From ‘cultural Catholic’ to preparing for ordination to the priesthood
Growing up in Glendale, Deacon Marvin Soto’s family was what he described as culturally Catholic.
Adoration, pondering life’s bigger questions led him to seminary to serve God as a...
Deacon Harold Escarcega, the fourth of five children, was homeschooled in his younger years but attended high school at Veritas Preparatory Academy. During his junior year there, he started asking himself questions.
Trauma of serious car accident led to daily rosary and call to priesthood
His parents came to the U.S. from Vietnam as refugees, part of a wave of tens of thousands of people fleeing persecution, oppression, and the collapse of the Vietnamese economy. His father was one of those who braved the shark- and pirate-infested open seas rather than stay in his homeland.
Hearing the whisper of God pointed a would-be mathematician and tennis star toward religious...
Growing up in Canonsburg, Pa., a small town south of Pittsburgh, Brother John of the Cross, whose father was a teacher, used to attend daily Mass on summer mornings.
Supreme Court sides with Arizona in death penalty cases
In a 6-3 ruling May 23, the Supreme Court said two Arizona death-row inmates could not present new evidence of ineffective counsel they said they received in state trials during their federal appeals.
Local students recognized in CCHD art contest
On Friday, May 6, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted awarded two of the winners of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Creating on the Margins art contest.
As executions resume, Bishop leads vigil to pray for end to death penalty
On May 10, as the state of Arizona prepared to carry out its first death sentence in nearly 9 years and with a second execution expected a month later, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to capital punishment, leading a prayer vigil at Ss. Simon & Jude Cathedral for an end to the practice.
The Matthew 19:14 Project provides funds for special needs students in Phoenix Catholic schools
These are a few examples of the sentiments of recent mini grant award recipients around the Diocese of Phoenix Catholic schools. The Matthew 19:14 Project (TMP) is a 501c3 non-profit organization in existence since 2020.
New facility, generosity of Shea Homes, will take OLPH, Glendale students to ‘next level’
Since 2014, when STREAM – the Catholic extension of STEM, the integration of science, technology, engineering and math into every aspect of learning to provide a more well-rounded student – was introduced, the initiative has been taking Catholic students to the next level in their education.
Years of searching culminate in conversion and the birth of a future bishop
Sitting in her quiet front room inside a modest home on a tree-lined street in Chandler, Joan Wall, mother of Bishop James S. Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, describes an early glimpse inside the Catholic Church. She was 11 years old at the time.
