Bishop Thomas John Paprocki celebrated Mass for the newly elected Pope Francis, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, at 12:05 p.m., on Thursday, March 14. Some 250 people attended the service, including students from Cathedral School.

Sister M. Maximilia Um, FSGM, and Carlos Tejeda, both members of the curia at the Catholic Pastoral Center, will be offering a workshop entitled, "Called to Love" beginning on Sunday, April 7, and continuing for the next three consecutive Sundays.

COLLINSVILLE — The women of Ss. Peter and Paul Church in Collinsville are holding the eighth-annual Women's Day entitled "Mary, 'Health of the Sick' Pray for Us" for women and teenage girls at least 16 years old. The April 13 event runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and costs $25.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, sometimes referred to in the Catholic press as the "Holy Goalie," has collaborated with his brother Joe Paprocki to pen a book on how faith and fitness can be intertwined.

In Holy Goals for Body & Soul — 8 Steps to Connect Sports with God and Faith (Ave Maria Press) Bishop Paprocki writes about the connection between athletics and God that he's developed throughout his life. He began that faith journey, he notes, as a young boy growing up in a family of nine, which included two girls and seven boys.

The Office for Information Technology and the Office for Catechesis is sponsoring a video contest to go along with the release of Bishop Thomas John Paprocki's new book Holy Goals for Body and Soul. They are asking that contestants make a video about how lessons from sports have affected their lives.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois has recently launched an agency-wide Facebook page in an effort to connect more efficiently with its communities, volunteers, donors and most importantly, people needing assistance. The agency hopes that the popular social media website will help in its effort to better serve the people in its 28-county service area.

ROBINSON — Proceeds from a Mardi Gras silent auction held by St. Elizabeth Parish, Robinson, and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Oblong, were given to the First United Methodist Church in Robinson, which was severely damaged in a fire on Christmas night. A check for $9,160 was presented to the Rev. Tiffany Black, pastor of First United Methodist, during a fellowship dinner for members of the three churches on Feb. 20.

QUINCY — Shirley Marie Kuse of Quincy, mother of Msgr. Michael Kuse of the Springfield diocese, of Quincy died Feb. 23. She was 94.

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.

The Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) is sponsoring Life Advocacy Days during the 2013 spring legislative session beginning the week of March 11-15 and continuing through the week of April 15-19. The campaign is a sustained effort focused on daily prayer in support of four advocacy days, held on four upcoming Wednesdays at the State Capitol in Springfield.

The second annual Our Lady of Good Counsel: Women of Distinction award ceremony and luncheon will be held June 8, beginning with Mass at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Springfield. The event is sponsored by the Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (SDCCW). The theme will be "Our Journey of Faith."

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.

QUINCY — The Quincy Catholic Elementary Schools Foundation has announced the establishment of the Newcomer's Scholarship, a partially need-based, non-renewable, full-tuition scholarship that will be awarded to one student, who will be enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade for the 2013-2014 school year. At the request of the anonymous donor who made the scholarship possible, recipients may be either Catholic or non-Catholic, but the recipient's family must not currently have any children enrolled in one of Quincy's four Catholic elementary schools: Blessed Sacrament, St. Dominic, St. Francis and St. Peter.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki presided at two liturgies the first weekend of Lent, welcoming catechumens (the unbaptized), Christian candidates for full communion and Catholic candidates for confirmation and Eucharist to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.

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.

The Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW), an affiliate of the National Council of Catholic Women, is again offering Diocesan Leadership Scholarships that recognize outstanding Catholic female high school seniors. Four $500 scholarships will be awarded this year. Applicants will be judged on how they exemplify DCCW's mission values of leadership, faith, and service.

ST. MEINRAD, Ind. — Braden Maher, a seminarian for the Springfield diocese, was among 22 students at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology to be received into the ministry of lector on Feb. 7 in the seminary's St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel. Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis, presided at the installation.

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.

CHATHAM — For the eighth year in a row, youth at St. Joseph the Worker Parish will give a Lenten presentation of the Living Stations of the Cross. This year the junior high and high school PSR students will act out the Stations on Friday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the church, which is located at 700 East Spruce Street in Chatham.

Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield has announced that Maria Mosley, daughter of Robert and Katherine Mosley, has been named as a National Merit finalist in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program. Samuel Mounce, son of Daniel and Diane Mounce, has been named as a semifinalist.

Next month, runners representing the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois will be taking part in the A-Cross the Country Relay with the LIFE Runners pro-life group. The relay began on Ash Wednesday and continues until Palm Sunday, March 24. It is being held during Lent to coincide with the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils.

Applications are now available for grants through the Diocesan Campaign for Justice and Hope (DCJH) sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Applications must be completed and returned to the diocesan Office for Social Concerns and Respect for Life by March 15. Grants will be awarded in June.

The season of Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 13, and ends just prior to the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, March 28, when the Paschal Triduum begins. Lent is the principal penitential season in the church year.

If you have been at a diocesan-wide Mass or some other important religious celebration, you may have wondered about men dressed in white capes and black berets and women wearing black capes and veils who process together just before the bishop. They are members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an ancient order that dates back to the First Crusade.

Registration is now open for the fourth annual Spirituality in Health Care Conference set for Wednesday, April 3, at Chiara Center on the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis Motherhouse campus in Springfield.

VANDALIA — On March 18, Our Sorrowful Mother's Ministry (OSMM) in Vandalia will host a visit of a relic of St. Mary Magdalene, which is on a one-month tour of Illinois. A portion of the tibia, or shinbone, of the saint enclosed in a glass reliquary will be welcomed at a 10 a.m. candlelight procession and Mass at the OSMM Sanctuary, 318 N. Eighth St.

Each year, through CRS Rice Bowl, you are invited to sample food from the featured countries with your family and friends by preparing a simple, meatless recipe shared with us by the people we serve overseas. Enjoy the recipes below, and see the Lenten calendar on pages 10 and 11 for more about the work CRS does in the featured countries.

The Office for the Missions of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois has gained some positive recognition through well-known national outlets, says Vicki Compton, director of the Missions.

The Springfield area Young Adult Mass (YAM), will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Sunday, Feb. 10. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will be the celebrant for the 8 p.m. service in St. Viator Chapel, located in the Catholic Pastoral Center, 1615 W. Washington St. in Springfield.