Over one hundred years ago, a dream took root in a young seminarian’s heart. A Pauline family of lay faithful, priests, brothers, and sisters, grew from the seed planted before the tabernacle. Today the forms of communication and technology available for evangelization and catechesis continue to multiply. We live in a culture of communication and the age of the laity. Early in the life of the Pauline Institutes sharing the charism with Pauline Lay Cooperators was summed up as “educat...

For a long time I have been preoccupied with the realization that in the United States we do not have a theological foundation for our spirituality. We are learning more and more about our Founder and the charism, but the lens through which we are receiving this information remains a catechetical one. It lacks the depth, breadth, and nuance necessary to understand accurately and authentically the thought of the Founder.The Superior General of the Society of St. Paul has said on numerous occasion...

On November 26, 1971, journalists and news reporters scrambled to cover the death of an 87-year-old, frail, half-bent priest who in his life had been almost awkward in public and reluctant to speak of what he had done. The priest was Father James Alberione. Some said he was an apostle and a pioneer, others a saint and genius of our time. He had founded two Congregations, one of men and one of women, to use the media for evangelization fifty years before the Church herself adopted the instruments...

Castagnito, a small Italian village of a few hundred inhabitants, lies on a pleasant hill near the city of Alba. The parish church—the center of village life—sits proudly at the top. At this church Teresa Merlo received the sacraments and religious education. She attended the village school (which only had three grades) and her parents continued her education with a private tutor. This tutor, Maria Chiarla, taught Teresa the scholastic subjects, but more importantly, she instructed h...

“How many people there are in the world who do not know and love the Lord! Apostles are needed–but genuine apostles whose hearts are filled with love for God….  Our apostolate is participation in the apostolate of Jesus” (Mother Thecla, Co-Foundress).At the turn of the last century, Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Daughters of St. Paul, perceived with penetrating clarity and prophetic foresight the needs of the people of God. Seeing the power of the press an...