About 150 youth and adults gathered March 4-6 at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, Ill., to consider the theme: “Here to Serve: God’s Love in Action.” They came from as far as Mt. Carmel and Hamilton County and as near as St. Teresa in Belleville.

If it’s Lent, a fish fry must be someplace near here, wherever “here” is. Each Lent for the past few years, Sue Huett, diocesan Office of Worship director and I have been sampling fish at a different location each week.

How important are our children in 21st century America? I ask the question because we have so many ways our children are pulled from one direction to the next, it’s hard not only to establish but also to maintain a strong, faith-filled family life.