After a schoolmate of mine recently lost both of his children in a car accident, I began to wonder what kinds of ministries were available to grieving parents who have lost a child of any age. I discovered that there is a dearth of…

There are approximately 3,000 publicly consecrated virgins in the world, with France, Italy, Argentina, and the United States having the highest percentages (in that order). This tally does not include those women privately consecrated,…

Mother Angelica, St. Teresa of Kolkata, and St. Padre Pio each had prayer lives to be admired. In the latter part of her life, a visit from baby Jesus gave Mother Angelica a new appreciation for the devotion to the Divine Infant; St. Teresa…

A friend told me that he saw my picture in a 30th-anniversary issue of my hometown newspaper, the Forest City Summit. It was a picture of me along with the other members of the Miss Forest City Pageant court smiling at the camera. Miss…

...and gift ideas to commemorate Baptisms, First Communions, and Confirmations

Imagine walking through a garage sale dotted with forgotten toys, 1980s videos, tired-looking clothing, and there — sitting between grandma's old dishes and Tupperware — is a case containing an ill-used Communion chalice and a paten.…

Just because you’re not in your 20s — or you’re not in perfect health — doesn’t mean you’ve lost your chance to discern consecrated life. I talked with Robyn Lee — former managing editor of Catholic Digest — about her vocation story; with…

“The cross of infertility is often a silent, heavy cross. The pain that we felt was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Brenda True told Catholic Digest. Couples facing infertility suffer a deep pain that isn’t often talked about in…

It was a Sunday afternoon when my eldest daughter, Ella, came upstairs to tell me in a worried voice, “Grandpa says he’s going to town. I told him that it was too dangerous, but he won’t listen to me.” I went downstairs dreading a…

In 2009, I was introduced to the Marian devotion of Our Lady Undoer of Knots when I was given an assignment to write about this little-known devotion. Discovering Our Lady Undoer of Knots was the answer to a prayer I had to made for help in…