Teenagers streamed past applauding peers to the arena stage -- to show their openness to a possible priestly or religious vocation. At another point, youth stood to acknowledge that they had proclaimed Jesus as Lord of their lives for the first time that weekend. Others extended their hands to pray over them.
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DEDHAM -- Ursuline Academy has selected Kathleen Nolan Levesque to be its third president, succeeding Rosann Whiting, who concluded her 11-year presidency in June. Levesque, a graduate of Ursuline, is well known to the school community. She has extensive experience as an independent school administrator and board member, having previously served on the board and the executive committee of Moses Brown School in Rhode Island. She joined the Ursuline Academy board in 2002 and has served various roles, including president of the academy from 2004-2007, vice chair of the board, chair of the Governance Committee, and interim principal for the 2015-16 school year.
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BROOKLINE -- Father Jonathan Gaspar made a surprising discovery shortly before his installation as the new pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption in late June. While cleaning and reorganizing the church basement, Father Gaspar came across a box containing several old liturgical items. Among the reliquaries, monstrances, and ciboria, there was one unique item: a chalice that Father Gaspar read about in the parish history. The document reported that Pope Pius IX, pope from 1846-1878, gave the chalice to Father Joseph M. Finotti, the second pastor of St. Mary's, in honor of his parish being the first in the United States to be dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption.
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MILTON -- Sharing prayer requests is a routine part of Alexia Etienne's 5th-grade religion class at St. Mary of the Hills School. In 2016, she shared some sad news: a friend of hers, Thelma Lake, was suffering from terminal cancer.
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FRANKLIN -- St. Mary Church will celebrate its annual St. Rocco Festival of Food for the last time this August, bringing a close to the 40-year tradition due to increasing difficulty in organizing it.
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MELROSE -- A Xaverian Brother and long-time staff member of Malden Catholic High School was the victim of a hit-and-run accident on the morning of Monday, July 9. At 5:45 a.m., Melrose Police responded to a report of a person struck by a car on Herbert Street. According to police, the vehicle was probably going the wrong way down the narrow one-way street, hit and dragged the 85-year-old man, and then fled the scene, leaving him lying face-down in the road. He suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to a Boston hospital.
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WASHINGTON--Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Bishop John Anthony Dooher from the Office of Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Boston June 30. Bishop Dooher has reached the retirement age for bishops of 75.The resignation was publicized in Washington on June 30, 2018, by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
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WESTON -- Regis College has launched a fundraising campaign for a state-of-the-art field house and additional amenities designed to support its outdoor sports teams and athletes. The campaign to raise more than $7 million will mark a new chapter in the university's championship athletics program that's coming off an electrifying inaugural season in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).
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More than 500 members and supporters of Opus Dei gathered June 26 to celebrate the feast day of their founder, St. Josemaria Escriva. The Mass, held at St. Mary of the Assumption in Dedham, was celebrated by retired auxiliary Bishop Arthur L. Kennedy who was joined by numerous priest concelebrants.
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BRIGHTON -- On June 24, 2018, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston participated in the Transition of Leadership for their congregation. Over 500 sisters, associates, colleagues, friends and family members were present at the CSJ Center at Fontbonne Academy in Milton for the celebration. The sisters who have been elected by the congregation to serve in the ministry of leadership for the next five years are: Sisters Lee Hogan, Catherine Clifford, Marian Batho, Judith Costello, Betsy Conway, and Denise Kelly.
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