Home Page

VATICAN CITY – The sky was no longer the limit when a Rome travel agency started offering specially chartered flights exclusively for globe-trotting pilgrims.

WASHINGTON – After decades of being the behind-the-scenes – and consistently off-the-record – point man for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in lobbying on Capitol Hill, Frank Monahan seemed simultaneously tantalized by and wary at the prospect of talking openly with a reporter about the work he did for 36 years.

Andy Witte, the head boys cross country and boys and girls track and field coach at Archbishop Spalding High School recently traveled to Africa to cross yet another marathon off his list of “things to do.”

MAYWOOD, Ill. – About 10 years ago, Holly Becker’s future appeared bright. At 24, she had just graduated from college, moved out of her parents’ home and taken a job in sales and marketing. But then something went terribly wrong.

ST. LOUIS – “Bible Road: Signs of Faith in the American Landscape” visually captures what happens when America’s love of commercialism intersects with its deep-rooted Judeo-Christian faith.

Since officially becoming Transfiguration Catholic Community in 2004, the southwest Baltimore parish has held Mass in all three of its churches. Beginning in January, members of the parish will attend regular Mass only at St. Jerome at Scott and Hamburg streets, and future uses for St. Martin and St. Peter the Apostle remain uncertain.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI makes his first papal visit to Austria in early September, a three-day mission to strengthen the faith and its public impact in one of Europe’s traditionally Catholic countries.

DETROIT – After 23 years in food service, from training as a sous-chef at Detroit’s now-abandoned Book-Cadillac Hotel to working in prison kitchens, Edward Collins felt he had something to offer after his fourth release from prison on robbery and theft charges – if he could find someone willing to take a chance.

WASHINGTON – A list of football powerhouses among Catholic colleges in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association would probably start with Notre Dame and end with Boston College.

PONCITLAN, Mexico – Francisco Jacobo left his hometown in 1975, two years after a mudslide buried dozens of inhabitants as they slept. With the local economy in shambles, he headed north for Tijuana and eventually Los Angeles, where he found work in a water-bed factory and later a bakery.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Hurricane Recovery Office for Catholic Charities of Arkansas is continuing to assist hurricane evacuees with settling in Arkansas, but money and time are running out. The office announced it will remain open until March 31, six months longer than expected, thanks to a grant extension from the federal government.