Bishop Edward K. Braxton hosted a luncheon Sept. 12 at his residence for Father Evaristus Okaa Onwuogu, Personal Secretary to His Excellency, the Most Rev. Valerian M. Okeke, Archbishop of Onitsha, Nigeria. Father Onwuogu was a guest of the bishop while visiting fidei donum missionaries from Onitsha, who are serving in Belleville.

Each year, for the past nine years, people have gathered to honor individuals who have taken their faith out of the pews and into the marketplace — into the lives of the working men and women of our diocese, to the clients and customers who will reap the rewards of these laborers, in the clinics and hospitals, caring for the sick, in the courtroom making sure justice is served, in the lives of grief-stricken families, in the care of our children and “walking the talk” of faith in everyday life.

Not a stellar athlete? Neither am I, but I can still ride a bike, and I’ll be doing just that for Pedal the Cause, a nonprofit that raises money for cancer research at Siteman Cancer Center and Children’s Hospital, both in St. Louis. I ride because my friend Larry died with cancer, and I have good friends who have or are battling that terrible disease. Some won’t make it, like Larry, but some will.