When large populations of cellophane bees nest in Mariandale, New York, in the early spring, the Dominican Sisters of Hope cordon off restricted "pollinator nesting zones" to protect the bees and post signs to educate the public. Cellophane bees are prolific fruit tree pollinators. (Courtesy of Dominican Sisters of Hope)

NY grant helps Catholic sisters save the bees

News

Roughly half the state's pollinators are at risk of going extinct. Women religious in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island are securing safe spaces for them.

 

The Latest

Reporter's Notebook: Recognizing sisters' historic work with migrants

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Sarah Mullally named the first female Archbishop of Canterbury

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Nonreligious Americans might not be as spiritual as we thought

Ryan Burge, Tony Jones

Editors' Choice

The Cathedral of Santa Maria de Chiclayo is seen in a view of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2018, when the future Pope Leo XIV was serving as bishop of the diocese. (Dreamstime/Luis Antonio Rosendo)

In Focus

Exclusive: Pope Leo critic now says her lawyer might have had a secret agenda

A lawyer seemed to have a conflict of interest when he represented sisters who claimed the future pope covered up their abuse allegations against two priests. Now, one sister says her lawyer "didn't really want to help us."

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Most Read Stories

Music artist Aloe Blacc and the Leo High School Choir sing on stage during the 20th season finale of the talent competition series "America's Got Talent" Sept. 24. (OSV News/Trae Patton, NBC)

#1
Catholic high school boys choir wows in 'America's Got Talent' season finale

"You showed the world what faith, spirit, and brotherhood look like," Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich told the singers. "Keep singing, leading, believing. God's not done with you."

BySimone Orendain, OSV News

#2
Spain's Tower of Jesus Christ will make Sagrada Familia world's tallest Catholic church

 Construction of the basilica began in 1882, and is considered a masterpiece of Antoni Gaudí, a Catholic whose cause for sainthood is underway. 

ByJunno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

#3
New study evaluates how church assesses 'suitability' of candidates for priesthood

Diocesan bishops and vocations directors are largely satisfied with their seminaries' formation programs — but some gaps remain between clergy and mental health professionals as to the role of ongoing psychological services in assessing candidates' readiness for ordination, according to a new report.

ByGina Christian, OSV News

#4
Exclusive: Pope Leo critic now says her lawyer might have had a secret agenda

#5
Cardinal Dolan calls the late Charlie Kirk 'a modern-day St. Paul.' I'm not making this up.

#6
Pope will declare St. John Henry Newman doctor of the church Nov. 1

Opinion

800 years later, St. Francis' 'Canticle of Creation' still speaks to us

Columns

Pope Leo's Francis-aligned take on Durbin controversy backfires on conservatives

A hunter's moon rises behind a statue of St. Francis of Assisi on the grounds of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wis., Oct 8, 2022 (OSV News/CNS/Sam Lucero)

El 'Cántico de las Criaturas' sigue hablándonos después de 800 años

Columnas

La Hna.Jane M. Bradish reflexiona sobre cómo el Cántico de las Criaturas de san Francisco de Asís —en su 800.º aniversario este 2025— sigue resonando en la actualidad, recordándonos la belleza y fragilidad de la creación. "El cántico de Francisco fue revolucionario al considerar a toda la creación como igual a la humanidad. Hoy en día se lee como un llamamiento a abrazar nuestro frágil universo, la Tierra y todos sus habitantes", escribe.  

El 'Cántico de las Criaturas' sigue hablándonos después de 800 años

Columnas

Can doctrine be changed? Another look at Pope Leo's comment on LGBTQ+ Catholics

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., right, talk with reporters following their meeting with President Donald Trump and Republican leaders on the government funding crisis, at the Capitol in Washington Sept. 29, 2025. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Can the Democrats find a way out of the wilderness?

The Democratic Party appears completely dysfunctional. Part of this is the price of being out of power. Still, the more important problem is that the party is fighting on terrain chosen and dominated by Donald Trump.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV prays for victims of deadly earthquake in central Philippines

Pope Leo XIV said prayers for victims of a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in the central part of the Philippines that killed at least 72 people late Sept. 30, according to Archbishop Alberto Uy of Cebu.

Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth speaks with the media as he departs a meeting on Capitol Hill Nov. 21 in Washington. (OSV News/Reuters/Nathan Howard)

Pope Leo calls rhetoric from Hegseth, Trump meeting with generals 'worrying'

Pope Leo XIV expressed concern about rhetoric used by President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shortly after their Sept. 30 meeting with top U.S. military officials.

ByKate Scanlon, OSV News

Migrants, refugees are often models of hope and faith, pope says

"Often they maintain their strength while seeking a better future, in spite of the obstacles that they encounter," he said Oct. 2 during a meeting with participants in the conference "Refugees and Migrants in Our Common Home," organized by the Augustinian-run Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
The choir of New York's Church of St. Paul the Apostle performs "Love More" below the main altar of St. Peter's Square, Sept. 24, 2025, at the Vatican. (Courtesy of Emanuele Sesta)

How an NYC parish choir brought Broadway flair to St. Peter's Square

As the popemobile rolled through St. Peter's Square Sept. 24, the choir from New York's Church of St. Paul the Apostle performed an original hymn for Pope Leo XIV. Its words were drawn from the pope's inaugural homily.

ByCamillo Barone

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Pope Leo calls for 'true ecological conversion' from words to action on environment

World must recommit to peace, justice, truth, Vatican diplomat tells UN

Wading into Durbin controversy, Pope Leo shows himself attuned to US debates

EarthBeat

Bare hands planting sprouted plants in a raised garden bed full of soil.

Laudato Si' continues to inspire Bangladesh communities to protect the Earth

The Catholic Church in Bangladesh is working actively in the environmental sector and spreading the message of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' to protect the environment — even among non-Catholics. 

When large populations of cellophane bees nest in Mariandale, New York, in the early spring, the Dominican Sisters of Hope cordon off restricted "pollinator nesting zones" to protect the bees and post signs to educate the public. Cellophane bees are prolific fruit tree pollinators. (Courtesy of Dominican Sisters of Hope)

NY grant helps Catholic sisters save the bees

Roughly half the state's pollinators are at risk of going extinct. Women religious in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island are securing safe spaces for them.

 

ByJulian Tiburcio
A bird perched on a bare branch in the woods (Unsplash/Soonam Wooeser)
Columns

'We have to do something!': Our faith calls us protect creation

The blessing of combining parishes is the wealth of experience that people share in new ways. At our combined parish, that has reenergized initiatives to restore our common home, Earth, and to act on climate change.

By
Pope Leo XIV, center, attends the International conference "Raising Hope for Climate Justice" in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Oct. 1. The conference marks the 10-year anniversary of Laudato Si', Pope Francis' landmark document that encapsulated church teaching on the environment. (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo calls for 'true ecological conversion' from words to action on environment

The pope spoke Oct. 1 at the start of a conference marking the 10-year anniversary of Laudato Si', Pope Francis' landmark document that encapsulated church teaching on the environment. 

ByBrian Roewe, Justin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Photo essay: New York sisters set on pilgrimage to experience Hudson River as 'a living being'

Lessons from my beloved dog, Charlie, on the feast of St. Francis

Vatican News

Schwarzenegger says joint action needed to 'terminate' pollution

Culture

Nonreligious Americans might not be as spiritual as we thought

Our research shows that nonreligious Americans report being significantly less spiritual than people who identify with established traditions such as Christianity, Judaism or Islam.
 
Panels from Saint Catherine, Anna Meyer's debut graphic novel; Jim McDermott writes that the novel "is a poignant examination of 'salvation-and-damnation' thinking and the demons it implants within us. It's also a funny and tender portrait of life in your 20s, and the liberating power of friendship." (Macmillan)
Book Reviews

A graphic novel on hell tackles scrupulosity for Gen Z

Anna Meyer's debut graphic novel Saint Catherine is a poignant examination of "salvation-and-damnation" thinking and the demons it implants within us. It's also a funny, tender portrait of life in your 20s. 

ByJim McDermott
Opus Dei's founder, Fr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás, pictured in this undated photo, started the conservative and notoriously secretive Catholic group in 1928 in Spain. Escrivá died in 1975 and was canonized as a saint in 2002. (OSV News/Courtesy Opus Dei)

Former Opus Dei numerary's memoir claims abuse, trafficking

In Serve: My Lost Years at the Heart of Opus Dei, Anne Marie Allen documents the domestic servitude which she and other Irish women say they were lured into with the promise of vocational training in the 1970s.

BySarah Mac Donald

Robert Redford's faith legacy in film

Although not religious, many of the more than 70 films in which Redford starred since 1960, and the nine he directed since 1980, explored themes of ethical quandaries, spirituality and moral decisions and were respectful of faith. 

ByKurt Jensen, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Book Reviews

The incredible success of a Notre Dame football legend — and the price he paid for it

Binge-watching 'The Pitt' with COVID was a deeply consoling experience

For some Dobson kids, focusing on the family led to estrangement

Mother Cabrini, wearing black, is featured in a recently unveiled mural featuring migrants at the entrance of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York Sept. 23. Mother Cabrini, who immigrated to the United States in 1889, is the patron saint of immigrants. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Reporter's Notebook: Recognizing sisters' historic work with migrants

Though bishops are applauded for their visible gestures for migrants, let's not forget the women religious who toil daily to serve migrants and refugees in the absence of mainstream headlines.

A group of nurses
Columns

How synodality strengthened my nursing ethics

I see every patient — with their illness and struggles to pay medical bills — as a fragment of the Divine. 

By
A bird perched on a bare branch in the woods (Unsplash/Soonam Wooeser)
Columns

'We have to do something!': Our faith calls us protect creation

The blessing of combining parishes is the wealth of experience that people share in new ways. At our combined parish, that has reenergized initiatives to restore our common home, Earth, and to act on climate change.

By
Migrant workers work inside a greenhouse at a farm in Pocheon, South Korea, on Feb. 8, 2021. (AP/Ahn Young-joon)

Sisters' initiatives held up as best practices for care of migrants in Asia

Rapid economic growth has driven new migration patterns in Asia, and a report published in 2024 highlights how Catholic sisters are meeting the challenges and opportunities in their work with migrants and refugees.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Photo essay: New York sisters set on pilgrimage to experience Hudson River as 'a living being'

'God's Grandeur' shines in our care for creation

Q&A with Sr. Venus Marie S. Pegar, studying how creating art affects the elderly