With the start of the 2023 Minnesota legislative session Jan. 3, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, is putting families at the top of its advocacy strategy for the year.

Neal Anderson is a new seminarian on the path to priesthood for the Diocese of St. Cloud. A native of Albany and parishioner of Seven Dolors Church, the 24-year-old is currently in his “propaedeutic year,” a new formation year for men discerning the priesthood at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Youth from across the diocese gathered Oct. 30 at Lake Geneva Christian Center in Alexandria for the Senior High Youth Rally, a gathering for students to celebrate their faith together through prayer and activities.

The Mass was for couples or families who have suffered the loss of a child in any way, including from miscarriage, illness, abortion, SIDS, or accident, and for those suffering infertility.

On a weekend in mid-September, several students from St. John’s University in Collegeville and the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph traded in their books, dorm rooms and their usual campus activities for chickens, kombucha and farm life as they traveled to southeastern Minnesota to visit the Lake City Catholic Worker Farm.

Dos Reuniones de Ministerios Regionales más con el tema de la Eucaristía se llevarán, parte del Avivamiento Eucarístico Nacional.

Two more Eucharist-themed Regional Ministry Gatherings will take place on Nov. 5 and Nov. 16.

The first of three Eucharist-themed Regional Ministry Gatherings kicked off Oct. 5 at Our Lady of Victory Church in Fergus Falls with Crookston Bishop Andrew Cozzens giving the keynote presentation.