Over the past 110 years, the U.S. Catholic population has grown from 14.3 million to 68.5 million. There have been plenty of historical firsts and statistics of note along the way; here is a selection from the archives of America magazine.

“For Jesus, it wasn’t about taking the right stand on issues. It was about standing in the right place.”

Dismayed by the negative messages L.G.B.T. Catholics often face regarding their place in the church, Greg Bourke and Michael De Leon decided to take action.

This dark moment, he writes, with the help of young people “can truly be an opportunity for a reform of epoch-making significance, opening us to a new Pentecost and inaugurating a new stage of purification and change capable of renewing the Church’s youth.

Bringing their product from field to coffee bar through these fair trade networks means coffee growers in one of the poorest areas in Mexico are less vulnerable to volatile commodity market price shifts.

According to the National Trust for Canada, close to 9,000 churches could be closed within the next decade, citing the fact that they are becoming “surplus to the needs of society.”