As Advent unfolds in the far north, Bishop Erik Varden says the season’s power lies not in cheerfulness but in hope—”light shining at the darkest point of the night.”

The onetime Beverly Hills resident became a nun at age 50, and for more than three decades devoted her life to serving not only those behind bars, but also others on the outside who were poor, sick, and vulnerable.

The impact of immigration enforcement — including the ongoing nationwide deportation efforts — is “making life unbearable” for many Catholic families and communities, said a group of panelists gathered at Georgetown University for a recent Latino Leader Gathering, hosted by Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life in Washington.

PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) — A day before Pope Leo XIV spoke by livestream to teens at the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference, Kristie Hughes Dugan — president of Little Flower Catholic High School in Philadelphia — summed up the excitement her students felt ahead of the pope’s Nov. 21 “digital encounter” with the nation’s next generation. “Having Pope Leo […]

When Father John Williamson arrived as pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Frederick and St. Joseph on Carrollton Manor in Buckeystown five years ago, the roof of St. Joseph’s historic church was leaking and the steeple was “ready to fall off.”