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Boletín - The Grapevine: Pascua 2018

The Grapevine Newsletter - Easter 2018 Issue

Mis oraciones por ustedes es que la alegría de la resurrección de nu estro Señor Jesucristo fluirá durante los cincuenta días de la temporada de Pascua hasta el Domingo de Pentecostés. | My prayer for you is that the joy of the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ will flow over the next fifty days of the Easter Season until Pentecost Sunday and beyond.

Funeral services have been set for Rev. Bert Mello, administrator of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, Bakersfield, (Click title for more information)

Bishop Myron Cotta was installed as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton Thursday, March 15 in Modesto. The diocese embraces more than 10,000 square miles covering the Counties of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mono, and Alpine, with a diverse Catholic population of over 300,000 people of many races and cultures.  Bishop Cotta was born of Portuguese heritage in the Merced County community of Dos Palos on March 21, 1953. He served as Vicar General and Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Fresno and most recently served as Auxiliary Bishop in the Diocese of Sacramento.

The Grapevine Calendar - February 2018

Venimos como Peregrinos de la Paz a esta tierra que es sagrada para judíos, cristianos, y musulmanes. En nuestra búsqueda por aquellos en las periferias, hemos encontrado muchos muros, y unos cuantos puentes. Como nos recuerda el Papa Francisco, creemos que la paz y la justicia para los dos pueblos y las tres religiones de esta Tierra solo se pueden alcanzar a través de la construcción de “puentes, no muros.”

We came as Pilgrims of Peace to this Land that is Holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims.  We encountered many walls and some bridges, as we sought out those on the peripheries.  As Pope Francis repeatedly reminds us, we believe peace with justice for the two peoples and three faiths of this Land can only come through building "bridges, not walls." (Click title for more information.)

Pope Francis today appointed Bishop Myron Cotta to succeed Bishop Stephen Blaire as Bishop of Stockton. Bishop Cotta served as Vicar General and Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Fresno and has been serving recently as Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento. (Click title for more information.)

Bishop Ochoa and the other Hispanic bishops on pilgrimage started their second day in the Garden of Gethsemane before moving onto the World Holocaust Memorial Center, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. (Click on title for more details.)

Bishop Ochoa is on a pilgrimage with other Hispanic bishops to the Holy Land - "Bridges not Walls". Today the bishops visited Gaza, celebrating Mass, meeting with parishioners, religious serving in the area and those served by Catholic programs there. (Click on title for more details.)

Boletín - The Grapevine: 9 de Enero, 2018 - Invierno 2018

The Grapevine Calendar - January 2018

The Grapevine Newsletter - Winter 2018 Issue

Dear Friends in Christ, One of the Gospels for Christmas Day, the one from St. John, highlights the announcement for today’s solemnity, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” St. John wants us to realize that this is God’s embodiment in our frail human condition. This Christ Event, this Christian story, announces a completely new presence among us. I would propose to you the reader, that not only during the Christmas Season, but hopefully every day of our lives, we reach out, we look for a personal presence of those that we care for and who care about us. In this day of social media, things like facebook, e-mail, and instagram, afford us opportunities that were not around in former days, but are now available. My prayer is that we never leave friendship of love at a distance. Yet as convenient as they are, the above are not enough. We need, as members of the human family, to experience firsthand the personal presence of those we love and those who allow us to be loved. (more)

Uno de los Evangelios para el Día de Navidad, el de San Juan, realza el anuncio para la solemnidad de hoy: “Y la Palabra se hizo carne y habitó entre nosotros”. San Juan quiere que nos demos cuenta que esta es la personificación de Dios en nuestra frágil condición humana. Este evento de Cristo, esta historia Cristiana, anuncia completamente una nueva presencia entre nosotros. Le propondría a usted lector, que no solamente durante la temporada de Navidad, pero con ilusión cada día de nuestras vidas, nos acerquemos, busquemos una presencia personal de aquellos que nos importan y por aquellos que se preocupan por nosotros. En este tiempo de redes sociales, cosas como facebook, e-mail, e instagram; nos ofrecen oportunidades que no existían en días anteriores, pero que ahora están disponibles. Mi oración es que nunca dejemos la amistad de amor a distancia. Sin embargo, por más conveniente que sean, las redes sociales no son suficientes. Necesitamos como miembros de la familia humana, experimentar de primera mano la presencia personal de aquellos a quienes amamos y de quienes nos permiten ser amados. (más)

I would like to call attention at this time to a particular network of partners, whose relationship is focused on forming a communal bond in support of teenagers, women and men most vulnerable in their time of need. This compassionate network matches those in need with a pregnancy care center located nearest to them. This network is Options United. Options United operates a centralized Call Center that serves all non-profit prolife health centers in California. It has also developed a contemporary ‘App for Life’ to unite churches to these non-profit centers through prayer and donations. I am proud to have the Diocese of Fresno through Family Life Ministry collaborate with our other Catholic archdioceses and dioceses throughout California in promoting Options United and its App for Life.

We now stand in the wake of another random act of violence that took place in the parking lot of St. Alphonsus Church in Fresno. Two adults were shot and killed. Following the incident, the shooter took his own life in another location.  A very serious question is being raised by many – Are we safe in our sacred spaces?  *** Nos encontramos ahora ante otro acto fortuito de violencia que tuvo lugar en el estacionamiento de la Iglesia de San Alfonso en Fresno. Como resultado, dos adultos fueron disparados y asesinados. Después del incidente, la persona que cometió el crimen se suicidó en otro lugar. Una pregunta muy seria está siendo planteada por muchos: ¿Estamos seguros en nuestros lugares sagrados?

We must choose to love.  We must choose to care. As people of faith we have no other option. Let us together create a culture of life, not death.  With God, all things are possible.