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All assets associated with the tag: Holy Name of Jesus

Holy Name of Jesus Coverage

The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024. In advance, the diocese is planning a special event on Oct. 21, 2023, at the Raleigh Convention Center.

<p>So Bishop Sara, here we are. I don't like to be called by my last name. Bishop is forgive me. Why do you like being called by your first name? I was called during my entire life in the high school and the school always by my last name. And we were, I have my brothers who have, they have their last name, my cousins and could be my brother or could be my cousin and I have a name and I like to be called by my name. Last name for me. Make me a little bit, feel a little bit away from the people with a name. I feel more close and I don't like to be, give a sense of distance with the people. I like to be close with the people. Speaking of being close with the people, we were just talking about COVID. How, how was that time for you and the parishioners here? Did you, were you able to have services online or were you able to meet in person? How, how did that work for you? And was it was a big challenge because having this church and celebrating a mass here with the empty church. The only thing that I heard was the echo of my voice was weird, but at the same time, challenge us to reach the people through the um internet and something that we didn't do before. And we open an opportunity to reach people, not only here in the diocese, but all over the world because the people can click and can follow us. Doesn't matter where and, and we're still keeping that kind of service because we have people who are unable to come home bound people. But at least they can follow our masses through uh the service that we provide to them. How are you able to receive the feedback? How did you know you were still connecting even though you were on the, I don't know what exactly the way that they have, but they know how many people are following us in each mass. But you personally did, you still feel as though that your message was getting across, you know, it was very interesting because was the way here in the diocese that the people were able to know me because of the COVID because of the service that we provide, that they were in Wilmington and or other areas. They were following the masses from here when I was presiding the masses here and when I got, I got there, they say, oh, we are following you bishop from the masses at the cathedral. I say, OK, I think with the challenge was an opportunity for me to reach more people because of the internet service that we provide. And that's important to you because as you said, right at the beginning, it's important for you to be close. And I was able to get it to the homes of the people during the COVID. And it was, it was a challenge but was a good time to go for all of us to really see life with a different speed of life, taking a little bit more time to enjoy, for example, a good breakfast without being in a rush. And that is a very different way to start a new day when you have time for yourself. We are a culture that we like to be busy and I feel proud that we are busy and the Lord find a way to use some breaks and stop us and say, OK, now is your time? Slow down, slow down. Yeah. How have you seen your membership change over the years? Your Raleigh Diocese has 94 churches. So explain how that has changed over the last five years. Let's say the the length of time this cathedral has been open and this is the length of time that I have been here as a bishop. Five years. Uh What changes have you seen during those five years? First of all, we were so excited having this new cathedral filled with people. And after that COVID and everything stopped and the church was empty. But um the great thing for me is, is, look, see the people coming back, tell me about what it was like. Then when people started coming back and filling up this building again. Well, with, with, with a challenge too because in the beginning when we start to open the, the church for masses was a limit number of people who were able to come. And with that, we were wearing the mask and having the cathedral with people wearing the mask, you didn't see their faces, you know, you see part of but was not a full face. And when these people start to remove their, this their masks, we start to say the true person who is, who was behind that. And I think that is where the law is, is challenge us. We, we live our life with masks and we don't like the people to know us as we are, we are afraid. But a lot of challenges to remove that, let the people see what they have in your heart. And that experience to see that the the people were still is start to coming back and coming back. And the church was like before that was such a blessing. And for me, uh one of the great parts of coming to the cathedral of celebrating the mass is celebrate the mass. But after that is being able to reach and say goodbye to the people there at the door of the and hugging the people to see the kids. That is another celebration for me and that is something that I miss a lot and now enjoy. I'm enjoying that again. Fellowship is such a large part of being at church that is very important. It is very important and that is why we need to find the time to, to enjoy ourselves in that because we come to sometimes to mass or whatever service that we have with the time frame, we know that we'll be only there for one hour. And after that, we rush again to our daily lives, but we don't have the time to really digest and to share what we receive because we are in a rush and I stop in there a little while before you leave. I shaking hands with them, talking and laughing and giving hugs. That is, that is such a blessing. It's a beautiful celebration after the celebration because you get to slow down, slow down, Harry. I'm not in a Harry. I know what I need to do. I have my time and I don't like to be pushed. I'd like to stay with time to be able to be with my people. Talk about your Spanish language masses too because those are very, they fill up very, they, they are filling up. The, the people are coming from different areas here in the, in, in, in Raleigh, the rig area and it's a different kind of celebration because it's more, yeah, the music is different and the language is different. And sometimes uh the Spanish mass is a little bit longer than the Anglo mass because we talk a little bit more. And uh is, is, is, is nice to see that they are bringing with their families and there's a lot of young people coming with them. Why is that important to you? Because is the, is, is, is the beautiful gift of them today for us, for the church and the hope for the future young people, they are coming in to pray is hope and they are here. Uh One more can I ask? Because this is such a blessing? It's a great time. You were talking about the diversity of the membership. Is that something that's different from before COVID to now the diversity is growing, it's more obvious now to see how diverse we are becoming and, and, and it's, and that reflected where with the Catholic church we are, we are universal and it's a little uh a little uh reflection of what the church it is right here in, in Raleigh. How are you able to reach the older population, the grandparents and the NC state students so that you can have a message that's universal to all the different types of people who come, the message of the gospel is universal. And the the message of the gospel is for, for me is for a boy is for every one of us. Um Yeah, is how we present that and how we make the people excited about listening and, and opening their hearts to be able to receive the good news and, and it's a challenge because we live in, in, in times in which we are bombarded by bad news and we need to hear good news and I think Sundays is, is that little break that we needed away from for bad news and come in and listen the good news. The hope that we need to have to live our lives and, and, and experience that we are not, we are not alone in our journey of life that we are more people, we are together, we have more people coming together and making our journey together and to experience in the life of the church, in the life of the sacraments. What truly, what truly love it is because every Eucharist is an expression of love. I read in um a Gallup pole. That's sad sermons are the primary reason for why people attend church, which I thought was interesting. Um So what is the message that people are looking to hear? Well, depend, depend where, what, what you, what you're looking for, you know, uh for me, the gospel and, and the, and the preaching is, is how we help the people to understand the gospel, the, the word of God, how, how we are able to, to find in each one of the readings that we have for every mass that the Lord is challenge us. He loves us, but he challenge us. He doesn't like for us to become comfortable, but he always challenge us to keep grin in faith, groin in love, groin in hope sometimes make us uncomfortable because we like to be comfortable and we don't like to be challenged. But the what is what the Lord, why the Lord like to do that? Because he knows all our possibilities and he likes that we can accept his challenge and to find something new and great in our own hearts every day. When you go inside that it's still kind of takes your breath away, doesn't it? Yeah. No, I, and I feel nervous every time. Yeah, because it's, it's so I don't give for granted that I'm here. You know, is I, I see this, the building that make me feel tiny and this is the beauty is a challenge for how well prepared I am for the, what I for what I will celebrate. It's not a game, you know, is, is it an encounter, is being with the people? Um This is it, I, I need to, to really think every time that I'm here, that is, is what I'm doing because I'm so blessed. But the fact that you stop and that you appreciate this cathedral every time you walk in. Yeah, pretty remarkable. You know, and, and for the first time when I came here when they named me a bishop and I came here to rally and they brought me here to see the cathedral. I never expect to see a building like this. And I still, you know, when I come and celebrate the early mass, you know, and, and it's early in the morning with the sunrise in the back. You know, this is such a great inspiration to see the beautiful building, to celebrate the beautiful sacra. Mean, that is amazing. So talk to me about the last five years since you've been here um outside of COVID, what changes have you seen? And um how, how are you just getting a groove going, you know, that you feel comfortable or did you immediately feel comfortable or tell me about the last five years outside of COVID? I I say to myself, Raleigh is my home and I cannot change. And I, I said to myself and I say that publicly to the people, we are in the best diocese in the entire world, not only for the churches, but for the team that I have working and serving the uh the diocese, the people that I met here. The it's such a great blessing for me to be able to be here in this part of the United States that it, I cannot change this for anything else is, is so beautiful. The people are so great. Um and has been helping me to enjoy my job. As a bishop, uh-huh, helping me to enjoyed the gift of life and the opportunity to share all of that with the people that they are having. Trust me. I mean, is wonderful and the challenges that are there, how we can respond to the growth that we have in the church is like more families coming in, how we can open our churches for the new families who are coming in pretty good problems to have, right? It's a, it's a, it's a blessing. I don't say that it's a problem. It's a blessed challenge that we have and you're seeing a lot of growth over those 94 churches. It is a lot of growth, some areas, not too much, but here, especially in the valley area. The growth is, is, is, is amazing, is amazing. You're opening a new church. We are looking for a new church in Apex um soon and we have another project there. We are looking for land for the future that we can establish new churches, new parishes that we can be able to continue to serve the people and giving them the opportunity to have the life of the church through the sacraments. It, it is such a blessing. Talk to me about the the financial hit that you probably took during COVID. And, and how does that limit you on the projects that you still have for the future? I can see that we, we were hit at the at the beginning hard. But uh I don't know, the Lord was so good that um we, we are able to almost, we didn't suffer as we thought that we would suffer because of that. And of course, I I is, is, is a concern about the finances of the diocese. But the main concern was how we were able to serve the people. If you serve the people, the Lord will provide you with a means that you need to serve them. And that is what we did. We help a lot of our parishes in time of in the time of COVID. Um We, we survive and we survive very well. Were you able to continue outreach as well to help charities and people who charities grow as fast? We never saw the growth in charities as what happened to us during the COVID time and you were still able to serve. Are we still able to serve? Oh, yes, yes. Yeah. Uh Do you find that people are volunteering more that, that want to help the church with the Catholic charities? We, we need more volunteers. People are willing to help. Uh And that is the one of the, the things that I have in mind to help the people, to understand that each one of us, we have a place in the church is only to be sitting here in the pew and be here for the service. No. How would you, you can find your place in the family of the church to be able to serve. Because that is the only way for us that we, for us to understand what really love means is when we serve the other one that is the practice of love. I know that the Catholic church went through a rough time with the scandal with the priests. Do you feel like that has subsided? Now, people trust the church and, um, have forgiven. That is a very, very difficult topic and was something in the past that was, that hurt the people. We lost the trust of the people, but we are moving forward. And I sometimes I become a little bit sad when that is the topic of almost every interview bringing back that past. And don't let the past be in the past and looking for the blessing from the present moment. I think we have been working very hard to change things, but we never, they never ask, what are you doing to keep it changing and taking care of the minors? You know, they are so focused more in the past, but they are not looking for the good job that we are doing to prevent that things happen again. So what are you doing to prevent that from happening again? We, we, we have a system in the church. We, we, we, we reach all the volunteers in every parish to give them, um, formation, how to deal, how to recognize um, something that can happen. Uh We, we are uh in the, in the formation of our seminarians, uh how we are helping them to be mature uh spiritually emotionally, to reach the whole person to mature and, and be secure about the role that he will exercise later on. And, and that had been a, a uh a very successful process that we have. Good. Um I'm sorry to ask that question. It just kind of hit my mind when we're talking about trust and people coming back. It's fine. But I, I, you know, sometimes in the conversation I think is, is, is, is good that as you question me, I can express what I feel too. Absolutely. That's why I'm here. That's what I want you to do. Absolutely. Uh So, so talk to me about the next five years. Where do you see the next five years for this cathedral and for your reign? Well, we, we are celebrating, we will celebrate in 2024 the 100 years of the diocese of righ that the diocese was established 100 years ago. And we have the projects. Now we are working for the big celebration for the 100 years of the diocese. And we, we are preparing a, a missionary aspect of the, of the celebration in the way that we will be able to reach people who are not coming back or rich, rich people that they, they don't know about our fate. I, I think is, is uh what I can say is the gospel in action. You know, we were a missionary territory for a long time, this diocese. But that missionary, we don't need to forget that we keep, keep in being missionaries to bring in the gospel today. Not maybe to the jungles, but to the cities and the people who live in the city and helping them to understand that it is a place according to your faith where you can go and you are an all alone and we need to find and help the people to find their own dignity, their own value. And that is only come when we reach in faith, the one who create us and to discover the wonderful things that each one of us we have as a human person because we are in a rush and we don't have time to really think about it and we are missing a lot. Sometimes we live so fast that it's like when you drive the same street every day, you don't put attention to anything else. You know, it's the street, but you don't put attention to the street anymore. And after couple of years, you can say, oh, that is a new building. No, that building was there like five or six years ago. But living in such a rush, you don't have to put attention to see that something new and that happened with us. We are so blessed with many different things. But we don't have the time to really see them and enjoy and use that gift for what's right here, right around us. Well, for right here, for this moment, that is the only moment that we have. And this is the moment that we have to enjoy the gift of our life, the gift of our own professions, the gift of our own families, the gift of our own country. We cannot give things for granted. We need to really appreciate it and give thanks for all the blessings that we have and that is the way to learn to respect each other. Very true. Hm. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for, for coming.</p>

Full interview with Bishop Luis Zarama on how the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh is growing

Bishop Luis Zamara

Nearly 500,000 people and counting, the Diocese of Raleigh says the number of registered Catholics has increased more than 5% since 2019.

Raleigh bishop sees growth and diversity: 'It's just such a blessing'

Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama

LIFETIME ALL CHANGES ON EVERY. >> AS WE LOOK LIVE NOW AT THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS CATHEDRAL. IT'S STILL A RATHER NEW FIXTURE AS THE RALEIGH DIOCESE PREPARES TO CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OLD, NEARLY HALF A MILLION CATHOLICS NOW WORSHIP IN THE DIOCESE. MANY OF THEM SPENT YEARS APART BECAUSE OF COVID. I TALKED WITH BISHOP LUIS IS A RAMA ABOUT HOW THE CHURCH WAS ABLE TO ADJUST DURING THAT TIME AND EVEN PROSPER. I NEED TO. >> TO REALLY THINK EVERYTHING THAT I'M HERE, THAT IS WHAT I'M DOING. >> BECAUSE I'M SO BLESSED TO BISHOP LUIS. A RAMA IS STILL HAUNTED BY THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS CATHEDRAL. IT'S BEEN NEARLY 6 YEARS SINCE HE TOOK OVER AS HEAD OF THE RALEIGH DIOCESE, WHICH COVERS 54 COUNTIES IN THE EASTERN HALF OF NORTH CAROLINA. YOU TALKED ABOUT WHEN YOU GO INSIDE THAT IT STILL. KIND OF TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY. DOESN'T DENY BEING THERE FOR EARLY BECAUSE HE SAYS SO. >> I DON'T VIEW FOR GRANTED THAT I'M HERE. THE GOOD THEME FOR ME IS IT'S LOOK TO SEE THE PEOPLE COMING BACK. >> MOST OF HIS TIME HAS BUSH UP. HE'S HAD THE CHALLENGE OF MINISTERING DURING COVID NEARLY 100 CHURCHES IN THE DIOCESE HAD TO FIND A WAY TO KEEP SERVING THEIR CONGREGATIONS FROM AFAR. HAVING THESE CHARGE. >> AND SABAN IN MASS. YEAH. WITHIN THE CHURCH YOU HAVE TO DO ANYTHING THAT I HEARD WAS THE TICKLE MY BUDDIES. AS WE HAD. WAS A GOOD TIME TO FOR THE LAST 2 REALLY SEA LIFE WITH A DIFFERENT SPEED LIFE. THE COMMITTEE THAT IN MY TIME TO ENJOY, FOR EXAMPLE, A GOOD BREAKFAST. WITHOUT BEING IN A RUSH. SLOW DOWN, SLOW DOWN. WITH THE TIMING, TOO, WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ME TO REACH MORE PEOPLE. BECAUSE OF THE INTERNET SERVICE. AND WE OPENED THAT AN OPPORTUNITY TO REACH PEOPLE. NO HOME HERE IN THE DIOCESE. BUT ALL OVER THE WORLD BECAUSE THAT PEOPLE CAN CLICK AND CAN FOLLOW US. THOSE WHO MIGHT HAVE >> WHAT STARTED AS ECHOES INSIDE THE CHURCH SANCTUARIES LED TO A GROWTH IN THIS CHURCH COMMUNITY. THE DIOCESE SAYS THE NUMBER OF REGISTERED CATHOLICS HAS INCREASED MORE THAN 5% SINCE 2019 WITH CURRENTLY ABOUT 500,000 CATHOLICS IN THE DIOCESE OF RALEIGH, BISHOP LUIS POINT, ESPECIALLY TO DIVERSE AND YOUNGER PARISHIONERS THAT DIVERSITY IS GROWING IS MORE OBVIOUS NOW TO SEE HOW DIVERSE WE ARE BECOMING THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL IS UNIVERSAL. >> LESS THAN 10% OF CATHOLICS NOW LIVING IN NORTH CAROLINA ARE NATIVE TO THE STATE. SO WITH SO MANY NEW PEOPLE MOVING TO THE AREA, MORE CATHOLICS ARE PART OF THAT GROWTH AND CHURCHES ARE BURSTING. A NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH OPENED LAST YEAR IN CARY AND THE DIOCESE RECENTLY PURCHASED LAND NEAR GARNER FOR A FUTURE PARISH. BECAUSE THIS IS SUCH A BLESSING IS A GREAT TIME. BISHOP LUIS SAYS THE FELLOWSHIP MISSED DURING COVID AND THE LESSONS LEARNED WHEN WE LIVED APART AND WITH MASKS STILL RESONATE TODAY, WE LIVE OUR LIVES WITH MASKS AND WE DON'T LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW OS. >> AS WE I FRAY. BUT THE NO 10 INTEREST TO REMOVE THAT OTHER PEOPLE SEE WHAT HE HAD A NEW HEART. >> WHAT A METAPHOR. WHAT A LESSON. THE DIOCESE CONDUCTS MANY MASSES EACH WEEK IN SPANISH, SPANISH SPEAKING PARISHES ARE GROWING, ESPECIALLY IN THE EASTERN PART OF NORTH CAROLINA. AND WITH THIS GROWTH COMES THE NEED FOR MORE PREECE OVERALL. YOU CAN WATCH MY FULL INTERVIEW WITH BISHOP LUIS, INCLUDING WHY HE

Catholics see growth and diversity, bishop says

Churchgoers at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh showed up well before 6:30 Sunday morning for a special Easter sunrise service.

Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral holds special Easter sunrise service

Easter sunrise service at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh 

A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumna, Emily Jackson, is living in Paris and saw the cathedral in flames while she was walking home from the post office. The fire, she said in a video, was "awful."

UNC graduate witnessed Notre Dame fire; Triangle residents emotionally affected by flames

A Raleigh couple on their honeymoon stood among the crowd in Paris as Notre Dame Cathedral burned Monday.

Triangle residents, natives witness devastating Notre Dame fire

The Diocese of Raleigh dedicated its new pipe organ at the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral on Thursday night. 