Following last month’s horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students there and across the country — including in central Illinois — have become energized and vocal. Politicians and the media have taken notice, listening to and promoting their calls for solutions to gun violence. Many schools were preparing for […]
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The keynote speaker at Youth Rally 2018 will be singer, songwriter, and youth minister Jackie Francois Angel from Orange County, California.
High school students from throughout the Diocese of Peoria are invited to take part in Youth Rally 2018, which this year is scheduled for Saturday, March 24 — the vigil of Palm Sunday. The rally will begin at noon at the Spalding Pastoral Center in Peoria and conclude with participants carrying blessed palms in an […]
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The state champion Schlarman Hilltoppers, coaches, cheerleaders, and school officials pose on the floor of Redbird Arena in Normal after the team rolled past Stockton 53-31 on Saturday to win the IHSA Class 1A girls basketball title. In the front row, from left, are cheerleaders Sarah Switzer, Sarah Lukas, Winne Zheng, Jayden King, Jessalyn Gonzalez, Regina Hinkle, Tamara Kriening, and Ainslee Johnson; second row, from left, are athletic director Phil Sexton and players Janiah Newell, Destiny Dye, Anaya Peoples, and Sydney Gouard; third row, from left, are players Suzet Sermersheim, Cece Damilano, McKaylee Allen, Emma Bogen, Ana Fitzgerald, Tannah Ceader, Capria Brown, Elizabeth Stimac, and Father Bowan Schmitt, chaplain; back row, from left, assistant coach OJ Harrison, head coach Keith Peoples, assistant coaches Jerry O’Neill, LaTana Lillard, David Gouard Jr., and Mollie DeBord, and Gail Lewis, principal. (Provided photo/David Calkins, Schlarman Academy)
DANVILLE — The girls high school basketball team from Schlarman Academy here prays before every game. Well, more than that. “Before each game, before each practice, after each game, and after each practice we pray,” said junior Anaya Peoples. In the locker room at Redbird Arena in Normal on Feb. 24 prior to the biggest […]
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Flowers and candles, including one with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, adorn a cross in a Parkland, Fla., park Feb. 16. (CNS/Reuters)
Your Facebook feed informs you that the loved one of a friend has died or that someone you know has taken ill. “Sending thoughts and prayers,” you type in the comments section. Then, having expressed your concern 2018-style, you return to your normal day. Perhaps you offer a quick “Be with them, God” prayer. Perhaps […]
Continue readingWhile many of our U.S. athletes are making us proud with amazing performances at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea, we’d like to call attention to stories of Catholic grade school athletes in our diocese who this month demonstrated not only the spirit of sport, but of their faith as well. We cheer […]
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Longtime and new OSF HealthCare mission partners applaud a speaker during a welcoming program Feb. 1 at the newly renamed OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
While transitioning two medical centers to new ownership was a complicated task that involved months of preparation across the business spectrum, the common Catholic health care traditions and missions of the facilities in Urbana and Danville also made it a time of grace. “We have so much in common,” said Sister Judith Ann Duvall, OSF, […]
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Msgr. Mark Merdian, episcopal vicar for health care in the Diocese of Peoria, accepts a framed portrait of Mother M. Frances Krasse, foundress of The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, from Sister Judith Ann Duvall, OSF. A Celebration Mass on Feb. 1 marked the transition of Catholic medical centers in Urbana and Danville into the OSF HealthCare System and honored the religious communities that are part of their histories. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
Intense overnight preparation led to a morning of celebratory prayer as Catholic medical centers in Urbana and Danville were welcomed into the OSF HealthCare family on Feb. 1. “Throughout the history of religious orders in the church, one order has completed its mission and another carries it forward. This is the setting in which we […]
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Msgr. Gregory Ketcham
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following are excerpts from the homily at the funeral Mass at St. Patrick Church of Merna on Feb. 12 for Msgr. Gregory Ketcham. (See his obituary here.) The homilist was Father James J. Seitz, a priest of the Diocese of Winona and longtime friend. I have a new family. You have adopted me. […]
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The High School of Saint Thomas More in Champaign sent 28 students to Washington, D.C. Here they hold a Sabers for Life banner on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. (Provided photo)
Whether they got there by bus or by air, the nearly 250 high school students from the Diocese of Peoria were in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19 to walk. And pray. “I wanted to go on the March for Life in order to stand up for the dignity of each and every human life, both […]
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A group from the St. John Paul II Catholic Newman Center at Illinois State University in Normal sings as they process up Dearborn Avenue with thousands of other participants in March for Life Chicago on Sunday, Jan. 14. Those pictured include, from left, Ayla Kibler, Hannah Carroll, Sister Silvia Maria, SCTJM, Maria Castiblanco, Noelle Ortega, Kristin Anderson, and Alex James. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
CHICAGO — Pilgrims from the Diocese of Peoria to March for Life Chicago on Jan. 14 knew the seriousness of their cause but also found ways on a sub-freezing January day to reflect the joy of their faith and belief that “Love Saves Lives.” Many of the 35 college students and staff from the St. […]
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