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Local clergy react to Pope Leo XIV’s election

The Rev. Todd Kreitinger, of St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Minot, said he wasn’t free to follow the proceedings as Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced as the next pope of the Roman Catholic Church as he was busy with his ministries. In fact, he hadn’t even learned the name of the new pope until he was in the middle of Mass on Thursday. “I had to ask from the ambo, the pulpit, ‘Do we have a new holy father? What’s his name?’ so I could now say his name in the Eucharistic prayer,” Kreitinger said. “They nodded and someone said ‘Leo,’ so I was able to include ...

Sister celebrates 60 years of religious profession

Sister Mary Ellen Backes, one of 12 Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph of Maple Mount, Kentucky, is celebrating her 60th anniversary of religious profession in 2025. The Minot native was born Jeanne Ellen Backes to the late Joe and Ellen Backes. Sister Mary Ellen was an Ursuline Sister ...

Reflections: Was it worth being burned at stake?

The history of how the Bible came to be written in English is a pretty intense and even gruesome drama. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek until, in 382 AD under the direction of Pope Damasus, it was translated into Latin. That Bible was used pretty exclusively by the clergy. Some years later, things got really interesting. There was a man named John Wycliffe who was born in England in 1330. He died of a stroke in 1384. During his life, he was an Oxford professor and theologian who wanted common people to be able to read the Bible for themselves. Therefore, he used ...

Reflections: What changes, what does not change?

My mother was born in 1914, just after the beginning of WW I, the second of 6 children. Daily living during that period of history was often supported through manual labor. Travel was by horse-drawn transportation or walking. It was a time of life in America when children got up, ate breakfast and went to school where much of their education was accomplished through military style discipline. Children who lived in a town might play together after school yet children generally were expected to participate in the care of the home. Since my mom grew up on a farm, much of her time after ...

REFLECTIONS: Give Jesus a chance from start

Give Jesus a chance. Four simple little words. I read them on the back of a shirt a guy was wearing one time and thought to myself that maybe there was a point to be made here. Since that time I have thought about this many, many times. Wonder if that means we should seek Jesus as a last ditch effort, when all else in life seems to have fallen short of accomplishing our objectives and efforts, or possibly we need to “Give Jesus A Chance” from the very beginning. Could very well be that if we have Christ in our heart, we might not have quite as many last ditch efforts. Then ...

Area Catholic schools clash at ‘Know Your Faith’ competition

Within hours of participating in last year’s “Know Your Faith” competition, Tyanna Weeks faced a challenge that required her to draw heavily on her faith. Weeks, a 2024 Bishop Ryan High School graduate, spoke Wednesday to hundreds of Catholic high schoolers from across the state, who ...