Category: Cover Stories

Saint Alphonsus, statue at sunrise. Liguori, MO.

A New Era

When I returned to Liguori Publications after an absence of twenty-three years, a simple, handwritten sign was taped to my new office door: “Welcome back, Father Tom.” Welcome back, indeed. It has been a blessed journey, one I could never have imagined or predicted. When I concluded my first assignment...

Liguorian March-April 2024

From Breaking Glass to Making Glass

Now at the controls of stained glass work, a retired Air Force pilot who once broke glass today uses it to inspire The military fighter aviation profession is competitive and swashbuckling, rewarding those blessed with an uncanny awareness of their surroundings and punishing those who don’t always see the “big...

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divinia

The Meditative way of reading the Bible opens us to converse with and become friends with God It was likely Lent or Advent, and a Franciscan priest named Fr. Philip Blaine was sitting across from a group of ten of us, the fluorescent light waxing a glow on him as...

Icon of St. Nicholas of Myra

Santa Claus: The Man, the Myth, the Model of Christ

In 1860, Grace Bedell wrote to Abraham Lincoln after seeing a portrait of the clean-shaven presidential nominee, encouraging him to grow a beard. “All the ladies like whiskers,” the eleven-year-old from New York informed him, “and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be...

A Refuge of Learning

Rewards and heartaches—but more successes than you can count—mark the school days of immigrant students and a devoted faculty and staff at St. Frances Cabrini Academy in St. Louis It’s 7:15 in the morning and my first-graders have begun to arrive. Some go directly to the cafeteria, where breakfast is...

Honor Your Loved Ones on All Souls’ Day

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. “My grandmother subscribed to Liguorian for decades.” “My parents always had a copy of Liguorian in our home when I was growing up.” Did your loved ones introduce you to the Liguorian magazine? Honor their memory...

Timothy Cardinal Dolan

Catching Up with Timothy Cardinal Dolan

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York, is one of the most recognizable leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States. Known for his easygoing manner, welcoming strangers as if they were lifelong friends, and his exceptional memory for people’s names and the details of their lives, he is less intimidating than a person in his position might be. 

Staying Home for Good

Staying Home for Good

It’s treacherous to live in Honduras, migrating can be deadly, so care is vital for all who remain in this Central American country I had spent time in Honduras as part of my Jesuit formation, and I loved the people, but…live with them? Of course, I started looking for loopholes!...

Photo of succulent by Fr. Byron J. Miller, CSsR

Finding God in the Garden

A tour of memories reveals our Lord to one of his guides Gregory J. Rohde Genesis tells us that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Have you ever wondered what God did on the eighth day? God walked in a garden. The apple doesn’t...

Marriage God's Way

Marriage God’s Way

A Christian marriage is a sacred covenant between three parties: a husband, wife, and God. A husband and wife who are filled with Christ’s love will seek union and peace with one another. Keeping Christ at the center of your relationship is the one principle that promotes all others. The...

O Come, O Come: God With Us

O Come, O Come God With Us

Why do we call upon Jesus Christ in the mess of our lives? Because he did what we are trying to do. It has been said that while Lent is akin to spring cleaning, Advent is more like sprucing up before a beloved house guest arrives. In our home, cleaning...

Extraordinary Influencers

Extraordinary Influencers: Women Doctors of the Church

Four models of holiness overcame societal prejudices against females to influence Catholicism and the world The four women who are recognized as doctors of the Church belong to a small, elite group. To date, thirty-seven saints have been honored as doctors. Church doctors are saints with a significant body of...

The Grace of Grandparenting

The Grace of Grandparenting

Kathy Coffey Why are some people given the chance to grandparent? Maybe to grow closer to God later in life or to find their truest selves. Saint Ignatius believed God had a unique dream for each of us, and surely grandparenting brings out our best: people can become surprisingly patient,...

Listening: The Highest Form of Love

Listening: The Highest Form of Love

Consider the rhetoric heard during any political ad season, whether prior to a municipal, midterm, or presidential election. Bear in mind, I live in Texas, where the laws of the old Wild West resonate throughout as “Texas values.” My ears are assaulted with a myriad of attack ads from the...

A Whirlwind of Care and Hope

A Whirlwind of Care and Hope

In the cosmos of wounded kids at children’s hospitals, some hearts pound with joy; others come to rest at a butterfly memorial Home from the Air Force, I was standing in the kitchen preparing breakfast when I heard someone at our back door. Mary, our next-door neighbor, was frantically looking...

Awaken to a Life in Christ

Awaken to a Life in Christ

The Essential Role of the Laity in the Church Today In this year of our Lord 2022, what is your experience of Church? Unquestionably, COVID-19 has shifted the reality. We have experienced the lockdown of churches for weekend Masses. It’s now common for Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist to be...

Saint Patrick

Cover Story: Saint Patrick

His little-known true story of courage—in his own words I spent a St. Patrick’s Day in County Limerick, Ireland, a few years back as a house guest of my aunt, Kay. She awakened me on the holiday with a cheery “top of the mornin’,” a safety pin, and a shamrock....