MARYVILLE — Father McGivney Catholic High School (FMCHS), a new Catholic high school in the Springfield diocese, opened Aug. 16, at 143 Wilma Dr. in Maryville. Initially housed in a renovated wing of St. John Neumann School, the school opened with 19 freshmen students.

It is a tradition in the Springfield diocese that before departing for their respective seminaries in the fall, the diocese's seminarians and their parents are invited to join Bishop Thomas John Paprocki for Mass and dinner in Springfield. But a power outage at the Villa Maria Catholic Life Conference and Retreat Center at Lake Springfield on Aug. 13 — just hours before the scheduled event — forced vocation director Father Christopher House to take quick action.

MT. STERLING — Father Thomas Henseler knew he was going to be busy the last few weeks before his retirement on July 1 as parochial administrator of Holy Family Parish, in Mt. Sterling, where he has served since 1993, and as parochial administrator of St. Thomas Parish, Camp Point, where he has served since 2007.

Totus Tuus, the week-long Catholic youth summer camp program first offered in the Springfield diocese in 2009 at 11 parishes, expanded to 18 parishes this summer.

The Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women recognized 66 members with its first Our Lady of Good Counsel Women of Distinction awards on June 9 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. Awards were presented after Mass celebrated by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki. Msgr. John Ossola, CCW spiritual advisor, and 16 priests were concelebrants, with other priests arriving in time for the awards presentation. 

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki celebrated the final all-school Mass for St. Joseph School students in Springfield on May 30. The parish opened the school in 1875 to teach English-speaking Irish Catholics living on Springfield’s north end. 

Nearly 400 people traveled to Springfield's Calvary Cemetery on Memorial Day to attend an outdoor Mass celebrated by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki in honor of the men and women in the military who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will ordain transitional Deacons Albert Allen, Zachary Edgar and Scott Snider to the priesthood on Saturday, May 26, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. The liturgy will begin at 10:30 a.m.

Seminarians David Curtin and Hyland Smith will be ordained transitional deacons by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, April 28, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. Curtin is from Cathedral Parish and Smith is from St. Michael Parish in Greenfield.

RAYMOND — Two days of on-going formation for priests in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois focused on the explosion of pornography, including child pornography, which has happened within the last decade as Internet technology and social media technology has proliferated.