News - December 2025 RSS Feed

Students at St. Rose of Lima School participated in las Posadas - re-enacting Joseph and Mary struggling to find a room at the inn before Jesus is born.

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.

Pope Leo XIV will formally close the Jubilee Year of Hope in Rome on Jan. 6, 2026, on the feast of the Epiphany. In the Diocese of Sioux City, Bishop John E. Keehner closed the holy year on Dec. 28, on the feast of the Holy Family, at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

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.

(Bilingual English and Spanish) ... Of course, our celebration of Christmas is very much a celebration of the light of God’s love come into the world in the person of his only begotten son ... Por supuesto, nuestra celebración de la Navidad es en gran parte una celebración de la Luz del amor de Dios que ha venido al mundo en la persona de su Hijo Unigénito...

Father Eugene Earl Sitzmann, 90, retired priest of the Diocese of Sioux City, died Dec. 20 in Cherokee. His funeral Mass will be Dec. 30 at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Le Mars with Bishop John Keehner and Father David Hemann presiding. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery in Le Mars. Visitation will be 10 a.m. to noon Dec. 29 at the Greenwood-Schubert Funeral Home in Cherokee. Visitation with the family present will be Dec. 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. at St. Joseph Church in Le Mars. A prayer service will be held at 7 p.m. at the church.

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.

St. Edmond Catholic School in Fort Dodge raised funds through the annual Festival of Trees event for the Remsen St. Mary High School students recovering from a traffic accident in November near 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."