Father Chao was among the last of the Trappist monks who survived the Chinese communist persecution.
Religious Life
Posted inNews
The Hillbilly Thomists on 10-city tour promoting new album ‘Strange Land’
The band performs a mixture of bluegrass, folk, gospel and original songs composed by the Dominican friars.
Posted inCatholic Movie Club
Catholic Movie Club: What Frederick Wiseman’s ‘Essene’ reveals about monastic life
In “Essene” (1972), Wiseman gave us a glimpse into life in an Anglican Benedictine monastery in Michigan, at a time of transition in American social, political and religious life.
Posted inNews
Marriage or the priesthood? Pope Leo XIV shares advice for discerning one’s vocation
Pope Leo XIV has shared his advice for how to discern one’s vocation, starting with the importance of creating space for interior silence to “hear what the Lord desires for our happiness.”
Posted inNews
After 900 years, monks of iconic French La Trappe Abbey consider leaving historic monastery
The monks of La Trappe Abbey in Normandy may leave their monastery in 2028, the abbey announced—a move that could bring to an end 900 years of Cistercian monastic presence in Soligny-la-Trappe, formerly known as “La Grande Trappe.”
Posted inCatholic Book Club
Remembering Cyprian Davis, a giant of Black Catholic history
Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., was a prominent figure in the American church after the Second Vatican Council due to, among other achievements, his scholarship on Black Catholics, theology, spirituality, pastoral care, Black women religious in the United States and the multifaceted history of Black Christianity on these shores.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Father James Martin: Where is God in the future of women’s religious orders?
What the raising of Lazarus can offer religious orders as vocations drop, sisters age and ministries end
Posted inFaith, News
Study: Devotion to Mary has significant impact on deciding to become a priest
The majority of survey respondents cited their Marian devotions as having played an important role in the discernment and living of their call to religious life.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
A missionary pope: What Pope Leo XIV’s years in Peru tell us about how he’ll lead the church
Father Robert Prevost first arrived in Peru in 1985 during a time of crisis, the aftermath of devastating El Niño rains that had left thousands of people homeless.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Pope Leo XIV is an Augustinian friar. Here’s what that means
A conversation with Father Robert Hagan, O.S.A., the prior provincial of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, about the spiritual foundations of our new American pope.