Author Archive for Mary Kochan

Mary Kochan, former Senior Editor of CatholicExchange, is one of the founders and Editor-at-large 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.

Divine Mercy is Worth Preparing For
1

Divine Mercy is Worth Preparing For

by

Sometimes, when a major feast is approaching that requires a lot of preparation, it can be a bit difficult to think past it, to the preparations that are needed for what comes next. But we must not make that mistake with Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, because, as momentous as the celebration of Easter is, […]

Baby-phobia Has Reached Epidemic Proportions
11

Baby-phobia Has Reached Epidemic Proportions

by

Imagine the crushing judicial power of a modern nation coming down upon you, trying you, sentencing you, and then planning your execution – all while the charges against you remain secret.  You might recall that as the plot of Franz Kafka’s paranoiac novel, The Trial, the protagonist of which is a 30-year-old bank clerk. Under […]

Quakes and Waves and Psalms
8

Quakes and Waves and Psalms

by

As someone new to praying the liturgy of the hours, I never before fully understood the place of the psalms in the prayer of the Church.  “In [Christ],” the Catechism says, “the psalms continue to teach us how to pray”, so much so that the Church calls the psalms a “school of prayer” (2587 and […]

As His Beatification Nears, the JPII Generation Tells Its Story
0

As His Beatification Nears, the JPII Generation Tells Its Story

by

Beloved Pope John Paul II, already acclaimed “the Great” by so many, shaped the faith of millions of Catholics for whom he was the face and mind of the Church all during their formative years. With his beatification nearing, we are journeying together to a very special Lent. In addition to the graces of any Lenten […]

You Might Be in a Cult If...
2

You Might Be in a Cult If…

by

(With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy) • You might be in a cult if — you have a horror of having the number 144,001 stamped on your forehead. • You might be in a cult if — “there is more than one way to skin a cat” is a line from your liturgy. • You might […]

It Is <i>So</i> Your Business
0

It Is So Your Business

by

Ever notice how when folks are getting married they make it everybody’s business? From announcements to bridal registries to showers to showing off the ring. From guest lists and invitations to bridesmaids to something borrowed — everybody is expected to get in on the act. Interesting isn’t it how these same people can decide to […]

Cults, Movements, World Religions
2

Cults, Movements, World Religions

by

The modern religious landscape appears increasingly confusing, even strange or frightening. No matter how strong in faith and regular in religious practice our families may be, we are not insulated from contact with a bewildering variety of religious expressions, a Babel of “prophetic” voices and a dizzying array of competing world views. Questions Abound in […]

Fatal Abstractions
1

Fatal Abstractions

by

Women know what works and what doesn’t. And the Church cares that this knowledge of the concrete that women possess should be brought to bear upon all policy decisions.

CL40 - hbratton notxt
0

Unnatural Affection

by

There is a natural desire in parents to provide a better life for their children. Indeed, the Apostle tells us that parents ought to lay up for their children (2 Cor 12:14). This is true not only in the material sense, but also in the moral and spiritual — the spiritual in fact being the […]

What Went Wrong for <i>The Perfect Game</i>
0

What Went Wrong for The Perfect Game

by

I took three of my grandchildren to see The Perfect Game yesterday.  My daughter is a manager at a mall theater and she had told me that the movie opened Friday and no one went to see it. I knew it was unlikely that it would stay past the weekend without a major change. I […]