URBANA — Members of all parishes in the Champaign vicariate are invited to celebrate their Catholic faith and connection with one another during an evening that will include a Mass celebrated by Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, June 6.

Priests from the 18 parishes in the region will concelebrate the Mass as part of this year’s “Catholic Connected: Beyond the Pew,” an annual collaborative vicariate event designed to galvanize the community for evangelization and promote Catholic teaching and themes in the arts.

The evening, which is open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. with a welcome by Msgr. Albert Hallin, PA, vicar of the Champaign vicariate and pastor of St. Boniface Parish, Seymour and St. Joseph’s Parish, Ivesdale.

The Mass will feature an all-area choir of 100 voices under the direction of Laura Theby, music director at St. Patrick’s Parish, Urbana, and Heath Morber, music director at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois. As in the previous two “Catholic Connected” events, large banners representing each parish of the vicariate will hang throughout the Krannert Center, which is located at 500 S. Goodwin Ave. on the campus of the University of Illinois.

The theme of this year’s celebration is “A Heart to Heart: the Bishop and His People.”

The evening will conclude with a social reception in the center’s lobby.
Among organizations hosting display tables at the reception are C & A Inspirations, the Provena Foundation, and the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration program for the Champaign vicariate, based at St. Matthew’s Church, Champaign.

“Catholic Connected is a wonderful and exciting time when all of the parishes of our vicariate gather together and share our love for the Lord and each other,” said Hank Wilkinson of the Perpetual Adoration Program. “This joy of gathering as the family of Christ can be perpetuated throughout the year through Eucharistic adoration, which operates 24/7,” he added in invited participants to stop by the organization’s display for more details.

The other parishes in the vicariate include St. Philomena’s, Monticello; St. Michael’s, Bement; St. Charles Borromeo, Homer; St. Lawrence, Penfield; Our Lady of the Lake, Mahomet; St. Patrick’s, Tolono; St. Thomas, Philo; St. Mary’s, Pesotum; Immaculate Conception, Bongard; St. Malachy’s, Rantoul; St. Elizabeth’s, Thomasboro; St. Mary’s, Champaign; and Holy Cross, Champaign.

More information on the event is available online at Catholic Connected