Sister Mary Ann Schmitz, SMP
VALLEY CITY, N.D. — Sister Mary Ann Schmitz, SMP, who served as a teacher and principal at St. Patrick School in Washington for 40 years, died Nov. 8, 2021, at SMP Health-St. Catherine North in Fargo, North Dakota. She was 93. Her funeral Mass is planned for Monday, Nov. 15, at Maryvale Convent Chapel in […]
Continue reading
Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie star in a scene from the movie "Belfast." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/Rob Youngson, Focus Features)
By Catholic News Service Writer-director Kenneth Branagh uses the perspective of a 9-year-old boy (Jude Hill) living in the city of the title to examine the effects of the sectarian strife that swept across Northern Ireland at the very end of the 1960s. As the lad’s father (Jamie Dornan), who journeys back and forth to […]
Continue reading
Darby Camp and Jack Whitehall star in a scene from the movie "Clifford the Big Red Dog." The Catholic News Service classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. (CNS/Paramount Pictures)
By Catholic News Service Slapstick humor is the order of the day in this silly but mostly harmless adaptation of a series of children’s books by Norman Bridwell, the first of which was published in 1963. Director Walt Becker mixes computer animation and live action to tell the story of a lonely New York City preteen (Darby […]
Continue reading
Father John Cyr, pastor of St. Dominic Parish in Wyoming, uses incense to bless the newly restored 1930 Hinners pipe organ prior to a rededication recital on Nov. 7 featuring renowned concert organist Katelyn Emerson. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
WYOMING — St. Dominic Parish here celebrated the return of more than 600 singing “voices” to its church on Nov. 7 with a rededication recital showing off its newly restored pipe organ. Quoting St. Augustine that “singing is praying twice” and noting the number of pipes on the church’s 91-year-old Hinners organ, Father John Cyr […]
Continue reading
Msgr. James Swaner
UTICA — A funeral Mass will be offered at St. Mary Church here at noon on Thursday, Nov. 11, for Msgr. James J. Swaner, a senior priest of the Diocese of Peoria who served Catholic parishes and schools in LaSalle County for five decades. Msgr. Swaner, a former principal of Marquette Academy in Ottawa whose […]
Continue reading
Concerns continue to be voiced about the direction and staffing of Alleman High School in Rock Island, with some questioning where the Diocese of Peoria is in all of this. In a column carried in The Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on Sunday, Nov. 7, Dr. Sharon Weiss said, “We are here. We are listening.” […]
Continue reading
Reviewed by Nancy Piccione Like most people, I am grateful to live in a time when mental health issues are discussed openly. In decades past, these topics were often minimized or stigmatized. And in some religious circles, mental health struggles could be overly spiritualized, and sometimes prayer was presented as the only solution. At the […]
Continue reading
Archbishop John J. Myers
The Papal Foundation has received a $200,000 gift from Dan and Marianne Harrington of Champaign to establish the Archbishop John J. Myers Fellowship in the area of canon law. This will make it possible for one scholar each year to study canon law at one of the Roman Pontifical Universities. The first recipient is Father […]
Continue reading
Diego Sanchez-Gomez places a photo of his late grandmother, Rosa Gomez, on the Day of the Dead altar at St. Mary Church in Bloomington. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
BLOOMINGTON — Members of St. Mary Parish here have a striking reminder to pray for the souls of the deceased during November with the construction of a tall, colorful Day of the Dead altar to the left of the sanctuary. “The bright colors and the flowers show us there is a tomorrow of happiness and […]
Continue readingCause of Our Joy / Katie Faley Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said something recently that shook me up. After the passing of one of his good friends — a former professor colleague — the pope emeritus said, “Now he has arrived in the hereafter, where I am sure many of his friends are already waiting […]
Continue reading
