A resolution that every Catholic of our diocese should have considered, and can still consider, making and keeping for 2009 is to incorporate the rosary into our regular prayer life. As Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, pointed out in his Festival Letter published last week, we likely all have rosaries given to us as gifts […]
Continue readingBeneath those clouds hanging over the Illinois Capitol in Springfield and the political scene in Chicago, two true sources of hope are found this month. In Springfield, one week before the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the first ever privately funded Nativity scene to be displayed in the Capitol Building was dedicated Dec. 2 in […]
Continue readingWe’re nearing the end of a year which began in our diocese with a call from Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, to focus on the brevity of life. “I would propose that all of us in the Church of Peoria not only strive to more deliberately remember the reality of death, but also to reclaim […]
Continue readingIt happened Tuesday morning. My wife got the pen out and we started marking all over our family calendar for December. Dates for work Christmas parties, from my employer and hers, were blocked off. Holiday plays and concerts we hope to attend took a few more dates, as did family gatherings, evenings to entertain friends, […]
Continue readingDescribing what tradition recalls as the first Thanksgiving festival nearly 400 years ago with their helpful Indian friends at Plymouth Plantation, Pilgrim Edward Winslow wrote that “although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are . . . far from want.” […]
Continue readingThe central theme of this just concluded marathon election season was “change,” and change our nation will experience with Sen. Barack Obama as its next president. The White House will see a change of party, an historic change of race, a generational change, and significant shifts in direction on a host of issues. Change is […]
Continue readingAfter 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 readingCatholicism has a lot of weighty words such as transubstantiation, catechetical, and canonization. But one of the best ways to understand Catholics, and especially Catholic social teaching, is to see the importance of the three-letter words “and” and “but.” Those attending last Saturday’s diocesan Catholic Social Ministry Institute in Morton heard a wonderful explanation of […]
Continue readingWe don’t tell you for whom to vote in elections. Nor do we take a stand in the heated Cardinals, Cubs, or White Sox baseball debates. But we can report that, as the Major League Baseball World Series approaches, nearly everyone in the LaSalle-Peru area — and certainly everyone at the St. Bede Academy community […]
Continue readingMany of us have been losing money, at least on paper, in recent weeks and words like crisis and despair are appearing in news headlines. But this Sunday afternoon, men and women from throughout the Diocese of Peoria who know what deep loss, crisis and despair really feel like will come to St. Mary’s Cathedral […]
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