Two Paths of an ALS Diagnosis

Two Paths of an ALS Diagnosis

RESIGNED TO SERVE THE POOR Fr. Al with child wheelchair On a startling autumn morning in 1989, a doctor asked Fr. Aloysius Schwartz (founder of World Villages for Children) to sit down, looked him in the eye, and shared the hard news: the 59-year-old American...
Fr. Aloysius Schwartz and St. Therese of Lisieux

Fr. Aloysius Schwartz and St. Therese of Lisieux

“THANK YOU LORD, I NEEDED THAT” On this Feast Day of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, it is good to recall how the Church Doctor and Carmelite nun broke like teams of wild stallions into Venerable Aloysius Schwartz’s (founder of World Villages for Children) soul. In...
The Saints Who Shaped Him Into One

The Saints Who Shaped Him Into One

THE SAINTS WHO SHAPED HIM INTO ONE In Episode 6 of the “Lenten Journey with Jesus and Fr. Al” Fr. Dan Leary shares intimate thoughts on ten saints who helped to engineer Fr. Al’s priesthood. Personally, one of the treasures of having researched the life of Fr. Al for...
The Prayerful Mystic; or the Non-Stop Worker

The Prayerful Mystic; or the Non-Stop Worker

THE PRAYERFUL MYSTIC; OR THE NON-STOP WORKER BOTH/AND Few could pin Fr. Al down. At the tortuous moments just prior to his death from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, he belted out whispered commands to those at his bedside: Please remind the Sisters that they must pray three...

Learn more about the children

The children at our schools come from the poorest of the poor. Each child has their own stories of what their life was before coming to our schools and how their lives are being transformed by the Sisters of Mary programs.  Read the moving stories of our children in their own words. 

Meet Our Graduates

There are 160,000+  graduates from the Sisters of Mary Schools. Many of our graduates went on to live prosperous lives, helping their families and local communities. Read the inspiring stories of our graduates in their own words. 

Life At Our Villages

Learn more about how we help children break free from a life of poverty.