Following a student Mass at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church today, Bishop Richard Joseph Malone toured St. Joe's and Notre Dame, meeting with students and faculty along the way.
At St. Joe's, his tour guide was Principal Karen Green; at Notre Dame, it was Principal Joe Scanlan. His aide Rev. Ryazard Biernat accompanied the tour.
As near as anybody could remember, it's been more than 20 years since a bishop came to Batavia to celebrate Mass and tour a Catholic school. Malone said in Maine, there were 20 schools in his diocese and he made a point of visiting each one at least once a year, but in the Buffalo Diocese there are 40 schools. It would be hard to maintain that annual schedule with so many schools, he said, but when a student asked him if he would come back next year, he said, "if you invite me I will."
Before he left St. Joe's, Principal Green gave Bishop Malone a plate of chocolate from Oliver's.
