Once a month, a group of Catholic men and their children meet at Winstead’s for breakfast — just as the restaurant is opening, usually well before the sun is up.

When their daughter Hallee announced her engagement last May, Dan and Marietta Heinen were understandably ecstatic.

“Sometimes it just smacks me in the face — gosh, my child is dead,” said Church of the Ascension parishioner Jeane Crossland.