Truth begins by looking closely at something small. Prayer cards are, strictly speaking, ephemeral. They are printed in large numbers, distributed widely, and rarely intended to last. In most archival settings, they are not treated as individually significant objects. There are too many of them and too little distinguishing most …

America’s 250th anniversary offers a moment for us to reflect on how the Catholic Church first took root in Ohio and how fragile those beginnings were. Few in number, the early Catholics of the Northwest Territory and frontier Ohio were scattered across forests, river towns, and isolated settlements, where priests …

When I first sat down to write this month’s column, I must admit I wasn’t especially inspired. Humility felt like a difficult theme to draw out of the archives. Then my colleague Sarah said something that really resonated with me. She spoke about the quiet beauty of recovering family histories, …

By Michelle Wirth Smith Each May, as the Church celebrates graduations, ordinations, and new beginnings, we’re reminded that growth often starts in quiet, unseen ways. The Story of the Hickey Family In the late 19th century, five brothers became priests: William (1880), Edward (1883), Charles (1886), John (1887), and George …