Posted on April 13, 2016
When Mary Margaret Gefre’s boyfriend drove her to the train station in their small North Dakota town, the 19-year-old farm girl didn’t tell him where she was headed on that brisk December day, clutching a small bag containing a rosary, her childhood prayer book, a few dresses and a pair of shoes. She was bound […]
Posted on April 1, 2016
Father Thomas Byles was 42 when he boarded the Titanic with his second-class ticket and portable altar stone. He had made arrangements with Captain Edward Smith to secure space on the ocean liner to celebrate Mass. Even on vacation a priest is never off duty, he knew, but the Catholic convert would have it no […]
Posted on March 1, 2016
Dolores Hart was 19 when she filmed her first movie scene: kissing Elvis Presley. The aspiring actress was dressed in a polka dot dress with her honey-brown hair swept in a ponytail. He wore a denim jacket with the collar turned up, his glossy bangs grazing his brow. They were directed to kiss again and […]
Posted on February 1, 2016
Melina Birchem has uploaded 777 images to her Instagram account over the past two years: sushi, Starbucks, her new tattoo, rosary beads, cowboy boots. Sometimes the juxtaposition is jarring. A glowing monstrance, a chilled margarita. A snapshot from waitressing, a prayer journal documenting her consecration to the Blessed Mother. As a freshman at the University […]
Posted on January 1, 2016
Oprah Winfrey has joined Weight Watchers, which means she is not only a card-carrying, point-counting member of the weight-loss club, she is also a part owner. That’s how you do it when you’re Oprah: You go big (“you get a car, you get a car, you get a car”) or you don’t bother. For […]
Posted on December 1, 2015
The wedding that Tyler Schwandt and his fiancée are planning could’ve been broadcast on national TV. But he’s perfectly content with a quieter, more intimate wedding Mass. The 23-year-old Catholic from Rockford, Mich., has the distinction of being the firstborn of 13 boys, the family whose improbable boy streak went viral with the 12th pregnancy […]
Posted on November 1, 2015
It is the book that somehow surfaces when you need it most – manna for the multi-tasker, solace for the stressed. It is the book you stock up on to give to others, to slip in Christmas stockings, to pay it forward. It is the book that spiritual directors recommend again and again: Father Jacques […]
Posted on October 1, 2015
There is no scrapbook of Kathy Webb’s life as a Dominican sister. No picture frames or friendship bracelets, no nun memorabilia perched in a closet or buried in a trunk. The only artifact from her convent days is the long apron she wore to protect her white habit, bearing her former identity on a tiny […]
Posted on September 1, 2015
I’m reading a book that speaks to me as a journalist, Brian Grazer’s 2015 release “A Curious Mind: The Secret To A Bigger Life.” In it, the 64-year-old Emmy-winning movie producer recounts his practice of conducting “curiosity conversations” twice a month for the past three decades to fill up his knowledge reserve and walk in […]
Posted on June 1, 2015
Arleen Spenceley can’t remember the last time she went on a date. It must’ve been 2014, she says without a trace of panic. Even though she’s in the thick of wedding season and nearing her 30th birthday, the fact that she’s still single doesn’t seem to bother Arleen. She’s not freaking out. She’s not losing […]