Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Today we all wear Pink Shirts to represent how we are United against Bullying ! We do this in order to bring awareness to bullying issues and hopefully bring discussion as to what we can do to create a safe and respectful environment in all of our communities. Why Pink you ask? Well, Pink Shirt Day is not just an engaging way to get kids, especially students, though not limited to just them ;) thinking about bullying and what they can do to create a safe and respectful environment in schools. All of this started back in 2007 when 2 High School Students in the Province of Nova Scotia, Travis Price and David Shepherd, took a stand against bullying. How? These two Brave Students asked all of their peers to wear pink to school in support of a male classmate who had been bullied for wearing a pink shirt! Little did they know that their actions would create a Grassroots Movement that would attract worldwide attention! So...Make sure you wear Your Pink Shirt today a...

Last night, I bought a frozen Paul Newman pizza for dinner and our 12 year old made a large salad. Since our family comes home for dinner in shifts, I took a tiny slice of pizza and warned the 12 year old to leave enough for dad and his older brother. Guess I should have written a memo to the teen: I returned to the kitchen about 20 minutes later and there was no sign of the pizza. Seems between the two boys, the pizza was gone. Evaporated. A friend who raised four children told me that all pizzas should come with a label saying that one pizza serves half a teenaged boy. I ended up serving really emergency food - cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli. Yuck and Yikes. My husband read on my facebook wall that I was heating it up and said he'd stop by the deli for a sandwich.  Read more here...

I have never given a Marian focus to Lent before, but this seems to be the year for it. The picture that keeps coming to mind for me is of a young Mary packing up her infant child, all the earthly goods of her small family, and following where her husband leads her in the hope of escaping the wrath of Herod. What a lot of trust was required of her in unknown circumstances. We don’t know much of her life after that, until she appears in some of the gospel stories, most notably the wedding at Cana when she quite memorably advizes: Do as He tells you. The most striking image of all is that of Our Lady, standing at the foot of the Cross of her son, her Saviour. Everyone else has left Him, but her love of Him keeps her there. I am going to ponder those three points over the next six weeks: trust, obedience, love. Blessed Mother,grant me some measure of the faith you exhibited, so that I, too, may trust in God, be obedient to His Holy Will, and know His great Love for all. Help me to enter...

On this sunny, blustery February day, we have just returned, our little family of four, from a standing-room-only Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, where the celebrant was the newly minted Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Given the politics of these days, I expected he might preach about the intrusions that politicians are making into Catholics' lives of faith. But he didn't, at least not overtly. Instead, the joyful man in the red hat preached the Gospel, reminding us that, just as Jesus learned during his 40 days in the desert, during Lent we need to realize that our lives must be lived with God's will, not our will, for God's kingdom, not our kingdom, for God's values and not the passing values of the world we live in. (Thanks to my CL friend Dan Finaldi for sharing the photo he took after Mass)    Read more here...

As a community of believers God asks us to look for, care for and pray for each other. Karinann is hoping that we can all hold her up in prayer and thought. It seems that work responsibilities leaves her with little time for blogging, let alone anything else. You might want to send her an encouraging email, or favourite prayer, or just let her know she is being thought of! Blessings

Hello beautiful, catholic women! I am thrilled to be able to introduce myself and blog to you and to become a part of such a treasury in the catholic blogger world. I was raised catholic by my mother who above all else taught me to love Our Lady and the Eucharist. She prayed the rosary with me faithfully from an early age and often took me for "visits" to Jesus in the tabernacle. My father was protestant, so I was also exposed to many protestant groups and encountered several humble, christian people who molded my faith journey and gave me a deep love for beautiful worship through music, dance, and even art. I met my husband, a Baptist at the time, at a Baptist university where I was attending music school. He was studying to become a Baptist minister. Though I was not fully prepared to defend my faith well, he was intrigued enough to study further, and study, he did. He consumed every book he could get his hands on about the Catholic Faith. He finally came into the Church...

Hello everyone, I am writing to let you all know that we are at 49 authors!  This is a very exciting thing for Association of Catholic Women Bloggers!  We get emails quite often from Catholic women who would like to contribute to the site, and I wish we could accept everyone who asks, but Blogger sets the limit at 100, and we are half way there! If anyone knows of authors who no longer contribute, authors who have stopped blogging all together, please let me know, like any good gardener knows pruning is the best way to make things bloom! Blessings

Think about spring. Remember how plants push their way up through the earth. Trees sprout leaves and buds. Birds sing their best songs. In spring we plant new seeds. We cut away dead twigs and stems. We prepare for a new life. Jesus talked about death and new life. He held up a seed and said, “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” John 12:24 During lent we clear a place to plant seeds of faith and love. We work and pray. We grow in faith and love. Stations of the Cross for Children and Families Jelly Bean Prayer Activity  Source: Faith First, Catechist Guide

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13.33-35 from the Official King James Bible on line

The Temptation of Christ,   Tintoretto, painted 1579-81 Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:12-15   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days, and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild beasts, and the angels looked after him. After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. 'The time has come' he said 'and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.' An Soiscéal   Marcas 1:12-15 (Gaeilge, Irish) Chuir an Spiorad Íosa amach faoin bhfásach é agus bhí sé daichead lá san fhásach á phromhadh ag Sátan. Agus bhí sé in éineacht leis na beithígh allta; agus bhí na haingil ag freastal air. Tar éis Eoin a bheith tugtha ar láimh, tháinig Íosa go dtí an Ghailíl ag fógairt soiscéal Dé agus ag rá: ...

Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints | Catholic Homeschooling and Traditional Catholic: Lent Day One: Unplugged Living : Lent Day One: Unplugged Living Our family is in the middle of packing for a big move across three states North of us so when I thought of...

On a rare day off this week, I took our dog for a walk down our block, a block of century-old houses on tiny lots with scraggly lawns. The sun was bright, the sky was clear and my neighbor Anita, nearing 60, was seeding her lawn. As we chatted, I noticed moss had taken over parts of her pocket-sized front lawn. I told her how pretty it all looks. Anita, who is some kind of scientist for a pharmaceutical company, said our neighbor Ruth farther down the block, a landscape architect with grown children, told her to let the moss grow. Moss, she said, is good for the soil. I am now thinking it is good for the soul, too. Read more here....

Iranian Christian pastor to be hanged ‘immediately’ CatholicHerald.co.uk

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you." That seems like a very strange Gospel reading, considering how many people will be asking us, with great concern: "Did you know you have a smudge on your forehead!?" If you are a sport fan like our second son you will be seeing Tony Reali host of the ESPN show: Around the Horn, wearing his ashes very proudly!  So, what about this Gospel?  Does God call us to wear Ashes proudly to be a Evangelist; because we know we will be asked about that all day.  Or do we wipe our forehead and let our Lenten actions evangelize for us? For me I love seeing Catholic Celebrities proudly being out an...

The blog Anglican Mainstream has a link to Dr. Hansen's blog page where she presents her professional opinions regarding same-sex marriage and homosexual parenting. I have placed the whole of the article on my other blog, Watching, thinking & praying. I am presuming that Dr. Hansen will not mind my doing this. it seems to me that these insights are of great importance. Dr. Trayce L. Hansen is a licensed psychologist with a clinical and forensic practice. She received her Ph.D. from the California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego, in 1997. Dr. Hansen’s professional experience is varied and includes work in multiple clinical as well as forensic settings. She is particularly interested in issues related to marriage, parenting, male / female differences, and homosexuality. Dr. Hansen has extensively reviewed the research literature in these areas and occasionally writes commentaries based on her findings that have been published worldwide. She has been heard on local a...

Anthony Horton, 43 didn't make a lot of money, drive a fancy car, own an amazingly huge home with a beach cottage in the next state.  He didn't have a loving wife and family and he didn't have a desire to achieve greatness in terms believable only to those having more than he.  Anthony was a simple and kind man with a heart, a mind, and a soul.......and something to share.  Too bad he perished in a subway fire on Sunday. Mr. Horton lived in the subway tunnels of NYC where he found his solace and peace.  He had a reputation of being a gentle kind man, a prolific artist, and loved music.  He shared his story with a lady who eventually helped him write a book, "Pitch Black."  In it he shared what he learned living in the tunnels, where he found his creativity and some rules of thumb that we can all take a lesson from, including: Always carry a light. Anything you need can be found in the garbage. Always have more than one spot. And, a...

Nancy Bilyeau's debut novel The Crown takes readers on an odyssey through the England of Henry VIII during the bloody period of the dissolution of the monasteries as seen from the point of view of a young Dominican novice. There are many aspects of this extraordinary novel that contemporary Catholics will find that they can relate to, namely the confusion in the Church and the compromises of many of her members to political persecution and social expediency, as well as the heroic stand taken by those with the courage to speak truth to power. In Tudor England, speaking truth to power, or even silently trying to follow one's conscience, often meant dying a hideous death. Young Joanna Stafford finds that in those intense times there is no such thing as spiritual mediocrity; either she must take the high road or face perdition. Joanna is not one to settle for less than heroism anyway, having entered a strict Dominican monastery where she looked forward to an auste...

Fiftysomething: Shrove Tuesday : Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences. Wash...

heart speaks unto heart: LARGE FAMILIES ARE WITNESSES OF FAITH, AND A SOURC... : Vatican City, 15 February 2012 (VIS) - "In today's social environment, families with many children are witnesses of faith, courage and optimism....

Driving along in town to pick up our daughter in the new Catholic high school I got to thinking about Ash Wednesday and what it means to be repentant.  The ancients would put on sack cloths, roll around in ashes and walk through town to prove that they are a sorry sinner.  Since doing that in modern times would cause more serious result, what can I do this year that would be different and more in keeping with my personal relationship with God.  I surprised myself one afternoon while driving home with carpool students in the car. I always ask them 2 questions after they're settled in and we are on the road home, "What was the best thing that happened and what was the worse thing that happened to you today."  I give them the choice of which question they want first, but they have to have an answer for both.  One day I asked the kids what they were doing for Lent?  They all said what they were giving up, candy, cho...

This is my first posting for 7 Quick Takes Friday ; this is a meme that shares those 7 things that were most important, interesting, or faith-filled for the week past.  I am kinda of excited by it is the opportunity to share with other moms/bloggers about our lives and I thought it might be something ACWB's would enjoy and a new way to share our faith with others. 1.  Spent this week without my hubby, he was away in Europe on a business trip.  :(  Find much strength and good will :)  But the week got very long in the tooth as the girls and I missed him by day 5 :( 2.  Had a great week getting to spend time with the kiddies. :) 3.  Shared more laughs than drama with our twinnie 16 year old girls :) 4.  Listened to their funny, inspiring, thought provoking stories about life at a Catholic High School and learned that our girls are so wise, caring and loving :0  Related some of my own, I was in an all girl Catholic H...

Lately I’ve been stumbling across articles in the mainstream media about NFP, written by Catholic laywomen, who are taking a stab at the mysterious reason that so many women ignore this Church teaching choose instead to contracept.   One popular idea seems to be that it’s because NFP just isn’t “hip” enough.  They seem to think that if the Church just did a better job “marketing” NFP and upgrading the books and methods to make them more attractive, women would be falling all over themselves to sign up for NFP classes, while tossing their birth control pills out by the handfuls.  They go on to say that maybe if the NFP teachers looked a little cooler, with a few less children, women would be more attracted to the idea too… and can’t we make the methods less scientific?  That shouldn’t be hard, right?  It should be easy! Each time I read an article like this I was left with a feeling that something was a bit off in the understanding… Read the ...

 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Mark 2:1-12 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) When Jesus returned to Capernaum, word went round that he was back; and so many people collected that there was no room left, even in front of the door. He was preaching the word to them when some people came bringing him a paralytic carried by four men, but as the crowds made it impossible to get the man to him, they stripped the roof over the place where Jesus was; and when they had made an opening, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic lay. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, 'My child, your sins are forgiven.' Now some scribes were sitting there, and they thought to themselves, 'How can this man talk like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God?' Jesus, inwardly aware that this was what they were thinking, said to them, 'Why do...

I recently read a magnificent novel, The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau, which deals  with the fate of some English  Dominican nuns during Henry VIII's "reform." I was delighted and honored when Nancy agreed to be interviewed. I will be reviewing the book as well in a future post. To quote from the book description: An aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father—and preserve the Catholic faith from Cromwell’s ruthless terror. The year is 1537. . .   EMV : Nancy, welcome! Congratulations on your magnificent novel, The Crown , which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was especially impressed by the research that went into making it one of the most authentic novels of the Tudor era that I have ever read.  You bring to life the beauty and peace of the cloister even as it is about to be destroyed. Can you tell us a little about how you began your journey into the past, and where you found the best sources on such a turbulent, controvers...

I wonder if people still carve hearts in trees on St. Valentine's Day?  Or at any other time, for that matter:  names of loved ones etched inside a heart, linked together by a + . Names not just scribbled on a piece of paper, but put onto a more permanent object; something expected to last.  "I will love you forever," the hearts declare. "I shall carve your name inside this heart, for I never intend to let you go." "What will we do," asks St. Francis de Sales , "when, in eternal glory, we see the most adorable heart of Jesus through the holy wound in His side.. a heart in which, written in characters of fire, all of us will be inscribed?  Ah!  We will then say to the Savior, 'is it possible that You have loved me so much that You have even written my name in Your heart?'" "See, I have carved your name on the palms of My hands," says the Lord to us. (Isaiah 49:16). He never intends to let us go.

We have four children so we have been through all the spiritual-emotional issues that come with a variety of children.  One thing that we, as mother/parents, do not consider is the spiritual development of our children. A twitter conversation between Meredith Gould and I  @MeredithGould  RT @USCatholic: Why aren't Gen X and Y in church? Ask them... bit.ly/yphT3l and my response: @MeredithGould as for why Gen X and Y aren't in church, they need being feed emotionally, have a priest that does that they will be there One of the books I studied during my formation for Spiritual Direction: 1994 - 1998, was Professor James W. Fowler, a developmental psychologist at Candler School of Theology, was the book Stages of Faith.  In it he describes children's spiritual development from birth to mid-life: Stage 0 – "Primal or Undifferentiated" faith (birth to 2 years), is characterized by an early learning of the safety of their environment (i.e. warm,...

Fiftysomething: Ecclesiastical treasures saved : Press release from the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales Ecclesiastical Treasures Saved The Archbishop of Southwark, the Most

Shrine of St Valentine , Church of the Order of Carmel (OCarm), Dublin  I have been 'crusading' for some years now to put the 'SAINT' back into SAINT Valentine's Day. Below is what I posted a year ago.  St Valentine's Day is a big thing here in the Philippines, though usually called 'Valentine's Day'. For some it is an excuse fo fornication and adultery, for others a day to be grateful for friends. It is also a day for getting more money from consumers. You can find something of the true story of St Valentine, a priest who was martyred for his defence of the sacrament of matrimony,in  Misyon , the online magazine I edit for the Columbans in the Philippines. You can find it  here . Below is the Opening Prayer from the Mass of St Valentine. You can find all the prayers and readings for his feast on the  website of the Carmelite Friars  (OCarm) in Ireland. Though the feast of St Valentine is no longer on its General Calendar – 14 February is no...