The annual chrism Mass for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois will be held at 6:30 p.m. on the Monday of Holy Week, March 29, in the newly restored Cathedral Church of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.

Twenty-two organizations in central Illinois have been awarded grants from Catholic Relief Services Operation Rice Bowl and the Office for the Missions of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. The grants were awarded to assist in providing food for the hungry in various parts of the diocese.

Brian Alford, a seminarian and third-year theology student at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, will be ordained to the transitional diaconate at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 10 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Archbishop George Lucas of the Archdiocese of Omaha, will be returning to Springfield to preside at the ordination.

Brother James Court is celebrating two special anniversaries this year — and the Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross have chosen to highlight those anniversaries at the 16th Annual Brother James Court Benefit Auction and Dinner. This year’s benefit, “The Spirit of Giving Makes a Joyful Sound,” will be held on Saturday, April 10 at the President A. Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Springfield.

DECATUR — The Advisory Board of Catholic Charities of Decatur is sponsoring “Do the Hustle,” a 1970s-themed evening on Saturday, April 24, at the recently renovated Knights of Columbus Hall in Decatur. Cocktails begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. Dancing to the ’70s tunes will be from 8:30-11:30 p.m. and feature the music of the popular Rock of Ages Band.

MILWAUKEE — School Sister of St. Francis Mary Basil Jacobs died March 6 at Sacred Heart Convent in Milwaukee, age 100.

DECATUR — Greeting and shaking hands with the celebrant after Sunday Mass is a common practice in most Catholic churches. But on March 21 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, parishioners had an additional message for their parochial vicar, Father James Palakudy, SAC. “Congratulations, Father Palakudy, on becoming a United States citizen.”

Over 1,000 Catholics from throughout Illinois packed the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield to overflowing March 3 for Mass that opened “Catholics at the Capitol” day in Springfield.

Holy Family Food Pantry in Springfield is preparing to provide dozens of families with Easter food baskets during the last days of the Lenten season.

Young Adult Mass ministry celebrates second year – ‘yam-iversary’

The Springfield Area Young Adult Mass, popularly called YAM, recently observed its second anniversary at its new location — St. Viator Chapel in the Catholic Pastoral Center — with a pizza party and Mass on Feb. 14.

ALTON — The newly-named Serra Vocations Club of Madison County sponsored a vocations assembly at Marquette Catholic High School on Feb. 3 as part of the school’s Catholic Schools Week celebrations.

About 45 priests of the diocese participated in a Day of Prayer and Recollection on the Year of the Priest led by Father Ron Knott, Feb. 23-24 at the Best Western Inn, Carlinville.

ALTON — Father Delix Michel, pastor, will conduct a retreat from 7 to 8 p.m. nightly from Sunday, March 21 through Wednesday, March 24 at Ss. Peter and Paul Church, 717 State St.

The Springfield and Belleville dioceses will be the cosponsors of Wading Deeper 2010 — “Discernment: Conversion’s Partner in Christian Initiation” on Friday, July 30 and Saturday, July 31 at Holy Family Parish in Litchfield.

PEORIA — OSF, has professed perpetual vows as a member of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.  The profession of perpetual vows is an expression of ultimate commitment to God, to live more and more for Christ and for his Body, the church.  Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, presided at the Mass of Perpetual Profession at the East Peoria Motherhouse of the sisters on Feb. 11.  Sister Judith Ann Duvall, OSF, major superior, received the vows in the name of the church.

COLLINSVILLE — Catholic inspirational singers and speakers Annie Karto and Matthew Baute will highlight the Women’s Day entitled “Blessed Art Thou” Among Women at Ss. Peter and Paul Church and Parish Center at 207 Vandalia St. on Saturday, April 17. Doors open at 8 a.m. and the program runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

QUINCY — The four Catholic elementary schools in Quincy will host “kindergarten round-ups” between Friday, March 12, and Monday, March 22 for parents of children who will be 5 years old by Sept. 1. Parents and their prospective kindergartners will have the opportunity to meet the kindergarten teachers and aides and tour facilities at each of the schools.

A St. John’s Hospital AthletiCare sports-medicine facility will be established on the west campus of Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield as a result of a long-term collaboration between the two Catholic institutions. The new 3,800- square-foot facility will provide patients and SHG student athletes with licensed physical therapy services, athletic trainer support services, and access on site to local orthopedic surgeons.

Some 400 persons wishing to become Catholic or be fully initiated in the church participated in the Rite of Election of Catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion of baptized candidates, held Feb. 20 and 21 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.

The 2010 Diocesan Adult Enrichment Conference is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 7 and Monday, Nov. 8. This year’s DAEC will be held at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel, breaking from the traditional Springfield venue.

The nearly 100-year-old St. Patrick Catholic School on Springfield’s southeast side will close at the end of this school year.

People in the Springfield diocese and beyond who want to learn more about the Lenten season now have one more resource available to them. A new Lenten resource page is currently on-line at www.dio.org/lent.

Sacred Heart-Griffin High School’s Operation Teen Safe Driving (OTSD) team has been approved for the Illinois Department of Transportation: Operation Teen Safe Driving grant. The group received $2,000 to create a campaign that encourages teens to buckle up and drive safely. The campaign is called “Safely Drive to Stay Alive!”

BETHALTO — The parish family of Our Lady Queen of Peace will host a Lenten mission from 7 to 8 p.m. each evening from Sunday, March 7 through Thursday, March 11. The mission will be led by Father Frank Sherry of the Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy from the monastery in Auburn, Ky.

Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, former bishop of the Springfield diocese, will return to Springfield shortly after Easter to celebrate confirmation at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Friday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m.

Catholics from throughout Illinois will be in Springfield on Wednesday, March 3, for the second Catholics at the Capitol. Cardinal Francis George, OMI, from the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the Illinois bishops of the dioceses of Rockford, Joliet, Peoria and Belleville, and the administrator of Springfield are the hosts for the event sponsored by the Catholic Conference in Illinois (CCI), the public policy legislative arm of the Illinois bishops.

The season of Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, and ends just prior to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, April 1, when the Easter Triduum begins. Lent is the principal penitential season in the church year.

CLINTON — Paul “P.D.” Long, father of Father Jeffrey Long of the Springfield diocese, died Jan. 28 at Manor Court, age 68.

TROY — Catholic Holy Family Society (CHFS) recently announced that St. Jerome Parish was selected to receive a $3,000 Church Grant Award.