My Encounter With a Champion

As I stood at the back of this humble chapel, taking in this amazing moment, one particular child attracted my attention. He had one blind and clouded eye — but the other had a gleam in it. One of his ears was missing, but the other hung on to every word the priest said. His smile was bigger than everyone else’s, and he seemed to be oblivious to the third degree burn scars that covered his head, shoulders and chest.

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Haitians Eating Dirt to Fill Their Bellies

I had heard about hungry Haitian children eating mud cookies to fill their empty bellies but I had never actually seen mud cookies with my own eyes — until I traveled to the slums of Ouanaminthe, located on Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic.

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Christ the Hope of the Rich and Poor

It felt wrong to reach for my water bottle. The thirst was a perpetual itch just beyond hand’s reach. Throughout the week, we’d been traveling from one remote village to the next — each a nearly identical sprawl of thatched-roof houses, dirt paths and sun-scorched farmland.

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Pray for Haiti

In September – literally two days before Hurricane Matthew devastated the southern peninsula of Haiti – I was in the country for the dedication of two schools. Sadly, one of those missions was damaged by the storm.

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St. Valentine

Valentine is a favorite saint, receiving recognition well beyond the influence of the Catholic Church because of his association with love and lovers. Hallmark Cards, florists, restaurants and chocolate makers all capitalize on the day dedicated to the memory of this saint.

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St. Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas was the youngest of nine children born to noble parents in the Kingdom of Sicily.  Following the tradition of the times, five-year-old Thomas was sent to the Abbey of Monte Cassino to train among Benedictine monks. 

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