(RNS) — On Saturday (Sept. 3), 56 pilgrims from four countries will gather in Mexico City to celebrate St. Phoebe’s feast day and consider how they might urge the church to reclaim the diaconate for ...

On June 28, the Catholic Church celebrates St. Irenaeus of Lyon, who as a boy sat at the feet of Polycarp, eagerly listening to the sermons of the early Christian bishop and disciple of the apostle ...

Distinguishing speculation from historical fact. Hundreds of articles and scores of books have been written in the last 150 years seeking to establish what the early (pre-Constantinian) church thought ...

In an age of spiritual abuse scandals, the early church offers a positive model of pastoral authority. Americans buy millions of self-help books each year, but we, the children of (post)modernity, are ...

Lisa Amman is a cradle Catholic who attended parish schools through 12th grade and then worked at her St. Paul, Minnesota, church for 15 years. She would likely never have learned about St. Phoebe, ...