Over 600 students, chaperones, teachers, principals and PSR leaders from throughout the diocese joined missionaries Oct. 4 to fill the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield for Bishop Thomas John Paprocki’s first Mission Mass celebration in the diocese. School awards and Parish School of Religion awards for highest per capita donations to the Holy Childhood Association are presented at the annual Mass, organized by the Office for the Missions.

St. James PSR, Riverton, received the top PSR award. Other PSR awards went to: St. Peter, Petersburg, second; Holy Family, Litchfield, third; Mother of Perpetual Help, Maryville, fourth, and Mother of Dolors, Vandalia, fifth.

Cathedral School, Springfield, received the top school award. Other school awards went to: St. Boniface, Edwardsville, second; St. Mary, Brussels, third; St. Mary, Taylorville, fourth, and St. John Neumann, Maryville, fifth.

Four priests concelebrating Mass were: Msgr. Carl Kemme, vicar general; and Fathers Peter Harman, Daniel Willenborg and Daren Zehnle. Deacons were James Ghiglione and Denny Baker. Father Christopher House was master of ceremonies.

Holding his crosier, Bishop Paprocki walked to the front of the sanctuary to deliver his homily, asking the young people if they knew “What makes the Cathedral ‘the cathedral’?” Stepping back, and turning to his right, he pointed out the cathedra, his chair, explaining its significance. He then held up his crosier, “a symbol of my role as a shepherd,” and went on to direct peoples’ attention to stained glass windows in the cathedral, first on his left side, then on his right. “The windows tell a story. Your own churches perhaps have windows that tell a story. They communicate the story of our faith.”

Missionaries are depicted in a number of the stained glass windows at the Cathedral, the bishop said. Pointing to the first window on his left, he said, “Apostles Peter and Paul did not stay in Jerusalem. They went out as missionaries. The church is missionary … to proclaim and to tell the whole world.” 

He pointed out St. Ignatius of Antioch  (depicted with lions in the Coliseum) on one of the north windows. “In those years it was illegal to be a Christian … you were fed to the lions,” he said.

Turning to the windows on his right side, “St. Brendan came from Ireland and preached the Gospel here in America.” He pointed out the next window that depicts Columbus landing in the New World, and the third window depicting Father Jacques Marquette.

“Part of their Christian responsibilities was to help others,” the bishop said.