Focus Topic: Belonging

Check out highlights from the August 2025 trip to Washington, D.C. with this year's cohort of DifferenceMakers®.

What makes a city feel like home? This reflection explores how Helsinki and Charlotte each point toward deeper belonging through public space and care.

We are in the midst of a profound crisis in men’s mental health — and it is one many of us are too uncomfortable to acknowledge. Men account for nearly three out of four “deaths of despair” in the United States — suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related fatalities​. That is not a statistic that can […]

Discernment: finding where your talents best meet the needs of the world. In my young(er) years, I spent a lot of time exploring this, even discerning the priesthood. Maybe I would have been an ok priest, but I remember the moment when I fully knew that God had given me the divine talent of design […]

Imagine if our cities went beyond meeting our basic needs. What if they made us feel supported, valued and cared for? How would our lives change if streets weren’t just for movement but for moments of spontaneous discovery? What if our city’s public spaces didn’t simply tolerate people using them but were designed to inspire, spark social connection, and strengthen bonds between neighbors?