Bishop Edward U. Kmiec ordained two men as transitional deacons on Feb. 5 at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora.

Rev. Mr. David I. Richards and Rev. Mr. Thomas J. Roman are now one step closer to the priesthood.

Both men are expected to be ordained to the priesthood later this year.

It is now a national story.

USA Today published a front-page story about the upcoming relocation of St. Gerard Church in Buffalo in its Feb. 4 editions, with the headline, "How to save a N.Y. church:  Move it 900 miles south."

The story goes into great detail about efforts by Mary Our Queen Parish in Norcross, Georgia to purchase the church building, deconstruct it, ship it to suburban Atlanta, and re-build it for continued use as a Catholic church. 

While noting that St. Gerard Parish closed in 2008 with only about 100 families, USA Today reported, "Mary Our Queen was at the other end of the congregational life cycle. After starting in a rented office building in 1994, the parish built a temporary worship space for its 700 families. Now Father David Dye, the pastor, wanted a church that looks like a church, a real house of God, not a sterile meeting house."

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its Caritas partners have stepped up relief efforts in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, delivering food and water to hundreds of thousands and providing medical care to thousands more.

To date, CRS has provided food to more than 100,000 people in Port-au-Prince, many of whom are gathered at the city's largest camp run by CRS. Just days after the earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people and left as many as one million people without shelter, CRS turned a Port-au-Prince golf course into one of the first formal camps for the homeless, delivering food, water and hygiene materials to some 40,000 people. CRS is collaborating with the local Church in Haiti and its Catholic Caritas partners, including Caritas Haiti and the Caritas Internationalis confederation.
 

As you enter Buffalo, a sign greets you: “City of Good Neighbors.” And so it is. Even as the city in western New York has fallen on hard economic times with the closing of its major steel mills and industrial factories in recent years, the generosity of its residents to neighbors near and far has been undampened. “Buffalonians have come to realize their neighbors are worldwide,” says Eileen Charleton, a Buffalo native and former Maryknoll lay missioner.

Across the diocese, people are extending a hand to the poor in places like Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan. At the same time, they are welcoming those seeking refuge among them. As Christians become increasingly aware of their baptismal call to serve others, Buffalonians exemplify mission as being good neighbors.