When someone dies, it is only right that family and friends be given a chance to share their memories of their loved one. But the balance between pastoral care and logistical realities can be a tough one to strike.
Faith in Focus
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Consistency and order might seem like boring qualities. But they were the reasons I loved Pope Benedict.
Pope Benedict XVI’s life and writings for the church show that one can be a staunch defender of order in the church’s teaching while still respecting God’s infinite love and mercy.
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The Holy Spirit descends on a high school wrestling meet in South Dakota
If you would have asked me ahead of time, my hunch—fair or not—would have been that a gymnasium filled with wrestlers’ parents and fans, particularly in the western reaches of rural South Dakota, would not have a lot of empathy and patience for needy little creatures threatening to disrupt their earnest games.
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Winter storms, travel nightmares and Covid-19: Lessons on letting go from a chaotic Christmas
What happens when the first “normal” Christmas since 2019 turns into a sitcom-level celebration in which everything that can go wrong does go wrong?
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Looking for hope in the rice paddies: lessons from my time in Vietnam
Defeating the lie that tells us we cannot truly help the poor
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How Chilli from ‘Bluey’ helps me be a better Catholic mother
In this episode of “Bluey,” Chilli learns that there is little to gain in comparing her children to others, or comparing herself to other moms, an important reminder for Catholic moms, too
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‘It’s time for giving’: What Christmas means to adults with and without disabilities in a L’Arche community
Kelly DeRoy, a core member, and John O’Connor, an assistant who has acted as a caretaker at L’Arche GWDC, share their insights about the community’s unique Christmas traditions.
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It’s not too late to go to confession before Christmas—and there’s nothing more important you can do
I have a confession to make: I have not been to confession yet this Advent. Every year, I bug people to go sometime during the season, and I think most of my family has been. But I have not yet gone myself.
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Parents, ask your children—and yourself—for forgiveness
I hope the lessons I learned in caring for my mother, in forgiving my father, help me to forge a better path forward with my children.
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The powerful, prayerful experience of being a remote parishioner
Some people might wonder how I felt so connected to others from afar, but there are many ways that I connected with my parish, and I really felt like I belonged.