The early spring of 1945. Highbridge, Bronx, NY. World War II is about to end. Over fifty boys and girls cram together into our second grade classroom. Sister Mary Herbert stands tall at the front of ...

The baby-boomer father looked at his son in his smart navy blue suit, hands folded in prayer, as he proceeded up the church aisle with his second-grade class to receive First Holy Communion. In the ...

Joseph McAuley, on the occasion of his First Holy Communion, Saturday, April 19, 1969 Some three months before Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the lunar module and left his footprints upon ...

After my mother died five years ago, I learned that she had been born to young Russian Jewish parents living on Orchard Street on the lower East Side of Manhattan. She had never spoken of this ...

Your Dad and I stood proudly behind you as you received the body of Christ for the first time Saturday. You looked so serious, in your thrifted blue blazer and Grandpa's tie. After you sipped from the ...

When it comes to religious milestones, the first Holy Communion is an important one in some Christian traditions. It usually happens when a child is around eight years old and in the springtime due to ...

Recently, while combing through a box of keepsakes, I came upon the small white missal I received as a gift on the morning of my first Holy Communion at age 7. Lovely memories returned as I began to ...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Thousands of Roman Catholic families on Staten Island are anxiously awaiting word from their parishes about upcoming First Holy Communion Masses that most likely will be ...

As Emma watched the ceremony via webcam, I was torn between my role as photographer and dad Emma Purcell's virtual first communion day. Photo: Mark Condren Emma Purcell's first communion cake. Photo: ...

As a convert from evangelical Protestantism, I look on this year’s commemorations of Luther’s revolt with mixed emotions. No doubt, the Reformation’s schismatic ethos and the ensuing splintering of ...