Imagine this: You stand outside your teen’s bedroom door. You knock a few times and there’s no answer. A few moments pass by and you knock again. All is quiet. You make an executive decision to enter the room. As the door opens, you find your teenager sitting down...
I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day and he asked me where my fourteen-year-old son was at with his discernment of the priesthood. He wanted to know what I was doing to encourage him to be open to this vocation. My initial response was….to cringe. ...
The moment we open our eyes the day after Thanksgiving (and oftentimes even before), we are inundated with reindeer, gingerbread, gifts, elves, and Santa. Though these things are not inherently bad, if we do not keep our Christmas season properly ordered, it is all...
Advent: the season most Catholics would like to honor more appropriately but find it difficult to do so with the commercial Christmas creeping in all around. But when we do celebrate Advent it is totally worth it— both for the value in the season in and of itself, but...
As a sociologist who has taught college classes on the family, and as one who has written extensively on the subject, it is my considered judgment that strong families are not built on luck or happenstance: it takes work. Moreover, the right prescriptions must...
God is calling your child to be a saint. But how? Which vocation will He lead them to? Teaching your children to listen to God’s call in their lives and uncover how He wants them to love and to serve Him in this world is a great gift. There are a few simple things we...
You’re sitting down for your family Thanksgiving meal. All of your brothers and sisters and some aunts and uncles and cousins have gathered together at mom and dad’s house for this annual feast. You’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. But,...
The act of thinking is in a bit of a predicament these days. American culture has never cared less about what has been known for millennia as "objective truth." Despite the apathy, an objective truth still guides and directs reality, whether I or anyone else cares...
I saw struggles with sin unravel before my eyes, I found clarity in my vocation and decided to marry the man I now call my husband. I watched anxieties and worries, wounds, and difficulties dissipate as Our Lady brought me peace and interior quiet I had not known...
Putting my children to bed is my favorite time of the day! I have a 2 year old and 4 year old and life can be so busy and nonstop. Sometimes the end of the day is the only time I have one-on-one quiet time with each child. As a Catholic mom and previous Early...
Sitting around the dinner table, my young son asked me a seemingly simple question, “How can I know that God exists?” He wasn’t asking about prayer or the Bible, but about logic. Why does our belief in God make sense? This was one of those rare parenting instances...
In a world that demands grit and guts, men are called upon to lead, not just in their workplaces but also within their homes. It's a journey laden with challenges and triumphs. Qualities like integrity, communication, and adaptability are more than soft skills....
I couldn't help but notice that there wasn't much secular news coverage of this year's World Youth Day celebration in Lisbon. Maybe it's because the media couldn't twist Pope Francis' words out of context as easily as they usually do with our Holy Father? Throughout...
You might say that I’m a groupie. Beginning when I was sixteen, I attended four World Youth Days: Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), and Toronto (2002). My experience, along with millions of other young people, was transformative. The impact is still felt in...
What is World Youth Day? The first World Youth Day was celebrated in 1984 when Pope St. John Paul II created a gathering on Palm Sunday in Rome to celebrate the Youth Jubilee of the Holy Year of Redemption. It was expected that sixty thousand people would attend, but...
When I was posed this question, I didn’t understand it at first. Not because I didn’t know what gentle parenting was. Before my baby was even old enough to have a tantrum, I had over-read and over-researched and exhausted myself reading the least scary parenting...
An Example of Misguided Therapy The Case of the Pillow-Thrasher At the end of his rope, and feeling entirely frustrated with himself, an ill-tempered man steps into a therapy office in search of hope and healing. A well-meaning but frighteningly misguided therapist...
My mom Rosie, may she rest in peace, worked well into her 90’s. It certainly is impressive, isn’t it? Yes indeed. Almost until the day she died, mom was working as a full-time travel agent, for guilt trips that is. These comments, which...
There was once a young man named Anthony who lived with his sister in a village called Coma in Egypt. The hills around the village were dry and brown against the pale blue sky. However, inside the village was lush and green. Palm trees dotted the horizon and water...
Something special is going on in our country right now. I love it! The entire United States is in the midst of a three-year Eucharistic Revival. Think of the long-term impact! What a beautiful time in our Catholic Church for all its members – the oldest all the way to...
Summer is coming on fast and that means more time with your kids, more time outside, more family time…basically more time! More time together is great in theory, but when we come to it without planning, we can find ourselves sitting around watching a show or listening...
As the school year winds down, Catholic school teachers – heroic leaders that they are – are already planning to make next year even better. Novice teachers have realized how much they themselves have yet to learn, and are looking for new tools and techniques....
When I was growing up, there were no "altar servers," only altar boys. Having been raised in a Catholic religious household, my three older brothers all served as altar boys. When they attended Mass and the priest walked out with no altar boy, one or two of my...
As Mother’s Day approaches, if you have a house full of kids, like I did ten years ago, you may be trying to keep expectations low. You doubt as to whether your loved ones will show you appreciation in any significant way on this day traditionally devoted to honoring...
What use is art? Does it have a value? Is it merely an “add-on”, a luxury item for enthusiasts? These are questions that I often ask myself, especially in our modern society where the monetization of nearly every aspect of existence threatens to squeeze out some...