Do you recall where you were the day Pope Leo XIV was elected? A citizen of the United States and Peru, Augustinian friar Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, born in Dolton, Ill., was chosen by the College of Cardinals May 8, 2025, to succeed Pope Francis. The shock and joy of the election of a U.S.-born pope permeated conversations for many days afterwards. The “six degrees of separation” theory of a small-world network clicked in immediately. A priest well […]

  By Sister Kathleen Anne Tait, OP Judy Babb Troxell is deeply grateful to her mother and father, Harry and Eileen Marron Babb, for the grounding in faith and the “DNA of giving” they instilled within her, and her siblings. Her earliest memories are of putting coins in her weekly children’s church envelope and watching her father write the check for the Sunday offering. Judy’s mother grew up with little, but gave away in abundance. Her parents’ generosity […]

By Margaret Lombe My reflection is informed by Catholic social teaching and centers on finding and hearing the voice of God in a wounded world. I often ponder on the question “How do I witness to the gospel values in love and truth amid the many wounds that characterize our world today, wounds of systemic inequalities, environmental trauma, racism, polarization, violence, indifference, and political tumult? Like many teachers, I am confronted with questions from my students. One student […]