The Catholic Sun

Xavier College Preparatory's three senior golfers will turn 18 this school year, and thanks to their performance on the course this week, the Gators' historic win streak extends all the way back to their infancy if not their life in the womb. The Gators have not lost a dual match since Oct. 6, 1996, totaling 200 straight wins in the streak so far.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In an effort to help lay Catholics gain a deeper understanding of religious life, priests, brothers and women religious intend to open their convents, monasteries, abbeys and religious houses to the public one day next February. It's one of several events for the upcoming Year of Consecrated Life, which begins this Advent.

Avoid the melodrama and self-pity over minor problems in life, Pope Francis said. Instead, use life's inevitable difficulties to pray for strength and pray for those who are suffering real tragedy.

CHICAGO (CNS) — With prayers, songs and sealing wax, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago formally closed the investigation into the life and virtues of Fr. Augustus Tolton Sept. 29 in a ceremony in the St. James Chapel at the Archbishop Quigley Center. The prayer service marked the binding and sealing of the dossier local research aimed at making Fr. Tolton, the first African-American diocesan priest, a saint.

St. Matthew is a one-classroom-per-grade school, but the majority of its students double up on the learning with complementary lessons taught in English and Spanish. The dual language staff highlighted student learning and assessment during a state conference of the Arizona Language Association and the Teachers of Language Learners Learning Community Sept. 26 at Mesa Community College.

After telling parishioners and students in the religious education program at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Parish about what is happening in Syria, Fr. Rodrigo Miranda was impressed that a 13-year-old girl was one of the first to respond.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis warned against the abandonment and neglect of the elderly, calling it a "hidden euthanasia" rooted in today's "poisonous" culture of disposal and an economic system of greed. In the presence of his predecessor, Pope Francis also thanked retired Pope Benedict XVI for staying to live at the Vatican and being like "a wise grandfather at home."

The unified voices and various instruments of a church’s choir gather us in and send us forth. Their melodies lift Catholic hearts on a journey through the Bible and place them at the heavenly banquet.

National Coffee Day is Sept. 29 and The Refuge, a local coffee shop and wine bar in Central Phoenix, is offering some deals for patrons who want to savor it within or take bags home to roast on their own.

Arizona will be home to one of the largest annual public rosary celebrations in the nation this year as thousands are expected to come together in prayer in Tucson Oct. 11 and Phoenix Oct. 12.