Father Federico Higuera, 77, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Anna, died Sept. 4 in Carbondale. He had been in failing health for some time. He was assigned to the pastorate of St. Mary Parish in Anna in 2009 and continued as the pastor of the Union County parish until his death. He was the face and presence of Hispanic ministry in the Cobden-Anna-Carbondale area for 35 years.
Diocesan priests Fathers Flannery and Salamanca say we should welcome the ‘stranger among us’
To celebrate the ministry of priests in the diocese, The Messenger invited parishioners to comment on how priests’ pastoral ministries affect their spiritual and personal lives or the parish community.
John Reed just made a triumphant return to the Metro East, bearing a gold medal he won in the 2018 Transplant Games of America in Salt Lake City. The road to that victory – and to the life-changing kidney transplant he received four years ago – ran through Holy Family Catholic Church in Cahokia. That’s where his parents, John and Dee, are members and where their fellow parishioner, Kathy Carron, learned about his need for a kidney donor.
Bishop Edward K. Braxton has appointed Jaime Gil Nuñez as the new Director of Faith Formation for the Diocese. The appointment is effective Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018.
The director of faith formation provides a central role in the promotion and implementation of the National Directory for Catechesis to parishes in the diocese.
Three sisters growing up in rural Clinton County, chose a path of religious life – one that branched into separate journeys all over the country and even the world. Now the sisters, all of whom are celebrating jubilee years, have come to live together for the first time in decades.
Holy Trinity Parishioner Receives Inspiration on Journey of the Saint James Way
Twice a month, a group of men and women with a commitment to fostering vocations to the priesthood and religious life come together at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows to pray and learn.
Monsignor Thomas Flach’s journey in the priesthood took a difficult turn more than 10 years ago, when an unexpected illness slowed his steps.
Father Christian Reuter, OFM, is being remembered for his early work in the Civil Rights Movement and his admirable work with inmates in southern Illinois prisons and with ex-offenders.
They donated for years, sometimes decades, putting checks into envelopes that traveled thousands of miles to help sister parishes in Guatemala.
“I am pleased to share with you the information from our Conference of Bishops concerning the January 22nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion.
For the second time in two months a personal representative of the Holy Father has been the guest of Bishop Braxton and the Diocese of Belleville. Last month, on September 25, The Most Rev. Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, spent a day in the Diocese.
People living with mental illness become visible when a crisis occurs, when ordinary life is interrupted, usually in a dramatic way, that brings with it unwanted attention that does little to solve a problem or mitigate the circumstances surrounding an incident.
For 28 years, St. Joseph Hospital in Breese has been assisting families whose children have died, either prior to birth or at any age after birth. Director of the Women and Infants Center at the hospital, Helen Essenpreis, remembers 1986 when a colleague suffered a loss …