Local News

In a letter to supporters of the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation, which helps fund core ministries including hospital chaplaincy, Latino ministry and Catholic education, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said parish giving is down 60 percent in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis due to disruptions caused by the new coronavirus.

In a Holy Week Retreat streamed on the internet rather than offered in person to help curb the spread of a the sometimes-deadly new coronavirus, Archbishop Bernard Hebda April 5 encouraged listeners to take this time to imitate Christ in sacrifice and love for others.

The retreat will include daily morning prayer and lectio divina at 9 am., and a “spiritual conference,” or talk, at 7 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday. On Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Triduum liturgies will be celebrated at 7 p.m.

Open Window Theatre’s temporary closure in March because of COVID-19 — just months after it re-opened in a new location — is one more opportunity to trust God, one of its co-founders said.

“The need is tremendous,” said Westlake about his face shields. “I get an email an hour from somebody who says, ‘Can you make some for us?’ or, ‘How soon can you get us a lot?’ People are asking for 100 or 200 at a time.”

Catholics are encouraged to check their parish’s websites and social media for information about receiving palms. Offering palms is optional, and some parishes may not provide them during the stay-at-home order.

As the fall 1918 outbreak of the Spanish Flu in Minnesota killed almost 2,000 Twin Cities residents during what were also the final months of World War I, the archdiocese was also without a bishop.  

When the plague struck the Italian city of Milan and the surrounding area in the 1570s, St. Charles Borromeo, then a cardinal, became well-known for his efforts to remind people of their faith in a time of sickness and death.