Faith & Parish

On Monday, Carol Mackie Morris and Margaret Mackie plan to leave behind the comforts of home in Maryland to embark on a three-week journey to Alaska.

Washington police arrested a 58-year-old woman after two chapels in the Washington National Cathedral were defaced with green paint Monday afternoon.

Those attending the annual convention of the National Apostolate of Maronites in Tampa, Fla., in early July had no idea that a newly named bishop was in their midst.

Fr. Abdallah Zaidan was in his hotel room July 5 preparing for Mass when he received a call from the apostolic nunciature in Washington that Pope Francis was naming him the next eparch, or bishop, of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon.

The eparchy, which relocated its headquarters from Los Angeles to St. Louis about 12 years ago, serves approximately 34,000 Maronite Catholics in 34 states.

Bishop Mark Seitz promised to lead his flock into a new century characterized by the new evangelization as he was installed as bishop of the nearly 100-year-old diocese of El Paso.

In a homily presented in both English and Spanish, Seitz addressed more than 4,000 people who attended the installation Mass Tuesday in the grand hall of the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center.

He promised to listen for the voice of the Lord in the words of the priests, the deacons, the laity "and the voices of the poor, for I am sure he will speak through them."