As the older generation of my family reaches their twilight years, and begin to moving higher up the mountain toward their final destination, some find themselves in the enviable position of, having nothing to lose, voicing ideas and dreams they never before allowed themselves to utter. As I listen to them speak, I am reminded of an old friend who died two years ago. The last time I saw Charlie Shedd, a friend and I were visiting with him in his home in Athens, Georgia, rocking on the back porch where he had built a swing for his first (some would say one true) love, […]

The last few posts have been particularly heavy, so I’d like to turn to something a little lighter. A CatholicExchange.com reader recently criticized the fact that I refer to my border collie, Missy, as one of my “children.” She writes, “I realize the author knows the difference between owning a dog and loving a child… It just bothers me.” Of course she is right to suppose that I know the difference between owning a dog and raising a human child. His Holiness the late, great John Paul II urged pet owners not to ascribe to pets the treatment and dignity due only to other people. […]

Recently I came across a post from a woman who is contemplating divorce. She writes: I have struggled with depression, anxiety and stress-related problems since I was a teenager. I was abused as a child by my father (including the most intimate kind of abuse between father and daughter). My mother left when I was little and my stepmom was abusive physically, verbally, emotionally and intimately as well. For the last year I have been in therapy on and off. I’ve been learning to set boundaries and learning that I am indeed a person with worth, a person that God created, loves and considers precious. […]

Today CatholicExchange.com ran George Weigel’s article “An Opportunity Missed” (http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=1&art_id=32976), criticizing the president of Notre Dame University, Father Jenkins, for allowing a production of “The Vagina Monologues” to run on campus. While I rarely find myself on the opposite side of the ideological fence with Mr. Weigel, in this case I would suggest that, while I agree it was not a good idea to sponsor this production with university resources, there could be legitimate reasons for the “creative contextualization” of the work in another context. For me, the issues to be considered: Could this work be a useful teaching tool, and is the intended audience […]

Have you ever noticed that even something done for a good and holy reason can have unintended consequences? Last year I began to cover my hair before going into Mass. The whole thing started as an experiment: I remember discussing my advisor the reasons Catholic women had suddenly stopped covering, after having done so for more than two thousand years. Why, given the teaching of the Apostle Paul, did Catholic women no cover their “glory”? He was, as usual, unfailingly kind and patient. “If you were to cover your hair at Mass,” he observed, “It could be a sign of humility, and a good thing.” […]

When I was a kid, we learned dozens of little Sunday school ditties that ran through our heads wherever we went, keeping us on the proverbial straight-and-narrow. One of the most popular went like this: Oh, be careful little mouth what you say (repeat)For the Father up aboveIs looking down in love.So, be careful little mouth what you say!The song popped into my head again yesterday at the park, when the kids and I took their “Grammy” for a walk around the park while Dad and “Poppi” were gamely battling the wind and drizzle in an attempt to light the grill under the picnic pavilion. […]

It was just a year ago that our beloved John Paul the Great (I said it, so there!) crossed the earthly finish line and bounded toward the gates of heaven. A year later, it still hurts a little. My kids never got to meet the Holy Father, but if you show them his picture, they will tell you without hesitation that he is “The Holy Father in heaven.” One of the most challenging aspects of parenting, I’ve found, is knowing when to jump on a particular teachable moment. The only true “Father in Heaven,” of course, is the first Person of the Blessed Trinity, Who […]

Today my friend “Sue,” also an adoptive foster parent, told me of a harrowing tale involving her children’s older brother. Considering all he’s been through, “Kevin” is not a bad kid. Certainly he doesn’t deserve what life has dished out to him – losing not only his birth parents but also his four siblings, who have been adopted by two families. For their safety, Kevin cannot be placed with his brothers and sisters, so at the tender age of ten he is living in a group home with children considerably older than himself. Each time Sue sees him, she says, Kevin is a little more […]

As a young girl, I was taught that there are certain places good Christian girls do not belong: sitting with a boyfriend in the backseat of a Firebird, frequenting movie theaters or karaoke bars, or venturing within fifty miles of Hollywood or Las Vegas, cities so inherently sinful that God must one day destroy them in a torrent of hellfire, or dig up both Sodom and Gomorrah to apologize. Yet there I was, well within the L.A. “strike zone,” wandering the streets and wondering just how I had gone so far off track. I had spent most of my life in one Christian church or […]