The Hidden Life of St. Charles of Jesus

By Mac Stewart At the end of his October 2020 Encyclical on “Fraternity and Social Friendship,” Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis referred to a figure (besides St. Francis) who had inspired the preceding pages by... Read More...

A Spiritual Tool for Social Distancing

By Mother Miriam, CSM In a large group of people, it is easy to get lost, think your own thoughts, find like-minded thinkers or feelers, and generally plow your own furrow or hitch your wagon to someone else’s horse. In a convent, the new arrivals look at t... Read More...

The Hidden Lives of the Church’s Religious (Part Two)

The external witness of vowed religious — habits, cloister, the Opus Dei (the daily round of psalms, hymns, and collects recited in chapel) — are the first things Christians notice about the monastics among them. But, of course, that is not the whole story of the charism and fruit of the religious life

Two Perspectives on the Founder of Taizé

By Andreas Westergren There is a moving image of frère Roger (Roger Schütz), the founder of the Taizé community in southern France, somewhere in a ghetto in the Philippines. Walking on top of a giant rubbish heap in his whitewashed monastic habit, he is com... Read More...