Mary Ellen and Casey Lopata's lives changed drastically during Thanksgiving weekend 1983. That's when their oldest son, Jim, came home from...
Parenting
Anyone who survives the dentist's drill should be able to pass this acid test. As I sit terrified in a car crammed with 15-year-old boys, my own at the...
Most parents, if asked, can tell you in two words what they want for their children: "the best." But what does "the best" mean when it...
It happened again last Sunday, as it has happened other Sundays. A young couple arrives—usually late—with an infant and toddler in tow. After making a...
We stand together on the sidelines of our sons soccer match. A gaggle of parents stamping our feet against the creeping cold, huddling under umbrellas away...
When your teenage daughter tells you that the Dalai Lama has a lot more going for him than the pope, do you have an answer for her? Just what about Catholicism...
Years ago, I learned a lesson about passing on religious faith during a golden summer while my family was on vacation. My daughters were young, about ages 3...
The scary part of parenting is that you never know when you're making an indelible impression on your kids, nor what lesson your child is taking from it...
I had never thought about it in quite that way. Never thought about parenting as a "charism." A calling perhaps. An undertaking of immense spiritual...
On Palm Sunday 2007 Father Joseph Kraker poured water over the head of a baby boy in St. Vincent's Church in Akron, Ohio. "I baptize you in the name...
