COLORADO SPRINGS. All are invited to Catholic Radio Network’s annual Priest and Seminarian Appreciation Day that will take place June 20 at St. Paul Parish.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Artist Kim Le Nguyen enters her studio, lowers herself on to a chair and picks up a brush waiting for the first application of the day.

Nguyen studies her work for a moment, then applies the first stroke to her latest creation, using the brush and paint as a writer uses a computer and words to evoke an emotion.

MONUMENT. The Diocese of Colorado Springs’ Office of the Permanent Diaconate will hold an informational meeting for men who want to learn more about this vocation on May 7 at 9 a.m. at St. Peter Parish in Monument. A new class of deacon candidates will form in 2023. For more information, contact Deacon Cliff Donnelly at cdonnelly@diocs.org.

COLORADO SPRINGS. The Office of the Permanent Diaconate will hold an information session on May 7 at 9 a.m. at St. Peter Parish in Monument. Any men who are interested in learning about the role and ministry of deacons in the Diocese of Colorado Springs are invited to attend. A new class of deacon candidates is expected to begin studies in the fall of 2023, with an eye towards ordination in 2028.

​BUENA VISTA. When Deacon Russ Barrows was assigned to minister to Buena Vista Correctional Facility (BVCF) inmates, he was thrilled to be able to share God’s word in the midst of a stressful environment.

I’m Father Mark Zacker. I’m currently Parochial Administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Castle Rock. I celebrated my 25th jubilee as a priest in 2021. I have been serving in the Diocese of Colorado Springs for nearly 20 years. Every day is an adventure! I am so thankful for the gift of the priesthood and the call that I received from an early age. I never seriously considered any other vocation.

(Editor’s Note: Following is the next installment of the Herald’s monthly series profiling a priest or deacon who is serving in our diocese. This issue, we feature Deacon Mark Griffith, who currently serves at St. Mary’s Cathedral.)

Deacon Mark Griffith hails from Brooklyn, New York, where he went to a Catholic elementary school.

He went to a public high school because he told his parents that he did not want to wear a uniform ever again. That lasted about six years until he started in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) and had to wear a uniform again.

Father Gregory Bierbaum grew up in Beresford, South Dakota, where his parents owned and operated a ReXall Drug Store for decades. He has three younger brothers. As an adult, he worked in businesses in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Overland Park, Kansas. His father died in 2017 and his mother now lives in Olathe, Kansas.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Matthew Kane, a seminarian for the Diocese of Colorado Springs who recently completed his theology studies at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, will be ordained a transitional deacon by Bishop James Golka on Dec. 22 at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Deacon Rudy Gonzales was born in San Luis, Colorado, and grew up in Pueblo. He graduated from Pueblo Central High School in 1969 and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he received his bachelor’s degree in education in 1973. He then attended Adams State College in Alamosa, where he earned a Master of Arts in guidance and counseling in 1974.

WASHINGTON. Pope Francis has named Auxiliary Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis to head the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota.

He has been an auxiliary bishop for the Minnesota archdiocese since 2013. A native of Denver, he was ordained a priest for St. Paul and Minneapolis in in 1997.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Serra Club members from around Colorado gathered Oct. 22-23 at the St. John Henry Newman Catholic Student Center in Colorado Springs for the annual District Six convention, and local Serrans garnered several awards.