Northwest Indiana Catholic | Diocese of Gary

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Father Jon Plavcan, pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Community, and Susan Hadenfelt, St. Patrick School principal, pose together with Father Plavcan’s certificate he received after the pair completed Chesterton Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy. (Deacon Bob Wellinski photo)

Citizens police academy allows pastor and principal to experience police life

Walking In Their Shoes

Getty Images/Kara Gebhardt

As new year starts, priests encourage faithful to make spirituality a resolution

Building a Closer Relationship with God

The leading throng of mainly Catholic youth carry a pro-life banner near Monument Circle during the Indiana March for Life on Jan. 22 in Indianapolis. The state march, in its eighth year, is a localized version of the National March for Life, which, since 1974, has brought together millions of concerned Americans who wish to publicly proclaim the Gospel of Life – to establish legal protections for the unborn from abortion and promote a womb-to-tomb respect for human life. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)

Faithful to rally for sanctity of all human life at various events throughout January

Praying for an End to Abortion

Father Michael Hoffman

St. Paul celebrates life of former associate pastor

Father Michael J. Hoffman (1942-2025)

Jacob Robert Patrick Kelly Jr. was born to Mattie Tengdin and Jacob Kelley of Crown Point at 1:29 a.m. at Franciscan Health Crown Point, making him the first baby born at the hospital in 2026.

Franciscan Health welcomes first babies of new year

Happy New Year!

Adam White of the Music Ministry at St. Maria Goretti in Dyer, leads children on a musical procession to teach them about movement during the Christmas Vacation Bible Day on Dec. 29. They also sang “Go Tel It On The Mountain,” “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World” to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)

Children celebrate Jesus’ birthday by learning to shine their light

Christmas Vacation Bible Day

Nation & World

Religious leaders, including Father Dale Korogi, pastor of Ascension Catholic Church in Minneapolis, next to a broadcast speaker, attend an interfaith news conference in Minneapolis Jan. 8, 2026, at the scene of the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. The 37-year-old woman was shot in her car Jan. 7, according to local and federal officials. (OSV News photo/Tim Evans, Reuters)

Minneapolis Catholic leaders speak out about community fear after ICE-involved shooting

Cardinals Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of Kalookan, Philippines; Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg, South Africa; and Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogotá, Colombia, participate in a news conference at the Vatican Jan. 8, 2026. The cardinals reflected on the meaning and outcomes of the extraordinary consistory that had just concluded. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Cardinals leave consistory with a clear vision from pontiff: 'A Church that cares'

Polish pilgrims from Torun: from left, Iwona, Wioletta and Kasia, are seen on a Jan. 6, 2026 photograph on St. Peter's Square, at the conclusion of the Jubilee Year of Hope. What really visibly stayed with the faithful after the Jan. 6 Epiphany Mass was Pope Leo's urge to keep the church alive. "If we do not reduce our churches to monuments, if our communities are homes, if we stand united and resist the flattery and seduction of those in power, then we will be the generation of a new dawn," the pope said.

As jubilee year ends, the faithful heed Pope Leo's call to keep the church alive