The BEST Subscriptions for Catholic Families (Boxes, Periodicals, Apparel, Oh My!)

The BEST Subscriptions for Catholic Families (Boxes, Periodicals, Apparel, Oh My!)

Here’s the rundown on the most fabulous Catholic subscriptions to give to loved ones this Christmas season. Feel free to circulate this list around to grandparents and godparents as your family’s official “wish list” this Christmas!

Wailing for Waffles

Wailing for Waffles

My one-year-old eats a waffle for breakfast every morning. Despite that I have never failed to feed him, he inevitably wails for the entire two minutes it takes to pop up from the toaster. I sing and dance, trying to distract him. I explain that the waffle needs to cook. Nothing helps; the waiting is too painful.

Sentir Y Gustar

Sentir Y Gustar

It’s All Saints Day and I find myself at Mass alone. It’s the year of the pandemic, and the only place I’ve been without my children for months is in the shower. And I do feel alone. Maybe it’s all the covered faces, or all the space spreading us out across this outdoor armada - a space meant for gathering that we’re using to spread us apart.

Dear Mama in Quarantine

Dear Mama in Quarantine

Dear Mama,

I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice: you are tired. Not just the daily grind of motherhood tired. Not even the loopy, delirious kind of tired that comes with having a newborn. You are exhausted. You are running on a treadmill that is set one speed too fast and you don’t know when the workout will end.

Why Surrogacy is a Social Justice Issue

Why Surrogacy is a Social Justice Issue

In a tragic turn of events, the state of New York has recently legalized commercial surrogacy. While its citizens find themselves preoccupied with a state-wide shutdown, shouldering the lion’s share of the U.S. coronavirus burden, New York’s legislators have taken it upon themselves to pass the widely-battled legislation that feminists argue is harmful to women, children, and families.

How Questioning My Faith Led to Knowing Jesus

How Questioning My Faith Led to Knowing Jesus

I sat on a large rock, knees pulled up, arms stretched behind me for support. The dry desert breeze whispered past as I gazed at the stars hovering overhead. Majestic and distant, they magnified the smallness I felt confronting larger-than-life questions I could no longer ignore.

A Prayer for Hope in the Darkness

A Prayer for Hope in the Darkness

We’ve given up a lot this Lent, haven’t we? Mostly, I’ve been struck with gratitude for what we do have: a comfortable home, enough food to eat, a yard for the kids to run around, financial stability. Still, even for our family whose sacrifice in staying home is minimal – This. Is. Hard.

It’s hard to give up Mass. It’s hard to give up spending time with our loved ones. It’s hard to change our routine, to give up small comforts, and to adjust our lives so dramatically. It’s hard to wait in the anxious unknown….

Devotion in a Time of Pandemic

Devotion in a Time of Pandemic

When I first stumbled across this quote several years ago, just a few months into my marriage, I found it comforting, inspiring, and even a little sentimental. “Is that all?” I remember thinking. “I feel like attaining world peace is much more complicated and difficult than that.”

Could Artificial Wombs End Abortion?

Could Artificial Wombs End Abortion?

According to the March of Dimes, the premature birth rate in the United States has been increasing over the past several years. In response, researchers focus on the prevention of this issue, as well as on treatments and solutions. Among these solutions is the potentially life-saving artificial womb. Although it is still only a theoretical possibility for human gestation, artificial wombs have been successfully tested in animal reproduction

Are Artificial Wombs The Future of Reproduction?

Are Artificial Wombs The Future of Reproduction?

In 1933, Aldous Huxley imagined a Brave New World in which human reproduction was entirely artificial. No longer science fiction, the use of “artificial wombs” is news of the past. Researchers demonstrated the capacity to gestate animals in 2017, when a team at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia published the results of their study growing fetal lambs in what they termed a “biobag.”

Praying the Morning Offering

Praying the Morning Offering

Have you ever tried praying a daily offering? A few weeks ago, Samantha suggested adding these prayers to your Lenten practice. The Morning Offering, which seems to have originated in the 19th century, is both an easy and profound way to place God at the forefront of your mind when starting your day.