For almost 30 years, Father Miroslaw Tosza, a priest of the Diocese of Sosnowiec in southern Poland, has lived in the Betlejem (Bethlehem) community in Jaworzno — a house shared by people who have lost jobs, families, homes, health, sobriety and, very often, trust in anyone at all. Now, he dreams of establishing a retreat house for his poor in Greccio.

In announcing he was stepping down as CEO of FOCUS, an organization that ministers to tens of thousands of students and parishioners, founder Curtis Martin said he will continue to serve the board and “stay on mission with you all.”

A coalition of public, private and faith-based partners will gather Dec. 29, 6 p.m., in Southwest Baltimore for a one-hour evening prayer vigil sponsored by the Archdiocese of Baltimore to remember the lives lost to homicide this year and plead for an end to violence.

People have a deep desire to return to their lives despite the dire and complex situation in Gaza following two years of war, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said at an annual Christmas press conference on Dec. 22.

Entering the centuries-old Royal Wawel Cathedral in Kraków on Dec. 20, Cardinal Grzegorz Rys opened a new chapter of one of the oldest archdioceses in Catholic Poland, telling the faithful that without them he “doesn’t make sense.”