Bo Bonner and Deacon Mark Campbell mark the Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great with Deacon Randy Kiel's preview of Sunday's readings, then welcome pilgrimage coordinator Ginger Lee Arnold to preview an October journey to Holy Hill Basilica and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin, led by Bishop Dennis Walsh of Davenport. Michelle Miller and Father Louis Hammond of Sacred Heart Parish in Newton share how their faith community persevered through the loss of a beloved pastor and welcomed a new one they call an answer to prayer. Plus Thursday news, Iowa Cubs and MLB scores, a marquee #1-vs-#2 Dowling Catholic–Johnston football preview, a Kinnick Stadium heat advisory, and central Iowa weather.
Bo Bonner and Deacon Mark Campbell open Thursday on the Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, with Mass today at 8:30 a.m. at Saint Patrick's Church in Massena (90.9 FM).
Deacon Randy Kiel returns for his weekly look at the upcoming Sunday readings (the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time), walking through Ezekiel 33's charge to be a "watchman" who speaks the truth of Christ and Romans 13's teaching that love is the fulfillment of the law.
Pilgrimage coordinator Ginger Lee Arnold joins the show to preview a three-day fall pilgrimage, October 7–9, to Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians (holyhill.com) in Hubertus, Wisconsin, and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion (championshrine.org) in Champion — the only Vatican-approved Marian apparition site in the United States, where the Blessed Mother appeared to Adele Brice in 1859. Bishop Dennis Walsh of the Diocese of Davenport will join the pilgrims, who depart from the Our Lady of Lourdes/Saint Joan of Arc campus in Bettendorf at 7 a.m. on October 7, stop at Holy Hill for lunch and touring, then overnight in Green Bay before Mass, a rosary walk, and anniversary events at the shrine on October 8–9 — the anniversary of both the 1859 apparition and the deadly Peshtigo Fire. Registration details are still being finalized on the pilgrimage's ticketing site; see flags below.
Michelle Miller, business manager and stewardship coordinator at Sacred Heart Parish in Newton, and Father Louis Hammond, the parish's newly installed pastor, join the show to share how the Newton and Colfax faith community persevered through the illness and death of longtime pastor Father Martin "Marty" Goetz, leaned on retired priest Father William "Bill" Reynolds as administrator, and welcomed Father Hammond after his installation by Bishop Dennis Walsh on August 22. Father Hammond, ordained in Ghana in 1992 and a hospital chaplain at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City since arriving in the Diocese of Davenport in 2022, shares his call to parish ministry in Newton and Colfax and reflects on being welcomed as "the answer to a congregation's prayers."
Also in this episode: a reminder to download the new Iowa Catholic Radio app, available for Android and iOS.
Listen live weekdays at 7 a.m. Central on Iowa Catholic Radio, or catch up anytime at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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