News - January 2024 RSS Feed

The Star of the North Eucharistic Congress in Bemidji at the Sanford Center takes place May 17-18. The speakers and musicians appearing include Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens, Bishop Daniel J. Felton, Bishop Robert E. Barron, Father Mike Schmitz, Sister Jude Andrew Link, Aly Aleigha, and Tanner Kalina.

It has been a little over a year since I released the Pastoral Letter “The Dawn from High Shall Break Upon Us: Healing, Hope and Joy in Jesus.” Since that time, we have sought to bring healing to the hurts within our personal lives, within our families, parishes, diocese, and the communities where we live. 

Lent is right around the corner, and I never seem to know what to do for the season. I’ve tried giving things up, but it always seems a bit hollow. What should I do? 

For the first time in my life since I’ve been old enough to understand what a television is, I went an entire season without watching a single Minnesota Vikings game, or any other American football. (Time will tell if I break down and watch the Super Bowl at a party or something.) 

There’s a real freedom when you get to the point in life where you do not care about what other people think. I feel especially bad for teenagers, because they tend to be the ones most influenced by peer pressure; many teenagers are consumed with the thoughts of what other people think, and that is a real form of slavery, because it actually contributes to how they behave and what they wear as well as a whole host of other behaviors.

Every year for the First Sunday of Lent, the church gives us Jesus’ temptation in the desert. This year, it comes from St. Mark’s Gospel. Temptation is something we all have to deal with and we must avoid it if we are to live lives of holiness as God calls us to. 

A few months back, my article mentioned the family struggles we had while my mother was in the end stages of her life. Admittedly, I was not close to my mother, and we never did have much of a relationship. We did not fight; there were no apparent signs or actions of disrespect, and I am not sure we ever had any significant conflicts.

Itasca County residents joined thousands of pro-life Minnesotans at the State Capitol on Jan. 22 for the annual March for Life.