Illinois

A bike ride raises money for pediatric brain tumor research and supports young cancer patients and their families. It also creates a meditation on the grandeur of creation; about beauty and pain; and on relationships.

The University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary has received a $5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to support the Cor Iuxta Meum ("After My Own Heart") Project, a collaborative seminary formation program.  

This year's Society of Catholic Scientists conference was an intimate gathering with the theme of environmental stewardship linked to the papal encyclical "Laudato Si'." Speakers discussed Catholic environmentalism going back to the fourth century, and topics such as soil conservation, the preservation of tropical forests, the importance of bees and genetic advances used to conserve wild animal populations.

The synod on synodality calls bishops to listen to those who feel excluded. NCR interviewed diocesan officials, lay ministers and pastors in several dioceses to see how local churches are seeking out Catholics on the margins.

Through her work with the Mighty Acorns program, Ylanda Wilhite encourages kids to engage with nature in their city neighborhoods, with a particular focus on BIPOC and disinvested communities in Chicago's South and West Sides.

Michael Sean Winters: EWTN's Arroyo and his "papal posse" should be careful what they wish for; the results from Texas' primary are shocking; The New York Times' free speech editorial relied on a conception of freedom from.

 

A community of Benedictine monks has cut its ties to Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois, almost four months after the school hired a married gay lacrosse coach over its abbot's objections.

Each year more than 1.5 million bulbs of Christmas lights transform the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, in southern Illinois, into the Way of Lights, transporting visitors back to biblical days in a Christmas display like few others in the country.