Over the first weekend of Lent, 312 people from 61 parishes and two university campuses attended the Rite of Election of Catechumens and of the Call to Continuing Conversion of Baptized Catholics. They came to the see city in spite of nearly a foot of snow that fell early in the day on Saturday and the bitter cold temperatures on Sunday — and they were accompanied by the priests, deacons, sponsors, godparents, families and friends who traveled with them.

Highland — Vocations are indeed alive and well in Highland and the Springfield diocese.

The Highland Knights of Columbus are very active as they continue their quest to support activities such as Respect For Life, the Newman Fund, and vocations of seminarians, sisters, those seeking vocation of religious life and priests.

On Tuesday, March 10, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki and the St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild of Springfield invite people to the Red Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.

With an eye toward the eighth World Meeting of Families (WMOF) later this year, the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois has launched a new adult enrichment series during Lent in support of the family.

SHIPMAN — Religious items and furnishings from the Ursuline convent and chapel in Alton will be auctioned at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, at Harman Auction Service and Storage in Shipman.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki has announced that a questionnaire available at the diocese's website will be part of the 2015 Ordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome next October. The theme of the assembly is "The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World."

The Holy Spirit has chosen to lead our diocese in a direction that will greatly impact our local Catholic Church. It is all about "discipleship," the personal call inviting each of us to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who calls us to be his modern day disciples. For those who embrace this call it becomes a "total way of life."

The Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (SDCCW) is offering Diocesan Leadership Scholarships that recognize outstanding Catholic female high school seniors. Four $500 scholarships will be awarded this year. According to scholarship chair Mary Ann Scopel, applicants will be judged on how they exemplify DCCW's mission values of leadership, faith and service.

Sister Marcelline Koch, OP, speaks about advocacy, what she found among displaced Christians, minorities

A delegation of three U.S. Dominican Sisters recently returned from a 10-day journey to Iraq that was meant to be a show of solidarity with their Iraqi Dominican counterparts. Not surprisingly, they came home with the determination to advocate — to speak out for displaced Christians and minorities in that country and also for refugees who are in Jordan and Syria.

For the fifth year in a row, Springfield Right to Life is sponsoring a local 40 Days for Life prayer vigil in the see city. This year the vigil began on Ash Wednesday and will conclude on Palm Sunday, March 29. The peaceful vigil is being conducted from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week during the 40 days, on the sidewalk in front Planned Parenthood at 1000 East Washington St.

Bishop-elect Fernand Cheri, OFM, will be ordained Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans on March 23.

The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois was extremely well-represented at the Jan. 22 March for Life in Washington, D.C., said Becky Bauerle, youth minister for Mother of Perpetual Help Parish in Maryville.

The season of Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, and ends just prior to the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, April 2, when the Paschal Triduum begins. Lent is the principal penitential season in the church year.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will once again be fending off fast flying pucks for the benefit of the Catholic Charities Legal Services (CCLS) program. The annual fundraiser, "Hockey with Paprocki" is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. at the Nelson Center in Springfield's Lincoln Park.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will celebrate a farewell Mass Feb. 15 honoring Bishop-elect Fernand "Ferd" Cheri, OFM, recently named an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Award-winning broadcaster Drew Mariani, host of the Drew Mariani Show, heard weekdays on Relevant Radio, will be the keynote speaker at WDCR 88.9 Decatur Catholic Radio's fourth Annual Dinner, Feb. 10 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Decatur Conference Center, 4191 U.S. 36 West, Decatur.

Fasting from meat on Fridays during Lent helps us "acquire a mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2043). Fasting is meant to free us. It helps us feel our physical hunger, and in turn, our spiritual hunger for the infinite love found only in God.

Sixth-graders from Springfield Catholic grade schools, a few Sacred Heart-Griffin High School students and a number of school leaders were on hand Jan. 20 at St. Agnes School to take part in a gathering to celebrate National School Choice Week, which happened this year Jan. 25-31.

Pope Francis has named Franciscan Father Fernand "Ferd" Cheri III, a New Orleans native and director of campus ministry at Quincy University (QU), as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The appointment was announced Jan. 12 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Once their participation was confirmed, the news traveled at the speed of the Internet back to central Illinois. Seven seminarians from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois would join two others (from dioceses in Evansville, Ind. and Cincinnati) to serve Christmas Eve Mass celebrated by His Holiness Pope Francis.

Though countless Catholics are familiar with these words from Matthew, two men from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois have taken it to heart. They were among the seven people from throughout the state who were recently honored for completing an intensive 15-month prison ministry leadership program that was co-sponsored by the Catholic Conference of Illinois and Lewis University in Romeoville.

DIETERICH — St. Isidore Parish hosted a Christmas Walk in early December with the proceeds going to Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis. The homes of Steve and Jodi Mammoser, Frank and Janet Niemerg, Matt and Leslie Jansen, and Don and Joan Brumleve were opened to visitors.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki was recently profiled as a Legal Icon in Attorney at Law Magazine.

On Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. the steeple bell rang a half-hour before Mass of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception at the church in Brussels that carries her name. The pews were filling, and filling fast. Parishioners began standing along the side aisles only to be escorted by ushers to already crowded pews. [Editor's note: Nobody said, but ushers may have reminded themselves to keep the aisles clear; a necessity in case of an emergency, such as a fire. SM]

As the year 2014 comes quickly to a close, Catholic Times invites you to take a look back at just some of the highlights of events that happened in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

SPRINGFIELD — Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield has 38 seniors recognized as 2015-2016 Illinois State Scholars.

QUINCY — What started as an ambitious goal has become a reality for Quincy Catholic Elementary Schools. (QCES). It embarked on a three-year campaign to raise more than $400,000 to fund the implementation of the QCES 1:1 Teaching and Learning Initiative. Phase one of the initiative has been accomplished with providing an iPad device to every eighth grade student at Blessed Sacrament, St. Dominic, St. Francis and St. Peter schools this school year.

Most parents look forward to celebrating their baby's first birthday, complete with photos, gifts and funny hats. However when your child has overcome several life-threatening conditions, that celebration becomes even more important; just ask Michele Levandoski and her husband Charlie McVay, who recently sang Happy Birthday to their baby, Theo.