Approximately 800 km northwest of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories is Fort Good Hope, a remote, mostly First Nations community through which the mighty Mackenzie River flows on its way to the Arctic Ocean.

Sr. Susan Kidd said the need for consecrated life in the world hasn’t changed, but she admits there was a time when the religious were more visible and it was easier to connect with a sister.

It is often said that a religious sister never truly retires, and Sr. Mary Ann Maxwell is living proof.

The Canadian member of the Sisters of Charity of Immaculate Conception spent her first 37 years as a nun working as both a teacher and principalin the Catholic school system, from which she had just graduated. 

Vowed life is a mystery, but only in the Catholic sense. There’s no mystery in the vows themselves. Poverty, chastity and obedience are pretty straightforward — no money, no sex, no turning your back on the demands of the community.

VATICAN CITY - Just as the people they preach to must be reawakened to God, so to must the Church’s pastors — right up to those holding the highest positions in the Church — a Carmelite priest told Pope Francis and members of the Curia at their recent retreat.

OMAHA, Neb. - Working to establish and build a business that would become one of the largest discount brokerages in the United States — TD Ameritrade — Joe Ricketts found some 20 years ago he was drifting away from the Catholic faith and values that formed him growing up in Nebraska City.

For the busy person who can’t get away for a spiritual retreat weekend, all they may need is to turn on their computer.

Virtual retreats are a fairly new concept — a retreat conducted through online media, often based on a time and place of the individual’s choosing.

Earlier this year, I had a “dilemma.” There were five retreats happening in the same month — some landing on the same weekends. Which retreat should I go on? There was a Chinese Catholic students’ retreat, a quad university chaplaincies including my alma mater, one with the University of Toronto, another one on discernment and the silent retreat with the York University chaplaincy. In the end, I chose the days of discernment retreat. Funny enough, I ended up making a decision to go on a retreat to learn how to make better life decisions.

It’s not just our bodies that need a workout, our souls need training too.

That’s what St. Paschal Baylon Church’s young adult ministry will be doing this year for its annual retreat April 25-26.

TORONTO - Toronto’s Catholic school board will still see fewer dollars from the provincial Grants for Student Needs next school year.