NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland. The National Black Catholic Congress convention (NBCC) occurred this year from July 20-23 at the Gaylord National in National Harbor, Maryland. The Congress XIII theme was “Write the Vision: A Prophetic Call to Thrive.” The spiritual basis for the theme comes from Habakkuk 2:2-4: “Then the LORD answered me and said: ‘Write down the vision; Make it plain upon tablets, so that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is a witness for the appointed time, a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. See, the rash have no integrity; but the just one who is righteous because of faith shall live.’”

COLORADO SPRINGS. The Sisters of Life of St. Mary Magdalene Convent in Denver will present a one-day retreat on Oct. 7 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.  at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Colorado Springs.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Roughly 120 couples and their families gathered at St. Mary’s Cathedral July 30 for the annual diocesan wedding anniversary mass, which recognizes couples celebrating milestone anniversaries.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Deacon Michael Ciletti, a retired deacon of the Diocese of Colorado Springs, died July 21 at age 81 after a battle with cancer.

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Bishop Golka's Reflection on the Transfiguration of the Lord

COLORADO SPRINGS. The Diocese of Colorado Springs has assumed the operation of Franciscan Retreat Center, located at 7740 Deer Hill Grove in northwest Colorado Springs, through an agreement effective Aug. 1.

The retreat center, which opened in August 1988, was previously operated by the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration’s Western Province. The sisters will continue to reside at Mount St. Francis and will be designated as a convent under the order’s Immaculate Heart of Mary Province based in Mishawaka, Indiana.

COLORADO SPRINGS. A Catholic bishop, priest and religious sister from Ukraine will visit the Diocese of Colorado Springs in late August to raise awareness of the plight of Ukrainian citizens living through the war with Russia. The visit is being sponsored by Colorado Springs-based Catholic Outreach to Neighbors in Ukraine (CONU), an organization founded by the late Father Paul Wicker in 1994 to help the Catholic Church rebuild in the previously Communist country.

COLORADO SPRINGS. A class titled “Growing Up: Girl to Woman” designed to help mothers and their young daughters talk about and prepare for the changes that come with puberty is being offered in September at St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When Jarrod Waugh first offered his life to God in prayer, God said no. “It’s kind of hard to explain,” said Father Waugh, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Colorado Springs. “But nearing the end of high school, I perceived that negative signal very clearly.  God did not want me to enter the seminary at that time.”

COLORADO SPRINGS. Long before the news of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster’s apparently incorrupt body electrified the Catholic world last April, a local woman was discerning whether to enter the Benedictine monastery she founded in 2006 in Gower, Missouri.