Valerie Schultz

My dad was right: life blazes on and holds us in thrall with its bounty and blessings.

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