Back in high school, I took part in every spring musical. Senior year, we performed “Little Mary Sunshine,” a play so obscure, there are only trace samplings on the internet. One of the songs I can’t find, includes the refrain; “Nothing that concerns you has happened. *Echoing chorus sings, “Has happened…” and again, “Nothing that concerns you has taken place!” Right now, waiting for a surgeon and a team to take ownership of me as a patient, feels like singing... Read more
Dear Nation, It’s July 4th, 2021. We’re a tired people who have so much more to our history than we learned in high school. Our nation needs all of us to rediscover that being a people takes work. We must celebrate both the ideals that made our country what it is to the world, and work to make it more like the ideal everyone hopes it is. Being a patriot of this country does not mean ignoring flaws, faults, sins... Read more
Today, the words that fell on my heart, were we are more than the sum of our faults. The devil would have us believe we are only as good as our accomplishments, and likewise, only the sum of those, all of which are invalidated by our sins, by our flaws, by our failures. Working with my own students, I’ve found that all of them have become dimmer versions of themselves. We’ve all lost some of our salt or... Read more
Today, we took our kids swimming. I’ve ordered a pool pass for countless summers. We’re part of why the local municipality rewrote its policy to define family…because having a family of eight to ten to twelve get into the summer fun for the same price as a family of four seemed unfair. However, many of the pool sites look similar and I accidentally signed up for a pool system for the summer that is much better than we’ve had up... Read more
In this modern age, where relativism is deeper than the air we breathe, the desire to hold onto Truth has devolved into holding onto taste. Arguments are fierce online and in real life about our faith and threaten to turn the Church into a church. The devil loves these sort of internal Catholic feuds, because they pit us against ourselves and erode the witness of being Catholic to a flavoring rather than a faith. The disputes run across the spectrum:... Read more
Every year we sit and make a list of things we hope to do over the course of June, July and August. It’s a tradition that helps us ensure we carpe diem even as we allow summer to pour over us like syrup. Not all goals are everyone’s goals. Right now, five are making a pilgrimage to the local ice cream store. Five others took the day to shop. Dinner conversations have centered on the flaws in the canon of... Read more
I wrote this reflection shortly after discovering I have cancer. We are still in the data collection component of forming a plan to deal with this disease, but I also know, it’s easier to be brave before we start. I will be wrestling with the reality of this reflection for weeks to come. I’ve made my three goals for this summer: 1) beat cancer out of me. 2) edit my book until it’s finished. 3) enjoy all the summer I... Read more
“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.” –Saint Augustine We live in an age when credibility of witness is difficult to establish. We worry about sources, we worry about the thinking behind any position established, we worry. Additionally, with access to the internet, anyone can claim to be an expert, which makes expert testimony that has been vetted, all the more necessary. If the blood of... Read more
IT’S SHOUTY THURSDAY… WHY? BECAUSE YOU’LL READ THIS AND IT’S CATHARTIC TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS! YOU GET TO USE EXCLAMATION POINTS LIKE SALT ON POPCORN! IT’S STUPID AND AT THE SAME TIME, ALMOST FORBIDDEN IN MODERN BLOGGING BECAUSE IT STARTS TO FEEL LIKE A DRUM SOLO THAT GOES ON TOO LONG!!! I’ve been blogging since March. Not sure I’ve made enough of an impact. I never used to worry about it when it was just dance 10 looks 3... Read more
For years, I ran a column, Small Success Thursday. It helped me cultivate daily gratitude because I’d collect good things that happened in the past week for next week’s piece. Daniel Bean gifted me the column from the defunct Faity& Family Blog –back when there were blogs everywhere, and I handed it over to Catholicmom.com when I stepped down. It’s still going on Instagram but I don’t get (as in understand) Instagram. In an effort not to compete, but to... Read more
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