by Sr Nancy Usselmann, Director of the Pauline Center for Media StudiesThere is so much buzz in Los Angeles about the Oscars, even after the event. Last week I brought one of our Sisters who has never been to Hollywood to Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and to see the Walk of Fame. The entire street was closed off as they were setting up the red carpet and canopy leading into the Dolby Theater for Hollywood’s biggest night. Sister was fascinated by everything: the na...

I have a friend who calls me a workaholic. “You’re addicted to it,” Patricia said once, accusingly, and I was instantly taken aback. That’s not at all the way I experience my life, and I tried for some time to figure out the disparity between what she was seeing and what I feel.What I finally realized was this: what I do for work gives me joy. I am a writer, and everything that goes into writing—research, reading, thinking, the act of writing itself—is pleasur...

from the interview with Patricia Marie Barnette, RGS, author of the new book: God's Mercy Awaits You: Find Healing After AbortionSister Patricia Marie Barnette was already a Sister of the Good Shepherd when she heard a call within her call. “As Sisters of the Good Shepherd, we take a fourth vow,” she explains. “We vow to labor with zeal for the salvation of souls. And zeal is from the heart of Jesus, the spiritual energy that keeps all our sisters praying and work...

I live in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where 400 years ago the Mayflower first dropped anchor in the New World. The Pilgrims tried to make a home here before finding Cape Cod too inhospitable and pushing off for Plymouth; the Mayflower Compact was written and signed in Provincetown Harbor. So I have a particular interest in the presence of the Pilgrims here, and their motivations for risking everything to make such a perilous ocean voyage.Why did they do it? Very simply—to worship God in t...

When was the moment John knew? As he reached out his arms to baptize this young man before him, what tipped him off that this man was different from all the others who stood on the bank of the River Jordan, come to confess their sins and be baptized, “to flee from the coming wrath” (Matthew 3:7).Was it when he looked into Jesus’ eyes? The eyes betray the depth of one’s soul. Or was it when his arms guided Jesus, submerging him in the waters of baptism and repentance?How d...

"A Hidden Life" is a contemplative kind of biopic of Austrian conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter (1907-1943). He has now been beatified by the Church, but Malick's film is not about a man who becomes a statue on the altar; he avoids hagiography at every turn. Instead, the film's focus is on the inner journey of a man and wife, and ultimately the man himself, who makes an almost unthinkably difficult choice and finds true freedom by following his conscience.The ...

Not long ago, the little son of a friend of mine made a grand discovery: his echo. Unfortunately for my friend, he made this discovery in church. Each time they went to Mass, her little tyke would sit patiently, waiting for a good quiet moment to let out a whoop and hear it bounce back to him from all around! Even more unfortunately for my friend, a good quiet moment often came during the Consecration.Not the kind of participation his parents were going for…This somewhat inopportune disco...

I am deeply in love with Jesus and his Church. It is the reason I started asking my parents to drive me to Mass, even when we didn’t go as a family; it was the reason I decided to go to a Catholic college; and ultimately it is the reason why I felt called to enter the Daughters of St. Paul three years ago and become a religious sister. But over the past few years, people have posed the question to me more than once: “Why would you want to give your life to the Catholic Church, when i...

It seems to happen every year: people make resolutions to get their Christmas shopping done early, to make sure everything is in place so they can actually find some spirituality throughout Advent… but in reality things get put off, no one’s sure when they “should” be doing anything, and the inevitable happens: Advent feels more and more rushed.It’s a problem. We have a solution.#PutJesusFirst is your go-to planner for all things Advent. It starts well before Adven...

Do those who take their own lives automatically lose their salvation? How can we help those who have lost a loved one to suicide? Addressing the hard issue of suicide simply and pastorally, Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, draws from the teaching of the Church, the message of Divine Mercy, and his own experience of losing his grandmother to suicide in order to offer readers two key forms of hope. With co-author Jason Lewis, MIC, Fr. Chris reveals that there's hope for the salvation of those who've d...