I was born, baptized and raised in the Catholic Church but I didn’t really meet the person of Jesus until a freshman retreat in high school. That night during adoration, before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, I was overwhelmed by what I can describe as God’s love for me and was moved to tears by sheer joy.

Every summer, the Minnesota State Fair becomes a place to meet with legislators and take part in the nonpartisan (and nonscientific) House Public Information Services Office’s opinion poll. This year, 5,231 Minnesotans voiced their opinion on 12 policy matters.

Many people don’t know that the Catholic Church is the most diverse organization in the world, said Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which alone is home to more than 800,000 Catholics celebrating Mass regularly in 11 languages. Members of the Church in the archdiocese and around the globe come from almost every culture and, certainly, every continent, he said.

“The Church has always liked to pray as we process,” said Father Tom Margevicius, noting the familiar hymn “When the Saints Go Marching In.” “The actual moving as we go through a liturgical or devotional activity, walking together from point A to point B, is something of a symbol of the whole Christian life.”

Sergio Barrera grew up in Arizona, in what he called a very traditional Mexican-American family. “Catholic piety was in our blood,” he said. “Any time something bad happened, we would talk about ‘I’ll just do a novena for Mary’ or ‘just pray the Hail Mary a few times and Mary will take care of us.’ So, we just sort of breathed this in when I was a child.”

So often when you want to make progress in a certain area of life, it's one step forward, two steps back.

At 23, Katie Neumeyer is a member of a young professionals group at her parish, Our Lady of Grace in Edina. Her group meets regularly and often discusses a book or podcast, she said. But on the evening of Sept. 21, group members decided they would instead participate in the Synod Small Groups with others at their parish, which launched the morning before and continues for the next five weeks.

Two women who challenged the U.K. government over a law that allows abortion up to birth for disabled babies have vowed to take their case to appeal after it was dismissed by the High Court.

As part of the listening and dialogue phase of the Australian Catholic Church's Plenary Council, 220,000 Australians answered the question, "What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?"

The Women's Health Protection Act of 2021, introduced in the U.S. Senate and House June 8 and currently moving through various committees in both chambers, "is nothing short of child sacrifice," said Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco.