“I was looking for…adventure…”

Service is always at the core of Father Stuart Wilson-Smith's adventures and musical pursuits. He says that from the time he was young, he wanted his life to be focused on helping others. It was later that he decided that...

Grace Cangialosi and Susan Oliveri

[Recorded Tuesday, February 1, 2022] Grace (78) and Susan (75) recorded a One Small Step conversation together in Charlottesville, Virginia. They discussed activism, military families, and the influence of their religious and spiritual beliefs on their politics.

“It’s a service of humility”

"Life in the priesthood is one of humility," says Michael Hennessy in this interview recorded shortly before his May 2018 ordination as a priest. Hennessy is a New Englander who started thinking about being a priest when he was teaching...

Praying at the Piano

Paulist Father Ricky Manalo's main ministry is music. But he's also a teacher at Santa Clara University, and around the world, about liturgy and culture. He writes reflections in the devotional book "Give Us This Day." Fr. Ricky is of...

Thanksgiving listen

Today is November 26th, 2018, and we are in the living room in Mckinney, Texas.

“I want to give my life in a powerful way for something greater than myself”

I interviewed Sister Faustina of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth during the 2018 FOCUS Student Leadership Summit for Catholic college students in Chicago to ask her about her vocation story and a little bit about her life...

“The ultimate meaning:” A Classics Publisher

It's a go-to book series, an encyclopedia of Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Islamic thinkers: Paulist Press' "Classics of Western Spirituality." And it was started under the leadership of Paulist Fr. Kevin Lynch. In this interview, Fr. Kevin, age 93, talks...

A priest who listens and talks paint off barns

After more than 20 years in the ordained priesthood, Paulist Father Charlie Donahue has a lot of insights about prayer, faith, love and community. And he wanted to be a priest even as a child, so he's been articulating religion...

“It was a better use of my life.”

Father Frank DeSiano calls himself a "lifer." He entered the Paulist junior seminary as a teenager. That was more than 45 years ago. He's a noted leader in evangelization or sharing of the Catholic faith. Father Frank has been the...

“It was as if I never heard that before…”

Father Steve Petroff is a kind of survivor on the spiritual journey--a model for anyone who believes that if you work hard and stay close to God, doors that appeared closed will open. Just before his ordination as a Paulist...

“There’s a force that’s with me…”

On the occasion of Fr. James "Jim" Haley's 50th anniversary of becoming a priest with The Paulist Fathers, we learned about his life in the community. “Looking back, I wouldn't change it for anything. I mean, how can a shy...

God’s Talent Scout

Though Paulist Father Dat Tran embraces Jesus’ instruction to be a “fisher of men,” he’s learned that the harvest may not come overnight and to trust in the work of the Holy Spirit. In this interview, he speaks about transitioning...

Inspired by the healing ministry of Jesus Christ

"My dad was a carpenter, my mother's name is Mary and I have no illusions that I'm Jesus Christ," says Paulist Father Frank Desiderio in this interview with Jennifer Szweda Jordan conducted for The Paulist Fathers in Lake George, New...

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Gerald Kleba and Lauren Bennett

Good friends Gerald Kleba (81) and Lauren Bennett (34) share a conversation about their friendship and their experiences serving as spiritual advisors to Johnny A. Johnson and Amber McLaughlin, respectively, who were both executed on death row by the state...

Alaska, Appalachia and beyond: Paulist Father Michael Martin’s True Tall Stories

You can’t miss Paulist Father Michael Martin in gatherings of his community. He’s known as the “tallest Paulist.” His height exceeds a standard door frame. Walking with a cane, his is a commanding yet tender figure in the line of...

A welcoming experience of the Church – Paulist Fr. Joe Scott

Paulist Fr. Joe Scott recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a #priest. Fr. Joe served in campus ministry for much of his first decades as priest. He was also an associate editor at Paulist Press from 1998...

“I really loved the preaching…I just kept coming back.”

Once, when Father Matt Berrios was a teen, he missed joining his family for Mass. He looked up an alternative and ended up at the Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's run by the Paulist Fathers. It was...

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Ellen Castellanos and Donna Ferrell

Ellen Castellanos (53) talks to her mother, Donna Ferrell (84), about life-altering moments and her experiences in New Orleans, including going to school there and living in the city during Hurricane Katrina.

“Gratitude never gets us in trouble.”

I'm not proud of anything I've done," Paulist Father Tom Hall told the crowd gathered at his retirement party after 30 years as a Navy chaplain. He says that the room was silent. "I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude. Pride--no. There's...

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John Szalay and Al Lemmo

One Small Step partners John Szalay (49) and Al Lemmo (70) have a conversation about the media and overcoming division in the country. They find a common dislike for social media and trouble with talking about politics with their family.

“I love that I have a vocation”

Deacon Ryan Casey becomes Paulist Father Ryan Casey on May 19, 2018. As his ordination approached, he talked about everything from binge-watching Christian movies like Holy Man Undercover to his occasional street preaching. (Photo by Ryan Haggerty.)