EFFINGHAM — St. Anthony High School students recently had the opportunity to learn more about "the beautiful traditions in our faith," Father Brian Alford, the high school's chaplain, told Catholic Times.

Illinois citizens from throughout the state turned out in good numbers for a rally Feb. 20 at the Illinois State Capitol in support of retaining the state law definition of marriage as "between a man and a woman." The crowd size was estimated to be at least 3,000 by law enforcement and members of the media accustomed to covering demonstrations at the capitol.

MERCY Communities, Inc. is moving into the large classroom wing of St. Joseph School in Springfield that runs parallel to North Fifth Street. The parish school, which opened in 1885 and was a dominant presence on the city's north end for generations, closed at the end of the 2012 school year.

Nine friends and colleagues from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois joined Father Delix Michel last month on a visit to his home Diocese of Les Gonaives, Haiti, to celebrate his silver jubilee of ordination.

QUINCY — Nearly 1,500 kindergarten through high school senior Catholic school students, teachers, principals and others came together Jan. 28 in the Quincy Notre Dame High School gymnasium for Mass celebrating the start of Catholic Schools Week.

Over 350 youth and adults from the Springfield diocese participated in the March for Life in Washington D.C., marking the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that legalized abortion on demand in the United States.

Just as Catholic Times prepares to go to press, caravans of buses with over 340 young people and adults from the Springfield diocese are preparing to set out for Washington, D.C., to participate in the March for Life, on Friday, Jan. 26.

When Judith Ross passed away in September 2011, after a five-year struggle with cancer, her husband, Dr. S. David Ross, a Springfield internist, wanted to do something in honor of his wife.

DECATUR — Over 500 people attended an open house Nov. 17 at St. Mary's Hospital to tour the new Prairie Heart Institute facility and the hospital's new cardiovascular diagnostic services department.

Crowds challenged to new evangelization at 2012 DAEC

DECATUR — Over 1,000 people from throughout the diocese attended the recent two-day Diocesan Adult Enrichment Conference held at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel. Some 47 organizations, ministries, religious and school supplies stores and other businesses staffed booths in the exhibit area. The biannual conference is coordinated by the diocesan Office for Catechetical Ministries.