Teens and twenty-somethings from around the world are converging on Brazil this month for World Youth Day. Among early photos of Karol and Agnes, two in particular would make great WYD posters. More »

Around the middle of the sixth century, an Italian monk wrote some guidelines for people interested in the monastic life. The result was a small book that he described as “advice from a father who loves you.” More »

Burning napalm. Fleeing refugees. Soldiers slogging through rice paddies and jungle trails. Booby traps, snipers, ambushes, bloody firefights. The anguished faces of the wounded and dying, desperate for compassion and comfort. When we think of the Vietnam War, these are the images we see. More »

“We have some wonderful memories,” I said as Brother Art lay on his deathbed. “Yes, some wonderful memories,” he replied, almost as if singing. More »

In 1534 the English Parliament passed legislation that declared King Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church of England. Holding fast to the Catholic Church’s teaching on papal authority, Sir Thomas More (b. 1478) refused to take an oath recognizing the king’s supremacy, which was required by the law, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. More »

Stories abound about the extraordinary events coloring the life of St. Anthony of Padua, the “wonder-worker.” Fish are said to have listened to him preach, their heads attentively raised out of the river, when the hard of heart refused to heed his words. More »

Sometimes, the voice of a saint echoes clearly to us down through the centuries. As a young adult, I found myself struggling, in the ordinary way of young people, with feeling alienated from God. More »

On a spring day in 1916, three children watched their family’s sheep on a hillside in rural Portugal. Completely oblivious to the fact that their country was at war and that Pope Benedict XV was begging Mary’s intercession and lamenting World War I as the “suicide of Europe,” the children sang, danced, and played games. More »