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A review of the year 2008 in the church in southern illinois

Story by RAFE MIDDEKE with photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger staff

The faith journeys of diocesan communities and individuals included both hills and valleys, celebration and sadness.

Parish communities celebrated milestones on their continuing journeys. Gathering for sesquicentennial celebrations were the Clinton County parishes of St. Dominic’s in Breese and St. Mary’s in Trenton. St. Felicitas parishioners in Beaver Prairie and St. Luke parishioners in Belleville celebrated 125th anniversaries.
Individual commitments of faith were recognized in Catholic Social Services’ Christian Service awards and The Messenger’s Faith in the Marketplace awards. Celeste Cocheba, celebrating her 90th birthday, continued as the volunteer director of the Pregnancy Care Center.

The end of the school year closed the doors of the Academy of St. Mary’s in Belleville after 114 years and Sacred Heart School in Du Quoin after 139 years.

A St. Clair County jury awarded $5 million related to the abuse of a minor in the 1970s.
On many and varied roads and in many ways, the hills and the valleys of individuals’ journeys of faith were stored in memories and hearts, silently addressed with prayer and reflection.

January
The changing face of the Catholic priesthood in the Belleville diocese was highlighted in The Messenger’s annual focus on priesthood vocations in the Jan. 10 issue. Interviews with the then eight international priests ministering in the diocese personalized their backgrounds, families and culture. At the beginning of the new year three of the diocese’s five seminarians were from Kenya, Africa.
Msgr. Theodore Baumann, after celebrating his 40th anniversary, announced his retirement from active ministry and as pastor of St. Mary’s in Valmeyer, due to health.
Msgr. Tom Flach, coping with life-changing Guillain Barré Syndrome returned to SS. Peter and Paul in Waterloo in a wheelchair for the Christmas Eve liturgy. “It was very special,” he said, “but the reality was I wasn’t going to stay.” In a Jan. 24 feature Msgr. Flach reflected on the incapacitating illness.
Also reported in January:
• Bishop Edward K. Braxton issued a statement on the use of Future Full of Hope and Propagation of the Faith money for a conference table and vestments. While a benefactor’s gift replenished the funds, the gift “does not resolve the larger question of the confusion, mistrust, misunderstanding, loss of confidence, and even anger caused by these developments,” the bishop said.
• Dan King, with roots at Camp Ondessonk and a former assistant executive director, was named director of the Belleville diocesan camp.
• Diocesan Catholics participated in the 35th annual March for Life Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C.
• Bishop Braxton hosted an informal gathering Feb. 2 at the Newman Center in Carbondale.
• Father Ferd Cheri, OFM was the celebrant and homilist at the annual liturgy Jan. 20 at St. Augustine of Hippo Parish in East St. Louis celebrating the life and ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

February
Two traditional Catholic observances — one universal (Lent) and one American (Catholic Schools Week) — were the focus of February issues of The Messenger.
With Lent beginning on the earliest possible date, Feb. 6, more than 300 catechumens and candidates — preparing for membership in the Catholic church in the RCIA — participated in the annual diocesan Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion, with Bishop Stanley Schlarman presiding.
A Feb. 21 feature highlighted the faith journey of RCIA participant Jim Edwards. His wife, Laurie, is the director of the diocesan Office of Respect Life Ministry.
Bishop Braxton’s Lenten pastoral, printed in the Feb. 7 issue, focused on the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Parishes scheduled Lenten speaker series and soup suppers.
Catholic Schools Week features included:
• Service programs at Catholic schools with St. Vincent de Paul chapters — high schools Althoff and Mater Dei; grade schools St. Augustine and St. Teresa in Belleville, Holy Trinity in Fairview Heights, and St. James in Millstadt.
• Holy Trinity students’ support for a third-grader with leukemia.
• St. Ann’s seventh- and eighth-graders in Nashville practicing the corporal works of mercy.
• Eighth-grader Josh Di Giovanni at St. Augustine’s in Belleville creating a certificate in Braille for Jon Brough, shot and blinded in the line of police duty.
After a three-year consultation process Bishop Braxton announced the merger of The Academy at St. Mary’s and St. Augustine’s School, both in Belleville, at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.
Also reported in February:
• An overnight fire Jan. 30 damaged the diocesan Tribunal and Office of Child Protection.
• Bishop Braxton welcomed Nigerian Father Oliver Nwachukwu and appointed him temporary sacramental minister and to pastoral ministry at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in DuBois and Immaculate Conception Parish in Tamaroa.
• Bishop Braxton hosted the leadership of the Diocesan Youth Ministry Advisory Council Jan. 26 at his residence.
• St. Augustine of Hippo Parish in East St. Louis participated in a revival with themes celebrating elders, youth and families.
• February obituaries: Sister Florian Berberich, ASC; Sister Alvina Henrichs, ASC; Mrs. Evelyn Braxton.

March
Every Christian faith journey is a journey to Easter. Every year for the catechumens and candidates involved in the RCIA process, the journey has special significance as they look forward to the sacraments of initiation at the Holy Saturday Vigil. For Dr. Michaelis Jackson, a Carbondale physician, and his daughters Alexandria and Arielle, the journey was also a family journey. Reflections on his faith journey were included in the March 6 issue.
The March 20 issue published the names of and welcomed the over 300 catechumens and candidates nearing their Easter oasis.
The March 6 issue also included the annual Hispanic supplement sent to 900 Latino families with known addresses, a reminder that in different cultures and languages we journey as brothers and sisters to Easter.
In the March 20 issue Bishop Braxton published an Easter meditation “Christ Our Hope.”
Also reported in March:
• Bishop Braxton welcomed Father Rafi Kuttukaren from India to the diocese and assigned him to temporary sacramental ministry and pastoral ministry at St. Joseph Parish in Prairie du Rocher.
• The annual Scout Religious Award Recognition ceremony was held Feb. 17 at St. Peter Cathedral. Venture Crew 529 of Belleville’s West End Cluster, Queen of Peace Parish received the Golden Medallion Award, competing with 16 units.
• A March 20 feature noted the positive experiences of inmates at the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg participating in an Awakenings program, facilitated by Sister Barbara Lux, cssm.
• Students in the religious education program at Immaculate Conception parish in Columbia raised money to pay for the education of two young men in Guatemala.
• Seventh-graders at Queen of Peace School in Belleville held a homeroom auction to raise money for a program to protect people in Uganda from Malaria.
• March obituaries: Father Barnabas Diekemper, OFM; Father Ralph Haas; Sister Mary Gemma Maschek, SSND; Sister Julitta Schneider, ASC; Sister Petronilla Diekemper, ASC; Sister Donna Marie Doshack, ASC.

April
“Intergenerational” might well have been the banner highlighting the journeys of faith displayed in The Messenger’s April pages.
At the 2008 Diocesan Youth Conference over 500 youth and adult leaders gathered March 29-30 exemplifying the theme “Treasures Beyond Measure.” A “hall of honor” showcased the gifts received in parish families throughout the diocese. Many youth and adults were recognized for their contributions.
Featured speakers included John Foppe, internationally known speaker and Breese native, and Jon Brough. Their stories of courage and faith received standing ovations.
The spring Senior Living supplement included a feature on dance instructor Toni Intravaia, St. Francis Xavier, Carbondale parishioner, who at 86 continues to teach and to dance with her parish Motion Choir and regular private dance lessons. Intravaia has been the coordinator of religious education at the St. Francis Parish since 1965.
The senior supplement also included a feature on a social outreach program of residents at Carlyle Healthcare Center — preparing casseroles for Cosgrove’s Kitchen in East St. Louis — supported by parishioners from the east Clinton County cluster.
Also reported in April:
• Bishop Braxton published a letter in the April 3 issue detailing a meeting requested by seven representative priests of the Belleville diocese asking him to “cancel the installation ceremony and step aside so that a more suitable bishop could be chosen.” Calling the meeting “startling,” the bishop wrote: “It is my intention to serve as bishop of the Diocese of Belleville for as long as the Holy Father wants me to.”
• Sister Kathleen Koenen, SSND ended her position as diocesan associate director of elementary education for nine years to accept a new position with 25 parishes and 15 elementary schools in St. Louis.
• The regional Catholic Social Services hosted its fourth annual Charity Breakfast April 5 in Herrin with the theme “Helping Hands Helping Kids.” The gathering focused on adoption and foster care, ministry to Hispanics and programs for juvenile and adult offenders.
• The letters of Thomas Lugge, a sixth-grader at Cathedral Grade School in Belleville and eighth-grader Shannon Rose at St. Teresa School in Belleville were sent to Pope Benedict XVI congratulating him on his 81st birthday and 3rd anniversary as pope.
• Catholic Social Services chose Glenn Scott, retired Althoff Catholic High School athletic director; Jeanne Edgar, Queen of Peace parishioner and life-long community volunteer; and Jerry Messick, St. Paul United Church of Christ member and director of the Community Interfaith Food Pantry, for its 2008 Christian Service Award.
• April obituaries: Sister Eileen Mullen, OSU; Sister Marcella Glosemeyer, SSND: Sister Julia Knapke, PHJC: Sister Gerard Holtgrave, PHJC: Sister Lauretta Molitor, PHJC.

May
St. Peter Cathedral parishioner Father Nicholas Junker was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Braxton during a May 10 liturgy at the cathedral.
Education — past, present and future — highlighted the pages of The Messenger’s May issues.
Its annual graduation supplement congratulated high school graduates, recognizing the graduates of the diocese’s three Catholic high schools and public high school graduates who are members in diocesan parishes. Saluted were the schools’ valedictorians and salutatorians.
Graduate features included the participation of six Waterloo Gibault Catholic High School students in a six-month project sponsored by the Illinois Agency on Aging surfacing service improvements for seniors.
The Bishop’s Discipleship Award was presented to Nicole Furmanek (Althoff), Bryan Schreder (Gibault), and Matt Feldmann (Mater Dei) at the baccalaureate Mass celebrated by Bishop Braxton with the senior classes from the diocese’s Catholic high schools.
The 2008 school-ending year was a year of finals with the 60th and last joint parade for the Belleville Catholic schools. For the Academy at St. Mary’s it was the final closing of a school year. A May 28 liturgy and open house marked the conclusion of the school’s 114-year history. The parish schools at St. Mary’s and Augustine’s would begin the new school year as St. Mary-St. Augustine Catholic School at the St. Augustine’s site.
The School Sisters of Notre Dame celebrated their 175th anniversary of the community presence in the United States and its presence in the Belleville diocese since 1959. More than 3,000 SSNDs have ministered in diocesan schools and parishes.
An educational history of the former St. Patrick Parish in East St. Louis, “Memoirs and Memories,” was published by 74-year parishioner Lorraine LaChance.
Also reported in May:
• Bishop Braxton welcomed Columbian Father Uriel Salamanca Cipagauta to the diocese to assist in Hispanic ministry.
• The financial report of the diocesan fiscal year ending June 30, 2007 was published in the May 1 issue.
• A May 2-3 conference focused on the U.S. bishops’ document, “The Challenge of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”
• The annual Spring Blessing of the Farm took place April 26 at the farm of Cletus and Catherine Biver near Belleville.
• A Memorial Day section included a feature on a St. Nicholas, O’Fallon youth project supporting children and service personnel in Afghanistan. The project was organized by Adam Byrnes, whose psychologist father served in Afghanistan.
• Thirty-two women, who served in leadership roles in diocesan organizations, were honored at an annual bishop’s luncheon.
May obituaries: Mrs. Margaret McGhee.

June
Remembering is an apt word for the focus of The Messenger’s June issues — with diocesan priests’ jubilee celebrations and retirements, and a return of three former Ruma Adorer missionaries to Liberia 16 years after five Adorers were killed during the country’s civil war.
Diocesan priests celebrating jubilees were: Father Paul Stauder, 60 years; Father Dick Daly, Msgr. Jerome Hartlein and Father Lloyd Misho, 50 years; Father James Dougherty, Father Clyde Grogan and Father Jerry Wirth, 40 years; and Father Andy Knopik, 25 years. Franciscan Father Carroll Mizicko celebrated his 40th anniversary. A jubilee liturgy was celebrated May 20 at St. Peter Cathedral.
Announcing their retirement after 130 years of active ministry were Father James Dougherty, Father Henry Ray Engelhart and Father James Long.
Returning to Liberia were ASC Sisters Raphael Drone, Elizabeth Kolmer and Mary Evelyn Nagle.
Also reported in June:
• Bishop Braxton announced that a consulting firm, the Reid Group, would facilitate a process to strengthen communication between priests and the bishop.
• A final liturgy for the school year and the school was celebrated at Sacred Heart in Du Quoin, closing the parish school after 139 years.
• Bishop Braxton spoke on the Eucharist and the family June 16 at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City, Canada.
• About 250 nursing home residents and staff participated in the Ministry to the Sick and Aged’s 30th annual picnic.
• Camp Ondessonk continued its almost 50 years of a unique camp experience; The East St. Louis Griffin centers continued their inner city camps; and Althoff Catholic High School held its annual summertime art camp.
Four graduates were inducted into Mater Dei High School’s Hall of Honor: They were: Sister Rose Huelsmann, SSND; Mr. Mike Mazeka; Mr. Jerry Voss; and Sister Charlene Zeisset.
June obituaries: Sister Celine Laurent, ASC; Sister Dominica Pagano, SSND; Deacon Jerry Stockmann.

July
From World Youth Day to Youth Sing Praise to SPOTS (Special People of the Son) to new Catholic elementary school principals, youth were a major focus of July Messenger features.
About 20 diocesan youth and adults, most from St. Joseph’s Parish in Marion, joined participants from 170 countries in Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day to hear Pope Benedict XVI tell them youth are “ambassadors of hope.” Bishop Braxton gave a catechetical presentation, published in the July 24 issue, on “The Eucharist and the Christian Family.”
SPOTS members, who meet monthly, participated in projects in which they “share their gifts.”
Two sisters — Sarah and Julia Yates of Waterloo — talked about the significance of their participation in Our Lady of the Snows shrine’s annual Youth Sing Praise outdoor musical.
New principals introduced were: Robert Westling, St. Peter Cathedral, Belleville; Kimberly Ruef, St. Mary-St. Augustine, Belleville; Carol Potter, St. Joseph’s, Olney; Michael Oslance, Holy Trinity, Fairview Heights; and Helen Donsbach, St. Mary’s, Centralia.
Also reported in July:
• St. Edward’s Church in Fairfield was damaged in a June 27 fire.
• The highlight of the annual St. John’s Day in Piopolis was celebrating the 25th anniversary of Msgr. Joseph Lawler as their pastor.
• Catholic Urban Programs moved to a new location after operating out of the former St. Patrick’s in East St. Louis.
• A Respect Life workshop, organized by the diocesan Respect Life Ministry office, was held June 29 at the Diocesan Pastoral Center.
• St. Joseph, Prairie du Rocher parishioner Ms. Mae Smith, celebrated her 100th birthday.
• The first group of youngsters catechized in Spanish at Holy Family Parish in Cahokia received their first Communion.
•Bishop Braxton welcomed Ugandan Father Bernardine Nganzi to the diocese.
• Tradition was well served as southern Illinois parish picnics continued in full swing
• July obituaries: Frank C. Wojcik, Sr.; Mary C. Thomas.

August
Vocations — new and renewing — filled pages of The Messenger in August issues.
The annual Religious Jubilees supplement, recognizing the anniversaries of women and men religious who ministered in the Belleville diocese or whose vocations were nurtured in diocesan homes and parishes, was published in the August 22 issue.
Featured in the supplement were jubilarians Sister Carmen Marie Chandler, SSND, Sister Jean Kumke, ASC, Sister Helen Miller, DC, and Brother John Laudenbach, who all spent many years in ministry in East St. Louis.
Seven men were ordained to the diaconate July 26 by Bishop Braxton. The newly ordained were: Richard Bagby, St. Boniface Parish, Germantown; Arthur Hampton, assigned to Holy Trinity, Fairview Heights and longtime parishioner of St. Augustine’s in East St. Louis; Linus Klostermann, St. Dominic’s, Breese; George Mills, Corpus Christi, Shiloh; Glennon Netemeyer, St. Bernard’s, Albers; Steven Pautler, St. Boniface, Evansville; and Dennis Vander Ven, St. Clare of Assisi, O’Fallon.
Spending some vacation days ministering in Cairo were youth and adults from Immaculate Conception Parish in Columbia and SS. Peter and Paul in Waterloo.
Also reported in August:
• With increasing costs for food and fuel, the number of lunch guests at Cosgrove’s Kitchen in East St. Louis also rose 50 percent.
• Two diocesan Catholic hospitals named new CEOs — Kevin Shrake at St. Elizabeth’s in Belleville and Lowell Jones at St. Joseph’s in Breese.
• Erase the Stigma, a two-day mental health conference, was held Aug. 23-24 at Our Lady of the Snows shrine.
• Bishop Braxton accepted two new seminarians to study for the Belleville diocesan priesthood — Sean Palas and Abraham Adejoh.
• August obituary: Sister Ellen Burrus, SSND.

September
Journeys of faith — generously nourished and sometimes deeply wounded — were displayed in The Messenger’s September pages.
A St. Clair County Court jury, ruling in favor of James Wisniewski, who was reportedly abused by a diocesan priest in the 1970s, awarded him $5 million. The court decided the diocese had “fraudulently concealed” evidence.
The annual Youth Faith Formation supplement recognized the essential role of catechists staffing parish religious education programs, without whom the majority of Catholic school children would not receive formal religious education.
Also reported in September:
• The annual Harvest Blessing of the Farm was hosted by the Scates Family Farms in Shawneetown.
• In the fall Senior Living supplement several nursing home residents — Irene Schuessler at St. Paul’s Home in Belleville, and Aurelia Biehl at Grand Court in Belleville — talked about their activities in their “home away from home.”
• Kyle Hobbs, 11, in an alternative birthday celebration, instead of gifts, asked his friends to bring school supplies which were donated to Sister Thea Bowman School in East St. Louis.
• A growing interest in the Holocaust led Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Herrin teacher, Deanna Smillie from participation in national programs, to a Holy Land trip, to production of a slide program for Catholic school teachers.
• September obituary: Aurelia Mauck.

October
Faith -- celebrated and lived in many dimensions, and in the arc of time past, present and future -- was the inspiration of October’s Messenger’s issue.
Three parishes celebrated century-plus anniversaries. St. Felicitas parishioners in Beaver Prairie celebrated 125 years of faith Sept. 14. Parishioners at St. Dominic in Breese gathered Sept. 28 for a sesquicentennial Mass of celebration, with Bishop Braxton as celebrant and homilist. St. Luke parishioners in Belleville -- opened as the city’s English speaking parish in 1883 -- participated in a 125th anniversary celebration Oct. 18.
An Oct. 2 supplement recognized as living examples of faith in the marketplace six business people at a Sept. 20 dinner in their honor. Recognized were: Mt. Vernon real estate agent, and St. Barbara’s, Scheller parishioner, Cindy Bevis; pharmacist Ed Breeze, St. Mary’s, Mt. Vernon parishioner; insurance agents Andy and Kathy Bridgeman, St. Clare of Assisi parishioners in O’Fallon; business owner and St. Nicholas in O’Fallon parishioner, Bill Roewe; farmer and a parishioner at St. Mary’s in Shawneetown, Steve Scates; and posthumously Wilbert Baechle, automotive parts salesman and parishioner at St. Luke’s in Belleville.
With the theme “Serving Jesus for a Better World,” students and teachers at St. John the Baptist in Red Bud pursued a developing program taking the seven principles of social justice seriously.
An Oct. 16 supplement, in commentary and ads expressed parishioners’ appreciation for priests ministering in their midst.
One hundred and fifty diocesan women gathered at St. Mary’s in Carlyle for the annual conference of the Belleville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. Speakers’ topics included spirituality and the Year of St. Paul.
Also reported in October:
• In a letter on the sexual abuse case, Bishop Braxton authorized the “filing of a motion for a new trial in St. Clair County Court.”
• Bishop Braxton welcomed three new priests to the diocese: Father Osang Idagbo, CM from Nigeria; Father Mariusz Semla from Poland; and Father Sslawomir Ptak, also from Poland.
• A reunion of graduates of the former Holy Angel’s School in East St. Louis decided to keep the spirit of Holy Angels alive through support of Holy Angel’s Shelter, housed in the parish’s former convent.
• Bishop Braxton constituted a Health and Wellness Committee for priests of the diocese.
• Belleville parishes St. Teresa and St. Luke sponsored health fairs.
• Dr. Patricia McCormack, IHM was the featured speaker Oct. 10 at the diocesan education convention. The convention focused on the value of an investment in Catholic education.
• Celeste Cocheba, at 90 the continuing volunteer director of the Pregnancy Care Center in Belleville, was the subject of a respect life feature in the Oct. 30 issue.
• October obituaries: Sister Mary Norbert Schmitt, ASC; Sister Mary Vivian Darveaux, ASC.

November
A somber — almost aching — note played in the background of the November Messenger issues. A worsening economy affected the efforts of support agencies — with less income and more demands. One example was the Holy Angels Shelter in East St. Louis. “We’re staying full,” director Pat Lewis said, “but the number of people we have to turn away has grown.” The St. Vincent de Paul Mobile Kitchen was in need of another kind -- bus drivers, with a commercial drivers license. Catholic Urban Programs’ bookkeeper Vanessa Marion knows the impact of the economy from listening to incoming phone calls.
A heartache experienced only by family members of loved ones who died by suicide was the topic of a Nov. 27 Hope and Healing section. Family members in a support group talked about their ongoing and roller-coaster experiences, and insights by Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI offered a glimpse into families’ experiences.
Bishop Braxton published a somber commentary about the possible effects of the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act.
Also reported in November:
• Parishioners of St. Mary Parish in Trenton concluded their sesquicentennial celebration with an Oct. 26 Mass of Thanksgiving and dinner. A Messenger article recounted the history of the parish researched by Deacon John Dilley — the Belleville diocese’s first permanent deacon, now retired.
• Immaculate Conception parishioners in Columbia built the framework of a 45-foot wide entryway of the proposed new church in front of the old church in front of the current church. The parish plans to break ground for the new church in 2009.
• The diocese’s Respect Life office and Catholic Social Services hosted a virtual event during National Adoption Month to voice adoption experiences and encourage adoptions.
• Bishop Braxton dedicated the new parish center Nov. 16 at St. Joseph’s in Freeburg. The old center burned in February of 2007.
•The Nov. 27 issue featured the 30-year journey of Linda Brayfield from volunteer to director of Carbondale’s Newman Center traditional Thanksgiving dinner. With help from area youth, St. Luke’s in Belleville served more than 1,000 Thanksgiving meals; more than 1,500 were served at Cosgrove’s Kitchen in East. St. Louis.
• A Nov. 1 All Saints Day Mass of Thanksgiving and dinner at St. Andrew’s in Murphysboro celebrated the ministries of three Ruma Adorers — Sisters Mary Maurice Loepker, Agnesine Jansen and Clara Ternes — and the Adorers’ ministry in Murphysboro beginning in 1884.
• November obituaries: Brother Francis Sullivan, OMI; Sister Rose Mary Linhoff, SSND; Father Frank C. Quinn, OP; Mary Cecelia Wojcik; Marcella Rascher.

December
December issues of The Messenger were a reminder of preparations for the celebration of Christmas.
The Dec. 11 issue included the experiences of diocesan business owners — Jansen’s Chevrolet in Germantown; Kieffer Brothers Construction Co. in Mt. Carmel; Stella’s Consignment Boutique in Marion; and Clark’s Country Oaks in Waterloo — in the worsening economy.
Also reported in December:
• In a pastoral letter on undocumented workers Bishop Braxton reminded Catholics of the core value of protecting the family unit and questioned work site enforcement raids.
• Next Chapter, a diocesan ministry to divorced and separated, celebrated its 15th anniversary.
• Mother Mary Giovanna was elected the new abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery in Belleville.
• A report on a Nov. 15 meeting of the Allocation and Accountability Committee of the Catholic Service and Ministry Appeal stated that in the final stages of the 2008-2009 CSMA, with a $1.75 goal, pledges totaled $1.448 million.
• December obituaries: Iris Peter; Ruth Jurek; Sister Veronica Tebbe, ASC. The Dec. 18 issue included the annual Christmas supplement, with Christmas reflections and greetings of peace and blessing from organizations and advertisers. Readers shared their favorite recipes, some of them family heirlooms. Memories of Christmas traditions in Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Mexico were recalled respectively by Father Urban Osuji, CM, temporary administrator of St. Mary parish in Valmeyer; Father Victor Silva, Newman Center chaplain; and Sister Luz Eugenia Alvarez, ASC, who assists in the diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry.
With more than 700 diocesan youth responding, the supplement included the winners in an essay contest on personal experiences of the spirit of Christmas. The winners were: Elena Rolves, grade 2, Albers Elementary School, Albers; Rachel Kirsch, grade 6, St. Mary School, Mt. Vernon; Holland Hempen, grade 8, All Saints Academy, Breese; and Kelsey Barbeau, grade 11, Gibault Catholic High School.