Voices

Valerie Schultz is a freelance writer, a columnist for The Bakersfield Californian and the author of Till the Moon Be No More: The Grit and Grace of Growing Older. She lives on the Oregon Coast.
Faith in Focus
The thing I remember best about Louie is that he said he hadn’t had a peach in 30 years. Louie (not his real name) was a lifer; he was in his 50s and had been in prison for over three decades. On the day he told me this, as he was hanging out in the library where I work, a couple of landscape
Synod on the Family
The synod calls us to consider the vocation of the Christian family
In All Things
When you go hiking up a mountain with your fit husband and fit daughter and find that between the altitude and the steep grade you can rsquo t keep up with them even though it rsquo s a hike you rsquo ve done before you eat a little humble pie Then when your boot slips on some rocks on the way
In All Things
Viral video shows a mother attacking her teenage son
In All Things
Pope Francis in his two years as pontiff has often urged people of faith to be better people of faith To walk the talk To get with the program To do as Jesus would do His example inspires us just as his writings enlighten us The pope reminds us that God calls us to love no matter what He e
In All Things
During the holiday season, there is a spirit of giving in the air that transcends belief.
In All Things
Each Advent Christians reminisce about the humble yet earth-shaking birth of Christ.
In All Things
Through life's many stages, a day to overflow with gratitude for the many blessings from the hand of a loving God.
Synod on the Family
Editor’s Note. “Families,” Pope Francis noted in a homily on Sept. 14, “are the first place in which we are formed as persons and, at the same time, the ‘bricks’ for the building up of society.” In preparation for the launch of the Synod of Bishops on the Fa
Faith in Focus
I was seated at the back of the room as 60 or so inmates gathered for the weekly Tuesday night meeting of Criminals and Gangmembers Anonymous. Most of the members are serving life sentences, many with the distant possibility of parole, although a few are LWOPs, which stands for lifers without that p