Editor’s Note: The following story was written by students from Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School. Father Maurice Nutt, a former student of Sister Thea Bowman, is optimistic about her chance of sainthood. Fr. Nutt was in town recently for a revival at Saint Augustan of Hippo, and he decided to […]

A year ago, the men and women who serve southern Illinois inmates’ spiritual needs lost their leader, Father Christopher Reuter, OFM. It’s been a year of poignant reminders and a determination to continue to fulfill Father Reuter’s vital work, says Louis Slapshak, associate director for prison ministry for the Diocese of Belleville.

For Dennis Trickey, God’s call came in stillness. Trickey, then a rising junior at Mater Dei Catholic High School, was attending a summer retreat aimed at vocations. As an altar server, Eucharistic minister and lector at his home parish in Pierron, he’d often been told by parishioners and priests that he’d make a good priest, but he hadn’t thought much about it.