Each year California Catholics gather in Sacramento to speak with their elected officials about issues of concern to the Church. This effort is an excellent example of faith in action, of faithful citizenship.

In East L.A., playing outside can be dangerous. In this week's "Faith Works" story, we learn how neighborhood moms organized to safeguard their children so that they play freely and walk to school in safety. This activity is part of the work of Comunidad en Movimento, which received a grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Some grandparents open up their hearts to family members in need. Others help out at the soup kitchen serving the homeless. Still others open up their arms to give a loving hug in troubled times. Grandma Marge Larsen does all of the above when she opens up her garage.

Season of Freedom, Season of Rebirth. This evening Passover will be celebrated by millions of Jewish people around the world. This excerpt from Walking God's Paths: Christians and Jews in Candid Conversation explores the meaning of these High Holy Days and their significance to both religions. For more information about this parish resource, go to: www.usccbpublishing.org/searchproducts.cfm or www.bc.edu

With its motto, "Nothing Stops a Bullet like a Job," Homeboy Industries in East L.A. surely gets your attention. Founder Jesuit priest Greg Boyle also gets your attention. Click and see why young men and women are risking there lives to leave their gangs to come and work for "Fr. G."

On South Dakota's Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, where 75 percent of the residents are poor, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has been hard at work providing crucial start-up money to the Four Bands Community Fund to help them to spur entrepreneurship among the Lakota people. Through micro-loans as small as $1,000, and small business training for residents, the locally run loan fund is sowing the seeds of economic stability and self-sufficiency that will one day reverse the cycle of poverty on the reservation. For more information on CCHD, go to: www.usccb.org/cchd

Co-sponsored by the Bishops' Committee on Hispanic Affairs, Weaving the Future Together, the First National Encuentro for Hispanic Youth and Young Adult Ministry brought together young people from across the country to develop a common vision and pastoral principles that will guide ministry to, with and from Hispanic youth and young adults on the parish, diocesan and organizational levels.

Recent studies have shown that a personal invitation from a priest can have a significant positive impact on young men considering the priesthood. Unfortunately, those same studies reveal that the number of priests who offer such invitations and actively engage young men discerning a call to the priesthood is actually quite low. Developed by the USCCB Committee on Vocations, "Priestly Life and Vocations Summit: Fishers of Men" is a new program meant to renew priests' sense of vocational fulfillment and to encourage them to draw on that satisfaction and invite other men to pursue the priesthood. The following is an interview with Bishop Blase Cupich, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Vocations, and Fr. Edward Burns, Executive Director of the USCCB Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation.