I am a life-long Roman Catholic, homeschooling mom of two boys (ages 9 1/2 and 8), married for thirteen years. I am a Senior Editor with Catholic Lane and a freelance writer on topics related to women's spirituality. I am also the author of "Letters to Mary from a Young Mother." I have a BA in History and Fine Art and a Master of Arts Degree in Applied Theology.
What can mothers today learn from a poor Jewish woman who lived two thousand years ago? If the woman in question is Our Blessed Mother, the answer is everything. Marge Fenelon explores ten of these lessons in the new book, Imitating Mary: Ten Marian Virtues for the Modern Mom (Ave Maria Press, 2013). Fenelon writes [...]
Dear God, I Don’t Get It by Patti Maguire Armstrong Liguori Publications, 2013 Why does God answer some prayers and not others? This is a question that plagues even adults. Sometimes, we pray so hard and think we know what God should do in our lives. And then, God does something else or He does [...]
One of my simple pleasures in life is reading Victoria magazine. The May/June 2013 issue features an article called “Destiny’s Detour.” The editors had asked readers to share stories of how their lives had turned out compared to what they thought life would hold for them when they graduated from high school or college. Victoria [...]
In 1999, Tracy Sands was inspired while listening to Christian music at a church event. With only a pen and the program she received at the door to work with, she began sketching quickly. The urge to create was so strong she “felt as though she would pop if she didn’t get the ideas out [...]
Our present culture does not value and esteem womanhood very much. Catholic writer, speaker, and podcaster Pat Gohn is working to change that. With Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood (Ave Maria Press, 2013) , Gohn “seeks to celebrate womanhood by exploring a woman’s dignity, gifts, and mission.” As one might [...]
Andrea Maglio-Macullar is a Catholic artist whose religious art has appeared in many venues, including publications by Loyola Press and Our Sunday Visitor. Her art is bright, colorful, and eye-catching. Many of her pieces have a stained-glass quality to them which makes them very appealing. Maglio-Macullar has been drawing since she was a young child. [...]
When I was in graduate school studying theology, I took a course on the Trinity. It featured a very large scholarly book and lots of Greek words. I found it fascinating, but understood relatively little. There is a reason why the Trinity is considered a mystery. In The ‘One Thing’ is Three: How the Most [...]
There is an old adage in homeschooling that says not to make any life-altering educational decisions in February. This time of year is the homeschooler’s valley of tears. A little more than halfway through the school year, stuck in the house most of the time, feeling painfully inadequate to the task at hand, it is [...]
We live in a busy world that is changing at the speed of light. Yet, good manners never go out of style. Most of us parents emphasize the importance of please, thank you, and excuse me, and do our best to insure that our children are polite, but when it comes to the finer points [...]
All methods of modern Natural Family Planning (NFP) rely on observation of changes in a woman’s body as it makes its way through the monthly menstrual cycle. These observations determine when sexual intercourse can/should take place – depending on whether one is trying to achieve or postpone pregnancy. Two of the primary signs are cervical [...]
Frozen Footprints (Tumblar House, 2012) is the latest contribution to Catholic suspense by Therese Heckenkamp, author of Past Suspicion. I freely admit, suspense is not my genre of choice, but Heckenkamp once again managed to keep me interested and invested in this story. Charlene and Max Perigard are twins, raised by their grandfather, a wealthy [...]
“Is this all there is?” Colleen Carroll Campbell found herself asking that universal question midway through college. Every generation needs to discover the role of faith in their lives and to seek answers to the hard questions such as the meaning of life and the role of suffering. While human nature may remain fairly consistent, [...]
In the quiet of night, a young mother holds her baby to her, admiring his fingers and toes, exploring the features of his face. Her son is new to this world, a gift from God. She is like every other new mother, filled with wonder and exhaustion and, perhaps, fear. She is very young. Is [...]
I wasn’t going to write about Friday’s sad events, instead simply choosing to pray. My heart has been heavy, and I knew others would write about it with more eloquence. My words and thoughts weren’t necessarily needed. But then, I was drawn into the conversation and realized that there was indeed something I needed to [...]
Our pastor shared this story at Mass on Sunday: As many parishes do at Christmas time, a parish in New York was having a pageant acting out the Nativity story. A little boy named Tom was taking part. He was mentally disabled, but was very excited to be in the pageant. He was playing an [...]
Judging from the front cover of A Winter Dream, which features a lit-up Christmas tree, one might expect that this latest offering from best-selling author Richard Paul Evans is a Christmas story. It is not; it is a story for every season. While it does open with a dream that includes a Christmas-type tree, this [...]
There is something about teaching one’s children about the facts of life that inspires fear in the hearts of parents everywhere. When that day came for my boys and me, I nervously searched my local library for an appropriate book (many I found were clearly not appropriate from a moral standpoint), sat down on the [...]
It’s hard to believe but Advent is right around the corner. Are you searching for a meaningful Advent practice to bring more faith and spiritual growth into this busiest of seasons? O Radiant Dawn: 5-Minute Prayers Around the Advent Wreath (Ave Maria Press, 2012) may be just what you are looking for. Lisa Hendey, founder [...]
The title of Teresa Tomeo and Cheryl Dickow’s new book, Wrapped Up: God’s Ten Gifts for Women refers to our being “wrapped up” in God’s love. That can be a hard concept for us women to accept. After all, the world spends a lot of time telling us all the reasons why we are not [...]
A Catholic Mother’s Companion to Pregnancy: Walking with Mary from Conception to Baptism is the book I wish I had owned and read when I was going through my own pregnancies. Sarah Reinhard, a self-described “non-baby” person – even though she has three lovely children of her own, takes an honest and faith-filled look at [...]
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on The Perils of Texting While Parenting. The point it was trying to make was simple. Parents are spending too much time on their mobile devices and not enough time paying attention to their children. Also, while there is only anecdotal evidence, it is believed that this [...]
The Scripture readings for this week remind us of the value of life. Psalm 54 emphasizes “The Lord upholds my life.” God is the author and provider of life. Without God, our heart would never pulse a single beat nor would we ever take a single breath. He alone has the right to choose when [...]
Elizabeth Ficocelli, an adult convert to the Catholic faith, is a woman in love with the sacraments. That love shines forth in her latest book, Seven from Heaven: How the Sacraments Can Heal, Nurture, and Protect Your Family Today. She believes that teaching about the sacraments is “the perfect catechetical tool . . . to [...]
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a Lifetime Original Movie available on DVD. It is based on the best-selling novel by the same name by Kim Edwards. Starring Dermot Mulroney, Gretchen Mol, and Emily Watson, it offers a very positive portrayal of a girl with Down Syndrome. In a world in which the majority of children [...]
