Can women have careers without neglecting their children? Can women have children without neglecting their intellectual gifts? In short, can women have it all? My mother taught me that the answer was no. She quoted former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fondly and often: “A woman can have a great career and a great marriage. […]
I usually avoid marriage-help books like the plague because, in general, I find them far removed from the reality of married life. “Theology of the Body” is beautiful and the ideal, but at least in my sixteen years of experience, has relatively little to do with the ins and outs of getting up every day, […]
These days, it seems we all know young couples who are living together— a friend, perhaps, or even a son or daughter. With cohabitation so common, living together hardly causes “scandal” anymore. In fact, when a government study found last year that 48% of young women cohabited with a partner as a first union, one […]
Let me start by saying it’s okay to not know where your partner is or what they’re doing every moment of every day. There is an epidemic in today’s dating scene that is ruining relationships. It is the obsession to need constant knowledge of the whereabouts of the other. If you think I am being […]
It’s that time of year again. It always seems to creep up on me, no matter how much I think I’m prepared. We had a peaceful start: we set up the Advent tree and wreath, and have even managed to start most mornings off with prayer and lighting the wreath. But I know that even […]
A federal judge may have put polygamy on its first step to legal recognition, striking down part of a Utah law that criminalized plural marriage. The lawsuit was brought by Kody Brown, star of the TLC reality series Sister Wives. Brown lives with Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn, and their brood of 17 children. However, […]
I am a conundrum: a rather outmoded sort of woman, ridiculed by modern career women, vilified by the earth’s prophets of doom and sanctified by the religious right. I was the least likely candidate to have a lot of children. I had never even held a baby before my first born.You would think having nine children would have […]
Can I be honest here for a sec? This is a review about a book about NFP –Natural Family Planning- and in the interest of disclosure, I feel like I need to tell you something up front – I hate NFP. My husband hates NFP. Hate. It. Oh, but the bluebirds of sunshine say, think […]
The way to save marriage isn’t by new laws, but new hearts.
Would you pay $10,000 a year to stay married to your spouse? Some American couples are being faced with exactly that decision as they consider their health insurance options under ObamaCare. One of the most controversial provisions of ObamaCare is that it requires all Americans to purchase health insurance, whether they want it or not, […]
Simcha Fisher’s book, The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning, is still sitting pretty in the Top 10 on Amazon’s list of Catholic books. The incredible interest in the book isn’t surprising since frank, balanced conversations about natural family planning –- the only method of spacing children approved by the Catholic Church –- are desperately […]
Planning a wedding is a lot of pressure. Everyone you know is invited, it’s (hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime event and it’s the most formal occasion of your life. That in itself can make any bride or groom a little antsy. Yet more than that, in the modern world, it is a life goal that is right up […]
A founding principle of the Knights of Columbus was to help men protect their families from financial ruin should disaster strike the husband and father. As the son of a woman who was widowed with four children ages 5-15, and a member of the Order, I support this work. Yet a husband’s job goes far […]
Working at a nursing home, I met a married couple that really defined for me what marriage means. He was wheelchair dependent. He had had a stroke and lost all movement in his right leg and arm. He was still alert though. He’d tease the staff and tell us all sorts of stories. He’d rant about how […]
I would like to think that it all started with the “Y” cord, but I know that is not so. Maybe it would be more accurate to state that perhaps it started with the words, “Why not?” We were presenting a marriage preparation class to thirty-five couples the other day, and wanting to give them […]
In my previous article, I discussed marriage, Holy Matrimony, catechesis, and the call of Catholic couples to live their marriage as a sacrament and a sign of contradiction. A part of that witness is in taking up our own crosses daily by making the small and sometimes even the big sacrifices for our spouses (and our children […]
In a column on Salon.com, Jessica Ciencin Henriquez – a fabulous writer, as far as I can tell – called her virginity at marriage a mistake. Wedding night sex was not what the church (nor the purity ring she wore) promised it would be. Neither was her marriage. Six months into it, Jessica wrote, “the […]
Sanctity. This is the first rule of a Catholic man. Be a saint and create the most fertile ground for your spouse to be a saint. Share your dessert. This is one of the hardest tests. You have eaten a good dinner. The sweet tray is brought to your table. She says she does not […]
In England, “gay marriage” is now officially legal though still not ontologically possible–which precipitates another round of posts about marriage and Holy Matrimony. Monsignor Charles pope wrote one on this following the US Supreme Court’s decisions on DOMA and Proposition 8–really, he was revisiting an old post. And of course, a few responses were written […]
As the dust settles on the Supreme Court’s marriage rulings, Catholics and other defenders of traditional marriage have stepped forward with new energy and comprehensive strategies to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman. On Redstate.com, Ryan T. Anderson sees the dissenting opinions of Supreme Court Justices Alito, Roberts, and Scalia in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ruling […]
One Saturday not long ago, I was sitting in my living-room and Colin, my 5-year-old grandson, was on my lap. I don’t remember what we were doing — watching “Peppa Pig” on TV or reading a Dr. Seuss book or playing out another episode of “Good Guys vs. Bad Guys,” I’m sure. Colin grabbed my […]
NFP Week is July 21 – 27, 2013 I am a journalist and a convert. That sounds like an oxymoron. Two years after joining the Catholic Church, my wife and I began practicing Natural Family Planning (NFP). I found that the chastity required to get through the periods of abstinence caused profound changes in me. […]
“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13) There is no Scripture verse that reads, “Fret not thyself because of morning breath; thy husband knoweth and doth also have it.” Too bad. For at least a month after our wedding, in […]
On June 26, 2013, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was struck down in a five- to- four decision by the United States Supreme Court. Gay activists south of the border were overjoyed. Here in Canada, it was just another marriage equality day since our Supreme Court redefined marriage with the passing of the Civil […]
