If Jesus were on Facebook, he’d be the guy who sends friend requests to everybody. This creates a thorny problem, because you end up with a Church full of horrid slackers. Weak, pathetic, “spiritually flabby” as one Ash Wednesday sermon…
Lousy Parents and the Case for Unkempt Souls
Around St. Blog’s recently, we’ve looking at the “What’s wrong with catechesis?” problem, and the refrain that is not news to anyone is, “What do we do with these parents?” You know the ones . . . they drop their…
I Can’t Do This Without You: The Case for Christian Community
In the evangelical circles where I first cut my teeth as a Christian, hit-and-run evangelism was a sore topic. A mission team might swarm into town, preach the Gospel, hand out tracts, and pray with new converts . . . …
Action, Intention, and the Incarnation
Does what I do matter? We are now celebrating the Feast of the Incarnation. It is the mystery of God become Man – Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. This mystery is so immense that it took several centuries…
Is the Mass Just Like Everywhere Else?
As a girl, one of my quirks was a fondness for wearing hats. Another quirk: I liked to read old etiquette books. I was not so much interested in having good manners as in reading about them, and especially about…
Liturgy & Evangelization: Lessons from a Church Bulletin
I recently had a chance to attend Sunday Mass at St. Mary’s in Greenville, SC. The parish is often mentioned in the context of the New Evangelization, and I thought I’d take a look and see what the noise was…
Repentance, Mercy, and Prudence
As I write this column, the Church is once again dealing with a personnel problem. A Catholic priest who was found in a highly suspect personal situation has just been put back to work. Some are calling for the man’s…
Evangelization and the Case for Catholic Fiction
Why bother with Catholic fiction? As I write this, I’ve just returned from the Catholic Writers Guild’s annual live conference (our online conference is held in early spring), and once again I’ve met dozens of great Catholic authors eager to…
Death by Liturgy
In chapter 9 of Forming Intentional Disciples, Sherry Weddell teaches the would-be evangelist about an essential skill: listening. Grab a drink, get comfortable, and take a few minutes to practice that skill right now, by reading this post, written by…
Learning from the Experts: Read the Lives of Saints
This past week I gave a talk on teaching children the Beatitudes, and I mentioned a few of my favorite go-to sources for studying the lives of saints. The next day I discovered a new favorite, just where I least…