Temperatures are beginning to soar; humidity’s up; bug spray’s in abundance — let the fun begin at Camp Ondessonk. Young people don’t mind inconvenience and a little heat because they are living the dream while they explore, hike, ride — two-wheeled or four-footed — swim, craft and more in the 983 acres of the great outdoors in the Shawnee National Forest.

When Molly Olson was growing up, going to St. Clare School in O’Fallon, learning her faith in a warm and loving family, who knew she would become caught by compassion and a determination to respond and to act for victims of human sexual trafficking, giving voice to a tragedy engulfing young people around the world and here in our midst in the Midwest?

The King’s House Retreat and Renewal Center in Belleville is announcing its new director, Deacon Douglas Boyer. As the King’s House celebrates its 65th anniversary and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate celebrate their 200th anniversary, they look to the future with excitement and energy, much the way their new director does.