“Maybe it’s a guy thing, but there is something that has always moved me about a group of men, united in purpose and labor, bonded by a shared life, shared sacrifice and shared joy,” writes Mr. John Soisson, the Special Assistant to the President at the University of Portland. “I first felt it as a young man whenever I got together with my father and brothers. I felt it with my teammates when I rowed in college, and again when I spent months on a hilltop in Vietnam with a company of men. But that day at Fatima House? I felt it so deeply that it moved me to tears.” Read More

“It wasn’t until I returned home and told my mom about arriving at the Novitiate unannounced, receiving the kind of welcome reserved for old friends, that I truly appreciated how much Holy Cross values community. And how much being surrounded by that community at Notre Dame and in Fort Portal has changed me for the better,” writes ND Senior David Mahin of his unscheduled visit to the Holy Cross Novitiate in East Africa. Read More

“Being able to celebrate Thanksgiving this year with my Holy Cross brothers at Moreau Seminary has helped me see more clearly that, as men with hope to bring, our life together is meant to be a deep and enduring act of thanks to the One who calls us to that hope,” writes Mr. Chase Pepper, C.S.C., a temporarily professed seminarian at Moreau Seminary. “Hope is grounded in thanksgiving, and the holidays are a special time for us as a religious community to refresh ourselves in the spirit of our vocation.” Read More

“On that Wednesday afternoon, I walked towards Bro. Tom’s grave in our cemetery,” relates first-year professed seminarian Mr. Dan Ponisciak, C.S.C., of his experience of the community’s All Souls Day celebration. “I prayed for his soul, but asked for his prayers in return. The experience of visiting the cemetery on All Souls Day was very special because it brought back some great memories of Bro. Tom.” Read More

“Regardless of who wins the ‘best soiree’ award,” writes Old Collegian Joe Krivos after the epic Les Misérables soiree, “Thursday evenings are the time that the Holy Cross Seminary Community has to come together, to forget about the rigors of our academics for a short while, and just enjoy ourselves with our brothers in Holy Cross, while giving glory to God.” Read More

Today we continue with our new Spes Unica series that highlights the voices of some of our amazing lay collaborators in Holy Cross. We will hear from Mr. John Soisson, the Special Assistant to the President at the University of Portland. A recipient last year of the Spirit of Holy Cross award from the Indiana Province, John has worked with Holy Cross for many years, and as a result, we learn in his first post for Spes Unica, he knows us well … so well, he can articulate what starts to make Holy Cross different. Enjoy! Read More

Today Fr. Drew Gawrych, C.S.C., the Associate Director of the Office of Vocations, filed this report from Madrid, Spain, where he and Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C., the Director of the Office of Vocations, are doing vocation work for Holy Cross at the Love and Life Centre.  To keep tabs on what is going on at WYD and the Love and Life Centre, which is sponsored in large part by Holy Cross Family Ministries, visit the HCFM WYD Internet Site.  There are also more pictures on the Holy Cross Vocations Facebook Fanpage. Read More

He's back!  Yes, we are very happy that Fr. Charlie McCoy, C.S.C., Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Portland, has signed up for another year.  (To read some of Fr. Charlie's insightful past post, look under the "Education" label.)  With his first post of this new year, Fr. Charlie picks up right where he left off -- leading us on deep reflections about what it means to be a priest, religious, and professor.  Enjoy! Read More

This past week, over 350 Holy Cross priests and brothers gathered together for an assembly at Notre Dame.  In Holy Cross, assemblies, which some have described as akin to family reunions, are a chance for all of us who are scattered across the country – and really across the world – to come together for a time of fellowship in order to renew us in our vocations and our mission. This assembly was a special one, bringing together the Indiana and Eastern Provinces in anticipation of the creation of the new United States Province on the Feast of the Sacred Heart on July 1. Fr. Eric Schimmel, C.S.C., reflects for us on the assembly and its theme: "Men with Hope to Bring." Read More

Every Memorial Day Weekend, the Indiana and Eastern Provinces of the Congregation of Holy Cross celebrate the jubilees of our men reaching major anniversaries of religious profession or priestly ordination. The witness of these men who have been faithful for so many years in living out their religious vows and priestly ministries gives hope to all of us that we too, with God’s grace, may be faithful to the vocations the Lord calls us to in service of His name.  Read More

January 6th is a big day for the Congregation of Holy Cross. Of course, January 6th has traditionally been the celebration of the Feast of Epiphany (although in the United States the feast has been transferred to the first Sunday after January 1). January 6th is also the day that Saint André Bessette died in this world and was born in the world to come. Usually, the Church celebrates the saints on the day of their birth into eternal life, but in future years, Saint André’s feast will be celebrated on January 7th to avoid the Feast of Epiphany. This year, however, having just been canonized on October 17, 2010, by Pope Benedict XVI, we mark this humble, holy Brother of Holy Cross on the day the Lord received him into eternal life 74 years ago. Read More

Every November 2nd, on the Commemoration of All Souls, we in Holy Cross in communion with the whole Church celebrate our faithful departed. As our Constitutions state, “The footsteps of those men who called us to walk in their company left deep prints, as of men carrying heavy burdens. But they did not trudge; they strode. For they had the hope.” Read More

Here is the first post from Andrew Solkshinitz, a Holy Cross College student, who is on pilgrimage in Rome for the canonization of Blessed Brother André with the group from the Holy Cross Office of Vocations.  Visit our Vocations Flickr account for more photos of the celebrations in Rome. Read More

This morning in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Br. André Bessette, C.S.C., and five other blesseds as saints in the Roman Catholic Church.  In his homily, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of St. André Bessette, the first saint in the Congregation of Holy Cross, as a “man of simplicity” for whom “everything spoke of God and his presence.  May we, following his example, search for God with simplicity to discover Him always present in the core of our lives!” Read More

Back on September 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross named the eight recipients of the 2010 Spirit of Holy Cross award, which is given to lay collaborators who serve with the Congregation in the United States and abroad. Today, one of the recipients, John Soisson, the Special Assistant to the President at the University of Portland, shares his reflections on what it has meant to him to be a part of the Holy Cross family and its mission. Read More

Tomorrow, Paul Ybarra, C.S.C., will take his final vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, in the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Mass of final profession will take place in the Basilica of the Sacred on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. Read More