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Attending the World Gathering of Families and Papal Infallibility
I am Catholic — like really, really Catholic. I’m also Irish — well, technically Irish-American — but that’s practically the same thing in my book. Which is why, when my niece happened to ask us if we were going to attend the World Gathering of Families in Dublin, it set us on a trajectory which we hadn’t anticipated. All of a sudden, we found ourselves booking flights and cars and Airbnb’s and 8 months later, we were in the middle of Dublin, alongside a sea of people, on the way to the Festival of Families. It was an amazing night. The Riverdance troupe almost brought the house down and Bocelli…
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Rooting Bitterness Out of Our Lives
“The devil invites mankind to rebellion and disorder…he sows discord and incites us to pour out our hatred upon each other…” ~Cardinal Sarah~ I have had to work through some things this week. I have had to work through anger and sadness and repulsion at the meanness of men. But one thing I have learned in life is that I can not stay in that place of anger. I have learned that I must allow that anger to move me to the right and proper action and then I must let that anger go. Because if we don’t let that anger go, it will begin to fester like a thorn…
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Showing Our Kids The Place Their Story Began in Glendalough
“Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one. Lock it up, safe in the coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” ~C. S. Lewis~ Some would say it is a stroke of sheer madness to settle down and marry just one person — just one — when there are so many people in this vast world of ours. I like to think that John and I are a little bit mad. We were crazy enough, 19 years…
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That Time I Confessed My Sins in Knock, Ireland
Today, a young man from Ireland sent a kind little word about a post in my Instagram stories. It was a quote from John Paul II: Shout out, David, if you’re reading this! I have to tell you, this young man’s honest words about the struggles he has had with his faith, after all the scandals in Ireland is hard to bear. And yet, after our own “summer of scandal”, I feel like I understand a little bit about how he is feeling. So many people disillusioned with the Church — and who could blame them? We had an amazing experience in Ireland, but I’d be naive to think that…
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Hiking the Cliffs of Moher… a.k.a That Time We Almost Died (Twice)
If we knew then, what we know now, we likely wouldn’t have made the hike up to the Cliffs of Moher. Don’t get me wrong, it was breathtakingly beautiful and invigorating and every step made you appreciate the grandeur of God’s creation. I mean, look at these views! Granted, there was a wee bit of danger involved — eventually the only thing separating you and your kids from a 700 foot drop to the ocean was good sense and a little bit of skill. Truth be told, we did almost die once on the hike — though some on our adventure claimed it was twice — so reservations when undertaking…
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That Time We Went to Killarney (With Kids)
Happy last day of Summer! Does anybody else approach Fall with the bittersweet feeling of what is to come — a long, dark winter? As the days get shorter, I always find myself contending with what doctors refer to as Seasonal Affective Disorder, abbreviated SAD. Um guys, could you have possibly come up with a worse name?! So, not only do I experience a lack of energy, general melancholy and difficulty in focusing at this time of year — I now have to be reminded I’m SAD? Heck no! From now on I will refer to it as HAPPY, Having A Pity Party (about the weather) Yessiree. It’s all in…
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Will He Find Faith? A.K.A. What’s Next?
We all survived our Irish pilgrimage — hip, hip, hooray — but the transition back has had it’s challenges. Not going to lie, I am also missing Ireland a bit — I wasn’t expecting to miss it like I do. It was a grace-filled time, and when a time of grace comes to an end, it is challenging to enter into “ordinary life” again — whatever that is. Honestly, I knew it would be beautiful and we would have fun as a family, but I was worried that the faith would be missing from our trip to Ireland. I wondered if all the priests would just be going through the…
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We’re Ba-aack!
Just got home last night from our family pilgrimage to Ireland. We are exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. How does that happen? As I began unpacking I came upon the itinerary I made for my parents and John and I. One thing we have learned is that the itinerary is the thing that keeps you on track when all hell breaks loose — which is sometimes a few times in one day — it was invaluable for keeping 10 people on track with all the miles we covered on this trip. We started off our epic family pilgrimage with the baby climbing into the car and patiently waiting…
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Getting Ready for a Family Pilgrimage
Hey guys! I figured I’d put together a quick post as I work feverishly to make sure we have all the loose ends tied up for our upcoming trip. It’s going to be a full time job to get ourselves out the door and on that plane in a week’s time — but it’s always worth it in the end. Somebody please tell me, why is it so hard to get ready for a family trip? Yikes! It still feels a long way off, but we’re beginning to feel the excitement of it all. We have made the conscious effort to make every family trip a pilgrimage of sorts —…
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Ireland and Connecting Our Kids With Their Story
This year we will make the last of our family pilgrimages before we reach the next stage of our lives: children in college and finding ourselves absolutely broke for the next twenty years. Ha, Ha. The truth is, we are likely broke now, but we’ve decided to ignore that reality and finish the “Trilogy” of family pilgrimages before our kids have grown too old to have the time or desire to travel with us anymore. We knew that Italy, Spain and Portugal, and Ireland had to make the top of that list — not because of their appeal to tourists, but because of their deeply Catholic roots. There are plenty…
