Bishop Thomas John Paprocki ended a nearly week-long stay in Decatur Sept. 23 with the Decatur Deanery Mass at 7 p.m. at Holy Family Church. “I spent most of the week in Decatur at the Convocation of Priests prior to the Deanery Mass of Welcome, so I got a good introduction to the area,” Bishop Paprocki later told Catholic Times. “I celebrated Masses at Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Patrick and Holy Family churches. I also got in my marathon training by running the Rock Springs-Fairview Trail, which was very scenic.”

Father David Zimmerman, dean of the Decatur Deanery, gave the opening welcome to Bishop Paprocki, with Decatur Knights of Columbus there as honor guard for the bishop. The Holy Family choir and musicians, under music minister Thomas Cantrell, led the singing at Mass.

“This is the first time priests in the Decatur Deanery have all been together,” said Father Joseph Molloy pastor of Holy Family, at the close of Mass when he invited everyone over to the school gymnasium for a reception.

Four days later Bishop Paprocki was in Quincy Sept. 27 to celebrate his sixth deanery Mass at St. Peter Church. Musicians and choir members from multiple parishes joined the St. Peter choir to lead the singing, and lectors and servers from other parishes also helped at the Mass.

One of the gifts presented to Bishop Paprocki was an original painting of Jesus as the Good Shepherd from artist Jennifer NolinWinkler. Her artwork appears on Special Olympics calendars.

“She had fun with the crosier she drew for Jesus in the painting she made for the bishop,” said Father Donald Blickhan. A closer look at the painting, displayed on an easel at the front of church reveals “It looks like a hockey stick!”

Back in Springfield Sept. 28, preparing for the last deanery Mass of Welcome that night in Chatham (Springfield deanery) Bishop Paprocki said, “I was really impressed with the devotion of the faithful, the quality of the music and the number of young people at the Quincy Deanery Mass of Welcome. I also appreciated touring the Quincy University campus earlier in the afternoon. It is good to see the strength of the Catholic community in Quincy.”

That evening, Bishop Paprocki celebrated his last Mass of Welcome at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Chatham. The bishop was greeted by Msgr. Thomas Holinga, dean of the Springfield deanery and pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Springfield, who “welcomed him home” and presented him with some books on the history of Lincoln and the Springfield area.

In Chatham, a choir made up of the members of the St. Joseph choir and others from around the diocese was led by John Kennedy, long-time liturgical music coordinator for St. Joseph Parish.

Following Mass, Father John Nolan, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker, welcomed visitors to the parish and invited them to a reception in the church’s gathering center. There Bishop Paprocki greeted people from the Springfield deanery, accepted their promises for prayers and posed for photos.