated language in the committee proposal that would block entities that perform abortions from receiving Medicaid funds.

Although the text does not name Planned Parenthood specifically, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a group that works to elect candidates who oppose abortion to public office, is among those pushing their congressional allies to strip federal funding from the nation’s largest abortion provider in the process.

“It’s time to stop forcing taxpayers to fund the Big Abortion industry,” Dannenfelser argued in a May 12 statement. “Thanks to Speaker Johnson and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, this year’s budget reconciliation bill contains the commonsense language to make that happen.”

“Taxpayers should never be mandated to prop up an industry that profits from ending lives and harming women and girls,” Dannenfelser said, pointing to Planned Parenthood’s new annual report showing an increase in abortions and a decrease in cancer treatment and prevention services.

Supporters of allowing Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds point to its cancer screening and prevention services, but critics argue the funds are fungible and could be used to facilitate abortion, despite prohibitions on tax funding for elective abortion procedures. Efforts to strip Planned Parenthood of public funds are sometimes referred to as “defunding.”

“With this proposal, abortion opponents in Congress have declared they want working families to take on skyrocketing health care costs so they can give billionaires a tax break,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, argued in a May 11 statement. “Here is what ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood and gutting Medicaid will mean: cancers will go undetected; it will be harder than ever to get birth control; the nation’s STI (sexually transmitted infections) crisis will worsen; Planned Parenthood health centers will close, making it significantly harder to get abortion care; and people across the country will suffer — all so the supremely wealthy can become even richer.”

But Dannenfelser argued community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities, and they can “provide much more comprehensive care without performing abortions — and because Medicaid dollars follow patients, they can continue to use Medicaid.”

“Forcing Americans to fund the abortion industry is a gross abuse of our hard-earned tax dollars and it’s unconscionable how long it has gone on,” Dannenfelser said, calling it “a historic opportunity” to eliminate Planned Parenthood’s federal funds.

However, a group of House Republicans have reportedly expressed opposition to eliminating Planned Parenthood’s federal funding through the budget reconciliation process.

Abortion in the U.S. is heavily correlated with poverty and low incomes. The abortion research firm Guttmacher Institute reported 75% of women seeking abortion were low-income, with 50% below the federal poverty line. About six out of 10 women seeking abortion were already mothers. The top concerns reported included not being able to afford another child, losing the ability to work or continue education, or having to care for dependents or other family responsibilities.