Kansas City pastor Fr. Matt Ruhl swapped the pulpit for a bike seat as he joins a group of 15 riders going coast to coast in support of Catholic Charity USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty. “So far, so good,” he said in an interview. Ruhl is one of 15 riders doing the whole 5,052 mile ride in 100 days; other people are participating for part of the ride. MORE »

Eight thousand people joined Pope Benedict XVI on May 29 to celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of the death of a pioneering Jesuit missionary who opened a way into China through his great learning and respect for Chinese culture. Father Matteo Ricci remains one of the great and innovative missionaries of the Church. His memory is celebrated both by the Jesuits and by the Diocese of Macerata, Italy, where he grew up. MORE »

Father Jim Swetnam is finishing 50 years of service at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute where he currently serves as directory of the school’s alumni association. Fr. Swetnam and the institute’s rector, Fr. José Abrego, had the privilege of speaking personally with Pope Benedict XVI during a Wednesday audience in Piazza San Pietro on May 5. Their sponteaneous laughter sprang from a remark that Fr. Abrego made to the Holy Father. MORE »

Fr. Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, the Jesuit who is known for promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was Beatified in Valladolid, Spain, on April 19. The new Blessed entered the Jesuits at a very early age and died within the first year of his ordination, but is famous for his intense faith and devotion to the Sacred Heart. MORE »

Missouri Province’s provincial, Father Douglas Marcouiller is one of the 14 provincials, all in their first year in office, who have gathered at the Curia Generalizia in Rome for the Colloquium for New Provincials, which goes from May 3-15. The colloquium is a regular part of the training and preparation of a Jesuit to provide good leadership for the men in his province and aims to present a deeper understanding of the issues facing the universal Society and, at the same time, offer the opportunity to study more intensely the commitments and duties of a provincial. MORE »

In the first year after his June 2009 ordination, Fr. Brian Christopher has begun pastoral work in a Belize City parish with a focus on youth gangs and prison ministry. He has also started planning a range of programs to address violence and open alternative paths to young people in a desperately poor setting. MORE »