On Sunday, April 14, a Blue Mass was held at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Peckville.
Members of the local police, fire, EMT, and 911 dispatch units and all first responders received a special blessing from Fr. Andrew Kurovsky through the intercession of St. Michael the Archangel.
The public safety workers were anointed and given a prayer card and medal of St. Michael the Archangel. A gathering was held after mass in Holy Family Hall where all shared gratitude to all those who serve and protect our communities every day.
We thank all public safety personnel for their service!
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Living the scout oath
On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law to help other people at all times to keep myself physically strong mentally awake and morally straight.
“DUTY TO GOD”
Members of BSA Troop 132 ,Troop 1132 and Pack 126 participated in their annual Scout Sunday Service at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Moscow. Father Thomas M. Muldowney and Deacon Frank Zeranski are pictured with the scouts that attended the mass.
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Reverend William D. Campbell, passed away peacefully on Thursday, March 28, 2024 at Allied Services Meade Street Skilled Nursing, Wilkes Barre.
Born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania. December 23, 1932 he was the son of the late Joseph and Mary (Sullivan) Campbell.
Father Campbell received his early education at St. Patrick’s School, Olyphant. He attended the University of Scranton and entered St. Mary’s Roland Park Seminary, Maryland, where he studied for the priesthood and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology. Father Campbell was ordained on May 31, 1958, in Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Scranton, by the Most Reverend Jerome D. Hannan, D.D., late Bishop of Scranton.
Father Campbell was appointed Assistant Pastor at St. Mary’s, Mount Pocono on June 17, 1958. He served in this parish until October 3, 1958 when he was appointed Assistant Pastor at St. James Church, Jessup and Administrator on June 8, 1960. Father has also served as Assistant Pastor at St. Peter’s, Wellsboro; St. Mary’s Wilkes Barre; St. Patrick’s Milford; Holy Name of Jesus, Scranton and St. Joseph Church, Minooka.
Father received a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. in June of 1964. He was appointed Professor at St. Mary’s Seminary September 1970 and served in this appointment until September 1974. Father was assigned to live in residence at St. Mary’s Assumption, Pittston while teaching at Marywood College, Scranton. In May 1977, Father was appointed Chaplain of Marywood College where he became known about campus as a “priest for all seasons.”
Father Campbell’s teaching experience, in addition to that at Marywood, includes positions held at St. Pius X Seminary, Dalton; Keystone Junior College, LaPlume; Goucher College, Towson, MD; and the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.
In September 1989, he was appointed Pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, Scranton where he served for 13 years. In July 2002, he was assigned as Senior Priest at St. Rose of Lima, Carbondale where he remained until his retirement in August 2011. Father Campbell also continued to teach at Marywood until 2017.
Father has served the Diocese of Scranton as Dean of the Scranton (East) Deanery and was a member of the Advisory Board of the Office for Continuing Education of Priests. In addition to his parents, Father Campbell is preceded in death by a brother, Paul, and a sister, Alice Kenefick.
Father Campbell is survived by his nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews, and his caregiver, James Loftus.
Viewing will take place on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Thursday, April 4, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, Holy Cross Parish, 200 Delaware Avenue, Olyphant, PA. A Vespers Service will be held Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. A Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L., Bishop of Scranton, on Thursday, April 4, 2024, 10:00 a.m., at St. Patrick Church, Holy Cross Parish, 200 Delaware Avenue , Olyphant, PA.
Interment will be in Saint Patrick’s Cemetery, Route 6, Blakely, PA.
Arrangements are by the Arthur A. Albini Funeral Home, 1003 Church St., Jessup.
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On Friday, March 15th at 7:00 PM, 6th & 7th grade students from the St Boniface & St Lawrence PREP program, presented a Living Stations of the Cross at St Lawrence Church in South Williamsport. They brought the Stations to life through costumed visual representations, music and meditations. The Stations were well attended by families and other parishioners.
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PA Representative Joe Ciresi–a Democrat from Montgomery County (Representing Pottsgrove, Pottstown & Spring-Ford)–has introduced legislation (HB 2063) that would end the EITC & OSTC programs as we know them. Representative Ciresi’s bill can only be regarded as a significant attack on the freedom of parental choice in education in PA.
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO:
Cut family income limits for students participating to 200% of the federal poverty level (This would cut the current family EITC & OSTC eligibility in half).
Eliminate support level factors for families with students with a disability.
Impose new reporting requirements on scholarship organizations to report data on every student given a scholarship, and for every applicant who was “denied.”
Impose new reporting requirements on schools–affecting every nonpublic school in the state.
Give the state carte blanche to impose new reporting requirements without legislative approval.
Shown, from left: Chris Bedwick, incoming advisory board president, St. Vincent de Paul Kitchen; Dr. Dave Shemo; Carl Frank, past advisory board president, St. Vincent de Paul Kitchen. St. Vincent de Paul Kitchen is a program of Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton.
The Advisory Board of St. Vincent de Paul Kitchen recently presented Dr. Dave Shemo, outgoing advisory board president, with a plaque of appreciation for his 15 years of service as President of the Advisory Board.
Dr. Shemo was also presented with a miniature statue of St. Vincent de Paul and a gift card to Freidman Hospitality restaurants.
Following his tenure as Advisory Board President, Dr. Shemo will remain a member of the Advisory Board.
Pictured are Council, Amber District, Supreme officers, members and guests. Front row, from left to right, Mary Lidaka, Tom Wierbowski – Amber District Vice President, Linda Savinski, Annalyse Towns, Judy Stodolny, Barbara Miller – Amber District President, Anne Marie Distin- 4 th Degree recipient, Dennis Palladino, Mary Claire Voveris- 4 th Degree recipient, Janet Palladino, Eileen Kelly and Beverly Harnen. Second row, from left to right, Mary Portelli, June Supey, Les Distin – 3 rd Degree recipient, Tom Miller – Amber District Secretary, Elaine Elko, Don Waxmonsky, Shirley Skamarakus, Joe Francik and Mike Loncoski. Third row, from left to right, John Kovaleski, Irene Kovaleski, Fran Siklus, Marlene Warren – Supreme Financial Secretary, Sue Robinson – Amber District Trustee , Sylvia Waxmonsky, Steve Tichy – Amber District Trustee, Bill Sodnik, Camille Stanis and Larry Domalakes – Amber District Treasurer.
Knights of Lithuania Council 143, Pittston, PA celebrated the feast of St. Casimir with a Mass held on Sunday, March 3 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston. Third and fourth degrees were also conferred at the Mass. A luncheon and Amber District meeting in the Monsignor Bendik Center followed the service.
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On February 13, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 5856). This bipartisan measure would do several things to combat the scourge of human trafficking, including:
• Reauthorize various programs under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 through Fiscal Year 2028 (which lapsed September 30, 2021), with approximately $1 billion in funding for anti-trafficking efforts over the next five years;
• Authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out a Human Trafficking Survivors Employment and Education Program to prevent the re-exploitation of eligible individuals with services that help them to attain life skills, employment, and education necessary to achieve self-sufficiency;
• Authorize grants for programs that prevent and detect trafficking of school-age children in a “linguistically accessible, culturally responsive, age-appropriate, and trauma-informed fashion”; and
• Require the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to encourage integration of activities to counter human trafficking into its broader programming.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration formally endorsed the bill with other Catholic organizations during the previous Congress, stating at the time that “this legislation is critical for continuing and bolstering our nation’s efforts to eradicate human trafficking and assist human trafficking survivors.”
More recently, in a press release reaffirming the USCCB’s support for the bill, Bishop Mark Seitz, current chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, emphasized that it “is incumbent upon all of us to unite in promoting efforts that prevent the evil of human trafficking. I join our Holy Father in inviting the faithful and all people of good will to uphold and affirm human dignity and grow in solidarity with those who are vulnerable to exploitation and have been impacted by this terrible evil of modern-day slavery.”
You can learn more about human trafficking and the Church’s anti-trafficking efforts by reading this explainer and by visiting the Justice for Immigrants campaign’s Saint Josephine Bakhita webpage.
Message to Congress
Please Pass H.R. 5856 to Combat Human Trafficking and Support Survivors
As a Catholic and your constituent, I urge you to take up and support the House-passed Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 5856), an important, bipartisan bill that will help combat the evil of human trafficking.
This bill would reauthorize important programs under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, provide about $1 billion in funding for anti-trafficking measures, authorize the creation of a Human Trafficking Survivors Employment and Education Program, support grants for programs that prevent and detect trafficking of school-age children, require that USAID encourage integration of activities to counter human trafficking in programs under its purview, and more.
It is critical that our country continues to combat what Pope Francis has referred to as a “crime against humanity.” Please work with your colleagues in the Senate to pass H.R. 5856 without delay.
Click the link below to log in and send your message:
WASHINGTON – At Masses on the weekend of March 9-10, Catholics across the United States will have an opportunity to help the most impoverished and marginalized by giving to The Catholic Relief Services Collection of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This annual collection helps fund the U.S. bishops’ flagship international relief and development organization (Catholic Relief Services), but it also supports five other initiatives:
The U.S. bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace, works to end conflicts and build just societies that respect human rights, religious freedom, and integral human development;
the Holy Father’s Relief Fund allows Pope Francis to send emergency aid to disaster victims worldwide;
the U.S. bishops’ Department of Migration and Refugee Services, promotes awareness of the plight of immigrants, migrants, refugees, trafficking victims, and people on the move, and assists with programmatic assistance and aid;
the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), provides legal aid to immigrants and refugees seeking a legal path to work permits and citizenship; and
the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat on Cultural Diversity in the Church works to bring Catholics from various culturally diverse communities into fuller participation in the faith, life, and evangelizing mission of the Church. Its Pastoral Care for Migrants, Refugees and Travelers program ministers to the special pastoral and cultural needs of immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean Islands, and Europe, as well as itinerant people, including seafarers, traveling show performers, truckers and tourists, while its Asian and Pacific Island Affairs program engages Catholics from Asian and Pacific Island communities in the United States.
“The initiatives that benefit from The Catholic Relief Services Collection bring hope and change lives of the most impoverished and vulnerable among us,” said Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on National Collections. “It is my hope that you consider the Lord’s graces and blessings at work in your lives and consider how you might make a difference in the lives of those who are struggling.”
This collection helped sponsor a conference to seek peace and justice between South and North Korea. And in drought-stricken Kenya, the collection underwrote the renovation of water systems that now bring life and hope to millions of people through Catholic Relief Services. A project funded by the U.S. bishops’ Department of Migration and Refugee Services trained thousands of parish volunteers to assist 21,000 refugees from countries as diverse as Ukraine and Venezuela as they were resettled in the United States and are adjusting to life in a new culture as they make a new start. The Secretariat on Cultural Diversity in the Church brought together young Catholics from many ethnic backgrounds across the United States to build bridges of understanding that heal divisions in our Church, our country and our communities. And for the last 35 years, CLINIC has supported the needs of immigrants seeking legal services at the local level in communities across the country.
Most dioceses will take up the collection in their parishes on the weekend of March 9-10, though some choose a different date. #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for the collection.
In his 2024 Lenten message to the Church, Pope Francis invites us to reflect upon the desert experience that is so prevalent in the life of Jesus and throughout the sacred scriptures. “Lent is the season of grace in which the desert can become once more – in the words of the prophet Hosea – the place of our first love (cf. Hos 2:16-17). God shapes his people, he enables us to leave our slavery behind and experience a Passover from death to life.”
Jesus is depicted carrying his cross in a mosaic of the second station of the Stations of the Cross at St. Thomas More Church on the campus of St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
Essentially, the sacred season of Lent encourages us to step apart from the frenetic pace of life that has consumed us and to reflect – in the desert of our hearts – what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and to embrace his life and saving grace. In the midst of a world fraught with upheaval and pain as a result of wars, political and social polarization, and far too many “isms” and “phobias” that have proliferated throughout the globe, resulting in discrimination, hatred, pain and suffering, we need to step apart to assess our own role in contributing to the breakdown of peace and respect for the lives that God has placed within our own. “If our celebration of Lent is to be fruitful,” Pope Francis asserts, “the first step is to desire to open our eyes to reality.”
In the liturgy of Ash Wednesday every year, we listen to the words of the prophet Joel, who sets the stage not only for the season of Lent but for our response to the Lord’s call to discipleship. And he does so by challenging us to change our lives – not merely by performing religious gestures and practices – but by peering intensely into our hearts to insure that our spirit is honest and pure and open to the transforming power and presence of God. Saint Matthew, in that same liturgy, reinforces the words of the prophet as he calls us to pray, fast, and to give alms in support of the poor – not because such behavior will make us righteous – but because such acts for the true follower of Jesus are simply the consequence of faithful lives rooted in Jesus, who teaches us how best to live.
Pope Francis puts these three pillars of our lives as followers of Jesus into perspective. “Today, the cry of so many of our oppressed brothers and sisters rises to heaven. Let us ask ourselves: Do we hear that cry? Does it trouble us? Does it move us? … It is time to act. … Love of God and love of neighbour are one love. … For this reason, prayer, almsgiving and fasting are not three unrelated acts, but a single movement of openness and self-emptying, in which we cast out the idols that weigh us down, the attachments that imprison us. … In the presence of God, we become brothers and sisters, more sensitive to one another. In place of threats and enemies, we discover companions and fellow travelers. This is God’s dream, the promised land to which we journey once we have left our slavery behind.”
By providing greater opportunities for prayer and reflection, Lent then becomes both a time for personal conversion and a favorable season for opening the doors to all those in need and recognizing in them the face of Christ as it challenges us to consider the gift and blessing of the Sacrament of Baptism in our lives.
On the First Sunday of Lent, we will welcome catechumens into the ranks of the elect; those from our midst who have begun the journey of conversion and who will soon experience the saving power of Jesus in the Easter mysteries of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. Their “yes” to the Lord’s call gives us hope and should encourage us to recommit ourselves to the vows that were made at our own baptisms. Their “yes” reminds us that we too are called to look beyond ourselves to something more in life.
As we continue to give thanks for the singular gift of God’s presence in the Holy Eucharist during the third year of Eucharistic Revival in our land, I will once again celebrate a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament in each of our twelve deaneries throughout the weeks of Lent. I look forward to praying with many of you as we seek God’s healing grace.
Finally, I encourage all of us to avail ourselves of the Lord’s mercy and healing in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
My friends, in the desert of our hearts, Lent calls us to reflect upon our relationship with God and to recognize that God is ever faithful and present, particularly amid the challenges that envelop our broken world and fragile lives. May we be humble enough to open our lives to God’s merciful presence and walk with him on the life-giving journey of conversion and renewal.
Please know of my prayers for a fruitful observance of Lent.
Faithfully yours in Christ, Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L. Bishop of Scranton
On Sunday, April 14, a Blue Mass was held at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Peckville.
Living the scout oath
On Friday, March 15th at 7:00 PM, 6th & 7th grade students from the St Boniface & St Lawrence PREP program, presented a Living Stations of the Cross at St Lawrence Church in South Williamsport. They brought the Stations to life through costumed visual representations, music and meditations. The Stations were well attended by families and other parishioners. 
On February 13, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 5856). This bipartisan measure would do several things to combat the scourge of human trafficking, including: 
