News - March 2025 RSS Feed

For more than 40 years, the Friends of Chimbote Mission based out of Fargo has been providing much needed assistance to the faithful who live in poverty on the streets of Chimbote, Peru. This year, Bishop Folda made his first international mission trip to Peru to see the mission first hand.

Less than half of all children today grow up in households with consistently married parents. While this circumstance is cause of great concern, it is not a cause for despair. There is great hope for those who have come from a divorced or separated home in this month’s book, Life-Giving Wounds: A Catholic Guide to Healing for Adult Children of Divorce and Separation.

The good, no, the glorious news first: the baby “saved” from abortion during our area’s fall 40 Days for Life campaign, recounted in my February “Sidewalk Stories,” is here! Click now to read more.

The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls is built on top of the burial site of St. Paul in Rome. For Christians, it is an essential stop on the pilgrimage route in Rome. The city of Rome considers both St. Peter and St. Paul as their patrons. Tradition asserts that they were both martyred on the same day.

“Penny Wars” is an activity of excitement, stealth, and laughter that brightens the winter evenings in the classrooms of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo on Religious Education nights, while providing for the less fortunate halfway around the world. With Penny Wars, each class is presented a bucket in which the classmates individually contribute pennies and paper money to their bucket

A list of upcoming things happening at each of the Jubilee sites and when might be the best time to visit them.

Jennie Korsmo, Marriage Preparation Coordinator for the Diocese of Fargo, shares a reflection on her experience with the "Undone" retreat put on by the John Paul II Healing center. Women will have an opportunity to experience the same retreat this fall in Fargo.

On Mar. 10, parishioners of St. Joseph Church in Devils Lake gathered together to learn and experience Visio Divina with Deacon Ken Severinson and artistic instructor Shari Frith from St. Joseph parish.

The Christian lay faithful are all those members of the Church who, by virtue of their Baptism, are united to Christ, and thereby share in his priestly, prophetic, and kingly mission. But what specifically defines the Christian lay vocation and sets it apart from the rest of the Christian faithful, is its “secular character.” This means that the Christian layman’s proper vocation is chiefly carried out in and through his involvement in the temporal affairs of this world.

Ariana Onchuck, a Postulant with Carmel of Mary in Wahpeton, shares a glimpse at her vocation story and how God led her heart to serve him as a Carmelite.

Taylor Ternes, a Fargo seminarian studying at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD, writes a reflection on his time in seminary.

Have you considered the benefits of obtaining a charitable gift annuity with Catholic Development Foundation? Here are five points to consider.

Catholic fasting and feasting have long been integral aspects of the Church’s liturgical calendar, reflecting a spiritual rhythm that mirrors the broader journey of Christian faith. These practices, deeply rooted in biblical traditions, have been adapted over centuries to foster spiritual growth, discipline, and solidarity within the faith community. Both fasting and feasting serve as tools to focus believers’ hearts and minds on God, using the bodily acts of abstinence and celebration to strengthen the soul.

Bishop Robert Barron gives a reflection on the Creed and specifically on "I believe".

Each year, CCND honors an individual or individuals “in good standing with the Catholic Church who, and/or a Catholic organization which, has by example and deed served persons in need and/or advocated for justice and/or convened other persons of good will to do the same in a manner consistent with Catholic Social Teaching” with the annual Caritas Award. The 2025 Caritas Award recipient is former CCND board chairman Steven Lies of Wahpeton. Lies was honored at an awards luncheon on Mar. 11 at Sts. Anne and Joachim Church in Fargo.

A message from the Bishop: Dear friends, great days are approaching! We are on the threshold of the most solemn celebrations of our faith: the days of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum. In a short time, we will relive the events of our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, a powerful experience for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

Recently, partly in response to the specific need for Natural Family Planning and fertility education, and to enhance options for dignified, life-affirming medicine, Bishop Kagan has invited Bella Health + Wellness to establish a small clinic in Bismarck, in partnership with the University of Mary’s Saint Gianna School of Health Sciences. There is a beautiful story behind this development.

Deacon Douglas C. Campbell of St. John’s Parish in Wahpeton, passed away on Mar. 13 in Fargo. He was a cherished member of St. John’s and served there as a permanent deacon after his ordination in November 2008.

A thought provoking reflective piece by Kristina Bloomsburg, editor of New Earth, on how artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize every sector of society. How does this play out in our world and how do we as Catholics respond?