Untangling one of Pope Francis’ public statements often resembles taking a final exam. “How many inaccurate implications can be drawn from Pope Francis’ statement? Explain why they are inaccurate, referencing canon law, Church history, and prevailing cultural trends.” For example, take his recent statement that divorced persons who remarry outside the Church are “by no […]
Learning to pray together as a couple can be difficult, but learning to pray as a family with a small child is even harder. In the first year of our marriage, my wife and I struggled to figure out how to pray together. Though we’ve made some progress, especially since becoming Catholic, we are still […]
“Here we go again,” you might speculate, “another feminist tirade on ‘I am woman hear me roar.’” I’ll be roaring alright, but you might be surprised to find yourself questioning long-held, culturally-infused deceptions. Ladies, it’s time to take a long look at where your life is, and where you once dreamed it might be. One […]
The new movie, I Am Potential, is based on the true story of the Hughes Family whose son was born without eyes and unable to walk. I almost didn’t want to even tell you that, because I had the experience of coming at the story cold, and was hit by the element of surprise at […]
My husband was watching the morning news when footage of 433 hot air balloons in France lit the screen and he pressed pause, beckoning our daughter. “Look, Maria!” he said. They watched the segment together, but Ted wasn’t satisfied with its educational value, so he found an online video of another hot air balloon, kicking […]
Slammed door, yelling, and stomping feet. These are the sounds of the moody teenager, right? Sometimes. But sometimes, they are Mom or Dad. Reprinted with permission from Catholic Sistas. I was taught to control my emotions as a child, but I didn’t have to really practice it until I became a mother. We love our […]
The Obama administration’s placement of LGBT rights at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy has caused backlash against LGBT rights in many parts of the world. But after repeated failures to re-define the family to include homosexuality, something may be about to change at UN headquarters. Obama’s multi-year campaign to discard the Universal Declaration of […]
A March weekend in 2005 has affected my life as profoundly as almost any other event. Not only did my two-day experience improve the quality of my life, it probably saved my life. Numerous times. I gained a true understanding about the invaluable importance of making my spiritual journey with companions. And to think it […]
A monumental development for the pro-family movement came recently in Geneva when the Human Rights Council approved a resolution calling for countries to take concrete steps to protect the family, described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the “natural and fundamental group unit of society.” This is the second such resolution at the […]
In response to the US Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decree on same sex marriage, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued this statement: …It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage…. Mandating marriage redefinition across the country […]
Like many first-born children, I’m a good rules-follower. Unless I suspect danger to my physical or spiritual well-being, I will do what I’m told by people who love me or the people who somehow make or enforce the rules. So I always have been a pretty good “kneeler” in church. By that, I mean that […]
Lisa Duffy, an author and speaker for the CatholicMatch institute, overcame a painful divorce and annulment, remarried in the Church, and has spent the past twenty years ministering to those who have been wounded by divorce. In The Catholic Guide to Dating after Divorce (Ave Maria Press, 2015), Duffy provides authentic Church teaching on divorce, […]
If you are like me, you are in mourning. Not merely for a battle lost, but for the thousands of misguided souls who may be lost due to the Supreme Court’s misguided attempts at fairness. The legalization of same sex marriage is not a sudden event, however. Judging by the reactions on both sides, it […]
Envy, greed, selfishness, harsh words, sibling rivalry, infidelity, illness, tragedy, violence, abuse – the list sounds like much like the headlines on your average nightly news show or the subject of anguished conversations among distraught parents and grandparents lamenting the discord they witness daily in their own families. We listen to the stories, shake our […]
It’s a Hallmark holiday, but Father’s Day can be a chance to reflect a bit on our children and their future. As a father of one son (and soon to be two), I am a member of a shrinking subset in modern America. Increasingly, many people like me aren’t getting married, some aren’t having children […]
There’s nothing like reading a good book before bedtime, especially for kids. Too often, the busyness of life leaves parents feeling that we have not done enough of one thing or another. Reading with our children rectifies much of that that. I found that reading the “Dear God Series” (Liguori Publications) by Patti Maguire Armstrong […]
Everyone loves seeing the babies baptized early Sunday morning. Some squeal with delight while others cry their eyes out as the cold Holy Water runs across their heads. I’m always curious though about who the parents chose as godparents for their child. If physical similarities matter, many seem to have chosen a sibling or two […]
“Was daddy involved with us when we were little?” she asked. “Did he want to spend time with us?” I wondered why she was soliciting these questions although I guessed it had more to do with the fathers of the families that she worked for than her own father. As a young adult woman who […]
In Part 1, we talked about how a person knows he’s transgendered. This is important, because we must ask ourselves if as a society we’re going to accept and accommodate individuals’ subjective realities, as we’re increasingly being asked to do with the transgendered. Reprinted with permission from CatholicSistas.com. Bruce Jenner says he’s a woman named […]
I was 18 when I encountered my first transgender person: Kevin was a sweet young man with a petite frame, high-pitched voice, and feminine mannerisms who hung around the common area of my all-girls’ dorm to avoid harassment and bullying from peers in his all-male dorm across the street. Kevin called himself a “pre-op queen,” […]
Every child has a right to be. Every child has a right to thrive and reach their full potential, whatever that may be. Adults in their world have a responsibility to make sure every opportunity is available to them to reach their potential. But this responsibility falls primarily with their mother and father. It begins at […]
My friend Todd, a landscaper, likes to say, “Stop looking at your neighbor’s yard and fertilize your own.” This is in reference, of course, to those who think the grass is greener everywhere except under their own feet. Couples too often look at their own complicated, messy lives and wrongly presume it’s better with someone […]
Despite the message our culture sends, marriage and parenting aren’t the frightful things they’re often made out to be. The hardships that come in family life are outweighed by true and lasting joy, when we keep the proper perspective – perspective being the key word here. Parenting isn’t easy, but it makes us into the […]
Ave Maria Press recently published two books on chastity. While the books come to the same conclusions, the authors do so from very different viewpoints. The first, Chastity is for Lovers: Single, Happy, and (Still) a Virgin, by Arleen Spenceley, is by a twenty-nine year old woman who is still looking for Mr. Right. She […]
