Belleville astronaut Sandy Magnus with residents at the Benedictine Living Community before her April 17 visit (Submitted). By David Wilhelm Messenger Editor Sr. Barb Biver remembers the time several years ago when an Elvis Presley impersonator came to entertain residents at the Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine of Our […]
Dominic Grzegorek, of Ashley, regularly prays at the grotto (right) for the Blessed Mother Mary that was built on his property by Nashville mason Dave Schuette. “It’s a way of honoring her and showing respect for her, and it turned out really good,” Grzegorek said (Submitted). By Linda Norris Messenger […]
Raphael H. “Rafe” Middeke, 92, of Trenton, formerly of Damiansville, died at 6:25 a.m. Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at Aviston Countryside Manor. He was born June 21, 1933, in rural Clinton County, a son of the late Bernard and Mary (nee Hellmann) Middeke. After attending St. Rose Elementary School, Rafe […]
A U.S. Army detachment from Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri carries the remains of World War II veteran Edgar William “Billy” Nevois to his final resting place at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Prairie du Rocher. At left, Illinois Patriot Guard Riders hold flags and salute Nevois, who died in […]
While elementary school students are still enjoying their summer vacations, new Catholic school principals began their first days on the job July 1, and they are anxious to move forward with their plans for the new school year that begins in mid-August in most cases.
Temperatures are beginning to soar; humidity’s up; bug spray’s in abundance — let the fun begin at Camp Ondessonk. Young people don’t mind inconvenience and a little heat because they are living the dream while they explore, hike, ride — two-wheeled or four-footed — swim, craft and more in the 983 acres of the great outdoors in the Shawnee National Forest.
When Molly Olson was growing up, going to St. Clare School in O’Fallon, learning her faith in a warm and loving family, who knew she would become caught by compassion and a determination to respond and to act for victims of human sexual trafficking, giving voice to a tragedy engulfing young people around the world and here in our midst in the Midwest?
