"An Affair of the Art," a charity auction benefiting youth programs and services at the Catholic Children's Home in Alton, will be held Saturday, March 7, in the Commons on the campus of Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey. The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a candlelight buffet, complimentary champagne, silent and oral auction, music and a cash bar. Tickets are $65 per person and casual evening attire is suggested.  

Brunette-Larry.jpgThe Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) will hold its annual Lenten retreat on Wednesday, April 1, and Thursday, April 2, at the Villa Maria-Catholic Life Conference and Center on Lake Springfield. All women of the diocese are invited.

Lent 2009 marks the 34th year that Catholics have been asked to fill cardboard containers with money donated to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Operation Rice Bowl. It was in 1975 that CRS' program was born in response to a drought in the Sahel region of Africa.

St. John Vianney Knights of Columbus Council 14024 will hold its first fish fry on Friday, Feb. 27, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the St. John Vianney Activity Center. The council, which just started in April of 2006, held a trial run to test its fish fry batter at a Super Bowl party earlier this month. Deacon David Sorrell at St. John Vianney described the fish as "delicious."

The Springfield Chapter of the Knights of Columbus will be holding a quarterly chapter meeting on Sunday, Feb. 22, at the Knights of Columbus 1143 Council Hall, 7132 Marine Road in Edwardsville.

p3-or-dl-walk-for-life.jpgWhile much of the attention is focused on the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., a growing number of people have been participating in the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco, including Springfield resident Bob Sherman.

This year, for the first time, parishes in the Springfield diocese will be offering the summer youth catechetical program Totus Tuus.

Totus Tuus is a weeklong parish-based program for young people who are entering grades 1-12. Its name comes from the Latin for "Totally Yours" and was the motto of Pope John Paul II, said Kyle Holtgrave, associate director for Youth and Young Adult Ministry in the Springfield diocese.

yp-or-dl-qu-logo.jpgQuincy University senior Tara Austin has been named winner of QU's student competition to design a logo for the Franciscan university's 150th anniversary celebration. Austin, a graphic design major from Fenton, Mo., was awarded a $500 scholarship at a ceremony held Feb. 5 in the Gray Gallery in Brenner Library.

Bishop George J. Lucas recently received a letter from Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services thanking the diocese for a contribution of $34,911 for Haiti.

p1-lincoln.jpg Students and staff at Quincy Notre Dame High School will be cutting a cake in honor of Abraham Lincoln on the eve of the 16th president's 200th birthday, said QND librarian Barbara Lieber. However, she said visitors will find a lot more to experience at the high school's "Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln" celebration.  The event is open to the public and scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at the school at 1400 S. 11th St.

"One Night, One Voice" an advocacy night to end violence against women in Darfur will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the Catholic Pastoral Center, 1615 W. Washington St. in Springfield.

richard-simmons.jpgPrairie Heart Institute at St. John's Hospital in Springfield is bringing fitness guru Richard Simmons back to Springfield to lead an exercise class at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Dirksen Parkway in Springfield, on Saturday, Feb. 21.

This year's American Heart Month program held at the Crowne Plaza will accommodate 1,000 in the class, with three ballrooms opened up to one huge space.

daec-parish-nurse-2.jpgAlthough parish nurses have been serving in the Springfield diocese since the 1980s, their ministry has not had a formal identity on the diocesan level. That is about to change.

Last fall four parish nurses met with Bishop George J. Lucas to describe what parish nursing involves and the spiritual aspects in what they do. They gave him a list of proposed standards for Catholic parish nurses, and asked if there might be an office in the curia designated to assist them in their ministry.

blaeser-donald-ofm-bw.jpgSt. Mary Church, 1802 Madison Ave. in Edwardsville, will host a parish mission preached by Franciscan priests beginning Sunday, Feb. 15 and continuing through Wednesday, Feb. 18. The preaching will take place from 7 to 8 p.m. each evening, followed by informal socializing with refreshments. Child care will be provided.

Pax Christi Springfield will sponsor the screening of Don't Call Me a Saint at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Lincoln Library, 325 S. Seventh St. in Springfield.

The Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) is offering a $1,000 scholarship to a young Catholic woman in her senior year of high school who will be pursuing higher education.

p1-third-graders-csw.jpgThird-grade students and their teachers from all the Catholic grade schools in Springfield joined forces Jan. 23 to perform service projects and kick off Catholic Schools Week. The 225 students represented Blessed Sacrament, Cathedral, Christ the King, Little Flower, St. Aloysius, St. Agnes, St. Joseph and St. Patrick.

p3-life.jpgOver 316 people from the Springfield diocese participated in the March for Life Jan. 23 in Washington, D.C. Three buses and a minivan transported 171 people from Jerseyville, Maryville, Collinsville, Nokomis, Vandalia and Effingham. Father Daren Zehnle, parochial vicar at St. Anthony of Padua in Effingham, and seminarians Zach Edgar from Mother of Dolors in Vandalia and Brian Alford from Mother of Perpetual Help in Maryville traveled with the group organized by Becky Bauerle, youth minister at Mother of Dolors, Vandalia, and Mother of Perpetual Help, Maryville. Father Chris Comerford, pastor at St. Louis in Nokomis, joined them in Washington.

p3-yam.jpg Bishop George J. Lucas will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Young Adult Mass at Springfield College in Illinois/Benedictine University with Mass at 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8 in St. Ursula Chapel in Beata Hall. The group was organized early last year and Bishop Lucas celebrated the first Mass on Feb. 10, 2008, said Steve Klemm, one of the core leaders of the Young Adult Mass and also a leader of a Why Catholic? group made up of the Young Adult Mass participants.

A seminar on "Prayer and the Quest for Healing" will be held from 7-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, and continue from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Chiara Center in Springfield. Organizers say the seminar "will explore the experience of prayer in all its power and intimacy as well as the depth of relationship between prayer, personal healing, and cosmic redemption. The experience will be a compassionate, clarion call to recognize the responsibility each person has to act upon our potential for healing the universe."

Madison County Catholic Charities is sponsoring "A Gift from the Heart," the 9th annual MedAssist fund-raiser, from 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Granite City Knights of Columbus Hall, 4225 Old Alton Road.

On Wednesday, March 4 the Catholic Conference of Illinois, in association with the bishops of Illinois, is hosting a day for community called Catholics at the Capitol at the Capitol Building in Springfield.

This one-day event is an opportunity for Cardinal Francis E. George, bishops, clergy and the laity to meet with their elected officials in order to "enhance the inclusion of our Gospel values in the public square," said Robert Gilligan, executive director of CCI. Pastors in Illinois have been asked to attend or to appoint a representative to go in their place.

dl-chalice.jpg A chalice has been donated for the chapel of the planned Father McGivney Catholic High School by the family of a deceased member, Grand Knight and 4th Degree member of the Highland Council Knights of Columbus.

dl-mens-breakfast-molina.jpgSs. Peter and Paul Parish will sponsor a Catholic Men's Breakfast March 14, with a focus on Catholic men's spirituality and the vital role played by fathers in providing direction for the family's practice of the faith.

A display from the Vatican International Exhibition of the Eucharistic Miracles of the World, which recently was featured on EWTN, will be on exhibit at Our Lady of Lourdes Church from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Feb. 4 to 15. Father Thomas Sullivan, CPM, from the Fathers of Mercy in Auburn, Ky., will preach on the "Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist" at all weekend liturgies at OLOL on Feb. 7 and 8.

Q. What is your favorite prayer?

shawl-ministry.jpg No matter if temperatures are hovering below freezing, or weather forecasters are using the heat index, a group of 14 women from Holy Family Parish are doing their part year 'round to spread the warmth of God's love to others.

The Springfield diocese will be well represented at the Jan. 22 March for Life in Washington, D.C., says Kyle Holtgrave, associate director for Youth and Young Adult Ministry.

Sign-up will begin soon in parishes for the second half of year one of Why Catholic? Journey Through the Catechism, an adult faith formation program launched last fall in the diocese. Participants will meet in small groups once each week for six weeks during Lent, as did groups in the first six-week session in the fall.