COLORADO SPRINGS.  After years of attending Mass in classrooms and other temporary locations, Catholic college students in Colorado Springs now have a permanent place to worship. Bishop Michael Sheridan dedicated St. John Henry Newman Chapel on Feb. 20 — marking a major milestone for diocesan campus ministry.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Holy Cross Father Ronald Raab, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Colorado Springs, is the illustrator of a new book titled “The Stations of the Cross in Atonement for Abuse and for the Healing of All,” published by Liturgical Press.

COLORADO SPRINGS. The Diocese of Colorado Springs’ Office of Child and Youth Protection (OCYP) has recently undergone a reorganization that included the appointment of Deacon Tom Dickinson as Director and the adoption of the VIRTUS platform for safe-environment training.

Deacon Anthony Donbosco Le was born and raised as a Catholic in the war-torn country of Vietnam. He has six siblings, two sisters and four brothers. Only one sister and two brothers have survived. The others died due to sickness or went missing while escaping from Vietnam.

COLORADO SPRINGS. The Serra Club of Colorado Springs announced the winners of its 2020 Priesthood Appreciation Contest. The theme of this year’s contest was “How Has a Priest Inspired You?”

COLORADO SPRINGS. When Catholic couples discover years or decades after being married civilly that their marriage is not considered to be valid by the Church, it can come as a surprise and leave them wondering what steps to take. Fortunately, the Diocese of Colorado Springs is equipped to help such couples enter into a valid Catholic marriage so that they can live a complete sacramental life.

COLORADO SPRINGS. With new cases of coronavirus on the rise in Colorado, it could be another six months before long-term care facilities — including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, senior residences and rehabilitation centers — will be open to outside visitors. When that does finally happen, however, the Diocese of Colorado Springs will have a plan in place to better reach Catholics who are unable to regularly attend Mass.

Editor’s Note: Following is the next installment of the Herald’s monthly series profiling priests and deacons serving in the Diocese of Colorado Springs. Featured this month is Father Francisco Quezada, pastor of St. Patrick Parish.

Father Francisco Quezada is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, and was the third oldest in a family of six children.

“My vocation was born from us attending Mass together early on Sunday mornings, all six of us,” Father Quezada said.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Although weddings during the coronavirus pandemic look much different than in the past, couples are continuing to attend marriage preparation classes and enter into the sacrament of matrimony. Because so much of the diocesan marriage preparation program is available online, couples are able to finish the classes, including education in natural family planning (NFP), at their own pace while still observing social distancing requirements and travel restrictions.

COLORADO SPRINGS. As the Catholic Church in the United States gets ready to celebrate Vocations Awareness Week Nov. 1-7, a parishioner in the diocese is preparing to enter religious life.

Holy Apostles parishioner Catherine Logan has been accepted as a postulant for the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She plans to enter as soon as she has raised enough money to pay off her student debt.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Like many other Catholic organizations, the Inferno Men’s ministry in the Diocese of Colorado Springs has had to switch to virtual meetings due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But when it came time to plan the group’s annual conference — which has drawn upwards of 400 men in recent years — leaders struggled to find a way to hold an in-person event.

COLORADO SPRINGS. The phrase “chaos is a ladder” has been tossed around a lot during the coronavirus pandemic, but for Catholic Charities of Central Colorado’s Marian House, that really has proven to be the case.

(Editor’s note: The following is part of a year-long series highlighting the 15th anniversary of the Office of Marriage and Family Life.

COLORADO SPRINGS. A decree establishing diocesan-wide norms for marriage preparation and the sacrament of matrimony was promulgated by Bishop Michael Sheridan on Oct. 3, 2019, and those who work with engaged couples say that it is already having a positive impact on their ministry.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Roughly five months after the coronavirus pandemic caused them to switch to online instruction virtually overnight, Catholic schools in the Diocese of Colorado Springs welcomed students back for full-time, in-person instruction during the third week of August.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When Christian and Christine Meert were named co-directors of the Diocese of Colorado Springs’ newly- created Office of Marriage and Family Life in 2005, they essentially started with a blank slate. Now, 15 years later, the two can look back and see how their efforts have born fruit.