By Joyce Duriga CHICAGO (CNS) — The life of Father Augustus Tolton already reads like a novel, but now it is illustrated in full color in a new graphic book produced in partnership with Liturgy Training Publications in Chicago and Editions du Signe in France. Father Tolton’s story — that …

By Jessica Able LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CNS) — Jockey Mike Smith, a Catholic who rode Justify in 2018 to a Triple Crown victory, prays before every race, but he doesn’t pray to win. For Mike, his ride in the The 148th Run for the Roses is Taiba the Santa Anita Derby …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy of the Pontifical North American College By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — With more than half of its seminarians already back in the United States, the Pontifical North American College in Rome is sending its students home. “In consultation with our board of governors and the U.S. …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Rosanna Aguilera, San Angelo Standard-Times via Reuters By Donis Tracy BOSTON (CNS) — The extra day we get approximately once every four years is a way to adapt the calendar year to the astronomical year. But did you know the present system of calculating the leap years was …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Flavio Lo Scalzo, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With the biggest two days of celebration and costume parades left, the famous pre-Lenten “Carnevale” of Venice was canceled as were Ash Wednesday services and even funeral Masses throughout the diocese. The Archdiocese of Milan also issued …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Father Stephen Ries By Rhina Guidos HAVANA (CNS) — The moment was anything but intimate, but it was probably the best chance Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan had to pay respects to a revered Cuban-born priest who helped Irish immigrants in New York. The archbishop of New York, followed …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Ricardo Ortiz, Reuters By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — Hurricane Maria was a body blow to Puerto Rico in 2017, one from which it has yet to fully recover. Then came the series of 5-magnitude-and-higher earthquakes that began Dec. 29 — topped off by three such temblors in …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Blake family By James Ramos HOUSTON (CNS) — At 17, Matthew Blake was living the dream of most young baseball players. A stroke of luck got him in Minute Maid Park prepping dugouts as a teenage batboy for the Houston Astros and their visiting teams. For four …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Chaz Muth By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — Like most parish priests, Msgr. Stephen Rossetti celebrates Mass, baptizes babies, gives marriage preparation talks and provides pastoral care that often involves listening to people or praying with them. He also frequently blesses baseball bats. That’s because the priest, a …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Yara Nardi, Reuters By ALBANO, Italy (CNS) — Christians are not licensed “inspectors of other people’s lives,” but rather disciples who reach out to others, assuring them of God’s love and welcoming them into the community, Pope Francis said. Celebrating an outdoor evening Mass Sept. 21 in Albano, …