Hello 2021! Ring the church bells, sound the horns, clap your hands, brush last years amended soil dust off of your shoulders! It’s a New Year and there are only 131 days until planting begins. What to plant? What to order? What to divide and share? Take a deep breath of our fresh, crisp Colorado air and spend a few minutes thinking about what you would like in the garden this year.

El 31 de enero la Iglesia en todo Estados Unidos comenzará la celebración anual de la Semana de las Escuelas Católicas.  Es un tiempo en el que todos podemos dar gracias por el don de las escuelas católicas, que han desempeñado un papel tan importante en la vida de muchos de nosotros.

On Jan. 31, the Church throughout the United States will begin the annual week-long celebration of Catholic Schools Week. This is a time in which all of us can give thanks for the gift of Catholic schools, which have played such an important role in the lives of many of us.

Photos from a few recent events that have taken place in the diocese.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Inspired by Faith. Everything at St. Mary’s High School is inspired by faith. The theological foundation that the school helps build in its students is one of the many reasons that families choose St. Mary’s for their children’s high school education.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Catholic Schools Week will be observed Jan. 31-Feb. 5. Due to coronavirus restrictions, the annual All Schools Mass will take place virtually this year. However, individual schools are finding creative ways to celebrate the event. Following is a listing of the various activities planned by schools in the diocese for Catholic Schools Week. 

NEW YORK. Everyone’s favorite Amazonian princess returns to save the planet in “Wonder Woman 1984” (Warner Bros.), an entertaining follow-up to the DC Comics superhero’s 2017 outing.

Director Patty Jenkins is once again at the helm, and this time has co-written the screenplay with Geoff Johns and David Callaham. Naturally, the plot is silly, at times preposterous. But that’s not unexpected for an old-fashioned popcorn movie, a Saturday-matinee serial writ large.

DELHI TOWNSHIP, Ohio. Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Roberta Westrick died Dec. 11, 2020, at the age of 82 in Mother Margaret Hall, the nursing facility for the Sisters of Charity. A Memorial Mass will be offered in the Motherhouse Chapel of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati at a later date. Burial in the Sisters of Charity cemetery has already taken place.

In 1966, Pope St. Paul VI named Father Harold Perry auxiliary bishop of New Orleans. President Lyndon Johnson, along with religious and civil leaders across the nation, lauded the appointment of a Black bishop, who Archbishop Philip Hannan hailed as the country’s first.

NORTHFIELD, Minn. The Equipped for Life Course from the Equal Rights Institute completely revolutionized the way that my college pro-life group (Students for Life at St. Olaf) operates and enabled us to make a dramatic impact on our campus.

I am a Colorado native who attended Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, where I ran cross country and threw discus for the track and field team. My parents reside in Parker, and my father is a permanent deacon serving at Ave Maria Parish.

I had never seen “Meet Me in St. Louis” until recently, but I knew the song.  Judy Garland’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is, according to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the fifth most popular Christmas song of all time.  It has been covered by countless musicians in the 76 years since it was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane in 1944.  Like all great art, the song is timeless: it could not be more timely than in this year. 

Christmas is going to be different this year.

It will be a somber and perhaps mournful season, for those suffering from the multiple effects of the pandemic.