Catholic Extension: Stories of Faith

How do you find peace and confidence in today’s age of anxiety? Sister Marie-Paule Willem, Catholic Extension's 2018-19 Lumen Christi Award recipient, has spent a lifetime sharing the love of God in the most dire places, from living through Nazi occupation as a child to her current work serving women in detention in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Joe Boland, Catholic Extension's vice president of mission, sat down with Sister Willem to collect some of her hard-won wisdom and fascinating stories. Find our article on Sister Willem at catholicextension.org/sisterwillem.

Catholic Extension's vice president of mission Joe Boland recently appeared on Relevant Radio to discuss what he saw at the U.S.-Mexico border on a recent trip to El Paso, Texas. The Catholic Church is providing essential ministries to families--especially children--in need. You can learn more about these efforts by supporting our Family Reunification fund. Click here to learn more.

The United States has a distinct history of immigration, and the Catholic Church has a long history of lending support to immigrants. Dr. Tim Muldoon, director of mission education for Catholic Extension, offers a reflection on the historical role of the Church in helping these struggling communities as well as its current involvement in the issue. Learn more

Joe Boland, Catholic Extension's vice president of mission, recently appeared on the Catholic Chicago radio program to discuss Catholic Extension's new Family Reunification fund. The fund supports ministries that provide direct outreach and advocacy for immigrant families separated as a consequence of our broken immigration system. Learn More

This coming November, four dioceses in the United States will celebrate 175-year anniversaries: Chicago, Hartford, Milwaukee, and Little Rock. A closer look at the history and present realities of these dioceses offers us a glimpse of the ways that the Catholic Church in the United States is growing and changing--and gives us hope for the future. Read more

Our director of mission education, Dr. Tim Muldoon, has spent much of his career exploring the mission of the Church. Hear his thoughts.

Our vice president of mission, Joe Boland, recently appeared on Catholic TV to discuss our recent support of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Learn more at catholicextension.org/impact

Our president Father Jack Wall recently appeared on Catholic.TV to reflect on Catholic Extension's mission to build up the Church in America's poorest places, especially our recent support of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. If you're unfamiliar with the work of Catholic Extension, this interview provides a perfect primer on our mission. Learn more at our website.

The publication of Pope Francis’ most recent apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate (“Rejoice and be glad”) offers us an opportunity to reflect on how the gospel calls us to renew our efforts at growing as a holy people called to serve others. The document is subtitled “the call to holiness in today’s world,” and exhorts us to grow in faith both as individuals and as members of a church in service to the world. Listen to Dr. Tim Muldoon reflect on four lessons from the pope's new document and how these values are lived out in the mission dioceses served by Catholic Extension. Read more

In his address at World Youth Day in 2013, Pope Francis urged young people to go out to the streets and “make some noise.” By that, he called to mind his desire that they be agents of the Church’s mission in the world, and not merely passive recipients. Dr. Tim Muldoon, director of mission education for Catholic Extension, offers some thoughts on how the Church might look if young people emerged as leaders...through the story of a purple church. Read more

Joe Boland, our vice president of mission, appeared on Relevant Radio to discuss the current situation in Puerto Rico six months after Hurricane Maria as well as the role of Catholic parishes in providing essential physical and spiritual support to communities across the island. We have launched the Patrons of Puerto Rico initiative to raise funds for these parishes so that they can continue their vital ministry to the millions of Puerto Ricans who are still struggling to put their lives back together. Learn more

Rebecca Woods, a young adult pastoral associate at a small parish in the rural Diocese of Lexington, offers a brief reflection on the Gospel reading for the second week of Lent. Afterward, listen to an interview with Rebecca on her experience working for the Catholic Church in Appalachia, where Catholics are a minority but the Church is a respected source of physical and pastoral care for the poor. Subscribe to our Lenten reflection email series.

Father Garrett Nelson, a missionary priest in the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, offers a brief reflection on the Gospel reading for the first week of Lent. Afterward, listen to an interview with Father Garrett on his ministry in the wide open spaces--driving almost 1,000 miles every week to deliver the sacraments to Catholics in the vast reaches of his diocese. Subscribe to our Lenten reflection email series. Watch a video featuring Father Garrett Nelson.

Instead of chocolate or soda, how about giving up pessimism, anger, or gossiping? This episode offers some quick tips on making this your best Lent yet. If you would like to receive weekly Lenten meditations via email, sign up at www.catholicextension.org/reflect If you would like to make a Lenten offering to Catholic Extension, please visit www.catholicextension.org/give Thanks for listening and subscribing! Please leave us a rating wherever you found our podcast!

If you look beyond the island paradise inhabited by tourists, the U.S. Virgin Islands is the poorest area of the United States. Tim Muldoon, our director of mission education, reflects on a recent trip to survey the damage to the islands after Hurricane Maria. Read more and consider making a gift to support the rebuilding effort.

At a time when many Catholic schools are struggling with enrollment, fighting to survive, and at times shutting their doors, an innovative program is strengthening Catholic schools and educational outcomes in some of the nation’s most impoverished communities. The Catholic School Leadership Development Initiative, a partnership between Loyola Marymount University and Catholic Extension, seeks to develop a pipeline of educated Catholic school leaders in dioceses with limited resources and staff. Learn more about this program and hear some of the inspiring success stories of leaders who participated. If you would like to support the initiative, make a gift in honor of your favorite teacher at www.catholicextension.org/teacher.

As we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King this week, we remember Florence Kaster, our first Lumen Christi Award recipient, who supported poor African-American communities in Kingstree, South Carolina and fought against prejudice and injustice for more than 30 years. Learn more about the Lumen Christi Award and read the story of the 2017-2018 recipient.

In 1865 the English hymn writer William Chatterton Dix published “What Child Is This?" Dix paints for us a picture of the birth of Jesus in a town on the margins of ancient Rome, wondering at the mystery of why God would enter into human history in such an obscure place--"Why lies he in such mean estate?" Dix’s question gets right at the heart of Christian meditation on the nativity of Christ: the mystery of why the Incarnation happened not in a center of power or wealth, but rather amidst poverty, forced migration, and uncertainty. Listen to this reflection from Dr. Tim Muldoon to learn more about the transformative ways that God uses the least among us. Learn more

Pope Francis recently sent Cardinal Blase Cupich to the hurricane-battered island of Puerto Rico to express his deep concern for the people and reach out in solidarity on his behalf to those who are suffering. Read more and see photos

Dr. Tim Muldoon, Catholic Extension's director of mission education, recently joined more than 4,000 people on a 32-mile procession to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Coachella Valley of California. Hear his reflections on the history, meaning and devotion to this Marian apparition. Click here to see photos and videos from the procession.