Mary Hunt radiates the warmth of a sister, liberally giving hugs and dashing smiles everywhere she goes. Growing up in Calgary, the “cradle Catholic” also demonstrated the commitment of a sister, often hurriedly walking two miles to make it to school for the 9 o’clock bell, after attending the 7 a.m. Mass most days during Lent. As a teenager, she even harboured dreams of being a sister one day, and perhaps becoming a canon lawyer.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL – More than 1.4 million people in Nepal are in immediate need of aid after the April 25 earthquake which devastated parts of the mountainous central Asian country. Pope Francis offered his prayers to all of those affected by the violent 7.8 magnitude earthquake, encouraged rescue and emergency workers in their efforts and sent an initial donation of US$100,000. As of April 28 more than 4,600 people were known to have been killed with thousands more still missing, feared trapped under the rubble.

Father Denis Hebert was perhaps the last of a generation of Canadian priests to intentionally make a preferential option for the poor. Inspired by Pope Paul VI's encyclical On the Development of People, which called on the Church to be on the side of the poor and the hungry, Hebert lived among the marginalized people of South and Central America for 46 years, the last 25 in Edgar Lang, a shantytown of Managua, Nicaragua. There he helped the people establish cooperatives, child and youth programs and health clinics, among other developments.

Katherine Hughes and the women who founded the Catholic Women's League with her in Edmonton in 1912 provided prime examples of how Pope Francis' The Joy of the Gospel can be put into action, says Bob McKeon. In delivering the keynote address at the CWL diocesan convention in Edson, McKeon spoke of Hughes' role in gathering Catholic women with a real concern to protect and support the immigrant women and girls who had come to Edmonton a century ago seeking work. Out of concern that the young women would be taken advantage of and made victims of injustice, they set up employment centres, helped the transient women find housing, and quickly set up a hostel along with some of the religious orders, mobilizing partnerships with government to fund their work, he said.

The Alberta Knights of Columbus have again rejected casino fundraising by their member councils. At their April 17-19 convention in Red Deer, the order ruled out of order a motion to allow their 170 active councils across Alberta and the Northwest Territories to raise money for charitable causes by working at casinos. "We support our bishops," said state deputy Bill Smith of Calgary. "It violates our constitution to go counter to our bishops."

Kilian O'Donovan spent his life serving the Lord and helping others get closer to Jesus. He touched thousands of lives both as leader of the charismatic movement and director of the John Paul II Bible School in Radway. "He was a very passionate follower of Jesus," recalls O'Donovan's friend and former Bible School student Roger Lamoureux. More than 1,000 young people graduated from the Bible School in its 25-year stint and most of them are serving in Church ministries across Western Canada and beyond.

EDMONTON – Marc Barylo, a long-time vice-president with Catholic Social Services, has been named the new executive director of the Edmonton Catholic Schools Foundation (ECSF). Barylo served 30 years with CSS as chief development and community relations officer, leading the agency's fundraising efforts, including its highly successful annual Sign of Hope campaign. At the Edmonton Catholic Schools Foundation, he will be responsible for a two-year-old organization with a mandate to raise public awareness about the benefits of Catholic education and to enhance funding for Catholic schools in Edmonton.

A couple entering marriage should do so freely, joyfully, both choosing someone they have carefully discerned. "But some think 'I can always try again,'" said Carol Quist. "With our easy divorce (legislation), they keep divorce in the back of their mind as an escape plan." Carol and husband Paul are directors of family ministry at Holy Trinity Parish in Spruce Grove. They give workshops, retreats, marriage preparation courses and counsel those in need of guidance.

RED DEER – Climate change is real and it is the poorest people of the world, those least responsible for carbon emissions, who suffer the greatest impact, says a national council member of Development and Peace. Speaking to D&P delegates from across Alberta April 25, Josianne Gauthier cited repeated droughts, rising sea levels and melting glaciers as signs that global climate patterns are changing. North Americans, who are the most directly responsible for climate change, should take serious steps to reduce their carbon footprint, Gauthier said at St. Mary's Church in Red Deer.

Don't eat anything that comes out of a box. That's one recommendation organic farmers Tim Hoven and Tim Axe made at the Development and Peace regional retreat and assembly 2015. "It's okay to treat yourself once in a while," Hoven says. "But it's meat and vegetables and then a bit of fruit on the side. That's all we need; that was all the human body was really designed to eat." Axe laid the blame for the rise in childhood obesity and other childhood diseases partially on processed food. When we eat processed food "we disconnect ourselves from God and the very soil and sustenance we are made of."