Between the four of them, longtime friends Scarlett Schwegmann, Georgia Slovacek, Sarah Keyes, and Abigail Bussey have played soccer, basketball, cross country, track and field, golf, cheerleading, and volleyball; and whether stepping onto the court or the course or the field or the track, each knows the thrill of donning a team uniform, lacing on a pair of shoes, and beginning a beloved sport.
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From Catholicism to Protestantism and back again, Richard Valencia Jr.’s decades-long journey of faith has led him back to the Church truly founded by Christ, the parishioner of St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Waxahachie said.
Pope Leo XIV began the five-week Season of Creation by calling on the faithful to step away from the frenzy of daily life to “hear the melodious voice of creation,” stressing that “it is not yet too late” to repair humanity’s relationship with the environment.
The trees were shorter, the surrounding city sparser, and the student population smaller when Gregory Roper began his undergraduate education at the University of Dallas more than four decades ago. As he now undertakes the responsibility of leading the university’s undergraduate school as the new dean of the Constantin College of Liberal Arts, much about his alma mater’s campus is different than it once was — but the mission at the heart of the school, he said, remains the same.
Roots run deep at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School for Sara Casner, whose mother, brother, aunt, multiple cousins, and two children all received their education at the school — as did Casner herself, having spent her elementary and middle school formation on the campus. So, when she was appointed principal of the STA Upper School this year, she said, it felt like being home.
“Firmly rooted” in the Church’s living tradition, the liturgical reform put forth by the Second Vatican Council grew from the need for the faithful to celebrate the liturgy more “consciously and actively,” and not “as strangers and silent spectators,” Pope Leo XIV said.
The Church has long offered Masses that recognize special occasions and special needs. Among such Masses are those for professional groups, traditionally popularized by names of a color: Red Mass (lawyers and politicians), Blue Mass (first responders), White Mass (healthcare community), and Gold Mass (scientists).
“I’ve always had the heart of a teacher,” said Nieves Castillo-Frazier, who became principal of Good Shepherd School in Garland on July 1.
Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 25 appointed the Knights of Columbus’ Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly as a member of the Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life.
Four leaders had barely arrived at Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis when they found themselves helping a wounded community to heal and find a way toward hope.