Since coming to the U.S. from Mexico in the early 2000s, Nelson Gerardo Tlatelpa developed a servant’s heart at his home parish, Our Lady of Refuge in Midwood. He helped whenever asked, and soon he regularly served as an usher and worked with the youth. Father Michael Perry, pastor, (now pastor emeritus) saw potential in the young man from Chinantla, a small town about 135 miles southeast of Mexico City.

Augustine of Hippo, the preeminent fifth century philosopher, confessed to keeping concubines, including one who bore him a son. In his autobiography, Augustine admitted praying, “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.” Still, this self-described “slave of lust” pursued holiness. In the year 386 he converted to Christianity, due in large part to the faith of his mother, St. Monica. He went on to become a celibate priest. 

A good old-fashioned church picnic unfolded Saturday, June 8, on the verdant lawns surrounding the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. But this gathering included an estimated 2,500 members of the Cursillo movement from parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn for their annual “Ultreya de Campo,” or “pilgrimage.” 

Father Brian Jordan, as a kid attending Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church, would pause by a list of World War II veterans — living and dead — from the parish.