Firefighters, police officers, ironworkers and heavy equipment operators all have put in unending hours at Ground Zero on the site of the World Trade Center.

Their pictures show up on the news broadcasts and in the newspapers, and the world wonders how they cope.

Part of the answer stands just outside the camera frame: Priests.

Priests who listen to workers question their faith. Priests who bless all human remains found, no matter how small the fragments. Priests who celebrate Mass at the makeshift morgue and offer prayers for peace. Read more...

Whether it’s turtles or angels - zoo volunteer has the answers

Mary Etienne McDonald sits in the slanting December sunlight in the Pritzker Children’s Zoo building, cradling a box turtle and showing it off to the children who crowd around.

She looks like most of the other volunteer docents at the Lincoln Park Zoo, but McDonald, whose nametag reads simply “Etienne,” will celebrate her 60th jubilee as a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary next year. Read more...