Northwest Indiana Catholic | Diocese of Gary

Local Stories

Father Ivan Alatorre blesses Rosaries following the Mass for Migrant Workers at Garwood Orchards on July 12. (Michael Wellinski photo)

Mass for Migrant Farm Workers brings the Church and community to migrant workers

'That Meal Didn't Magically Appear'

Roberto Martinez (left) of St. Mary in East Chicago offers comments on a scripture passage from the Book of Matthew, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike,” during a small group discussion with Javier Carrillo, of Nativity of Our Savior in Portage, and others at the July 17 meeting of the Hearts Aflame Yong Adults group at St. Mary. Just over a year old, Hearts Aflame boasts 84

Young adults from throughout diocese share faith and fellowship

Fired Up For Jesus

The Media Team for the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, including Zach Dotson of Hammond, answers questions during a press conference at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington D.C. (Provided photo)

Local perpetual pilgrimage returns to diocese after participating in 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage

Iron Sharpens Iron

Father Franciszek Czaicki (right), OCD, unwraps an unearthed package as Father Andrzej Gbur (back), OCD, looks on at the opening of a 50-year time capsule on July 12 at the Carmelite Monastery in Munster. Well-preserved artifacts such as photos, papers and coins were discovered in the steel case, originally buried on the nation’s bicentennial in 1976. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)

Carmelites open bicentennial time capsule at Munster monastery

Unearthing History

Roxanne Franko teaches a fourth-grade religious education class at Our Lady of Grace in Highland. The parish serves about 65 youths from 25 families during the school year. (Provided photo)

Religious education classes help parents teach children the Catholic faith

Learning the Faith

“When you meet (after Mass) for coffee and doughnuts, what do you talk about?” Father Jerry Schweitzer asked parish leaders meeting with him on July 11 for a Coffee and Conversation session on “Hospitality for Those 50+ in Your Parish” at the Diocese of Gary’s Pastoral Center in Merrillville. “Do we pass on to others (what we talk about) during the week, because that’s what we are supposed to do,” he advised a gathering of close to 50 people. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)

Parish leaders reminded that hospitality is important to evangelization for all ages

Coffee and Conversation

Nation & World

Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor is seen in an undated photo. (OSV News photo/courtesy 11th Street Lot)

6 great Christian authors (and how to start reading them)

Benedictine Father James Raber, a college chaplain at the North Carolina-based Belmont Abbey College, greets people after celebrating Mass Sept. 11, 2025, for U.S. medical volunteers at the Institute for Latin American Concern campus in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. (OSV News photo/Tom Tracy)

Ignatian retreat campus in the Caribbean serves as hub for medical missions

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chair of the USCCB Committee on Pro-life Activities, are pictured in a combination photo. In a letter posted July 27, 2026, the bishops issued a nationwide call to prayer and action from now to the end of October, Respect Life Month, to stop the spread of abortion pills. (OSV News photo/courtesy Oklahoma City Archdiocese/Toledo Diocese)

US bishops call for nationwide prayer and action amid rising abortion rate