Valerie Schultz

When you grow up Catholic you learn early on that Sunday Mass is non-negotiable Unless you are dying or certifiably contagious you go to Mass I was in school before I had a friend who was not Catholic and whose denominational road to salvation did not mandate Sunday attendance My first thought

The spiritual season of Lent sometimes brings out the creativity in people In fulfilling our Lenten obligations of prayer fasting and almsgiving we try to come up with something new something more meaningful something that will change our lives I recently heard in passing of a different kind o

I recently overheard an exchange between my sister and her four-year-old daughter one that apparently takes place frequently ldquo Who rsquo s better than you rdquo my sister asked in her best football coach voice ldquo Nobody rdquo shouted my little niece And I prayed that she will believe

In another example of a so-called first world problem Christmas has apparently become a source of stress ldquo Are you already OVERWHELMED by the holidays rdquo asks my credit union rsquo s website while marketing a low-interest loan that would probably only add to my stress level in the New Ye

“If life is about loss, it is also about its opposite: discovery.” A reflection from Valerie Schultz

A marriage is a reflection of what two spouses believe in and create together.

Lord send out your spirit And renew the face of the earth rdquo – Psalm 104In the late 1990s as a lead-up to the new millennium my parish took part in a program called ldquo Renew 2000 quot in which the faithful who wanted to participate were assigned to small faith-sharing groups Each

nbsp For Christmas my sister gave me the newest book from one of my favorite authors Help Thanks Wow by Anne Lamott My favorite authors tend to be those who write things that I wish I rsquo d written and Anne Lamott rsquo s many essays on motherhood and faith and struggle are definitely some

nbsp The story of Hannah in the first book of Samuel always tears my heart a little when I hear it Hannah is childless is almost past hoping for a child Yet she persists in praying for a baby Her prayer is answered and she becomes pregnant She promises to repay God for the favor The price