As the church in the United States looks for new ways to foster community, it is helpful to look to the past and understand the history that led to the current state of parish life. OSV News’ Charles Camosy recently dove into this history with Father Stephen M. Koeth, assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, in discussing his new book, “Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America.”

Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics to join him in praying for Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East.

For anyone who has not attended the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, the number of young Catholic participants can be overwhelming. A group of four first-timers from Cristo Rey Parish in Florence, Ky., certainly thought so.

Celebrity Chef Lidia Bastianich knows what it’s like to be in a strange land, without a home. OSV News recently spoke with the Italian-American — who has become famous as a television host, author and restaurateur — about her own experiences as an Italian immigrant fleeing communism in the former Yugoslavia, and her current work as a board member for Jesuit Refugee Services/USA.

Well more than 1,000 people of all ages reverently filed past the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux during a two-day stop in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.