The Catholic Messenger

09/06/2025

Did you know: Today is International Day of Charity?

The Diocese of Davenport's Missionary Cooperative Plan offers local Catholics the opportunity to support select missions across the globe! Read about one of them - St. Paul Pre and Primary School in Musoma, Tanzania - in this week's Catholic Messenger!

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger A professor posed a question to Father Robert Luvakubandi of Tanzania, Africa during his ...Read More

09/05/2025

Life Teen Summer Camp, in the north Georgia mountains, made the impact Bishop Walsh hoped for when he invited Trevor Pullinger, the diocese’s director of Faith Formation and Catechesis coordinator, and Zac Robinson, a theology teacher at Assumption High School in Davenport to camp.

Life Teen is a Catholic lay apostolate that supports parishes in their efforts to nurture teens as disciples of Christ who share their love for the Catholic faith with others. Its summer camps in north Georgia (and one opening near St. Louis, Missouri) provide a springboard to year-round youth ministry aimed at sustaining and building on the mountaintop experiences of the camp’s participants.

Bishop Walsh wanted Pullinger and Robinson “to see maybe a different vision of what youth ministry could be in the Diocese of Davenport. I want to make (our) youth ministry about discipleship, and making disciples. Oftentimes, youth ministry kind of becomes just games and activities and social events, but I think what Life Teen does differently is it really encourages young teenagers in the Church to have a love for the Church, to go to Mass, and to live a life of discipleship.”

Read the full story in the Sept. 4 Catholic Messenger! Subscribe today!

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger Bishop Dennis Walsh took two faith formation leaders to a faith-based camp this summer ...Read More

08/30/2025

Parishioners and other well-wishers filled the pews of Sacred Heart Cathedral for Saturday night Mass on Aug. 23, the first of two farewell Masses that weekend for Bishop-elect Thom Hennen. This week, he left for the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, where he will be ordained and installed as bishop on Sept. 29.

“It is not easy for me to say goodbye — and so I won’t!” he said, evoking the congregation’s laughter before beginning his homily. “I will, as I have always tried to do, preach the Gospel, and then I will say ‘See you later!’ As believers in the communion of the saints, in the Resurrection, and as members of the Universal Church, the one, holy body of Christ, ‘see you later’ makes more sense to me than ‘goodbye.’ After all, we are connected. There is nothing that can undo that except for the individual choice to cut oneself off from the communion, with God and with each other.”

Read the full story in the Aug. 28 Catholic Messenger or at this link.

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By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger DAVENPORT — Parishioners and other well-wishers filled the pews of Sacred Heart Cathedral for ...Read More

08/28/2025

We’re still feeling the joy from this beautiful celebration, St. Thomas More Catholic Church!

By Lindsay Steele The Catholic Messenger CORALVILLE — For years, St. Thomas More Parish prayed and planned for a church ...Read More

08/28/2025

Bishop Walsh's Statement on Annunciation School Tragedy:

https://catholicmessenger.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/DGW-Statement-on-Annunciation-School-Tragedy-0825.pdf

08/25/2025

Congratulations St. Thomas More Catholic Church on your beautiful new church!

Story to come.

08/25/2025

Iowa’s “Super Bull” at the Iowa State Fair amazed Father Dominic Nguyen, born and raised in Vietnam. Witnessing the birth of a calf in the fair’s Animal Learning Center was a thrilling experience for Father David Paintsil of Ghana, Africa. Watching a fair participant shear a sheep was among the many things Father Isaac Essel of Ghana saw for the first time in his life. Father Charles Fladung, the host of his brother priests’ day at the state fair earlier this month, smiled at their reaction to this cherished Iowa tradition.

Father Fladung, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Solon, began hosting the state fair visit in 2023 after listening to a priest from Ghana share the challenges of adapting to a new country. “How do we help these brother priests learn about Iowa,” Father Fladung asked himself. “How do we help them understand the culture?” The state fair came to mind. “The Iowa State Fair is like Iowa all in one place – agriculture, industry, entertainment and competition,” Father Fladung said. “It’s the best of everything ‘Iowa.’”

Read the full story in the Aug. 21 Catholic Messenger or at this link.

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Support Catholic news with a print and/or e-edition subscription to The Catholic Messenger! Contact your parish or sign up at https://www.catholicmessenger.net/forms/subscriberservices.php!

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger Iowa’s “Super Bull” at the Iowa State Fair amazed Father Dominic Nguyen, born and ...Read More

08/23/2025

GUIDING THE NEXT GENERATION TO KNOW AND WALK WITH JESUS

Put 45 faith formation leaders in a room with an inspiring, humorous speaker and a diocesan director wearing a banana costume and you’ve got a crowd going bananas for passing on the faith. Who would have known that developing resiliency, practical insight and spiritual depth could involve having some fun, too?

Catholic speaker Mike Patin, a popular presenter invited frequently to the Diocese of Davenport, led the Catechetical Leader Summit Aug. 13, aiming to equip the faith formation leaders for the journey ahead in the new programming year. They had expressed “a strong need for formation that speaks directly to the challenges they’re facing,” said Trevor Pullinger, diocesan director of Faith Formation and Catechesis coordinator.

Read the full story in the Aug. 21 Catholic Messenger or at this link.

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Support local Catholic news with a print and/or e-edition subscription to The Catholic Messenger for less than $3 a month! Contact your parish, sign up at https://www.catholicmessenger.net/forms/subscriberservices.php or call us today!

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger RIVERSIDE — Put 45 faith formation leaders in a room with an inspiring, humorous ...Read More

08/23/2025

Our conversation with Bishop Dennis Walsh focuses on Life Teen summer camp, Theology on Tap and the Catechetical Leader Summit – three different but energizing opportunities to engage youth and adults in our Catholic faith.

Our conversation with Bishop Dennis Walsh focuses on Life Teen summer camp, Theology on Tap and the Catechetical Leader Summit – three different but energizing opportunities to engage youth and adults in our Catholic faith. Renew Our Hearts, copyright 2019 by Joe Mattingly. All rights reserved.Pub...

08/22/2025

Iowa’s Catholic bishops have promulgated a collaborative pastoral letter, Pilgrims of Hope, which articulates the Church’s long-standing magisterial teaching on migration.

Los obispos Católicos de Iowa publicaron una reflexión pastoral sobre la inmigración el 22 de agosto de 2025, el Memorial de la Realeza de María, llamada “Peregrinos de Esperanza”.

Read the letter here:https://catholicmessenger.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pilgrims-of-Hope-Pastoral-Reflection-2025.pdf

Leer en español:https://catholicmessenger.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pilgrims-of-Hope-Pastoral-Reflection-2025-Spanish.pdf

08/20/2025

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Leo XIV asked Catholics to observe Aug. 22 as a day of prayer and fasting for peace and justice, particularly in Ukraine and in the…

08/18/2025

“Honestly we just jumped in to do this as a family," said Kelli Totemeier, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Columbus Junction. "So when the need was there, we just did what we needed to do.”

Read the full story in the Aug. 14 Catholic Messenger or at this link.

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Support local Catholic news with a print and/or e-edition subscription to The Catholic Messenger for less than $3 a month! Contact your parish or register on our website!

Iglesia San Jose CJ

By Anne Marie Amacher The Catholic Messenger Heavy rains battered the Louisa County Fairgrounds July 19 and again July 25, ...Read More