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: “Tá an t

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 and Catholi

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, always have a way out that i