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The family, the heart of evangelization, has been called the Domestic Church (“Lumen Gentium,” 11), the first place where we encounter God. It is within the family that we begin to learn who God is and how to prayerfully seek His will for our lives. It is the primary and perhaps singular place for many of us to evangelize and spread the message of God’s love. 

They came in droves from all over the Diocese of Phoenix for a day of inspiration, training and commitment with an eye toward a Synod of Young Adults that will begin this summer in the diocese.  More than 100 young adults, including college students, working professionals, religious sisters, seminarians and youth ministry leaders, took part in a daylong event aimed at training them to facilitate listening sessions for the upcoming synod.

More than 180 priests from around the Diocese of Phoenix — the largest turnout in more than a decade — gathered with Bishop John Dolan, Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares and Bishop Emeritus Thomas Olmsted at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix on Monday to concelebrate the annual Chrism Mass. The ceremony drew a standing-room-only crowd.   The liturgy, which is a rich tradition dating back to the year 200 AD, revolves around the bishop blessing the oils that will be used for the celebration of Baptism, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick and Holy Orders this year throughout the diocese. 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Carrying the cross means more than bearing personal suffering -- it means stepping into the pain of others and walking beside them, Pope Francis wrote at the start of Holy Week. "To carry the cross of Christ is never in vain," he wrote in his homily for Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square April 13. "It is the most tangible way for us to share in his redemptive love." The pope, still recovering from respiratory infections, made only a brief appearance in the square at the end of Mass, but his homily was read by Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, subdean of the College of Cardinals, who celebrated the Mass.

ASSISI, Italy (CNS) -- For centuries, pilgrims came to Assisi to walk in the footsteps of a saint who preached to birds, embraced poverty and wandered the hills barefoot. But today, many arrive in search of a different model of holiness: that of a teenager in Nike sneakers who built websites and coded for Christ. "I came to Assisi for Carlo," said Anne-Sophie, a mother of three from France, speaking outside the Church of St. Mary Major in Assisi, where the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis draws a steady stream of visitors. "Not only Carlo, but St. Francis, of course," she added April 1, mentioning the town's patron saint almost as an afterthought.

It all began with a startlingly frank question David Bates posed to a colleague at work one day. “What religion are you and what do you believe?” Not exactly your standard water-cooler conversation, but that’s when things got interesting. Neither one of them knew it then, but Joe Bashford’s answer would spur a two-year journey that would lead to deeper faith for both men — and their wives. “I told him I was Catholic,” Bashford said. “And then he goes, ‘Oh. So, you're not saved and you don't believe in Jesus.’   

Bishop John Dolan made his first-ever pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on March 30. He carried with him the intentions of the Diocese of Phoenix and entrusted TILMA, his seven-year pastoral plan on evangelization, to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is both the bishop’s inspiration for the historic initiative and the patroness of the Phoenix Diocese.  In his first pastoral letter, released in October 2024, Bishop Dolan shared his love for Our Lady of Guadalupe who “just like Juan Diego’s simple tilma, she desires to transform us into image bearers of Christ and great evangelizers of her motherly love.” 

It was going to be a joyous bus ride from Tucson back to Phoenix for students, teachers and friends of Xavier College Preparatory’s softball team that spring night in 2021. Hours earlier, the Gators had captured their first Arizona high school girls title in the sport. And though it was approaching midnight, Xavier’s vice principal for activities, athletic director and golf coach, Sr. Lynn Winsor, BVM, was full of her usual energy and enthusiasm. She was on a mission.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As Pope Francis continues his recovery at the Vatican, he is very slowly beginning to get back to his old routine of meeting with top Vatican officials, the Vatican press office said. In addition to working with his secretaries, he met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, April 7, the press office said in a briefing with reporters April 8.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, was driving one of four ambulances donated to Ukraine with the help of U.S. Catholics. With Easter approaching, Pope Francis wanted to make a concrete gesture to show his closeness to "tormented Ukraine," the dicastery said in a press release April 7. The pope wanted to send his papal almoner to Ukraine to deliver four ambulances that are fully equipped with medical instruments needed to save lives, it said. The ambulances, which bear the coat of arms of Vatican City State, "will be destined for war zones."