What’s New

As a child, I always felt uneasy about saying in the Act of Love “I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul….” Yes, God was important, and I was supposed to keep on the good side of that important person. But my bike and dolls were very high...

In John’s gospel Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb of Jesus “while it was still dark.” In that gospel darkness is the realm of Satan, the enemy of human nature. Recall the first words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He...

It all started with a teacup.  My brother and sister had just arrived at our home in Walton, NY, a small town on the West Branch of the Delaware.  As they settled into comfortable chairs in our family room around our wood- burning stove, we served tea.  The...

Springtime means budgeting and planning for IVC regional directors. At the same time, we’re reflecting on the current year with our volunteers and agencies with an eye toward continued service and partnership this fall. As IVC regional directors, we live in a constant...

Volunteerism is on the rise in St. Louis specifically, and in the U.S. in general.  More people are spending more time doing more things they’re not paid to do.  The same is true of financial giving.  Though it is the 18th largest metropolitan region in the country,...

One of our Ignatian Volunteers served at a day-time drop-in shelter for the poor and the poor in spirit.  Late in the season of Lent, he observed a severely mentally ill guest at the shelter admiring a holy card of Christ crucified.  Many times the guest snapped his...

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15) Jesus reminds his hearers of the odd way God saved Israelites who had been bitten by poisonous snakes in the...

The Gawler family came to Walton at just the right time this month. Bad news has been the regular currency for our town most of this year. The school budget was slashed again. The economic plight has only seemed to deepen over the winter with more store windows...

When I first heard about the IVC, it was in 2002 in the context of Pastoral Formation Institute, a diocesan school for lay people on Long Island, NY. One of the IVC members was traveling a great distance to a school in Brooklyn, and she wanted to know if there were...