On most days, Jim Campagna’s starts the day driving himself morning Mass at either Cathedral of the Holy Spirit or St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Bismarck, North Dakota where he is a parishioner. Not back for someone who will turn 100 on December 21 this year.   "I put God first in my life.” he said in an interview after Mass. “I know every day might be my last day, but as long as I’m ready, that’s all that matters.” When he was born in 1923, life expectancy was 56.1 years for men and 58.5 for women. Antibiotics had not been invented yet—that would happen in 1928 with penicillin— so child ..read more

Who among us has not worried about the future or been burdened with regrets? It was a surprise when I recently began to re-read the Divine Mercy in my Soul Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalski to discover that the second entry in her notebook is a prayer to calm those fears for what may come tomorrow and regrets over what has already been.               O My God When I look into the future, I am frightened, But why plunge into the future? Only the present moment is precious to me, As the future may never enter my soul at all.   It is no l ..read more

Do angels really guard us and interact with us?   Paulie Ruby from Minot, North Dakota shared her story with me in was included in Amazing Grace for Mothers. It's powerful testimony that God has given us each an angel to watch over us.  One foggy morning I heard my son Dan's truck leave and I began to hustle. I was a slow starter this chilly morning and knew my husband would be waiting--not so patiently--for me to begin our own route.   We have an unusual family business--garbage hauling.  We called it Circle Sanitation (for family circle ..read more

What kind of mother threatens her husband to abandon their newborn? In 2015, Ruzan Badalyan threatened divorce if the father, Samuel Forrest, refused to abandon their Down Syndrome newborn.  Samuel shared his story publicly. Samuel, a freelance business contractor had said: "I looked at this guy and I said, he's beautiful - he's perfect and I'm absolutely keeping him." But his wife gave him an ultimatum, that she would leave him if he kept their son. Monster! Many pro-lifers cried.  If only she had had an abortion, some felt. At the time, I thought,&nbs ..read more

                  Through my husband’s brother who recently retired, we’ve learned a bit about geography and about a devotion to the Blessed Mother we had never heard of. He recently moved to the Portugese town of Nazaré, a beautiful town where many other Americans retire amid stunning natural beauty with sheer cliffs jutting above the Atlantic Ocean. There, is a magnificent Church dedicated to a miraculous event attributed to the Blessed Mother.    On the feast of Our Blessed Mother’s birthday, September 8, Our Lady of Naz ..read more

Mysterious visitors at dramatic moments often appear and disappear in hospitals.  I have interviewed several people over the years who have had such experiences.   Here is Katie Alveby’s touching story of such an event from Amazing Grace for Fathers. ~~~~~~ I  gazed out into a dreary Wednesday morning.  The steady stream of rain was fitting, as if even the sky were crying for my father.  Is he still alive? I sighed, wondering if  Dad had made it through the night.  He must be, I decided, or surely someone from the hospit ..read more

          March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, is a religious holiday that has spread into the popular culture – just like the Catholic Irish people have spread throughout our population. More than one in ten Americans are Irish. Regardless of who your ancestors are, the saints are patrons to us all – related through the One Body in Christ. If you don’t have a drop of Irish blood, don’t let that stop you from joining in the St. Patrick’s Day celebration. After all, St. Patrick was not Irish either. He was born in 387 in Britain, which was controlled by R ..read more

     Kathryn Jean Lopez, senior fellow at the National Review Institute, a nationally syndicated columnist, and the author of A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living. She contributed ways she lives her faith daily for Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith and Get to Heaven.       I pray an Our Father and Hail Mary every time I hear a siren. (Did I mention my office is in midtown Manhattan? I remembered to write this because in the time it took to write this sentence, I heard one.) I travel a lot and often wind up in a hot ..read more

              Increase your capacity for holiness through a closer walk with Jesus. Lent is the perfect time to take this walk with easy, fun, holy ideas to live thoughtfully and deepen your faith. Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Fr. Donald Calloway, and Fr. John Riccardo shared their holy habits in Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith and Get to Heaven. Fr. Donald Calloway, M.I.C., of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, vocation direction and house superior of the Marian House of Studies in Steubenville, Ohio ..read more

     “My computer crashed this morning—I’ve never had that happened— so can we reschedule?” Dr Richard Gallagher, the world’s leading psychiatric consultant on demonic activity and author of Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years as a Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolic Attacks, and the Paranormal was scheduled to be a guest on my TV talk show that day via zoom.  “Is there a way you can get to another computer?” I asked. “The chief exorcist for the diocese of Washington D.C. Msgr. Stephen Rossetti is scheduled to follow your interview. I had wanted you ..read more