Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville celebrated the graduation of the class of 2020 June 19.

In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd on May 25 while in police custody and the protests and riots that followed, Gwen Pederson said she wanted to bring people together to pray for an end to systemic racism in our nation and world.

Father Thomas Skaja from Annunciation Parish in Mayhew Lake, Father Brady Keller from St. Gall Parish in Tintah; and Father Patrick Hoeft from St. Louis Parish in Paynesville were ordained to the priesthood June 6 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud.

As the school year came to a close, several Catholic school principals in the Diocese of St. Cloud said distance learning went surprisingly well after schools closed their doors to in-person learning to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.  

Members of the spiritual care team at St. Cloud Hospital are still visiting patients face to face — while wearing protective gear — and helping them use technology to connect with family members who are not able to visit them because of policies in place to protect against the virus.

Father Arthur Anton Vogel, 96, died May 12, at Quiet Oaks Hospice House in St. Augusta. A private funeral service was held May 19, with Bishop Donald Kettler presiding. Burial was in Assumption Cemetery in St. Cloud.

Families in Father Michael Wolfbauer’s parishes — St. John in Foley and St. Patrick in Duelm — are being creative, sharing their experiences and those of others they know in their parish bulletin and on their website. 

We “are all worrying about this current situation in the United States right now,” said Jiayang “Annabella” Yang, a junior at the school. “Not only for ourselves, we also want our community to become better and healthier.”