Meet Fr. Vinhson Nguyen: Prayer, spiritual brotherhood paves path to priesthood

What one East Valley boy once filled in the blank with for what he wanted to be when he grew up is now a reality. That’s not to say his path to priesthood was direct.

Counsel the doubtful: Juan Carlos Gonzalez helps addicts, homeless

Gonzalez spearheads a growing army of 150 volunteers who broke the chains of addiction in their own lives and families and now feed the homeless in downtown Phoenix with similar hope.

CATHOLICS MATTER: Carolyn Diercksmeier — Woman’s uncommon life story focused on mercy, service to...

She attended daily Mass all through grade school and high school and entered the religious life at 18. For years, she enjoyed teaching math to junior high students. As time went on, however, she found herself enveloped in deep depression, a sorrow she couldn’t shake.

Catholics Matter: Becky Greene: Former secularist embraces Catholic faith

Becky Green decided to become a Catholic and planned to enter at the Easter vigil but was deterred by tragedy. On Holy Thursday, her 55-year-old father, en route to Phoenix for the ceremony, suffered a fatal heart attack.

Fr. Peter Dobrowski, newly-retired pastor of Bullhead City parish, reflects on his priesthood

Ask most first-graders what they hope to be when they grow up and you’ll get the standard responses — firefighter, doctor, police officer, teacher or pro baseball player. But from the age of 6, Peter Dobrowski knew he had a different calling. He felt the persevering inner tug of the Holy Spirit to serve God as a priest.

Vocation of nun, podcast host, one of encounter

The only anecdote to isolation, said Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, is communion, and “this is exactly where Christ comes to meet us.”

Julian Nabozny: Business owner keeps faith at the center of his work

Julian Nabozny, owner of five Phoenix-area McDonald’s restaurants, gets up from a booth as a homeless man enters his bustling store on south Central Avenue. The man is carrying a grimy thermos he’s hoping to fill with ice at the soda dispenser.

CATHOLICS MATTER: Craig Colson — Musician uses gift to draw people closer to God

Craig Colson has spent most of the last 20 years inside Catholic churches. It wasn’t always like that though. Growing up he dreaded going to church. Mostly, he said, it was the music he abhorred.

CATHOLICS MATTER: Henry Cappello — Serving the poor and sharing the love of God

Henry Cappello travels to places most people will only see on the news. From the shambles of an earthquake-shattered Haiti to a tsunami-battered Indonesia and the devastation inflicted by Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Cappello has seen human suffering up close.

CATHOLICS MATTER: Bob DeRosa — Retired firefighter performs rescues of a different sort

Bob DeRosa spent more than two decades as a New York City firefighter, rushing into people’s homes at their darkest hour. Since moving to Arizona and joining Holy Spirit parish 22 years ago, he’s found another way to rescue people.