BRAINTREE -- The Archdiocese of Boston's Opioid Task Force is offering a series of four free webinars specifically geared towards Catholic school parents, guardians, and teachers and designed to help them formulate their response to the opioid epidemic.

SOUTH END -- Police officers, firefighters, EMTs, corrections officers, and other first responders from across the Archdiocese of Boston will be honored Oct. 1 during the annual Mass for Public Safety Personnel and Families, held this year at St. Theresa of Avila Church in West Roxbury.

WATERTOWN -- On Sept. 15 and Sept. 16, the CatholicTV Network held its 26th Telethon, raising over $300,000 from generous viewers in the United States and abroad. This year's telethon was hosted by Bishop Robert Reed, Jay Fadden, and Kevin Nelson, and featured acts by talented performers, including singers from St. Bridget's Parish in Maynard; comedy duo Nun and Nunner; and renowned musicians Eric Genuis and Stephanie Scogna.

BRAINTREE -- Four Boston College students studying overseas were injured in an acid attack, Sept. 17, in Marseille, France. BC juniors Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug, and Kelsey Kosten were at a train station in Marseille when a woman sprayed them with an acidic solution. The students were taken to the hospital, where they were treated for burns and released later that day.

Oklahoma City, Okla. (CNA/EWTN News) -- When Father Stanley Rother, a missionary priest from Okarche, Oklahoma, was killed by rebels in Guatemala, his body was transferred back to the United States to be buried by his family.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- She inspired many when she rolled up the sleeves of her habit to clean up after Hurricane Irma with a chainsaw. After the local police department posted a video Sept. 12 on Twitter of Carmelite Sister Margaret Ann Laechelin trimming branches off a fallen tree with a chainsaw, she became an instant hit and a symbol of sorts for the hurricane-ravaged Miami area.

ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- When Francis "FX" Giaccio began his lawn-mowing business in May, the 11-year-old saw beyond the possibility of making enough money to buy a Lego set or a new phone. He saw an opportunity.

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- A Catholic bishop and a Caritas worker in Mexico said the situation was extremely serious after the Sept. 19 earthquake, and much aid would be needed. "The situation is complicated, because the first earthquake (Sept. 7) had already affected thousands of people in Chiapas and Oaxaca," Alberto Arciniega, head of communications for Caritas Mexico, told Catholic News Service Sept. 20. "The church is continuing to assist those dioceses, but with what happened yesterday, the emergency situation is being re-evaluated to get a more exact assessment of the aid that is needed."

MOSCOW (CNS) -- Catholics across Russia are celebrating the centenary of the 1917 apparitions of Mary to shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. According to one of the children, Sister Lucia Dos Santos, Mary asked for a special consecration of Russia to prevent the country from disseminating its "errors throughout the world," a phrase now-retired Pope Benedict XVI interpreted as referring to communism.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To better prepare priests and pastoral workers to help meet the challenges families face today, Pope Francis is strengthening the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family and changing its name to the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for the Sciences of Marriage and Family.