The NCCL Blog

Maria Harris, a renowned Catholic educator and theologian (1932-2005), helped reshape how the Church understands religious education. Through her writing, teaching, and speaki...

Born in 1811 in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), John Neumann felt called to missionary service and traveled to the United States as a young priest. He served immigrant commu...

Rose was born in Grenoble, France in 1769, into a family that was among the new rich. At 19 she entered the Visitation of Mary convent; during the French Revolution the order ...

Raymond of Penafort lived a remarkably long life—nearly one hundred years—and used every stage of it in service to God and the Church. Born near Barcelona to a noble family, R...

Sr. Jose Hobday, a Seneca woman who grew up on a reservation in Colorado, carried a deep awareness of story from an early age. At just seven years old, her tribe recognized a ...

John Leonardi lived during a time of deep renewal in the Church, in the wake of the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent. Though first trained as a pharmacist, he e...

Sister Caroline Cerveny, a member of the Cleveland Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph, TOSF, for nearly 60 years, died on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020.

Sister Caroline was a l...

John Bosco’s ministry was in Turin, a city in the throes of industrialization with slums and widespread poverty. He met young men and boys where they worked and played. He use...

Born into a wealthy family in 1651, John Baptist de la Salle was named canon of Reims Cathedral when he was sixteen and ordained to the priesthood at the age of 26.

In his da...

St. Angela Merici, an Italian religious educator and founder of the Ursuline Sisters, was bold in responding to people’s needs.

At 20-years-of-age, Angela became concerned th...

Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) — lawyer, teacher, pastor, cardinal, and reformer — was a driving force in the renewal of the Church during the final years of the Council of Tren...

Sofia Cavalletti (1917–2011) was an Italian biblical scholar and religious educator whose work transformed the way the Church approaches children’s faith formation. Deeply roo...

Saint Catherine was born in Siena, Italy, in 1347, as the Black Death was devastating Afro-Eurasia. She was the twenty-fifth child in her family, though only about half of her...

Joanne Chafe devoted her life to the growth of faith and the formation of the Church across Canada and beyond. From an early age, she sensed a call to serve through religious ...

Dorothy’s cause for sainthood was officially endorsed, with overwhelming support, by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2012. The process is now in the phase naming Do...

In 2002, St. John Paul II beatified two young Ugandan catechists: Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa. Daudi was sixteen; Jildo just twelve when they were martyred in 1916 for teaching...

Mary Perkins Ryan (1912–1993) is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century catechetics in the United States, especially in adult faith formation. ...

Born in Spain in 1170, Dominic was educated in the arts and theology, ordained a priest, and served as a canon at the cathedral in Osma. While traveling through southern Franc...

A Dominican Sister of Adrian, MI, Sr. Susanne Hofweber’s life and ministry was embedded in catechesis. She was director of catechetics in the Archdiocesan office of Education ...

Wife, mother, widow, educator, and friend, Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native-born American to be canonized a saint. Born in 1774 into a prominent Episcopalian family in...

In November 2020, U.S. bishops supported the canonization process for Nicholas W. Black Elk, a Lakota catechist from the 1800s who brought Catholic Christianity to hundreds wi...

Sr. Thea Bowman (1937–1990) was a gifted teacher, scholar, religious sister, and prophetic voice whose life offers enduring wisdom for catechists today. Thea Bowman modeled an...

Bishop Raymond A. Lucker was known especially for his dedication to catechesis, justice, and the dignity of every person. His ministry in catechesis began immediately after hi...

Saint Katharine Drexel, often credited with helping lead the Catholic Church in America toward racial integration, was born in 1858 into a wealthy Philadelphia banking family....