Forty-two years ago, in a village south of Paris, a French-Canadian created a home where the mentally disabled could live in dignity and where others could learn from them the value of sharing and acceptance. There is now a worldwide network of these communities called L’Arche, the French word for Ark, a symbol of hope. More →

March 13, 2015

“God moves through the artist,” says Rev. Walter Smith, president of the HeathCare Chaplaincy in New York City, and the paintings, sculpture, and installations that result are “avodah”—a single act of both work and worship. More →

July 26, 2013

Despite having sustained a serious head injury some years ago, Father Andrew Greeley, who died on May 29, 2013, was a priest to the end. “We know he is blessed and he’s blessing us,” said Greeley’s niece, Eileen Durkin. More →

May 31, 2013

The disabled, says religion writer Mark Pinsky, “are not just people who need help, but they are people who can help.” More →

November 30, 2012

“A lot of people in caregiving situations ask, ‘Why is God doing this to me? Where is God in the midst of all this?’ and they really struggle with spiritual matters,” says Rev. Kate Bryant. Her church started a special ministry to support parental caregivers. More →

November 21, 2012

“Deeply listening to what it is they’re saying.” That, says young hospice chaplain Kerry Egan, is the most important gift she offers to the dying patients she ministers to in New Bedford, Massachusetts. More →

April 27, 2012

“As a parish nurse one of the greatest things we do is be present and just listen,” says Diane Tieman of Queen of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church in suburban Chicago. More →

April 6, 2012

After ten years of war, says Georgetown University ethics professor Nancy Sherman, US troops are coming home from Iraq, “and now they see that whole project of stability and democratization unraveling. They come home carrying heavy invisible wounds, of a sense of betrayal and PTSD. Was it worth it?” More →

January 20, 2012

All the great religious creeds, said writer Reynolds Price, “have known forever that if we’re ever to arrive at the state of anything called wisdom, pain seems to be the way we get there.” More →

January 21, 2011

This scholar and Harvard professor became the primary caregiver for his wife after she was afflicted with a neurodegenerative disorder. More →

October 1, 2010