From the time I started my adventure in homeschooling 15 years ago, I have wanted to collect some of the most inspiring words spoken by American leaders since our founding—eloquent and soaring words, rooted in the wisdom of the ages. The...
Family
10 Ways To Love Your Aging Catholic Parents
As a Catholic Family Trust Attorney in California, I see firsthand how families navigate life’s major transitions. For aging parents, their later years can be filled with joy, reflection, and deep faith, but they can also bring changes, challenges, and a longing for...
5 Catholic Mindfulness Techniques To Bring Calm When You’re Anxious
In nearly 15 years of clinical psychology, it’s hard to imagine just how many people have expressed a deep longing to tangibly feel loved by God – to be able to truly rest in His presence. One of the main obstacles to experiencing the kind of peace that emerges...
How To Invite God Into Your Daily Chores
You are having coffee in the morning with a friend, and she asks a question about how to be happy in the everyday events of one’s life. The conversation evolves to looking at the life of a very inspiring woman. Venerable Catherine McAuley founded the Religious Sisters...
How The Church Is Meeting The Needs Of Autistic Catholics
Watching my son arrange dinosaurs during Mass—his way of staying regulated—reminds me how far our Catholic family has come on our autism journey. What once felt impossible has become a chance to witness the Church embracing all her members, including those on the...
The 8 Types Of Men You’ll Find In A Catholic Church On Sundays
The Church is sometimes referred to as the family of God. Like any family, there’s quite a motley array of people within it. It’s important to know your community, so I’ve put together a handy guide of some types of men you can find at Mass in your very own church....
Knowing Your Child’s Temperament Can Help You Become A Better Parent
Do you ever wonder why your children behave differently than you did as a child? Is one of your children well-behaved while another seems extremely difficult? A study of temperaments can help us parent more effectively, especially if we look to the examples of the...
Helping Children Discover God Through The Beauty Of Creation
I was sitting on the soft, green grass at my parents' lake home in rural Minnesota admiring all of creation. The weather was lovely on that bright summer afternoon when my husband of fifteen years walked over to me with the mischievous grin he often wore when he...
“Follow” St.Dominic Savio: How This Saint Inspires Today’s Catholic Teens
Are you looking for ways to awaken your ten-year-old’s faith? Or are you trying to help your 16-year-old granddaughter discern God’s will? Below you’ll find a letter addressed to young people that explores the life of St. Dominic Savio, who died when he was 15, and...
Using Art To Form Our Kids In The Langauge Of The Body
One of the biggest challenges facing Catholic parents today is trying to navigate tricky conversations about everything body-related with our kids. I work in menstrual cycle education– I first started as an NFP teacher about a decade ago, but slowly expanded into...
How I’m Using St. John Bosco’s Teaching With My Toddler… And Why It Works!
Saint John Bosco is well known for his work with disadvantaged youth and his innovative educational methods. In a time when teachers used corporal punishment and public shaming, John Bosco’s methods were seen as hugely controversial. Influenced by his first...
4 Practical Ways To Inspire Your Teen’s Faith Journey
What comes to mind when you think about raising a teenager in today's world? Technology overload? Social media addiction? The constant struggle against anxiety and being overwhelmed? It's easy to focus on the challenges, isn't it? But what if we shifted our...
A Teen Gives Advice To Peers On How To Love God In Today’s World
During our teenage years, our relationship with the Lord begins to change. As children, we typically love Him without caring about the details. We love Him with the love of a child with wonder, often praised in the Gospels. However, when we begin our teenage years, we...
Five Steps To Teaching Kids To Conquer Sin
Sin can be a challenging concept to teach to children, especially in today’s world where sin is not only tolerated but often celebrated. But as Christians, we know that sin is real and it damages our relationship with God. We are in a spiritual battle…good versus...
Practical Tips To Help Catholic Parents Become Faith-building Storytellers
We all know that a great story can be one of the most effective ways to build up a child’s faith and strengthen their relationship with our Lord and His church. Many Catholic authors I know, including myself, strive to tell stories that will echo in your child’s heart...
How Passing On Family Traditions Builds A Wholesome Family
Passing on your family’s traditions and rituals is of immense importance. From the way birthdays and name days are celebrated to the particular foods that are served at great feasts, traditions include all “the ways things are done in our house.” These small things...
10 Ways To Grieve After A Miscarriage
For the Grieving Heart The time following the loss of a baby is numbing and painful as you try to navigate all of the emotions that are flooding your entire being. The grieving process is complex and leaves you wondering when your heart will find healing again, when...
What Does Family Prayer Look Like? A Father Of 16 Shares His Tips
For some reason, family prayer can be difficult. Carving out time in a day and gathering everyone into the same room seems particularly hard. It was hard when my wife Ashley and I had only three kids. It seems perfectly impossible now with sixteen. But even in the...
5 Ways To Make Your Home More “Catholic”
Years ago, I said something to my 11-year-old son which he found to be unsympathetic. His response? “I don’t think that is what a real parent would say to her child.” I have no idea how he came up with his frequent one-liners, but perhaps all 11-year-olds have this...
How To Support Your Priest
How you support your priest depends on how well you know your priest. There are, of course, things priests universally or generally appreciate—like prayers or a mug that says “Don’t make me put you in one of my homilies”—but as lay people, we have a responsibility to...
What Can Catholic Parents Learn About Prayer From Contemplative Nuns?
Occasionally, when I am feeling particularly adventurous, I load up the minivan and bring my five kids (eight and under) to the nearby Benedictine monastery for one of their hours of sung prayer. It is a little monastery, and when we go, we outnumber the nuns...
The Surprising Lessons I Learned About Catholic Teens My First Year Teaching High School
After a career change, I had the privilege of beginning my teaching career this past year at St. John Paul II High School in Avondale, AZ which is run by the Sisters of St. Cecilia, better known as the “Nashville Dominicans.” I was blown away by the fidelity of the...
What Can the Saints Teach Us About Child Loss?
Miscarriage, a word that I never thought would happen to me. It wasn’t really on my radar and I didn’t give it any thought when I found out I was pregnant with our first baby. Yet, it was this very word that defined my first five pregnancies. It is the word that...
10 Things Your Catholic Young Adult Child Needs To Know Before Leaving Home
Our baby is graduating from college this year. Gulp. I’m not sure how we got here so quickly, but like it or not, it’s happening. Actually, I love it. Watching our kids become who they were meant to be has been the greatest honor. They don’t have it all figured out,...
The First Text Message: 5 Ways To Engage Youth With Scripture
I had fifty eyes glaring back at me with exhaustion and boredom. It was my first foray into a Catholic middle school classroom as a guest teacher for religion. I was twenty-one years old, relatively “hip” by preadolescent standards, and one week on the job as a new...