A photo of the author's First Communion, along with a souvenir from the ceremony (Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times) In the spring of 1997, my sister and I took catechism classes at our home parish ...

Pleas for help ran in Sunday bulletins. Announcements at mass urged people to come forward. Churchgoers cajoled those next to them in the pews. Yet, just three days before public school students began ...

Catechism class at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in North Charleston over the weekend was a little out of the ordinary: The children were preparing to commune with the dead. The parish, whose ...

Those attending Sister's catechism class better follow her rules — or they could find themselves on stage with their noses pressed against the blackboard, in the circle of silence, or sitting in the ...

Talk about a potentially tough crowd. When “Late Nite Catechism” premiered recently at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights, actress Lynda Shadrake, who portrays Sister in the ...

As any good Catholic can tell you, don’t mess with Sister. Pity anyone who does, like the woman sitting near the back of the Curtis Theatre in Brea on Friday night, blithely enjoying “Late Nite ...

In the spring of 1997, my sister and I took catechism classes at our home parish, St. Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim. Once a week, we joined about 20 other teens in the basement of the massive ...