When Mike Kish first entered the doors of Immaculate Conception School (ICS) in Columbia, he was a young student starting first grade. The year was 1955. In 1971, he entered the doors of ICS as an eighth-grade teacher. Four years later, he became the school’s principal. On July 1, 2021, after 50 years serving the Catholic Diocese of Belleville and the students, families and staff, Mike Kish will retire as principal of Immaculate Conception School. “I wanted to create a school I would want to attend. Actually, a school where Joseph and Mary would want to send Jesus,” Kish says, reflecting on his long career at ICS.

The Joost family of Swansea have always been active in the Pro-Life Movement. Twenty-two years ago Lyndon Joost and his wife Elaine found out that they were about to give birth to a daughter with extreme disabilities. “We made that choice for life,” Lyndon said.

With the Apostolic Letter, Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis recalls the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To mark the occasion, the Holy Father has proclaimed a “Year of St. Joseph” from December 8, 2020, to December 8, 2021. The pope wrote Patris corde, according to an article from Vatican News, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, he says, has helped us see more clearly the importance of “ordinary” people who, though far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day.