I recently had a pleasant surprise when a dozen or so youth of the St. Agnes Cathedral’s Vietnamese community helped serve a Friday evening meal under the leadership of Sr. Grace Nguyen, CMR, from Springfield Catholic High School. I try to participate as often as...
Come, And You Will See
Contemplative Communities Grace the Diocese With Prayer & Witness
The December issue of First Things, contained a poem entitled “Passionate Souls,” by Aaron Belz, giving his poetic insight into the lives of the monks at Assumption Abbey outside Ava, MO. I visit the monastery often, sometimes just to pray in the chapel, other times...
Lenten Youth Project: Children Feeding Children
“This is the acceptable time for you to arise and begin your journey, dear friend. This long, often dark, and usually strange journey—which all in search of God must undertake—is a journey inward; for He dwells within you. He is within all who have been baptized in...
A Call to Action: DECLINE TO SIGN
January 22 is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, marking the 1973 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas statute banning abortion, and thus legalizing the procedure across the United States. All of us are aware of the 2022 Dobbs...
May the Year 2024 be annus mirabilis
As we continue with the Eucharist Revival throughout the United States, hopefully each one of us is being challenged in our attitude and our understanding of the unique treasure the Eucharist is in the midst of the Church. Every year a list goes out to the pastors...
Declaration Remains Firm on the Doctrine of the Church
The following letter was issued by Bishop Rice to all clergy of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau on Dec. 21, 2023. He wanted to issue it to all the Faithful as well, as his column in this issue of the diocesan newspaper: Dear Bishop, Monsignors, Fathers, and...
Root Your Activities in the True Meaning of Christmas!
As we draw close to Christmas and the Christmas Season, I offer to you my prayers and a special remembrance during all of our beautiful celebrations. It is often the case that the days after Christmas give us the time to pause and reflect on the beautiful reality of...
May Our Gaze Be Ever On The Poor & Most Vulnerable Among Us
I offer a special word of thanks to the schools in the Cape Girardeau area that collected donations for the All Schools Mass held Oct. 10 in Notre Dame Regional High School. Altogether, $1,458 was collected to support LifeHouse in Cape Girardeau. At a recent pro-life...
What May We Do to Make Advent Less “Frantic,” More Prayerful
Part of the rigors of publishing a Catholic newspaper twice a month is to look ahead and be aware of what feasts, holidays, and seasons are right around the corner. So as I write this column on Nov. 10, I have to be aware of Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent....
Transcendent Experiences Connect Us to Spiritual Realities
Did you see the article in the August 25th edition of Our Sunday Visitor entitled, “How to live like Saints in a Secular Age?” I kept the article near me because I wanted to reference it as we prepare to enter the Month of November with our two beautiful feasts,...