Category: Disability, Sickness & Suffering

Ite ad Joseph
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Ite ad Joseph

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by on Mar 19, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ, Men, Parenting
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Ite ad Joseph! (Go to Joseph!) It’s the great Latin admonition of the Church, to seek the intercession of the Patron Saint of the Church, and a powerful intercessor at that. Against the backdrop of the new aggressive eugenics that has taken solid root in American medicine, and against the war on the Catholic Church […]

Shadows of Suffering Fade in the Light of Christ
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Shadows of Suffering Fade in the Light of Christ

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by on Mar 16, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ
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Maurice Ravel’s Pianoforte Concerto for the left hand was written for Austrian pianist, Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in the 1st World War. Imagine Wittgenstein’s grief! Music was the center of his world. He grew up in a prominent Viennese household visited by composers such as Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Straus: […]

Book Review: <i>Fly While You Still Have Wings</i>
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Book Review: Fly While You Still Have Wings

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by on Mar 13, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, On Books
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Sr. Joyce Rupp, a member of the Servants of Mary, is well-known for her spiritual writings as well as for her work as a retreat director and conference speaker. In her latest offering, Fly While You Still Have Wings (Sorin Books, 2015), she focuses on her mother, both the example of her life and the […]

A Child Is Never a Burden
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A Child Is Never a Burden

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by on Mar 12, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Parenting
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The stories of heroic mothers rarely appear on the nightly news, even when they include prominent figures like Genevieve Shaw Brown, Travel and Lifestyle Editor for ABC News. Genevieve recently wrote about her infant son, William Michael Brown, who has Down syndrome. The Browns knew prior to his birth that he would be born with […]

The Heartache of Cavatina
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The Heartache of Cavatina

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by on Mar 12, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ, Music, MyChurchParish.com
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Most people associate the beautiful song Cavatina (written by Stanley Myers) for classical guitar with the 1978 movie The Deer Hunter. But Cavatina’s heartbreakingly beautiful melody originally appeared in a 1970 a movie called “The Walking Stick”. The Heroine of The Walking Stick was a 26 year old woman named Deborah Dainton who walked with a limp because […]

A Cold, Cold Heart
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A Cold, Cold Heart

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by on Feb 19, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured
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There ring in my childhood memory the songs of Hank Williams—songs my dad loved to listen to as he strummed his guitar. One in particular was a classic called “Cold, Cold Heart.” As I sit and think about it, I realize that those three words truly define the cultural attitudes of our day toward those […]

<em>Still Alice</em>: Life in the Wake of a Devastating Diagnosis
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Still Alice: Life in the Wake of a Devastating Diagnosis

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by on Feb 18, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured, On TV and Movies
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“I am not suffering; I am struggling.” These words are part of a beautiful speech delivered by Julianne Moore in her Oscar-nominated performance as Dr. Alice Howland in the film Still Alice. The film is a powerful testimony of how a woman who has made her career out of words loses her words because of […]

Jesus, If You But Said the Word...
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Jesus, If You But Said the Word…

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by on Feb 17, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ, Those in Need
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Do you ever want simply to “be better” from something … from any thing? It could be something that ails you, such as cancer or diabetes or endometriosis, heart disease or asthma or some other chronic health condition. It could be an addiction – to smoking or drinking alcohol, drugs or food or pornography. It […]

A Need We All Have
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A Need We All Have

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by on Feb 03, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Education, Evangelization, Featured, Those in Need
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I love music. I love good music. I really love great music. But it truly is in the ear of the beholder as to what makes good or great music, isn’t it? I mean, I love The Allman Brothers; many people don’t like the bluesy sound and long jams. I love the work of the […]

Erring on the Side of Life
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Erring on the Side of Life

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by on Jan 23, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured
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The history of human knowledge as it relates to the human body is a fascinating and terrible thing. In every age, the ability for physicians and other medical practitioners to effectively treat wounds or combat disease has been constrained by the technology – or lack thereof – available at the time. In the past, people […]

Derogatory Labels for People
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Derogatory Labels for People

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by on Jan 20, 2015 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured
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Words can be so cruel and degrading. There was a time in the 19th Century when North American natives were commonly called “savages”. The term was used to dehumanize first nations people in order to take their land. I remember a time when people with a mix of Aboriginal-European descent were called “half-breeds”. Somebody at […]

Not According to Plan
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Not According to Plan

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by on Dec 29, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Evangelization, Featured
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There are the plans we make, and then there are God’s plans. Sometimes, they line up. Take for instance last week. I thought I had it all figured out. Easy trip to the airport with one small caveat, the necessary requirement of bringing the old family dog into the friendly skies. Never having done this […]

From Angels We Have Heard
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From Angels We Have Heard

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by on Dec 25, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ, MyChurchParish.com
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“The Word became flesh” (John 1.14) is a central tenet of Christian truth. It’s what Christmas is about ? not some little fat man in a red suit. Jesus is the Word that became flesh. The Incarnation: God made man.  It is a unique and singular historical event so significant that the universe rejoiced. Saint […]

The Power of Prayer: Does Prayer Heal?
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The Power of Prayer: Does Prayer Heal?

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by on Nov 19, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ, Those in Need
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There is much debate on whether or not prayer can help a person heal from a physical malady. There have been numerous studies to test whether patients would heal faster and have fewer complications while healing if they knew that others were praying for their recovery. The results are mixed. Some find that no, there […]

Hidden Treasures
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Hidden Treasures

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by on Nov 10, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ, Those in Need, Uncategorized
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Working with the ‘least’ among us in nursing homes Over the years, I have had some interesting and exciting professional experiences as an interviewer and a writer. But nothing quite compares to my time visiting people in nursing homes. I’ve lived in six states, visited a number of facilities, and my interest hasn’t waned. Sometimes […]

Down Syndrome Does Not Make Life Disposable
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Down Syndrome Does Not Make Life Disposable

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by on Oct 23, 2014 in Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured
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The Holy Father’s universal prayer intention for September was, “That the mentally disabled may receive the love and help they need for a dignified life.” This is such a timely prayer. In recent weeks there has been a steady drumbeat to dehumanize and marginalize those with mental challenges, especially those with Down syndrome. For example, […]

Happy Boy Makes Mass
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Happy Boy Makes Mass

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by on Oct 23, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ, Uncategorized
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Last year I remember rushing into mass minutes before the opening song. Exhausted from hours of setting up for a ministry event, I was unable to prepare for mass properly. Sliding into my usual spot I jumped to attention as the procession began. My eyes naturally scanned the area directly across the expanse to those […]

Go Through Doors of New Possibilities
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Go Through Doors of New Possibilities

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by on Oct 13, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured
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Helen Keller was deaf and blind from early childhood, yet she became one of the great humanitarians of the 20th Century. When news of her death in 1968 came over the radio, I remember my father said, “There goes a great person.” I was fifteen years old at the time and too self-absorbed to care […]

An Open Discussion About Suicide Might Save Someone's Life
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An Open Discussion About Suicide Might Save Someone’s Life

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by on Sep 25, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Health & Fitness, Those in Need
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Funny, talented, wealthy, generous, admired people aren’t supposed to want to die. People are supposed to live beyond the age of 63, Robin Williams’ age when he died August 11. People aren’t supposed to die by suicide. Yet, Williams is no different from thousands of other Americans who die that way. More than 39,000 people […]

Book Review: <i>Mortal Blessings</i>
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Book Review: Mortal Blessings

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by on Sep 19, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, On Books
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I am a daughter of aging parents. While I don’t know the day or the hour, I know that the time is coming when I will need to walk with them on their final journey home. Death is part of life, and as a Catholic, I understand that it is the doorway to a different […]

Including People with Schizophrenia
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Including People with Schizophrenia

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by on Sep 18, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Health & Fitness, Those in Need
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My wife, LaRee, never knew her maternal grandmother: Her name was Dora and she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Dora was institutionalized in a mental hospital in 1932 at 34 years of age. Eighty-two years ago the shame and stigma of having a family member in a mental institution was so great that few people in the family […]

A Path to Freedom and Peace for Young People With Addiction
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A Path to Freedom and Peace for Young People With Addiction

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by on Aug 27, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Those in Need
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The culture of death has many pillars and many faces. One such pillar, surely is the tragedy of drug and alcohol addiction. Not only does addiction slowly kill the addict (physically, spiritually and emotionally), but sexual impurity is often associated with drug and alcohol abuse, which leads to many unplanned pregnancies and abortions. A friend […]

Including People With Downs
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Including People With Downs

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by on Aug 26, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Those in Need
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A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) news blog featured a story about A new line of clothing for people with Downs Syndrome has been launched. Karen Bowersox of Mentor OH, has developed a clothing line specifically for people with the condition. Being an advocate for people with disabilities, I took note of the story. It’s not […]

Why I Keep Returning to the Music of Beethoven
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Why I Keep Returning to the Music of Beethoven

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by on Jun 21, 2014 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Music
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In the great treasury of music, I keep finding myself coming back again and again to Beethoven. You may think it’s because he was one of the greatest composers who ever lived despite his deafness. That is true, everybody loves great music and everybody loves an over-comer. But there’s something more that keeps drawing me […]