This Month’s Bishop’s Bulletin

Bishop DeGrood’s Column

In the silence, God speaks

In the silence, God speaks

Bishop DeGrood's Column, March 2021
01Mar 2021 by rkranz
Perhaps you are much like me in wanting to hear God speak to you. After many years of learning more about prayer, I have found that it is important for me to be in silence so I can hear the voice of God speaking to my mind and heart. Learning how to receive all the good things God wants for me and His direction in my life is not always easy. But if I can find the right environment, time and an open disposition to really listen, I am much more able to hear and receive God’s interior messages in my mind and heart as I prayerfully try to listen intently. One such place in our diocese I find helpful to spend time in silence is Broom Tree Retreat Center…
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This Month’s Featured Story

Meeting God in the silence: An invitation of love

Meeting God in the silence: An invitation of love

Featured, March 2021
01Mar 2021 by rkranz
By Renae Kranz Five or six years ago, I was driving home alone after doing something at church. Maybe I had gone to confession, maybe it was Stations of the Cross. Somehow that detail escapes me now. Whatever I had done at the church that night had stirred a new thought in me as I drove. I felt prompted to turn the radio off and drive in silence. I never do that. In fact, I always have something on to create noise. It’s how I have functioned my whole life. As I drove down 57th Street in silence, God found me. I think he had been waiting for some silence so I could hear him. He said to me, “I want you to write for me.” Once the initial “Wait,…
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Missionary Discipleship

The essential gift of patience for a missionary disciple

The essential gift of patience for a missionary disciple

March 2021, Missionary Discipleship
01Mar 2021 by rkranz
By Katie Eskro In the June 2020 issue of the Bishop’s Bulletin, Father Scott Traynor describes missionary discipleship as “encountering the love of Jesus Christ, growing in relationship with him, and inviting and helping others to do the same.” I love this definition. The first thing that strikes me about this description is that the first two steps have to do with us: are we aware of the encounter of Jesus in the events of our everyday lives, and are we growing closer to him and his Church through these ordinary, everyday events? The last part of the definition, to invite and help others, can only flow from what we’ve received. Indeed, if we are to live the Christian life of community in its full, we are not just sharing…
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Next Generation Catholic

Better entertainment choices bring lasting benefits

Better entertainment choices bring lasting benefits

March 2021, Next Generation Catholic
01Mar 2021 by rkranz
By Laura Melius From the moment we open our eyes each morning, countless sources of entertainment vie for our attention. We may awake to a favorite song. Our cell phones report how many social media notifications have appeared overnight. News, music or talk fills the background of our morning routines and as we drive to school or work. A wait at the doctor’s office is an opportunity to catch up on texts or news feeds. A free Saturday afternoon provides uninterrupted hours to conquer a new video game or binge-watch a new TV series. We no longer need to leave our homes to seek out entertainment—it constantly surrounds us. This is not all bad. When healthy entertainment options are consumed in moderation, the benefits can bring us closer to friends…
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Local News

St. Wenceslaus Parish receives donation at the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association quadrennial convention

Local, March 2020
28Feb 2020 by rkranz
The First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association (FCSLA) awarded one million dollars in donations to qualified programs/projects which comply with keeping the vision of the Association. Donations were awarded during the 42nd Quadrennial Convention in October in Tampa, Florida. St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church of Tabor, South Dakota was the recipient of one of the donations given at the convention. Father Anthony Urban, center, pastor of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Tabor, receives the Donation check from FCSLA National Auditor Dennis L. Povondra on the right and FCSLA Branch W093 member Mark Povondra on the left. A donation was also received in 2015 and both donations were and will be used for upgrades and repairs to the Catholic school building and the Catholic church in Tabor. FCSLA with over 110,000 members in…
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Bishop Hoch Scholarships help make private college attainable

Local, March 2020
28Feb 2020 by rkranz
Private Catholic colleges offer great opportunities for their students. To make the tuition more affordable, the Diocese of Sioux Falls offers the Bishop Hoch Scholarship program, a $1,000 scholarship given to one student in each of its seven deaneries every year. The scholarships can be used to attend either Mount Marty College in Yankton or Presentation College in Aberdeen in the next academic year. The awards can be used by new students, current students and non-traditional students. Margaret Barnett, parishioner at St. John the Baptist in Wagner, was awarded one of the scholarships last year. She is majoring in biology at Mount Marty College in Yankton and says the scholarship has helped her focus on her studies instead of worrying about tuition all the time. She chose Mount Marty after…
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Lenten Retreat

February 2020, Local
19Feb 2020 by rkranz
A Lenten Retreat, “Renewing Our Baptism through the Lenten Scriptures” will be offered February 29, 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Benedictine Peace Center, Sacred Heart Monastery, in Yankton. Presentations by Sisters Doris Oberembt and Mary Jo Polak, times of silence and table discussion will help you enter more deeply into the Scriptures proclaimed at our Sunday liturgies. These Scriptures shape our Lenten journey so we can renew our baptismal commitment in the joy of Easter. To inquire about an appropriate donation or to register by February 26, call 605-668-6292 or email BenedictinePeaceCtr@ yanktonbenedictines.org.
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Celebrate Advent at Mount Marty’s free annual Vespers Concert

December 2019, Local
03Dec 2019 by rkranz
The Mount Marty College Music Department and Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery invite the community to their 37th annual Vespers concert on Saturday, December 7 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The performances will take place in the Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel, located on the Mount Marty Campus in Yankton. Vespers is free and open to the public, and no tickets will be required for admittance. Vespers will feature Scripture reading and prayer in addition to songs and instrumental works of the Advent and Christmas season, including hymns and traditional English, Irish, and Polish carols. Pieces will be performed by the Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery Schola and Mount Marty College’s Concert Band, Chamber Singers, Choral Union, and pop a cappella ensemble, Smooth Benediction. Between performances, the Mount Marty Gregorian…
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Bulletin Extras

Pope Francis proclaims Year of St. Joseph

Bulletin Extras, January 2021
01Jan 2021 by rkranz
(CNA) - Pope Francis announced a Year of St. Joseph on Dec. 8 in honor of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church. The year begins Dec. 8, 2020, and concludes on Dec. 8, 2021, according to a decree authorized by the pope. The decree said Francis had established a Year of St. Joseph so “every member of the faithful, following his example, may strengthen their life of faith daily in the complete fulfillment of God’s will.” It added that the pope had granted special indulgences to mark the year. The Dec. 8 decree was issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees indulgences, and signed by the Major Penitentiary, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, and the Regent, Msgr. Krzysztof Nykiel.…
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U.S. bishops approve use of coronavirus vaccines with ‘remote connection’ to abortion

Bulletin Extras, January 2021
01Jan 2021 by rkranz
(CNA) - The United States bishops’ conference has said that Catholics can take two of the three available COVID-19 vaccines, even though they were developed with a “remote connection” to “morally compromised” cell lines. In a statement released Dec. 14, the bishops also said it is morally permissible in some circumstances to receive a third vaccine, developed in close connection with aborted cell lines, but that Catholics cannot allow the pandemic to “desensitize” or “weaken our determination” to oppose the evil of abortion. Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, the chair of the USCCB’s doctrine committee, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s pro-life activities committee, outlined their concerns about the vaccines in statement dated Dec. 11 and published on Dec. 14. “In…
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Pope Francis names Father Michel Mulloy of Diocese of Rapid City as bishop of Duluth

Bulletin Extras, June 2020
19Jun 2020 by rkranz
WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has appointed Father Michel Mulloy, a priest of the Diocese of Rapid City and current Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Rapid City as the Bishop of Duluth. The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 2020 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The Diocese of Duluth has been a vacant see since December 2019. Bishop-elect Mulloy was born on May 20, 1954 in Mobridge, South Dakota. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Humanities from St. Mary University in Winona, Minnesota. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Sioux Falls on June 8, 1979. After ordination, Father Mulloy was assigned to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Diocese of Rapid City (1979-1981). He…
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Knights of Columbus founder Father Michael McGivney moves closer to sainthood

Bulletin Extras, May 2020
28May 2020 by rkranz
Father Michael J. McGivney in "Founding Vision" by Antonella Cappuccio. ROME – The Vatican announced May 27 that Pope Francis approved the promulgation of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of the founder of the Knights of Columbus, Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney, a Connecticut priest who served his flock during the pandemic of 1890, before himself becoming ill and dying of pneumonia. The pope’s action means that Father McGivney can be declared “Blessed,” the step just prior to sainthood. An additional miracle attributed to Father McGivney’s intercession will be required for his canonization as a saint. McGivney is best known for founding the Knights of Columbus in 1882. Nearly a century before the Second Vatican Council, his prescient vision empowered the laity…
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Pope Francis names Father Peter Muhich of Diocese of Duluth as bishop of Rapid City

Bulletin Extras, May 2020
12May 2020 by rkranz
WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has named Father Peter M. Muhich, a priest of the Diocese of Duluth, as the Bishop of Rapid City. The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2020, by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The Diocese of Rapid City has been a vacant see since July 2019. Bishop-elect Muhich was born on May 13, 1961, and ordained to the priesthood on September 29, 1989, for the Diocese of Duluth. Father Muhich attended Eveleth High School in Eveleth, MN and University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, MN. He studied theology at American College of Louvain in Belgium. Father Muhich’s assignments in the Diocese of Duluth after ordination include: parochial vicar at St. Francis Parish in Brainerd (1989-1991); parochial vicar at St. Joseph,…
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