PEOPLE

For the Crosiers’ newest priest, Fr. Alex Juguilon, OSC, holy orders wasn’t on his radar. The 48-year-old former doctor hadn’t even been to a church in three years when he first felt a tugging on his heart.

His poems are neatly organized into six categories on his website running from the luminous to the dark to the mystical, but all subtly or directly pointing back to God.

Growing up in East Los Angeles, Armando Contreras never dreamed he’d one day stand at the helm of a national non-profit serving those with disabilities.

SCOTTSDALE — Friends, family and dignitaries from around the diocese packed into St. Bernadette Church June 29 to witness Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted bestow the universal Church’s highest honor for the laity on one of the parish’s founding couples.

With his ordination to the priesthood June 3, Fr. Athanasius Fornwalt, FHS, marked a major milestone for himself and his community: he was the first of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit to be ordained a priest.

The setting for the launch of Fr. Daniel Cruz’s public ministry was providentially the same as that of Jesus himself: a wedding.

“I’ve met so many kids who have no idea what a true family or a true parent is. It’s so sad they don’t understand that,” Mark said.

To the uninformed, admonishing the sinner may sound like a holier-than-thou Pharisee casting judgement, but in reality, it involves an awareness of one’s own brokenness and need of repentance. It’s about lovingly calling someone to conversion, encouraging those who are trying to break free from sin and addiction.

BAPCHULE — Growing up on the sprawling Gila River Indian Reservation south of Phoenix, Bryson Hall remembers the day tragedy shattered his world: Oct. 12, 1996. He was just 12 years old.

SCOTTSDALE — Growing up in a strict German Lutheran family, Fr. Doug Lorig got the impression that God was someone angry. Paradoxically, amid messages of condemnation and wrath, he was told that God is love.