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Waiting for Life to Begin

• Marianne Diaz

It is easy to presume during college and early adulthood that real life has yet to begin. Maybe you're waiting to finish school before pursuing the work of your dreams. Maybe you have that job, but you feel called to marriage and family life and you haven't met that special someone yet.

Spirited Volunteers

The spirit of volunteerism is alive and well in the state of New Mexico, thanks to people like Tom Fisher. In 2005, he contacted Catholic Charities about volunteer opportunities, feeling that it was high time he gave back in return for all of the help he had received over the years.

Rafael Duran

Rafael Duran is the co-founder of an organization that champions justice for restaurant workers. As a teenager he came to New York from Mexico to help his widowed mother. She was working 16 hours a day at a clothing factory to support him and his two younger sisters.

Never Too Old to Lend a Hand

Whoever came up with the saying, "You're as young as you feel" must have had someone like Mollie Washington in mind. Washington, 77, has been a volunteer in the Senior Companions program for 13 years.

Houses of Hospitality

Do the domestic churches which we live in reflect a response to the biblical call to welcome the stranger in our midst? What keeps us from offering hospitality to others? Are we afraid of the financial sacrifice?

Giving Hope and Help

Ray Suttles of Wharton, New Jersey, has spent 15 years providing essential services and support to HIV sufferers in his home county under the auspices of Catholic Charities of Paterson, New Jersey.

Deeply Rooted in Community

For decades, a band of Catholic nuns in Apopka, Florida, have dedicated their lives to helping the impoverished farmworkers and low-income families who live there.

Big Wheeler-Dealers

Freddie and Michael Erdman run a successful car dealership in Merritt Island, Florida, but their good fortune has made them anything but idle. Each year, the Erdmans donate much of their time, talent, and treasure to their parish, Holy Name of Jesus.

Being Fully Alive

• Marianne Diaz

St. Augustine claimed that the presence of God is more interior to us than we are to ourselves. God knows us better than we know ourselves. The tension between our true self who God calls us to be and the way we are currently living constantly calls us to transformation.

‘Vocation’ as a Verb

• Marianne Diaz

The root of the word 'vocatio' in Latin means "a calling." From a Catholic point of view, we commonly understand vocation as our state of life as a vowed religious, or as a single, married or ordained person.

All in the Family

Some family traditions center around holidays, others are focused on food or games. But the Marascalco-Mooberry family has a multi-generational family tradition that's based on tooth care.