From The New York Times:  Past the Nike Factory Store and the Banana Republic, J. Crew and Gap outlets, and then up the elevator to a desolate hallway above a Marshalls department store, Susan Munroe found one of the places where she feels closest to God: a chapel. It is known officially as St. Therese’s Chapel, but the black letters on the glass door on the second level of the Outlets at Bergen Town Center label it, simply, Chapel on... Read more

This is so good, I may steal it for my Ash Wednesday homily next year. Here’s ESPN’s Tony Reali on why he wears ashes on television every year: A thought at this moment: I do it publicly one day, think about those who are questioned about their faith every day. Those who are demanded to answer for their faith every day. Those who are threatened because of their faith every day. Or more to the point, think of those whose... Read more

From The Washington Post: Even as he sought the truth day in and day out, peering into mice brains in the lab to figure out the mysteries of addiction and depression, Jaime Maldonado-Aviles was filled with uncertainty. Was this what he should be doing with his life? As he excelled in school, earned a post-doctoral position at Yale, and won prestigious fellowships, Maldonado-Aviles wondered: Is this what God wants from me? Eventually, the calling he felt from God became too powerful... Read more

Awesome: Earlier this week, Simon Chiu watched Snapchat’s team put on an IPO presentation for investors in San Francisco. He was surrounded by investment bankers from firms like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. “It was a little bit of fish out of water for me,” Chiu told CNNTech. “I’m an educator. It’s not what I do.” Chiu is the president of Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. The Catholic school just happens to be one of the first... Read more

From The New York Times: The fight against President Trump’s executive orders to turn away refugees, deport undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border is about to escalate in many American churches. A broad network of 37 Protestant and Orthodox Christian denominations will announce on Friday a campaign to mobilize its congregants — some 30 million Americans in all — to lobby the president and members of Congress to rescind the executive orders. In a declaration hammered... Read more

This will make your week: Jax Rosebush, who is white, wanted a buzz cut to match the hair of his friend Reddy, who is black. He was thrilled because he didn’t think his teacher would be able to tell the two apart — and after his mom posted about it on Facebook, the Louisville, Kentucky boy’s story has gone viral. Just watch the video above. Read more

From the university’s press office:  Vice President Mike Pence will receive an honorary degree and serve as principal speaker at the University of Notre Dame’s 172nd commencement ceremony May 21 (Sunday). He becomes the first vice president of the United States to deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame. “It is fitting that in the 175th year of our founding on Indiana soil that Notre Dame recognize a native son who served our state and now the nation with quiet... Read more

The text of the pope’s remarks, asking during the month of March that people pray for persecuted Christians: How many people are being persecuted because of their faith, forced to abandon their homes, their places of worship, their lands, their loved ones! They are persecuted and killed because they are Christians. Those who persecute them make no distinction between the religious communities to which they belong. I ask you: how many of you pray for persecuted Christians? Do it with... Read more

Could you do this?: Ice cream, fast food, coffee and candy are popular examples of sacrifices that Roman Catholics take on during Lent. But seldom do Catholics think to take the challenge of abstaining from the one thing they feel they can’t live without these days – their cell phone. As part of a new campaign launched by the Archdiocese of Hartford, the next generation of Catholics is embracing the challenge of “fasting” from their phones on two important holy... Read more

Details:  Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich told priests Tuesday that if federal immigration authorities knock on the doors of their parishes without a warrant, priests should turn them away and call the archdiocese’s lawyers. Catholic school principals have been told to do the same. “If they do not have a warrant and it is not a situation that someone is in imminent danger, tell them politely they cannot come on the premises,” Cupich wrote in a letter to Chicago priests. The... Read more