For the second year, students from St. Edmond Catholic School in Fort Dodge were among the volunteers assisting as the winter and spring competitions for the North Central Iowa Special Olympics.

The Jubilee of Clergy Ordinations will be held on May 4 at St. Mary’s Church in Storm Lake. Bishop Emeritus Walker Nickless will be the principal celebrant of the concelebrated Mass as Bishop John E. Keehner recovers from surgery.

At first light later this week, the former rectory that once housed nuns and Catholic clergy in Dayton will begin a new journey. The now vacant home was lifted onto a trailer Monday and will soon be moved 6.5 miles southeast to Hidden Acres Christian Center, where it will again serve as a shelter for those in ministry.

Dubuque Archbishop Thomas Zinkula released a letter to the faithful April 11 outlining the Journey in Faith plan that organizes the archdiocese into 24 pastorates or groups of parishes sharing leadership, ministry and resources.

It was St. John Paul II who in the year 2000 announced that Divine Mercy Sunday would be a universal feast of the Catholic Church to be celebrated on the second Sunday of Easter. The late pope made the proclamation during the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska.

The April 13 Monday morning update from the Iowa Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Iowa Catholic Bishops.

Surrounded by family and friends, 2021 Bishop Heelan High School alumna Sister Mary Incarnata of the King of Glory, made her first profession with the Poor Clares of Hanceville, Alabama. She made her profession March 25 on the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.

The diocesan shrine of Trinity Heights Queen of Peace Shrine in Sioux City received significant damage to one of its buildings on Easter Sunday when a car crashed into the entrance of the Divine Mercy Chapel. According to Terry Hegarty, executive director of the diocesan shrine, he was out of town on April 5 when the alarm company as well as maintenance man both alerted him to the accident. The incident occurred shortly after 1 p.m.

(This is the second article in a 2-part series about the impact of social media on children and teens.) In an article that was published in LumeNotes on April 2, a therapist from Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Sioux City revealed a sobering statistic that 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 report using social media and one-third of them say their use is constant.

Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee. — from The Confessions of St. Augustine of Hippo, 1,1.5 Dennis Hogan knew he was looking for something. He just didn’t know what, or where to find it. His story of conversion shows that it’s not necessarily the events of life that shape us, but how we respond to those events.

Column from Sister Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT Every so often in the Gospel, Jesus asks an unsettling question. Perhaps one of the most unsettling questions he asks is whether he will find faith upon the earth when he returns again. It’s a disturbing question because we have a hard time imagining a world where no one believes in God any longer. What could possibly happen to create such a scenario?

(Bilingual) Bishop John Keehner shares the English and Spanish text of his Easter Vigil homily.

After a jury in California found two large social media companies to be liable of creating social media platforms designed to be addictive, a therapist from Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Sioux City weighed in on the subject. Nate Phillips, clinical supervisor of children and school-based services, said the court decision could be a “watershed moment” that has potential to be akin to the tobacco settlements.

Pews in the Sioux City Cathedral of the Epiphany were filled with the diocesan faithful for the March 30 annual chrism Mass, the first for Bishop John Keehner in the Diocese of Sioux City. In addition to adult parishioners, over 200 students from numerous Catholic schools throughout the diocese and some parish religious education students attended the event.

A groundbreaking ceremony for a new school addition on April 1 at Gehlen Catholic School in Le Mars affirmed that the legacy of Catholic education is alive and well in the community. Following a school Mass at St. Joseph Church in Le Mars, hundreds of students from Gehlen Catholic School gathered north of the elementary building for the Legacy Campaign Groundbreaking Ceremony.

(CNS) In the first Holy Thursday homily of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV called on Catholics to embrace a mission of selfless love, leaving behind comfort and control.

(Bilingual) By suffering for us, by undergoing the horrific death by means of crucifixion, Jesus has turned reality inside out, so that death no longer has the final say in terms of human existence. Rather, in the person of Jesus himself, we see that life is stronger than death. Al sufrir por nosotros, al sufrir la horrible muerte en la cruz, Jesús ha dado un giro radical a la realidad, de modo que la muerte ya no tiene la última palabra en lo que respecta a la existencia humana. Más bien, en la persona del mismo Jesús, vemos que la vida es más fuerte que la muerte.

UPDATED Several parishes in the Diocese of Sioux City are holding Divine Mercy Sunday services on April 12. Many of the services include reflections, adoration, confession and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV advanced the sainthood cause of Father Edward Flanagan, the Irish-born founder of a pioneering home for at-risk boys in the United States, recognizing that he lived the Christian virtues heroically.

About 150 men attended the March 21 diocesan Men’s Conference, co-hosted by All Saints Parish Men’s Group in Le Mars. Keynote speaker Dr. Ray Guarendi, psychologist, national speaker and host of “The Doctor is In” EWTN radio program. Standing Strong as a Man, Parent and Grandparent was the conference theme.