My birthday is coming up this month. I love my birthday and make a point to have a great time with family. We have living room dance parties, I grab lunch with my mom and maybe go antiquing with friends. Coffee and donuts are always involved. Whatever the agenda, the …

The student body, faculty and staff at our children’s Catholic school have experienced more than their fair share of devastating tragedies this past year. One staff member had a stroke; two lost their parents. A teacher’s niece died; a student’s parent passed away unexpectedly. There’s nothing anyone can say to …

Q: TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOU. I grew up outside of Ashland, OH, but spent my adult life in this archdiocese’s northern area. My undergraduate degree is in music education, and I moved to this area when I was hired to teach band and choir. After a few years, …

Cultivating students’ personal, social and academic growth is the highest priority at Bishop Fenwick High School in Franklin, OH. As with all schools, it takes a village to support every student, and Fenwick’s president, Blane Collison, said counselors at Fenwick are vital to achieve this goal. They strive to support …

by Kary Ellen Barger “Never say never.” That phrase is true for Judy Back Gerwe, a Mount Notre Dame alumna and current president of the school. Gerwe always knew she wanted to be a teacher in a Catholic school, but leading one was not in her original plans as she …

To look at her picture on the cover of Hope: An Invitation, you would not think that Sr. Josephine Garrett — a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth—hails from what she described as a hopeless childhood. “I am a woman full of hope,” she states frankly …

by John Stegeman While some young adults lose their faith in college, others, like Rachel Hess, find it anew and share it with others. A graphic designer turned Director of Religious Education (DRE) for the St. Henry Family of Parishes in the archdiocese’s northwest corner, Hess first felt called to …

En su homilía de apertura para la XIII Asamblea General Ordinaria del Sínodo de los Obispos, el Papa Benedicto XVI dijo: “La Iglesia existe para evangelizar. Fieles al mandato del Señor Jesucristo, sus discípulos fueron por el mundo entero para anunciar la Buena Noticia, fundando por todas partes las comunidades …

Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on Pope St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” (TOB). The New Law of the Gospel given to us by Christ calls us to conversion of heart. External conformity to the moral law is not sufficient. God desires the whole …