JESSIE WARDARSKI

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sister JoAnn Persch, 90, a nun with the Sisters of Mercy, prays with others during a vigil outside a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Broadview, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
These nuns advocated for immigrant rights for 40 years — now in their 90s, they’re not slowing down
For over four decades Sisters JoAnn Persch, 90, and Pat Murphy, 95, have dedicated their lives to advocating for immigrant rights and the dignity of all people.
 
Jean-Michel Gisnel cries out while praying with other congregants at the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Sunday, January 26, 2025, in Springfield, Ohio. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, turn to faith amid deportation fears
Despite legally migrating to the U.S. under the country’s Temporary Protected Status program, many of the thousands of Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, are fearful President Donald Trump’s promised migration crackdown will soon include them.
 
The home of the late Amada Cardenas, who was one of the first federally licensed peyote dealers, alongside her husband, to harvest and sell the sacramental plant to followers of the Native American Church, Monday, March 25, 2024, in Mirando City, Texas. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Why this Mexican American woman played a vital role in the US sacramental peyote trade
Amada Cardenas, a Mexican American woman who lived in the tiny border town of Mirando City in South Texas, played an important role in the history of the peyote trade.
 
The property of the late Amada Cardenas, who was one of the first federally licensed peyote dealers, alongside her husband, to harvest and sell the sacramental plant to followers of the Native American Church, in Mirando City, Texas, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
What is the Native American Church and why is peyote sacred to members?
The Native American Church is the most widespread religious movement among the Indigenous people of North America. It considers sacred the peyote cactus, which grows naturally only in some parts of southern Texas and northern Mexico.
 
A peyote plant blooms while growing in the nursery at the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative homesite in Hebbronville, Texas, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Peyote sacred to Native Americans threatened by psychedelic renaissance and development
Peyote, a cactus that contains mescaline, a hallucinogen, grows naturally in South Texas and northern Mexico. It is sacred to many Indigenous people, playing a central role in their ceremonies, spiritual practice and medicine.
 
Sister Seyram Mary Adzokpa, right, kneels in prayer in the chapel at the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Young nuns: Two diverse paths to a rare life of faith
Born in Ghana, Sister Seyram Mary Adzokpa had never encountered a nun until adulthood. Growing up a cradle Catholic in Pennsylvania, Zoey Stapleton was surrounded by them.
 
The Franciscan Sisters, T.O.R. of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother, during morning prayer in the chapel of the motherhouse in Toronto, Ohio, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Takeaways from AP’s reporting on young nuns
Fewer than 1% of nuns in the U.S. today are under 30. Those who do enter into a religious vocation give up many trappings of modern life — dating, material wealth, sometimes even cell phones.
 
Zoey Stapleton, a postulant with the Franciscan Sisters, T.O.R. of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother, attends Mass in Toronto, Ohio, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Leap of faith: A few young women in US buck the trends by joining the ranks of Catholic nuns
Less than 1% of nuns in the United States today are 30 or younger. That number has remained steady in the past decade but shows little signs of increasing.
 
A small group prays together in Spanish at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Worthington, Minn. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
In Amharic, Karen and Spanish, worship is like home for migrants in heartland town
At noon on Sundays in Worthington, Minnesota, an overflow crowd is still swaying to the Guatemalan band at Spanish-language Catholic Mass, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians are wrapping up their six-hour-long service, and at town’s edge among the cornfields, refugees from Southeast Asia gather to pray a
 
A group of Amish arrive at the Crawford County Judicial Center in Meadville, Pa., for the preliminary hearing for Shawn Christopher Cranston on Friday Mar. 15, 2024. Cranston is being held in connection with the murder of Rebekah A. Byler and her unborn child in her home in Spartansburg, Pa., on Feb. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Husband of slain pregnant Amish woman testifies his young children told him of the killing
The criminal homicide case against a truck driver accused of killing a pregnant Amish woman is headed to county court for trial.
 
Jeremiah Manley, left, and other attendees at The Cove, an 18-and-up, pop-up Christian nightclub, raise their arms in worship on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. The Cove was started last year by seven Black Christian men in their 20s who sought to build a thriving community and a welcoming space for young adults outside houses of worship. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
No twerking. No drinking. No smoking. But it’s still a party at this Christian nightclub
The Cove is a pop-up, 18-and-up Christian nightclub in Nashville, Tennessee. It was launched last year by seven Black Christian men in their 20s who sought to build a thriving community and a safe space for young Christians outside houses of worship.
 
Once almost broken, Colby Love is back in the pool
Colby Love had his sights set on qualifying for the state finals as a sophomore, but he couldn’t stop shaking _ and then he was crying.