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Voices

Judith Valente, a regular contributor to NPR and "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly," is a journalist, poet and essayist. She is the author of Atchison Blue: A Search for Silence, a Spiritual Home and a Living Faith, named best spirituality book in paperback for 2014 by the Catholic Press Association and one of the three best spirituality books by Religion Newswriters Association. Her book, The Art of Pausing, was runner up for the Catholic Press Association book award in 2014.

Ms. Valente began her work as a staff reporter for The Washington Post. She later joined the staff of The Wall Street Journal, reporting from that paper's Chicago and London bureaus. She was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, first in the public service category as part of a team of reporters at The Dallas Times Herald in the 1980s. In 1993, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer in the feature writing category for her front page article in The Wall Street Journal chronicling the story of a religiously conservative father caring for his son dying of AIDS.

Dispatches
Judith Valente
With gang violence on the rise, residents in the city's deadliest neighborhoods try to steer teens in a better direction.
Healthy Dialogue? Zack W., left, listens to Maurice Hardwick at a protest while Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivered an economic policy speech to the Detroit Economic Club in Detroit, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Dispatches
Judith Valente
Anger is no longer episodic, erupting from time to time, but now it’s rising to the level of needing police intervention.
Dispatches
Judith Valente
“As you pursue your own goals, you see always on the horizon the plight of the less fortunate, the plight of the marginalized. I saw that working in him."
Sister Sharon Bierman
Dispatches
Judith Valente
Sister Bierman has this advice for Pence: Tone down the rhetoric about Hillary Clinton.
Ready and Able. Cynthia Bowns
Dispatches
Judith Valente
"I think this would be an opportunity for more women in ministry to come together with their male peers in a really holistic, beautiful way."
Sister Simone Campbell and the Nuns on the Bus were in Washington, D.C., last September for the visit of Pope Francis. (CNS photo/Lisa Johnston, St. Louis Review)
Dispatches
Judith Valente
The sisters represent "Pope Francis" voters on a tour through 13 states.
Signs Of the Times
Judith Valente
For most of the Muslims, it was the first time they had stepped inside a Christian church.
Pope Francis reads letters from children in 2015. The letter will be published in the book "Dear Pope Francis." (CNS photo/courtesy Antonio Spadaro)
Dispatches
Judith Valente
"It's like being in the room with him and listening in to a very special conversation. It's him; it's the real man coming through loud and clear."
Dispatches
Judith Valente
It is likely only a matter of time before the debate over transgender rights arises in Catholic schools.
Berrigan and his niece, Frida Berrigan, at the Witness Against Torture event held in NYC's Lower East Side on December 18, 2008. Photo: Thomas Good/NLN
FaithDispatches
Judith Valente
Father Berrigan’s quote reminded me to make my mark based on hard work and decency—through a commitment to do my best, rather than a hunger to get ahead.