This morning was, in pop-culture parlance, an epic fail. It’s hailing, sleeting and snowing here. Ice is everywhere. The boys have a snow-cancellation day. My school district is nearly 50 miles from our home. When my husband checked the district website at 5:30 a.m., my school district had a two-hour delay. I grabbed an extra hour of sleep, then headed outside to chip the ice off the windshield and windows our minivan. I headed north, anxious about arriving on time... Read more

Notes from Communion and Liberation’s New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend, essentially a spiritual retreat, to treat us to a free rockin’ concert in the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, where hours earlier hundreds of us had celebrated Mass. Did not expect to see young priests and religious college students breaking out into spontaneous line dances and grooving to bluegrass with Henrique Prince of the Ebony Hillbillies... Read more

Notes from the Communion and Liberation New York Encounter 2011 This morning I went to Mass. That’s a typical Sunday morning for me. But this time, I was surrounded by at least 1,000 other worshipers. The Mass was held in a large theater – the Manhattan Center on West 34th Street – and was celebrated by 15 priests, including H. E. Msgr. Fernando Chomali (at left) Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago, Chile. The Mass was impressive, but what moved me nearly to... Read more

Notes from the Communion and Liberation New York Encounter 2011: Often, when I attend Mass at my tiny suburban parish, I feel as if the Catholic Church is dying. Sometimes, if I go with our 11-year-old, he and I are the youngest people in a church of mostly empty pews. My husband and I face the challenge of raising our children in the faith when most of our neighbors do not attend any houses of worship and their children, unsurprisingly, are avowed... Read more

—Feast of St. Macarius the Great  A little while ago, I shared a few of the Catholic ideas that have been consistent since Our Lord’s Advent and yet are paradoxical. Today, when you have a spare half-hour, have a listen to Archbishop Fulton Sheen in the audio clip below. Don’t let the title fool you though, because this talk is about freedom.Sure it was recorded back when the Cold War was getting warm, and Communism was the scare of the... Read more

Back when I was newspapering, we would have called this kind of posting an advance. I am writing to tell you about something happening right now, and through Monday in New York City: The New York Encounter 2011. I am writing this from the comfort of my century-old suburban home but expect to hop a train to the city in the morning to participate in this free, four-day cultural festival sponsored by Communion and Liberation. If you live in the... Read more

Today, being a school-cancellation day, I had the opportunity to attend Mass with two dear friends. We drove to the Catholic Student Center at Rutgers University, where Father Jeff Calia, C.O. was celebrating. He told the worshippers he hadn’t expected nearly 10 people to attend Mass today, given the weather. Consequently, he spoke to us extemporaneously about today’s readings. He reminded us that now that we are in Ordinary Time, we are learning the implications of Christ’s birth and His... Read more