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Why We March…
My mother is one of the founders of the March for Life — in fact, she was pregnant with me during that first March — and the story of how it all came about is an interesting one. A few years prior to the March, my mother found herself in a convent in the South. Though the “nun” thing didn’t work out, this time did help her to gain insight into the plight of the African-American living in the South at the time. Having a heart for what they were suffering, she decided that she was going to help black men and women register and exercise their right to vote. She marched with Martin Luther King,…
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The Cry Room: A Parents’ Guide to Survival
Okay, we’ve all been there — we’ve all been in the cry room. That awful, horrid place were children and parents are left to live sad, lonely lives — spurned by the families with well-behaved children. That room where all your hopes and dreams have been dashed to pieces amidst the cheerios, that awful diaper smell, and the other equally pathetic parents who find themselves there. That room where you are will ultimately find yourself asking questions like, “What is wrong with me?” “Why can’t I get it together?” or “Where did I go wrong? ” Well I’m here to tell you that you are just fine — in fact, you are more than…
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Blue Monday — We Got This!
Blue Monday is a name given to the day in January (typically the third Monday of the month) reported to be the most depressing day of the year for those in the Northern Hemisphere. So, according to my calculations, today promises to be the most depressing day of the year for most of the people reading this post — yay for us — not really. 🙁 You know, the Church foresaw Blue Monday way before Wikipedia made it a thing — it’s called Ordinary Time — and coming off of the highs of the Christmas Season can be hard for all of us. The parties are over, family has returned to their…
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Readjusting to Ordinary Time :(
Welcome back to ordinary time. 🙁 I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to get back into ordinary time. I mean, couldn’t the Church have come up with a better name than “Ordinary“? Ordinary time just sounds so — well, ordinary. And who likes ordinary? No, we want a life of adventure and excitement — so why does the Church have to bring us down with all of it’s talk of ordinary time? I’ll tell you why — because life can’t always be one high after the next — it has highs and lows and there is a natural ebb and flow to life and maybe the Church knows better than…
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Pax Et Bonum, Fr. Mike
No doubt, some of you have heard that Fr. Mike Scanlan died this past week. He spent 85 years doing good on this earth, and after an extended illness, he went to be with his Lord. Though my head is currently swimming with memories of this amazing man, I can’t let this week pass by without a few words — though greatly inadequate — about the man who made me want to be a Saint. He was one of the greatest influences of my late teens and early twenties — and I like to believe that those encounters have made me a better person and still remain with me to this day. I know I’m not alone…
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And…It’s a Wrap!
Happy Epiphany! (technically, it’s been moved to Sunday in the US — but for the rest of the world –Happy Epiphany!) How was your Christmas? Mine was just what it was supposed to be — sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, sometimes chaotic, sometimes peaceful — and I wouldn’t change one second of it. I know we’re still in the Christmas Season, but we’re slowly coming to the end, and all of us are beginning to look forward to a little more normalcy in our lives. Even last night, I returned home from a gathering with friends after midnight — and my baby was still up! So, though I love this time of year and…
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Small World, Big Dysfunctional Family
No doubt you’ve heard it said before, “Oh they’re a dysfunctional family”, and maybe you’re convinced that your own family is dysfunctional — you might even go so far as to think that you’re the only sane one in a big ol’ bag of nuts? If you’re the latter, I want to be at one of your family gatherings — crazy people are the best! However, I regret to inform you that you’re probably nuts yourself and just don’t know it yet 🙁 But you know what I have found myself pondering as of late — why do we expect any family to be anything but “dysfunctional”? I mean, we’re not…
