NATIONAL MARRIAGE WEEK
National Marriage Week is February 7 to 14, and World Marriage Day is on Sunday, February 8. This year’s theme is “Man and Woman He Created Them: Together With Purpose.” To celebrate, the Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth offers resources to bishops, priests, deacons, married couples and lay men and women—including daily readings and prayers, podcast episodes and an at-home self-guided retreat. Visit www.foryourmarriage.org.
World Day for Consecrated Life is on Monday, February 2, and will be celebrated in parishes on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, January 31 and February 1 this year. The diocesan celebration is at St. Columba Cathedral during the 10:30 a.m. Mass on February 1. All religious who have or are currently living and or working in the diocese are encouraged to attend. The Youngstown Vocations Support Society will provide a social following the liturgy. Parishes are also encouraged to remember this day during their weekend liturgies and to recognize any religious who serve in the parish. Resources to celebrate World Day for Consecrated Life—including bulletin materials, prayer cards and homilies—can be found on the National Religious Vocation Conference website (www.nrvc.net) and the USCCB website (www.usccb.org).
NEW PERMANENT DEACONS
Deacon Matthew Richards from St. Patrick Parish in Kent and Richard Hull from Guardian Angels Parish in Canton were ordained to the permanent diaconate on January 24 at St. Columba Cathedral. Their ordination came after several years of theological study and training. To learn more and see photos from the Mass, visit www.catholicecho.org.
THE CATHOLIC ECHO PODCAST
The Catholic Echo podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms and at www.catholicecho.org/podcast/, as well as on Youngstown radio stations WHOT-FM 101, WYFM-FM 102.9 and WQXK-FM 105.1 on Sundays at 6:30 a.m. (with Wineskins airing beforehand at 6 a.m.) Topics for February include: February 1—Heaven, Hell & Purgatory, with Dominican Fathers Frassati Davis and Charles Rooney and February 15—Extern Priests, with Father Benson Okpara and Rogationist Fathers Bryan Tutas and Silvestre Robinol.
