On Saturday, June 21 the Springfield in Illinois Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (SDCCW) presented the third annual Our Lady of Good Counsel Women of Distinction Award to 58 women. About 500 people were in the pews as Bishop Thomas John Paprocki celebrated the 10 a.m. Mass, which was followed by a luncheon at Northfield Inn and Conference Center.

ALTON — Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church will celebrate its feast day with Mass on June 29 at 10 a.m. at the Alton Amphitheater along the Mississippi River. The celebration will be filled with music from the church choirs as well as representatives from various organizations including the Boy Scouts and the “God Squad” youth group.

“For two thousand years, faithful adherence to the liturgical norms in all their richness has sustained the faith life of all believers.”

This quote from Pope Benedict XVI establishes the theme of Bishop Thomas John Paprocki’s first pastoral letter to be delivered on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of his ordination as Bishop of Springfield in Illinois. Parishioners will have a copy of the bishop’s letter mailed to their home address prior to his homily at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on June 22, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi and the Feast Day of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher.

Twenty-three central Illinois organizations that benefit people living in poverty have received grants from the Diocesan Campaign for Justice and Hope (DCJH) sponsored by the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. The awards were given out by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki during a luncheon June 2 at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Springfield. Sister Jane Boos, SSND, director of the Office for Social Concerns and Respect for Life, and her staff hosted the luncheon and announced the awards.

As part of the third annual Fortnight for Freedom, L. Martin Nussbaum, First Amendment advocate, will be speaking on Saturday, June 28 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception atrium in Springfield. His talk will be entitled “Constantine, Canossa, Culpeper County, the Council and ‘Contraceptives’ — The Foundations of and Current Assaults on Religious Freedom” and in it he will explain the history of religious liberty and contemporary assaults on it.

On Sunday, May 25, at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2014, the Sacred Heart-Griffin High School community inducted John Eck Jr. into the SHG Hall of Fame for the exemplary ways in which he has integrated the mission of SHG into his life.

VIRDEN — Sacred Heart Parish in Virden is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2014. The opening events for the centennial year will be held on Sunday, June 29. Father David Hoefler, vicar general for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, will celebrate the 10:30 a.m. Mass at the church, located at 722 N. Springfield St. Dinner will follow at noon at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 1320 N. Dye St.

Parishioners, faculty members, parents and students at Christ the King Parish and School have been honoring retiring principal, Jeanine Kolb, by dedicating the school library in her name and by wishing her a fond farewell.

An anonymous donor has initiated an educational endowment fund for Cathedral School in honor of former Cathedral principal Sister Maristella Dunlavy, OP. The donor will match new funds received dollar to dollar up to $50,000, said Father John Nolan, pastor of Cathedral Parish. “We would like to honor Sister by raising $100,000 or more,” he said.

TEUTOPOLIS — Father Robert Spriggs will be the celebrant and homilist for the closing 7:30 p.m. Mass for the 40th annual Day of Prayer for Life on Wednesday, June 18, at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 203 E. Main St., in Teutopolis. This day is dedicated to all lives lost since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade in 1973.

The diocesan Office for Ministry Formation, through the Lay Ministry Program, will offer two specializations beginning in the fall of 2014. The specializations are Clinical Pastoral Care and Liturgical Ministry: Liturgical Leadership Skills.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was crowded with well-wishers on Saturday, May 24 as Bishop Thomas John Paprocki ordained Father Steven Michael Arisman and Father Seth Andrew Brown to the diocesan priesthood.

The third annual Fortnight for Freedom will take place in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and in many other dioceses across the United States from June 21 to July 4. The theme of this year’s Fortnight, a project of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is “Freedom to Serve” and will focus on the freedom to serve the poor and vulnerable in accord with human dignity and the Catholic Church’s teaching.

At the end of each school year, educators and catechists in parish schools and religious education programs in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois are honored for special service anniversaries.

Honorees for 2013-14 have received, or will receive, a certificate. The catechist certificates were signed by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, Jonathan Sullivan, director of the Office for Catechesis and Chris Malmevik, associate director for catechesis. Educator certificates were signed by Bishop Paprocki, Jean Johnson, superintendent for Catholic schools and Sullivan. This year 82 certificates were issued.

“We extend our thanks and congratulations to these dedicated catechists and teachers for their work in the New Evangelization,” said Sullivan. “Through their proclamation of the Gospel they help to build up disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Deacon Melvin Kuhn, a native of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, will be ordained to the priesthood June 6 for the diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D. The ordination will be held at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Sioux Falls, with Bishop Paul J. Swain presiding.

On May 4, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield welcomed 21 new Dominican Associates — women and men who have made a personal commitment to accompany the Dominican Sisters of Springfield on a journey of prayer, study and preaching. More than 300 other Springfield Dominican Associates in the United States and Peru share the Dominican spirit and mission of preaching the Word and witnessing Gospel values.

QUINCY — Dwayne Goodwin, OFS, of St. Joseph Parish, Palmyra, Mo., recently made his permanent profession into the Secular Franciscan Order. The profession celebration took place during the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Francis Solanus Church, on Sunday, May 18. Father Don Blaeser, OFM, pastor of the parish, was the celebrant of the Mass.

WICHITA, Kan. — As the day of ordination as a bishop of the Catholic Church approached, Bishop-elect Carl Alan Kemme, 53, presided at an evening of Solemn Vespers held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita on Wednesday, April 30. Call it divine intervention that the cathedral bears the same name as that of his home cathedral where he was ordained a priest on May 10, 1986.

On Saturday, May 10, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki ordained four third-year diocesan seminarians to the transitional diaconate during 10 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.

On Saturday, May 24, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will ordain two men priests for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois during a 10:30 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Recently, Deacon Steven Arisman and Deacon Seth Brown shared with Catholic Times just how they came to be called to the priesthood and how they look forward to serving in the future.

The third annual Our Lady of Good Counsel: Women of Distinction Award and Luncheon will be held June 21, beginning with Mass at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. The event theme is “Christ Be Our Light” and is hosted by the Springfield in Illinois Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (SDCCW).

Caroline McKenna, a senior at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, will present her Silver Cross Recital in Voice on Friday, May 23 at 7 p.m. The recital will take place in SHG’s Dominican Hall, 1200 W. Washington St., in Springfield.

Like many young people, three students from Benedictine University at Springfield spent their spring break this year in a warm climate. However, Sean McConnell, Linh Le and Zack Mapes didn’t head down to Florida to have fun; instead they went on a mission trip to the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic with Fundacion Mariana San Isidro Labrador (FUMSIL).

Just days before he left Springfield to lead the Diocese of Wichita, then-Bishop-elect Carl Kemme said his final goodbye to about 500 well-wishers — family members, fellow priests, former parishioners and co-workers — who attended April 21 Evening Prayer and a farewell reception at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

On Saturday, May 10, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will ordain four men to the transitional diaconate during a 10 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. Samuel Bagyo Jr., Adam Prichard, Martin Smith and Jason Stone are all completing their third year of theology at Mundelein Seminary.

Reporter Cathy Locher retires after 20 years

Veteran journalist Scott Mulford has been appointed by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki to be editor of Catholic Times, the official publication of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, effective July 1. Mulford succeeds Kathie Sass who will retire as editor in addition to her position as director of the diocesan Office for Communication.

Priests in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois will gather with Bishop Thomas John Paprocki for their annual Priest Celebration on Tuesday, May 13 at Villa Maria Catholic Life Conference and Retreat Center on Lake Springfield.

The Easter Vigil is the premier time each year for the making of Catholic adults through the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation. The following persons have been or soon will be, welcomed into the Catholic Church, in addition to those listed in the April 20 issue of Catholic Times.

ALTON — A new leadership team for Ursuline Sisters of the Central Province was installed April 1 in the Alton Convent Chapel. Provincial is Sister Rita Ann Bregenhorn, and counselors are Sisters Ann Barrett, Mary Ann Dooling, Jean Hopman and  Julie Hickey. The appointments were made by Mother Cecilia Wang, general prioress of the Ursulines of the Roman Union, after consultation with the sisters in the Central Province The new team will serve a three-year term.