THE FAMILY ZONE

We welcome Bishop-designate, His Excellency, The Most Reverend John S. Bonnici to our diocese and look forward to his installation on March 19, 2026! More to come, as we get to know him!

We also pray in gratitude for the prayerful leadership of His Excellency, The Most Reverend Salvatore R. Matano.

As the Christmas trees come down and life returns to a slower winter pace after the busyness of Christmas, we also change seasons in our Catholic faith. Ordinary Time is now here in our liturgical calendar. The Gospels proclaimed during Ordinary Time help us to understand the healing and teaching mission of Jesus. As we listen over these next few weeks, it is a time for our lives to imitate Jesus and to be transformed by the Gospel message. Below is a Catholic Guide to Ordinary Time from OSV publications in which they offer six suggestions to make Ordinary Time extraordinary in the way your family can grow in faith!

Image: James E. Scarborough, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is a great time to educate yourself about why we serve and to take a more intentional approach in teaching your children why we help others! Click on the link below to learn "How to Make Service Truly Transformational."

The sanctuary is the elevated portion of the church where the clergy and other ministers perform their liturgical ministries during Mass. The sanctuary symbolizes heaven and also brings to mind the scriptures where encounters with God take place up on mountain tops. The altar sits in the sanctuary, as does the ambo, the tabernacle, and the presider's chair.

How to Participate (from the USCCB)

• Go to Mass
• Abstain from meat
• Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
• Fast
• Pray a decade of the Rosary
• Give up TV and movies for the day
• Offer A Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
• Sacrifice some of your free time to do a small act of service for someone else

Click on the PDF below to pray the Litany to the Holy Name of Jesus with your family.

Here's a good for you and good tasting recipe for January's Memorial of St. Francis de Sales (January 24) from Catholic Cuisine:

St. Francis de Sales loved to write and he is the patron of the Catholic press. While you enjoy your bars, ask your children what they would write about if they could write a book!

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester

Editor: Leslie Barkin leslie.barkin@dor.org

Email: oec@dor.org
Website: oec.dor.org
Location: Diocese of Rochester, Buffalo Road, Rochester, NY, USA
Phone: 585-328-3210

See them all here!