Erica Jimenez, new director of Inter-Cultural Ministries for the Diocese of Gary, sets an appointment in her office at the Pastoral Center in Merrillville on Jan. 12. Jimenez, former Director of Religious Education at Our Lady of Guadalupe in East Chicago, took the helm of the ministries office after the...

  Adeline Torres, retiring director of the Office of Intercultural Ministries for the Diocese of Gary,  served Mass for many years in the chapel at the Pastoral Center in Merrillville, having first been hired as assistant director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry in 1997. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)   BY MARLENE A....

  Father Theodore Mens (right) participates in a March for Life in Washington D.C. during his tenure as pro-life director for the Diocese of Gary. After more than 45 years, he is retiring on Feb. 2, but plans to continue speaking and praying for an end to abortion and support for...

  Volunteers Kelly Hedegore (center) and Maryann Frysztak (right) inspect the open space at the All Saints thrift store where clothes and household items were once stocked, at the Hammond parish on Jan. 7. The decades-old ministry offering clothing items and chotchkes may face closure as the old parish school building...

  Dr. Michael O'Connor MD, a resident surgeon at the University of Illinois at Chicago, answers questions from Teresa Hunt and Jeannine Tomasic about the COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. O'Connor was at St. Paul's parish, in Valparaiso on Jan. 12, to discuss the vaccine. O'Connor is also a St. Teresa's community member...