0
Another New Year’s Resolution?
by Dr. Gary L. Welton
Focus on a sustainable change.
Category: The Catholic Family
Motherhood Full of Grace
by Cindy Bird
There have been certain times in my life when I felt uncomfortable about my relationship with Mary. And by Mary I mean the mother of God. I felt that I was supposed to be close with her, as a Catholic, but I just wasn’t sure what that was supposed to look like. When my sister became pregnant […]
The Christmas Metamorphosis
by Jake Frost
I’m like a Christmas caterpillar. During the holidays, I put on a fuzzy sweater and eat my way through the season. By the Epiphany, the sweater is a little snug. But that’s ok. I think of it as just a phase in my evolving yuletide metamorphosis, as I pass through different stages of development on […]
A Mother Expecting: Parallel to Advent
by Denise Bossert
My due date was the 26th of December, but by Christmas Eve 1985, I was ready to be done with it. I stretched out on the bed and reluctantly prepared for another night of leg cramps and propped pillows. The Christmas presents were wrapped and ready. The Christmas cookies decorated. The overnight hospital bag was […]
Long Lines and Other Christmas Hardships: Gifts from Above?
by Michele Marie
On a recent Saturday I went to the grocery store and took a number at the deli. They were on number 49. My number was 62. It was quite a crowd. Some people came in pairs, browsing in front of the glass displays as they waited for their turn, making it hard for me to […]
Raising the Bar in Every Area of Life
by Trent Beattie
As a two-time NCAA Division I All-American and National Champion high jumper, Bill Thierfelder had long been accustomed to raising the bar in a literal sense. Now, he does so in a metaphorical way by promoting excellence and virtue in every aspect of life. In fact, each light post at Belmont Abbey College is adorned with a […]
The Wise Virgin
by Genevieve Kineke
Who is she that comes forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array? (Song of Solomon 6:10) Does that Scripture really refer to the sweet mother in our crèche? The adoring mother, demurely gazing at the Babe, surrounded by inquisitive shepherds and under […]
Spice Up Your Advent with “Driveway Dating”
by Christi
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 […]
Judge’s Ruling Puts Polygamy on the Way to Legal Recognition
by Ben Johnson
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, […]
When I Will Concern Myself with the Roman Curia
by Mary Kochan
Who’s in? Who’s out? Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s headed up or headed down? Whose influence is waxing or waning? Ah, Rome. The Eternal City of intrigue. Ah, Vaticanistas. Of making many speculations there is no end. I will concern myself with the goings on of the Roman Curia when: All the dust is gone […]
Treating People Like Objects
by Anthony Buono
Be careful who you leave behind. You just might have turned your back on love and happiness. I figured I would start with the bottom line. Dating should be about beginning your commitment to marriage when a suitable partner comes along. But sadly, dating today seems to be about perpetually waiting for “the right one,” […]
My Son’s Discernment and His Call for Confession
by Marlon De La Torre
The art of daily discernment is a practice and a virtue that many of us tend to forget and at times ignore. By definition the act of discernment from the Latin meaning discernere means one’s ability to distinguish what is happening around them whether positive or negative and to move toward a sound resolution of […]
Twelve Tips for Sharing Advent with Your Kids
by Karee Santos
Since it’s too soon for the Twelve Days of Christmas, here are twelve tips for celebrating Advent instead. These tips include what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, and what you can get away with (I’ll promise never to tell). What to Do this Advent 1. Explore other cultural traditions: Learn how the custom of […]
Filling Soles on St. Nick’s Day
by Jake Frost
by Jake Frost on Dec 06, 2013 in Columnists, Featured, Live in Christ, MyChurchParish.com, Parenting 
Growing up, Saint Nicholas Day meant three things: the fireplace, stocking caps, and the biggest pair of shoes you could find. It started the evening before, when we finished the family rosary. We always ended our rosary with the ‘blowing of the candle.’ Well, actually it wasn’t a candle, it was a little oil lamp […]
This is My Calling, This is My Vocation
by Melanie Jean Juneau
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 […]
Book Review: Yes, God!
by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur
Have you ever looked at a priest or religious and wondered how it was that he or she came to be there – what made that person willing and able to say “yes” to God’s call? Susie Lloyd, author of Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water and Bless Me, Father, For I Have Kids, decided […]
The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning: I Hate NFP, But I Love This Book
by Rebecca Frech
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 […]
How to Be Right All The Time
by Nicole DeMille
Back in my other life, when I was a full time high school English teacher, I had a lot of good stories. Almost daily something funny or tragic would happen because I was working with two highly dramatic and unpredictable groups: teenagers and teachers. Throw in parents paying high property taxes and administrators protecting their […]
Working Mom’s Survival Kit
by Heidi Hess Saxton
Today is my first “normal” day back at work (from my home office) since Chris came home. Now, under ideal circumstances (everyone but me — including the dog — out of the house for an eight-hour stretch, the house clean and crock pot simmering), I enjoy working from home. However, since “ideal circumstances” seldom present themselves […]
Why We Can’t Save Marriage in Five Easy Steps
by Karee Santos
The way to save marriage isn’t by new laws, but new hearts.
ObamaCare’s Marriage Penalty
by Kirsten Anderson
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, […]
Defeating Autism: Joseph at Year Three in Boy Scouting
by Dr. Gerard Nadal
by Dr. Gerard Nadal on Nov 11, 2013 in Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Health & Fitness, Parenting
This is a story about defeating autism, the practical attainment of hope for devastated parents, and a whole new way of approaching a scourge upon our beloved children. Our son, Joseph, happens to be its protagonist; but the joyful hope in this story resides in the certainty that it is a template into which parents […]
Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning: Interviewing Simcha Fisher
by Bonnie Engstrom
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 […]
The Ways of God for Fathers – Foreknowledge
by James Curley
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: God foresees with prudence all future things, good or bad. Before they happen, He knows them and sees the good or evil that will result from them. This would seem pretty difficult to imitate at first glance; after all we can’t predict the future. On the other hand, I recently read […]
