Guests pull blankets tightly around them, covering feet and hands cracked and dry from the cold. For a few hours they find rest and a decent sleep, something...
In the Pews
Stories of real-life Catholics living out their faith, with reporting on parishes, ministries, and vocation.
At my former parish I was the catechist for second graders, students for whom the chief focus and driving dynamic of the school year was, of course...
This year I did something I swore I would never do: I ditched the parish pledge envelopes and signed up for automatic deduction. For years I had been committed...
If your kids are anything like mine, Advent has less to do with preparing for the arrival of baby Jesus and more to do with the studied preparation of...
The moment was 79 years ago, but it is as fresh in my mind as if it were yesterday: I was a first grader in Catholic school and, as such, was expected to...
At our little parish in Rhode Island, an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group meets once a week in the early evening. An Al-Anon group, for those affected by...
Until I had children, I didn’t understand Mass as an athletic event. Before we even get to the homily, a point when many Mass-goers get to sit and relax, I...
Most people don’t dream of working for the institutional church; it’s not high on the list for childhood career days or suggestions of what to be when one...
In 2016 Lauren Bowman, an eighth grader at St. Christine School in Youngstown, Ohio, died at home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The 13-year-old, who loved...
Attending Sunday Mass last year over Independence Day weekend, I watched as the priest gave the final blessing and a man a couple rows ahead genuflected and...
