Nov. 9, 2023 Parish Link

Father Yunker Lithuanian Student Assistance Fund - Applications are now being solicited for college scholarship grants under the Father Yunker Lithuanian Student Assistance Fund. Qualifications: Applicants must have Lithuanian ancestry and must be a practicing member of the Roman Catholic Church. Complete application must be received by the close of business on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Details and application can be downloaded from foundationforthepeople.org or dio.org/schools

A bulletin announcement is also available to promote this.

Community of Religious Educators (CORE) - The next CORE meeting is Tuesday, November 14 at 10 AM at St. Paul parish in Highland. CORE stands for Community of Religious Educators and is a regular gathering of religious educators for ongoing professional development, insights into diocesan initiatives and for networking with one another. Lunch is provided. The agenda for the day will include a review of our diocesan religion standards and strategies for developing a culture of lifelong faith formation in our parishes. Please register by November 10 by contacting Kyle Holtgrave at kholtgrave@dio.org or call (217) 698-8500, ext. 154.

Religious Emblems Orientation - Scouts interested in earning the Ad Altare Dei or Pope Pius XII religious emblem are invited to an orientation meeting on Sunday, November 5 at 7:00 PM at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Springfield. This orientation will give a brief overview of both religious emblem programs and materials Scouts will need to participate. Please RSVP for the meeting by contacting Kyle Holtgrave at (217) 698-8500, ext. 154 or email scouting@dio.org. Information about the diocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting can be found at https://dio.org/scouts/.

Catechesis for Persons with Special Needs - To remain committed to providing a welcoming, accessible and inclusive environment for all, the Office for Catholic Education provides information and resources for faith formation for people who have special needs. Grant money is available to assist parishes with adaptive resources for faith formation. Details can be found on the diocesan website at https://dio.org/catechesis/special-needs/. Contact the Office for Catholic Education at catechesis@dio.org or (217) 698-8500 ext. 154 for further assistance.

Your Christmas Mass schedule needed - Catholic Times will be publishing Christmas Mass schedules, which will appear in the Dec. 10 edition. If you would like your parish/parishes included, please complete the online form by Nov. 16. Note, if you have several parishes, please submit separate submissions, one for each church. Submit your schedule here: ct.dio.org/christmasschedule. Thank you in advance!

Catholic Schools Week submissions needed - Catholic Schools Week begins on Jan. 28, 2024. Catholic Times will be featuring the annual Catholic Schools Week special section in our January 21 edition. We would like every school to participate in this special section in recognition of Catholic education. Each school has two options and one way to submit your piece. You can either:

1. send Catholic Times an article of 250 (or so) words or:
2. send a picture with a short caption.

You will submit this using the online form here: https://www.jotform.com/form/92934909594979

When you submit your article or photograph about your school, the topic is up to you, with one exception — no sports stories. The stories should be typed and double-spaced, about 250 (or so) words. Photos should be 300 dpi or better and sent as an image file (such as .jpeg or .pdf). Everything must be submitted through the link above. Submissions must be made by Thursday, Dec. 14.

Please use this as an opportunity to highlight something unique at your school, even if it has occurred within the last few months. Whether it is an event, some of your students did something amazing, how your school gives back, something your students will be doing in 2024 that is exciting — anything that highlights Catholic education and especially your school. Think of this as a marketing opportunity to showcase your school.

Answering your questions on dying and death - Catholic Times has put together an easy to navigate and comprehensive look at end-of-life issues. A bulletin announcement is available for easy copy and paste to promote this.

New Catholic Times website - Your local Catholic source for news, inspiration, and learning about the faith just got better. Check out the new Catholic Times website for the latest news, videos, podcasts, interviews, Bishop Paprocki's column, and more! dio.org/catholictimes/

CRS Rice Bowl Workshop: Catholic Relief Service (CRS) is offering a virtual workshops on Tuesday, November 14th to help prepare for CRS Rice Bowl 2024.  The workshop is 1.5 hours long.  Please encourage your school and parish leadership to participate in this interactive workshop.  It is a workshop that will help prepare for a successful CRS Rice Bowl 2024.  Leaders interested in attending should contact Donna Moore at dmoore@dio.org.

Mission Magazine, Autumn Edition:  Invitation to read “Mission” a magazine of the Pontifical Mission Societies which has stories about the remote regions, communities, and families you serve with donations to the Pope’s Missions.

Check out the autumn edition of Mission. Walk alongside a priest pursuing his doctorate, come to better understand the continued hardships plaguing Syria, watch as a religious sister offers comforting hugs to those with leprosy, and so much more.

Solemnity of Christ the King:  The Committee for Religious Liberty has identified the Solemnity of Christ the King as a fitting moment in the liturgical year to promote the Church’s teaching on religious freedom.  The Committee has prepared materials to help educate the faithful about this Solemnity, which the Church celebrates this year on November 26, 2023. These materials include:

1. Lectionary Notes 
2. A brief background on the Solemnity 
3. Social media graphics 
4. A Novena to Christ the King 

Please note that this is distinct from the Global Celebration of Young People also taking place on Christ the King Sunday. For details about that, go to https://www.usccb.org/topics/world-youth-day/annual-celebration.

Word of Life:  November’s edition of Word of Life is now available.  Word of Life is a monthly resource for parishes.  The resource is available in both English and Spanish, in both PDF or Microsoft Word formats.  Each monthly issue contains information such as:  a feature reflection for the month, intercessions for life, quotes for your bulletin, and art for your bulletin, webpage or Facebook page.

Educational materials/videos about Eucharist - During our Year of the Eucharist, if you are looking for articles/videos to use in bulletins, hand-outs, discussion nights, etc., we have several things you can use here with no restrictions.

Parish Resources for the Diocesan Year of the Eucharist - Pastoral Resource are available for parishes. Go to https://dio.org/revival/learn/.

Traveling Monstrance: During the Diocesan Year of the Eucharist (Dec. 8 2022- Dec. 8 2023) parishes of the diocese are encouraged to increase their devotion to the Eucharist. To this end, we are inviting parishes to consider adding a special time to increase devotion to the Eucharist at Adoration and will be offering a special traveling monstrance for each parish to use for Adoration at their parish. The monstrance was dedicated to the Right Reverend H.D. Junker, D.D. Bishop of Alton, IL by the German Catholics of Quincy, IL .Parishes may request the monstrance on a specific date by signing up here: https://dio.org/revival/signup/.