“As a Catholic going to a Catholic high school, I feel that participating in my school’s Theology Club is a great way to deepen and further my education in religion,” says Julia Nugent, 18, a senior from O’Fallon. “It exposes me to other people’s thoughts on religion and other theological ideas,” she says. Nugent attends Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville and is co-president of the Theology Club.

When Angie Leonelli found Pietra Fitness online, she fell in love with it. “It spoke to my heart in ways yoga never could,” she says. “I used to make up my own prayer workouts because I love prayer and fitness together. When I found Pietra Fitness, I thought, Wow!” Leonelli, a Pietra Fitness instructor and parishioner at St. Clare Church, O’Fallon, says this exercise option combines the love of fitness and Catholic faith.

“It’s Canon Law that surrounding parishes take care of those who are in the prisons near them. Those in custody at these prisons are members of the local parish,” says Louis Slapshack, associate coordinator for prison and reentry ministry for the Diocese of Belleville. Taking care of incarcerated parishioners’ needs—both spiritual and temporal—is the mission of the Prison and Reentry Ministry. The spiritual isolation brought on by COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on prisoners, Slapshak notes. Prior to COVID-19 mandates, priests, deacons and lay persons could enter the prisons and offer scripture studies or RCIA classes.