Nate Pfenenger took his chances, rolled the dice and came out a winner.Specifically, he turned 20,400 black dice into an intricate, larger-than-life-size mosaic portrait of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton.“I didn’t think it was going to be a big thing,” said Nate, a senior at Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School in Columbia. “I just thought it would be a really fun and memorable art project.”

This newsletter is coming to you from swinging London, where we are on a family visit. It is, sadly, a long way to come, and we don’t manage it as often as we would like. The kid was surprisingly good on the plane ride over, as it happened, which certainly made the trip a little easier for all concerned. But gone forever are the days when trans-Atlantic jet lag was something I laughed off with two large drinks and a quick nap.

“The good makes no noise,” St. Francis de Sales would say of Lille’s candlelight Mass. Indeed, while France regularly shows itself to be at the forefront of the de-Christianization of the West and recently made headlines for its constitutionalization of abortion, the embers of Christian renewal are already igniting — quietly yet powerfully — on the country’s northern horizon.

Australian police have confirmed another stabbing incident in Sydney after shocking video footage of a man apparently attacking a church leader went viral on social media on Monday.

Kathy Ware was on Instagram recently when she saw a story about Canada's medical assistance in dying law. It shook her."Alberta judge greenlights euthanasia for 27-year-old autistic woman DESPITE objections from her dad, who says she's healthy — just 'vulnerable' due to mental health problems," read the headline from the Daily Mail, a British tabloid.Ware thought of her adult son, Kylen, whose disabilities render him nonverbal, barely mobile and dependent on round-the-clock care.

Scotland’s new “hate crime” law already is demonstrating how it will be used to squash dissent and free speech.The so-called Hate Crime and Public Order Act, which went into force in Scotland on April Fools’ Day, adds age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity to a list of protected classes.

On 13 April 2024, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in coordination with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, Lebanese group Hezbollah, and the Yemeni Houthis, launched attacks on Israel codenamed Operation True Promise, using drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. The retaliatory attacks were launched in response to the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus...

At the conclusion of Sunday's Regina Coeli, Pope Francis makes a heartfelt appeal to halt the spiral of violence in the Middle East and for all nations to favour negotation and peace efforts, while assisting those suffering in Gaza.

It sounds mildly heretical. No doubt some would call it, without historical accuracy, Jansenist. Most people would say it’s masochistic or perhaps a sad manifestation of that great modern bogeyman, “Catholic guilt.” But I’ll say it anyway. I’m glad for the bacon and the other goodies of Easter, but I’m sad to see Lent gone. And I prefer to carry it with me throughout the year.

If asked what a dinosaur sounded like, many people would likely recall the roaring T. rex of Jurassic Park. However, that earth-shaking bellow seems to be a case of Hollywood exercising some creative liberty. While we don't know what these reptiles really sounded like, since they mostly died out some 66 million years ago, scientists at least have some reasonable ideas based on the anatomical structures of well-preserved fossils...