Most writers walk a fine line between stealing from life and exploiting life.
Valerie Schultz
Valerie Schultz is a freelance writer, a columnist for The Bakersfield Californian and the author of Till the Moon Be No More: The Grit and Grace of Growing Older. She lives on the Oregon Coast.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
After a health scare, I learned my heart is strong—but now I’m worried about my faith.
Just as I took care to exercise physically for the endurance of my heart, I needed to break a spiritual sweat for the good of my soul.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Why the Catholic Church needs modern-day female prophets
We women do not want to make waves; we do not want to upset people. But the moment for all of us to act is decidedly now.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
We talk a lot about negative triggers. Are there triggers for good?
I think of mentors and helpers, men and women of kindness and compassion, heroes who listen to their better angels, as triggers for good.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
My daughter’s alcoholism and recovery changed how I see the parable of the prodigal son
Do not ever let anyone say that sobriety is easy on a family: The return of a prodigal can spark consuming fires.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Where is God when a mother dies in childbirth?
We do not anticipate young mothers dying at a moment devoted to birth, and yet we know it happens. We know about death, and yet we are caught unawares by it.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Do we ever retire from being mothers?
Since retiring from my job, my husband has found me irritating. We had a talk (after fighting), and he is right: I am mothering him. Smothering him. “I have a mother,” he said. “I want a wife, a partner, a best friend.”
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
After California, the real reason we should end the death penalty—for good.
The most compelling reason not to execute the convicted is an existential one: We humans are not God.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The problem with looking for God in the clouds
Like the men of Galilee present at the ascension of Jesus, we search the skies for unclouded meaning.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
What baby boomers owe the next generation of Catholics
The church needs our young people. But we elders cannot nurture them in the faith if we repel them.