After Mass this weekend, perhaps before heading home or out for errands or brunch, take a short drive to a cemetery in your community. Spend a few moments in prayer for and remembrance of departed loved ones and all who sleep in Christ there. Doing so is always a worthwhile practice, indeed a spiritual work […]
Continue readingCommemoration of All the Faithful Departed, Nov. 2 (Selected from the many options for this day) Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 23:1-3a,3b-4,5,6; Romans 5:5-11 or Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40 During my years as a Protestant pastor, I thought praying for departed Christians was a waste of time. I acknowledged that many Christians died without completing their journey […]
Continue readingEighteen individuals, couples, or families will be recognized at the Harvest Mass of the Diocese of Peoria on Sunday, Nov. 23, as recipients of the 2008 St. Isidore Award for living out their faith in the rural community in an exemplary and responsible manner. The award is named for the patron saint of farmers. The […]
Continue readingMORTON — In a culture where aborting babies that have severe deformities and physician-assisted suicide are seen as moral responses to human suffering, Catholic medical professionals must offer compassionate and ethical alternatives. That theme was repeated in a series of talks given at last Thursday’s annual Diocesan Health Care Ethics Day, where the focus was […]
Continue readingPERU — As Catholics around the world gather in churches and cemeteries this weekend to remember the saints and all the faithful departed, the monks at St. Bede Abbey have only to visit their newly expanded and renovated cemetery to catch a glimpse of the “heavenly homeland.” The project took years of planning and work […]
Continue readingWhen it comes to the law of God, Jesus made things very simple for his disciples, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, told the members of the legal profession who came to St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria last Sunday for the Diocesan Red Mass. Questioned by a Pharisee as to which of the 613 prescriptions of […]
Continue readingSister M. Kateri Hawley, FSGM, has been named provincial vicar of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George. The appointment, which is for six years, was made Sept. 1 by Mother M. Regina Pacis, FSGM, provincial superior. In her new ministry, Sister M. Kateri is responsible for assisting the provincial superior and […]
Continue readingBy: Part of a continuing series GENESEO — Darin Ries and Molly McKean knew they had a vocation to marriage long before he asked her to marry him and she said “yes,” so they didn’t shy away from talking about the issues involved in building a life together. Even so, they found it beneficial to […]
Continue readingRating: A-III (PG-13) 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. Beautifully produced adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd’s best-seller set in South Carolina about a spiritual beekeeper (Queen Latifah) and her sisters (Alicia Keys […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Nonviolence is not a strategic tool; it is the firm conviction that evil can be conquered with love and truth, said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. The cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, prayed that all religions that encourage nonviolence would work together “to promote truth, light, mutual respect, freedom […]
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