CWV Bishop McNicolas Post 1916 History Report July 1, 2023 ~ June 30, 2024
- post19165
- Jul 4, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 23, 2024
Catholic War Veterans Bishop McNicolas Post 1916
Chronological History Report
May 30, 2023 ~ June 30, 2024
By Rosemary Connolly, Post historian
Post email: rosec@cwv.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cwv1916
Post 1916 website: https://cwv1916.yolasite.com/
LIST OF OFFICERS AND APPOINTEES
Chaplain ~Fr. Stephen Thompson
President’s reports and accomplishments ~ Tim Kennedy
Accomplishments from Post 1916
1) Have parceled out 200 car tickets to Post 1916 and other active
Posts in State of Illinois
2) Post 1916 received First and Second Place Nationally for Valentine's
Day Poster Contest thanks to 3rd Vice, Dale Smith
3) Been having monthly Memorial Masses in Springfield and surrounding
area at Parishes to honor deceased war veterans
4) Post 1916 and other State CWV Posts are preparing Semi-Annual
Post Activity Report for January - June 2023
5) Our State and Post Historian, Rose Connolly participated in the
Operation Dessert Storm Remembrance on Tuesday, February 28, 2023
at the Illinois State Military Museum
6) The Post has taken "Servant of God", Father Emil Kapaun into our prayers.
First Vice President’s programs and reports ~ Charlie Jiardina
Second Vice President’s programs and reports ~ Michael Stillwell
Third Vice President’s programs and reports ~ Dale Smith
Welfare Officer’s programs and reports ~ Dennis Kirchgesner
VAVS Projects ~
Ritual Officer ~
Historian’s written History ~ Rose Connolly (report follows)
July 4, 2023 Pictured below: Annual Mass of Remembrance attended by Charles Jiardina, Pat Noel, Rose Connolly and Peggy Billhartz
Pictured below: Memorial Mass at St Peter's Church in Petersburg, IL on July 9, 2023 was attended by Peggy Billhartz, Dale Smith, Pat Noel, Fr Fr. Maurice Yonta, Charles Jiardina, and Darrell Roll pictured below.
Below: Villas Warrior Appreciation: American legion Post 32 honored our 12 veterans today at Villa East with the Warrior Appreciation Award For Service.
We know how hard these Army, Navy, Marine or Air force guys worked to keep our country safe. We appreciate you and we thank the American Legion for honoring them.
Pictured below and to the right is one of our post members, Dave Cooper, who also signed the certificate.
Below: Our member, Paul Sweet, moved from nursing care at Lewis Memorial Christian Village to a care facility closer to his daughter in Streater, IL on July 24, 2023. He had been on our prayer list for some time and lost his wife 2 years earlier. Charles Jiardina and Rose Connolly were able to make a visit before his transfer.
Below: Rose Connolly was our proxy delegate to the Ft Wayne, IN Catholic War Veterans Conference August 1-4, 2023 in Ft Wayne, IN.
The convention sponsorship by our post was different than we voted on and submitted making it difficult to find in the convention booklet as you can see below.
Our post commander, Tim Kennedy, was given a national position as three year trustee at the convention.
Below: National Historian, Denise DeBlois, presented certificates to post historians. Our post Historian, Rose Connolly, is pictured.
Below. Commander Tim Kennedy showed this to members at our post meeting on 9/14/2023,
Below: Church of the Little Flower August 06, 2023 10:00 am
800 Stevenson Drive, - Phone: 217-529-1606
August 6, 2023, Post 1916 celebrated our monthly memorial Mass at Little Flower church. There were two infant baptisms on the special feast of the transfiguration. Pictured Leon Scott, Rose Connolly, Pat Noel, Fr Kimme, Dale Smith and Peggy Billhartz. Dale was kind enough to assist as an usher when they were short.
Here is a link to last week's bulletin with Mass intentions for the deceased Catholic War Veterans.
Below: The Illinois State Fair has a day dedicated to veterans and Post 1916 was there. This is our table but since we had a busy day, and a lot of rotation, we are not all in the same photo. Pictured below are Rose Connolly Chuck Jiardina, and Dan Schumaker. We not only had an information table for Catholic War Veterans but Dan had sold cookbooks benefiting our post.
Below is our post commander enrolling workers for the beer tents at the Combined Veterans Association building.
I had to have another photo taken when another member stopped by our table, Darrell Roll.
Believe it or not, we get paid to serve beer at the fair. Below are just our Thursday volunteers (Pat Noel, Dale Smith, Chuck Jiardina and Leon Scott)
Below: St. Peter Church July 09, 2023 8:00 am
711 S. 6th St, Petersburg, IL – Phone :217-632-7118
Pictured: Peggy Billhartz, Dale Smith, Pat Noel, Father Maurice Yonta, S.A.C., Chuck Jiardina, and Darrel Roll
Below: St. Joseph Church September 17, 2023 9:30
1345 North 6th St - Phone: 217-544-7426
Pictured below: Pat Noel, Chuck Jiardina, Rev. Manuel P. Cuizon, Ph. D , Leon Scott and Dale Smith.
Below: Rose Connolly promoted Wreaths Across America Table at the Springfield diocesan council of Catholic Women 95th Annual convention on Sep 27, 2023. In addition to awareness, many in attendance had family that served. Also awareness of the CWV in general.
Below: Holy Cross Church October 08, 2023 8:15 am .
125 E. Washington St, Auburn, IL - Phone: 217-438-6222 Pictured Fr. James Palakudy, Dale Smith, Rose Connolly, Pat Noel, and Peggy Billhartz
a member of our Post, James (Pat) Thompson, passed away Nov 9, 2023
Below: St. Mary’s Church
116 W. Adams St, Taylorville, IL- Phone: 217-824-8178 November 05, 2023 11:00 am
Pictured Leon Scott and Pat Noel with Fr Piotr S Kosh, Pastor of St Mary’s Catholic Church in Taylorville.
Below: November 11, 2023 our post participated in the Springfield, IL Veterans Day Parade. Members Pictured: Tim Kennedy, Rose Connolly and Peggy Bilhartz who drover her truck.
Our post lost a member: Paul W. Mueller,
March 22, 1935 - November 25, 2023
Below: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception December 03, 2023 10:00 am
524 East Lawrence St. -Phone: 217 522-3342
Pictured. Peggy Billhartz, Chuck Jiardina, Deacon Rob Sgambelluri, Fr Dominic Vahling, Pat Noel, Rose Connolly and Dale Smith.
January 10, 2024
The post historian's report about the upcoming "Four Chaplains Day" coming up on Feb 3d was presented during our post meeting held on Jan 10th in Springfield, IL. Everyone is familiar with the Hollywood historical-fiction about the sinking of the Titanic because the movie was full of love and drama. The sinking of the USS Dorchester is a true story of love and heroism. Notable is a chaplain from our own home state of Illinois and a Catholic chaplain. All chaplains answered the call to serve our country and knew the risks. Historian Rose Connolly demonstrated the potential of a ceremony that she hopes to conduct for a bigger audience in the future. She read the opening and closure. The biography for Chaplain Fox was read by Mike Stillwell, the biography for Chaplain Goode was read by Dale Smith, the biography of Chaplain Poling was read by Tim Kennedy, and the biography for Chaplain Washington was read by Peggy Bilhartz. Each chaplain's photo had a candle and the table was adorned with a Jewish shawl.
January 13, 2024
Only a few of our members as well as the parish members themselves braved the sub-zero temperature for our CWV memorial Mass at St Frances Cabrini Parish Jan 14, 2024. It wasn't just the cold. Some of our post members were out helping with the Parish Pancake Breakfast at St Joseph the Worker Parish.
Below: St. James Catholic Church February 25, 2024 8:30am 112 N. 6th Street, Riverton, IL – Phone: 217-629-7717
Pictured below: Dale, Denny, Fr Timmy, Rose, Peggy and Pat
On Feb 26, Dale Smith drove to McComb, IL to present the award to Ava Abendroth, the 3d place winner of the CWV national poster contest for "Keep Christ in Christmas" theme.
The above photo was featured in the diocesan newspaper "The Catholic Times" on Page 20 on the link below:
Rose Connolly from our post was part of the living history detail that participated in the Desert Storm Remembrance on Feb 28, 2024 at the Illinois State Military Museum. As the names of the Illinois soldiers that died in this battle were called, a rose was ceremonially laced on the table of dog tags that displayed a wreath, fern and flag.
Below: St. Joseph the Worker Church March 10, 2024 10:30am 700 E. Spruce Street, Chatham, IL – Phone: 217-483-3772
Pictured L-R: Chuck Jiardina, Dale Smith, Rose Connolly, Fr Joe Molloy, Pat Noel ,Leon Scott, and Peggy Billhartz
Below: Holy Family Catholic Church April 14, 2024 10:00am 309 N. Springfield Avenue, Athens, IL -Phone: 217-632-7118
Pictured: Dale Smith, Pat Noel, Fr. Maurice Yonta, Rose Connolly, Peggy Billhartz and huck Jiandina.
Below: St. Aloysius Catholic Church May 19, 2024 11:00am 2119 North 20th Street – Phone: 217-544-4554
Below: St. Patrick’s Catholic Church June 16, 2024 9:00am at 1720 South Grand Avenue East – Phone: 217-523-4501
Pictured below: Chuck Jiandina, Rev James Isaacson SJC, Rose Connolly, Pat Noel, and Dale Smith. This was also Father's Day and there were many in attendance. After Mass, there was a breakfast at the parish basement. The food was very homemade style.
For a little history on this church, please read the Sangamo Journal here:
~The End~
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