With churches opening up for Mass, many parishes are assigning crews to wipe down pews and door handles between Masses to fight the coronavirus. St. Bernadette Parish in Orchard Park has taken an alternate approach. Along with chemical cleansers, the parish is using special hospital-grade UVC lights that kill 99.99 percent of germs. Father Robert […]
Russell “Rusty” Browning finally went home after 101 days of hospitalization and quite the tour of Catholic Health’s facilities. First diagnosed with COVID-19 in late March at Mercy Hospital, he survived 67 days on a ventilator at the Catholic Health COVID-19 Treatment Facility at St. Joseph Campus in Cheektowaga. Browning spent the longest time on […]
Dr. Mark St. Marie, a longtime Mercy Hospital of South Buffalo gastroenterologist, proudly held up a sign reading “COVID-19 Champion” as staff Kenmore Mercy Hospital bid him an emotional farewell on June 5. His 67-day journey started at Mercy Hospital where he was diagnosed in March, followed by two weeks on a ventilator and his […]
In January, the Western New York Catholic reported that Father John Mack, longtime theology professor at Christ the King Seminary, was in need of a live liver donor. On June 30, he received his new liver from one of his former parishioners. The 66-year-old priest spoke from his family home in Rochester just a couple […]
Rays of sun shone through the domed basilica with its contour of the Northern Hemisphere of the globe that makes up the ceiling of Niagara County’s iconic Fatima Shrine as Father Peter Calabrese, provincial vicar for the Barnabite Fathers USA, opened its doors on Saturday, June 13, for a Mass that signaled the beginning of […]
The Coronavirus has caused an unprecedented reaction through the world. Entire countries are experiencing lockdowns with people told to stay at home. Popular tourist attractions are shut down. Photographs of empty streets and deserted hot spots fill the internet. Essential workers, such as pharmacists, bankers and cooks still go into the office, but nonessential workers […]
At the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic are the doctors and nurses, treating patients with their medical expertise. But there is another person on the front lines: the chaplain. When all the doctors can do is not enough, it is a chaplain who comes to ease the patient. Father Richard Augustyn and Father John […]
As residents of Western New York continue to see the number of COVID-19 cases rise, Catholic Health is working to combat this deadly disease. “The Coronavirus pandemic is a completely unprecedented public health crisis that has created a number of unique challenges for health care systems globally, including ours,” read a statement from Catholic Health. […]
CLARENCE — Russell J. Salvatore makes a fourth major gift to the Brothers of Mercy, tipping the scales well over $700,000 in gifts to the organization. Salvatore’s latest gift is a fully equipped wheelchair van, which will serve over 1,000 patients and residents of the Brothers of Mercy Wellness Campus, and assist with the transport […]
DENVER — The policy of social distancing means that the newly homebound are seeing less of coworkers than they did just weeks ago. They’re seeing fewer friends too. But they might be seeing a lot more of their family, or their roommates. And that isn’t easy. For some, especially those who live alone, social distancing […]
