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St. Patrick, evangelizer of a whole nation, is still bringing people to God – or at least to church. Irish dinners in his name are drawing crowds to local parishes, bringing folks together, raising money and playing a part in a type of evangelization too.

Local Catholics are being encouraged to lobby legislators about current bills aimed at expanding access to abortion and legalizing physician-assisted suicide, as well as bills about sex education.

A Hispanic woman “changed” her birthday because of her devotion – and was protected. An African woman lived through horror – and gave life. Local religious sisters told these stories of women they met at the U.S.-Mexico border when volunteering there last month.

WORCESTER - Father Henry A. Donoghue, 83, passed away peacefully on March 7 at the Rose Monahan Hospice Home. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated March 13. Bishop McManus will be the principal celebrant.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Lent comes late this year. Late though it may be, most of us are not immediately eager for the austerities of Lent.

Partners in Charity turns to St. Pope Paul VI to be the inspiration for the 2019 appeal. With the theme, “Generate Joy,” the annual campaign, which raises $5 million, begins in many parishes this weekend with in-pew collections.

WESTBOROUGH – Aaron Linn loves going to Mass; the fact that he is autistic has not gotten in the way. His mother, Ellen, is thankful to the SPRED program for helping her son to know the love of Jesus and to share it within the parish community.

BARRE – On the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows in 2015, Deacon Brian Gadbois – who serves St. Francis of Assisi Parish – and his wife, Nissa Gadbois, adopted two children from an orphanage in Bulgaria. But the couple didn’t want their connection to Nicholas and Olivia’s native country to end with the adoption.

WORCESTER – God is doing something new. That message emerged as Catholics met to seek God’s will for the charismatic renewal locally. Father Diego A. Buritica, who was appointed episcopal liaison to diocesan charismatic renewal communities last October, hosted “Lord, Light the Fire Again!”

Lenten Commentary on Forgiveness: I would like to dwell on three realities of the meaning of mercy: God’s mercy on us; our mercy on those who trespass against us; and our mercy on all who need us.

Francesco Cesareo, the president of Assumption College, will speak at the 19th Annual Worcester Diocesan Catholic Men’s Conference, scheduled for April 6 at the college. The title of his talk is “A Wounded Church.” He will speak in his capacity as the chairman of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Robert Lewis Jr., chief executive officer of The BASE, will be speaker May 12 at the 103rd commencement exercises for Assumption College at the DCU Center. He and Sister Annie Credidio, of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will receive honorary degrees during the ceremony, the college announced.

Six former competitors and a coach have been named to the College of the Holy Cross Athletic Hall of Fame the Holy Cross Varsity Club has announced. They will be formally inducted at the Varsity Club’s annual dinner May 4 in the Hogan Campus Center.

Catholic News Service has opened a special section on Vatican Summit on Child Protection. VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The long-awaited "Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church," also called the abuse summit, was an extraordinary and historic gathering that surpassed many expectations while perhaps disappointing others. Historic in that it brought together the heads of 114 bishops' conferences from the entire world, as well as the leaders of religious congregations, curial officials and even a few laypeople to discuss in a semi-public forum the sins of the church and to hear the powerful words of the victims themselves.

Angel Rojas, the TV ministry’s longest-serving volunteer, recalls when Masses were recorded in Worcester to be broadcast later. The Worcester Diocese began live daily telecasts on Feb. 8, 1989, according to Raymond L. Delisle, chancellor and director of the diocesan communications ministry.

Teaching today’s generation the art of conversation was part of the conversation at the inauguration of Anna Maria College’s speaker series about the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.

If we are willing to make an exception to the rule that direct killing of an innocent human being is always wrong, then it only becomes a matter of “haggling over the price.” If killing by euthanasia can be allowed for a deeply emotional reason, it can certainly be allowed for other reasons too...

Massachusetts bishops are addressing the state’s Catholics prior to the Feb. 21-24 Vatican Summit on the sexual abuse crisis. It is a crisis, they say, “that has again enveloped the life of the Church.

Author and EWTN personality, Mike Aquilina, will speak at the 19th Annual Worcester Diocesan Catholic Men’s Conference, scheduled for April 6 at Assumption College. The title of his talk is “With the Strength of Angels.”

Four diocesan priests spent three days on the U.S.-Mexican border recently to observe the ministries of the Catholic Church that serve migrants on both sides of the border. The trip was under the auspices of the Catholic Extension’s Mission Immersion Program for Pastors.