For years, committed Christians such as myself have felt increasingly helpless in the midst of America’s shifting political landscape. We have watched political leaders from both sides of the aisle behave like children fighting over backyard toys, and thanks to social media, have witnessed relentless public square bullying intended to quiet traditional religious belief…
Today marks the first full week the kids and I have been home together, and I admit, it’s been a bit on a roller cloister. At times, family life has looked like this: Other times, when energy emerges, it has looked like this: It’s an unusual situation for us. We are a family of…
Upon my mother’s recent death, my siblings and I had the opportunity to revisit my childhood home and its many memories. One such memory was of a certain picture that hung prominently in our basement with an old adage: “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.” It was a belief my mother,…
My 8-year-old son recently received a batting lesson from a former Major League baseball player, who quickly measured up one of my son’s weak spots. After watching my son move toward the plate with focus and sound batting form for his first few hits and then, after just a few balls, reluctantly drift toward…
“I don’t know.” These words flow from my lips with increasing frequency when I pray these days. Whether it’s figuring out how to best help my once-active mother, who has spent the last year going in and out of hospitals and has lost all ability to care for herself; managing the emotions I feel…
I’ve recently found myself tongue-tied and astonished. Astonished to see women rallying together in the name of “femininity” or “womanhood” but intentionally distorting the very nature of that name. Yes, I’ve been astonished to watch celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Madonna, and Ashley Judd admonish leaders they believe obstruct the beauty and value of…
“Ugggh, what is wrong with them?” “I’m done with them!” “I’m over them!” “To heck with them!” These are the phrases we sometimes utter when it turns out that the fellow Christians we love, admire, and trust are, well, just people–people with inconsistencies, egos, secrets, proclivities, or, sometimes, just general weirdness. Fallen people. Ironically,…
“Repent, and believe in the Gospel!” That is the message that marks the beginning of this Lenten season, a season where we Christians prepare our hearts to receive redemption through Christ by fasting, almsgiving, and especially penance. While the necessity of preparing for Christ seems like Theology 101, it is actually a message that…
Today was supposed to be a great day to illuminate the GOP’s pro-life platform. With pro-life Americans traveling across the country to join in the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives was simultaneously supposed to vote on H.R.…
Perhaps you’ve seen this 2012 YouTube video, capturing a Christmas-caroling flash mob. Distracted shoppers busily scurry through a large metropolitan mall when suddenly one shopper begins singing “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” At first the regular shoppers notice the planned singers with confusion and curiosity, but before long many join in with the litany…
Maybe, just maybe, Pope Francis will be the one to lead the Catholic Church into a doctrinal acceptance of same-sex marriage. At least that is the theory put out by many liberal commentators these days. In fact, reports leading up to the Catholic Church’s October Synod of Bishops on the Family implied a similar…
By Krissie Allen (The following was originally published last year at Newevangelizers.com, but because the message still rings true, I wanted to share it again at Choosing God.) “You just can’t force someone to learn about God,” I declared years ago on a balance beam outside of Holy Spirit Catholic Elementary School. My best…