The Catholic Sun

Pope Francis greets religious leaders during a meeting at the Vatican March 20. The pope met with the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and Jain delegations that had come to the Vatican for his inauguration. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Students at St. Matthew Catholic School are receiving help from well beyond the parish boundaries. Parishioners at St. Patrick in Scottsdale and Ascension in Fountain Hills make the weekly 20-25-mile trek to serve as tutors.

The Catholic Church experiences an annual surge in its worldwide membership during the Easter Vigil when it celebrates the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). This rite has been around since the first century when disciples of Jesus shared His message and brought people into the faith.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis had been pope for less than six days when he was formally installed March 19, but he had...

Twenty-four-year-old Danilo Coronado left Guatemala with four companions. Only Coronado and his cousin were left when he arrived at a Jesuit-run outreach for migrants just south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

While politicians and advocacy organizations work at coming up with legislation to reform the U.S. immigration system, the Jesuits are tackling some of its problems head-on at the Mexican border, in higher education institutions and in parishes.

More than a dozen religious leaders sat down with President Barack Obama March 8 to stress their concerns for immigration reform, before ending with a prayer and promising to work with their faith communities on the issue, especially during the rest of Lent and Easter.

Deacon Peter Murphy has prayed, counseled, consoled and rejoiced with the men and women he has encountered in his parish of prison fences. As the director of Catholic ministries to prisons and jails, the work of the Church is ever present in the lives of the faithful, especially those living on the margins of life.

As the world welcomes a new pope, Catholics around the Diocese of Phoenix reacted to the first resignation of a pontiff in six centuries.

Jesuits from the Diocese of Phoenix weighed in with their reaction to the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, the first Jesuit ever to become pope.