News - April 2025 RSS Feed

Dr. Suzanne Feigofsky, a cardiac electrophysiologist at Iowa Heart Center in Carroll, has been serving the local community since 2014. Earlier this month, Dr. Feigofsky successfully implanted the first three leadless pacemakers at St. Anthony Regional Hospital Surgical Center—an innovative advancement in cardiac care now available locally.

(The following includes excerpts from an Illuminating Catholics podcast interview with Bishop Walker Nickless earlier this month.) After almost 20 years of serving as shepherd of the Diocese of Sioux City, Bishop Walker Nickless will retire as of the conclusion of the May 1 episcopal ordination Mass of his successor, Most. Rev. John E. Keehner. Bishop Nickless said he has enjoyed his priesthood and episcopacy and is looking forward to simply being a priest. “I went to the seminary to become a priest, not a bishop. There’s a difference and so when I can do priestly things, that’s what gives me life,” he said.

A brainstorming session resulted in a mini pilgrimage experience set for June 12 for middle school students to experience the beauty of diocesan churches and grounds. Danielle Fennessy, a coordinator for the Faith Formation Office, explained that the directors of religious education (DREs) in the southern tier of the diocese wanted events to be available for their middle-school aged students to attend.

WASHINGTON – According to a new survey, nine in ten men who will be ordained to the priesthood this year were encouraged to consider this vocation by someone in their life. Three-quarters of them regularly participated in Eucharistic Adoration before entering the seminary. “Encourage a young man to consider the priesthood or to attend Eucharistic Adoration; he could be your future pastor,” said Bishop Earl Boyea.

The St. John Paul II Parish Adoration Chapel in Carroll is hosting a prayer vigil for the cardinal electors. Pastor Father Pat Behm suggested that all pray for the election and the electors so they will be inspired by the Holy Spirit when casting their vote. Father Behm is asking everyone who enters the Adoration Chapel, from now until the new pope is elected, to pray for each cardinal who is eligible to vote in the conclave. Each cardinal to be prayed for will be assigned to a specific hour at the Adoration Chapel. The list and assigned hours is located in the sign in book for the chapel.

Danbury Catholic school raised nearly $51,000 in their flower fundraiser this spring. The students met their goal and were even over by $998. For those who want to shop the cash and carry sale, please come to the school on Friday, May 9 to pick up flowers.

Diocesan seminarians James "Jimmy" Fitzsimmons and Garrett Hugeback completed their Rite of Lector Thursday evening at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in the St. Louis area. Fitzsimmons and Hugeback are pictured with visiting family members.

More than 300 diocesan faithful – including 265 grade school students - participated in the Grotto Pilgrimage on April 23. According to Msgr. Ed Girres, rector of the Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, the idea for the pilgrimage was dreamed up by Dale and Peg Heider of St. Mary Parish in Humboldt. They wanted to bring grade school students to the grotto during the Jubilee Year of Hope.

The new executive director of Holy Spirit Retirement Home in Sioux City brings a vast array of long-term care work experience to the position. Jacque Kreber began her duties as executive director on April 7. Most recently she served as the executive director of Hospice of Siouxland from 2022 through the agency’s recent acquisition by St. Croix Hospice, but the majority of her career has been in long-term care.

Regular readers of LumeNotes/The Lumen are familiar with Sister Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT, for her monthly column, Grace Notes. Her love of writing as part of her vocation has prompted the publication of several books, and the second in a series of Eucharistic Calendars. Her most recently published volume is titled: “A Eucharistic Calendar: Daily Reflections on the Mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, Volume II, The Seasons of Septuagesima, Lent, Passiontide and Easter.”

In a rare and prestigious visit, Dr. Justin Moore, CEO of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), delivered an address at Briar Cliff University on April 23, to recognize the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program for winning APTA’s 2024 Student Advocacy Challenge.

Bishop Walker Nickless released a statement the morning of April 21, 2025 upon the death of the Holy Father, Pope Francis.

Sioux City Bishop Heelan Catholic Schools announced that three seniors have been awarded a Golden Ticket, a full-ride to attend Sioux City Morningside University this fall. These recipients are: - Madison Mullins, who plans to study Nursing - Kaylee Baker, who also plans to study Nursing - Kathy Perez, who plans to study Criminal Justice and Political Science

Diocese of Sioux City Catholic Schools Office Director of Education Services, Kelly Kohout, and Boone Sacred Heart School Principal Sue Eldridge and two Sacred Heart middle school teachers, Maribeth Niday and Lea Kruse, attended a blended learning in Catholic schools symposium at the University of Notre Dame.