News - March 2015

After years of falling enrollment and growing deficits, the School of the Good Shepherd in Decherd will close at the end of the current academic year.

Father Steve Wolf of St. Andrew Church in Sparta has long made writing a part of his ministry, in his efforts to help the faithful draw closer to God.

Catholic parishes and organizations are joining Nashville Organized for Action and Hope to help find solutions to issues facing the city’s poor and marginalized.

A teacher, coach, military chaplain, friend, and a beloved priest for nearly seven decades who came out of retirement numerous times, Msgr. Philip Thoni was known by many titles.

Parishes across the Diocese of Nashville will host services to mark Divine Mercy Sunday on April 12, the Sunday after Easter.

To honor the 100th anniversary of the Cathedral of Incarnation, under the direction of Bishop David Choby, a two-phase renovation of the sanctuary is making great progress.

The ordination and installation of Bishop Ferdnand “Ferd” Cheri, the new auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, was filled with stirring music and heartfelt preaching, a reflection of the man taking up the miter and crozier of a bishop.

NEW ORLEANS. Let the record show that never before in the nearly 300-year history of St. Louis Cathedral have Catholics seen a dancing bishop.

For months, the people of the Sagrado Corazon Hispanic Ministry Center in Donelson have been asking Father David Ramirez “when, when, when” will they move into their new home at the Catholic Pastoral Center overlooking Briley Parkway.

Holy Week emphasizes the importance of self-sacrifice and serving others by studying Jesus’s example, says Father Marneni Bala Showriah, OFM, pastor of St. Philip Church in Franklin.

The message of Easter is one of hope. The reason for that hope is the gift of redemption and salvation that is offered to us in Christ Jesus.

Art can deepen people’s encounter with God by helping them “mediate the divide between the … invisible and the seeable,” said Dr. Robin Jensen, a Vanderbilt University professor who is one of the nation’s leading experts on Christian liturgy and art.

The Catholic Church needs men to fully commit to their faith, said one of the speakers at the Catholic Men of Faith Conference held Saturday, March 7, at St. Philip Church in Franklin.

Katey Kerman was far from happy. The St. Henry parishioner was in her third year at the extremely competitive theatre school at DePaul University in Chicago, her self-esteem battered by constant criticism from peers and faculty. She felt ostracized and isolated in her college community, where her strong Catholic beliefs and her desire to live and practice her faith were an unwelcome anomaly.

To commemorate Pope Francis’ attendance at the World Meeting of Families this coming September and to honor parents’ roles in educating their children about the faith, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia have compiled a book of family prayers.

Who would guess that a shoe box under the bed could be a helpful tool in finding the right guy to spend your life with? Sonia Lee and her husband, Chris Cavolo have a pink shoebox filled with tools they believe will help women of all ages make positive choices for relationships that will last – with the help of God.

ROME. Allowing priests to celebrate Mass in the language of the local congregation rather than in Latin allowed the faithful to understand and be encouraged by the word of God, Pope Francis said.

To people in the Diocese of Nashville who met or knew Father Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., he was a towering figure, not only on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, but throughout the Catholic Church in the United States.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. Holy Cross Father Theodore M. Hesburgh frequently told friends and colleagues that his greatest ambition was to be a humble servant to God.

WASHINGTON. Four nationally circulated Catholic publications called for abolishing the death penalty in the United States in a jointly published editorial.