As Catholic Schools Week approaches in our diocese, I find myself reflecting on how we ended up choosing Catholic school for our children. Reprinted with permission from CatholicSistas.com Catholic school was not really on our radar when we started our family. My husband and I both grew up going to large public schools and did […]
There is a prevalence of inordinate fear and anxiety in Western culture today. Yet, we are called not to live a fear-driven life, but rather a life of deeply rooted faith and trust in our loving, all powerful, caring Father in heaven. Yes, He is your Father. We all innately desire safety and security. But, […]
Making date night work without too much work One way of being a better parent and spouse is making and keeping “date night.” Contrary to popular belief, this need not be (a) extravagant, (b) expensive, (c) so regular that it becomes boring (you can only do “dinner and a movie” so often), nor (d) require […]
Milk and toothpaste. That’s all that was left on my shopping list as I maneuvered myself, two shopping carts (one of the race car variety) and my five youngest sons toward the back of our local supermarket. The oldest boy was big enough to push a cart, only occasionally racing down an aisle or bumping […]
“Who has helped you the most in your fathering?” We asked that very question to thousands of men as part of our research. Some answered, “My father” or “My pastor.” But the most popular answer by far was, “My wife.” And when we asked, “Who helps you overcome struggles in your fathering?” the number one […]
We were having oatmeal for breakfast, and the one-year-old handed me his spoon and said: “Feed!” He likes it when I feed him sometimes (as in: as often as I’ll agree to). The morning in question he was just too cute to turn down, so I took the offered spoon and started feeding him. He […]
Dear Anthony, I’m getting married soon and I wanted to find out exactly how NFP works, since that’s what the Church recommends. I have saved myself for my husband and remained pure. I want to enjoy sex without the worries of getting pregnant right away. I want my husband to enjoy sex too, so NFP […]
Society is schizophrenic on fatherhood. Studies show that by every conceivable measure, children are better off with fathers. Yet the entertainment world often portrays them as bumbling or non-essential. The feminist movement has furthered that notion because at least for some take-charge kind of women, men just get in the way anyways. But it isn’t […]
Cultural support for fatherhood has collapsed in the past 50 years, and there are few signs of a renewal. In light of this, how can fathers summon the courage to fulfill their mission? Their mission is two-fold: to love their wives and commit to providing for the total welfare of their child. Each of these […]
On a hot summer day the kids and I were headed to the grocery store. Our house doesn’t have air conditioning and it gets hot—the thermometer in the living room read 85 yesterday—at 9 PM!—so when we’re in the car we try to make up for it. We had the air conditioner cranked up as […]
It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.—Pope St. John XXIII I often feel completely lost and befuddled as a Catholic father in today’s world. How do I set the right example? How do I help my sons grow up with a strong Catholic faith? How […]
Just in time for Mother’s Day comes a genuinely fun and funny film about the crazy adventure that is parenting, specifically motherhood (with a serving of fatherhood on the side). If you’ve seen the snappy trailer, the movie does deliver on its promise, and there’s lots more LOLs where that came from. But…. Dear Southern […]
It’s a troubling fact today that many Catholic children don’t know the basics of the faith. Many come to religious instruction in parishes without knowing how to make the Sign of the Cross or recite the Our Father or Hail Mary. Teaching children growing up in a secularized world, catechists and teachers can’t assume that […]
A few days before Easter our clan would gather around the dining room table, cover it with newspapers, and get dirty. Or rather: colorful. Lots of little fingers got stained purple, pink and green while dipping hard boiled eggs into cups of die. The more artistically inclined among us would draw crayon designs on their […]
Dawn Eden is the author of My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints and the 2006 best-seller The Thrill of the Chaste. A victim of childhood sexual abuse, the Catholic convert tells of how getting to know saints who suffered abuse of various kinds has helped in her […]
As Catholic parents we all want to see our children grow in the Faith, overcome their temptations, and ever approach sanctity, but when John and Jane are screaming at each other over who is going to get the stuffed monkey, we might wonder how they are going get there. Rather than telling them to share, […]
Electronic devices are everywhere. We know about the negative effects of too much TV, but now kids are watching videos in the car and accessing games and social media on computers and mobile devices. There was a time when kids would snuggle up with a good book to read or have their parents read to […]
The case of the Pennsylvania woman who claims to have murdered at least 22 people makes me sad. Perhaps it should make me angry, but primarily it makes me sad. And worried for other such children who become prisoners of the occult. Miranda Barbour, 19, has been charged with the November 11, 2013 fatal stabbing of 42-year-old […]
When we mothers see our children suffering, the slip off the cliffs of despair can be easy. When Pope Francis tells us, “Let us never lose trust in the patience and mercy of God” (April 7, 2013), the trust doesn’t exactly overflow. Mercy would be nice, Lord; how about a cure please. But we are commanded […]
Why should your family have sacred rules and what should they be? Those are the questions Tim and Sue Muldoon set out to answer in Six Sacred Rules for Families: A Spirituality for the Home (Ave Maria Press, 2013). As the Muldoons state, “Rules keep everyone on the same page; rules help us plan for […]
Modernity isn’t sure whether children are a burden or a blessing. The percentage of childless couples in the U.S. has nearly doubled since 1980. The cover of Time magazine recently bragged that increasing numbers of couples are remaining childless by choice, because they subscribe to the philosophy that having it all means not having children. Let’s face […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
