NWT slowly getting back to normal; first Mass celebrated
Bishop Jon Hansen spoke to an “essentially full” St. Patrick’s Co-Cathedral on Sept. 10, in front of Yellowknife Catholics eager to congregate after nearly a month of being deprived of their home and parish community due to the rampant wildfires.
Lifting fire evacuees’ spirits
Summer wildfires lead from fear to eternity
People jumping into a lake to escape being consumed by flames. Roadways jammed with vehicles on the move. Kilometre-long line-ups to airstrips offering evacuation flights.
Churches, so far, survive wildfires
Wildfires wreaking devastation across British Columbia and the Northwest Territories have apparently spared Catholic churches, though numerous other buildings cannot say the same thing.
Bishop evacuated, asks for prayers as NWT wildfires grow
Catholic churches have thus far been spared from the more than 200 wildfires sweeping through the Northwest Territories, according to Bishop Jon Hansen of the Mackenzie-Fort Smith diocese.
'Miraculous' survival of Maui Catholic church seen as sign of hope amid wildfire destruction
"For us, it's like a miracle," Msgr. Terrence Watanabe, the Honolulu Diocese's vicar of Maui and Lanai, said about Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in the town of Lahaina being seemingly untouched by the fierce Maui wildfires Aug. 8-9.
Catholic Charities Hawai'i in the Honolulu Diocese has appealed for donations to help the agency meet housing, food and other needs of what could be thousands of victims from wildfires raging on the island of Maui that wiped out an entire town and drove people to seek refuge in the ocean.
Prayers continue as Nova Scotia fires contained
As Nova Scotians received a welcome dose of good news on June 5 that the overall wildfire situation across the province has been contained and many of the evacuees were authorized to return to their homes, the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth continued to call for prayer for those affected.
Priest on frontlines of Alberta wildfires
Heavy rainfall throughout the province of Alberta over the May long weekend potentially signaled a hopeful turning point in the effort to quell the 2023 wildfire state of emergency.
Wildfires put Alberta parishes on high alert
So far Catholic parishes in the path of devastating wildfires that have swept across Alberta have only been evacuated as a precaution, with no parishes reporting any damage by mid-month.
California prelates urge prayers, aid for victims of wildfires
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Father Prakash Rao Kola was in Coldwater, Kansas, 30 miles east of Ashland, the afternoon of March 6 when he began to get frantic calls from parishioners.
Updated: Some fleeing scene of Tennessee wildfires describe it as escaping 'gates of hell'
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. – St. Mary's Catholic Church was at ground zero in the wildfires that devastated parts of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge Nov. 28, and while flames reached to within yards of the tourist city church, it appears to have been spared.
Catholic leaders in Holy Land pray for those hit by wildfires
JERUSALEM – Catholic leaders in the Holy Land expressed solidarity with those affected by regional wildfires, which continued to burn after five days.
A nation that cares
In recent decades Fort McMurray and the oil industry it symbolizes has divided Canadians. The Alberta oil hub was regarded as either a badge of national prosperity or symbol of ecological disgrace. The arguments were fierce.