Mom’s Gift From Pope

BY Tim Drake

May 10-16, 2009 Issue

Heidi Sierras had the experience of a lifetime: The California mother was baptized, confirmed, and received Communion from Pope Benedict XVI.

Sierras was one of five people from around the world to receive the sacraments from the Pope during the Easter Vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. She... READ MORE

Popular Preacher Returns

BY Anthony Flott

Father Corapi Ready to Hit the Road Again

May 3-9, 2009 Issue

Father John Corapi gets on a phone in his Montana office and asks someone to boost the volume. The assistant who helped arrange an interview with him had warned about this. “Speak loudly,” she said, “he’s hard of hearing.”

Father Corapi himself has never been hard to hear. For nearly two... READ MORE

Princess of Wirelessness

BY Edward Pentin

Friend of Popes Saw Dad Invent Radio and Mobile Technology

April 26-May 2, 2009 Issue

Princess Elettra Giovanelli Marconi’s family are European nobility, friends of popes — and world renowned.

The princess was only 6 when her famous father died in 1937, but no living person knows Guglielmo Marconi’s life better. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the inventor’s Nobel... READ MORE

Benedict’s Devotion

BY Patrick Novecosky

Writer Sees New Pope’s Role Alongside John Paul II’s

April 19-25, 2009 Issue

David Came lives with a passion for Divine Mercy.

As the editor of one of the largest Catholic quarterly magazines in the country, he has worked to spread the Divine Mercy message and devotion since the mid-1990s — long before most Catholics had ever heard of St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish... READ MORE

Benedict to Baptize American Mom

BY Tim Drake

Californian to Enter Church at St. Peter’s Vigil

April 12-18, 2009 Issue

Heidi Sierras has been selected to represent North America and be baptized, confirmed, and receive first Communion from Pope Benedict XVI at the Easter Vigil in Rome.

Sierras didn’t grow up with any particular faith background. Marriage first introduced her to the Catholic Church. Now, after 2... READ MORE

Holy Week in the Domestic Church

BY Joseph Pronechen

Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle, author of The Domestic Church: Room by Room, speaks about her life and work.

April 5-11, 2009 Issue

Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle had a busy 2008. In February, she was one of 260 women invited from around the world by Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, to participate in the International Women’s Congress in Rome to mark the 20th anniversary of Pope John... READ MORE

Life After Lent

BY Robin Rohr

Bishop Soto Recommends Prayer and Reading

March 29-April 4, 2009 Issue

Bishop Jaime Soto was installed as bishop of Sacramento, Calif., on Nov. 30.

He served as coadjutor bishop until Sacramento Bishop William Weigand retired.

Formerly auxiliary bishop of Orange, Calif., Bishop Soto has served as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on... READ MORE

From Atheist to Catholic

BY Nona Aguilar

‘Unshakable’ Rationalist Blogged Her Way Into the Church

March 22-28, 2009 Issue

Jennifer Fulwiler “always thought it was obvious that God did not exist.”

Fulwiler grew up a content atheist. Having a profound respect for knowledge, particularly scientific knowledge, Fulwiler was convinced that religion and reason were incompatible. Not surprisingly, she was also... READ MORE

2 Blog Wonder

BY Celeste Behe

She Wrote Her Way Into the Church and Now Blogs On Movies and Modesty

March 15-21, 2009 Issue

Rebecca Christian hopes that life after graduation for her means a career in film.

But she knows that it will also mean using film for the greater glory of God.

The 20-year-old screenwriting and theology student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles interns at two Catholic-based film... READ MORE

In Business for Good

BY Annamarie Adkins

March 8-14, 2009 Issue

Jeffrey Cornwall has been in business. He knows what it’s like to worry about balancing budgets.

But in the current economic downturn, he hopes that business owners will keep more than the bottom line in mind. Now director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville,... READ MORE

Life Achiever

BY TIM DRAKE

Pregnancy Center Founder Earns March for Life Award

March 1-7, 2009 Issue

Peggy Hartshorn has been working on advancing a culture of life for 35 of the 36 years that abortion has been the law of the land.

President of Heartbeat International, an organization serving more than 1,100 pregnancy centers internationally, Hartshorn was recently the recipient of one of six... READ MORE

Mother Clare’s Sister Act

BY John Burger

Vatican Sizing Up U.S. Women’s Religious Houses

February 22-28, 2009 Issue

Mother Mary Clare Millea has a mandate: Report to the Holy See on the state of women’s religious life in the United States.

Cardinal Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, has begun a comprehensive study of institutes of... READ MORE

For Cardinal Maida, a Time to Recollect

BY Janet Cassidy

February 15-21, 2009 Issue

Cardinal Adam Maida has served the Archdiocese of Detroit for over 18 years and is looking forward to a little rest.

At 78, with a million air miles and numerous accomplishments to his name, he plans to retire in Detroit, a city he loves, and remain close to the people with whom he has bonded... READ MORE

‘I Have Not Forgotten Africa’

BY Patrick Novecosky

February 8-14, 2009 Issue

If you ask Immaculée Ilibagiza why bad things happen to good people, her answer is simple: so we can learn to love more completely.

Ilibagiza miraculously survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide by hiding in a tiny bathroom with six other women for three months. Her best-selling book Left to... READ MORE