Voices of Holy Cross: Stories of Hope

The Congregation of Holy Cross and Notre Dame have a rare treasure in Dolly Duffy, longtime director of the Notre Dame Alumni Association. In this conversation, she shares stories of how she collaborates with Holy Cross priests to bring the Rosary, prayers and even the "Milkshake Mass" to some 50,000 people all over the world.

Three Holy Cross priests recount the fervor, excitement and spirit of Hope that they experienced as young seminarians during the Second Vatican Council, and how that has helped shape their 60+ years of priesthood.

Beloved scholar and teacher Dr. John Cavadini takes a deep dive into the motto of the Congregation of Holy Cross to help it make sense to our modern ears, and shares his own hopes for the McGrath Institute for Church Life that he directs to be of genuine service to the universal Church.

You'll love the New Orleans lilt in her voice, and be energized by her zeal as Sr. Ann Lacour MSC sheds light on her Marianite Sisters' close ties to Blessed Fr. Moreau, a monumental renovation of The Solitude in LeMans France that she is overseeing, and a bold prediction about when we can expect Fr. Moreau to be canonized.

Fr. Jim Lackenmier is serving in a second unification process in the Congregation of Holy Cross, as the provinces of priests and brothers throughout North America prepare to become one community in Summer 2028. Fr. Jim walks us through the challenges and potential of this historic move, helping crack a few canonical codes along the way.

The Congregation of Holy Cross has been part of Becky Ruvalcaba's life since before she was born. Now she serves as Director of Pastoral Formation in the MDiv program at the University of Notre Dame, helping form Church leaders who have a holy curiosity and hearts and minds that can hold people's stories as the sacred gifts they are. She unpacks all of those things in this episode.

Terry Lee serves the congregation of Holy Cross as Director of School Sponsorship for the Moreau Province. As that group prepares for its historic unification with the US and Midwest Provinces in 2028, Terry describes the efforts he leads to ensure the ongoing vitality of Holy Cross mission in the hands, hearts and minds of lay collaborators. He speaks to what is both enduring and of the moment in...

Whitney Daly has worn many hats at Holy Cross's Gilmour Academy in her 20 years of service there. She talks about what is unchanging and what is new in her ongoing work of forming people of hope on a journey of faith...and how Fr. Moreau's observation that fine educators must enjoy being interrupted by young people is truer today than it ever was. She also wouldn't mind a good night...

Brother Philip Smith CSC is the archivist for the Midwest Province of Holy Cross Brothers. In his first few months on that job, with a little push from the Holy Spirit urging him to "look up and to the right," he discovered over 6000 letters between Br. Columba O'Neill and others, documenting thousands of cures, which convinced him to pursue Columba's case for sainthood. Due la...

One of Holy Cross's best friends and collaborators is Carolyn Woo, who, in a long list of professional accomplishments, has served as Dean of the Mendoza School of Business at the University of Notre Dame and national president of Catholic Relief Services. She speaks here of the imprint of Holy Cross on her life and her imprint on theirs, reflecting that when your work (as hers always is) is...

Longtime pastor Fr. John Dougherty has lived the majority of his priesthood following the earliest model of life in Holy Cross, serving parishes from Granger, Indiana to Portland, Oregon to Austin, Texas. He gives us glimpses of a couple typical days in his flourishing parish, and while he doesn't necessarily advise this today, tells how he once presided at 8 Masses in a single weekend.

Holy Cross priest, teacher educator, chaplain to Notre Dame's football team and author of Pray Like A Champion Today , new from Ave Maria Press (use code PRAY20 for a 20% discount), Fr. Nate Wills offers infectiously exuberant wisdom on how he forms Catholic school teachers and administrators to be "disciples with Hope to bring," turned field and weight room insights into an inspira...

Notre Dame's Moreau Seminary Rector Fr. Jim Gallagher CSC sheds light on an undervalued discipline in shared life: genuine forgiveness. In this conversation, Fr. Jim tells stories of how forgiveness has strengthened his own experience of community life, and offers concrete tips for extending forgiveness... even when the other person is getting on your last nerve.

Longtime Holy Cross lay collaborator Dr. Lisa Kirkpatrick of St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas shares stories of accompanying students and colleagues in some of their darkest moments, and what it feels like to come out on the other side of those transformative journeys: the side of hope, joy and resurrection.

From naval vessels two football fields long, to a crowded shelter for mothers and children left homeless in Bangladesh, to a face-to-face encounter with a woman in Phoenix who saw Jesus in the hands that gave her new socks and a blanket, Fr. Bill Dorwart CSC has been about the work of resurrection since his days as a young seminarian. In this episode, Fr. Bill relates shares memories of encounters...

Longtime lay collaborator Ken Hallenius tells stories of how he uses modern tech tools to spread the Gospel and share hope in his work with Holy Cross, speculates which of those tools Blessed Fr. Moreau might be drawn to, and shares a new feast day he's pushing for: Meating Friday.

Working among the poorest people in Portland's downtown St. Andre Bessette Parish, Fr. Randy Rentner and Fr. Pat Hannon have learned to flex and grow their compassion muscles and tell stories of what it's like to honor the inherent dignity of their neighbors, sharing both their burdens and their joys, including a cat named Thomas.

Host Karen Eifler collects stories from Dianne Barlas, who has worked in parishes all over the world with the Congregation of Holy Cross, pursuing social justice and helping form people of faith--from middle schoolers to parishioners and now students, faculty and staff in college. Along the way she lets us peek at the moment she knew she was in this for keeps, having found her home as a lay collab...

Award-winning theology professor Fr. Kevin Grove offers stories about making God real and accessible for students from 7th grade through Ph. Ds, and how he strives to help people not accept brokenness as the status quo .

Longtime Holy Cross lay collaborators Stacey & Josh Noem reflect on how Moreau's model of the Holy Family makes it possible to "have life, and have it to the full" in this conversation that makes room for lamentation and for joyful laughter in their own family and in their labors with the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Fr. Charlie Gordon CSC offers glimpses of how he is learning to cross borders of every kind as he reflects on how he--a kid from Chicago's South Side--now finds himself serving as Pro-chancellor of the University of Notre Dame-Bangladesh, amidst governmental insurrection, flooding, and celebrating life's precious moments.

 Fr. Dick Berg CSC plucks three vivid moments from his sixty-one years of priesthood to reflect on how reliance on Divine Providence has nourished him and those he’s served, from a quivering young seminarian afraid to preach, to saving the life of a young burn victim, to catching stories of PTSD survivors. Along the way, he wrote a play, made a movie, and he’s just getting started!

Just a few months after their ordination, Fr. Tyler Kreipke CSC and Fr. Nik Guiney CSC share stories of the zeal and deep hope that led them into Holy Cross, and talk about who in the Holy Cross family tree they’d like to have a kombucha with. In the audience participation portion, they ask for particular prayers to sustain them in these early days of their ministries.