Briar Cliff University is expanding its partnership with TEL Education to help address two key challenges in higher education: academic eligibility and student retention. As part of a new initiative launched by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and TEL Education, Briar Cliff is excited to be a partner institution to help students maintain their eligibility and participate in their sport.

Danbury Catholic's new third and fourth grade teacher, Jill Swanson, was has earned the 2024-2025 Iowa Reading Teacher of the Year award. School leaders said Jill is passionate about helping children learn to love reading and is very deserving of this award. She has been a member of the Iowa Reading Association for many years and has been presenting at their statewide reading conference for many years.

Bishop John Keehner recently accepted a new seminarian - by way of Minnesota. William Kahle of Algona spent a discernment year at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary (IHM) as a seminarian for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. The Divine Mercy parishioner will begin his second year at IHM as a seminarian this fall, but as a seminarian for the Diocese of Sioux City.

Lumen Media, the news and communications office of the Diocese of Sioux City, took home three awards at the June 27 Catholic Media Association Conference awards ceremony held in Phoenix, Arizona. The content appeared in The Lumen and on the digital Lumen Media platforms.

People are anxious about many things these days. When a person does not stay in a primary dependence upon God, it becomes clear quickly that any other dependency outside of God will lead to insecurity and an apprehensiveness that can take on a life of its own. Perhaps the most common dependency that people use to replace their dependence upon God is found in materialism. There is a reflection of this in the fall in the garden. Up until the time of the fall, Adam and Eve were happily and unselfconsciously dependent upon God.

Catholic hospitals have had a long-standing presence in Sioux City. Although Sioux City was being served by Samaritan Hospital that opened in 1884, by the end of that decade the Sisters of Mercy were asked to establish a Catholic hospital in the community. The first Catholic hospital opened in Sioux City in 1890 led by the efforts of the Sisters of Mercy. Mother Mary Agatha Murphy purchased a home from John Peirce on the corner of 28th and Jennings Streets in 1890 and by May of that year St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital treated its first patient, who had a diagnosis of typhoid fever.

In late May, it was announced that a letter of intent was signed by the two hospitals in Sioux City for UnityPoint Health to acquire MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center. If that acquisition comes to fruition, it will mark an end of an era for Catholic hospitals in the city that has served numerous communities in the tri-state area. The roots of MercyOne Siouxland date back to 1890 when the Sisters of Mercy were asked to establish a hospital in Sioux City. For the last 135 years, the community has been served by at least one Catholic hospital.