Simone Orendain

In the nine days before Christmas, the predominantly Catholic Philippines begins its traditional novena of daily dawn Masses in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary prior to the birth of her son Jesus Christ.  Filipino-Americans have brought the tradition to their adopted homeland and added some multicultural flair to their celebrations.

The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, plans to reduce the total number of its 160 parishes by 51% following a Sept. 10 announcement of final decisions on closures and mergers. Father Bryan Zielenieski, vicar for renewal and development, said in the news conference 118 churches would remain open in the Western New York diocese. He said 79 of those would be parishes and 39 would be secondary worship sites (or churches whose functions are restricted).

A small delegation of Chinese clergy who are registered with their government's Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association came to a conference in Chicago Aug. 2-4 to give insights into the life of the church in their country. The talks presented by both registered and unregistered clergy and religious underscored a deep concern for catechizing the youth, the need to support clergy and religious, and to keep the faith growing in a communist country that has no official diplomatic ties with the Holy See.

An Aug. 2-4 conference in Chicago on the life of the Catholic Church in China covered both the difficulties and strengths of being a church under a heavily regulatory communist government. The event included presentations from four clergy members registered with the Chinese government's Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, marking the first time this many officially registered Chinese clergy led talks at a conference hosted by the Berkeley, California-based US-China Catholic Association.

Catholic aid organizations in the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese confirmed they cannot get to work just yet because of the power outage that left about 2.5 million people in the dark following Hurricane Beryl's landfall July 8 that cut a damaging path through eastern Texas and left at least eight people dead. Weather officials said "exceptionally warm ocean temperatures" were effectively rocket fuel for Beryl's rapid development.

The Vancouver, British Columbia, Archdiocese and Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation marked Canada's Indigenous Peoples Day by releasing to the public a signed "Sacred Covenant," written in both English and Chinook.

Three bishops of Pakistan dioceses most affected by recent deadly monsoon flooding appealed for more funding for emergency food, repairing damaged homes and providing medical needs for the worst-hit victims in their provinces. The South Asian country has been hit hard by record floods caused by monsoon rains and glacial melting since the rainy season started this summer.

Church leaders seeking peace on the Korean Peninsula emphasized the need for "repentance and atonement" between North Korea and South Korea.

The threat of violent extremism remains in the Philippines even after the end of a five-month siege by terrorists in a southern city, said Catholic and Muslim officials.

Christian leaders in Philippines have banded together to help rebuild Marawi, a Muslim-majority city in southern Philippines damaged by five months of occupation by terrorists.