DUBUQUE, Iowa – Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, near Dubuque, is known for the lives of prayer the Trappistine Sisters lead there and for the delicious caramels they make. Now an even wider audience will get a glimpse into their lives. A four-part television series, “The Monastery,” filmed in Dubuque a year ago, will...Read More

WASHINGTON – Talent-search contests didn’t start with “American Idol,” and Anthony Kearns, for one, is glad of that.Read More

Each year for weeks in advance of it, my Jesuit Volunteer assistant and I go out into the streets with clip boards and sign up jobseekers for the all day job fair we hold on the holiday that commemorates Martin Luther King’s birthday. We hear hard-luck stories, voices of frustration and amazing words of hope...Read More

DETROIT – Father Anton Kcira first began to notice the absence of more and more of his regular parishioners at St. Paul (Albanian) Church in suburban Rochester Hills back in 2005, and the loss due to deportations has escalated since then. “Last year we lost about 200 families, and Our Lady of Albanians lost 120,”...Read More

VATICAN CITY – Church leaders, along with the World Health Organization, have expressed concern over the increased rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis worldwide. Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at his general audience March 21, said the latest reports show that more work is still needed to effectively treat those who suffer from the disease. World Tuberculosis Day,...Read More

Meghan Walton and her fiance, Patrick, aren't quite sure what their favors will be, or if they will even have them, for their June 2010 wedding, but the table theme at their reception will reflect something special to both of them: the story of their engagement.Read More

PORTLAND, Ore. – More than 500 people have filed claims of abuse against the Oregon province of the Society of Jesus, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early this year citing pending lawsuits over clergy sexual abuse claims.Read More

WARSAW, Poland – A Polish archbishop has said there is no need to tighten anti-abortion laws by amending the Polish Constitution. “I’m convinced our constitution protects life decisively enough at this moment,” said Archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski of Gdansk. “The stable situation now created should prompt us not to take actions which could dramatize or complicate...Read More