Are you ready for the Christmas Crazy? We are down to the wire. Christmas is rushing into our lives sooner then we want. It seems like yesterday when we were eating turkey and believing we had all the time in the world to make Christmas. But not so! We are …

Q: Was Christ born on Dec. 25 in the year A.D. 1? A: We cannot be sure of the day and month, nor the year, of Jesus’ birth. Many scholars date the Nativity to several years before the traditional first year of the Lord (Anno Domini or A.D. 1) This …

Fans of the Major League Baseball Network, or MLB-TV, know the fun-loving, baseball-addicted hosts of the program are rarely at a loss for words. But when 26-year-old Daniel Poncedeleon finished seven complete hitless innings in his major league debut after taking a year to recover from a near-fatal line drive …

Christmas doesn’t begin on Dec. 25, it starts on Dec. 25 — and ends on Feb. 2, the Feast of the Presentation. But the “Big 12” days are the 12 leading up to Epiphany. This year, as Epiphany has been translated, or moved, to Sunday as the official day to …

Our guide to celebrating the 12 days of Christmas (see our January issue or click here to download a PDR file) includes suggestions for how to celebrate all 12 days (plus one, this year) between the Feast of the Nativity and Epiphany. Here are the recipes, prayers, and more: Day 6: …

To the joy of some, and sorrow to others, the Ohio Valley received some snow on Christmas Eve, 2017. It was a busy day as many rushed out to get those last minute preparations finished. Yet, at sundown, the quiet over took the noise as we celebrated the Birth of …

Body + Soul By Erin Schurenberg By December, most organized planners have finished their holiday shopping, but for those yet to start or who might have a gift or two remaining on their Christmas shopping list, we present these resources for holiday gifts with Catholic connections. Most of the abbeys, …

Family’s holiday tradition sets spiritual tone for Advent By Eileen Connelly, OSU (from our print edition) “Never again, in all my life, have I experienced the unspeakable thrill of a physical nearness to heaven as I did on those evenings of my childhood when St. Nicholas came to us.”  — …

The Annual Advent Service of Lessons and Carols at the Athenaeum of Ohio was held Monday, Dec. 7. The popular service centers around the celebration of the feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception in the midst of the Advent season. Chants with handbells, traditional and new Advent carols for choir and congregation, beautiful …

A ministry some called an experiment in new evangelization has ended after a successful two-year run. For the past two years the Cincinnati-Based Franciscan Friars of the St. John the Baptist Province staffed a storefront in Cincinnati’s Northgate Mall from Black Friday through Christmas Eve, selling nothing and providing a …