Gene Kranz

Gene Kranz was an unsung hero of NASA’s golden age of manned spaceflight. Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell us that as director of mission control, he oversaw dozens of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights, including Apollo 11 and 13. And his Catholic faith underpinned his “failure is not an option” spirit that characterized his tenure.

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Happy Easter from StarQuest

From all of us at StarQuest, we wish you a Happy and Blessed Easter with this brief message from our chaplain, Fr. Cory Sticha.

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The 1918 Spanish Flu and Philadelphia’s Catholics

The Influenza pandemic of 1918 hit Philadelphia particularly hard, killing up to 16,000 people. Tom and Noëlle Crowe explore how the Catholic Church in the city stepped up to help the overwhelmed city services, with over 2,000 nuns filling in as nurses and going door to door in neighborhoods.

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John Dubois

Bishop John Dubois is one of the most important figures in American Catholic history that most people don’t know. Tom and Noëlle Crowe follow his escape from the French Revolution to his early time with two Founding Fathers to his founding of Mt. St. Mary Seminary to his leading the Diocese of New York at a crucial moment.

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Fr. Pierre Gibault and Francis Vigo

Two Catholics–a priest and a layman–were instrumental to the American victory over the British in the Northwest campaign of the Revolutionary War. Tom & Noelle Crowe tell the stories of how Fr. Pierre Gibault and Francis Vigo rallied Catholic settlers and helped Gen. George Rogers Clark to victory in the Illinois campaign.

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Mother Beasley

Mother Beasley was a free Black woman who married into wealth and then gave it all away as a widow in order to found one of the first Catholic religious orders for Black women in the US. Tom and Noelle Crowe tell the story of this courageous woman who also defied the law to educate enslaved children and spent her life serving others.

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Pierre Toussaint

Pierre Toussaint was a slave brought from Haiti to New York City in the late 1700s, where he became a celebrated and in-demand hairdresser and even more celebrated philanthropist. Tom and Noëlle Crowe relate how, even after he had the means to buy his freedom, he elected to remain a slave to care for his widowed mistress, among other notable charitable works in his life.

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Julia Greeley

Julia Greeley was a former slave and Catholic convert who lived much of her life after the Civil War. Tom and Noëlle Crowe relate her zealous devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, her evangelistic fervor, and her service to the poor that led to her being declared a Servant of God in 2017.

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Daniel Rudd

Born a slave before the Civil War, Daniel Rudd was a Catholic journalist, who was the first black man to own a national newspaper of any kind. Tom and Noëlle Crowe reveal how his newspaper and activism both promoted the civil rights of blacks and evangelized the benefits of Catholicism to the black community in the 19th century.

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Father Peter Whelan: The Angel of Andersonville

Fr. Peter Whelan was an elderly Irish priest in Georgia and South Carolina who brought Christ to the sick and imprisoned during the Civil War. Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell how brought Christ to both Confederate POWs in the North, and Union POWs at the most notorious prison camp in the South, Andersonville.

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Cinderella Man

James Braddock was a rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches story of the 1920s and 30s, and was heavyweight boxing champion, winning in a stunning upset victory. But as Tom and Noelle Crowe tell us, he was also a devoted family man and devout Catholic who never forgot the charity he received at his lowest time of his life.

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Fr. Leo Heinrichs, OFM

Fr. Leo Heinrichs was a Franciscan martyred during Mass in his Colorado parish in 1908. Tom and Noëlle Crowe reveal the story of this humble German friar who was slain by an anti-Catholic anarchist during Holy Communion and at the feet of a statue of Our Lady, where he had said he would choose to die.

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William Grace

William Grace was an Irish immigrant to the US, founder of a successful company that remains to this day, a generous philanthropist, and first Catholic mayor of New York City. Tom and Noelle Crowe explore how Grace stood up to political corruption and worked to make a better life for the people of his businesses and city.

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