ALBIA — St. Mary Parish will host a Lenten parish mission, “The Call to Holiness,” April 2-5 at the church. Presenter will be Bishop Joseph Charron, CPPS, retired bishop of the Des Moines Diocese. Schedule follows:
April 2: Bishop Charron will preside at 5:10 p.m. Mass.
April 3: Bishop Charron will preside at 8 a.m. Mass. The presentation “A Call to Holiness” will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the church. A question-and-answer period and reception will follow.
April 4: Bishop Charron will preside at 9 a.m. Mass. Coffee and donuts will be served afterward. The presentation “A Call to Discipleship with Jesus” will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the church. Time for questions and a reception will follow.
April 5: “A Call to Prayer,” a parish Mass, is slated for 6:30 p.m. An offertory collection will be taken in thanks for Bishop Charron. The evening will conclude with a reception.
Precious Blood Bishop Charron was ordained to the priesthood in 1967, studied in Rome and received a doctoral degree in moral theology. He taught at St. John’s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minn. and served as assistant and associate general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. before being elected provincial of the Kansas City Province and serving for two terms. He returned to teaching at St. John’s and was chosen to be auxiliary bishop in St. Paul/Minneapolis in 1990. Bishop Charron became the bishop of Des Moines Diocese in 1994 and served in that capacity until retiring in 2007. He lives in West Des Moines.
