I know that when I was thinking about going to seminary, I had no idea what seminarians do all day long. In my head, they prayed exactly fifteen hours every day and read big, dusty, old books. So, after getting questions from all sorts of different people about what I actually do all day long, […]

Location: St. Albert the Great Young professionals in their 20s and 30s from all industries are invited to this free event.   CEND’s Young Professional events and network serve young Catholics across the Twin Cities at any stage of their professional and faith journey. Our goal is to build a community that fosters and empowers […]

Study runs from July 29th – Dec. 23rd (no meetings Nov. 11 & 25) – join anytime!  Study Guide Cost:  $29.95 plus S&H (you can pay on Ascension website)  Contact:  Vivian Chu Email:  [email protected]  Registration Link: https://study.ascensionpress.com/studies/56026/registrations/new  Bl. Pier Giorgio would take quiet moments while climbing in the mountains to pray, read Scripture, take photographs, […]

A Reflection on Divine Mercy Read More Read More The Breakdown of the Moral Argument Read More Reflections on the Receding Flames at Notre Dame Read More Read More A Field Guide for Young Catholics Read More A Reflection on World Youth Day Read More Read More As the Bishops Return From Baltimore Read More […]

Something feels … off, I thought as I strode through the sliding doors of the neighborhood grocery store. A muffled voice to my left: “Have a nice day!” A Salvation Army bell ringer, donning a Santa hat and a black face mask, with eyes smiling out from between them. And then I remembered: I forgot […]

Under ordinary circumstances, Catholics are obligated to attend Mass on Sundays. But as we are well aware by now, the past ten months have not been ordinary, and since last March our bishop has leveraged his legitimate authority to suspend this obligation, giving Catholics the freedom not to attend “if [they] decide that congregating for […]

Back in early May, I had the privilege of working on a young adult event at Nativity of Mary in Bloomington. We gathered in classic “theology on tap” style, but rather than doing a straight presentation, the pastor (Fr. Nathan LaLiberte) and myself decided to do more of a back-and-forth banter presentation of the topic. […]

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.     It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;     It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;     And all is seared with trade; bleared, […]

Nick Vance: 3, 2, 1, okay here we go. I don’t know if people use Cliff Notes anymore, but can you give us the “Cliff Notes” introduction for who you are? Maybe an interesting/embarrassing fact as well? Claire Ellendson: Oh boy. Well, my name is Claire, I grew up in Faribault, MN, the third of […]

    Sarah Carter lives in St. Paul with her husband, Will, and her son, Elijah. She and her family attend the Church of St. Mark and are members of the St. Mark Young Adult community. Sarah graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2014, spent two years serving as a campus missionary for […]

This is the fourth post in a 4-part series by Fr. Hagan. THE PROBLEM The day before the death of Pope John Paul II, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger — soon to be Pope Benedict XVI — gave a speech on the occasion of his reception of the St. Benedict Award for the promotion of life and the family in Europe. The address […]

As we’ve recently come to the end of Paschaltide, the Easter season, with the celebration of the Solemnity of Pentecost, it seems fitting and perhaps needful to reflect on what might be thought of as a “meta-season” of the Church’s liturgical year, the period from Advent to Pentecost. In our secular culture we’re habituated to […]

This is the third post in a 4-part series by Fr. Hagan. THE PROBLEM The public conversation about ethics and morality is radically broken in our time, says McIntyre. The universe of moral and ethical thought and language is marked by fragmentation, incoherence, and fundamental disagreement about standards of judgment. If you’ve ever entered into […]

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