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Welcome to the Web site for the Diocese of Fargo, North
Dakota.
We invite you to learn about the Diocese and our
parish families
by looking through
the categories listed on the left.
May God
bless the time you spend here with us. |
Manhattan Declaration comes at a time of important decisions
Bishop Samuel Aquila among religious leaders who signed Manhattan
Declaration
Washington D.C., Dec 12, 2009 / 10:47 pm (CNA).- Robert P. George, a Princeton
University professor who co-authored the popular Manhattan Declaration, has
explained that the document was intended to speak at a time when “important
decisions” are being made concerning the sanctity of human life, the nature of
marriage and religious freedom.
Speaking in a Dec. 1 interview with Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review
Online, George said the statement’s backers wanted to bear witness to “three
foundational principles of justice and the common good.”
These three
principles were the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as the union
of husband and wife, and religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Read the
full story
here.
Read and sign the Manhattan Declaration
here.
Conscience: Bishop Aquila encourages study of Church
teaching on moral conscience
“Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon
himself but which he must obey” (CCC 1776).
In many of his writings and presentations, and in his January 2010 column for
the diocesan newspaper, New Earth, Bishop Samuel Aquila encourages the faithful
to read Article 6 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which addresses Moral
Conscience which can be found
here.
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Parishes respond to the
urgent needs of the people of Haiti
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Bishop Samuel Aquila called for a
special collection that was taken up on Jan. 16 and 17 at all of the Masses
celebrated in the Catholic churches of the Diocese of Fargo. Funds
donated will assist with Catholic Relief Services’ response to the
urgent needs
of the people of Haiti following the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
Those who were unable to donate at the Jan.
16 and 17 Masses may still bring donations, labeled “Haiti Relief”, to their
local Catholic church or mail them to Diocese of Fargo, Haiti Relief,
5201 Bishops Blvd., Ste. A, Fargo, ND 58104-7605.
Additional information about the
U.S. Catholic community’s response to this emergency can be found at
www.CRS.org and
www.USCCB.org. |
A man stands next to a destroyed wall at a cemetery in Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, Jan. 14. The death toll in Haiti's catastrophic earthquake could
run to tens of thousands of people. An estimated 3 million others will
require emergency assistance, according to aid groups. (CNS photo/Carlos
Barria, Reuters) |
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There are 132 parishes and missions in the Diocese of Fargo, which
serves the eastern half of North Dakota, and more than 85,000 Catholics.
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Chairman of Catholic
Relief Services, appears in Web videos addressing the devastation in
Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake and what Catholics can do to
help. The videos were shot during a Jan. 13 interview in Rome with
Catholic News Service.
The videos can be
viewed on the USCCB’s youtube channel,
www.youtube.com/user/usccb and individually at
http://www.youtube.com/user/usccb#p/a/u/0/sbCo9PDckAI,
http://www.youtube.com/user/usccb#p/a/u/1/kVBLkU3B2Eo
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/usccb#p/a/u/2/a3zw8A0y_Ic. |
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Stop Abortion Funding in
Health Care Reform! |
| As long-time advocates of health care
reform, the U.S. Catholic bishops continue to make the moral case that
genuine health care reform must protect the life, dignity, consciences
and health of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Health care
reform should not advance a pro-abortion agenda in our country.
• On November 7, the U.S. House of Representatives
passed major health care reform that reaffirms the essential,
longstanding and widely supported policy against using federal funds for
elective abortions and includes positive measures on affordability and
immigrants.
• On December 24, the U.S. Senate rejected this policy and passed health
care reform that requires federal funds to help subsidize and promote
health plans that cover elective abortions. All purchasers of such plans
will be required to pay for other people’s abortions through a separate
payment solely to pay for abortion.
• Outside the abortion context, neither bill has adequate conscience
protection for health care providers, plans or employers.
• These two bills must now be combined into one bill that both the House
and Senate will vote on in final form. Provisions against abortion
funding and in favor of conscience protection, affordability, and
immigrants’ access to health care must be part of a fair and just health
care reform bill, or the final bill must be opposed.
Contact your Representative and Senators today.
Click here for
details. |
Bishop Aquila calls upon
Catholics to consider four principles when evaluating the moral value
and justice of health care plans
Aug. 29, 2009 |
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In an Aug. 28 letter, Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, bishop of the Catholic
Diocese of Fargo, encouraged priests, deacons, religious sisters and
parishioners to "become engaged in promoting genuine health care reform"
and presented four principles upon which the "moral value and justice of
a given plan to provide health care" should be evaluated.
Health care plans must exclude any
"provisions for actions which deny the dignity of human life, especially
abortion, euthanasia, whether passive or active, and embryonic stem cell
research", he wrote. Second, "freedom of consciences" for both health
professionals and the general public must be safeguarded. Third, access
to health care "ought to be available to all people" and fourth, the
principle of subsidiarity must govern any health care plan.
Bishop
Aquila’s full letter can be found
here. |
Bishop Samuel J. Aquila
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Bishop Aquila addresses
commitment to provide pastoral outreach to victims of abuse
This letter to the editor written by Bishop
Samuel Aquila was printed in the Dec. 22, 2009 issue of The Forum newspaper,
Fargo, N.D. |
From time to time, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
(SNAP) issues a press release that is critical of the manner in which
the Diocese of Fargo has addressed its response to individuals who
allege abuse by clergy decades ago. Because our public statements in
response are sometimes reduced to a one-line quote, I would like to more
fully communicate to readers, hopefully for the last time, where I, as
the current Bishop of Fargo, stand on the subject of the abuse of
children, sexual misconduct of any kind, and the Church’s pastoral
outreach.No form of child abuse or sexual
misconduct of any kind is now nor ever was considered acceptable within
the Church. I and my staff are committed to this truth.
Read full
letter here. |
Bishop Samuel J. Aquila |
Lent and Easter Regulations
The penitential days for the universal Church are each Friday of
the whole year and the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17, 2010) marks the
beginning of Lent. Lent is an opportunity to prepare our hearts and minds for
the celebration of Easter.
Click here to read the regulations observed in this sacred season.
Bishop Aquila to lead pilgrimage
to the “Heart of Italy”
Experience an ordination Mass at St. Peter’s
Basilica with Bishop Samuel Aquila during an Oct. 4 through 10 pilgrimage to
Rome, Vatican City and Assisi. Those who wish to may extend their pilgrimage an
additional seven days to tour Florence, Ravenna, Venice, Padua, Verona and
Milan.
Diocese of Fargo seminarians Phil Zubrod of
Valley City and Chris Markman of St. Cloud, Minn., will be ordained transitional
deacons at St. Peter’s Basilica. Attending their ordination Mass is among the
many highlights pilgrims will have the opportunity to experience during this
pilgrimage to the “Heart of Italy”.
For more information, contact Suzanne
Nelson, Bishop Aquila’s administrative assistant, at (701) 356-7944 or
Suzanne.nelson@fargodiocese.org.
Men's Silent Retreat: March 18-21, 2010
Cardinal Muench Seminary, Fargo
An Ignatian Retreat uses Sacred Scripture and silence as a means
to allow us to listen to Christ, and for Christ to speak to us. The silence of
the retreat is not one of not speaking, but rather turning out the noise of the
world around us and being alone with Christ. Click here for
more information. Listen to the
Audio invitation
(mp3).
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