CHARLESTON — Hedwig Haus of Hospitality, a Catholic Worker House, will soon open at 227 Jackson Ave. in Charleston. The two-story brick residence, which has five bedrooms and three bathrooms, will provide women and children in need with a place to live. Three young people will eventually also live there to provide guests hospitality. Steve Joebgen, an EIU graduate, is living at the house, during the renovation work, and taking an active part in getting it ready for guests.

Sunday, Oct. 16, is to be celebrated "as a Day of Thanksgiving to God in all parishes, churches, shrines and chapels within the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois for the life, teaching and ministry of Blessed John Paul II." This is according to a decree by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki sent to parishes and religious institutions in the diocese during the first week of September.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will celebrate the annual diocesan Respect Life Mass at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 at Holy Family Church in Granite City. After Mass he will lead a rosary walk to Hope Clinic for Women, to hold a prayer vigil outside the place where medical and surgical abortions are performed.

When the new English translation of the Roman Missal is officially implemented on the First Sunday of Advent (Nov. 26-27), Catholics in the Springfield diocese will have to re-learn some of the familiar responses of the Mass.

I am Father Prince Adelaayitar from Ghana. Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast, gained independence in 1957 from Britain. It is located in West Africa, bordered on the east by Togo, the west by Cote d'Ivoire, the north by Burkina Faso and the south by the Gulf of Guinea.

EFFINGHAM — The Effingham Knights of Columbus will host a religious vocation support Mass and banquet on Sunday, Oct. 9. The event begins with a Mass at 3:30 p.m. presided over by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki at Sacred Heart Church, Effingham, and a sit-down meal at the Effingham Knights of Columbus building followed by a program featuring Bishop Paprocki.

QUINCY — In recognition of the upcoming 100-year anniversary of St. Rose of Lima Church in Quincy, the Latin Mass Community that worships there is holding fund-raisers to restore and clean the building's magnificent stained glass windows.

A group of farmers in Cass County are reaching out to help farmers in Sierra Leone, Africa. The Cass County Cluster is participating in a Foods Resource Bank growing project. They have donated land and the profits they make from growing crops on that land will go to their Sierra Leone project.

For the third year in a row, the Office of Diocesan Archives will be presenting a tour of Springfield's Calvary Cemetery called Walk with your Ancestors on Sunday, Oct. 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. The walk features six stops where volunteers dressed in period costumes or religious dress will give an account of the life of the person buried there.

TEUTOPOLIS — During October, people in Teutopolis will celebrate 150 years of presence, service and ministry of School Sisters of Notre Dame in their community. All SSNDs who have entered the convent from Teutopolis and Effingham or have served in their schools and parishes will be remembered.

The 40-year history Catholic Charities in Illinois has of partnering with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to provide foster care and adoption services for the state's abused and neglected children is in jeopardy of abruptly ending.

The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois has 20 seminarians studying for the priesthood. This is up nine men from last year, and is almost three times as many seminarians as the diocese had in 1999.

Priests of the Springfield diocese will gather at the Northfield Center in Springfield Sept. 19-22 for their annual convocation. Each year priests of the diocese meet with the bishop to continue their ongoing formation.

When the new Roman Missal, Third Edition is introduced on the first weekend of Advent, Catholics all over will likely be singing a number of new songs. That's because, in addition to the wording of several spoken responses in the new translation of the missal, a number of familiar Mass songs will be changing.

EFFINGHAM — Women from throughout the diocese are invited to register and attend the 2011 Diocesan Council of Catholic Women's Convention, which will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at the Thelma Keller Convention Center, 1202 N. Keller Drive in Effingham.

St. Louis — Sister Mary Timothy Ryan, SSND, died Aug. 17 at Anna House at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton, Mo. She was 97 years old.

Although September is traditionally the time that children across the diocese begin taking Parish School of Religion (PSR) classes, several parishes host group gatherings or religious education classes for people with developmental disabilities. These classes, which are generally open to multiple parishes in an area, give individuals with special needs time to gather for prayer, music, crafts and fellowship.

A small group from Springfield attended the Feast of the Assumption ceremony at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, in northeastern Wisconsin. Approved last December by the Catholic Church as a shrine worthy of belief, it is the first Marian shrine in the United States on the site of an approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Nearly 100 young people and their adult leaders from the Springfield diocese; Bishop Thomas John Paprocki; Fathers Brian Alford, Chris Brey and Daren Zehnle, and Nnamdi Moneme, OMV, and seminarians Steve Arisman and Hyland Smith were part of the 1.5 million pilgrims from around the world who participated in World Youth Day 2011 in Spain.

The Office for Catechesis of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, in conjunction with local parishes, will again offer faith formation courses for adults. These courses, which are open to everyone, are designed to help Catholics grow in their faith, respond to questions about the church, and make faith-filled decisions in their lives.

An ecumenical service to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will be held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 2:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

A Sangamon County judge ruled Aug. 18 the state does not have to renew contracts to provide foster care and adoption services with Catholic Charities in four Illinois dioceses — Springfield, Peoria, Joliet and Belleville. The 40-year history Catholic Charities has of providing these services does not entitle them to an automatic renewal of their contracts, Circuit Court Judge John Schmidt wrote in his ruling, released one day after he heard oral arguments in a packed Springfield courtroom.

Catholic schools throughout the diocese are making plans to help their students not only learn liturgical changes which will be made as a result of the implementation of the new Roman Missal, but also to understand the reasoning behind these changes.

CHATHAM — As part of their faith formation, 15 soon-to-be ninth-graders from St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Chatham attended a freshman retreat on Aug. 5, says Amy McKenzie, the new parish faith formation coordinator for grades 7-12.

BISHOP CREEK — She may be heading off to her junior year of college at Illinois State University, but St. Isidore the Farmer parishioner Lindsey Probst can return to school knowing that she has made good use of her summer break. Probst not only attended Catholic HEART Workcamp (CHWC) in June, but she is also in the midst of holding a rosary drive for underprivileged individuals in Baguio City in the Philippines as well as clients of Catholic Charities in Chicago.

At age 11, Lily Camp is doing her part to help a young girl and her family, who live half a world away, to have a better life. She is making and selling "pew babies" to raise money to purchase fishnets for a fisherman in the Philippines.

With the 2011-2012 school year just about to get under way, principals and teachers all over the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois are ready to share their knowledge with the thousands of young people who attend Catholic schools, says Marilyn Missel, associate superintendent of Catholic schools.

The Springfield Noon Lions Club recently donated just over $4,000 to apply toward the purchase of a field vision machine for St. Clare's Health Clinic in Springfield.

This year's topic for the annual regional workshops for teachers and catechists will be on "The Parish, the School, and the Roman Missal, Third Typical Edition." In addition, though the regionals are traditionally geared for school faculty and catechists, this year they will be expanded for other interested people such as parish staff, liturgical ministers, musicians, choir members, liturgy committee members, adult formation ministers and others. The regional workshops are co-sponsored by the diocesan Office for Catechesis and the Office for Worship and the Catechumenate.