As the diocese gears up for Briar Cliff Sunday on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, the focus is on a Briar Cliff graduate. Elise Mangan, former Bishop's Scholar, is a product of both Kuemper High School and Briar Cliff University. Now she serves as a language arts educator in a diocesan Catholic school.

Storm Lake St. Mary School leadership announced the theme for the annual auction as well as a $1.5 million building project at their Jan. 6 event theme announcement. The project includes a major renovation and modernization of the community gymnasium entrance and first floor of the high school.

This is not an age where we want to lose the edge in our discernment. If we do, we can easily end up in dangerous positions, dangerous especially to our souls. One of the things that is more and more prominent is the number of people who become entangled in occult activities (especially witchcraft and New Age) without even recognizing it at first. This is because doors in the spiritual realm get opened.

Catholics nationwide are invited to pray “9 Days for Life,” an annual Respect Life novena starting Jan. 16.

The faithful are reminded to have their charitable gifts postmarked, date stamped or received by midnight, Dec. 31 to qualify as a deduction for the 2025 tax year.

For the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and for millions of other people as well, the Catholic Church's 2025 was primarily about the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV. In fact, the Wikimedia Foundation announced Dec. 2 that "Deaths in 2025" -- an entry that includes Pope Francis -- was their second most-read entry during the year, and Pope Leo's biography was the fifth most-read article of the 7.1 million entries Wikipedia has in English. "As people rushed online to learn about Leo, traffic to all Wikimedia projects peaked at around 800,000 hits per second -- more than 6x over normal traffic levels, and a new all-time record for us," said the foundation.

Father Steven McLoud, diocesan priest, was sentenced Dec. 22 in Kossuth County District Court after pleading guilty to the charge of third degree fraudulent practice, which is an aggravated misdemeanor.

The Humboldt area Knights of Columbus presented the winners of their "Keep Christ in Christmas" poster contest before Christmas break. They also presented a check to Principal Sara Bormann for art supplies at St. Mary School.

During Poverty Awareness Month, the faithful are encouraged to join the Secretariat of Justice and Peace, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and the Catholic community in the United States in taking up Pope Leo's challenge to live in solidarity with the poor.

The St. Serra Club of Siouxland hosted most of the diocesan seminarians for a breakfast and Mass at St. Joseph Church in Sioux City. Father Travis Crotty, director of vocations, and Father Shane Deman, director of seminarians and Bishop John Keehner were also present. The club supports vocations in the Diocese of Sioux City.

The Moville Immaculate Conception Church, Sts. Isidore and Maria Parish sixth grade Faith Formation class, led by Mike and Molly Brauer, made 'Blessing Bags' for people in need. These bags were all decorated by their class and they filled them with basic necessities like toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, lip balm and other items. The Bauers then took them to downtown Sioux City and hung them for anyone in need to take and use right before Christmas.

On Dec. 19, the St. Edmond transitional kindergarten staff upheld the tradition of presenting their students with a class t-shirt crafted by Stefanie Miller, along with special blankets made by Brittany Clark and her mother, "Grandma Mary."

Several parishes and schools in the Diocese of Sioux City held services and festivities to mark the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12. In many parts of the diocese with large Hispanic populations, celebrations began in early morning hours with the singing of the mañanitas. not only included Mass but large fiestas featuring lively music with mariachi bands, native dancing and ample food.

A mission trip to Guatemala for nine parishioners of Divine Mercy Parish of Kossuth County proved to be impactful to those they served and the missionaries. Among participants were Deacon David Penton and his wife, Amy. The deacon explained he always wanted to go on a mission trip to learn about pastoral care in a different part of the world. “When I arrived, my heart was broken because the people had nothing,” he said. In time the deacon realized, “they had nothing but lacked for nothing."

The Dicastery for Communication releases a free App entitled “Vatican for All” to provide information on the activities of the Pope and the Church in the world for people with sensory disabilities, as part of the “No One Left Out” project.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities invites Catholics nationwide to participate in the 9 Days for Life Novena for the protection of human life. The novena runs from Jan. 16 to Jan. 24, surrounding the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.

Bishop's statement on deaths of Iowa Guard members, worldwide violence

A multi-year labor of love turned an unused area in a former convent into a beautiful parish library with 2,000 new volumes of Catholic books for children through adults. Just over a year ago, the Sioux City Holy Cross Parish Women of Faith hosted an open house to showcase the library and Catholic resources available to the parish. Around that time, Father Randy Schon, pastor, asked the organizers – Jeanne Hindman, Jeannie Forker and Michelle Brady – if they thought about opening up the library to a wider audience. He suggested reaching out to the other three Sioux City parishes.

Green in Spanish is verde. Blue in Spanish is azul. While adults may turn to products like Duolingo and Babble to learn Spanish, young learners attending preschool at St. Patrick School in Sheldon do so as part of their school day. Jessica Schmalen, principal at St. Patrick School, said while the school has had His Little Ones Preschool for a number of years and a few years back went to an all-day option, this year they decided to offer it as a dual language program and for the first time include 3 year olds.

(Bilingual article) All parishes in the Diocese of Sioux City will have a second collection at their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses to benefit the good work of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Sioux City, caring for our most vulnerable and those who struggle with life's challenges. Bishop John E. Keehner offers his support via the following letter in English and Spanish.