News - October 2025 RSS Feed

Sister M. Leonida Schmidt, O.S.F., 94, quietly passed away at her home, St. Francis Convent, Hankinson, October 21.

Paul Braun, Editor of New Earth, gives a personal testimony of his walk with grief.

Father James Gross, Pastor of St. Mary's Church in Grand Forks gives his review on the book "The Redhead of Auschwitz'.

As a convert from Islam to Catholicism, I am often asked to share my conversion story. I welcome the invitation as it causes me to pause from the mind-numbing hyperactivity, and to examine and notice God’s activity in my life. I trust that sharing my story serves others.

Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a Wednesday. I was getting ready to leave for the sidewalk to pray for the abortion-vulnerable that day when I saw my husband’s text: “Charlie’s been shot!”

The Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome is the motherhouse of the Augustinian friars, the same order that Pope Leo XIV belongs to, and a gem not to be missed when in Rome. The first church built here was commissioned by Pope Boniface VIII, the pope that began the first Jubilee Year 1300.

Johanna M. Nagel, State Coordinator of Perpetual Adoration in ND, shares a report on perpetual Adoration here in North Dakota.

Paul Braun, Editor of New Earth, shares a reflection on the recent "Life Runners" event in Fargo.

The Designer Genes Walk for Down Syndrome is one of the largest disability walks in the state of North Dakota. With more than 2,000 attendees, this event spreads awareness about Down syndrome and inclusion and celebrates individuals with Down syndrome and their families.

On the first day of our diaconate formation classes, Msgr. Schlesselmann wrote in big letters across the blackboard, “The Mystery of Trinitarian Communion.” After giving us a chance to look at what he wrote, he said, “Pay attention to what I have just written because this is what we will be studying for the next four years!”

On Oct. 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Leo XIV issued his first major teaching document called Dilexi te (“I have loved you”) on love for the poor. The title is taken from the words of Jesus in heaven comforting a suffering Christian community on earth (Rev. 3:9). Pope Leo intentionally connects this teaching to Pope Francis’s last encyclical, Dilexit nos (“He has love us”), where Francis reflects upon the human and divine love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and how our devotion to his Sacred Heart can renew in our own hearts a deeper love for God and for our neighbor.

I am over 35 years in vows, all but one lived in Hankinson. In 1991, while still in first vows, I was asked to test my abilities in the business office. The Sister who managed our finances before me had been doing the job for over 40 years. Rightly, our superior needed to prepare for her replacement.

The goal of seminary is to form men to be priests in four aspects of the human person. These four pillars of formation are intellectual, human, pastoral, and spiritual. A priest needs to be a balanced person with all the areas of formation complimenting one another.

Reflecting on death is particularly important, especially when contemporary culture often seeks to deny or trivialize its reality, reducing human life to something disposable. Just as we recognize the dignity of life, we should approach death with the same seriousness, considering its deeper meaning.

Ever since his election last May, the Church and the world have waited for a first major teaching document from Pope Leo XIV. Now the wait is over. The Holy Father recently released an apostolic exhortation called Dilexi te (“I have loved you…”) on love for the poor.