When it comes to religious milestones, the first Holy Communion is an important one in some Christian traditions. It usually happens when a child is around eight years old and in the springtime due to ...

As a community gathers to remember and celebrate the baptism of Jesus, all present are offered an opportunity to reflect upon their own sacramental initiation into Christ and the church. Jesus defined ...

An outdoor baptism at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church, known as "La Placita”, in Los Angeles, in Aug. 2020. Photo by Víctor Aleman/Archdiocese of Los Angeles LOS ANGELES (RNS) — It’s been tradition ...

After my mother died five years ago, I learned that she had been born to young Russian Jewish parents living on Orchard Street on the lower East Side of Manhattan. She had never spoken of this ...

It’s our adoption into God’s family and the seal of our union with Christ. We don’t take it seriously enough. What is baptism? Is it necessary? Does it do anything? Who can receive it, and when, and ...

In asking to be baptized, Jesus exemplifies the Christian calling to follow along the path of humility and meekness rather than strutting about and being a showoff, Pope Francis said. Addressing ...

POTTSTOWN>> The winter of 1857-58 was brutally cold. Temperatures stayed so low for so long that by February the Schuylkill River at Pottstown was frozen solid. With ice stretching unbroken from bank ...