Bill McHugh was a child in the 1950s when he started going to the St. Ann novena — a popular summertime event at the former St. Ann Church on Page and Whittier in north St. Louis. McHugh tagged along with his family to offer their prayers to grandmother of Jesus.

"I didn't really know what a novena was," he said. "Then I became an altar boy. I served at the novena Masses. ... We probably had four or five Masses a day."

Devotion to the Blessed Mother's mother began in 1903 at St...

Barry McIntyre sat in front of the window air conditioner, with the relief he felt evident in his smile.

"It's going to be great tonight," he said. "This is beautiful. It's a blessing."

The blessing was thanks to EnergyCare, a nonprofit agency that provides year-round energy-related services in St. Louis City and St. Louis County for low-income households, especially the elderly, disabled, chronically ill and young children.

McIntyre moved into the second floor of a two-...

One of Yuliana Lule's favorite songs from the Steubenville youth conference is "Lead Me to the Cross."

This summer, she immortalized the main line from that song by inscribing it on a rock painted bright yellow. But it didn't stop there — Yuliana and friends from her youth group have created more rocky works of art with inspiring messages and images to share with their friends at the SteubenvilleSTL Mid-America Youth Conference in Springfield, Mo.

Painted rocks have become a...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House budget resolution "will place millions of poor and vulnerable people in real jeopardy" because it reduces deficits "through cuts for human needs" and by trying to slash taxes at the same time, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' domestic policy committee.

"A nation's budget is a moral document," said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. "...