November 10, 2022
Community of Religious Educators (CORE) - The next CORE meeting is Thursday, November 17 at 10 AM at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Springfield. 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. Please register by November 10 by contacting Kyle Holtgrave at kholtgrave@dio.org or call (217) 698-8500, ext. 154.
SEEK Conference in St. Louis Jan. 2-6 - World-class speakers, fellowship, prayer, entertainment, and more will encourage participants to answer a new call to greatness, holiness, joy, and mission through the SEEK Conference. This five-day event, hosted by FOCUS takes place at the America's Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, Jan. 2-6 (although attendees can attend single days). SEEK23 attendees will step away from daily distractions and participate in prayer, adoration, Scripture, and the sacraments celebrated by hundreds of priests and bishops, including Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Registration is open at https://seek.focus.org/. Catholics in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois also receive a discount as a neighboring diocese of the Archdiocese of St. Louis (you will receive it when you type in your zip code).
Free episode of The Chair highlights the rich story of our diocese from yesterday to today - The story of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois is featured in an episode of The Chair, a television series celebrating the best of Catholicism in the United States. To watch the FREE episode and others, go to thechair.com/watchnow. Note, you’ll have to create a FREE account to watch. You can use a bulletin annoucement to promote it/talk about it with people. There is also a graphic you can use.
Answering your questions on dying and death — The diocese has put together an easy to navigate and comprehensive look at end-of-life issues. Go to dio.org/funeral for questions like: Why should one pre-plan their funeral? If my loved one is dying, what should I do? Why must one insist on Catholic funeral rites? Why should one pray for the dead? Who should one insist upon being buried in a Catholic cemetery? Also covered is the issue of cremation, among other topics. As the month of November is dedicated to praying for the dead, now is a good time to learn more about dying and death from our Catholic faith perspective. (Note, this information is also in the Bulletin Announcements section of this Parish Link for easy copy and paste into bulletins, e-communications with your parishioners)
LAST CALL! Your Christmas Mass schedule needed - Catholic Timeswill be publishing Christmas Mass schedules, which will appear in the Dec. 11 edition. If you would like your parish/parishes included, please complete the online form by Nov. 14. Note, if you have several parishes, please submit seperate submissions, one for each church. It can be found here: ct.dio.org/christmasschedule. Thank you in advance!
New diocese contact for subscriptions - Please send all new updates (names and addresses of your parishioners) for subscriptions for Catholic Times to Ruth Staab (rstaab@dio.org) and/or Laurie Weakley (lweakley@dio.org). This includes new parishioners, people who moved out of your parish, or those who have died. As a reminder, if you do this regularly, you will not have to send us massive updates later on. Thank you!
MCA Annual Christmas Artwork Contest: Calling All Young Artists - Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) has an annual Christmas Artwork Contest for students from K-8th grade. Entries should be sent to the Office for the Missions, 1615 W. Washington St, Springfield, IL 62702 no later than January 31, 2023. Local, diocesan winners will be submitted to the National Office of the Missionary Childhood Association. National winners will be on display in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Throughout Advent and Christmas 2023. General information, guidelines and entry form can be found at: MCA Artwork Contest Entry Form (missio.org). Please share this information with school principals, art teachers, and DREs.
Alton Deanery Parish Vitality Workshop Thursday, November 17thfrom 11 am-1:30 pm - You are invited to this at St. Boniface Parish (110 North Buchanan St. Edwardsville, IL). Parish staff and volunteers will receive updates on resources for stewardship communications, gift planning, stewardship ministries and so much more! Please RSVP by Monday, the 14th to ensure we have an adequate count for the lunch order and let us know if your party has any dietary restrictions. To RSVP, email Katie Price at kprice@dio.org.
See the flyer for more information.
Flocknote available to parishes - The Diocese of Springfield has partnered with Flocknote in a desire to help support parishes in their ongoing communication efforts. The cost of Flocknote is covered by the diocese! What’s Flocknote, you ask? Well, it’s an easy-to-use, safe-environment-compliant tool to supercharge your parish communications. It also provides a library of Catholic templates and resources that you can share with your parishioners. Check out this 60-second video to learn more! If you'd like to get your parish started, you can do so here: flocknote.com/parish-champion. Danny Dilone is our Flocknote point of contact and he is reaching out to all of our parishes via phone and email. We really encourage you to take advantage of this easy and helpful tool!! He will help you with the simple onboarding process and will provide continued support. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Debbie Benz (dbenz@dio.org) or you can schedule a call with Danny at: https://calendly.com/flocknote/30min.
Promote Planned Giving! FreeWill available to parishes at no cost - $70 Trillion is being passed on during the Great Wealth Transfer and the promotion of planned giving and gifts of non-cash assets is more important than ever! The Diocese of Springfield has partnered with FreeWill to help parishes educate their donors on the benefits and value of planned giving, specifically via bequests, gifts of stocks, and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs). The cost of FreeWill is covered by the diocese!
Would you like to partner with the PVMA office to launch planned giving at your parish and/or school? As part of launching planned giving at your parish we will:
- Provide training and resources on: What is planned giving, why is it important, and how does it work; FreeWill products and how they work; Best practices for marketing and stewarding planned gifts
- Provide written content to educate your parishioners on the value and benefits of planned giving as well as the promotion of giving in this manner including: Print & Bulletin content; Social Media content; Email campaign content
- Help you create an acknowledgement process to appropriately thank and steward your planned gift donors
To sign up, CLICK THIS LINK! Any questions or concerns, please contact Rachel Langdon at rlangdon@dio.org or 217-321-1113.
Days of Prayer and Reflection: The Black Catholic Commission is hosting Days of Prayer and Reflection in Beardstown, Collinsville, Decatur, and Springfield. These days of reflection are in preparation for the National Black Catholic Congress XIII. Each day of prayer and reflection is an opportunity to reflect on God's word and share thoughts on what faith-filled actions our diocese and parishes can do to make our Church thrive. For specific dates and additional information go to: https://www.dio.org/plasm/black-catholic-commission.htm
DCJH Collection: November 19-20, 2022 is the annual collection for the Diocesan Campaign for Justice and Hope (DCJH). Donations make it possible to provide hope and assistance of food, clothing, housing, education and medication to local people living in poverty. 100% of the contributions stay within our Diocese. Please promote this collection and encourage parishioners to give generously. If you miss the opportunity to help through your parish collection, you can still contribute by mail or by going to www.dio.org/dcjh. The mailing address is: Catholic Pastoral Center, DCJH, Pro-Life Activities and Special Ministries, 1615 West Washington St., Springfield, IL 62702
Rachel's Vineyard Retreat: Rachel's Vineyard Retreat for people affected by abortion January 20-22, 2023, at the Villa Maria Retreat Center. The cost is $150. Scholarships are available for those not able to pay the full registration fee. Please let others know about this healing opportunity. For more information call 217-698-4456, or email projectrachel@dio.org.
Solemnity of Christ the King: The Solemnity of Christ the King is a fitting moment in the liturgical year to promote the Church's teaching on religious freedom. Below are materials to help educate the faithful about this Solemnity, which the Church celebrates this year on November 20, 2022.
1. Lectionary Notes
2. A brief background on the Solemnity
3. Social media graphics
4. A Novena to Christ the King
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.