Mary Kochan, former Senior Editor of CatholicExchange, is Editor-in-chief of CatholicLane.com. Raised as a third-generation Jehovah's Witness, Mary worked her way backwards through the Protestant Reformation to enter the Catholic Church on Trinity Sunday, 1996. Mary has spoken in many settings, to groups large and small, on the topic of destructive cultism and has been a guest on both local and national radio programs. To arrange for Mary to speak at your event, you may contact her at kochanmar@gmail.com.
Please, open your heart and consider this situation. Brian Gadbois is a permanent deacon and his wife Nissa has just, as in today, given birth to their ninth child. A couple of years ago a dream that they had nurtured for many years came true when they purchased a foreclosed and abandoned farm property. As a [...]
This is my 19th Easter. For the first 38 years of my life I did not celebrate Easter because I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a pseudo-Christian group with a very strange economy of salvation. It is not easy to describe life in a cult like Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is very dark. Even their light [...]
Today is the first day of spring because it is the day of the vernal (spring) equinox. Okay, just a quick review of your high school astronomy. In summer and winter we have solstices — the summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. [...]
With our attention upon St. Joseph today, it might be good to look back at the Old Testament figure for whom Mary’s chaste spouse was most likely named. That would be Joseph, son of Jacob, grandson of Isaac, and great-grandson of Abraham. Joseph is a popular name for Jewish boys precisely as a memorial of this [...]
If you have a garden you probably already know that earthworms are good for your garden. You may be aware that one of the best fertilizers is worm castings. If you already compost and do your best to amend your soil with organic matter, you are already going a long way toward attracting these garden [...]
With Christmas busyness behind, the yard in winter dormancy, and tax season still far enough ahead not to be urgent, it’s that time of year when thoughts turn to home organization. Our God is not a God of confusion and disorder, but a God of peace (1 Cor. 14:33). Order brings peace to our minds and [...]
In the wake of the horrifying deaths of 20 young school children in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at Newtown, Connecticut, there is one question that we must ask. We must ask it while the horror is fresh and we must ask it when the process of grief has eased our shock and pain [...]
An interview with author Rod Bennett A fascinating new novel is out in paperback today which ought to be of great interest to Catholic Lane readers with a taste for fantasy or science fiction. It’s called The Christus Experiment and it’s the first major work of fiction by Rod Bennett, author of the popular Catholic apologetic Four [...]
“All men by nature desire to know.” So Aristotle begins his Metaphysics. We desire to know what is and we desire to know it truly and this desire is “by nature” — as every parent of a miniature metaphysician can testify, for “what?” and “why?” are the words his child’s mind lives by from morning to [...]
The little boy is playing happily on the kitchen floor. Mommy is busy above, at the counter, far over his head. Things are being retrieved from the cupboards and fridge, but the little boy pays scant attention for he has lately become fascinated with tracing the design on the vinyl floor with his toy car. [...]
This week Joel Osteen’s message, “Trust God’s Timing,” was focused on the attitude that we display while we are waiting for God to answer a prayer. Joel used the examples of someone praying for healing, praying to find a spouse, praying for the return of a wayward child, or praying for promotion at work. Joel said [...]
Joel Osteen’s Sunday message this week, “It’s Only a Test”, was about how facing up to trials or “tests” can improve one’s character. He led off by quoting the first half of I Peter 4:12 : “Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered by the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality…” (Amplified Bible). The historical context of this exhortation by our first Pope was the [...]
Okay, just for the record here is the profile. I am white, a US citizen, in my mid 50′s, a grandmother, and a practicing Catholic. Rosaries, prayer books, medals, scapulars and other such paraphernalia are from time to time located on my person. I know a few other women who fit that profile and while [...]
The title of Joel Osteen’s broadcast message this week was “Deal With It!” Joel wanted his audience to understand that there were things in life that we were just going to have to deal with and that would entail suffering. I was very interested to see Joel mention suffering in his broadcast, because suffering is [...]
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Barack Obama is not an American. No, 2016 — Obama’s America, does not deny that Obama was born in Hawaii; there is not a whiff of the “birther” controversy in this surprisingly engaging documentary. But the film [...]
Depression. A dictionary or thesaurus gives us some striking synonyms: a hollow, a cavity, a sinkhole. It is where something inside has given way causing the surface to fall in. The person experiencing depression has had that experience — the experience of something inside giving way, the loss of some internal structure or support. Elijah [...]
To feed the Israelites during their wandering time in the desert, the Lord caused to appear on the ground a flaky substance that tasted like pancakes with honey. At its first appearance, the people quite sensibly asked what everyone asks upon seeing something new, “What is it?” And that very question became their name for [...]
As the 2012 presidential election nears, Romney’s Mormon religion has, by necessity, been taken off the table as an issue for most Christians. Thanks to the actions of the Obama administration – with our freedom so imperiled and our nation’s fiscal house so shaky — the troubling aspects of Romney’s religious affiliation, have faded into the [...]
Jehovah’s Witnesses want you to live forever with them in paradise on earth. To entice you into accepting their offer of a “free home Bible study”, they will show you brightly colored pictures of idyllic garden scenes, beautiful lakeside homes and children romping with lions. The Jehovah’s Witness will ask: “Wouldn’t you like to live [...]
As I write this, the country awaits a decision by the Supreme Court regarding the scope of government power and intrusion into all of our lives for the foreseeable future. This is a crisis. It is not a crisis that will be resolved by the Supreme Court’s decision, regardless of the decision. Within our generation, [...]
Mormons like Glenn Beck and Senator Orrin Hatch have long given a high profile to this American-grown faith. And with Mitt Romney in the running for the Republican nomination, the question of exactly how to categorize Mormonism has become news. An Evangelical pastor who supports Rick Perry told reporters he thought Mormonism is “a cult”, prompting a [...]
Obama and Sebelius sittin’ in a tree K-i-s-s-i-n-g First comes sex without marriages Then come empty baby carriages The teasing little rhyming ditty familiar to children for generations, of which the above is a parody, bespeaks that even children know something very fundamental about the natural and right order of things – that first comes [...]
Men, you are being bombarded with advertising telling you that your wife would love to have a Teddy Bear for Valentine’s Day. Here is a little flowchart to help you decide if you should get your wife a Teddy Bear.
Flying is an amazing experience. You just can’t beat it if you want to get anywhere far away in a hurry. The early history of flying reveals the glory days and shows us what flying should be. The planes were made by individuals or by small groups of craftsmen who learned by tinkering. They were [...]
