Steve Angrisano, a Catholic songwriter and recording artist, will perform
at parishes throughout Iowa this summer to raise funds for
Mary’s Meals. The organization feeds more than 2 million children
daily at their place of education in 16 countries.
Angrisano will perform in the Davenport Diocese on the following dates:
Aug. 8- St. Mary Parish in Solon. 5:45 p.m. dinner in the parish hall, 6:15 p.m. concert, adoration and Mary’s Meals presentation in the church.
Aug. 10 – Holy Family Parish in Fort Madison. 5 p.m. dinner, 6:30 p.m. concert, adoration and presentation.
All activities will be held on the lawn behind Roling Hall.
Free will donations for Mary’s Meals will be accepted at both events.
Anne Marie Amacher Padre Alfonzo Pizano, primera fila, segundo desde la izquierda, posa para una foto con Mons. Dennis Walsh y seminaristas del Diócesis de Davenport en en la Catedral del Sagrado Corazón de Davenport el pasado sábado 6 de junio.
Por: Miguel Moreno-Iberico
El Mensajero Católico
‘La Diócesis de Davenport se vistió de gala y se inundó de un profundo ambiente de alegría y
esperanza con la ordenación sacerdotal de padre Alfonso Pizano. Rodeado de su familia, amigos, miembros del clero y una comunidad hispana
fervorosa, que daba gracias a Dios, por el nuevo presbítero quien fuera ordenado en la Catedral del Sagrado Corazón de Davenport el pasado sábado 6 de junio. Fue una ceremonia conmovedora y
profundamente espiritual.
La llegada de padre Alfonso al ministerio ordenado representa un soplo de aire fresco y un regalo divino para toda la diócesis y trae consigo una bendición muy especial para los fieles de habla
hispana. Siendo él mismo de origen hispano, padre Alfonso comprende desde dentro la riqueza de nuestras tradiciones, la calidez de nuestra fe y los desafíos culturales que viven nuestras familias.
“Vengo a servir con el corazón abierto, a caminar junto a ustedes y a ser un puente de amor y reconciliación”, lo mencionó a la salida de la Catedral.
Su ministerio pastoral estará fuertemente enfocado en acompañar, guiar y fortalecer en la parroquia de San Patricio en Iowa City y en las parroquias de San José de Columbus Junction y West iberty. Con su ordenación, la Diócesis de Davenport reafirma su compromiso de seguir construyendo una Iglesia viva, diversa y unida.
¡Oremos por el padre Alfonso, para que el Buen Pastor guíe cada uno de sus pasos en esta hermosa misión!
The Catholic Messenger Archbishop Fulton Sheen pilgrimage will provide spiritual enrichment, fellowship and an opportunity to experience a unique part of Catholic history. The schedule for the daylong excursion, July 24, is as follows:
8 a.m. Bus leaves St. Vincent Center, Davenport;
10 a.m. Arrive at Fulton Sheen Museum and Gift Shop, Peoria, Illinois;
11 a.m. Lunch and movie (a wonderful Sheen documentary);
Noon Tour of St. Mary’s Cathedral;
1 p.m. Mass with Bishop Dennis Walsh of the Diocese of Davenport at the Tomb of Archbishop Sheen;
2 p.m. Grand View Drive: A scenic 2.5-mile drive described by Teddy Roosevelt as the “world’s most beautiful drive”;
5:30 p.m. Return to St. Vincent Center.
Cost is $100 and includes transportation, lunch and admission to the museum and cathedral tours.
For more information or to sign up visit https://shorturl.at/ptIUG email messenger@davenportdiocese.org or call 563-323-9959.
Life Teen Diocese of Davenport youths Betsy Gavin, Harper Miller, Maggie Klitgaard and Becca Boblenz participate in high ropes at a Life Teen Summer Camp in Sainte Genevieve, Mo., earlier this month.
By Dan Russo
The Catholic Messenger
These days if you saw a social media post claiming that a group of Catholic teenagers voluntarily gave up their smart phones for a week and spent time together out in nature striving to grow in their faith, you might be tempted to dismiss it as clickbait.
But this actually happened recently when 14 intrepid souls from Regina and Assumption High Schools, in Iowa City and Davenport, became the first from the diocese to participate in Life Teen Summer Camp June 8-13.
“I thought it was a great experience,” said Thomas Murphy, one of the participants. “I
100 % grew deeper in my faith. I met a lot of new friends. My mom encouraged me to go and I got one of my best friends to come with me.”
At the camp, Mass, eucharistic adoration and other forms of prayer are mixed with high energy outdoor activities like obstacle courses, paintball and water sports.
“You better bring a lot of extra clothes with you because you have to get messy,” Murphy said.
Four adult chaperones accompanied the group of ninth- through twelfth-graders to a lush, wooded property in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, known as Camp Cana. The site of a former winery has been transformed by the international Catholic youth ministry organization into a camp and retreat center dedicated to helping “young people encounter Christ and fall more deeply in love with their Catholic faith,” according to Randy Raus, Life Teen’s President and CEO. Campers stay in cabins at the facility which is named for the location of the wedding where Jesus performed his first public miracle. It is one of several camp sites the ministry has across the country and the latest to be completed.
“We were one of the first groups to use the facility,” said Father Andrew Rauenbuehler of St. Mary Parish in Iowa City. “We had a sense the group would be smaller this year because it’s a brand new thing.”
Fr. Rauenbuehler
The priest, who served as one of the chaperones, recalled that he had the chance to offer the sacrament of reconciliation and that the group begin each day “with the intentionality of prayer.”
“They mixed the fun and activity of a summer camp with the opportunity to grow in our faith,” he said. “Moments we spent in prayer with praise and worship music were impactful for the students.”
Chris Paca, a teacher, was another chaperone. She described some of the best moments of the trip, which included chances to build trust among the students through exercises and projects.
“Adoration was really powerful,” said Paca. “I think it had a big impact on all the girls. They talked about being able to be themselves and be in touch with the Holy Spirit.”
Annie Gavin said she was supportive of her daughter Betsy going, especially since she herself had gone to Young Life, a non-denominational Christian camp, when she was young. The mom observed that some young people are “going through the motions” at Mass on Sunday and she hoped experiences like Life Teen would help her daughter and others have “hearts on fire” for their faith. Betsy Gavin, who is going into her junior year, had a positive experience at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) and her mother was confident the Life Teen camp would help her daughter build on that.
“For Betsy that was so inspiring to go to NCYC and see kids who have the same values as (her),” said the mother. “I want her to feel her Catholicism is a blessing in her life and not a burden. What she brought back (from Life Teen) was how extremely powerful adoration can be when you couple that with music …I think the kids had a good experience.”
Life Teen Youths from Assumption High School in Davenport and Regina High School in Iowa City take time on the lake at Life Teen’s Camp Cana in Sainte Genevieve, Mo., recently.
Murphy confirmed that impression. “I have been interested in my faith. This really helped me go deeper,” he said.
Bishop Dennis Walsh was exposed to Life Teen while serving as a priest in the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio. In an interview with the Catholic Messenger in 2025, the bishop said he saw the program’s value while attending camps at the camp in Covecrest, Georgia. Last summer, he took Trevor Pullinger, the diocese’s director of Faith Formation and Catechesis coordinator, and Zac Robinson, a theology teacher at Assumption High School in Davenport, to observe the camp.
Father Rauenbuehler said he hopes to bring more groups in the future.
“We’re hoping to build some momentum for the upcoming school year,” said the priest.
Life Teen serves middle and high school aged students. Aside from camps, it also has parish-based offerings. The ministry began in 1985 at a parish in Mesa, Arizona, and can now be found in about 1,600 parishes worldwide, according to the organization’s website. There are camp properties in Georgia, California and Texas. The organization also offers multiple “restore mission camps” that focus on work projects and service. This summer is the inaugural one for Camp Cana. For more information, visit lifeteen.com.
Last November, I got to explore Universal Studios and Universal Epic in Florida. They keep adding new worlds that you can experience. To name just a few, they have multiple Harry Potter worlds, a Mario world, and a How to Train Your Dragon world. For me, the true wonder of these worlds is not the rides, but the full immersion of entering a world. They each have a unique entryway, and suddenly you are surrounded by nostalgic music and views. The streets, the buildings, the food, everything around you is shrouded in the world you chose. I could drink butterbeer and eat chocolate frogs while looking at a fire breathing dragon over Diagon Alley. I could buy quills, robes and joke shop items. I could explore Gringotts Wizarding Bank and meet goblins. It felt like an escape from reality. I love to read and watch movies, so I really appreciated being able to immerse myself into some of my favorite worlds.
What would life be like if we were a world immersed in Jesus? I imagine it would be a simile to heaven on Earth. I can picture the vast city described in Revelations: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal…the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Revelations 21:10-11; 23). I can see the streets filled with gold and pearls. I picture others in white and God’s throne. Most importantly though, I envision love. Love is everywhere, and joy. Everyone is celebrating. Everyone is glorifying God. There is no judgement, no fear, no suffering. There is no comparison to others or worrying about what others think. There are no harsh words or anger. There is only God and his love that flows to everything in sight.
While that reality is not possible until death, I do believe it is possible to create our own little heaven here on earth. We may not be able to replicate the gold streets and pearl gates, but we can bring the love and joy. We can choose to see God in everyone. We can choose to find good throughout all of the suffering in this world. We can choose to live as if we are already constantly in sight of our God. Yes, our world is broken, but it is not going to change until the primary response is love. For love can cause no harm and will have a ripple effect beyond what we can imagine. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). What is one step you can take today to bring a little bit of heaven to Earth?
(Jenna Ebener, a graduate of St. Ambrose University in Davenport, is a social worker at a school in Colorado for students with a combination of medical, cognitive and behavior disabilities. She relies on God every day to aid her on this wonderful, yet intense journey.)
Lionel Messi, the greatest soccer player in the world today, is probably also the most visible Catholic evangelist on the planet at the moment. The Argentinian native is the top star of the 2026 World Cup so far. The tournament, being held from June 11-July 19 and being played at venues across the United States, Canada and Mexico, is drawing the attention of tens of millions of people, even Americans who rarely care about the sport.
Messi, who is about to turn 40, led his country to the 2022 title and seems poised to do it again as he continues to break records along the way. On June 16, he scored the first “hat trick” in the history of the tournament, which means he was able to get three goals in a single game. Each and every time the committed Catholic scores, he makes the sign of the cross and usually points up to the sky.
He’s not the first sports star to make the sign of the cross while playing or do other things to express his faith in public, but he is by far the most famous. He is also arguably the most consistent about blessing himself during games.
His gestures aren’t the only visible signs of his faith. He has two prominent tattoos that allude to the divine. A depiction of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns is on his right shoulder and arm, which also has rosary beads on it. On his right elbow is a tattoo of a stained glass window reportedly inspired by a similar design Sagrada Familia, an ornate basilica in the center of Barcelona, Spain. The church exterior was only recently completed after decades of work.
In a 2024 interview, Messi said he believed his ability was “a gift” from God, stating: “It’s very clear to me that I was born like this because God chose me,” according to Premier Christian News. Another quote from 2024 encapsulates the athlete’s attitude toward his talent: “It was a gift (God) gave me. I tried to take advantage of it, I did everything possible to squeeze the most out of it.”
Messi’s path to soccer’s highest honors was not guaranteed. At age 10, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. He began a treatment for this that his father’s health insurance would not cover for more than a couple of years. Even as a pre-teen, Messi was being recruited by professional clubs as a prospect, but his health got in the way. Eventually, relatives in Spain arranged a try-out with a team there that was willing to pay for the treatment and he was eventually able to complete the hormone therapy.
Messi is by no means a perfect figure, but he often boldly speaks about his faith in interviews and remains humble, giving credit to God whenever he can. His joyful way of playing despite immense pressure shows his trust in God. He is providing a good example to Catholics everywhere who may hesitate to share our faith because we don’t feel qualified, fear rejection or are worried about failure.
Before traveling to the World Cup, Messi had his cleats blessed by a priest at Our Lady of Lujan Basilica in Lujan, Argentina. He wore these while scoring the hat trick. Messi has given to charity through his own foundation for many years. In honor of his recording-breaking hat trick, I challenge everyone reading this to either share your faith three times or give $3 to charity by the time the World Cup ends on July 19. If all of us did that, imagine how much good could come out of it.
From his first appearance after his election in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV has called upon Catholics to live in peace and unity with one another within the Church and to share this invitation to peace and unity with the whole world. Throughout history, Catholics have shared the peace and unity of Christ with the world by proclaiming the Gospel and performing works of mercy that bring comfort to the poor and vulnerable.
For centuries, Catholics have expressed our unity with the pope by giving to the Peter’s Pence Collection, which supports his mission to proclaim Christ’s message of unity and peace with the world. Our gifts to the Holy Father are “concrete signs of hope” to Pope Leo XIV that fulfill the two aims of Peter’s Pence: 1) To support the Holy Father’s mission, which extends throughout the entire world, from the proclamation of the Gospel to the promotion of integral human development, education, peace, and brotherhood among peoples: thanks also to the many activities of service carried out by the dicasteries, bodies and organs of the Holy See that assist him every day; and 2) To support the numerous charitable works in aid of people and families in difficulty, populations afflicted by natural disasters and wars, or who are in need of humanitarian assistance or support for development.
For more information on Peter’s Pence, please visit the Vatican’s Peter’s Pence website: www.obolodisanpietro.va/en.html (English) or www.obolodisanpietro.va/es.html (español).
Please prayerfully consider supporting this year’s collection as an act of hope and charity. Join our brothers and sisters in faith from around the globe to help Pope Leo XIV carry out his ministry to the Universal Church and reach out to the most marginalized in our world.
Thank you and may God bless you abundantly.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Dennis G. Walsh
Bishop of Davenport
“Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another.”
—Pope Leo XIV, Homily at Mass for the Beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, May 18, 2025
Proclamando el mensaje de Cristo
Queridos Hermanos y Hermanas en Cristo:
Desde su primera aparición tras su elección en mayo de 2025, el Papa León XIV ha llamado a los católicos a vivir en paz y unidad unos con otros dentro de la Iglesia, y a compartir esta invitación a la paz y la unidad con el mundo entero. A lo largo de la historia, los católicos han compartido la paz y la unidad de Cristo con el mundo mediante la proclamación del Evangelio y la realización de obras de misericordia que llevan consuelo a los pobres y vulnerables.
Durante siglos, los católicos hemos expresado nuestra unidad con el Papa al contribuir a la Colecta del Óbolo de San Pedro, la cual apoya su misión de proclamar el mensaje de unidad y paz de Cristo con el mundo. Nuestros dones al Santo Padre son “signos concretos de esperanza” para el Papa León XIV, que cumplen con los dos objetivos del Óbolo de San Pedro:
1) Apoyar la misión del Santo Padre, la cual se extiende a todo el mundo, desde la proclamación del Evangelio hasta la promoción del desarrollo humano integral, la educación, la paz y la fraternidad entre los pueblos; esto también gracias a las numerosas actividades de servicio que realizan los dicasterios, organismos y órganos de la Santa Sede que le asisten diariamente.
2) Apoyar las numerosas obras de caridad en ayuda de personas y familias en dificultad, poblaciones afectadas por desastres naturales y guerras, o que necesitan asistencia humanitaria o apoyo para el desarrollo.
Para obtener más información sobre el Óbolo de San Pedro, por favor, visite el sitio web del Óbolo de San Pedro del Vaticano: www.obolodisanpietro.va/en.html (inglés) o www.obolodisanpietro.va/es.html (español).
Por favor, considere en oración apoyar la colecta de este año como un acto de esperanza y caridad. Únase a nuestros hermanos y hermanas en la fe de todo el mundo para ayudar al Papa León XIV a llevar a cabo su ministerio en la Iglesia Universal y llegar a los más marginados de nuestro mundo.
Gracias y que Dios los bendiga abundantemente.
Sinceramente suyo en Cristo,
Mons. Dennis G. Walsh
Obispo de Davenport
«Juntos, como un solo pueblo, como hermanos y hermanas, caminemos hacia Dios y amémonos los unos a los unos».
— Papa León XIV, Homilía en la Misa de Inicio del Pontificado del Papa León XIV, 18 de mayo de 2025
By Jenna Ebener
By Dan Russo