Feature We have a blended family Building a blended -- or step -- family isn't always easy, but it is possible to create harmony in a "yours, mine, and ours" household By: Bill Dodds Preparation. Participation. Professional help. And prayer. When Mark and Beth Doonan* talk about their marriage — the second for each of them — those are the themes they return to, time and again.... ► Read More

Family "You're a wonderful mother" I thought Mama and I had become close friends only recently. It took a special memory to make me realize we had been friends all along By: Patty Duncan "You’re a wonderful mother,” I wrote on the Mother’s Day card with the picture of sunflowers, garden gloves, and a watering can. “You were always home for me after school with warm cookies and... ► Read More

Friendship Mary Riley's resurrection George Gurtner By: Serving a life sentence for murder was easy compare to facing her victim's granddaughter Mary Riley, 64, sits at a table in a day room at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women at St. Gabriel, 60 miles west of New Orleans. It is a depressingly hot day in south Louisiana, the kind meas... ► Read More

Faith The pastor, the janitor, the old lady, and the... Two childhood events taught this priest what Pentecost is really all about By: Father William J. Bausch When I was a child of 6 or 7, my parish church was an attractive, semi- Gothic building with pillars forming arches inside the church. In the highest part of the arch in the sanctuary there was this v... ► Read More