Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine

After 51 years of ministry, Father David H. Taylor is stepping back from full-time parish life, closing a chapter as the first Black Catholic priest ordained in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

“I’m just learning how to sleep through the night again,” Deacon Tim Killmeyer said quietly. For decades, nights meant listening for the slightest change in her breathing, waking to suction her airway, dozing with one ear open. The “muscle memory” of caregiving takes time to unwind.

I love hosting. Really, I do. But if you ask my kids, they’ll tell you that in the days leading up to a gathering, I make everyone just a little bit nuts. I can’t help getting carried away with the prep— cleaning, cooking, decorating, and fussing over things that probably don’t matter as much as I think they do.

Across Pittsburgh, women commit to a dedicated Holy Hour each week for their parish priest as part of this global eucharistic prayer movement.

One boy enrolled in children’s faith formation at Saint Aidan Parish in Wexford loved the lessons so much that he begged his mother, who was not Catholic, to take him to Sunday Mass. She agreed. Now, she is becoming Catholic herself.

Pat now leads a rosary-making ministry at Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Beaver, whose members have made more than 100,000 rosaries. They have been distributed free of charge worldwide.

We celebrate many popular saints’ feast days in October and November. Diving into details of their lives can console and inspire us on our own pilgrimages to Heaven. Let these saints’ examples guide your prayer life this fall.