Barb Arland-Fye

Gusts of wind flapped the altar cloth and rippled the clergy's vestments during Mass on the farm and the blessing of the seeds in the Pieper family's cavernous hoop barn April 15.

The derecho storm that ravaged Iowa Aug. 10 caused an estimated $4 billion in damages, and Gov. Kim Reynolds requested an expedited Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for the state to assist with the recovery.

More than 40,000 people in Iowa who have completed sentences for felony convictions have regained the right to vote and run for office because of an executive order signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

A small group of deacon formation classmates, parishioners and family members stood across the road from Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Columbus Junction July 24 and prayed Morning Prayer (Lauds). "We did so remembering those who have been affected by COVID-19, those who have died and now those who return to work," said Kent Ferris, diocesan director of Social Action and of Catholic Charities. "While we prayed, a gentleman approached us. One from our group shared why we gathered. The gentleman responded, 'I assumed you were Catholic.'"

Davenport Bishop Thomas R. Zinkula has asked the chief of Homeland Security in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to release three Guatemalan immigrant detainees because the COVID-19 pandemic "places immigrants being detained in a very vulnerable situation."

One year ago, the lives of 32 families in this southeast Iowa town of 8,700 people were upended by an immigration raid that resulted in the arrest of 32 men at the concrete plant where they worked.

In a Buddhist temple nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, more than 7,200 miles from Davenport, Iowa, the Dalai Lama received the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award from Bishop Thomas Zinkula.