The scene will always be my favorite Olympic moment, a moment that wasn’t captured by a television camera or a sports reporter. The moment happened during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, shortly after the women’s soccer team of the United States earned the gold medal with a riveting, intense 1-0 victory over the team from Brazil.

Dec. 10, 2025, marked the 100th anniversary of the Blessed Mother’s request for the Five First Saturdays Devotion in reparation for blasphemies against her Immaculate Heart.

As we approach the end of this jubilee year in our Church throughout the world, with a theme of “Pilgrims of Hope,” let’s pause to thank God for the special blessings of this past year as well as asking for his ongoing gift of hope for 2026 and beyond. From Dec. 21, 2024, to Jan. 6, 2026, it’s been quite a journey!

Pope Leo XIV was recently gifted with a purebred Arabian horse. Recently, I was blessed with an opportunity to hear, directly from our Holy Father, a few of his thoughts on the topic of synodality.

It is said that the early 20th-century British author and Catholic convert G. K. Chesterton was, among other writers, asked by the editors of a newspaper for his answer to the question, “What is wrong with the world?” His answer was simply, “I am.”

Aug. 27 started off for me like many days during the school year. I attended morning Mass at 7:20 at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Indianapolis with students from Lumen Christi Catholic School, located adjacent to the church, and other worshippers.

When I saw the sign, it made me smile. The sign caught my attention as I was driving along a two-lane road leading into the Jersey Shore community of Sea Isle City, where I was vacationing with our extended family in July.

I was delighted when I learned on the morning of July 31 that Pope Leo XIV had approved the naming of St. John Henry Newman as a doctor of the Church. The title “doctor of the Church” has been given through the centuries to only 38 saints (including Newman) who are judged to have made significant contributions to growth in the understanding of the faith.

When I saw the name connected to the missed call, I knew I had to return it immediately. I just hoped the opportunity hadn’t been lost to talk one more time with one of the best friends I’ve ever had.

I As someone who has been in the newspaper business for 35-plus years, I’ve learned a lot about telling stories. From my days in the secular world when the mantra “if it bleeds, it leads” was common in the newsroom, I am now tasked with editing and writing stories where people’s lives of faith are the driving force of our publication.

I was a young adult on my own 30 years ago when the Indiana Pacers had legendary playoff games against the New York Knicks. In many of them, Reggie Miller made unbelievable late-game shots to lead the Blue and Gold to amazing comeback wins in New York’s Madison Square Garden (MSG).

Alex Palou has dominated IndyCar racing for the past four years, winning the series championship in 2021, 2023 and 2024. So far this season, he continues to be head and shoulders above the competition, winning five of the series’ first six races, including the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 25.

Watching the announcement of the new pope on May 8 was much like watching game one of the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals on May 7, 1995—30 years and one day prior—when Reggie Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds near the end of the game, leading the Pacers to a 107-105 victory over the Knicks.

When you’ve lost someone you love, what do you miss most about them? If it’s a close friend, is it the person’s smile you miss most? Their laugh? If the relationship was more intimate, is it their touch you long for, their embrace you crave most?

Rory McIlroy dropped to his knees and put his head in his hands after he saw the putt drop into the hole. Relief washed over him like a flood. A weight that had laid heavily on the shoulders of the professional golfer from Northern Ireland for more than a decade and had increased during that time was finally gone.

A group of my friends raised their glasses together, celebrating her life. Two other friends drove more than an hour to be there for her viewing. Others shared their condolences in texts, cards, e-mails and conversations, both in person and by phone.

The woman’s answer made me smile. Her answer came in response to a question I asked readers of The Criterion—a question originally posed by Holy Cross Father Robert Dowd when he became the 18th president of the University of Notre Dame last year.

Because it’s been 15 years since the Indianapolis Colts have played in the Super Bowl, the attention of my boys and me when we watch it is often as much on the often-ballyhooed commercials played during it.

Take a moment to think of a time when you have felt devastated. When some dream, hope or goal that you have poured all your hard work, energy and belief into has come to a crashing end.