Heather Morrison

The Field Hospital: Over two months, about 250 young Catholics took part in the Young Adult Synod in San Diego, and on Nov. 9, about 150 participants gathered to make their proposals at the final synod session.

The Field Hospital: "We have families — we have a lot of families," Kathleen Domingo, the Los Angeles Archdiocese's senior director of the Office of Life, Justice and Peace said. "And when we start asking families, 'Would you consider fostering,' we have been overwhelmed by the generosity."

Nearly four in 10 young adults ages 18 to 29 are religiously unaffiliated — or nones — and are four times more likely as young adults a generation ago to identify this way, according to a study by the Public Religion Research Institute. Among college students surveyed by Trinity College, 32% identified their worldview as religious; 32% as spiritual; and 28% as secular.

With two biological children at home already, Noemi Amezcua, then not yet 30, asked her priest how she could get more involved in her community.

After years of advocating by community and faith organizations, the city of Los Angeles is officially requiring an oil and gas company to close and clean up a neighborhood drill site.

Through the Whole Person Care Initiative, all the Catholic bishops of California, the California Catholic Conference and the Alliance of Catholic Health Care have come together to create a statewide commitment to transform palliative and end-of-life care.

Santa Clara University's Global Social Benefit Fellowship enables juniors to take part in a nine-month research project, including an eight-week field component in the developing world.

For nearly 30 years, the Rev. Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral was not only a religious landmark, but an architectural wonder and an embodiment of flush times in Southern California's Orange County. Now Crystal Cathedral is almost ready to open as a church again — this time as Christ Cathedral, seat of the Diocese of Orange.

For more than 60 years, an organization with Franciscan values has been supporting San Francisco's infamous Tenderloin neighborhood and its vulnerable people, providing services and creating a cleaner, safer community without using law enforcement.

Catholic institutions are among the 102 U.S. colleges and universities taking on esports (electronic games). Along with these varsity programs come recruitment challenges and questions about violent games.

The Field Hospital: Priests, staff and parishioners at this church in San Dimas, California, create community as they meet needs, asking each year, "What's missing?"

Jeff Anderson & Associates is trying again to sue the Vatican for covering up child sexual abuse and is seeking the release of names and files for more than 3,400 perpetrators.

A lawsuit against California bishops and 11 dioceses in California for covering up child sexual abuse was filed Oct. 2 by survivor Tom Emens and Jeff Anderson & Associates.

The Field Hospital: The Center at Blessed Sacrament in Los Angeles, 'a space where people feel safe,' offers housing assistance, community and coffee to those in the area who are homeless or in need.

When refugees arrive in the United States, they have six months to become economically self-sufficient. It's a daunting task that inspired Rachel Taber and Doug Hewitt to become the employers they wanted to see in the world. 

"We take advantage of what's going on in the news today, so that means every semester is a little different," said Tom Cendejas, who has been teaching Catholic social justice classes for about 35 years.

In "an intense three days," the pilot San Francisco Bay Area GSBI Boost program offered mentoring to social entrepreneurs "who are positively impacting the lives of those in need."

Thane Kreiner, executive director of the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University, said, "These problems are not going to get smaller. They're probably going to get larger, and we need ways to address them that restore dignity and agency to individuals."

Kim Hak Song said he was unaware that conversations had been going on between the United States and North Korea — most of the time he didn't even see sunlight or know what day it was. But he said he had had dreams of being inside Trump's car and the American people clapping for him.

The Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University in California has been running short workshops for social entrepreneurs all over the world. Now, through a partnership with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, a pilot program is coming to the United States.