This Week's Headlines

Belleville diocese adds to numbers at march for life in nation's capital

In addition to Belleville diocesan parish groups who joined neighboring diocesan trips to the March for Life, a group of 33 teens through seniors made a three-day bus trip departing from Our Lady of the Snows.

Arriving in Washington, D.C., they began the anniversary of Roe vs Wade with 20,000 others for a Youth Rally and Mass.

The homily was woven around the words “protect, purity and prayer.”
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lent begins ash wednesday, feb. 17

Each year the Lord Jesus calls the entire Church to a special season of penance and renewal. As we begin this holy time of Lent, we should reflect on our need for conversion of heart, prayer, charitable works and penance.

The season of Lent extends this year from Ash Wednesday, February 17, to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 1, inclusive.

1. Everyone 14 years of age or over is bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays of Lent.

2. Everyone 18 years of age and under 59 years of age is also bound to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

3. On these two days of fast and abstinence, only one full meatless meal is allowed. The other meatless meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to one’s needs, but altogether they should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted on these two days, but liquids, including milk and fruit juices are allowed.
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hispanic committee raises money for haiti

The Hispanic Committee at Holy Rosary Parish
in Fairmont City began cooking at 7:30 a.m. Saturday to make sure they would have all 156 dozen tamales ready that afternoon for those who had ordered them.

The committee, led by Irma Almeida, with help from her husband, Polo, wanted to make a difference for the people of Haiti, she said.

“They don’t have food, nothing,” she said, “and I thought we could do something to help.”
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'lights of faith' in carmi, belleville, brighten our lives

The journey of faith continues as The Messenger meets more people who light the way, this week from St. Polycarp in Carmi and St. Luke Parish in Belleville.

In Carmi, Charles and Gail Nolan have been
going to Mass at St. Polycarp since they were married in 1973.

Gail, a Methodist, said they decided the couple should attend one church together, and so they attended and raised their children in the Catholic church.

Not satisfied with being a churchgoer, Charles Nolan has been active as an usher and money counter along with other parishioners.

Active with parish youth for more than 30 years, he said he hopes to interest the high school youth in visiting parishioners in nursing homes.

He and Gail must have passed on their interest in other people to their daughter, Rebecca, who spent two years in the Peace Corps, working in Lesotho, Africa.
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new executive administrative assistant to the bishop appointed

Mrs. Elizabeth A. Nussbaumer, a member of St. Bernard Parish in Albers with many years of experience as an administrative assistant, has been appointed as the new Executive Administrative Assistant to
Bishop Edward K. Braxton,
effective January 20, 2010.

Bishop Braxton, commenting on the appointment, said, “I believe that Elizabeth’s background, professional history, and strong Catholic faith have prepared her well for the many diverse responsibilities that she assumes on managing the Office of the Bishop. I am grateful to her for accepting the position. I am confident that we will work well together for the good of the Church.”
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'future church' subject of john allen jr.'s talk at shrine

The room was crowded and many of the almost 150 people gathered Jan. 23 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville were well past middle age.

The topic: “The Future Church” in the mid-21st century. Thespeaker: John Allen Jr., CNN’s Vatican analyst who has been a Catholic journalist for many years.

While the audience may have expected an
acerbic, perhaps negative, view of the future of
the Catholic church, that didn’t happen. In fact,
the fast-paced presentation was positive on more than one level.

First: The Catholic church is growing, just not on western or European soil; second: some of the issues that concern the church in the west or Europe don’t register on the radar of the growing church in the global south. That would be the southern hemisphere including South America, Africa and parts of Asia.

The topic came from the title of Allen’s most recent book, “The Future Church,” (Doubleday 2009), which is available at the shrine, The Vineyard in Belleville or online.
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popular novel subject of recent aquinas roundtable

The novel, “The Shack,” by William P. Young, has captured more than one million readers through word of mouth as well as in bookstores. The self-published religious fiction describes a man’s journey
through his grief at the murder of his daughter to
God — called Papa — at the “shack” where his daughter was murdered.

Dominican Father Dominic Holtz spoke to close to 200 people who attended the Jan. 26 program as part of the Aquinas Roundtable series hosted at
the shrine.

A best-seller, it has become popular with Catholic readers but its author comes from what Father Holtz described as an evangelical Protestant background.

However, “the heart of the book promotes the core of Christian belief in relationship,” Father Holtz said
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