Roman Catholic members of Arizona’s legal profession, including judges, lawyers, clerks and paralegals gathered at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in downtown for the 53rd annual Red Mass Wednesday night.
Following an African tradition in which community members bring baskets of food and other material goods to the altar during the offertory, student representatives from Catholic schools throughout the diocese carried donations of non-perishable foods to be donated to St. Josephine Bakhita Mission Parish’s food pantry during the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Mass Jan. 14.
Roman Catholics around the globe are mourning the loss of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who passed away in Rome today at the age of 95. A native of Germany, Benedict served as the pope of the Catholic Church for over seven years (2005 to 2013), before announcing his resignation on February 28, 2013, becoming the first pope in almost 600 years to resign from the papacy. He was the 265th pope in the 2,000-plus year history of the Church.
With nearly one in five Americans living with a mental illness, the need for the local Church to address this issue is clear. Now, for the first time ever, the Diocese of Phoenix will be home to an Office of Mental Health Ministry.