I wish I could say that I said prayers with my children every morning, prayed the rosary with them every day, and remembered nightly prayers at bedtime. I know I should have this routine, but time passes and before I know it each day, breakfast is served and cleared (okay, well not always cleared) school […]
Many people carry the painful wound of a divorced heart. The pain can be hard to understand for those of us who have never been through a divorce. It is a wonder to me that you can pray for your future spouse, sacrifice for them and get counsel to help you discover if this person […]
When Rick Santorum’s article “Two Years Worth Every Tear” was included in my book, “A Special Mother is Born,” my favorite line was “Living with Bella (his daughter with trisomy 18) has been a course in character and virtue”. Each of the thirty-four stories written by parents of special needs children contains a lesson which […]
When God Makes Bread To make bread one needs: • A mixing bowl • The ingredients • A mixing spoon • And finally fire (heat) The bowl must be appropriate for the bread. It must be strong enough to hold the mixture, Not too large, not too dainty. Comfortable enough to cradle in the arm. […]
Editor’s Note: This article was written for a secular audience and therefore does not approach this issue from a moral standpoint – that premarital sex is wrong. Still, it offers some good ideas for talking with your teens about sex. Whether your teenager’s health classes at school take an abstinence-only approach to sexual education or […]
If you’re concerned that the lyrics being piped into your children’s headphones are inappropriate — or even dangerous — you’re right. To: Marybeth From: A Sing-along mom What’s up with obscene and violent lyrics in pop music? Our kids have mentioned songs that their friends are downloading, and when we do a lyric check to […]
Self esteem. A modern essential. Self esteem was a term invented by Sigmund Freud. The concept has taken wings since then, enhancing other modern philosophies. In the modern world, ever increasing affirmation of self esteem is key through political correctness (not offending anyone), relativism (everyone is right in whatever they think) as well as in […]
Pope Francis’ General Audience for Wednesday, April 3, 2013 Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today we turn to the Catechism of the Year of Faith. In the Creed we repeat this phrase: “He rose again on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures”. This is the very event that we are celebrating: the Resurrection of […]
The following are actual questions from real women who have concerns about their boyfriends and other women. My boyfriend works in an office with some really beautiful women. I can’t imagine why he hasn’t fallen for one of them. I don’t know how much longer I can stand it. He knows I’m uncomfortable with it […]
A reflection on the deepening darkness that celebrates homosexual unions and activity. There is, among faithful Catholics, a dismay, and even an understandable anger at the events unfolding at the Supreme Court these past days related to gay unions. And even if the court were to uphold traditional marriage (which does not seem likely), or […]
In every person’s life, there should be a person who, as C.S. Lewis says, “hears the song in your heart and can sing it back to you.” Through this devoted love, one overcomes fears, hurts and selfishness, and the soul expands. For the Lovely family in Sherry Boas’ fictional Lily series, this person is the […]
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 […]
“O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you….” My baby’s heart stopped beating and I don’t know when. All I know is that on Friday it was fluttering and six days later it was still. One moment: Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Then: Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…….. My mother’s heart heard […]
The legislative impact of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) came under heavy fire during oral arguments before the Supreme Court yesterday, with enough justices questioning its effect to signal it may be struck down on states’ rights grounds. Meanwhile, the court’s conservative wing wondered if the “new regime” had instituted a “new world” […]
Last year, I helped teach high school students at my parish’s faith formation program in St. Ignace, Michigan. We took the students to exposition, and afterward, one of them asked me how to tell when she is hearing God’s voice. This is an edited version of the letter I wrote her. Dear M., I’m glad […]
ANALYSIS/OPINION: In this week’s email, a question comes from parents who don’t want their fourth grader to take the school district’s sex ed class: From: Too Sexy for 4th Grade To: Marybeth In our school district, sex education classes are presented to children starting in fourth grade. My husband and I don’t want our children learning about […]
For people of faith in America, the Obama administration’s birth control mandate represents an unprecedented assault on religious conscience. It seems that the President and his surrogates have little appreciation for the role that faith plays in the lives of many Americans, and even less respect for the Constitution’s protection of religious liberty. As if […]
I would be remiss not make mention on this website dedicated to fatherhood that habemus papam — we have a papa – and indeed, what a remarkable papa Francis is turning out to be! Even from the outset, our new Holy Father has offered many examples of fatherly love, wisdom, and practical judgment at work. […]
Grocery Night Thursday night was grocery shopping night and the best night of the week. Right after dinner, my father and I would board our 1972 Plymouth Fury station wagon and head to the Del Farm grocery store. It was located in a small plaza one mile from our suburban home. Like all grocery stores […]
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 […]
Last month, my knight and I were blessed to celebrate 20 years of marriage. Call me crazy, call me just a hopeless romantic, but I LOVE my husband! Yes, I refer to him as my knight because he is just that amazing in the way he treats me: holding doors for me, getting the car […]
Stephanie Wincik is a registered nurse who doesn’t consider herself pro-life, or subscribe to any particular religious belief, yet after 25 years of working with the medically fragile disabled patients, she stumbled upon an article which galvanized her into writing a pro-life book, Making the Case for Life, which has in its enhanced second edition, […]
As the mother of two lively boys, athletic boys, theater-loving boys, exploring boys, immersed-in-everything boys, I am forever seeking. Forever balancing. Forever juggling. Forever discerning. Activity versus stillness. Sound versus silence. Society versus solitude. I still, now for fleeting moments, still, have a measure of control over the feeling, the tenor, the rhythm of my […]
This is a reflection I wrote after viewing Spiritual Growth in Tough Times which centers around the healing process. Sister Joyce Rupp discusses the process of healing with the analogy of the seasons. We all want to live in the spring and summers of our lives but we have to live through the difficulties of […]
