The Catholic Church will celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on Tuesday, February 2, with commemorations also encouraged for the weekend of February 6-7. This event is a special time for individual parishes and the greater Church to celebrate the gift of consecrated life and pray for men and women discerning a consecrated vocation.

Activities organized to celebrate the fun, faith, and family that define Maine’s Catholic schools highlight the Catholic Schools Week schedules across the state on January 31 to February 6, but teachers and administrators hope that it’s the ways in which the students will give back that will provide the most indelible memories.

Locally and nationally, late January has become a time of solemn community each year at events calling for the end of abortion and the protection of human life from conception to natural death. It was on January 22, 1973, that the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion across the country.

Every day we should thank God for the blessings of liberty, freedom, and democracy. These are the characteristics of the American experience on full display today in our nation’s capital with the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. I join with my brother bishops in congratulating him on his election and inauguration. An inauguration is a beginning. That really means that the work of all of us has just begun as together we build our nation.

The “Hands Around the Capitol” event scheduled for the statehouse in Augusta on Saturday, January 23, has been cancelled due to safety concerns.

From invocation to closing prayer, the inauguration of a U.S. president provides a patriotic vision of the fabric and essence of America, an opportunity for rebirth, and a reminder of the liberty and democracy that defines our nation.

The National Catholic Risk Retention Group (National Catholic) has announced that Bishop Robert Deeley has been elected as its chairman of the board. Since July of 2019, the bishop has served as the company’s episcopal moderator and as a member of its board of directors. Bishop Deeley’s appointment as chairman is in addition to his duties as the 12th Bishop of the Diocese of Portland.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and today (January 11) is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

When searching for reasons to smile during the pandemic, a common source of comfort has been the sacrifices made by many Mainers as they have looked past their own needs in hopes that those in greater danger might be helped.

Traditionally, hundreds of people brave frigid temperatures to participate in the “Hands Around the Capitol” rally and march each January in Augusta. The event has been held annually for 47 years since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion. Participants rally, march, and encircle the statehouse to pray that all will come to realize the value of human life from conception to natural death.