Father Mark Stec, vicar forane for the East Vicariate, leads the spring farm blessing at the farm of the Jeanne and Jim Tennis family in Mt. Carmel.

Father John Joyce died April 8 at the Hincke-Sense Home for Retired Priests in Belleville. He was 70 years old.
At his request, Father Joyce’s body has been cremated, and the Liturgy of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Bernard in Albers when his brother, Stephen Joyce, is able to travel from New York to the diocese.

Piece by piece, love is stitched into the fabric of every sheet made for baby beds. Measuring fabric, cutting elastic, dropping the needle — it’s all part of the ritual as Dorothy Suchomski makes crib sheets for the Pregnancy Care Center in Belleville.