(bilingual) Tickets are now on sale for the Cash Raffle to benefit Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sioux City. The $100 raffle tickets will be sold this fall to fund thousands of dollars in grants for each of the 15 school systems. Five cash prizes that will be drawn Nov. 27, with the drawing livestreamed on the Diocese of Sioux City Facebook page. The top prize is $20,000, with two $10,000 prizes and two $5,000 prizes.

Sister Jane (Jananne) Rogers, BVM, will celebrate her 70th anniversary of religious life. She was an elementary teacher in Chicago; Butte, Montana; and Missoula, Montana, where she also served as principal. She served as a pastoral minister in Iowa Falls and Fort Dodge. Sister Jane was a hospital chaplain ministering in hospice and bereavement in Fort Dodge and a volunteer grief minister in Dubuque. She is now retired.

The Iowa Great Lakes Knights of Columbus Council 5043 held a pancake breakfast for flood victims. Proceeds were given to Spencer Council Grand Knight Michael Raner in a presentation last week at St. Mary Parish, Spirit Lake.

(courtesy of the Davenport Messenger) Six pastors leading 19 parishes in the Diocese of Davenport talk about the opportunities and challenges of ministering in multiple parishes in this second story of our series “Parish Planning: exploring positive ways to move forward.” Five of the pastors (one retired) met recently over Zoom with The Catholic Messenger’s editor, Barb Arland-Fye and diocesan Parish Planning Director Dan Ebener. The sixth pastor spoke separately with the Messenger.

The Clay County town of nearly 11,000 is one of many northwest Iowa communities that will be managing the aftermath of the historic June 2024 flooding for months to come. Area media reported that Spencer Mayor Steve Bomgaars estimated that 40% of homes in Spencer and 30% of local businesses were impacted. The Spencer Sacred Heart Parish and School community – parishioners, school students and staff – were among those deeply affected by the disaster. As recovery will be lengthy, Sacred Heart is reimagining the annual major fundraising gala and “taking a different focus.”

*Edited A device intended to help connect people is becoming a device that’s harmful to children in the classroom. Recognizing the drawbacks, Gehlen Catholic School is banning student cell phone use for the 2024-25 academic year, the only diocesan school to implement such a complete ban.

It’s often been said that God gives us the leaders we deserve. If that’s true, we should then do everything in our power to become worthy of good leaders. Everyone who grows anything knows that the stock you start out with is very important. If the stock is not healthy, it will not produce good fruit. Simply saying this, in a political season, there is the pressing temptation to pivot to our leaders and complain about our options.

(Second in a series) When Father Bill McCarthy received his chalice for his May 31, 2003, priestly ordination, he was also receiving a piece of family history. “The chalice was a gift in 1959 for Msgr. John M. Brady who would have been a great, great uncle,” Father McCarthy explained. “He received that as for the 50th year he served in the Diocese of Sioux Falls. He was the vicar general.”

“Wherever the Catholic Sun doth shine, there’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I’ve always found it so. Benedicamus domino.” – The Catholic Sun, a poem by Hilaire Belloc This simple poem by the French poet inspired the name of a new ministry started in January at Divine Mercy Parish of Algona as it summed up the ministry’s goal to bring people together for a good time as they talk about the faith and grow in fraternity.

Retirement has not been a time for Msgr. Seifried to sit idly and recall times gone by. Rather, he remains a people’s priest in the most robust sense of the word. It is the happiness he brings to his vocation that motivated Catholics at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Holstein to nominate him for the St. John Paul II Fund for Priests award earlier this summer. The St. John Paul II award recognizes priests, living or deceased, who have had an impact on the lives of the people they have served. The award program is part of fundraising efforts for the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF) in Omaha.

Teen Talk, an educational support group for middle school-age students in Carroll County, is open for member registration. This initiative aims to destigmatize mental health issues by providing adolescents with vital learning resources, enhancing healthy coping mechanisms and fostering positive thinking.