In a holiday appeal from a Soup Kitchen here in Seattle, a homeless man described his conversion in this way: "I used to be a hopeless drug addict, now I am a drugless hope addict." What would it mean to be a hope addict? It doesn't mean hoping when that is the popular thing to do or when all the signs point towards a successful outcome. Being a ho...

 The following is an excerpt of a journal article by the same title authored by Sr. Kieran Sawyer SSND for Youth Ministry Access.  Subscribers can access the entire article here. The headlines were alarming: "Only 30% of Catholics believe in the Real Presence." A report on a recent survey from the Pew Research Center seemed to indica...

At the age of 14, my niece Katie lost her mother (my little sister) to pancreatic cancer. That was two years ago. Last year her father died of a massive heart attack. I became her legal guardian and moved in with her. I, a life-long single woman, was now parenting for the first time at the age of 68. It has brought me to my knees. Life has been har...