In the weeks before schools re-open, state and diocesan Catholic officials are asking parents and all supporters of Catholic education to do an important homework assignment: write to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. The message they want sent is a request that the governor use discretionary funding or other avenues to restore “draconinan” budget cuts made […]
Continue readingCHAMPAIGN — A funeral Mass was to be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday, July 31, at St. Patrick’s Church in Urbana for Father J. Eugene Kane, a senior priest of the diocese and former pastor of parishes in Peoria, Rock Island, Elkhart and El Paso. Father Kane, who also served at Marquette High School in […]
Continue readingBy: By Father Dominic Garramone, OSB Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 2 Exodus 16:2-4,12-15; Psalm 78:3-4,23-24,25,54; Ephesians 4:17,20-24; John 6:24-35 The Gospel of Mark, which is used in liturgical Year B, is too short to fill all 34 Sundays of Ordinary Time, so we switch to the Bread of Life Discourse from Chapter 6 […]
Continue readingWhatever one thinks of the way Jillian Peterson and Kevin Heinz choreographed their wedding party’s recent trip down the aisle of a church in Minnesota, all can agree it was creative and joyful. For those who haven’t seen the week’s most popular YouTube video or excerpts of it on the national news, the ushers, bridesmaids, […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI will focus on the connection between protecting the environment and working for peace in the message he will publish for World Peace Day in 2010, the Vatican said. The theme the pope has chosen for the Jan. 1 celebration is “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Safeguard Creation,” […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Vatican concerns about how some recent decisions of the U.S. Episcopal Church will impact the search for full Anglican-Roman Catholic unity are echoed in a reflection by Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Communion. Writing July 27 about the Episcopal Church’s recent general convention, Archbishop Williams […]
Continue readingWASHINGTON (CNS) — Thousands of Catholics marched on Vietnamese streets July 26 to protest the beating of two Catholic priests and the detainment of seven Catholics after a violent police raid at a disputed church site. In a series of coordinated marches throughout the Vinh Diocese, about 500,000 people gathered to demand the release of […]
Continue readingRating: L (R) NEW YORK (CNS) — The following is a capsule review of a movie recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Atmospheric but ultimately exploitative chiller about a couple (Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga) who adopt a 9-year-old Russian-born girl (Isabelle Fuhrman) from a […]
Continue readingJOLIET — A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Friday, July 9, at Our Lady of Angels Retirement Home here for Sister M. Magdalene Schmitt, OSF, who taught at St. Stephen’s School in Streator for 33 years. She was 80. Sister Magdalene died on July 6, 2009, at Queen of Angels. She was buried […]
Continue readingGALESBURG — Even those who help need help sometimes. Knox County Right to Life is sponsoring the Sixth Annual Community Baby Shower Brunch for The Women’s Pregnancy Center of Galesburg on Saturday, Aug. 1, at Lake Storey Park, Shelter No. 2. It will be held from 8 to 10:30 a.m. In the past, donors have […]
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