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About 30 people ranging in age from about 6 to 60 took part in the hike Aug. 23. They had originally planned to celebrate Mass at the top of the mountain, but Father Luke A. Johnson, associate pastor of the Annunciation Parish in Gardner, found a better spot off the Semuhenna Trail about halfway up that wasn’t as crowded and busy as the top, but still provided a great view of the valley.

WORCESTER – John D. Kelleher had been in Korea just five days when he was wounded in battle and subsequently died. Seventy-five years later, dozens of people – including Bishop McManus, Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, vicar general and pastor of Christ the King Parish, and military and political leaders – gathered with his family for the dedication of a monument on the street where he grew up.

Father Richard A. Fortin, 91, passed away peacefully in Notre Dame Long Term Care Center on Friday, Aug. 22 after a period of declining health.

A Jesuit-trained team will offer the 30-week prayer experience held in the tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the St. Peter Church lower hall from 7-8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from Sept. 30 through May 5.

When John Kottori realized that his daughter and other girls in Webster had no opportunity to play organized basketball in town, he bounced into action.

WORCESTER – From Mass, to eucharistic adoration, to Marian devotion, to an evangelization table and religious items for sale, the Italian Festival of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto Parish was focused on faith – and brought the parish community and others together for a weekend also filled with family, food, fun and fundraising for the parish.

“I thirst for the salvation of souls” is the theme of the upcoming Worcester Catholic Women’s Conference which is scheduled for Sept. 27 at St. Joseph School in Webster.

The pilgrimage commemorated the 80th anniversary of the United States dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and one on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, during the Second World War.

To get there, he said, he rose at 3 a.m., traveled three hours by truck, then walked for another hour and a half. About 200 people attended that Mass last year, sitting on the floor of a school room or standing outside, he said.

Two longtime volunteers received Leominster’s Citizen of the Year Award Saturday. While the award focused on the volunteers’ service to the city, one is also known for serving her parish, and the other is connected with a parish out of town.

Rome became the heart of the world’s Catholic youth during the Jubilee of Youth held July 28-Aug. 3 which brought together more than one million young people from the five continents and about 146 countries.

SPENCER – The Trappist monks of St. Joseph’s Abbey live a contemplative life of prayer and work – and they have been doing so for 200 years – 75 of those years in the town of Spencer.

Worcester Catholics are among those calling for nuclear disarmament through commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the United States atomic bombings in Japan – in Hiroshima Aug. 6 and Nagasaki Aug. 9.

These extraordinary things happen when “babies turn into children of God” and the bread and wine turn into Christ’s body and blood, when couples turn into spouses and sinners into saints. “Such exceptional things deserve an exceptional place. And, St. Anne’s ... is truly an exceptional place.”

For 50 years, the Steubenville Conferences have been forming teens in the faith and deepening adults’ faith journeys. The Worcester diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry brought 99 youth and chaperones to the conference in Ohio this year.

Father Thomas F. Egan, 82, of Worcester, former pastor of Holy Family of Nazareth Church in Leominster, died July 18 after a brief illness.

“They understand the spirit and mission. … It’s strengthening families … really living out the social teachings of the Church … treating each person with dignity and respect, calling them by name, recognizing that we’re all one, and mutually helping each other to grow and become a family.”

WORCESTER – Hearkening back to the past, though things aren’t the same as they used to be, Blessed Sacrament Parish held a summer get-together Saturday – in and outside the church.

Father Thomas H. Hultquist, 76, senior priest in residence at St. George Parish in Worcester, passed away July 12 at Notre Dame Healthcare in Worcester.