A group of young girls I know of is knitting and crocheting crafts, scarves and sweaters to sell in order to fund high school students who are planning missionary work in South America.  Their group is called “Crafts for…

When parents pull their children from public schools, in order to homeschool them, they are sending a message to authorities.  The message is this:  “Our family is so unhappy with the job you are doing with our child (our most…

Parents are responsible for the spiritual, emotional, physical and social growth of children.  It is the responsibility and right of parents to educate their children, most especially in the faith.  This right to educate our children is a God-given, intrinsic…

The older I get the more aware I become of the blessings I have failed to count.  One of these blessings is having been raised in a time when the name you gave to something had a certain degree of…

Her eyes open before the alarm clock sounds. Green fluorescent numbers shout through the darkness of night that it is 4:30 a.m. Sounds of pelting rain on the roof fill the room. The house is cool but it is…

Father had launched into a holy rant. Mid-way through his homily, he startled us so we bolted upright in the pews. “You parents,” he said, as if by rattling our brains he could jump-start our consciences, “do not know evil…

“A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to… receive the Body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession…” (Canon Law 916)

A lot of Canon law defies my comprehension; it dizzies my head and makes me put…

“A recent craze associated with so-called active participation promotes the idea that there must be dance at a solemn Mass,” writes Francis Cardinal Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, in his book Celebrating…

Trixie was the quintessential gerbil.  She acted like a mouse in a Cinderella story book.  “Don’t stick your fingers near the air holes of the box” the pet store manager cautioned our daughter after we purchased Trixie for her.  “She…

There’s a little gift from the Lord for each of us.  So many of us have taken this particular gift, kept it neatly wrapped and stuck it high up on a shelf.  We don’t want to even peek inside and…