“Catholic education is wonderful,” Michael Buscher says. Buscher is the new principal at St. Bruno in Pinckneyville. He was a retired public school principal and teacher and also spent eight years as associate director for education for the Diocese of Belleville. He came out of retirement to take the position at St. Bruno because they needed a principal. “We are putting faith together with what is taught in the classroom. Our parents think that is important. And it is,” he says.

“It was an awesome weekend.” Uplifting. Powerful. Motivational. Inspiring. An amazing weekend. These adjectives and many more were shared by two faith formation leaders and several teenagers from the Diocese of Belleville who attended the Steubenville STL Mid-America Conferences. The Steubenville Youth Conferences are a series of 25 conferences across North America that help teens encounter the love of Christ. Steubenville STL Mid-America Conferences (also called SteubySTL) are two of the conferences that are held every year in July on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.

Three recent high school graduates were chosen by the administration at their respective schools to receive the Bishop’s Discipleship Award. The award is given for exhibiting Catholic identity in knowledge, attitude and behavior both within school and in the wider community. The awards were presented by Bishop Michael McGovern at their combined Baccalaureate Mass, held May 3 at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Belleville.