Old Words, New Missal
by Daria Sockey in Faith on Saturday, August 27, 2011 10:30 PM
[This article originally appeared in the summer issue of Faith & Family magazine.]
During my preschool years (the early sixties) the Mass was all in Latin. There were many differences in the prayers and in the actions of the priest and the people (e.g. the people spent lots more of the Mass kneeling down; the priest faced away from the people) The Penitential rite was longer. There were only two scripture readings on Sundays.
Not that I noticed any of this. These were the years when I spent mass... READ MORE
Lessons of the Assumption
by Sarah Reinhard in Faith on Monday, August 15, 2011 3:40 PM
[Editor’s Note: In honor of Mary’s feast day, we’re re-running this column from Sarah Reinhard - -one of Mary’s biggest fans.]
I’ve been Catholic for a number of years, but it’s taken me a while to get used to Holy Days of Obligation. They’re not ingrained in my memory the way they seem to be for other Catholics I know, and some of them are just…well, they’re unfamiliar at best and weird at worst.
This week, we celebrate the Assumption of Mary, God taking Mary to heaven after her time here on earth... READ MORE
Things I've Learned From Doubt
by Karen Edmisten in Faith on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 6:00 AM
“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted.”
~~ C.S. Lewis
The most valuable things I’ve learned in times of doubt are these:
1. Doubt comes and goes. It is not a permanent state of being. Don’t treat it as such.
2. Don’t make lasting decisions about anything important—a friendship, a career, a marriage, the Catholic Church, God—in times of doubt. (You may make decisions about dinner, or what book to read next, or which top to wear with those shorts. You may make decisions... READ MORE
The Mission Field
by Rachel Balducci in Faith on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 1:10 PM
I used to imagine, years ago, that I would spend some time as a missionary in a third world country. Once I was married and had children, I assumed my husband and I would take our brood out amongst the poorest of the poor to spread the good news about God’s great love. As followers of Christ, we’re called to share this good news, and what better place than halfway across the globe!
And then I actually did grow up and get married and as the children came, practical life took over. Once I had these... READ MORE
Turning to the Sacred Heart
by Kelly Dolin in Faith on Thursday, July 07, 2011 9:38 PM
My husband and I enjoyed a rare weekend out of town. Through Dave’s savvy use of Priceline, we snatched up a gorgeous hotel room for less than usually pay for a dive off I-77. We are more accustomed to big rigs and bad coffee than waterfalls and sleek furniture. This was very nice.
Now at these nicer hotels there are these really helpful folks called bell-hops who handle your luggage for you. Who would know? The bell-hop and I were putting our smaller bags on a cart as Dave pulled the larger cases... READ MORE
Is Yoga Sinful?
by Dan Connors in Faith on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 6:00 AM
[Dan Connors is editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest. This article originally appeared at CatholicDigest.com.]
She told me her name was Janet and that she was in the office a couple of days a week. She was a trim, petite woman, probably in her early sixties, wearing a white coat and moving too quickly for me to focus on her name tag to catch her last name, or whether she was an MD or an RN, or something else. No matter, really, I was in my doctor’s office for my annual physical check-in, and if she... READ MORE
Requiem for Speckly
by Danielle Bean in Faith on Friday, June 03, 2011 12:23 AM
It finally happened. I was dreading this day. Speckly is dead.
For those who didn’t have the pleasure of meeting her while she was alive, I should explain that Speckly was a Speckled Sussex hen. That’s right, a chicken. A charming, mottled brown and white feathered hen with an affinity for grasshoppers and Japanese beetles. And at 5 years old, she was a quintessential old biddy.
Years ago, when Dan and I decided to let the kids raise a flock of laying hens, we never could have anticipated the antics... READ MORE
10 Ways to Give the Internet a Soul
by Danielle Bean in Faith on Friday, May 27, 2011 6:16 AM
In a recent message on modern means of mass communication, Pope Benedict asked bloggers to"give the Internet a soul”:
Without fear we must set sail on the digital sea facing into the deep with the same passion that has governed the ship of the Church for two thousand years. Rather than for, albeit necessary, technical resources, we want to qualify ourselves by living in the digital world with a believer’s heart, helping to give a soul to the Internet’s incessant flow of communication.
“Giving the... READ MORE
An Unexpected Blessing
by Kelly Dolin in Faith on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 9:40 PM
When we arrived in Rome in November 1997, we expected to see the Sistine Chapel, the Spanish Steps, and the Coliseum. We never expected to see—let alone receive a blessing from—the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. I had visited Rome several times and had never caught so much as a papal wave from the balcony.
My husband Dave and I had planned to go to Europe the year we were married, but within a few months of the wedding, we were expecting a baby. Tim actually turned two somewhere between Iceland... READ MORE
My Blessed JP2 Story
by Daria Sockey in Faith on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 9:39 PM
Everyone else had a better story lined up for the beatification. But now that the hoopla is starting to die down, I’ll tell mine.
October 2, 1979, 12:00 PM:
Pope John Paul II was in the United States for a weeklong tour. I was a student teacher at a Cheshire, Connecticut school for developmentally disabled children. A call came in to the school office from my boyfriend, Bill, who worked in New York.
I hurried down the hall thinking up a nice but firm way to tell him never to call me during the... READ MORE
