The Catholic Post Category: Featured Article - Page 47

‘O Come, Divine Healer’ — Bishop Tylka’s Holy Hour reflection in pandemic time

By: The Catholic Post - December 18, 2020 - Featured Article

Bishop Tylka lifts the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament during a Holy Hour of diocesan prayer in a time of pandemic last December at St. Mary's Cathedral. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Following is the full text of Coadjutor Bishop Louis Tylka’s reflection given during “O Come, Divine Healer,” a Holy Hour of Diocesan Prayer in this Pandemic Time at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria on Dec. 17. The Holy Hour, which was attended by about 100 people at the cathedral — including Bishop Daniel […]

Parishes across the diocese prepare to celebrate Christmas in pandemic year

By: Jennifer Willems - December 17, 2020 - Featured Article

Father Andru O’Brien, parochial vicar for St. Jude Parish in Peoria, celebrates an evening Mass in the church parking lot last month. St. Jude is among the parishes in the Diocese of Peoria planning parking lot Masses or Communion services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as one option to celebrate Jesus’ birth as a parish community while also keeping people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy photo/Daryl Wilson)

Christmas has always been a time of joy and reverence as we welcome the Christ Child into our lives again. If parishes around the Diocese of Peoria have their way, that will continue to be the case — with more than a little creativity thrown in for good measure. “Even though there’s craziness going on […]

Pledges to Annual Stewardship Appeal off to a good start in this challenging year

By: Tom Dermody - December 17, 2020 - Featured Article

The theme of the 2020 Annual Diocesan Appeal is "Know, Love, Serve." It was conducted primarily through direct mail this year because of the pandemic.

In this most challenging year, Catholics of the Diocese of Peoria are responding generously to a modified Annual Diocesan Appeal that opened in September — six months later than usual and in the middle of a pandemic. With a goal set at $6 million, pledges have already crossed $5.2 million and more than $4.3 million […]

Consider receiving the COVID-19 vaccine ‘as an act of charity,’ say U.S. bishops

By: The Catholic Post - December 16, 2020 - Featured Article

Dr. Victor Chan, chief of emergency services at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, receives the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 15. Looking on is Robert Anderson, president of the medical center. (Provided photo/OSF Newsroom

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The “gravity” of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and “the lack of availability of alternative vaccines,” are “sufficiently serious” reasons to accept the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ doctrine and pro-life committees said Dec. 14. “Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine ought to be understood as an act of charity […]

Death of Msgr. Soseman announced during Mass at Archbishop Sheen’s tomb

By: Tom Dermody - December 9, 2020 - Featured Article

Coadjutor Bishop Louis Tylka celebrates a Mass at the tomb of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria on Dec. 9, the 41st anniversary of the media pioneer's death. Assisting are seminarians Deacon Nicolas Wilson, left, and Deacon Austin Bosse. The Mass followed a nine-day novena praying for Archbishop Sheen's canonization cause. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)

A Mass at the tomb of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on the 41st anniversary of his death on Dec. 9 also was a first opportunity for the Diocese of Peoria to mourn the death from COVID-19 two hours earlier of the vice postulator of the famed media pioneer and author’s cause for canonization. “We gather […]

Pope proclaims year dedicated to St. Joseph in apostolic letter ‘Patris Corde’

By: The Catholic Post - December 8, 2020 - Featured Article

A statue of St. Joseph holding the Child Jesus is carried during a recent Diocesan Men's March through downtown Peoria. Pope Francis has proclaimed a yearlong celebration dedicated to the foster father of Jesus. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Marking the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph being declared patron of the universal church, Pope Francis proclaimed a yearlong celebration dedicated to the foster father of Jesus. In a Dec. 8 apostolic letter, “Patris Corde” (“With a father’s heart”), the pope said Christians can […]

What is God saying to us in Advent 2020, asks Abbot Philip of St. Bede Abbey, Peru

By: Jennifer Willems - December 6, 2020 - Featured Article

PERU — At a time when many people are feeling fatigued by all the watching and waiting they have been doing for months as a result of the pandemic, Advent invites them to turn it around and consider the ways in which that can be a grace and a gift, according to Abbot Philip Davey, […]

Catholic Charities baby pantries in Peoria, Streator providing help and hope

By: Tom Dermody - December 4, 2020 - Featured Article

Newly appointed volunteer coordinator Stefanie Tarr is pictured in the St. Gianna Baby Pantry, located within the Bessette Center at 1825 N.E. Adams St. in Peoria. It is one of two baby pantries under the umbrella of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)

Stefanie Tarr can get emotional listening to the stories of parents she assists at the St. Gianna Baby Pantry in Peoria, one of two baby pantry outreaches in the Diocese of Peoria operated through Catholic Charities. “I was a single parent of four kids,” said Tarr, formerly of Champaign and now living in Peoria. “They […]

Respect Life director Cecilia Soñé shares her mid-summer struggle with COVID-19

By: Jennifer Willems - December 3, 2020 - Featured Article

Cecilia Soñé, director of Respect Life Ministry for the Diocese of Peoria and a family nurse practitioner, speaks during the 2019 Respect Life Conference in Peoria. She told The Catholic Post that her experience of being hospitalized with COVID-19 in July helped her to grow spiritually because “you realize you have to let go and let God because you don’t know if you’re going to get out of there or not.” (Courtesy photo/Daniel Soñé Photography)

EDITOR’S NOTE: There are hundreds of persons in the Diocese of Peoria who have battled COVID-19 in 2020, or are struggling with it now. All have their own experiences to share. Following is just one story of faith. COVID-19 did its best to take down Cecilia Soñé and it came close. What the coronavirus didn’t […]

Teachers sub for volunteer cooks, save pie fundraiser at St. Mary, Metamora

By: Jennifer Willems - December 3, 2020 - Featured Article

Rather than let go of the Thanksgiving pie fundraiser at St. Mary School in Metamora when pandemic restrictions meant volunteers were not allowed into the building, the faculty and staff pitched in to fill the 166 orders themselves on Nov. 24. (Provided photo)

METAMORA — When Catholic schools across the Diocese of Peoria closed to in-person instruction in November and switched to remote learning, it looked like the popular pie fundraiser for St. Mary School here would shut down, too. The only people allowed in the school building were teachers and staff and that meant the volunteers lined […]

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