Of course civility dictates that a person strive to make a good appearance that befits the occasion in an honest expression of who he or she is, and the person in the role of judge must take into consideration the fact that a first impression may be insufficient grounds for a correct interpretation.

My twin sister recently told me about a woman in her church who was faithful and devout. This woman did everything she could to keep her children from the world. She even home schooled them in order to preserve them for Christ. And yet, in the end, one of her children went the way of the world and even ended up on drugs.

The Catholic family home is often hazardous to sacramentals. Knowing that these sacramentals are symbols of holy people and things, we try to be respectful. We do. But there seems to be always such a clutter everywhere!

In my experience, no one makes comparisons more than homeschoolers. We say things like: “Mrs. Jones is better than I am at teaching math,” or “Why can’t we get our kids to do their violin practice as well as Mrs. Smith’s children?” or “That family doesn’t let their kids watch television—they’re better than we are.”

Psst! Are you one of those people who slowly become unraveled and unglued when you get behind on your housecleaning? If you are, pour yourself a cup of tea and sit down. I want to talk to you. If dust bunnies don’t bother you, sit with me anyway.

In Polish culture, Christmas Eve is the highlight of Christmas, and is celebrated with prescribed traditions and dishes of Wigilia, the Christmas Eve vigil supper in Poland. “Wigilia” comes from the Latin verb vigilare, “to watch”, and literally means “eve”.

In the “Armor of God,” with which we are all called to equip ourselves (Ephesians 6:10-18), the Word of God is the “sword of the Spirit.” Daily, reverent reading of Sacred Scripture can help us to immerse ourselves in the mind of Christ and cultivate our personal relationship with Him. It can also help us to develop a living, breathing, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, the Author of Sacred Scripture.

As soon as my baby girl turned seven months old, I started feeling ill. And it wasn't the typical "I'm coming down with a cold" kind of ill. I was having a very difficult time breathing. As a busy mom, I dismissed it as the usual effects of sleep deprivation. I went to the hospital just to be sure, but they sent me home after all the test results came out normal.

Sometimes it seems like the work for Mom is never ending in our large Catholic families. By Thanksgiving, the first quarter assignments have been completed and the homeschooling is clipping along nicely. Then Bang! Along comes the Christmas season, doubling the work load but halving the class time! It’s more than a little discouraging!

Someone mentioned to my wife lately that she doesn’t usually read my fatherhood/homeschooling columns because I use too many sports analogies. For instance, over the years, I have written that baseball is like “raspberry sorbet for the mind;” I have said that life is about “how many shots you take, rather than how many baskets you make;” and I recently wrote that being a good father was like being a “hockey goalie,” and so forth.

Members of a family know each other too well to be fooled by brother’s daydream to be a millionaire, sister’s fantasy to be a great actress, or grandson’s ambition to be a professional athlete. The family teaches humility, self-knowledge, the art of the possible, and the way things are.

I am convinced – utterly convinced – that if we all got together more often in order to celebrate the simple occasions in life, we would be a happier people. Each generation seems to be growing more and more isolated than the generation that preceded it. American society is fast becoming an isolated society.

A rather staid church found itself actively confronting a world which they had tended to ignore, even to shun. Pink Mohawks and chain-bedecked leathers began to be seen at Sunday worship services. A new energy and purpose steadily grew among the congregation; they were forced out of their insular attitudes and petty prejudices in order to confront the vast question, “What does it mean to preach to the whole world?”

Have you ever been asked by an evangelical Christian if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? What do you say? My answer is simple: Yes. I have indeed committed my life to Jesus Christ and invited Him to be my Lord...

Eight years ago, our sewer line backed up and caused a small flood in our basement.  Gray water had entered the garage and the playroom.  Our insurance company required us ...

The weather is changing and the holiday season is upon us. Decorations have been up in stores for weeks, a bright mishmash of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas displays to entice the consumer to buy, buy, buy. It’s so easy to get caught up in the hoopla and the craziness and lose the true meaning of what we are celebrating.

In Kenneth Graham’s The Wind in the Willows Mr. Toad, the owner of Toad Mansion and the great traveler on the Open Road who is always on a new vehicle going to faraway places, cannot comprehend how Mr. Rat can find contentment in a simple cottage on the river where he dwells all year and never explores the wider world of new sights and foreign lands: “You surely don’t mean to stick to your dull fusty river all your life, and just live in a hole in a bank, and boat. I want to show you the world.”

We are not alone in our fervent desire to help our children remain true to their Catholic Faith. The Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the Queen of Heaven and Earth, earnestly desires their salvation as well, and she can show them how to stay close to Jesus throughout their lives.

As I took a little trip down the memory lane of my mind, I started to explain to my little children that, although I was 42 years old, I had never quite “graduated” from the kids’ table. At first this bothered me, but I had come to respect the camaraderie, the conviviality...

While it is a most human to desire the ideal, seek the best, and have the highest goals, all human lives suffer damages and require rebuilding. The unfaithful husband or wife, the deaths and illnesses in a family, the rebellion of the prodigal son or daughter, the loss of income or work all inflict destruction of some kind that forces another beginning, a fresh approach, a new idea, or the exercise of a heroic virtue.