Diocese Honors Bishop James A. Murray (1932 – 2020)

Bishop Murray had a great heart for the Hispanic community. He was the one who started the Masses in the migrant camps. Each summer he celebrated several Masses in the fields and welcomed the farmworkers who each summer come to the nine counties of the diocese for the harvest. He always had a great smile and simplicity for the families.

March 2020 certainly lived by the old adage and “roared in like a lion.” What followed only amplified as the faithful grappled with all the challenges of the pandemic, which impacted all aspects of daily life from how we get groceries to how we do our jobs. And of course included on that list is how we practiced our faith. We’ve highlighted just a few of the many ways Bishop Bradley, diocesan staff, priests, deacons, parish staffs and Catholic Charities continued the work of the Church:

It’s a rare block of uninterrupted time on Don Bouchard’s calendar when we sit down together at Catholic Charities Diocese of Kalamazoo’s offices. The busy physician not only guides the agency as its Executive Director, but he also runs his six-year-old practice, Holy Family Healthcare, and serves in his diaconate ministry for St. Augustine Cathedral Parish, Kalamazoo. It’s a demanding schedule that keeps him busy with stops all around Southwest Michigan, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Each Easter Vigil thousands of people across the world enter into full communion with the Church through the sacraments of initiation. Southwest Michigan Catholic interviewed Jessica Woods, a 27-year-old Ferris State University pharmacy student and parishioner of St. Mary Parish, Marshall, who was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic Church last year.