My father’s mother, my grandmother, died when he was only two years old. He never forgot the sense of loss and the pain of growing up without a mother. And he was determined his sons would not forget either. Reading some of Pope Francis’ recent homilies on marriage and relationships …

Editor’s Note: A movement stared by the faith website Patheos is sweeping the web. Catholic authors are witnessing to their faith by sharing #WhyImCatholic stories online. Tell us HERE why you’re remaining Catholic when the spirit of the age seems to be leading people out of the pews.   In the summer of 2011, …

Elizabeth Scalia, managing editor of the Catholic portal of the religion blog site Patheos has challenged all Catholics with access to a webpage to take a few moments and tell the world why you are remaining a Catholic. With the permission of my editor, I’m going to use a few …

This past Lent, I was part of a book discussion on, of all things, The Joy of the Gospel, popularly described as Pope Francis’ “blueprint” for the church. One of the participants was basking in the glow of her recent conversion to Catholicism. She movingly shared with us one night …

How are you doing with resurrection? I not talking about the big “R” Easter Resurrection. I am talking about the everyday, personal resurrection. By this I mean those small, personal moments when we choose something more than defeat, failure, death. Think about people who are facing hopeless situations, defeat, and …

For centuries St. Francis of Assisi has pointed others to Christ. His writings, associated legends and popular sayings have inspired priests, laity and even the present Holy Father. Popular culture knows the founder of the Franciscan orders for his commitment to poverty and love of animals, but these alone do …

The resurrection of Jesus Christ should be very much on our minds as Easter passes and we give thanks for our hope of our own resurrection. Death, however, comes before resurrection. The tragic passing at age 17 of Purcell-Marian student Kelsie Crow on Holy Saturday when a stray bullet found …

How can we get more priests? How can we get more sisters and nuns?  How can we get more religious brothers? These are questions I am asked all of the time in this assignment as vocation director. And all of these questions revolve around the issue of developing a culture …

Dear Father: Year after year and month after month, I have been wondering why does the creed we recite during Sunday Mass state that Christ “rose again?” When was the first time He rose? I checked my Lithuanian creed interpretation and it does not state “He rose again.”  In Lithuanian, …

Just two weeks after stealing the national spotlight with a pair of layups Nov. 2, 2014 against Hiram College, Mount St. Joseph University freshman basketball player Lauren Hill was already showing some signs of decline. On Nov. 18, 2014 at Mount St. Joseph for a check presentation, Hill was wearing …