Archives
By: Jennifer Willems - August 30, 2016 -
Featured Article
Champaign, Holy Cross, Metamora, Preschool
These preschoolers at Holy Cross in Champaign already know that when Father Dave Sajdak, SDB, pastor, asks, "What time is it?" their response should be "Time for God!" (The Catholic Post/Jennifer Willems)
CHAMPAIGN — Holding 3-year-old Kevin tightly, Melissa Anfield smiled. Her husband Tony Markiewicz did the same and then their son was gone as he went to explore what the new preschool building at Holy Cross School had to offer on the first day of classes. “We’ve just been waiting until he was old enough to […]
Continue reading
By: Tom Dermody - June 21, 2016 -
News Article
Champaign, Dittmer, LaSalle, Rayson, vicars
Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, has named new vicars for the LaSalle and Champaign vicariates. In Champaign, Father Robert Rayson will succeed Father Joseph Hogan as vicar. Father Rayson has been pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Champaign, as well as St. Boniface, Seymour, since 2012. Father Hogan, who has served as vicar for three […]
Continue reading
By: Tom Dermody - May 19, 2016 -
Featured Article
Champaign, Diocese of Peoria, Holy Cross, Michael Pica, ordination
Deacon Michael Pica accepts a stack of hand-made cards from Bria Hartke, a first-grader at Holy Cross School in Champaign, at the close of an all-school Mass on May 13. Holy Cross is Deacon Pica's home parish. He will be ordained to the priesthood at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria on Saturday, May 28. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
Deacon Michael Pica never thought he would be called to the priesthood. “It’s the other guys in the chapel, they’re called,” the transitional deacon remembers thinking in the fall of 2008 when — as a sophomore at Bradley University in Peoria studying health science — Msgr. Brian Brownsey asked him if he had ever considered […]
Continue reading
By: Jennifer Willems - April 6, 2016 -
Featured Article
Champaign, Diocese, Divine, mercy, Nauvoo, Peoria, Rock Island, Sunday
Father Daniel Gifford offers a reflection on Divine Mercy at St. John's Catholic Chapel in Champaign, the site of one of several regional celebrations in the Diocese of Peoria on April 3. (The Catholic Post/Jennifer Willems)
CHAMPAIGN — The Door of Mercy at St. John’s Catholic Chapel was well used on Divine Mercy Sunday as people entered to seek the sacrament of reconciliation, pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and sing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy together. The door swings both ways, however, Father Daniel Gifford reminded them during his reflection on […]
Continue reading
By: Jennifer Willems - April 6, 2016 -
News Article
Anna, Champaign, Communion, dress, First, Rose, Ruedi, Vasey
Rose Ruedi adjusts the veil of the First Communion dress modeled by her granddaughter Anna Vasey. Anna will become the 15th member of the family to wear the dress when she makes her First Communion on April 16 at St. Matthew Church in Champaign. (The Catholic Post/Jennifer Willems)
CHAMPAIGN — When they bought a First Communion dress for their granddaughter in 1962, Leopold and Rose Salato probably had no idea that it would be used more than once. It became a cherished family heirloom, however, and next weekend will be worn for the 15th time. That honor goes to their great-great-granddaughter, Anna Vasey, […]
Continue reading
By: Jennifer Willems - February 25, 2016 -
News Article
Champaign, jubilee, Salesian, Santa-Bibiana
Father Joseph Santa Bibiana, SDB, hands out keychains with an image of St. John Bosco after a vocations presentation for students from Holy Cross School, Champaign. (The Catholic Post/Jennifer Willems)
CHAMPAIGN — As he left home to enter the Salesian community, Father Joseph Santa-Bibiana told his parents that he was planning to stay unless they sent him home. That was 63 years ago. This year Father Santa is observing the 60th anniversary of his profession as a Salesian and the 50th anniversary of his ordination […]
Continue reading
