Our family likes to celebrate life’s events with poetry, so when we came home from our newborn daughter’s baptism, our older children each recited a poem on either baptism or new babies. I was pleased to learn that my 8-year-old chose to memorize “Tied Down” by Edgar A. Guest, a favorite poem of mine, and one […]
Living as we are in a period that exalts individual desires, especially regarding sexuality, many persons who consider themselves Catholics believe that they have a right to contract marriage in the Church in accordance with their own opinions on marriage. But really that is not the case. Baptized Catholics have the right to celebrate marriage […]
Summer is a rough time to experience a breakup because it’s the sunny season of barbecues and socializing. Chapter Eleven of my book is Coping with Disappointment and Betrayal. Most people who date have their heart smashed once or twice. It’s not pleasant! Here are a few quick tips that should help you weather the […]
[This document was prepared on behalf of a group of Catholic parents to address issues locally that may also be going on elsewhere in the country. It is published here as a resource for parents who may find it useful.] Mary and Marian Devotions in the Catholic School Parental Concerns and Suggested Remedies This report […]
Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain […]
Any man who will spend a Saturday afternoon on his hands and knees, digging around the shelves of a musty, chock-full thrift shop is a hero. At least he’s my hero. In fact, I think it might make him a canonizable saint. A few weeks ago, I begged my husband to accompany me to “The […]
[Dr. Morse’s Commencement Speech to Providence Academy High School, Delivered June 3, 2011 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.] Faculty and Students of Providence Academy; Class of 2011; parents, friends and benefactors: this is a wonderful and memorable day. For many of you, graduating from high school was always a foregone conclusion. So maybe you feel this day […]
In May, a Toronto couple made international news when they revealed what they’re not revealing: the gender of their baby, Storm. Parents Kathy Witterick and David Stocker claim they want their baby to grow up free of the constraints gender identification implies. That way, despite the fact that the child is anatomically well-defined, Storm can […]
“[S]ome things must be said, and there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice” Ayan Hirsi. In her best-selling autobiography, Infidel, Somali-born writer, politician, and activist Ayan Hirsi catalogs a lifetime of grievances against the Muslim culture and religion. Throughout the book, Hirsi laments the West’s reticence to deal honestly with the egregious […]
Whenever there is another story on the news involving a woman who has killed her child, I do everything I can not to listen or I change the channel. If I do learn any details (which seems to happen inevitably since every few months there is another incident and the media loves to give us […]
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it […]
When I get invited to speak at women’s events, by far the most popular topic is my “Embracing the Matriarch Within” presentation. This is due, in no small part, to the fact that the topic literally animates me while I speak. In fact, if someone were to tie my hands together and mark an “X” […]
Before my husband and I married, I was blessed with the opportunity to live in Austin and work for a leading pro-life lobbying organization. Ironically, one of the biggest benefits of my work was the exposure to the talking points of the abortion-rights camp. You see, I very quickly realized that in order to sustain […]
[This report was prepared on behalf of a group of Catholic parents to address issues locally that may also be going on elsewhere in the country. It is published here as a resource for parents who may find it useful.] The Role of the Eucharist and the Mass in the Catholic School: Parental Concerns and […]
Dogs are often given the title “man’s best friend.” I get that. However, a new title has surfaced which turns one’s dog from friend to family. These days people address their dogs as “baby.” Last December, I received a Christmas card in the mail with someone’s dog in the spotlight posing as Santa. Cute? Sure… […]
For years, I have arduously avoided the one topic that most certainly will incite a reader riot. However, I find I can stay silent no longer. The issue? Spanking. As hard as I am trying to fulfill a promise made to myself made years ago while sitting in front of a blank computer screen fighting […]
Father’s Day is a day for honoring fathers. But I would like to take a step back and honor men as husbands. In our enlightened, liberated era, we have a tendency to overlook men as husbands, since the father is so often not the husband of the mother. But without some kind of connection between […]
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. “The lamp of the body is […]
Have you ever heard the saying “You can’t give what you don’t have?” It makes sense doesn’t it? I can’t give you a dollar if I don’t have a dollar right? But in terms of affection, love and relationships it makes even more sense. If your father was not affectionate, you may have trouble showing […]
Did you ever look at your husband and wonder just what you did in your life to deserve such a man? Does that scene in The Sound of Music, where the Captain and Maria declare their love for one another finally make sense to you? (“I must have done something good….”). There are so many […]
If you have access to the April 29 issue of The New Republic, take a look at a long review of several new books on abortion. The work of Christine Stansell, a professor of history at the University of Chicago and herself author of a history of feminism, it’s worth reading on several counts. Full […]
Ten Ways to Chaste Dating for the over-21 Crowd and for those who live Outside the Home Please note that teenagers should never “date” without supervision. Alas, there is little one can do for college students who live in co-ed dorms except follow the below rules to the best of their ability. May St. Joseph […]
It’s always painful to read a book that makes you feel like you have failed/are failing in every way that truly matters. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it. I felt that way after reading School of the Family by Chantal R. Howard. Howard has had an eventful life. Although still only in her twenties, […]
My wife and I were at the home of another married couple for dinner. While a roast finished cooking, we sat around the table talking and eating salad. When the oven timer rang, the wife turned to her husband and said, “That’s a corn job.” The husband got up and went to the kitchen. He […]
