By: By Jennifer Willems EDITOR’S NOTE: Across the nation this weekend people are being encouraged to offer support for the Retirement Fund for Religious. Last year more than $28 million was raised — including $132,478 from the Diocese of Peoria — to offer direct assistance to 477 religious institutes. But we know these dedicated women […]
Continue readingIn Advent wreaths at churches around the Diocese of Peoria this weekend the rose candle will be lit, marking the Third Sunday of Advent. That rose connection is an important one since Sunday, Dec. 12, is also the day on which the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe traditionally is celebrated. “We will be wearing […]
Continue readingBy: By Jennifer Willems Joan Weber may not be the president of the Peoria Diocesan Council of Catholic Women anymore — she installed her successor, Nympha White of Grand Ridge, at the organization’s Oct. 16 convention — but her service to women of faith in Illinois isn’t done quite yet. For the next two years […]
Continue reading
Photo Caption: At every Mass we “experience a richness and bounty that is without end,” said Bishop Jenky at the Diocesan Mass of Thanksgiving on Nov. 21. EDITOR’S NOTE: Following is an excerpt from the homily by Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, at Sunday’s diocesan Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria. […]
Continue readingBy: By Jennifer Willems Enrollment in the 46 schools of the Diocese of Peoria has dropped, but there is still good news to be found in the figures released this month by the Office of Catholic Schools. “With our decline this year, the surprise is that it wasn’t larger,” said Brother William Dygert, CSC, superintendent […]
Continue readingBy: By Jennifer Willems Seventy percent of practicing Catholics under the age of 35 are Hispanic, and Latinos represent the fast growing school-age population in the country. Why is it, then, that only 3 percent of those children attend Catholic schools? Principals, pastors, teachers and education commission members from Catholic schools around the Diocese of […]
Continue readingEditor’s note: The following statement was released Nov. 23 by the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the public policy arm of the bishops of the state. The Catholic Bishops of Illinois call upon the Illinois General Assembly to reject Senate Bill 1716, the civil union legislation. Senate Bill 1716 seeks to afford all the “legal obligations, […]
Continue readingBy: By Jennifer Willems Making history is nothing new for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria. For 130 years, the agency and its forerunners have looked for new ways to serve those in need while remaining true to the mission of treating all with compassion, dignity and respect. That long history is being traced […]
Continue readingBy: By Tom Dermody NORMAL — Catholics must better unite in a “spirituality of communion” or risk being “steamrolled” by 21st century challenges such as the biotech revolution, journalist John L Allen Jr. told about 200 people at a fundraising dinner for Epiphany Parish here last Sunday. Allen, senior correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, discussed […]
Continue readingThe United Nations International Statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be brought to several locations in the Diocese of Peoria in early December to inspire prayer and promote the Fatima message. Accompanying the statue — one of four official International Pilgrim Virgin Statues from the World Apostolate of Fatima — during stops in Moline, […]
Continue reading
