STEPHEN COPELAND

AUTHOR & STORYTELLER

St. Anthony Messenger: Sisters to Brother Wolf

Nicole Rogers had just moved into a red barn house in the rural town of Montgomery, Texas. It was nightfall. Nestled in towering pines,...

St. Anthony Messenger: On the Front Lines of Human Trafficking

Cynthia Perkins never got the chance to meet Father Bob Wheelock. But on August 7, 2020, she attended his funeral. She wanted to say...

St. Anthony Messenger: Dances and Diapers

I hold my newborn son; he holds my gaze. As I carry him in my arms, he carries my heart to a new place. I notice every shift of his eyes,...

St. Anthony Messenger: Live in Me, Love in Me, Act in Me

Etched on the back of my mother’s headstone are three simple prayers: “Lord, live in me, love in me, and act in me.” Adapted from...

'There's still work to do'

“There’s still work to do,” I heard him say on a video screen. His words were faint, soft, broken. Norberto, a Paraguayan missionary who...

St. Anthony Messenger: Praying without Words

How do I begin writing about prayer when I have not felt like praying? It’s not that I’m angry at God. It’s not that I’m indifferent to...

Poem: East Rim Junction

All we had was one vague map on the lost trail which found a few. There were more hikers at the start as each scattered stranger received...

Poem: Chartreuse

Sipping memories like chartreuse, we were so damn happy then, when Indiana stopped the clock again— snowbound, midnight, plaid pajamas...

St. Anthony Messenger: Resurrection Song

I stood quietly in the back of the sanctuary one Easter Sunday, surrounded by raised hands and lifted voices—but feeling alone. Though I...

A Dog’s Contemplative Wisdom

It is morning in Indiana, dawning a new day of liberating nothingness, where we’ll gauge the day’s success through a holiday filter: by...