Bringing Hope to At-Risk Youth, with Kris Frank

Kris Frank, vice president of Vagabond Missions, shares how the Steubenville, Ohio, ministry expanded across the country by focusing on sharing the Gospel with at-risk, inner-city youth, helping them break the cycle of abandonment and hopelessness.

People Loving People: Answering the Call of Mater et Magistra

Katie Prejean McGrady shares the stories of three ministries in the United States that answer the call of St. John XXIII’s Mater et Magistra, a document written in the 1960s which challenges the Church to care for the physical and spiritual needs of men and women everywhere.

Bringing Christ to the Homeless

Kathryn Jean Lopez, author and senior fellow at the National Review Institute, gives insight into how she looks first at the faces and learns the names of those affected by homelessness in Washington D.C., and New York, where she works.

“When we do good works it is not because the people we serve are Catholic, but because we are Catholic and we do all that we do with great joy.”
—Fr. Steve Trail
Pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Chicago, Illinois

In this week's Ave Explores Showcase, Fr. Steve Trail’s parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Chicago, Illinois, operates a Parish Outreach Commission that coordinates volunteers for local charities and not-for-profit organizations. They serve at the Lakeview food pantry, one of the largest in the Chicagoland area, and the parish is a collection site for donations for the pantry.

Share Your Gifts

Faith in Action CHALLENGE: Share the gifts God gave you with others. A unique challenge by Mary Pezzulo, a columnist with Patheos, to perform one of the Corporal Works of Mercy.

St. Josephine Bakhita

St. Josephine Bakhita refused to be defined as a victim of slavery and abuse. She insisted that her story wasn’t a tragedy but a witness of God’s ability to triumph in the most horrific of circumstances.