June 2025
The
COURIER
Official Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN | dowr.org
God's Love Is Generous Bishop Neary
Pope Leo XIV Gives First Weekly General Audience By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The Gospel parable of the "wasteful sower" who casts seeds on fertile soil as well as on a rocky path "is an image of the way God loves us," Pope Leo XIV told visitors and pilgrims at his first weekly general audience. The parable can strike people as odd because "we are used to calculating things - and at times it is necessary - but this does not apply in love," the pope told an estimated 40,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square May 21. Pope Leo read his full prepared text in Italian and also read the summaries of the talk in English and in Spanish. At the end of the audience, Pope Leo drew attention to ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza and its limitations on the delivery of humanitarian aid to the area. "The situation in Gaza is increasingly worrying and agonizing," he said. "I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid and to end the hostilities, the heartbreaking price of which is being paid by children, the elderly and the sick." The pope also told the crowd that he could not conclude the gathering without
remembering "our beloved Pope Francis, who exactly one month ago returned to the house of our Father." It had been more than three months since the Vatican hosted a weekly general audience; Pope Francis met pilgrims and visitors February 12 and was hospitalized two days later. He died April 21. Mercy Sister Maria Juan Anderson, coordinator of the Bishops' Office for U.S. Visitors to the Vatican, which is housed in the Casa Santa Maria of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, told Catholic News Service that the office distributed 1,800 free tickets to the pope's first audience - "a record!" "We had eight priests hearing confessions for two and a half hours" as visitors came to collect their tickets May 20 and get information about the audience, the Vatican and the new pope, she said. Pope Leo arrived in the popemobile for the audience, riding through the crowd in St. Peter's Square and stopping often to bless infants, tracing the sign of the cross on their foreheads. The pope began his audience explaining he would continue the series of talks his predecessor had begun on the Jubilee-related theme, "Jesus Christ Our Hope."
God's Love, cont'd on pg. 2
Honored at Annual Bishops and Rector Dinner By NICOLE WENINGER
�n April 25, 2025, the Immaculate Heart of
Mary Seminary (IHMS) had another successful Bishops and Rector Dinner at the Rochester International Event Center. The evening was full of laughter, music, and a strong sense of community, as IHMS gathered to celebrate and honor God's work through our seminary. Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, alongside the Rector, Fr. Robert Horihan, served as hosts of the evening. Together, they presented Bishop Patrick Neary, of the Diocese of St. Cloud, with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Award, an annual honor bestowed to someone who has made a significant contribution to promoting priestly vocations. Other bishops in attendance included Bishop Emeritus Donald Kettler of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Bishop Gerard Battersby of the Diocese of La Crosse, and Bishop David Tencer of the Diocese of Reykjavik in Iceland.
Bishops and Rector Dinner, cont'd on pg. 5
INSIDE this issue
Happy Anniversaries
From Our Graduates pages 7-9
pages 12-13
Foundation Turns Over a New Leaf page 17